Chapter 3
An awkward silence.
The hoarse cry of a bird echoed from behind them.
Lu Xiao, thinking she must have misheard, tried her best to remain composed. “I didn’t quite catch that. Could you please repeat it?”
A malicious smile played on Major Bai’s lips, her long eyelashes fluttering once.
“I asked you, do you like to fuck?”
The question was exceptionally clear, leaving no room for misunderstanding.
Why is she asking this?
Lu Xiao’s breath caught, her muscles tensing. “It’s not a matter of liking it or not.”
“Heh, it seems Captain Lu’s past sex life hasn’t been very pleasant.”
Rage ignited in her heart. Lu Xiao fought to suppress the urge to punch her.
She ground out the words through clenched teeth, “That is none of your business.”
“Then let’s focus on the question,” Major Bai said, looking at her askance, her slender eyebrows raised high. “Want to play around together?”
Lu Xiao’s eyes widened, rendered speechless. She had never encountered such blatant sexual harassment in her life, especially from someone she had only just met for the second time.
And precisely because it was so blatant, her anger transformed into a sense of bewildered absurdity.
“No, thank you.”
“Don’t worry, it’s very safe with me.”
“…This is inappropriate.”
“The civil war will last for a few more months anyway. It gets lonely otherwise, doesn’t it?”
Listening to the increasingly explicit language and watching that increasingly seductive expression, Lu Xiao’s feelings of disgust and revulsion grew stronger. So what if she was beautiful? Did being beautiful give her the right to be infinitely arrogant?
Accustomed to being gentle, Lu Xiao disliked judging others and rarely hated anyone. But in that moment, for the first time, she had found someone she truly couldn’t stand.
The sun had completely sunk below the horizon, and the world, along with the woman’s silhouette, melted into the darkness.
Lu Xiao’s expression was grim. “I do not need to, nor do I want to, sleep with you,” she said coldly. “If you continue to harass me, I will report it.”
Major Bai chuckled softly and, to her credit, didn’t press the matter further. She resumed walking, her long golden hair catching the wind, flowing freely and gracefully in the humid air.
Lu Xiao followed her in silence, pushing through the last layer of bushes onto the main road. On the open path, the unbearable humidity subsided slightly.
Later, when she looked back on this day, she could only describe it with one word: wretched.
The two walked toward the military base on the outskirts of Ranao.
The mosquitoes were particularly numerous at night, buzzing about and often smacking against one’s cheeks.
Watching Major Bai’s relaxed and carefree back, Lu Xiao was completely baffled.
She truly hated the tropical climate. It was muggy and hot, like living in a steamer every day. She could feel a faint itch on her back; a heat rash was probably starting to form.
No wonder the various officers had tried to pass the buck when the central government assigned the mission. It was predictable that the upcoming operation on the Malaysian archipelago would be a hellish ordeal.
Dark-skinned natives carrying full baskets walked under the dim starlight. The strong stench of cow and horse dung drifted from between the banyan trees lining the road.
The main road, stretching to the horizon, led all the way to Labuan in the west. Though it was out of sight, it shimmered like a mirage in Lu Xiao’s mind. That was the cause of the current conflict between the Northern and Southern Chilian Alliances—a small island in the South China Sea.
Finally, they reached the base entrance. Outside a row of iron fences topped with steel spikes, two Northern Chilian Alliance soldiers in gray-green uniforms stood guard.
Seeing the two officers arrive, the soldiers immediately raised their hands in a salute.
“Good evening, ma’am.”
Major Bai walked right past them without a glance.
Lu Xiao, however, habitually nodded to the two soldiers. Although they looked alert, they still lacked the sharp edge of Seju’s soldiers.
The other officers had been waiting in the war room for a long time. They were chatting, but not with much enthusiasm. The cultural gap between the two nations was too wide, and they lacked enough common ground to sustain a conversation for hours.
The climate in Ranao was so humid that the wooden floorboards were badly corroded, creaking underfoot.
In the center of the war room was a rectangular lauan wood table, on which were scattered copperplate paper maps, markers of different colors, various classified documents, and a bowl of freshly picked local mangosteens.
The Northern Chilian officer sitting furthest in saw the two enter and enthusiastically raised a hand, pushing the bowl of mangosteens toward the other end of the table. His dark face was covered with a thick beard.
“Please, help yourselves.”
“Thank you.” Lu Xiao picked up a mangosteen. With a casual pinch of her thumb and forefinger, it split in two, revealing the white flesh inside.
The bearded officer’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. “This batch has pretty tough skins. I’m surprised a woman like Captain Lu could open one with just two fingers.”
“There are no genders in our army.”
Lu Xiao tasted the fruit. The sweet, tender, and juicy pulp coated her tongue. It was truly a specialty of the Malay Archipelago, and the irritation caused by the weather immediately lessened.
Although the bearded officer nodded, his expression showed he still didn’t quite understand. Indeed, it was a concept that people outside of Seju found hard to grasp.
He paused, then looked at his own major. “Aren’t you having any?”
Major Bai smiled and shook her head, taking a seat further in.
“I’m not hungry yet.”
“You’ve had a long afternoon. You should eat something.”
“I see enough blood and wounds. I have no appetite.”
“Alright then.”
It’s not that she has no appetite, Lu Xiao thought. It’s because she swallowed a whole bird, a black-winged cuckooshrike as long as my hand.
But on the surface, Lu Xiao remained calm. After finishing her mangosteen, she calmly wiped her mouth.
