Special Forces: I Can See the Experience Bar

Chapter 82 No Man's Land

Sitting in the car, Chang Ning was initially able to rely on her senses to remember how far she had traveled.

However, the other party was clearly wary of this move, driving like a drunk driver: sometimes turning left, sometimes turning right.

In the end, Changning was so carsick from all the driving that he couldn't remember anything. Once he got there, he could only rely on his own abilities to get back.

The car drove for an unknown amount of time before finally coming to a stop.

"Comrade, we've arrived."

"okay!"

Chang Ning ripped off her eye mask and squinted to adjust to the not-too-bright sunlight.

When we left, the sun hadn't even risen above the horizon yet; now it's completely high in the sky.

After watching the car leave, Chang Ning's first question was to confirm exactly where she had been taken.

Looking at the boundless plains and the continuous mountain peaks in the distance, coupled with the information revealed in his previous conversation with Captain Li, he felt a sense of awe.

Chang Ning guessed that he had been sent to a nature reserve in xxx district. (The actual location cannot be written, so I have to use pinyin.)
"No wonder the high school team gave me a pistol loaded with live ammunition; they want me to fight poachers."

The nature reserve at this point in time is not the same as it was before the Changning crossing; poaching is rampant now.

"Let's take one step at a time."

Chang Ning slung his backpack over his shoulder, stepped across the damp ground to the stream, and scooped up a jug of water.

The stream was crystal clear and appeared to be free of any dirt. However, in this nature reserve, one cannot eat or drink indiscriminately.

Take this stream, for example. It looks very clean now, but who can guarantee that there aren't any animal carcasses upstream?

Therefore, if you can drink boiled water in the wild, don't drink raw water, otherwise you'll get diarrhea so badly you'll question your existence.

There's no village or shop in sight here, so if an accident happens, there won't be time to rescue anyone.

Breathing in the fresh air; gazing at the breathtaking scenery; listening to the calls of unknown animals—if you could ignore the poaching gangs that might suddenly appear out of nowhere, this place would be nothing short of paradise!
"It shouldn't be that unlucky. Those poaching gangs are all targeting protected wild animals. There don't seem to be any animal populations around here."

Chang Ning comforted himself, telling himself that he was not afraid of fighting, but he had not yet reached the point where he could calmly face death.

The poaching gang must be a group of people. Captain Li said that this group had automatic weapons. There was no cover on the plains, and he only had a pistol.

The combat environment was extremely harsh for Chang Ning. No matter how strong he was, he was still made of flesh and blood and would bleed to death if he were hit by concentrated fire from automatic rifles.

Thinking about this, Chang Ning decided to give his system a bad review.

Other people's systems make their hosts inhuman from the very beginning, allowing them to fight their way in and out of a hail of bullets like Zhao Zilong, while his experience bar system requires the host to learn knowledge on their own.

The advantage of plains over mountains and forests is the wide field of vision; once you've determined your direction, you can simply head towards your destination. The disadvantage is also obvious: there are very few landmarks to reference.

Chang Ning felt much more at ease after learning that she was in a nature reserve.

During previous training, the high school team had them memorize maps of major countries in the world, with the map of China being a key focus of their assessment.

Knowing his place, Chang Ning was able to rely on the knowledge taught to him by his teammates in the training camp to return to the Armed Police Border Station.

Although Captain Li did not tell Chang Ning the name and location of the outpost, Chang Ning could roughly calculate a location based on the time it took them to bring him to the mission site.

Because the soldier who was taking him there was too cunning and drove recklessly on the way, Chang Ning was unable to accurately calculate the location of the outpost.

Fortunately, he still had a map. In the original story, the high school team was "kind" enough to give each member of the rookie A team a map, so Chang Ning would naturally be no exception.

Chang Ning pulled out the map that the high school team leader had given him from his pocket, opened it, and revealed an expression that said, "I knew it."

The map looks like a child's doodle, but it's not bad; at least it marks the direction of the outpost.

"How come it's in the west?" The outpost marked on the map was west of Changning, while he had previously estimated the direction to be east.

Good heavens, without a map, he wouldn't know where he would end up.

"That soldier is a real talent!"

Chang Ning recalled the honest and innocent smile of the soldier who brought him there, and now he remembered it vividly.

That's not honesty and innocence at all; it's downright malicious.

This guy is cunning and sly. Chang Ning felt that if he didn't talk to him after he got back, he would be letting the guy down for seeing him off.

"Let's get going, we still have five days to spend here."

Essential elements for wilderness survival: fresh water, food, fire source, and shelter.

Chang Ning doesn't need to worry about freshwater and food in the nature reserve; even hyenas can outrun rabbits, so with his physical abilities, he can certainly manage it too.

Now fire sources and shelters are a problem, as this area is a haven for wildlife and is frequently frequented by large predators.

Without a source of fire and shelter, Chang Ning felt that she would turn into animal poop in her dreams at night.

It's springtime now, and the humidity in the air and soil indicates that it has rained recently, making it much harder to find flammable materials.

He is currently on the plains, and if he wants to find shelter, he will have to go to the distant, snow-covered mountains.

If you're lucky, Changning might find an abandoned animal burrow there, which might be enough to get by for the night.

But as the saying goes, "looking at a mountain makes a horse run itself to death," meaning that no one knows how far away a mountain range is, no matter how close it seems.

Chang Ning took stock of his supplies: a water bottle filled with stream water, a bundle of rope, a tactical knife, a set of spare clothes, and finally, a Type 92 pistol kept as a last resort for survival.

There were no tools for starting a fire, and no compressed biscuits. Of course, the high school team wouldn't let him bring either of those, otherwise their "wandering in the jungle" would turn into a jungle picnic.

Chang Ning mentally prioritized the things he needed to accomplish.

It's still early, so finding a shelter will have to wait. Food is the most important thing for people, and Changning needs to find some food to fill his stomach.

The food resources in the reserve are relatively abundant. Changning can also collect combustibles while hunting, doing both things at the same time to save time and improve efficiency.

Even the best hunter can't catch prey without the right tools. Chang Ning was lucky; he had a dagger and a bundle of rope.

Using ropes and the vegetation resources of the protected area, Changning could easily make a simple trap.

The skill of setting traps had been explained to Chang Ning by someone in both the reconnaissance company and the training camp.

Although Chang Ning wasn't the best at setting traps among the rookie A team, she could still manage to do it.

As for the results, only God knows; he didn't have a chance to put it into practice at the training camp.

Chang Ning hurried westward, and when he passed a meadow, he took a closer look.

They discovered that some areas inside had formed crisscrossing gullies, as if something had been pressing down on them for a long time.

In such places, those gullies are clearly animal trails used by small animals.

Animals generally follow fixed routes, so setting traps along their trails is likely to be successful.

Chang Ning first used a dagger to cut a small section of the rope, then used branches he picked up from the bushes to secure it, creating a small trap that would ensnare any animal that walked through it.

After finishing these tasks, Changning set off again. This meadow was not far from the foot of the mountain.

He must find suitable shelter and successfully start a fire before nightfall.

(End of this chapter)