Not enough Japanese devils to kill? 1.4 billion people volunteer for the Battle of Shanghai.

The air force stood before a swamp.

A swamp lies here, a stagnant pool of decaying, blackened, bubbling water.

A cloying, rotten smell permeated the air.

Lin Yun stood at the edge of the swamp, his gaze sweeping across the stagnant water as he estimated the distance and weighed the risks.

Behind her, five men from the Air Force squad stood in the mud, their boots sinking half an inch into the mud, making a squelching sound.

"Go around it," said Zhao Shu, an aviation electronics soldier, his voice low but urgency evident.

"Team Leader Lin, let's go around this. This swamp looks suspicious. The water is deep and the bottom is all mud. What if we get stuck..." He didn't finish his sentence, but everyone knew what he meant.

"Taking a detour is not feasible." Lin Yun's gaze never left the swamp.

"And the longer the detour, the more attacks we'll encounter. Snipers, booby traps, and other dangers await us along the way. Rather than entrusting our lives to unseen enemies, we should take them into our own hands."

She paused, then stepped onto the first piece of driftwood that emerged from the water. The driftwood wobbled, but didn't sink.

She steadied herself, turned around and looked at Zhao Shu.

"Crossing the swamp, the straight-line distance is less than two kilometers. Two kilometers, half an hour. That's enough."

Zhao Shu's mouth was open, but looking into Lin Yun's calm eyes, he swallowed his words.

He nodded and then stepped onto the dead tree.

Behind them, mechanic Zhang Liang, radar operator Shen Fei, pilot Qing Niao, and another team member also followed.

Six people, stepping on the rotten, slippery, and potentially breaking deadwood, walked step by step into the depths of the swamp.

Deeper into the swamp, the fog thickened, and occasionally a bubble would rise to the surface of the water with a "pop."

The dead tree trunks cast distorted reflections in the water, like hands reaching out from hell.

"Zhang Liang, don't move."

Lin Yun suddenly spoke, his voice devoid of panic, only displaying a commanding calmness.

Zhang Liang's body suddenly froze. His left foot had just stepped onto a dead tree, while his right foot was still dangling in mid-air; it was as if someone had pressed the pause button on his entire body.

His eyes widened, his pupils contracted, and his heart skipped a beat.

He didn't know what had happened, but he knew that Captain Lin wouldn't stop him for no reason.

Above Zhang Liang's head, the mechanic, a venomous snake was lurking in disguise.

It was coiled on a dead branch that stretched out from the shore, its body almost identical in color to the dead branch, with grayish-brown scales.

The snake's body was intertwined with the dead branch, its head slightly raised, its tongue trembling in the air, forked and slender like two probes, sensing the scent of its prey.

The sharp-nosed viper's venom is a blood toxin. Once bitten, the wound will swell, turn black, and ulcerate, and the blood will lose its ability to clot, seeping out from every pore.

If antitoxin is not administered promptly, the person will die within hours from excessive blood loss.

The sharp-nosed viper was coiled on that withered branch, less than thirty centimeters from Zhang Liang's head.

Its target was Zhang Liang's neck.

As the venomous snake raised its head, the dagger in Lin Yun's hand flew out.

The dagger precisely severed the snake's head.

The snake's head fell off, but its body remained coiled on the withered branch, convulsing. Blood gushed from the severed wound, carrying a foul stench, and dripped onto Zhang Liang's head.

Zhang Liang stood there, stiff as a board, his eyes fixed on the still-moving snake body.

Lin Yun walked over, reached out, pulled the still writhing snake off the withered branch, and threw it into the swamp.

The snake landed on the water's surface, splashing water everywhere. It twisted a few times and then sank.

Next, Lin Yun dug a hole and buried the snake's head in it.

After doing all this, Lin Yun said softly, "Next time, watch your head."

As she spoke, she waved the dagger, wiped the blood off the blade on the dead wood, and then tucked it back into her waistband.

Zhang Liang stood there, looking at Lin Yun.

"Captain Lin..." His voice trembled, "You...you're fucking...too handsome..."

"Stop talking nonsense and keep up," Lin Yun's voice rang out. "Don't fall behind."

The air force squadron continued forward...

"Team Leader Lin," Zhang Liang, who was following behind Lin Yun, suddenly spoke, his voice very low.

"The dead trees ahead are getting fewer and fewer, and the water is getting deeper and deeper. If we go any further, there might be nothing left to step on."

His gaze swept across the water ahead, where there were almost no dead trees, only a few half-submerged tree stumps.

Lin Yun didn't answer. She stopped, squatted down, and put her hand into the water.

Her fingers groped underwater, touching silt, pebbles, and then—a dead tree buried in the mud.

"There's a path underwater." She stood up and shook the water off her hands.

"Underneath the mud, there are dead trees. Stepping on the dead trees won't make you sink in."

She paused, then turned to look at the crowd. "Follow me and step on the places I've stepped on. Don't make a single mistake."

Everyone nodded eagerly.

Lin Yun's gaze swept over the crowd.

Everyone has been working continuously, so they're definitely tired, but now is not the time to rest.

Her gaze fell on the bluebird.

"Bluebird, keep an eye out for food along the way."

"It would be best to catch a crocodile."

After saying that, Lin Yun lifted his foot and stepped into the water.

Her boots sank into the mud, making a "squeak, squeak" sound, but she didn't stop.

She groped around underwater, found the dead tree buried in the mud, stepped on it, and stood firm. Then, with her other foot, she moved forward, groped around again, and stepped on it again.

Behind her, five people followed her steps, step by step, into the water.

No one spoke, only the sound of water and the sound of mud being crushed underfoot.

In the center of the swamp, the fog thickened. The fog was like a wall, obscuring everything in all directions, making it impossible to see directions, distances, or the dangers that might be lurking within it.

Occasionally, a bubble would rise to the surface of the water with a "pop," as if something had turned over underwater.

Zhang Liang stepped on a loose, dead tree, swayed, and almost fell.

He reached out and grabbed a dry branch beside him, which helped him regain his balance.

The withered branch was dry, but it was crawling with ants—black, densely packed, like a moving skin.

An ant crawled onto the back of his hand and bit him, making him wince in pain.

He shook his hand to get rid of the ants, leaving several red dots on the back of his hand, like marks from being pricked by needles.

"Don't touch the dead branches," Lin Yun's voice came from ahead. "There are poisonous insects on them."

Her gaze swept over the withered branches, over the ants, centipedes, and spiders crawling on them, and over the unseen but present dangers.

Bluebird walked at the very back, holding a dagger in his hand, blade facing outwards, ready to cut through anything in his way.

Suddenly, the bluebird's foot stepped on something soft and squishy.

It's not dead wood, not silt, it's alive.

Her body stiffened abruptly, her eyes fixed on the water's surface, on the thing sliding past her feet.

The thing was very big and long, and bluish-gray.

It's moving.

Its body glides underwater like a snake, but it's thicker, longer, and more terrifying than a snake...

The bluebird swallowed hard and spoke.

"Captain Lin, didn't you want to catch a crocodile and roast it?"

"The crocodile is coming."