Chapter 1972 - 1974: Take a Gamble

Chapter 1972: Chapter 1974: Take a Gamble

Lu Feiyun was sleeping in a groggy daze when a slap woke her. She opened her eyes to dim darkness.

"What’s wrong?" She rubbed her eyes and sat up, turning her head to look at Qi Taiguo.

"The rain’s eased up. I think it’ll stop soon. We have to move!" Qi Taiguo said.

Lu Feiyun made a soft sound of acknowledgement, her gaze slipping to his arm. "Why don’t we wait until the rain’s completely stopped before we go? Your wound... if it keeps getting rained on, I’m afraid it’ll get infected and give you a fever."

"It’s fine." Qi Taiguo looked at the sky outside and said, "It’s about to get dark. Even if we can’t make it back to the base, we still have to find another place where we can make a fire. Otherwise, wearing these wet clothes and not even being able to light a fire, we won’t make it through the night."

In the jungle, the temperature difference between morning and evening and daytime is huge. They’d been drenched by the rain and their clothes still weren’t dry. Wearing them like this, even if they don’t get sick outright, they’ll be smothered into illness.

Besides, in this tree hole, they couldn’t light a fire anyway, so they had to leave.

"Can you really handle it? Don’t try to act tough." Lu Feiyun said.

Qi Taiguo nodded and was the first to crawl out of the tree hole. He surveyed the jungle’s movements, then checked the weapons on his body.

Only two daggers and a gun with no bullets left, nothing else.

When Lu Feiyun came out, he pulled a dagger from his combat boot and handed it over. "Just in case."

Lu Feiyun pressed her lips together, took it, and fastened it at her waist.

"Which direction are we heading?" Out here in the jungle, she definitely couldn’t orient herself as well as Qi Taiguo. Especially now, with a fine drizzle still falling and not even any sunlight—she couldn’t rely on the sun to find her bearings.

Qi Taiguo glanced at the trees, weeds, and brambles around them, then closed his eyes slightly and listened. Only then did he open them again. "Let’s head Northeast." That was where the base lay.

Lu Feiyun followed him, weaving through the forest. She’d originally been wearing just a shirt over a tank top; now the shirt had already been torn into strips to bandage Qi Taiguo’s wound, so she was left with only the tank top.

The jungle was full of thorns, scraping across her bare arms, quickly leaving line after line of blood.

Qi Taiguo glanced back inadvertently, frowned, then took off his own military jacket and tossed it to Lu Feiyun. "Put it on."

Lu Feiyun froze. "What about you?"

Qi Taiguo looked down at his own tank top. "I’m a man. I’ll be fine."

Lu Feiyun thought for a moment, then put it on. "Thanks."

The two of them walked for nearly an hour before spotting a small stream. They followed the stream, walking for another hour before Qi Taiguo finally saw a mountain cave suitable for spending the night and sheltering from the wind.

By then, the sky was completely dark; going any farther was out of the question.

"We’ll make do with this for tonight." Qi Taiguo entered the cave and did a quick inspection, unexpectedly discovering that it had actually been set up.

"This..." Lu Feiyun was a bit surprised too.

Qi Taiguo frowned and said, "This is probably a cave the natives prepared for themselves, to stay the night and such."

"Then what do we do?" Lu Feiyun had no idea either.

In terms of safety, leaving would certainly be better. Otherwise, wouldn’t they be getting out of a tiger’s den only to walk into a wolf’s lair?

But it was already dark outside; pressing on would obviously be unwise, and they had no idea what kind of beasts might appear at night. Staying here was relatively safer—there was a place to settle down, and they might not necessarily run into any natives.

Most importantly, there were some animal hides stashed here, which would help them keep warm.

"It’s dark. We’ll stay here. I’ll keep watch." After weighing the pros and cons, Qi Taiguo decided they should settle in this cave.

If it’s a wolf’s lair, then a wolf’s lair it is—he’d take the gamble.