Extreme germ phobia

Chapter 342 Deep in the Rainforest
Two days later, at dawn, fourteen kilometers northwest of Maidelin.

Morning mist rises from the dense jungle, and a relatively flat, narrow path extends out from the thick fog and then disappears into its depths.

The combat team, led by Lu Wei, crouched by the roadside, hidden in waist-high grass. Two drones hovered above their heads, appearing and disappearing in the fog.

However, the fog was too thick and heavy, and only blurry shadows could be seen from a distance. The drone's camera lens captured a white blur, and nothing could be captured.

Dafei kept switching shooting modes, but no matter what he did, he couldn't get any other shots. He couldn't help but mutter to himself, "What kind of weather is this?"

"Stop complaining," Lu Wei said. "Let the drone fly a little further!"

"Understood!" Dafei replied, doubling the search radius.

Although doing this is completely useless.

A moment later, a roar came from afar and came closer, finally stopping above everyone's heads. The violent downdraft blew the fog up and down, revealing a small patch of blue sky.

Looking around, the treetops swayed in the fierce wind, the grass undulated like waves, and in the distance, large flocks of restless birds flew about erratically.

The gyroplane slowly landed on the open ground behind everyone. The hatch opened, and two eight-wheeled cat cars drove out of the cabin.

After confirming that preparations had been received, the rotor took off and left. The startled birds circled for a while before gradually calming down.

As the sun rose higher and higher, it slowly dispelled the fog, and the jungle gradually revealed its true face. Looking around, there was tender green everywhere, and the air was incredibly fresh, making people feel relaxed and happy.

Ouyang couldn't help but take a deep breath, then another, as if doing so could dispel the lingering stench of the corpse and other unpleasant smells.

"Let's go!" Lu Wei waved his hand, and the two cat-shaped cars drove into the misty rainforest one after the other.

According to reliable intelligence, there is an apostle camp about ten kilometers to the north, but the exact location is unknown.

The mission this time is to go deep into the jungle, pinpoint the exact location of the target, and capture them all.

The military's surveillance network covers a vast area but has a low density. Simply put, it involves placing surveillance equipment in the most critical, important, and likely locations where the enemy is most likely to appear, aiming to cast a wide net and catch as many fish as possible.

I thought it would take some time to make a difference, but I didn't expect to catch the enemy in just two days.

The paths in the jungle were very narrow, and even the Cat Car, which was extremely capable of off-roading, stumbled along, sometimes bouncing up and down and sometimes swaying left and right, making one's stomach churn.

27 was the first to give up. He braced himself with his arms and jumped off the bus. He walked behind the bus for a while until he recovered before getting back on.

Anyway, the car isn't going fast.

The same thing happened to everyone else. People got on and off the bus repeatedly, and it took more than two hours before a small river more than ten meters wide appeared in front of them.

Last night, surveillance cameras captured a small boat in the vicinity, but it has only appeared once in two days, and only half of the boat was captured on camera.

Analysis suggests that the enemy's camp is located upstream of this river, not too far away.

The group didn't continue forward, but instead hid in a thicket of trees. The dense vegetation itself provided the best cover; after walking a dozen or twenty steps, all they could see was green.

That's the good thing about rainforests.

As is customary, the first step is to use drones for reconnaissance. The specially stored box is opened, and dozens of palm-sized drones are launched at once.

Visibility in the rainforest is too low, so three or five drones are not very effective. Therefore, it is necessary to rely on quantity.

After taking off, the drones quickly split into three groups. Half of them flew at low altitudes, constantly moving through the dense bushes and occasionally lowering their altitude to capture every inch of the ground they passed in a clear image.

The other half is further divided into two levels, medium and high, which roam at different altitudes.

There's no other way; the trees here are too tall. If the enemy is hiding in the trees, low-flying drones can't see them, and if they fly too high, the canopy blocks their view, making it impossible to see the ground. The only option is to use the clumsy method of increasing the number of drones to conduct a three-dimensional reconnaissance from low to high altitudes.

Even so, oversights are still inevitable.

This is using a swarm of drones; with the naked eye, even less would be visible.

Moreover, drones are equipped with thermal imaging lenses as standard, which can reveal many details that are difficult to see with the naked eye.

With so many drones, each team member had to be responsible for several drones in a particular direction.

Ouyang was in charge of a group of 10 drones, numbered 041 to 050, located at an intermediate altitude.

