An 80s female translator was spoiled rotten by a rough and jealous man.

Chapter 264 "Any gains?"

The second day after supplies were cut off.

Each person was given only one-eighth of a pack of compressed biscuits, and the field cooks had to send out special detachments to collect banana cores and wild cassava to stave off hunger. These starchy plant roots, even after repeated soaking, still carried a lingering astringent taste.

It was one in the morning, and the sky was dark.

Huo Qingshan lay prone among the tangled vines, his night-vision binoculars scanning the western jungle. In the moonlight, three camouflage positions were faintly visible.

The furthest dummy artillery position had been basically camouflaged—waterproof tarpaulins hung naturally along the wooden gun carriages, their edges secured tightly with stones. If one didn't notice that the elevation angles of the gun barrels at all three positions were exactly the same, one would almost think it was a well-trained artillery company.

Nearby, two Y Army engineers were squatting next to a gasoline drum. One of them was drilling holes in the drum with a bayonet, while the other was stuffing strings of firecrackers into the drum, their movements as practiced as an assembly line.

Further away, the track tracks stretched from the dummy artillery position to the edge of the woods, with the depth of each track carefully designed—the deeper ones were covered with a layer of topsoil to create the illusion that heavy equipment had just left the site.

Huo Qingshan withdrew his gaze and made a retreat gesture. The reconnaissance team, like melting shadows, silently retreated to a natural cave two hundred meters away.

Inside the cave, the man knelt on one knee, his left hand steadying the metal casing of the radio, while his right thumb pressed the call button: "Mountain Eagle calling Bald Dove, please reply upon receipt."

Three seconds later, a response came through the static: "Bald Dove received, Mountain Eagle, please speak."

"Three camouflaged positions have been discovered on the western front." The man's voice was low and deep. "The dummy artillery positions have been set up, and sound and light devices are being installed."

After releasing the button and waiting two seconds for the radio waves to return, he pressed the launch button again: "The deployment method and scale are consistent with the characteristics of a typical feint attack."

Water droplets seeping from the rock face gathered into a shimmering ball on the anti-dampness operation map. The man's fingertip traced the contour lines, finally stopping on the eastern area: "The area from Hill 2 to Blackwater Creek needs to be thoroughly investigated." He paused at the bend in the creek, drawing a circle, "Especially near the banyan forest, pay attention to concealed traces of operations, whether there are any newly opened mine-clearing passages. Over."

Bald Dove: "Repeat the order: Proceed to the vicinity of Hill 2 to Blackwater Creek for reconnaissance, focusing on checking for mine clearance traces and artillery activity. Bald Dove confirms execution, expected to report back within two hours. Over."

……

Huo Qingshan walked to the door of the backup observation post and was about to tap the password when he heard a familiar, clear female voice coming from inside: "I saw a kind of tree in this area before. The trunk looked grayish, and the bark was a bit cracked, like an old pine tree shedding its bark, but the leaves were wide and shiny. The fruit grew directly on the trunk, clustered together in clumps, like tumors. You could see it from a distance. When ripe, it looked pink, and when unripe, it was greenish. It was a bit bigger than a jujube... Do you know what that thing is?"

"You must be referring to the wood milk fruit," the observer replied seriously.

"Wood milk fruit," Meng Youyou repeated softly, then asked, "Can we eat the wood milk fruit here?"

"Normally, it's fine to eat them, but unripe fruit contains a lot of tannins, and eating too much can cause diarrhea. Ripe fruit is fine, but you must spit out the pit."

Hearing this, Meng Youyou's eyes lit up for a moment, and she leaned forward unconsciously, quickly asking, "I saw that there were wild banana cores and cassava in the food delivered today, so... is it possible that they also picked some wild fruits on the way back?"

The observer paused for a moment before answering slowly: "Last year, in the same area, there was a situation where we ran out of food for more than five days. At that time, the soldiers gathered wild fruits from the surrounding area to eat, but some of the wild fruits they gathered were poisoned by Y Army with syringes. As a result, an entire squad suffered organophosphate poisoning, and two of them suffered respiratory failure and could not be saved."

Therefore, from then on, when faced with food shortages, wild fruits were generally not among the top priority foods to gather.

"Why did you suddenly ask about this?" the observer asked at the opportune moment.

Meng Youyou: "..."

