I started to set up a small campsite with a bitter feeling in my heart. First, I made the selected grassland relatively clean and then spread insect-repellent medicine around it, which gave off a faint bitter smell. After the smell had spread, I laid out individual sleeping bags on the grassland. Jiang Li put her M40A3 on her sleeping bag and slung the SG552 across her chest. "I'm going to take a walk around."
I was confused and really couldn't figure out what she could do at this time. "What are you going to do?"
"Take a bath."
"Oh, take a bath... Huh?"
"Do you want to follow me?" There was a hint of allure in Jiang Li's voice. I subconsciously went along with her words: "Sure—No way!"
There it was again, that mysterious smile of Jiang Li's. I lowered my head and began to prepare the self-heating rations. I poured water into the bottom of the box and then closed it. The box emitted a faint white smoke. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that Jiang Li was a bit different from when we first met. There was an alluring blush on her face that made you want to take a bite.
Seeming to notice that I was looking at her, Jiang Li turned around, leaving only her back to me. "I'm off then."
I didn't say anything. The only response was the hissing sound from the heating boxed meal.
...
Following the sound of water, Jiang Li easily found the spring on this mountain. The stream that originated from the rocks at the top flowed downward all the way and meandered to form several small pools. Jiang Li took out a small bottle from her bosom, pried off the cap with her thumb, stared at a spot in the bushes, and raised the small bottle to shake it twice.
Then she carefully sprinkled the white powder in the bottle into the lowest small pool.
"Very sharp observation skills," an instructor in the exercise department praised. "But what did she pour in there?"
"Denzate disodium," another person replied. "The only fake poison allowed to be used in this assessment."
"That's so ruthless. No one could stand this amount, right?" The former clicked his tongue. "It seems Team A will have to go hungry today. Whose student is she? Elsa? Elsa?"
After calling out a few times, he found that no one answered him. When he turned around, he saw that the female instructor had just been woken up and looked confused. "Who am I? Where am I? What's for dinner today?"
"Elsa, who's that girl under the tutelage of?"
"Who? You mean Jiang? She's Nangong Taiyi's cousin. By the way, where's my student?"
"Him? He... got captured."
"Huh? Who?"
"His teammate."
...
"We adhere to resolving problems through multi-party communication and dialogue, adhere to non-violent cooperation, clarify the main purpose of cooperation, refrain from using violence, and maintain sufficient trust in our partners."
"Perhaps violence is a way to solve problems, but violence can't solve all problems."
"Stop talking nonsense." Jiang Li threw the lunch box into the nearby burial pit. "I won't argue with you anymore. Going to sleep."
After saying that, she got into the sleeping bag. I carefully laid my rifle flat beside me, opened the safety, and then got into the sleeping bag too. "Aren't we setting up a sentry?"
"Trust your Sister Jiang. They won't come tonight."
Although I was a bit puzzled, Jiang Li must have her reasons for doing this. I tried my best to lie flat in the sleeping bag. The gentle moonlight shone all around.
Suddenly, I said, "Jiang Li."
"Hmm?"
"Why did you choose me?"
"Do you really want to know?"
"Of course."
Jiang Li turned around in the sleeping bag to face me. In the moonlight, her skin seemed to be shining. "Haven't you noticed?"
She looked into my eyes. "We're the same kind of people. We seem as ordinary as ordinary people on the outside, but deep down, our way of thinking is completely different from others'. Few people can truly understand us. We're equally... lonely."
Equally... lonely.
I seemed to be back to that night again. Everything ended on that day. I sat alone on the bed, looking at the ceiling, trying to find some dark shadows.
At that time, there were still some birds chirping outside the window.
"Why did you come to Yitlan?"
I swallowed hard twice. "To die."
I stared at the girl. Her eyes were like a lake, and I could see my own reflection in the glistening water. "The people I cared about the most are all dead, my parents, my sister... The people who were nicest to me are all dead. There's no point in me living alone. I came here to go to the battlefield."
"What about Ji Ling and Ji Han?" Jiang Li's tone was calm but left no room for doubt. "Have you ever thought about why they're here? Why did they come? Who did they come for?"
"I'm sorry to them. I'll never be able to make it up to them in my life."
"Wait," I frowned. "How do you know about them?"
"When I decided that you'd be my partner, I also investigated your interpersonal relationships along the way."
"What about you? Why did you come to Yitlan?" I directly rolled out of the sleeping bag. Anyway, it was only seven o'clock, and I couldn't fall asleep for a while.
I just didn't know what Ji Ling and Ji Han were doing at this moment.
"No." Jiang Li shrank her whole head into the sleeping bag. "A girl's secrets aren't that easy to pry into. No wonder you can't find a girlfriend."
"...What does that have to do with me not being able to find a girlfriend? Do you believe I'll come over and tickle you?"
"You wouldn't dare." Jiang Li giggled twice and directly rolled from beside me to the opposite side with the sleeping bag, propping up her head and looking at me with interest. "You don't even dare to touch Ji Han's hand."
"Why do I feel like you know me so well?"
"Who knows." Jiang Li showed thatIconic smile of unknown significance again. "Hey, is your major team command?"
"Yeah."
"Then let Jiang Li and Lu Wanqing join your team."
I thought for a moment and nodded. "Okay."
"So straightforward?" Jiang Li was surprised.
"I can't recruit anyone else. The team commanders are all in the same classes. I don't have many opportunities to meet people from other majors."
"Then let's name the team Night Gull." When she said this, I clearly saw something flash in Jiang Li's eyes.
But that didn't stop me from looking at her like she was an idiot. "Are you out of your mind? Just use the number given by the academy."
"Tch. You're so boring."
"Then what's considered romantic? Should I give you a kiss?"
The girl's face immediately turned red. "You... you..."
I felt embarrassed to continue this topic. "Then what do you think the team should be named? Task Force 141? AR? 404?"
"Fourth Dormitory's Steamed Goose Heart. Stretch out your hand, quickly."
"?" I was a bit puzzled, but I still stretched out my hand.
"Your right hand!"
"Oh."
"Remember this." Jiang Li looked at me and hooked our little fingers together. "We've made a pinky promise. It won't change in a hundred years!"
The moonlight shone on our joined hands, and Jiang Li's drawn-out voice echoed in my ears: "Pinky promise, hanged by the neck if we break it, for a hundred years, it won't change—"
This was a vow.
A vow that would last her whole life.