Chapter 1527
[ 577 words ]
Because the canopy was so dense, sunlight barely penetrated the forest floor. By five or six in the evening, the woods were already plunging into pitch darkness.
And yet, they still hadn’t found the lagoon Zeke had promised.
If they didn’t locate it soon, they would have to survive another brutal night without rest!
The condition of the four infected soldiers was rapidly deteriorating, and both Claire and Elias were looking increasingly haggard from the constant medical interventions.
“Zeke, how much further is this damn lagoon?”
Miller was officially out of patience.
They had entered the mountains yesterday afternoon. Factoring in Claire’s travel time from Cabinda, they had been running on fumes for two straight days.
In twenty-four hours, the four infected soldiers would be dead.
And with absolutely zero progress, the tension was suffocating.
Although Claire knew the exact ecological conditions required for the Dreamweed to bloom, searching a jungle this massive was like finding a needle in a haystack.
Their only options were blindly analyzing the vegetation or trusting Zeke to lead them to the water source.
With nightfall rapidly approaching, there was no guarantee they would even survive to continue the search tomorrow.
“We’re close. I swear the lagoon is just up ahead.”
This time, Zeke sounded absolutely certain.
Claire’s feet were covered in agonizing blisters, and her stamina was completely depleted.
Hearing that the lagoon was supposedly close, she hesitated to ask the group to stop for a break.
Dane, however, noticed how pale and unsteady she looked and immediately stepped in.
“Here’s the plan. Claire, Dr. Sterling, and I will stay behind to rest. The rest of you form a strike team and follow Zeke to find the lagoon!”
“Leave markers along the trail, and fire a flare the second you find the water.”
Though cell phones were dead in The Aila Highlands, flare guns were still functional.
The erratic magnetic fields in the area were already inducing severe vertigo in most of the team.
Even after drinking the herbal tonics Claire had brewed to counter the
symptoms, the forest’s naturale
oppressive aura refused to fully dissipate.
Deep in the jungle, toxic flora constantly pumped noxious fumes into the air, mingling with the rotting miasma of dead animals to create a suffocating, poisonous fog.
Under these brutal conditions, everyone’s physical state was rapidly deteriorating.
Fortunately, Silas and Miller’s
tactical operatives possessed elet
conditioning, which was the only reason they hadn’t collapsed yet.
Dane, having previously operated as an external consultant for the Special Security Bureau, was equally resilient.
Claire and Elias were the weakest links.
Of the two, Elias was in far worse shape.
Not only did he lack Claire’s rigorous physical conditioning, but he hadn’t grown up consuming the rare herbal fortifiers she had.
Hale, a man of extraordinary foresight, had meticulously nurtured his final protégé’s constitution since childhood.
In ancient times, Claire would have been considered practically immune to poisons.
But while she could resist the toxic miasma, her sheer physical endurance simply couldn’t match the hardened soldiers.
Taking a break now was an absolute necessity.
When Dane made the call, Silas agreed without a second thought.
He also ordered the four infected men to remain behind, trusting Claire to monitor their volatile conditions.
Miller was fully on board with splitting the team.
“Eagle, let’s do this. I’ll take a squad forward to scout the location, and you guys hold this position and recover.”
“Leaving just Dr. James and Mr. Green’s bodyguards to defend the camp isn’t enough firepower.”
“If another massive predator rolls through, your four men are sitting ducks.” Miller didn’t sugarcoat the reality.
The bodyguards’ sole objective would be extracting their VIP, leaving the wounded to die.
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