One person simply cannot manage so many drones; he can only constantly switch cameras, afraid of missing any details.

But Ouyang never expected that a giant python would suddenly appear in the continuously changing scenes, which startled him so much that he instinctively leaned back and almost fell out of the car.

It wasn't that he was cowardly, but rather that all the images were projected onto the tactical goggles in 3D, creating a truly immersive experience. At first glance, it looked as if there really was a giant python in front of him.

Moreover, the giant python was very curious and actually put its head close to the camera, sticking out its tongue at the lens, as if it was about to lick Ouyang's face.

Using a close-range attack is an example of this.

Ouyang is not an isolated case; others have had similar experiences.

Luohan saw a strange-looking monkey jumping around, making a very loud noise, and even jumping up to try to grab the drone.

27. A tree frog with an unusually bright and eerie blue color appeared before my eyes. It looked like a dangerous creature, possibly a poison dart frog.

Some were lucky enough to capture particularly beautiful photos of butterflies and parrots.

This place is abundant with plants and animals.

The drones don't just fly by; they transmit all the images they capture back to the command center via data link. After receiving a large amount of environmental data, the equipment uses software to analyze and model the data, creating a data model of the reconnaissance area.

I wouldn't dare say that every single blade of grass and every single tree is in it, but at least it's about 80% similar.

Jungle reconnaissance is only a secondary focus; the real priority is the river!
Transportation in the rainforest is inconvenient, and vehicles can hardly pass through; traveling by boat is the best option.

Although the river is not wide, the visibility is good. However, while our visibility is good, the enemy's is also good. If we fly along the river, we are likely to be discovered by the hidden enemy.

No problem, considering the special environment of the rainforest, not only ordinary drones were sent, but also several biomimetic drones.

To avoid giving it away, they even changed the skin to that of a local bird!

They flapped their wings and traveled along the river, but not in a straight line. Instead, they would sometimes soar high and circle, and sometimes swoop down and glide, so as not to arouse suspicion.

It shouldn't be difficult for the enemy to acquire some small radars or similar technological equipment. We must be extremely careful where necessary and not overlook any detail!

The river surface offered the best visibility. When the bionic drone flew along the river for about four kilometers, it first discovered a small pile of ash on the bank! Thermal imaging showed that it was still warm, confirming that it was left behind last night.

Everyone immediately became excited, but Lu Wei very rationally ordered everyone to continue reconnaissance in the current direction, only the bionic drone radiated outwards from the ash as the center.

Soon, more traces were discovered just over a hundred meters from the riverbank.

There were large leaves spread on the ground, footprints left in the mud, leftover food scraps, cigarette boxes covered with cursive letters, and so on.

There were signs of camping everywhere, but no one was seen, nor were there any tents or other places to shelter from the wind and rain.

The enemy seemed to have anticipated the danger and fled in advance.

Although they didn't catch anyone, everyone was still very excited.

It's only nine in the morning, and it's so difficult to move around in the rainforest, the enemy can't have gone far by now!
The drones continued to expand the search area and found more traces, some of which appeared to have been left behind when they left!

It must be said that the enemy was extremely unprofessional.

Following the clues left by the enemy deep into the jungle, about three kilometers later, the ruins of an ancient city, surrounded by a large amount of vegetation and almost lost to time, came into view.

At the same time, more traces of human activity appeared on camera.

A biomimetic drone flew over the ruins of an ancient city and successfully captured images of the enemy.

Further reconnaissance revealed that the enemy hiding here had cleared out some of the ancient buildings and was using them as footholds.

Ou Yang thought to himself: This is an old and dilapidated building that has been around for so many years. Aren't they afraid that the building will collapse in the middle of the night and bury the people inside alive?
Once the enemy's location was found, things became much easier. Lu Wei reported to his superiors while ordering the search area to be expanded, and they got a pretty good idea of ​​the situation inside the ruins, especially the enemy's location and number.

A total of forty-two enemies were discovered; it's hard to say whether there are more hiding in the jungle.

The command decided to play the long game and first monitor the enemy's camp.

Bionic drones search for suitable landing sites near the ruins, while ordinary drones fly to the perimeter of the ruins to establish a monitoring network surrounding them.

The next step is to wait patiently.

In the afternoon, the weather suddenly changed. The once cloudless sky was gradually covered by dark clouds, and thunder rumbled continuously.

