Chapter 92 – Hiking up a Mountain
Novel Title: 龙血 (Dragon Blood)
Author：水千丞 (Shui Qian Cheng)
Translator: K (@kin0monogatari)
Protagonists: 单鸣 (Shan Ming -MC), 沈长泽 (Shen Changze -ML)
*Please read at Novels Space.space, the original site of translation. TQ*
֍֍֍
“We’ve located the last known location of Tang Jingzhi.” Crow said without looking back while taking control of the computer, “This is the information sent by the laboratory. Let’s take a look together.”
He opened a folder from the computer and some photos and documents were displayed. The photos showed that the place where Tang Jingzhi was currently in is a hot spring resort. The resort was built on the mountains and there were no other buildings around. In the close-up view, wooden houses and tropical plants could be seen around it. It’s quite exotic. If they were not on a mission, it would have been wonderful to stay in this fairytale-like place for a couple of days.
“It seems like he’s enjoying himself.”
“It’s not just about enjoying himself. It’s summer so it’s the off-season for hot spring vacations. Tang Jingzhi has booked the entire resort and hid himself in this mountain without even showing his face to the outside world. It took a lot of effort for our agents to locate him. We have no idea what he’s doing all cooped up in there.”
“Naturally, some perverted experiments were carried out.” Pell looked at Tang Jingzhi’s photo with disgust. Although she was unconscious for most of the time in Morocco, she heard about what happened from the other members afterwards. She was almost turned into a monster with a long tail, scales, and horns. She was still terrified when she thought about it.
Lily smiled and said, “Dragon Blood Man is so cool. I heard that they can repair the wounds on their body so they don’t have to be afraid of scars anymore.”
Before Pell said anything to counter her, Tang Tingzhi turned his head abruptly. His eyes were sparkling with interest, “Are you interested? If you want to, we can cooperate. We are seriously short of female Dragon Blood people.”
Lily’s complexion changed slightly. She then said viciously, “I don’t want it.”
Everyone around laughed.
Shan Ming stared at the screen for a long time before saying: “To destroy Tang Jingzhi, his headquarters must be destroyed together with him. This resort is definitely just a foothold for him. We must find his headquarters. I don’t think we should rush into action now so as not to provoke the snake.”
Tang Tingzhi nodded, “That makes sense. But I don’t know what his purpose is in staying in Japan. If he is planning to do something that will cause serious consequences in the future, I would rather stop him now.”
“So, we should first find out his purpose?”
“This is contradictory. How should we act then?”
Koski said in a rough voice: “What to do with so much research? We can just go and beat him down and then force him to tell us where the headquarters is. We can then blow up the headquarters.”
“No. There must be a lot of very valuable experimental data in the headquarters which is of great significance to us. We must try our best to keep Tang Jingzhi’s laboratory intact.”
Ayer frowned and said: “This is not within the scope of the contract. The items charged do not include this item.”
Tang Tingzhi said: “That’s right. Your mission is to capture or kill Tang Jingzhi. We will handle the rest of the aftermath. So don’t destroy the laboratory. Your only goal is Tang Jingzhi.”
Ayer snorted coldly, “On the battlefield, any unexpected situation may happen. We give priority to completing tasks and protecting ourselves and our comrades-in-arms. We will destroy everything that conflicts with these two goals. So don’t tell us what to do. When we get to the scene, the real situation will give you the answer on how to act.”
Tang Tingzhi didn’t bother himself with his provocation. He was instead thinking blankly. Everyone looked at him. For the special forces, Tang Tingzhi is the highest ranking commander here and for the ‘Peregrine Falcon’, he is the client. So everyone is waiting for an order from Tang Tingzhi.
Should they attack or should they wait?
After a while, Tang Tingzhi said, “Let’s act. But we must catch him alive.”
Job snapped his fingers and said disappointedly, “It seems like I won’t have a chance to join this fight.”
Vulture was wiping his beloved sniper rifle. There was a strong fighting spirit shown on his face.
Tiger Shark dispatched a transport plane through the Mochizuki Group. More than 20 of them with sufficient equipment rushed to the mountains near Tang Jingzhi’s location overnight.
When they arrived, the sun had just risen. Surrounded by mountains, the scenery was intoxicating. The early morning mist lingered in the mountains, giving them an ethereal feeling like they were in a fairytale. They couldn’t see the village at a glance. The satellite images showed that the resort was about four hours away from the nearest village up in the mountains. Everyone questioned whether the resort could have run proper business to be located in such a remote place. Huang Ying explained that this resort is a private club for a certain group of people. Most of the time, it only takes in company guests and employees on vacation. During the off-season, it is either closed or rented out. So Tang Jingzhi should not have spent too much money renting the entire resort.
Job poked Ayer, “Let’s come here for vacation in the future. We can pay for them using public funds. We work so hard every year, you should give us some benefits.”
Ayer rolled his eyes, “I’ll think about it.”
“You’re so stingy.”
Dino took a breath of fresh air, “Be content with what you have. Even if you can’t take a vacation here, you should be thankful to him for letting you even perform missions in such a place with beautiful mountains and rivers and a clean environment.”
