Captive

She sat against the wall in a corner, clutching her gun and forcing herself to calm down quickly. She took a deep breath to steady her heartbeat and recalled the tactical phrases she had learned. After counting down from three, she called again over the radio. "Report, number two has lost her coordinates. Please advise."

Before long, Lai'en's voice came through her earpiece. "Copy that. Number two, proceed in the ten o'clock direction. Hold your position once you arrive."

"Copy!"

At last, someone had answered.

Song Zhi ended the call and raised her wrist to check her tactical watch. The next second, her freshly calmed brain froze again.

She stared at the Arabic numerals on the watch and swore on the spot. "Fuck!"

Which bastard had switched her watch to digital mode?!

But that wouldn't stop her. She could use common sense to work out the approximate direction: ten o'clock was ahead and to her left.

Song Zhi adjusted her gear and hurried toward the coordinates in a crouch. There were no more firefights along the way. She continued reporting her coordinates over the radio, then adjusted her course according to Lai'en's instructions.

After about four or five hundred meters, she spotted a trench through her binoculars.

"Report, there's a trench ahead. Over!"

A burst of blank rounds flew overhead, striking the wall and sending smoke billowing.

Lai'en was silent for a few seconds after receiving her report, then gave her another instruction, his voice as cold as ever. "Find a way to jump in. Wilk will meet you there."

"Copy!"

Hearing that Wilk was coming to meet her, Song Zhi felt relieved and completely overlooked Lai'en's words, "find a way." The trench was right in front of her, so what was there to figure out?! All she had to do was hop in!

She ran forward and tumbled into the trench with a forward roll. At the same time, she spotted comrades in camouflage combat uniforms there.

Clutching her gun, she came face-to-face with the people lying in the trench. But she quickly noticed something was wrong: there were three of them, which made four including her.

That was obviously wrong!

The three across from her reacted first, then burst into a few peals of deafening, teasing laughter.

"Hahaha... Fellow countrywoman, are you Meituan Waimai? Guaranteed to deliver on time!"

It was Lu Yu's voice!

Fuck! Had she gone the wrong way?! And jumped right into the enemy camp?!

Her body reacted far faster than her brain. She roared, "Fuck!" Then she promptly got up and fled in the opposite direction.

Hill counted to five in his head, then took off after her. He ran so fast that he caught up to the running, cursing Song Zhi in a few strides and tackled her to the ground.

Lying on the ground, Song Zhi still tried to turn the tables, but Hill pressed his gun against her head.

"Don't try to struggle! By convention, you should kneel with your hands on your head and accept capture." Hill swiftly stripped Song Zhi of all her gear and weapons, deftly tied her hands, and taped her mouth shut for good measure.

"Mmph!!"

It was clear that Song Zhi was swearing up a storm.

Hill slung Song Zhi over his shoulder, pulled off her radio, switched channels, and taunted, "Oh, Lieutenant, is the exercise going to end as soon as it's begun? We have your number two."

"By convention, please treat the female prisoner well," Lai'en's voice came through the earpiece. He quickly cut off communications, leaving only a burst of radio static.

Song Zhi was about to protest when Hill smacked her on the butt and said slyly, "Behave yourself. We're vicious outlaws right now. We might just mistreat our prisoner."

Hill carried Song Zhi back to the trench, where Kelante came over and searched her from head to toe. She was like a doll, handled however he pleased, tears of humiliation welling in her eyes.

Kelante found a tracker on Song Zhi's clothes, hidden on her collar.

Kelante removed the tracker and held it in front of Song Zhi. "You didn't go the wrong way. Your mission is complete. You've successfully transmitted our coordinates to the lieutenant."

Song Zhi stared wide-eyed at Kelante. She understood what he was implying. From the very beginning, she had unknowingly been given a special mission, destined to be sacrificed. That was why Lai'en had told her that, if she was unlucky enough to be captured, she should hold out and wait for rescue.

But she wasn't sure whether she was still worth rescuing.

Kelante peeled the tape off Song Zhi's face and gave her some water. "Now that our coordinates have been exposed, we'll move on to negotiations. You'd better pray they go smoothly."

Song Zhi was tossed into a corner of the trench under Hill's watch. She glared fiercely at him.

Hill chuckled and unwrapped an energy bar, holding it to Song Zhi's mouth. "Your glare can't kill anyone. You might as well save your strength."