The group immediately spread out a camouflage net to cover the cat car, and then laid a layer of large leaves on the net. They also plucked the skin off several nearby plants that they couldn't identify.

Before the work was finished, large raindrops began to fall from the sky. Everyone quickly put on their raincoats, and the scattered raindrops soon turned into a torrential downpour.

Ouyang wiped the rain off his face and sighed softly, "This rain is like it's punched a hole in the sky!"

“No wonder, with so little rain, can it really be called a rainforest?” Luohan said.

Others agreed with the suggestion, while simultaneously criticizing the damp climate.

We haven't been in South America for long, but it's rained a lot these past few days, and we're starting to get used to this unpredictable weather.

Other things aside, the main problem is that my body is constantly wet, like I've been soaking in water, and I feel uncomfortable all over.

The heavy rain lasted for more than an hour. Ouyang felt that the river level had risen and prayed anxiously that he would not encounter a flash flood. He only breathed a sigh of relief when the rain stopped.

As darkness fell, enemies began to return to the ruins, bringing their total number to over fifty!

It wasn't until it was completely dark that Lu Wei received the latest order from the command post: launch an immediate attack and resolutely annihilate the enemy!
There's not much to say, this is the moment everyone's been waiting for!
Under the cover of night, the cat-shaped car quietly drove onto the river, traveled upstream, and docked at the closest point to the ruins.

As soon as the order to attack was given, the robot dogs that had been stacked inside the car jumped out, automatically formed three groups, and disappeared into the darkness in the blink of an eye.

Half an hour later, the pack of dogs rushed into the ruins, and the battle officially began. The robot dogs rushed into the ruins from three directions and quickly reached the key positions.

At this point, the enemy still did not notice anything unusual until a drone flew by, which alerted them.

The rainforest is so vast, how could a plane have ended up in this place if we hadn't known beforehand that there was something wrong with the ruins?

Isn't that too much of a coincidence?
Moments later, the swarm of bees descended from the sky, landing in the ruins and plunging into an inhabited stone house, instantly causing flames to erupt and explosions to resound.

Many enemies were still asleep when the swarm of bees blasted them back to their grandmother's house.

Some enemies, in their panic, ran aimlessly through the ruins.

The vast majority of them were killed by the swarm of bees, and only a very few enemies ran into the machine dog's gun and were eaten on the spot.

All told, the actual battle lasted only six and a half minutes. The enemy was completely wiped out, and the robot dog even captured two survivors.

Lu Wei immediately led his team to the vicinity of the ruins and interrogated the prisoners on the spot.

As a result, they didn't get any useful information, even after using truth serum.

The idea of ​​following the clues came to nothing.

Not long after, a large drone dropped several bombs, erasing the ruins in the jungle from the map.

The group returned the way they came, and it wasn't until the early hours of the morning that the exhausted combat team finally emerged from the jungle and returned to their temporary camp outside Maidelin.

Over the next period of time, the various groups took turns to uproot the apostles' camp in the rainforest.

In the past few days, news about the sale of the balloons reached North America, and the White House immediately issued a top order requiring all regions to thoroughly investigate the source of the balloons and the gas.

The University of Tokyo is also conducting the same survey in South America.

For others, it would be difficult to investigate something in this place, but for the University of Tokyo, it would only be considered slightly difficult at most.

The University of Tokyo not only provided material support to the United States in its fight against the pandemic, but also provided a large amount of supplies to the United States in the South. Furthermore, it built two settlements, one on the east coast and one on the west coast, which were similar to refugee camps and had food, medicine and other survival supplies provided by the University of Tokyo.

The two settlements were open to all survivors and were affectionately known as Paradise City by the South Mi people.

It's a really corny name.

The University of Tokyo is more accustomed to referring to them as the East Coast Camp and the West Coast Camp.

With the entire South America ravaged by the pandemic, survivors from all over the South America have gathered here, making it not difficult to find some clues.

While the two major camps were still silent, Old Mi made progress first—the investigation revealed that the balloons used by the apostles came from the United States, and by investigating the balloons' destination after they left the factory, he successfully pinpointed several directions.

Just as the Mi family was about to press their advantage and drag out the rat hiding in the shadows, they were shocked to discover that not long ago, more than a batch of balloons had been released in a certain place!
(End of this chapter)