399: Chapter 397: Jungle Hell 399: Chapter 397: Jungle Hell By the time Gao Yang and his team were ready, it was already getting dark.
Gao Yang had fully prepared himself mentally, but it was only upon entering the rainforest that he realized the harshness of the environment exceeded his imagination.
The tall trees blocked out the sky, preventing sunlight from reaching the ground, so the temperature inside the rainforest wasn’t actually too high, especially at night when one could feel a hint of coolness.
The problem, however, was the extremely high humidity.
Gao Yang and his team had spent uninterrupted time in the deserts of Libya and Somalia.
During the dry season, the hot winds from the Sahara could make temperatures soar to over forty degrees, and in extreme cases, reach scorching highs of fifty degrees.
But that kind of heat was dry; as long as one stayed in the shade, it was bearable.
In the sunless rainforest, the temperature in the canopy could be around forty degrees, but on the ground, it was around thirty-two or thirty-three degrees.
The intense moisture combined with the heat created what is commonly known as sauna weather.
Gao Yang carried a shotgun with one hundred and twenty shells, six offensive grenades, his Blade of Satan with one hundred rounds, a pistol, and a mortar round he carried for Tommy, along with the ax he never parted with in combat.
Just his weapons weighed nearly twenty kilograms.
Adding the bulletproof vest, helmet, electronic equipment, and water, Gao Yang was carrying around thirty-five kilograms.
After walking barely five hundred meters into the rainforest with thirty-five kilograms of equipment, Gao Yang’s clothes were soaked with sweat, and his energy depleted faster than his most pessimistic expectations.
Gao Yang chose to set out as dusk fell, rather than resting overnight and waiting for daylight, in order to acclimate to the conditions as soon as possible.
Traveling from Pailano’s camp to Teodulo’s camp, the direct distance was about forty kilometers.
Gao Yang thought they could make it in forty hours, or two nights and a day, even on foot with short rest periods in between.
With night vision equipment, launching a night raid was an inevitable choice.
Gao Yang felt that an extra twelve hours would be a comfortable margin.
If they started in the evening and after forty-eight hours, they would arrive near Teodulo’s camp at night.
Therefore, setting out immediately in the evening also allowed an additional night to adapt.
Pailano’s camp was a relatively safe area, so even if they made mistakes due to unfamiliarity with the rainforest environment, the consequences wouldn’t be too serious.
Hope was beautiful, but reality dealt Gao Yang a harsh blow.
He thought they could reach their destination in forty-eight hours, but the real situation turned out to be that it would be quite impressive if they managed to arrive in one hundred and forty-eight hours.
It didn’t take long after they entered the rainforest for the night to fall completely, dark enough that they couldn’t see their hands in front of their faces.
To keep moving, they had to either turn on their headlamps or use night vision gear.
The problem was, their five guides didn’t have night vision gear, so Gao Yang simply ordered to switch on the headlamps.
However, once they did, mosquitos and various flying insects swarmed around them.
Gao Yang nearly emptied a bottle of mosquito repellent, but it still couldn’t keep the mosquitos away.
Moreover, Gao Yang originally planned to send out two scouts, but he soon abandoned the idea.
The rainforest floor was covered with various vines and leaves with sharp serrated edges.
To advance, they had to clear a path with machetes.
Dispatching two scouts in different directions meant clearing two separate paths.
With no other choice, they left only one scout.
Li Jinfang and a guide took turns cutting a path at the forefront but after about half an hour, the guide who was clearing the path would come back to rest, replaced by another guide.
However, Li Jinfang, having done the same amount of work, could only persevere alone.
Also, although Li Jinfang was the scout, he couldn’t maintain a distance of one hundred meters from the main group because it was simply impossible to proceed in a straight line in the rainforest.
The various obstacles forced them to move in a zigzag pattern, and just twenty or thirty meters away, Li Jinfang would completely disappear from sight.
Gao Yang tried it out, or rather rehearsed it.
When Li Jinfang gave a signal, Gao Yang and his team would immediately turn off their headlamps, switch to night vision, and then quickly regroup with Li Jinfang.
It took them a full half hour.
The route, which was far from straightforward and snaked through the dense vegetation, meant that although they could stay in touch with Li Jinfang via radio, it was impossible to discern his direction or to recognize the path they had just traversed.
So after Li Jinfang signaled, Gao Yang and his team were like headless flies, bumping around aimlessly.
Keeping a one-hundred-meter distance between Li Jinfang as the scout and the main force turned out to be an unachievable goal.
After testing, Gao Yang and his team found that the optimal distance between Li Jinfang and the main force at night was between twenty and thirty meters.
Any further would be meaningless.
Excessive sweating caused Gao Yang to drink all his water within an hour of entering the rainforest.
