“Bang!”
The door to Huo Feng’s quarters was roughly shoved open from outside.
It wasn’t kicked in. Someone had forcibly unlocked it with a key.
Standing in the doorway was a stern-looking middle-aged man wearing glasses. The two bars and two stars on his shoulders gleamed sharply in the sunlight.
He was Zhao Gang, the political instructor of the unit.
Hiding behind him was Lin Xue, her face filled with smugness and barely concealed schadenfreude.
“Huo Feng! What the hell are you doing?!”
The moment Zhao Gang entered, he was nearly choked by the smoky smell filling the room and coughed twice, his brows knitting into a deep frown.
When he saw the furnishings and the family of four gathered around the fire eating—plus a pig—his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
“This… What is going on here?”
“What have you turned this place into? A camping site? This is ridiculous!”
Zhao Gang pointed at the carpet and brazier on the floor, trembling with anger.
Huo Feng calmly stood up, stepped in front of Su Man and the children, and gave a crisp military salute.
“Reporting to the political instructor, I’m carrying out family accommodation arrangements.”
“Accommodation arrangements? You call this accommodation?”
Lin Xue jumped out from behind Zhao Gang and pointed at Su Man’s bamboo basket.
“Political Instructor, look! I told you there was something wrong with this woman!”
“Our unit is so short on supplies that we can barely get any meat, so where did she get all this food?”
“And look at that bamboo basket! I clearly saw her pull several pounds of cured meat out of it just now. How is it empty again?”
“There has to be a hidden compartment! Or some kind of tool for transmitting intelligence! I suspect there’s a radio transmitter hidden inside!”
The more Lin Xue spoke, the more excited she became. She practically wanted to rush over and tear the bamboo basket apart herself so she could prove that Su Man was an enemy agent.
Zhao Gang began to have his doubts as well.
It was true. The timing of Su Man and her children’s appearance was suspiciously convenient, and the things they carried were extremely strange.
As the political instructor, he had to take responsibility for the unit’s security.
“Comrade Su Man, please cooperate with us.”
Zhao Gang adjusted his glasses and spoke stiffly.
“We need to inspect your personal belongings.”
“Especially that bamboo basket. Please hand it over.”
Huo Feng’s expression immediately turned cold, and he was just about to speak when he felt a slightly cool little hand tugging at his clothes.
Su Man stepped out from behind him.
There wasn’t the slightest trace of panic on her face. Instead, she looked at Lin Xue as though she were looking at an idiot.
“An inspection? Sure.”
“But this bamboo basket contains personal Miaojiang items. Some of the things inside… might give you a case of itchy eyes if you look at them.”
“And if there isn’t any radio transmitter inside, Comrade Lin, how are you planning to compensate me for the emotional distress you’ve caused?”
Lin Xue snorted.
“If there isn’t one, I’ll apologize to you in front of everyone! But if there is, you’ll be going to prison!”
She was absolutely convinced that there was something wrong with that bamboo basket.
A basket that small couldn’t possibly hold that much stuff.
It was completely impossible!
“Fine. You said it yourself.”
Su Man casually picked up the bamboo basket and tossed it directly at Zhao Gang’s feet.
“Go ahead. Search it.”
The basket landed with a roll and two bright-red wild fruits tumbled out.
Lin Xue eagerly rushed forward, grabbed the basket, turned it upside down, and shook it vigorously.
Everyone held their breath and stared at the basket.
However—
Apart from a few changes of undergarments, several packets of herbal-smelling powder, and two leftover fruit pits…
There was nothing else.
No cured meat.
No carpet.
And certainly no radio transmitter.
The bamboo basket that had just moments ago seemed like a treasure chest was now completely empty, its bottom visible at a glance.
“No… This is impossible!”
Lin Xue frantically tore at the basket’s lining, desperately trying to find the supposed hidden compartment.
“I saw it! I clearly saw it! There was so much stuff! How could it all disappear?!”
“You must have hidden it! You’re doing some kind of magic trick, aren’t you?!”
