Chapter 1331 Strange Clouds

Monday morning, at the Gucheng Lake gathering place.

The headquarters of the Jinling Military Sub-district was originally a sizable resort on the shore of Gucheng Lake.

On the site of the former artificial hills and streams, and antique-style corridors, many things have been leveled and replaced with straight cement roads and square, practical barracks.

The main building, built in an antique style, is topped with a dense array of antennas. Armed guards stand at the entrance like steel rods driven into the ground, their sharp eyes scanning everyone who comes in or out.

The air is filled with the scents of cement dust, morning dew, and the faint aroma of stir-fried dishes wafting from the camp canteen. A rough yet vibrant sense of order has taken root here.

The brigade officers' meeting had just ended, and officers walked out of the main building in twos and threes.

Among the crowd, the reconnaissance battalion commander Gao Cheng and political instructor Gu Chengyun walked side by side, attracting particular attention.

Gao Cheng was not tall, but he had broad shoulders and a thick back. He swayed as he walked, wearing a worn-out training uniform with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms, revealing his strong wrists.

His face, with its strong, defined features, was tense, his brows were habitually furrowed, and his eyes were sharp as knives, scrutinizing everything as if he were examining a battlefield.

At this moment, he was holding a black hard-covered notebook for cadres in his hand, his knuckles slightly white from the force, and his steps were fast and heavy, as if the ground beneath his feet was not concrete, but a trench that needed to be conquered.

Walking beside him was Gu Chengyun, who was wearing a brand-new training uniform. The fabric was crisp, and the two school stars on his epaulets were clearly visible in the morning light.

He stood tall and walked steadily. He looked much younger than Gao Cheng, with clear eyes and a hint of youthful naiveté and deliberately restrained sharpness in his brows, typical of a military academy student.

Compared to Gao Cheng's seemingly ready-to-fight demeanor, Gu Chengyun was more like a newly sharpened military knife, eagerly awaiting its test in actual combat.

"...Commander Han's fleet will dock no later than the evening of the day after tomorrow." Gao Cheng's voice was low and his tone was complicated: "He is personally leading the advance team, a combined arms battalion. It's quite a force."

Hearing this, Gu Chengyun, who had gradually come to understand Gao Cheng's personality after working together for a week, easily sensed his battalion commander's tension and offered words of comfort:

"The Sixth Group Army is the heavy hammer of the theater command. Its ability to be transferred eastward to Nanjing demonstrates the theater command's determination and the substantial allocation of resources. This is necessary for the overall situation and a strong support for us to gain a foothold here."

"I understand that!" Gao Cheng waved his hand, his movements somewhat agitated.

“With the arrival of the heavily armed army group, we have enough leverage for a head-on confrontation, but our brigade…” He paused, as if chewing on the rest of his words before swallowing them:

Will the role of our "Breaking Through the Enemy's Enemy's Brigade change? Will we, the "old hands," no longer be the first to take on the toughest challenges in the future?

When he said "old steps," there was an awkwardness in his voice, a mixture of pride and resentment.

The reconnaissance battalion he led was the sharpest eyes and knives in the brigade, and he couldn't bear to see that knife sheathed and only used for minor flank attacks.

Gu Chengyun was about to speak when Gao Cheng suddenly turned his head, his anxiety replaced by pure curiosity, and said in a low voice, "Instructor, there's something. This Commander Han Feng... I've never heard of him before when I was in the 1st Group Army."

"To be sent to lead an army group at this critical juncture... who is this commander?"

He asked directly, staring intently at Gu Chengyun. He wasn't sure about his partner's exact background, but he could guess a thing or two. In any case, his origins were definitely extraordinary!

Otherwise, you can't really treat the military sub-district headquarters like your own home!

Being frequently called to the military district headquarters to report on work is one thing... but that's nothing. The newly arrived political instructor doesn't even know the work of a private first class as well as the battalion's instructors. What is there to report?

Every time he comes back, he smells of food and even a bit of alcohol...

My buddies are practically treating the military district headquarters like a restaurant!

..

Upon hearing Gao Cheng's question, Gu Chengyun hesitated for a moment and lowered his voice as well: "Commander Han is a standing committee member of the Fuxing Military Academy's school committee. He is very senior, has made outstanding military achievements, and has held a high position. He retired later due to his advanced age. Even I... even Commander Gu respects him very much!"