The clothes clinging to his body, the swarms of mosquitos, and the rapid depletion of his strength made Gao Yang give up his plan to march for six hours.
“Halt!
Everyone regroup on me.”
After shouting weakly, Gao Yang stood panting in his place while everyone gradually gathered around him.
Everyone’s clothes were soaked through, and they were huffing and puffing.
Gao Yang signaled for Tommy and Glolov with his headlamp.
They were the oldest and carried around forty kilograms each; Gao Yang was most concerned about their physical condition.
“Big Dog, Worker Bee, how are you guys holding up?
Can you continue?”
Golov nodded and said, “It’s manageable for now, but I’m not sure how long that will last if we go for a long time.”
Tommy said in a deep voice, “I’m feeling a bit strained, but if we slow down a bit, I think I can manage.”
Gao Yang wasn’t surprised by Glolov and Tommy’s responses; his endurance was the best in the Satan Mercenary Corps, but now even he was starting to feel overwhelmed, let alone two men nearing fifty.
Cui Bo exhaled and said, “We’ve walked ten kilometers already, right?
To be this tired after such a short distance, f**k, I can’t take it anymore.”
Gao Yang took out the GPS, checked it, and then laughed bitterly, “Guys, we’ve only covered 2.7 kilometers, the straight-line distance is just 1.2 kilometers.”
Upon hearing this, Cui Bo was stunned and said in disbelief, “What!
We’ve been walking for more than two hours and only covered this little distance?
That’s ridiculous…
ptui, ptui, a moth flew into my mouth.”
Gao Yang also found it too exaggerated; they had been walking for two hours and fifteen minutes, and despite their slow pace, only covering 2.7 kilometers seemed extreme.
He had estimated they should have covered at least five kilometers by now.
Glolov, swatting at the mosquitoes in front of his face, said urgently, “It’s perfectly normal; our speed is already quite fast.
Damn it, the rainforest here is different from the one in Congo, there’s more and denser vine vegetation here.”
The five guides, also gathered around Gao Yang, consisted of four men and one woman.
The leader was named Kamp, but the one responsible for communicating with Gao Yang and the others was a female warrior called Lucica.
Compared to Gao Yang’s group who were struggling, the five guides who were accustomed to the rainforest climate were faring much better.
Though they too felt hot and sweated, they didn’t find the conditions unbearable like Gao Yang’s group did.
Gao Yang had initially planned to stick to his own schedule and itinerary, but he had since changed his mind.
He wasn’t about to make the foolish mistake of leading experts with amateur knowledge.
Sticking to an obviously flawed plan for the sake of pride was out of the question.
Gao Yang nodded at Lucica and asked, “Lucica, should we keep moving or rest here?”
Lucica responded coolly, “Rest.”
Gao Yang, helpless, shook his head and asked, “So, should we set up camp right here?
Or rest for the night and set out again tomorrow?”
“Set up camp, depart at dawn.”
Truth be told, Lucica was quite attractive; with her chocolate-colored skin and a height of roughly 1.67 meters.
Even dressed in oversized green military fatigues, her slender figure was undeniable.
As for her looks, by Gao Yang’s Asian standards, they were so-so, but Frey and Bruce said Lucica was very beautiful.
Unfortunately, she was extremely aloof.
Out of the five guides, Lucica was the only one who spoke English, but she was never one to say more than necessary.
She only spoke when Gao Yang asked something or when Kamp had a message for Gao Yang which required translation.
And even then, she strictly stuck to what needed to be translated, without adding a single superfluous word.
Actually, it wasn’t just Lucica who was reticent.
The other four guides were also sparse in their conversations.
This wasn’t only due to the language barrier; even among themselves, the guides rarely spoke, each maintaining an indifferent façade.
Gao Yang nodded and said to the Satan Mercenary Corps, “All right, everyone heard what she said.
We set up camp now.
We’ll take turns on watch tonight, one hour each.
Big Dog, you’re up first, Worker Bee, you’re the second.
Now, everyone find a suitable place to tie up the hammocks.”
“Wait.”
Lucica, unexpectedly, took the initiative to speak up.
Gao Yang turned around and asked, “What is it?”
Lucica pointed at her own neck, then at the others, and said coldly, “Sandflies.”
Gao Yang felt his own neck and just as Cui Bo suddenly shouted, “Damn it, sandflies!
So many of them!”
Gao Yang glanced at Glolov’s neck, closest to him, and saw at least four or five sandflies that had swollen with blood.
Without asking, he knew his own neck must be in the same state.
Gao Yang feared nothing in heaven or earth, but he detested creatures like sandflies and leeches.
Imagining what his own neck must look like, he immediately called out frantically, “Get cigarettes, lighters, quick, hurry!” (To be continued.
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