Chapter 428: Chapter 428
The sound of panic startled the soldiers ahead.
Instinctively, they turned back.
Fang Ming was at the rear of the group, so he was closer. He rushed over with a few steps, extending a wooden stick for the soldier to grab.
But since the soldier was leaning backward, even reaching out was in retreat.
In just the blink of an eye, before the stick could reach, the soldier had already sunk in, swallowed up by the swamp.
Fang Ming abruptly stopped, looking at the bubbling swamp, quickly thrusting the stick in.
Fortunately, this time the struggling hand grabbed the stick.
The soldiers who rushed over from behind also helped to pull. It was difficult for four or five people to rescue the one who had fallen into the swamp.
But at last, he was saved.
The soldier, covered in black mud, propped himself on the ground, retching and spitting out the mud.
Just a moment ago, Fang Ming’s face showed a hint of happiness from saving a comrade, but it suddenly turned grim. He quickly took out his canteen and handed it to the soldier:
"Quick! Rinse your mouth!!!"
Everyone else was unsure at first but quickly understood.
This was a grassland!
The things talked about yesterday were still vivid; the seemingly clear puddles were polluted with toxins, not to mention this swamp formed over countless years.
Who knows what insects, rotten animal carcasses could be inside.
These are sources of danger.
Those around also hurriedly passed over their containers of water.
Once the soldier finished rinsing.
Only then did their faces regain some composure, feeling that this should be enough.
But Fang Ming and the water friends in the Blue Star streaming room felt a sinking uneasiness. Latest content published on N0v3l.Fiɾe.net
Simply rinsing the mouth only slightly reduces the chance of poisoning; in such situations, a full medical check-up is necessary, but where is the facility here...
Not to mention the medical advancements of this era were not so developed.
Fang Ming tried to remain calm, but in reality, he was frantically seeking solutions with the Blue Star netizens in the streaming room.
There was no solution; the conditions here restricted everything.
While Fang Ming was contemplating, after not walking for long.
The soldier marking the way behind suddenly fell to the ground with a thud.
Everyone turned and saw, quickly running over.
Fang Ming felt a chill; the poison in this grassland was stronger than imagined, and it’s been so short a time.
Everyone gathered around and touched him.
The reconnaissance squad leader’s face turned grim:
Everyone fell silent.
A high fever in such circumstances spells certain doom.
And Fang Ming and the Blue Star netizens in the streaming room felt deeply powerless, yet could do nothing...
But the march forward couldn’t stop.
The soldiers took turns carrying the feverish comrade, continuing to advance.
In the streaming room, a new player’s comment drifted across:
[Why keep marching with a soldier who has a high fever forward, and not turn back? Or just abandon him?]
Fang Ming remained silent.
Go back? Go back where?
This vast grassland, nowhere to turn back.
Moreover, if they retreated.
What would happen to the soldiers of the main group?
There is simply no way back.
Stopping or turning back, with the medical conditions of this era, means death for the feverish soldier.
Though going forward might still mean death, it brings hope for life to more people.
The march cannot stop.
Stopping means staying here forever....
The team’s atmosphere was heavy, their steps slow, but they never paused.
As for abandoning, that’s impossible.
If abandoned, this team wouldn’t be the Red Army.
In the neighboring streaming room.
Unlike the somber march of Fang Ming’s reconnaissance squad, the host Lu Lang’s cooking unit was experiencing a different kind of hell.
They were also crossing the grassland.
Fang Ming’s side had already set off first with the main force, and the cooking unit was about the same.
However, to ensure the main force in the rear has drinking water, all nine members were marching burdened with heavy iron pots.
It was Lu Lang’s turn to carry the heavy iron pot.
He took steps with difficulty, looking somewhat comical, prompting teasing comments from Blue Star viewers in the stream.
Lu Lang responded with humor, yet with each step, he had to muster all his strength to pull his leg out of the mire.
After a while, he was already panting heavily.
The weight of the copper pot coupled with the muddy grassland made it nearly impossible to move, yet none in the cooking unit gave up.
One squad, nine people.
Protecting that copper pot.
This sight confused the Blue Star viewers.
[Why carry such a large copper pot? Isn’t there a smaller one?]
[Exactly, is the pot more important than life?]
[Why not use iron ones?]
[Iron ones? You want to crush the host?]
[Grasslands are cold and wet, iron rusts easily, right?]
[Moreover, you overlooked one issue... the Red Army couldn’t afford it.]
[And most of the Red Army’s units had copper pots, indicating that the smelting technology during the Republic period was not mature enough for widespread iron products.]
The comments floated past densely.
Lu Lang didn’t have the leisure to read them because the pot on his back was too heavy.
Not just the physical weight.
But because this pot was the lifeline for the entire company and even the subsequent main force.
Its impeccable condition was paramount.
As long as it remained, it meant the main force at the rear could drink warm water to ward off the cold.
As long as it remained, it meant the main force at the rear could cook barely edible wild vegetables, grass roots, even belts into warm food to stave off hunger.