About 40 ters across from the cave entrance appeared a middle-aged man wearing a robe, carrying a bundle of firewood on his back, waving a tree branch in his hand, beating the grass ahead of him and humming an unknown tune.
Song Heping sighed with relief.
This man seed to pose no threat.
Moreover, he didn't even notice that just a few dozen ters away, inside a concealed cave entrance, a pair of eyes were staring intently at him; if he turned his head and spotted the cave entrance, he might have been greeted with a bullet.
"There's a village nearby."
Back inside the cave, Song Heping whispered to Willie, "It looks like we will have to go to the village tonight to find so water."
He grabbed his tactical bag and rummaged through it.
There was still food, enough to last three days.
This was within the plan, maintaining physical strength wasn't an issue.
The biggest problem was water.
This place is different from a regular jungle.
The tribal autonomous regions in Ba Country are predominantly highland and mountainous areas, lacking in water sources, and villages are scarce.
Villages generally exist where there are stable water sources, as people settle in areas where they can access water.
This is the necessary condition for the settlent of all human tribes and groups since ancient tis, and it is the foundation of civilization.
Willie nodded, carefully opened his mouth, and said: "OK."
He now did not want to say even a single additional letter.
The severe lack of water and drought were extrely uncomfortable.
The water in their water bags had run out two days ago.
For the past two days, both relied on their wilderness survival skills to obtain so limited water to prevent dying of thirst.
Finding water sounds simple.
But it is difficult to do.
Their biggest problem was finding water sources while concealing their tracks.
If they disregarded covering their tracks, then finding water would be simple.
They could always find streams, or even wild fruits.
But during the day, both of them had to hide and avoid any sunlight, making it impossible to go out to find water.
They relied on setting up a water collection pit during their sleeping hours in the day to gather limited drinking water.
Such pits could collect a few hundred milliliters a day, which was far from enough for two highly active adults.
By today, the fourth day, Song Heping felt his tongue and upper palate sticking together in his dry mouth.
The most uncomfortable feeling was his lips.
Like sun-dried bacon, all his lips had cracked open, and talking with even a slightly larger movent would cause them to bleed.
There were still two more days to go.
And they had to cross a mountain area over three thousand ters high.
Before entering, they must prepare enough water.
No one knew whether they would be able to find a single drop of water after entering the mountain areas.
An important principle of wilderness survival is to be prepared for the worst-case scenario at all tis, to make the most thorough preparations.
The presence of soone here indicates that there is a village nearby.
There must be water where there is a village.
Willie was already tornted by thirst to the point of losing the courage to disagree.
Normally, going to a village for water is a major taboo.
Once their tracks are exposed, all the previous days' efforts would be in vain.
They would find themselves back in a situation of being hunted by elite special forces.
But now, they couldn't care about that.
They couldn't care about anything.
If they continued like this, if there was no water to be squeezed out even from a stone when they entered the mountain area tomorrow, there would be no chance for regrets.
"You rest for a bit, I'll keep watch."
Willie nodded, still saying nothing.
Nobody wanted to talk.
He squeezed into a corner inside the cave, curling up against the wall, cradling his gun and quickly fell into a deep sleep.
Song Heping sat at the edge of the cave entrance, his assault rifle on his thigh, the M24 leaning against the cave wall beside him.
Several tis, he thought about throwing away the sniper rifle.
Don't underestimate the weight of a few kilograms.
In a long, extre march, even an item weighing one kilogram would feel like a huge burden at the end, so much so that you would want to pluck out your own hair to lighten the load.
His stomach suddenly started growling at that mont.
Looking at the sky, it was already dusk.
It would soon be dark.
Song Heping knew it was ti for him to eat sothing.
But eating was literally a torture for them now.
Starting from yesterday, they had to rely primarily on so at and jam from their individual ration packs, where the at being fatty food, was at least oily enough to swallow with eyes closed in this dehydrated situation.
The jam at least contained so moisture, providing so water to the body and was easy to swallow, though eating it directly without biscuits would be so sweet as to be sickening, but it was still better than eating other things.
By about 6 PM, Song Heping went to wake Willie, after having slept in the cave for two hours himself.
By eight o'clock, Willie woke Song Heping.
"It's about ti."
"Yeah."
Now, both of them spoke simply and straightforwardly, very crisply.
After organizing their equipnt, they began their journey to find the village.
