540: The white elephant's enemies have brought this upon themselves and cannot escape.

Lu Jing picked up the binoculars and looked ahead.

"Such a large fire, is someone burning the mountain?"

"Weren't all fifteen Comrades-in-arms rescued? Is that the White Elephant people burning their own mountain?"

Lu Jing lowered the binoculars and began issuing orders.

"It should be less than a mile from here. The weather is nice today, and there are some dry weeds among the trees."

Seeing the fire in the distance, Gu Yuan's expression also turned grave.

"You go over and check the situation..."

After giving the order, Lu Jing and Gu Yuan had the other Team Members retreat toward the river. If the wildfire grew and spread to this side, they would have a place to take shelter.

It was just near the river, so there was no need to rappel down with ropes.

Xiao Niannian and the Comrades-in-arms all walked toward the river.

Lu Jing also took the First Team to scout ahead.

"Report, Captain Lu, a large fire has started two hundred meters ahead..."

"The fire is very intense."

"However, the wind direction seems to have changed, and it is burning toward the north."

Burning toward the north—Xiao Niannian looked ahead. Wasn't that burning toward the disputed area?

Could it be that the White Elephant people knew they were here, and so they wanted to use the mountain fire method to deal with them?

Lu Jing's voice rang out over the walkie-talkie.

"Retreat, everyone retreat..."

Soon, after the Comrades-in-arms retreated, Lu Jing led them from the river toward the front.

From far away, they could see the flames reaching the sky, with some branches burning and falling down. The area ahead was shrouded in thick smoke.

Xiao Niannian took the masks she had prepared earlier out of her bag.

There were fifty in a pack, which came in handy right now.

"These are masks, everyone put them on."

Hearing Instructor Xiao's words, the Soldiers took the masks, but some were confused about what these masks were for.

Xiao Niannian took a mask and put it on her face. Seeing Instructor Xiao's actions, the Soldiers also put the masks on their faces.

Seeing that the wind was blowing north, Xiao Niannian was no longer anxious.

After a while, Lu Jing led the group to find a cave.

"We will rest here for a while and check the situation later."

Less than a kilometer away, a group of White Elephant people were panicking.

"Why is this fire burning toward us?"

"Run!"

"Cough, cough, cough."

"That way..."

These people's eyes were almost swollen shut from the smoke; some stumbled and sprained their ankles.

"Ah!"

At this moment, these people were only concerned with saving their own lives; how could they care about others?

"Save me!"

Some coughed and collapsed on the ground, feeling the heat on their backs. Not long after, they saw the fire rapidly burning toward them.

"Run!"

"Help!"

Some reached the edge of the cliff, looked at the raging fire in front of them, and decided to take a gamble, jumping into the river.

"Splash!"

After a loud thud, the person fell into the river and passed out.

Others saw him do this and followed suit, jumping into the river.

The fire grew even larger, with some flames flying further ahead with the strong wind, landing on the trees in front and igniting them as well.

The White Elephant people, who were fleeing frantically, were suddenly hit by falling branches.

"Ah!"

"It hurts so much!"

"Why is my clothing on fire?"

"Run!"

Some people's hair also caught fire; they ran while desperately slapping at the flames on their bodies.

Half an hour later, Xiao Niannian noticed that the fire on this side had subsided significantly. Most of the flames had disappeared, leaving only some black smoke drifting about.

"Looking at the situation, this fire must have been burning toward that side all along..."

Gu Yuan looked at his watch and said.

"It has been burning for over two hours. How many trees must have been destroyed? These bastards! This change in wind direction is their punishment..."

Xiao Niannian listened to her brother's words. Her brother's tone was very angry, and she was very angry too.

These big trees took decades to grow.

These are the wealth of our country. These enemies actually wanted to use the method of burning the forest to deal with us.

Now that the wind direction has changed, it is retribution.

"Let's go around the perimeter and take a look." After consulting with each other, Lu Jing and Gu Yuan decided to take the main force to go and see.

The team continued on. Xiao Niannian walked while observing the situation among the trees. She saw that the raging fire was almost extinguished.

In the distance, there was still a raging fire, and the area burning was growing larger and larger.

If it continued to burn like this, not only would it burn up the disputed area, but it might also spread to the White Elephant country side.

If it burned to the White Elephant country side, then there would be a good show to watch.

"Extinguish the fire over here."

Lu Jing issued the order.

The Soldiers found some wooden sticks, rushed forward, and extinguished the burning areas.

After putting out the fire for a while, Xiao Niannian noticed raindrops falling on her face and hands.

"It's raining."

Hearing this, the Soldiers all looked up at the sky. As the raindrops fell, many felt the cool sensation on their hands and faces.

"Great! It's raining! The fire is going to be extinguished."

Hearing the Comrades-in-arms cheering, Xiao Niannian looked up toward the distance.

The fire was indeed burning toward the direction of White Elephant country, while above them, there were some dark clouds, and the rain was getting heavier.

"Retreat."

Hearing Lu Jing's order, the Soldiers followed and retreated.

Xiao Niannian and her teammates arrived at a nearby cave.

Xiao Niannian looked around the cave. She hadn't expected there to be so many caves in the surrounding area, and many of them were just huge rocks.

These landforms were quite interesting.

Xiao Niannian looked at the ground outside. Because the fire that had been burning just now was extinguished by the rain, the ground was all blackened.

It was a good thing they ran fast; otherwise, they would be covered in soot from the rain right now.

Xiao Niannian took the binoculars and looked into the distance, seeing that the fire in the distance was still burning.

"Boom."

Hearing the sound of the explosion, Xiao Niannian stood up immediately, and Lu Jing, Gu Yuan, and the others also stood up.

"Boom."

There were a few more explosions.

"Is that their landmines and grenades exploding?"

A Comrade-in-arms asked, confused.

Lu Jing and Gu Yuan listened to the sound, and Lu Jing spoke up.

"It is those two things exploding."

"Did they drop the landmines and grenades while fleeing, and they exploded when they encountered the fire?"

"Yes."

Hearing this, a Team Member said happily.

"They really reap what they sow."

These White Elephant people wanted to use the mountain-burning method to deal with them, but the wind direction changed, and they themselves were chased by the wildfire, fleeing for their lives in a panic.

"It's getting dark; let's set up camp here for today," Lu Jing said, looking at his watch.

"Understood."

The Soldiers immediately got busy. Four Team Members went to the cave entrance to stand guard, two of whom were on hidden sentry duty.