It is a great joy for the mercenaries to be able to perform tasks in such a pleasant environment. They had walked through the swamps that were difficult to walk, through the stinking underground pipes, and crawled through the deadly tropical rainforest. Only in such a place where the birds are singing and the flowers are fragrant, they have never done the business of fighting and killing people. This is unlike performing a mission. It was as if they were on a vacation.
The mercenaries are all gearing up and their enthusiasm for the mission has been mobilised to the highest level.
Crow said; “In order to hide, we can’t drive. We have to walk with heavy loads. The route I designed is hidden but not very easy to walk on. It is a hike up the mountain, which will consume a lot of physical strength. It is about 64 kilometres going up. Everyone, do your best. You must be mentally prepared. We must arrive by sunset tomorrow.”
When everyone heard that they were going to hike a 64-kilometre mountain, they lost all interest just now. Ayer gave Tang Tingzhi a playful look, “Will you be okay? Don’t let people carry you if you can’t hike.”
Tang Tingzhi said lightly: “I am also from a military background. So it should be fine if I don’t carry heavy loads.”
Huang Ying nodded, “We will take turns carrying the equipment for the Colonel.”
Crow smiled and said: “If it’s really not possible, Colonel, we will take turns to carry you.”
Ayer curled his lips and warned Tang Tingzhi, “Don’t hold us back.” After speaking, he began to direct the mercenaries to unload their equipment and organise their formation one by one.
Shen Changze asked Shan Ming, “How is your leg?”
Shan Ming jumped twice on the spot and said indifferently: “It’s completely fine.”
Tang Tingzhi checked the navigation map, “Let’s go.”
They all carried equipment ranging from 20 to 50 kilograms on their backs and started to head towards the hot spring resort through the mountains. According to the satellite images, they had to climb over an entire mountain first. If they drove by road, they only needed about three hours to get there. But if they were to rely on their own two legs, they have to walk for a whole day.
At the beginning, everyone was able to keep breathing steadily and no one was left behind. In fact, the air in the mountains was good and the scenery was beautiful. They didn’t feel any burden and most of them still had a relaxed attitude.
But four hours later, the forest was completely dark. The trees became thicker and the sunlight could hardly penetrate through. Rain also started to fall.
When the raindrops fell on their faces, everyone started to curse.
There is almost no place to shelter from the rain. Even if there is, the woods are too dark to be seen. Walking in the rain will have a huge impact on their next day’s performance. Humidity and coldness can make a warrior with a steel suffer from illnesses at any time. A cold that is usually insignificant can be fatal at critical moments.
They pulled out the tarps to cover their gear and heads. They had no choice but to keep going in the rain.
The rain quickly caused the ground to be extremely muddy. The road up the mountain was already not easy to walk on. But now, the ground is full of potholes and has become slippery. If they step into the mud, they have to work hard to pull their leg out. In this case, their physical strength is exhausted. It is several times the usual amount of effort to walk, coupled with the dampness and sleepiness, it takes a lot of willpower to take even one step ahead.
They all began to support each other to move forward by pulling each other up as they reluctantly moved forward.
Soon, Tang Tingzhi was the first to be unable to hold on. He was panting from exhaustion and sweating profusely. His skin was already fair. But at this moment, his face was even paler. He looked like he was about to collapse at any time.
Huang Ying said: “Senior Colonel, I’ll carry you on my back.”
Among these people, it is obvious that the four Dragon Blood men are the most powerful. They basically don’t even look tired. Job cursed loudly and shouted with envy: “Turn me into a monster too!”
Panting, Tang Tingzhi turned his head and looked at Job seriously, “Really…? Really…?”
Vulture roared: “Colonel Tang! You are still trying to recruit experimental subjects at any time. Please let Huang Ying carry you immediately.” After speaking, he took the equipment that Huang Ying was wearing on to himself.
Tang Tingzhi’s face was pale and he was picked up by Huangying. Ayer saw it and gritted his teeth. He was feeling quite resentful as he turned his head and walked forward sullenly. But his feet were getting heavier step by step. None of the mercenaries from ‘Peregrine Falcon’ complained. They all gritted their teeth and moved forward. They can’t be ashamed of bleeding and sweating. So they can’t show their powerlessness in front of their client.
Shen Changze wanted to pull Shan Ming with him several times. But he was dismissed by Shan Ming. He gritted his teeth and said, “I’m fine. Go help Pell and Lily.”
Shen Changze ran to the end of the line. He grabbed each arm of the women with each of his hands. He then pulled the two women forward. With his help, the two beauties finally took a full breath of relief.
The three Dragon Blood men took turns carrying Tang Tingzhi forward. In the end, they were all sweating profusely. The mercenaries were so tired that their eyes turned white and their mouths kept drooling. They couldn’t wipe them off for a lifetime. They all persisted with their tenacious will.
After an extremely painful night of trekking, the sun rose shortly after the rain stopped. They finally found a place that was not too muddy to rest under the sunlight.
Everyone was so tired that they lay on the ground. They were motionless as if they were dead. But this state only lasted for a few seconds. They then got up consciously. Those who should stand guard started to stand guard and those who should eat and rest started to eat and rest. Their job is to strive to return to the best condition as quickly as possible.
After resting for four hours, they set off again. At this time, the sun had evaporated the water on the ground so the road was no longer so difficult. They finally arrived at their destination after sunset.
֍֍֍
Next update: 2023.–.– (*TBA)
֍֍֍