As planned, after finding water in the village, they were to leave imdiately without disturbing anyone.
The mountain area was extrely cold at night.
Song Heping had to face a painful issue.
The wound from a few days ago started to ache again.
Although he disinfected it with a first aid kit and applied Hemostatic gel, and sealed the wound with adhesive tape, he had not received formal dical treatnt at a hospital, so the wound had not yet healed.
Every ti he found a hiding place during the day, he had to reopen the wound for disinfection and dressing.
Luckily, he had enough dicine to prevent the wound from getting infected.
In the wilderness, once a wound gets infected, it can cause a high fever, putting a person into a state of high fever, and their combat effectiveness would dramatically decrease.
"Does it hurt a lot?"
"Mmm."
"Hang in there, two more days."
"Mmm."
The two followed the direction they had discovered during the day, and sure enough, after walking a kiloter, they saw a faint light in the distance.
There was no electricity here; the light was clearly so kind of oil lamp.
The light was very faint, barely visible in the distance, the entire village was as quiet as a baby about to fall asleep.
"Hopefully the water source is outside the village..."
Song Heping kept muttering to himself.
If the water source was inside the village, the risk would increase sharply.
"Here! Hiss—"
After walking around the village, Willie, who was leading the way, suddenly turned around and whispered excitedly, pressing his voice.
As a result, his lips cracked again, causing him pain that made him grit his teeth.
Song Heping quickly stepped forward, pushing aside the grass at the roadside to look out.
Indeed, there was a well sitting lonely under a big tree, with a windlass on the beam above, even a bucket placed by the well.
Although this place was secluded, because it's secluded, everyone knew each other well.
In a small village with dozens of households, where everyone is familiar with each other like family as they constantly see each other.
"You keep watch, I'll fetch the water."
After instructing Willie, Song Heping cautiously crept towards the well.
The usually calm him couldn't help but have his heart pounding at this mont.
The primitive desire for water excited him sowhat.
There was a house just opposite the well, about twenty ters away.
A re twenty ters was an easy distance to be noticed.
Luckily, people in the mountains went to bed early, and at this ti the household was dark, probably already in bed sleeping.
Song Heping carefully lowered the bucket into the well, worrying about hitting the well walls or accidentally dropping it into the water making noise.
He didn't even know if there was water in the well, turning on a tactical flashlight at night was extrely dangerous.
Suddenly, the rope in his hand felt lighter.
Song Heping felt the bucket hit the bottom, pinched the rope, and gave it a gentle shake.
The feel told him there was water in the well.
He swung the rope left and right and then suddenly flicked it, flipping the bucket upside down into the water with a soft sound.
A tiny sound of water ca through.
That was the most touching sound Song Heping had ever heard.
Finally, in less than five minutes, Song Heping got the first bucket of water.
For safety, he didn't dare to linger by the well.
There was no cover here, as soon as a villager ca out, they would see him.
Carrying the bucket, he dived back into the grass over his head, and Song Heping and Willie found a secluded spot and excitedly shared the water like thieves splitting their loot.
Willie scooped a handful of water from the bucket, bowed his head and slurped it clean.
"No problem, good water!"
Song Heping also hurriedly drank a handful.
The well water was crisp, cool, and refreshing.
The best drink he had ever had in his life couldn't compare to the sweetness of this handful of water.
Even the most brutal wilderness training Song Heping had undergone before was not as real as the feeling he got from this actual combat situation.
The two crouched by the bucket, drinking four handfuls of water, then simultaneously stopped, took off their water bags, and began to fill them.
Despite being thirsty for two days, drinking too much water suddenly in a state of thirst could also cause problems.
The body was extrely thirsty, yet reasoning had to restrain.
After filling the water, the two drank the last bit of water left in the bucket clean.
"Let's go."
Willie licked his lips, feeling they had regained so elasticity.
Especially the feeling in his mouth was incredibly good, that sensation of being glued shut was gone, and saliva began to secrete effectively again.
The most challenging mont had finally passed.
"Good, let's hurry on our way."
Song Heping agreed with his suggestion.
Just as they were getting up to leave, they suddenly heard the clattering sound of donkey hooves.
The two imdiately crouched down again.
Soon, a troop of donkeys passed by on the small road.
Through night vision goggles, Song Heping and Willie clearly saw that the donkey riders were all fully ard.
Song Heping gestured to Willie, telling him not to act rashly and to hide here and assess the situation for now.
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