624: They disappeared in a small town on the border.

Previously, the higher-ups arranged for Soldiers to meet those Experts. Now, the Experts have lost contact, and those Soldiers have also gone missing.

This indicates that something has happened to all of them.

Either their tracks were discovered, they were pursued and killed, or they were captured by those people. It's also possible that these Soldiers and Experts, being chased, are now hiding on the border or within enemy territory... No matter where they are, they must find these Experts and Soldiers and bring them back safely.

The plane quickly took off. Xiao Niannian opened the lunchbox, saw Military Doctor Shen and Shen Yan, and handed it over.

"Eat."

"Thank you, Sister Xiao."

When Shen Yan and Military Doctor Shen received the call, their family was about to eat. Grandparents also packed them some food, including a pork hock.

"Sister, my grandmother packed me a pork hock. You should try it quickly."

Xiao Niannian looked at the pork hock wrapped in oil paper in his hand and smiled.

"Okay."

Lu Jing and Military Doctor Shen also joined the eating family.

The flight would take several hours, and after arriving, they might have to drive for another ten hours or so, as there were no places to eat along the way.

The group quickly ate on the plane.

Shen Yan saw a few other comrades looking at them, so he enthusiastically offered them some pancakes.

"My grandmother packed a lot of pancakes, you all should eat some too."

"No need, thank you, comrade."

"You're welcome."

Shen Yan pushed the pancakes over. The few people politely declined a few times, then accepted them, saying thank you.

Shen Yan was a social butterfly; he quickly became familiar with these people.

Xiao Niannian listened to Shen Yan talking with them and learned that these were Soldiers from Spring Chengdu.

After several hours of flying, they arrived in Chengdu, then switched to a military plane, and after several more hours, they reached Spring Chengdu.

Upon reaching Spring Chengdu, they switched to military trucks.

Xiao Niannian, Lu Jing, Shen Mo, Shen Yan, and others fell asleep, swaying in the vehicle.

After another eight hours of driving, they finally reached their destination.

Xiao Niannian and Lu Jing jumped out of the car and saw Instructor Qin and more than a dozen elite Team Members from First Team already there.

"Captain Lu, Captain Xiao..."

Everyone greeted Lu Jing and Xiao Niannian.

After Xiao Niannian and Lu Jing responded, the comrades there came forward to lead the way, and they went to the temporary office.

Xiao Niannian listened as the Public Security Comrade and military comrades here explained the situation.

It turned out there were four Experts, two of whom brought their families back, making a total of ten people.

They disappeared about a hundred li from their own border.

"We have now dispatched a batch of Soldiers to search... Our people in that town haven't found any trace of them... They might have entered this mountain. This mountain is a primeval forest, and the situation inside is very complex; many people who try to cross it don't make it out..."

"Your mission is to go to the foot of this primeval forest, cross it, and reach that small town in the other country..."

"These two are the guides we've hired for you. Both have crossed this primeval forest before, and they also speak the language of that side..."

"This is Comrade Dao, and this is Comrade Yan."

"Hello."

These two spoke Mandarin with a slight accent.

"Hello."

More than an hour later, Lu Jing and Xiao Niannian, carrying their supplies, drove in a military truck towards the foot of the primeval forest.

Xiao Niannian slept in the car and woke up when they had already reached their destination.

"Get out of the car."

The clothes they wore this time were those of ordinary local people, and their backpacks were made of cloth. Xiao Niannian and Lu Jing also had some ointment smeared on their faces, making them look as if they had been sunburned by ultraviolet rays, appearing not much different from the locals.

"If we walk from here, it will take five days if we're fast, and seven days if we're slow..."

Comrade Dao explained the situation here.

"Sometimes in this mountain, you'll encounter people carrying guns, who seem to be from that side. You must be careful..."

While Lu Jing, Instructor Qin, and Comrade Dao were talking, Xiao Niannian and her Team Members had already completed their disguises.

"Did you learn the words on those papers we gave you earlier?"

"You must learn these local languages. If we arrive in another country and encounter their local people, they might ask you questions..."

Lu Jing had led these people on several missions before and had learned some local languages, so the words on these few papers were no challenge for them.

Lu Jing's gaze turned to Niannian.

Xiao Niannian nodded at him.

Shen Yan looked at these and immediately began learning from Comrade Dao and Comrade Yan.

Several hours passed, and as dusk approached, they arrived at their campsite.

Lu Jing contacted the military comrades via radio.

"This is Lu Jing..."

"Comrade Lu Jing, we have not received any new leads at the moment. Please continue to advance..."

After dinner, Xiao Niannian sat on a rock, gazing at the starry sky.

It was the eleventh day of the first lunar month today; the moon wasn't perfectly round, but it was very bright.

Xiao Niannian could see things twenty to thirty meters away.

Although the temperature here wasn't as cold as the Capital City, it was still only a few degrees Celsius.

Xiao Niannian was wearing local cotton clothes and felt quite warm.

After a while, Xiao Niannian returned to the campfire.

"Sister Xiao, this sweet potato is freshly roasted, please eat it."

Shen Yan always gave Xiao Niannian the first share of anything good to eat.

"Thank you."

Xiao Niannian took it and handed something over.

Touching something furry, Shen Yan was startled, then looked closely and saw it was a very plump rabbit.

"Process it and roast it for everyone to eat."

"And this one."

Xiao Niannian took out another rabbit.

They had brought fifteen days' worth of dry rations this time, and other items were vegetables brought from the Capital City.

However, most of it had been eaten in the past few days.

Xiao Niannian planned to give them more game along the way, claiming she had hunted it.

So everyone could eat well.

She had a premonition that this time, they would not only go through the primeval forest but definitely enter another country's territory.

The disappearance of those people must have been due to a traitor, but who could this traitor be?

Military Doctor Shen and Shen Yan quickly processed the rabbits and put them on the fire to roast.

Comrade Dao and Comrade Yan looked at the two rabbits and praised them.

"You are truly amazing. To catch such plump rabbits in such cold weather!"

"As expected of military comrades."

"When we used to go into the mountains, catching rabbits wasn't an easy task."

"I set many traps in the mountains before, and there might be some harvest in the next few days."

Shen Yan talked with Comrade Dao and Comrade Yan, and soon extracted a lot of information.