Chapter 3: The Lonely Warrior

Night fell, and Zhanxiage didn't dare light a fire at all. The flames would only expose him completely, and all the wood he could find was damp. Lighting a campfire would cause thick smoke to spread within a two-kilometer radius. On a dangerous battlefield, the most important thing for a sniper is to keep his sight, smell, and hearing sharp. Without any companions, lighting a campfire—according to jungle solo special operations rules—is basically courting death!
Zhan Xiaoge climbed up to a tree more than five meters above the ground, slowly chewing on the raw snake meat he had just caught and sliced into small pieces with a military knife. Suddenly, Zhan Xiaoge frowned, clenching his fists and holding it in for half a minute before he managed to swallow the bitterly bitten piece of snake meat into his stomach. The compressed biscuit in his arms was taken out several times by Zhanxia Ge, then carefully put it back into his own pocket. All the coordinates on the map were wrong. Who knows when he'll finally find the real supply points.
It was Zhanxiage's first time spending the night alone in such a primeval forest. Surrounded by a deadly darkness, the dense jungle blocked all the moonlight, truly making it feel like you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. A gust of night wind blew in, and the hungry and exhausted Zhanxiage shivered violently. The leaves beside him rustled, rustling, and some unknown creatures emitted a restless low hum.
A sudden uncontrollable panic welled up in Zhanxia Ge's heart. In this vast, silent primeval jungle that could swallow all living things, he didn't even have a single weapon to hand in his hands! Finding the signal flare in his backpack that could send a distress signal up to 300 meters above the ground, Zhan Xiagoge finally felt a bit calmer. He gripped the signal flare tightly, staring in vain with his big eyes. Only then did Zhanxiage realize that in this world, there was a terrifying kind of terror called loneliness.
It turned out that no matter what dangers he had faced, even in moments of death and death, at least by his side, there were brothers who could give their lives to each other back-to-back.
All sorts of chaotic thoughts swirled in Zhanxia Ge's mind. He tried hard to ignore the suffocating, suffocating, and involuntarily chilling darkness and darkness in this primeval jungle. But as a seed-level elite sniper who had been trained by Zhu Jianjun, a super pervert for a whole year, able to fight solo without an observer, his eyes, his ears, his nose, even every inch of his skin exposed to the air, in this unfamiliar and dangerous environment, Instinctively, they were all adjusting their functions to peak levels, constantly transmitting various information to Zhanxia Ge's brain.
These two absolutely contradictory ways of thinking constantly battled and fought for ultimate control in Zhan Xiagoge's mind, making him almost clutch his head and groan. After struggling for an unknown length of time, Zhanxiage finally fell asleep hugging the tree trunk. Even in his sleep, he still tightly gripped two things: the signal flare in his left hand, and the spear made from his military knife in his right.
The next day, when Zhan Xia Ge woke up, he felt an unprecedented fatigue. He first threw down the backpack stuck in the tree branch, and the heavy backpack hit the soft ground with a muffled "thud." Zhan Xia Ge grabbed the trunk with both hands and slid down nimbly. Just as he was about to pick up his backpack, his body suddenly froze.
He was surrounded!
Dozens of curious, wary, and cloudy eyes fell on Zhan Xiaoge, cold sweat instantly soaking through his underwear.
Zhan Xia Ge quickly reflected in his heart: before his mind was fully awake and without clearly observing his surroundings, he recklessly jumped out from a hidden position. This was a major taboo in the rules of special operations! And as a future elite sniper who had undergone a year of rigorous training, he managed to let so many creatures approach him in his sleep without waking up. This shows that even when overworked, his almost sixth sense for danger fails. From now on, on the battlefield, he had to learn to relax his nerves under any circumstances!
Zhan Xiagoge quickly turned around. An adult male Bengal tiger quietly approaching him stopped and watched him warily. Surrounding the war hero song were more than thirty adult wild boars!
Zhan Xiaoge cursed inwardly; these wild boars and Bengal tigers were clearly in cahoots, but...... How could a wild boar and a tiger get mixed together?
Zhanxiage stared intently at the Bengal tiger in front of him, about 2.5 meters long and weighing nearly 140 kilograms, cold sweat breaking out all over his body.
Bengal tigers are widely distributed, mainly living in India, southern Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and the Yunnan region of China. They can hunt bison weighing three to four hundred kilograms alone, making them a natural powerhouse with strong aggression, feline agility, and resilience!
