“They might be temporarily lost. We can’t wait here,” Tang Hao said thoughtfully. “Let’s enter the search area, find a sheltered spot to set up camp, arrange night watch shifts, and conduct a thorough search early tomorrow.”
Everyone responded collectively and began to move.
General Zheng frowned. “Four people are missing?”
General Zheng turned back. “They might be lost or sacrificed.”
Before Director Zheng could comment, Tang Hao’s roar came through the phone: “Zhou—Rong! Please stay in the rear and don’t butt in. Thank your whole family!”
General Zheng hurriedly covered the receiver, but unexpectedly, Zhou Rong responded: “Sorry, Team Leader Tang. I’m now the remote combat advisor for the Black Hawk team and have the right to inquire about the latest front-line reports.”
“What?” Tang Hao shouted. “Combat advisor? You?”
General Zheng covered both the receiver and microphone, finally overwhelmed.
“Colonel Zhou was appointed as a remote guide due to his extensive small group operation experience,” Director Zheng said sternly into the phone. “Enough! Stop protesting, Team Leader Tang! Maintain alert and report your movement direction at all times.”
General Zheng hung up the phone with a slap, finally sighing in relief.
Zhou Rong sank into the swivel chair, pondering: “The four missing people might have been attacked by zombies and drifted down with the airflow to a distant location, unable to reach the assembly point in time. Tong Hao has already sent back the canyon terrain and wind direction data, right? Let the fighter pilots report the parachute time and altitude of those four team members, and we can roughly calculate their landing location based on wind speed.”
General Zheng’s expression finally softened.
“However, Tong Hao’s decision to withdraw was correct,” Zhou Rong sighed. “Now, no matter who gets left behind, we can’t go to rescue them. We must abandon them when necessary.”
General Zheng nodded in agreement: “If the terrain map Tong Hao sent back is correct, there are at least ten thousand zombies in the canyon. It’s too dangerous. We must act quickly and decisively, or complications will arise.”
Zheng Xie stood up to request the parachute report from the flight team.
Zhou Rong watched the old general’s majestic back with reverence, then collapsed like his bones had been removed, secretly waving: “Xiao Nan! Xiao Nan!”
Nan crouched and entered the office, quickly checking that no one was around before magically producing a lit cigarette.
Zhou Rong took a long, satisfying drag, lounging in the swivel chair with his legs crossed, hugging Nan’s waist and sighing: “This is the life I want…” Then he put on his headset, connected the channel, and lazily said: “Hey, daughter? How are you?”
In the forest beneath the waterfall, soldiers quickly and skillfully set up military green tents, keeping watch with their guns while making fire and preparing food.
“Everything’s fine so far!” Chun Cao sat cross-legged on a large rock by the tent, munching on a high-protein military beef wrap and mumbling: “Four people are missing. We lit a red smoke signal for them to gather! There are so many zombies in the canyon. We just bombed several rounds! Yan Hao’s ‘dog’s tail flower’ mode is still ongoing. Damn, we’re having such bad luck this time.”
In the communication room, Zhou Rong quickly hid his cigarette when he saw General Zheng passing by.
Zheng Xie seemed to catch a whiff of smoke, suspiciously stopping and looking around, suddenly meeting Nan’s gaze.
A chill crawled up his spine, and General Zheng’s eyelids jumped as he quickly turned and walked away.
“I told you the team’s code name was problematic,” Zhou Rong said into the microphone after watching Zheng leave. “Tong was already dark enough. Instead of finding a master to calculate a good code name, they insisted on ‘Black Hawk’. Are they not ominous enough? I say you should be called ‘Golden Chicken’ or ‘Lucky’, or at least ‘Panda’. Imagine marching out together – hey! The Ninth Rescue Battalion’s Panda Panpan Special Team reporting for duty!”
Chun Cao was on the verge of tears: “Can we not talk about this right now? The higher-ups wanted this unlucky name to provoke the A country’s White Eagle unit. What can we do?”
“The third state is a carnivorous plant, also known as a pitcher plant.” Zhou Rong swayed his index finger and said: “The most intense outbreak to date was during my time as a paratrooper captain. Comrade Yan Hao used all sorts of despicable methods to push me out, including forming factions, openly provoking, and plotting assassination. He even almost ran me directly into the morgue with his car…”
Spring Grass said: “I must speak fairly for Yan Hao. If you hadn’t beaten him three times during meal times, he wouldn’t have gone to such extremes. He originally only planned to hit you into a vegetative state.”
Si Nan clapped his hands, ceremonially expressing admiration.
“The tricky part is,” Spring Grass stood on a high stone and said seriously, “Yan Hao’s dog-tail flower mode and carnivorous plant mode occasionally switch. For example, when he successfully casts a spell on the cafeteria lady and gets an extra half scoop of potato beef, he can quickly return to a self-pitying state. But if the server is a soldier who doesn’t fall for his tricks, Yan Hao might suddenly turn into a carnivorous plant and forcibly…”
In the night, a black shadow flashed from the forest, gradually approaching behind Spring Grass.
“Forcibly what?” Si Nan laughed and asked, “How did his dog-tail mode get triggered this time?”
Spring Grass: “Well, this is a long story, but ultimately it’s because of you… Ah!!”
A cold hand grabbed Spring Grass’s ankle.
The communicator fell to the ground with a bang, the channel instantly cut off. Spring Grass grabbed her gun and turned back, chambering a round. The other party lightning-fast gripped the gun barrel and raised it, then softly questioned:
“What are you talking about?”
At the critical moment, Spring Grass’s trigger finger froze, torn between laughter and tears: “Yan Hao!”
Spring Grass jumped down from the stone, picked up the communicator, but it was already broken from the three-meter fall, only producing a static electrical hiss no matter how she adjusted it.
Yan Hao stood with arms crossed behind the rock, angrily saying: “I’m fine! My condition is stable with no abnormalities! My emotions are completely calm! Why are you worrying about everything?”
“Zombie Tide Night Attacks the Camp, Situation Critical, Will Contact Later.”
This became the last communication from the Black Hawk team to headquarters.
Thereafter, for thirty-six continuous hours, the communications department worked day and night but could not contact them again.
The conference room was filled with cigarette smoke. General Zheng led the way, holding a cigarette, standing at the head of the conference table. His eyes were bloodshot from staying up late, his voice hoarse and difficult to distinguish:
“The search and rescue area spans two hundred kilometers, mostly in mountainous forest terrain, with approximately ten thousand zombies wandering and gathering. The Eighth Group Army currently conducting rescue operations in Hebei has arrived on site, suffering heavy casualties, but no survivors have been found. The elite reconnaissance battalion from the Inner Mongolia base is en route to the canyon and will soon provide a report…”
“Hasn’t the General Staff Headquarters reached a conclusion?” someone asked.
Zheng, the lieutenant general, stopped his smoking gesture, watching white mist curl up.
After a moment, he said in a low voice: “If the reconnaissance battalion also finds no survivors, we can preliminarily conclude that the Black Hawk team has been completely sacrificed.”