For a moment, Meng Youyou couldn't answer. In her haste, she could only stammer and try to brush it off: "I... I feel like my eyes aren't seeing very clearly when I'm working these past two nights. I think it might be because I'm a little vitamin deficient." Her voice trailed off.

They cobbled together a reason that, at first glance, seemed quite plausible.

She has indeed had some difficulty seeing clearly these past two days, but that's most likely due to the unidentified smoke bombs thrown by the enemy three days ago at the high ground observation post. The vitamin deficiency, however, is something else entirely.

Upon hearing this answer, the observer nodded thoughtfully and suggested, "Then you can explain your situation to the medic. The medic has the authority to suggest adjustments to the daily foraging list. After you apply, the cooks might be able to bring back some more wild fruits."

"Oh, okay, I'll think about it." Meng Youyou nodded awkwardly and gave a vague reply, thinking that she should end the topic as soon as possible, because if they continued to chat, she might have to make up some other nonsense.

The conversation ended, and a brief silence fell over the room. Just then, Huo Qingshan's knuckles tapped rhythmically on the door, and then the man pushed the door open and entered.

The two people inside turned their heads to look at the sound.

The dim light of the kerosene lamp cast shadows of varying depths on the man's sharply defined face. His unkempt stubble on his chin was bluish-gray, and his camouflage clothing was still damp with the night dew.

After Huo Qingshan entered, his gaze went straight to Meng Youyou's direction, and he asked bluntly, "Did you have any success today?"

Meng Youyou shook her head helplessly: "The Y Army's artillery positions use frequency hopping technology to communicate with the outside world, and they have set up a lot of decoy channel jamming." As she spoke, she gripped the pencil in her hand tighter and tighter, and the tip of the pencil poked a small dent in the notebook. "I have basically filtered out more than 90% of the decoy channels, but I have not made any progress in understanding the enemy's frequency hopping patterns."

The man took two steps forward, placed one hand on the edge of the table, stared intently into her eyes, his face stern, and said succinctly, "24 hours."

Upon hearing this, Meng Youyou's mouth opened and closed repeatedly, the words rolling to her lips, but she swallowed them back down.

She really wanted to retort to him in a bad mood: "Even if you call over the entire technical investigation team, you might not be able to crack their frequency hopping pattern within 24 hours."

Before Meng Youyou could utter a single complaint, Huo Qingshan ordered in an even more authoritative tone, "Within 24 hours, you must intercept valid intelligence regarding the changes in the coordinates of the enemy's artillery positions."

Based on intelligence intercepted by Meng Youyou early yesterday morning, the Y Army's forward positions had completed logistical deployments consistent with a large-scale campaign. Based on this crucial intelligence, Huo Qingshan adjusted the direction and strategy of tonight's reconnaissance operation.
As expected, a feint attack facility, nearing completion, was discovered on the western front of our forward defensive positions. An hour earlier, we received intelligence from Bald Dove that traces of recent mine-clearing operations by the enemy had been found in the banyan forest area on the eastern front.

It was clear that Army Y's offensive was imminent.

The battlefield situation is now crystal clear. Even if our army has seen through their "feint attack" tactic, if we adopt a direct confrontation strategy, it will inevitably be a fierce battle, and we will not gain much advantage.

However, the key to breaking through the current battle situation lies in accurately predicting the coordinates of the artillery positions during the enemy's general offensive.

If this strategic node can be locked in advance, the enemy's fire support system can be dismantled at the lowest cost, minimizing our casualties.

Artillery is not infantry; it cannot silently infiltrate enemy positions. The movement of heavy artillery and ammunition supply vehicles would be too disruptive, and premature deployment would only reveal the operational intent.

Y Army is well aware of this, so they will always wait until the last moment to move the artillery to the designated position—perhaps two hours or even one hour before the general offensive.

By then, even if the scouts confirm the coordinates, there will be very little time left for intelligence transmission and tactical adjustments. By the time our artillery is in position, enemy fire may already be covering the forward positions.

With the final offensive imminent, the only viable entry point lies hidden in radio waves.

Therefore, the coordinates of the artillery positions selected by Army Y must be determined within 24 hours.

The man in front of me had a furrowed brow, was harsh and domineering, and looked cold and hard, like a stern-faced demon.

Meng Youyou instantly wilted the moment she met those imposing eyes, her arrogance vanishing completely.

Whenever his identity was fully attributed to the position of commander, she ultimately dared not act presumptuously and could only weakly reply, "I will do my best."