94: Chapter 94: Spending the Night in the Swamp, Holy crap! There are crocodiles!!

Zhang Meng was stunned. "What?"

"Flashlight," Su Han said flatly.

Zhang Meng's expression changed, and she subconsciously took a half-step back. "I... I don't have one..."

"Is that so?" Su Han said with a half-smile. "Then should I have Instructor Zhou search your tactical vest?"

Zhang Meng gritted her teeth and eventually, reluctantly, pulled out the small, prohibited flashlight from her pocket and handed it over.

Su Han took the flashlight, weighed it in his hand, and swept his gaze across the other female soldiers. "Who else brought something they shouldn't have?"

The female soldiers looked at each other; no one dared to speak up.

"Report! Even though I had a minor violation, we still completed the mission!" Lin Yu shouted.

"Completed the mission?" Su Han sneered. "Do you really think that when operating behind enemy lines, you can scream, shout, or even use a flashlight without restraint?"

He walked up to the female soldiers, his voice low. "Do you know? On a real battlefield, your actions tonight would have been enough to get you killed ten times over."

"Your screams in the woods could be heard from hundreds of meters away."

"The light from your flashlights makes you as obvious as a target in the dark."

"You even dared to huddle together to discuss tactics while being pursued by the 'enemy'."

Su Han's eyes were sharp as knives. "If this were a real battlefield, you would already be corpses."

The female soldiers fell silent.

"So, tonight, the swamp is your 'battlefield'," Su Han said indifferently. "No tents, no sleeping bags—only muddy water, insects, and unknown dangers."

Su Han turned around. "Instructor Zhou, take them to the swamp."

Zhou Mo stepped forward and waved to the female soldiers. "Follow me."

The female soldiers followed dejectedly, their footsteps heavy.

The swamp was filled with a putrid stench, with withered branches and rotting leaves floating on the murky water.

The moonlight was blocked by the dense canopy, leaving only scattered patches of light on the muddy ground.

"Everyone, lie in ambush where you are!" Su Han stood on a slightly elevated mound, his voice cold. "No matter what happens, you are not allowed to move. Whoever moves will have an hour added!"

The female soldiers looked at each other but slowly lay down in the muddy water.

The mud immediately soaked through their combat uniforms, and the cold, slimy sensation made many of them shiver.

"Remember," Su Han added, "when lying in ambush behind enemy lines, even if a venomous snake crawls onto your face, you have to endure it!"

The female soldiers: "..."

Just as Lin Yu lay down, she felt something slide past her leg, almost jumping in fright.

She bit her lip hard, forcing herself to stay still.

"Very good," Su Han nodded with satisfaction. "The timer starts now."

He turned and left, his footsteps gradually fading away, leaving the female soldiers alone in the dark swamp.

————

Time passed minute by minute.

The night in the swamp was not quiet; the sounds of various insects and frogs rose and fell.

Even worse, the female soldiers could clearly feel things crawling on them.

Li Xue felt an itch on her neck. By the faint moonlight, she saw a firefly glowing green resting on her skin.

Although it didn't bite, the eerie light still made her skin crawl.

"Don't move..." Lin Yu whispered nearby. "It might be a test from the instructor..."

No sooner had she spoken than a centipede as thick as a finger emerged from the muddy water in front of Lin Yu and crawled straight toward her face!

Lin Yu's pupils constricted, and her breathing almost stopped. The centipede's antennae brushed against the tip of her nose, bringing a stinging itch.

"Hold on..." Su Qingcheng encouraged in a low voice from the other side. "Just think of it as a facial SPA..."

Lin Yu: "..."

The centipede seemed uninterested in them and crawled away slowly.

The female soldiers had just breathed a sigh of relief when something even more terrifying happened—

"Ah!" a female soldier suddenly cried out softly. "Something... something crawled into my pants!"

"Don't move!" Zhang Meng barked a warning. "It might be a leech!"

The female soldiers instantly froze. Leeches—these blood-sucking parasites were one of the most feared creatures in the swamp.

Li Xue felt a stinging pain in her calf. Looking down, she saw a dark brown leech already attached to her skin, greedily sucking her blood!

"I... I've been bitten..." her voice trembled.

"Ignore it," Su Qingcheng said through gritted teeth. "It'll fall off on its own once it's full."

The female soldiers endured the nausea and fear, lying motionless in the muddy water.

Everyone was covered in various small creatures, some of which had even crawled inside their clothes.

One female soldier suddenly broke down and started crying. "I can't take it anymore... I want to quit..."

She raised her hand tremblingly. "Report... I quit..."

A flashlight beam immediately lit up in the darkness in the distance, and Zhou Mo walked over. "Are you sure?"

The female soldier nodded through her tears. "I'm sure... I really can't take it..."

"Alright," Zhou Mo handed her a towel. "Follow me."

Watching their comrade's departing figure, the morale of the remaining female soldiers sagged.

"Does anyone else want to quit?" Zhou Mo turned and asked. "This is your last chance."

After a few seconds of silence, two more female soldiers raised their hands.

After they left, the swamp fell into silence once again.

Lin Yu felt something crawl into her ear, an excruciating itch.

She clenched her fists tightly, her nails digging deep into the flesh of her palms, using the pain to distract herself.

"Think of something happy..." Su Qingcheng whispered. "Think of the hot bath after training is over..."

"I want to eat hotpot..." Zhang Meng swallowed hard. "Spicy broth, sliced mutton..."

The female soldiers conversed in low voices, using this method to distract themselves.

Suddenly, a strange sound came from the distance—

"Splash!"

Some large creature was approaching through the water!

The female soldiers instantly tensed up, their breathing coming to a halt.

By the faint moonlight, they saw a dark shadow at least two meters long swimming on the water's surface, closing in on their ambush position!

"A... a crocodile?" Li Xue's voice trembled.

The shadow drew closer and closer; the female soldiers could even hear its heavy breathing.