As for that large group of adult wild boars, not to mention their long tusks that looked like they had two little bayonets attached to them, even if they all rushed in and launched a wild boar charge, Zhanxiage would still be in serious trouble. But at that moment, Zhanxiage surprisingly made a judgment in his mind: his true enemy was only this Bengal tiger; the other thirty-plus wild boars were, at most, just spectators!
The reason, I don't know!
Excuses, go to hell!
At least, there was no obvious hostility in their eyes as they looked at Zhanxiage.
Zhanxiage gripped the spear tightly in his hand, glaring coldly at the Bengal tiger. In nature, if you encounter a wild beast, as long as you can face it and prepare for battle, it generally won't actively attack humans. Because they keep a certain distance from unfamiliar creatures, but if you choose to turn and run away, your fate is obvious. No one can run a single adult male Bengal tiger through the primeval jungle on their own two legs, not even a world sprint champion!
The Bengal tiger also stared intently at the war hero, occasionally squeezing out a few low growls, full of pressure and intimidation. Perhaps in its life, it had never seen a creature dare to stand in front of it and maintain a balanced standing.
A special forces soldier wielding a rough spear, surrounded by a pack of beasts, and a Bengal tiger, known as the king of beasts, stared motionlessly at each other from about twenty meters away. Neither of them knew what the other was thinking, but for different reasons, neither dared to act rashly.
The military watch on the Warrior Singer's wrist had the second hand ticking with each beat. In an environment she never dreamed of, the watch was exceptionally clear at this moment.
Gradually, the Bengal tiger relaxed its body, which could launch a deadly attack on Xia Ge at any moment. Slowly, its deep, almost invisible yet baby-like clear eyes turned into boredom and dullness.
It suddenly let out a soft roar at Zhanxiage. Although it couldn't understand what it was trying to convey, in its own "dormitory," it had once shared a room with venomous snakes, scorpions, spiders, centipedes, and even lizards. Zhanxiage instinctively sensed that this Bengal tiger's roar meant a truce.
Zhanxiage tried to move gently so as not to confuse the Bengal tiger, bent down slightly and hooked his left hand onto the backpack on the ground. Still facing the tiger, he gripped the weak spear tightly with his right hand and slowly stepped back. Seeing the Bengal tiger show no reaction, Zhanxiage took another step back.
Step three, step four, step five......
As he passed by the two wild boars, all 365 hairs on Zhan Xiaoge's body stood on end. If that Bengal tiger simply didn't want to fight him one-on-one and let him fall into the vast ocean of 'people's war,' his death would be truly unjust!
However, the two wild boars actually moved slightly to either side, and in their gazes toward Zhanxiage, there was a damn awe in their eyes! God knows what kind of gadget is spinning inside their pig heads; they probably think a creature that can stand up to an adult male Bengal tiger and walk away unscathed is very ...... Great?!
After watching Zhanxiage slowly walk away, the male Bengal tiger raised its head and let out a long roar. More than thirty adult wild boars obediently followed behind the tiger and walked away.
Faced with this scene, Zhanxiage felt as if he were still dreaming. Strange things happen every year, but only this year—what kind of game are this Bengal tiger and this group of wild boars playing?!
Unable to contain his inner surprise, Zhanxiage hid his military backpack in a relatively safe spot, carrying his rough spear alone, quietly following behind this strange group.
The Bengal tiger let out another long roar to the sky, and the herd of wild boars, like prisoners signaling a leak, scattered with a splash. Some used their tusks to dig at the ground, searching for food, some gnawed directly on leaves from lower branches, and others walked to a stream to drink water.
Suddenly, a golden shadow shot down from a tree seven or eight meters tall, crashing straight into a wild boar that was drinking by the stream. The boar let out a mournful cry before being slammed to the ground. The boar had two or three companions nearby, scattering like birds and beasts, running around and letting out panicked screams.
What pounced on the wild boar was a golden cheetah! Although it was small, it climbed a tree seven or eight meters tall, and with its powerful hind legs, just one strike could shatter the spine of a large beast! The cheetah that had landed a strike opened its huge mouth and bit down the beast's vital points. Blood and a piercing screech erupted from the boar's spine-shattered body, clearly not surviving.
Suddenly, an overwhelming force slammed hard into the cheetah. The leopard landed a prey that would last it five or six days. Probably still feeling smug, it was caught off guard and sent flying seven or eight meters, rolling five or six times on the ground. Before it could get up, a thick tail swung fiercely at it, sending its golden fur flying everywhere. The leopard let out a piercing scream.
The one attacking it was none other than that adult male Bengal tiger!