Gao Cheng listened attentively, his eyes flickering a few times. He deliberately ignored Gu Chengyun's slip of the tongue and nodded slowly.

"A member of the school committee...with distinguished service records...who has held high positions."

He murmured to himself, the restlessness on his face caused by the possibility of "falling out of favor" subsiding considerably, replaced by an instinctive respect for those who had truly experienced bloodshed and held high positions, as well as deeper contemplation.

"No wonder. With such a figure leading the team, it seems that Jinling's strategy is even bigger than we thought."

He rubbed his chin, then turned back to reality: "However, the pressure is indeed on our brigade commander, on us. It's tough. He's only been here a few days as a key member, and he hasn't even had his fill of enjoyment yet, and now he's about to lose his position!"

As the two walked past the edge of the playground, Gu Chengyun smoothly steered the conversation to another key point:

"Battalion Commander, what's your take on the unusual situation in the surrounding area that was just reported at the meeting? There's been a surge in abnormal reports this week within a 50-kilometer radius of the incident."

Upon hearing this, Gao Cheng's expression immediately turned serious, his earlier thoughts about personnel being overshadowed by a more concrete sense of threat.

"Evil nature."

He succinctly stated: "Several outposts on higher ground to the west have reported frequently seeing 'live clouds' in the early morning recently."

"Living cloud?"

"Hmm. The report says the color is dark and the movement is awkward, not like it's moving with the wind... and..."

"Moreover, it has been observed more than once that in areas where these clouds have passed, animal activity decreases sharply in the following days, and even plants appear wilted."

As Gao Cheng described it, his eyes were sharp as an eagle's, as if he were replaying that eerie scene in his mind.

Gu Chengyun felt a slight chill: "Any other anomalies?"

"The patrol teams on the outer perimeter are encountering more 'things' these days," Gao Cheng said gravely.

"They are not the types we are familiar with. Some are incredibly fast and have bizarre reactions; some appear in areas where there should be no large creatures at all."

"On two other occasions, the patrol team reported smelling a strange, sweet, fishy odor in a designated area, similar to... the smell of a large amount of rotting mushrooms, but no obvious rotting matter was found on the nearby ground."

He paused and added:

"What's even more troublesome is the environment. There's an old road to the south, and the surface has inexplicably cracked in the past few days. Dark red, strangely textured moss-like things have grown out of the cracks. When the engineers tried to shovel some, they found that the soil half a foot below had changed color and hardened into lumps."

“In the woods near the wetlands to the east, birds have almost disappeared, and it is eerily quiet. But at night, there are often sounds like branches breaking or heavy objects being dragged. When people are sent to investigate, they usually find nothing.”

Gu Chengyun frowned upon hearing this.

Abnormal clouds, organisms with unclassifiable behavioral patterns, unusual odors in the air, and strange changes in soil and ecology... These seemingly scattered reports are like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

Individually, each piece might be explained by the "complex post-apocalyptic environment and the unpredictable mutations," but when they appear together in this way, at this time, and at this distance from the outskirts of Gucheng Lake, the underlying meaning is chilling.

“It doesn’t seem like a random event,” Gu Chengyun said slowly, his gaze involuntarily turning westward.

"It's more like... a harbinger of some kind of systemic change. The surrounding 'environment' is being... reconciled by something."

Gao Cheng let out a heavy breath, as if trying to expel the stuffiness in his chest.

"Damn it, I knew it wouldn't stop! The conference also emphasized that all units must be on high alert, and reconnaissance battalions must increase the density of reconnaissance at the front and flanks, especially monitoring any environmental anomalies or atypical biological signs."

He looked at Gu Chengyun, his eyes regaining their usual sharpness and pragmatism: "Instructor, we need to speed up the break-in process for our battalion's new equipment. I can smell it, and the smell in the wind... is not right."

After saying that, the two of them boarded the Mengshi 3 armored command vehicle, which was opened by the driver. With a 'bang,' the door closed, and the angular Mengshi 3 armored command vehicle slowly drove out of the parking lot before accelerating sharply and heading straight for the reconnaissance battalion's base.