Searching for someone in northern Myanmar, and you call that earning tuition fees?

Su Ming unfolded the down jacket, tied knots at the four corners of the jacket with kite string, and then fastened a slipknot in the middle.

He hung Zhuoma's salt bag on the snap hook. This thing wasn't a parachute, nor was it a proper kite; it was a complete hybrid.

Li Changfeng stared at the broken thing, his face twitching: "Are you sure this thing can fly?"

"Yes." Su Ming tugged at the string to check its sturdiness. "The valley wind, the updraft, and the area covered by the down jacket are enough."

Zhuoma squatted down to one side, leaned closer, and whispered, her eyes fixed on Su Ming's hands: "You...you're making a 'wind horse'? A legendary sacred object that can bring wishes to the gods!"

Li Changfeng rubbed his temples in pain, looking at Zhuoma as if she were a delusional teenager: "Zhuoma, please, that's a kite. Didn't you play with one when you were little?"

Droma said with a serious expression, "Our Tibetan kites are for praying for blessings, not for fighting."

Li Changfeng: "..."

Li Changfeng waved his hand weakly at the end.

Forget it, let's just destroy it, hurry up and do it.

Su Ming stood up and looked up at the sky.

The clouds were low, and the wind was steady, blowing from the valley toward the ridge where the sniper was located.

"Captain Li," Su Ming looked up at Li Changfeng, "I need your help."

"Speak," Li Changfeng said, having given up thinking.

"I'll release this thing out in a bit, and you'll be in charge of keeping an eye on it. Let me know when you see it float directly above the sniper position."

"and then?"

"Then you pray," Su Ming said succinctly, "that the valley winds here are more stable than those there."

Li Changfeng took a deep breath and squeezed out a few words through gritted teeth: "Are you fucking serious?"

Su Ming didn't answer. Instead, he grabbed the kite string and suddenly threw the down jacket into the air.

The kite rose shakily.

The down jacket billowed in the wind, the salt bag hung below and swayed, and the whole device wobbled and drifted toward the sniper.

Li Changfeng lay prone behind the ice rock, raised his binoculars, and stared intently at the "kite" swaying in the air.

"It's veering off course, to the left."

Su Ming fine-tuned the angle of the kite string.

"Still off to the left, a little more."

Su Ming flicked his wrist.

"That's it! In this direction!" Li Changfeng's voice was excited. "It's drifting! It's fucking drifting!"

Droma clasped her hands together, closed her eyes, and chanted, "The divine messenger has appeared, the divine messenger has appeared..."

Li Changfeng glanced at her: "Can you stop reading? My blood pressure is already high enough."

Droma opened her eyes and declared confidently, "This is for blessings! You don't understand!"

Li Changfeng: "I don't know anything! Stop spouting nonsense!"

---

Eight hundred meters away, the highest point on the mountain ridge.

The sniper, codenamed "Eagle Eye," lay prone in the snow, his scope locked tightly on the three targets.

He had been lying in this position for almost an hour, his finger on the trigger, ready to fire a finishing shot at any moment.

Suddenly, he caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye.

A black object floated by, swaying precariously in the air.

Eagle Eye frowned and adjusted the magnification of the scope.

That was... a piece of clothing?

No, it's a kite?

Hawkeye was stunned.

He had been a sniper for ten years, and had seen drone reconnaissance, smoke grenade interference, and even someone use a mirror to reflect sunlight and blind him.

But he had never seen anyone fly a kite under the gun.

"Captain," Hawkeye pressed the microphone, his voice carrying a strange undertone, "Aerial target detected, non-mechanical, identified as... a kite."

The captain's voice came through, tinged with suppressed anger as if he were looking at someone as an idiot: "Hawkeye, report on your mental state. Are you hallucinating from the cold?"

"I'm in good spirits, Captain!" Hawkeye's voice was frantic. "All I saw was a kite! A kite with... what looked like a bag tied to it! Flying this way!"

There was a moment of deathly silence in the channel, then the captain's voice rang out, cold and hard as ice: "Threat level?"

Eagle Eye adjusts focus: "Unknown. But very strange."

Captain: "Whatever it is, shoot it down."

Hawkeye turned his gun and aimed at the swaying kite.

"Bang!"

The bullet struck the corner of the down jacket precisely.

The bullet tore a hole in the jacket, causing it to lurch and nearly fall. Su Ming yanked hard on his wrist, tightening the kite string and managing to stabilize the precarious flight path.

"Bang!"

Another shot!

The bullet hit again, completely shattering the kite's balance. It began to shake violently and plummet uncontrollably downwards.

Hawkeye just managed a cold laugh, waiting to see what would happen to the other side.

However, just as the kite was about to fall out of control, Su Ming suddenly flicked his wrist, and the kite string suddenly tightened!

The already fastened slipknot popped open with a snap!

The bag of salt broke free of its restraints, detached itself, and slammed down hard towards Eagle Eye's hiding place!

Hawkeye only felt a blur before his eyes, and something crashed down on him. Then, countless white particles covered his face and scope.

He instinctively reached out to wipe it away, but the powder got into his eyes, and a burning sting made his eyes water.

"Cough! Cough cough!"

Hawkeye coughed violently, and his scope was covered with a layer of fine white particles.

He wiped his face and licked his lips.

Salty.

It's salt.

Hawkeye was stunned.

Who the hell is so bored as to go to all this trouble to deliver salt to me with a kite?

---

Li Changfeng put down his binoculars, looked at Su Ming, and had a complicated expression.

"Hit," Li Changfeng's voice was a little shaky, "You fucking used a kite to deliver salt to the sniper's face."

Droma jumped up excitedly: "A miracle! This is a miracle!"

Li Changfeng sighed, "This is physics... Never mind, whatever makes you happy."

Su Ming reeled in the kite string and said calmly, "It's not over yet."

Li Changfeng was taken aback: "It's not over yet?"

Su Ming gazed at the distant mountain ridge and said calmly, "The ice beneath his feet should melt by now."

Li Changfeng's eyes widened: "You mean...?"

"Just wait and see."

Su Ming closed his eyes and counted his heartbeats: "Let the bullets fly for a while. Oh no, let the salt marinate for a while."