An hour passed before Kelante came over. He stared at Song Zhi, his face somewhat grim. "Unfortunately, the negotiations failed. As a prisoner, you must receive the punishment you deserve."

Punishment? What punishment? Song Zhi leaned against the earthen bank of the trench, eating her energy bar with a blank look on her face.

But she soon found out what Kelante meant by punishment.

Lu Yu pulled off his shirt, revealing a lean, muscular torso. Grinning wickedly, he grabbed Song Zhi by the ankles and pulled her underneath him. Then, as Song Zhi stared at him in shock and confusion, he began doing push-ups.

Yes! That was right, push-ups! Meanwhile, Hill was in charge of filming and taking pictures.

"May I ask what this means?" Song Zhi asked in confusion, looking at Lu Yu doing push-ups over her.

"Can't you tell?" Lu Yu asked, leaning close to Song Zhi's ear.

Song Zhi shook her head.

"Fellow countrywoman, you're being raped! You can't even tell that?" Lu Yu wore a wicked grin.

Song Zhi: "..."

Damn!

After showing off his astonishing arm strength, Lu Yu clapped his hands and stood up.

Then it was Hill's turn.

Song Zhi turned her head and rolled her eyes hard. This time she understood-

They were taking turns... doing that... that thing to her...

Dissatisfied with Song Zhi's performance, Hill gripped her chin with one hand and forced her to look up. "Be professional and give us a reaction. Even if it's an exercise, you still need to show some dedication!"

Song Zhi sneered and jerked her head up, intending to break Hill's nose with a headbutt, but Hill pressed a hand against her forehead. "Not bad, great acting!"

Fuck!

This was beyond ridiculous!

Next came the interrogation. Kelante began using psychological tactics, trying to break down Song Zhi's mental defenses.

"The negotiations failed. You've been abandoned. Are you still going to risk your life for them?"

"I'm not risking my life for them. I really don't know. You know I couldn't possibly have access to the core secrets, and even if I did, I wouldn't understand them." Song Zhi held nothing back. She really didn't know the coordinates and code names Kelante had asked about.

Faced with Song Zhi, who knew nothing no matter what he asked, Kelante laughed in exasperation. Knowing Lai'en, he was certain the man was capable of doing something like this-turning an absolutely loyal rookie soldier into a blade thrust into the enemy's heart, all without her knowledge.

"In a situation like this, you, the prisoner, would usually have been killed already. Photos of your corpse would be sent to the lieutenant and the others along with those videos. When they received news of your death, they'd activate an emergency plan, and a missile with its coordinates and flight path already calculated would raze this place to the ground within five minutes."

Song Zhi kept her head down without speaking, her brows drawing together slightly, as though she had taken Kelante's words to heart.

Seeing that Song Zhi remained silent, Kelante continued to apply pressure. "What do you think your sacrifice will achieve? Nothing but more needless casualties. You don't even know what you're dying for." He paused, his tone growing sharper. "Tell me, is that kind of loyalty worth it?"

Song Zhi's fingers trembled slightly, as though she were struggling. Kelante's words were like a dull knife sawing back and forth at her heart, not fatal, but hard to ignore.

Was it worth it?

The answer was obvious.

"If I talk now, will you let me go?" Song Zhi finally raised her head, her voice hoarse, a hint of probing and unwillingness in her eyes.

Kelante seemed surprised by Song Zhi's reaction. He stared at her, trying to tell whether she meant what she said. Her eyes were full of tears, bewilderment, and helplessness.

"I won't let you leave, but you won't be killed." Kelante offered an enticing deal.

Song Zhi thought for a moment, then said in a low voice, "Deal. The lieutenant gave me a set of numbers, but I couldn't make sense of them. Twelve, nineteen, thirteen..." Her voice grew quieter and quieter.

"What?"

Kelante recorded the numbers Song Zhi gave him on his tactical tablet, but her voice kept growing quieter, and he couldn't hear her. So he bent down slightly and moved closer to her.

"Three, two, one..." Song Zhi sprang up, looped her hands, bound in front of her, around Kelante's neck, and tightened them with all her strength.

It happened so suddenly that no one had expected Song Zhi to attack, and Kelante became her hostage.

"Don't move! I'll strangle him! I'm sorry, Kelante, for doing this to you..." Feeling quite bad about it, she even apologized.