Su Man folded her arms and coldly watched her lose control.
“Comrade Lin, if your eyesight is bad, I can treat you for free.”
“We already ate all the food you saw. It’s in our stomachs now. Would you like to cut open my stomach and check?”
“As for the other things… Are you referring to this?”
Su Man pointed at the carpet on the floor.
“This is a shawl I was wearing. What’s wrong with spreading it out as a cushion?”
As she spoke, she picked up the carpet and casually shook it.
Sure enough, it transformed into a huge Miao cloak, which she draped over her shoulders.
“And that brazier…”
She walked over to the corner and picked up the extinguished purple-copper brazier.
“This is just a slightly larger hand warmer. What? Does the army have regulations against carrying hand warmers?”
The truth was that these things had indeed come from her space. But the moment she took them out, she had used an illusion technique to subtly alter their appearance or taken advantage of visual blind spots.
Aside from Huo Feng, who had been close enough to see everything clearly, the others had only caught glimpses of what was happening.
Now, with Su Man’s forceful explanation and the completely empty bamboo basket, Zhao Gang found himself in an awkward position.
He glared fiercely at Lin Xue.
“Comrade Lin Xue! This is the evidence of enemy activity you were talking about?”
“You’re making accusations based on nothing! This is completely unreasonable!”
“Do you know what crime it is to casually slander a military family member?”
Lin Xue trembled from his shouting, tears welling up in her eyes.
“No… No, Political Instructor. She really—”
“Enough!”
Huo Feng delivered the final blow at just the right moment.
“Lin Xue, you lost the bet. Apologize.”
Lin Xue bit her lip and stared at Su Man’s faintly mocking smile. The humiliation in her heart was nearly unbearable.
But rank was absolute, and they had indeed found nothing during the search.
She could only lower her head and whisper,
“I’m sorry.”
Su Man cupped a hand around her ear.
“What? I couldn’t hear you.”
“Dahua, did you hear her?”
Dahua cooperated perfectly by letting out a loud snort, blowing Lin Xue’s carefully styled bangs into the air.
“I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have said those things!”
Lin Xue finally broke down. She shouted the apology at the top of her lungs, covered her face, and ran out crying.
The farce ended with Lin Xue’s complete defeat.
Zhao Gang awkwardly cleared his throat and looked at Huo Feng and Su Man, his tone softening slightly.
“Well… Although there were no prohibited items, there is still the matter of your conduct and lifestyle…”
Before he could finish, a shrill alarm suddenly rang outside.
“Woooo—Woooo—!”
It was a first-level combat alert!
Everyone’s expression changed instantly.
The lazy, relaxed air around Huo Feng vanished in an instant, replaced by a sharpness as cold as a blade.
“What happened?”
He strode out of the doorway.
Zhang Li came rushing over, his face covered in blood. He had clearly just returned from the front line.
“Commander! Something’s happened!”
“Third Squad was ambushed in the jungle. The enemy used a new type of poison gas grenade!”
“Our brothers are all down! The medics can’t do anything! That poison… that poison makes people turn on and kill each other!”
“Old Wang said that unless the Ghost Doctor steps in, Third Squad… is finished!”
The moment he heard the words “Ghost Doctor,” Huo Feng abruptly turned around and looked at Su Man standing inside the room.
Zhao Gang’s face was equally despairing.
“The Ghost Doctor’s whereabouts are unpredictable. Where are we supposed to find her at a time like this?!”
Su Man slowly walked to the doorway.
She looked at the bloodstains on Zhang Li’s body, then at Huo Feng, whose eyes were filled with urgency.
She stretched lazily.
Then, from the bottom of the bamboo basket that had just been declared “completely empty,” she slowly pulled out a roll of silver needles.
“Who says she can’t be found?”
The corner of her lips curled into an arrogant smile—the absolute confidence of a Miao Holy Maiden.
“Fifty thousand yuan isn’t enough for this job.”
“Huo Feng, prepare your private savings.”
“I’ll take this one.”