“Before we begin the meeting, let’s get acquainted,” the bearded officer said, standing up from his seat and saluting. “Colonel Li Xianweng, Chief of the General Staff for the Northern Chilian Alliance’s Malaysian Archipelago Defense Force.”
A short male officer next to him, also dark-skinned, introduced himself. “Captain Badawi, Commander of the First Regiment of the Ranao Defense Force.”
In comparison, the woman whose skin was whiter than snow seemed utterly out of place. She rose from her seat languidly, and her salute was just as lazy, as if she had just stepped out of a bath and was about to go to sleep.
“Major Bai Ran, Chief Medical Officer of the 14th Division, South American Theater Command.”
Bai Ran.
An image of a giant boa, white-skinned with brown spots, flashed before Lu Xiao’s eyes, its six rows of sharp teeth glinting coldly.
She suddenly realized something.
Bai Ran.
A white rán—a boa.
The three officers from the Northern Equatorial United Kingdom had finished their introductions.
It was now the turn of the two officers dispatched from the Seju Theocratic Military State.
“Captain Lu Xiao, Senior Commander, Seju Army.”
“Captain Yin Yinhuan, Political Commissar, Tropical and Subtropical Theater Command.”
Their voices were steady and powerful, their salutes impeccably standard.
The three Northern Chilian officers sitting opposite them felt their eyebrows twitch for a moment.
Colonel Li Xianweng gave a dry laugh, his thick beard bobbing as he spoke. “Your country’s military discipline is truly on another level. No wonder you are so powerful.”
“All public positions in our state, from top to bottom, are subordinate to the military. A strict training system is essential.”
Li Xianweng immediately began to clap sycophantically. “Excellent, excellent! To be honest, when your troops first arrived, I was worried the numbers were too low. But now I see that with such combat capability, numbers are not an issue at all.”
Lu Xiao’s eyelashes fluttered. “Not exactly. The number was determined after a rigorous assessment of the scale of this operation.”
With introductions and pleasantries concluded, the five officers officially began the war council.
Lieutenant Badawi placed a stack of documents on the table and pulled out a grayish photocopy. “According to an encrypted message deciphered by our intelligence, the Southern Chilian Alliance will arrive on the southern coast of Labuan next week, but their force strength is difficult to estimate.”
“Old Europe will not send troops,” Lu Xiao stated decisively.
“What makes you say that?”
“It’s election season right now. Nangong Chizuko has her hands full. If they were to send anyone, it wouldn’t be until November.”
“That’s true. But it seems the Southern Chilian Alliance has a secret weapon…”
Yin Yinhuan interjected, “Previous intelligence reports mentioned that the Southern Chilian Alliance’s military industry has seen a rapid rise in recent years…”
The night deepened, and the light from the thermal lamps grew fainter.
Lu Xiao’s brow was furrowed, her ballpoint pen flying across the page of her notebook.
Although the international situation had been tense in recent years, actual wars were rare. There had been few wars within her own country, let alone interventions in the civil wars of others.
This had to be taken seriously.
Colonel Li suddenly remembered something.
“Where are your soldiers from?”
“The South China region,” Yin Yinhuan replied.
“Labuan is even hotter and more humid than there. It might be best to head over early to acclimatize for a while.”
“We were thinking the same thing.”
Bai Ran looked utterly bored. She picked up a mangosteen and began scratching at it aimlessly with her fingernail.
Li Xianweng and Badawi glanced at her with awkward expressions, but neither dared to say anything.
A moment of silence.
“Labuan has been part of the Northern Chilian Alliance since ancient times. We cannot let it fall into the hands of others,” Colonel Li declared, filled with righteous indignation.
Lu Xiao gave an official reply. “The Seju government shares this view and will provide our full support to help you win this war.”
Suddenly, Bai Ran let out a soft laugh, a real, audible laugh. Her emerald eyes curved into crescents.
The other four turned to look at her in unison, completely failing to see what was so amusing about such a serious military meeting.
She gave her head a slight toss, flipping her long hair behind her shoulder.
“‘Since ancient times’ is probably inaccurate. After all, our Chilian Alliance has only existed for eighty years. ‘Since the founding of our nation’ would be more appropriate.”
Her one sentence made all four of them feel awkward.
This woman is nothing like a proper soldier, Lu Xiao thought with a frown. But she said nothing. After all, Bai Ran was not only an allied officer but also her superior. It wasn’t her place to interfere.
The flame of the thermal lamp burned quietly, each tick of the clock hand passing in deep silence.
Colonel Li coughed, being the first to break the deadlock. “Major Bai, do you have any suggestions from a medical standpoint?”
Bai Ran shrugged.
“Just tell everyone not to expose their arms and legs. That’s it.”
“Nothing else?”
“There’s a firewall between the medical department and you. We are most efficient when we handle our own affairs internally.”
“…”
Lu Xiao could clearly sense Colonel Li’s helplessness toward Bai Ran. Despite being two full ranks his junior, he seemed to have no way of controlling her.
“I’m hungry, I’m going to eat,” Bai Ran announced, standing up and stretching. “Don’t call me for the next meeting. It’s useless.”
With that, she swaggered out of the conference room under the gaze of four pairs of eyes.
Lu Xiao truly couldn’t understand how the Northern Chilian Alliance could tolerate such a person as Chief Medical Officer. She was feeling hungry too. She reached for a mangosteen from the bowl, only to find it was the one Bai Ran had scratched with her nail.
Whatever, the peel gets thrown away anyway. She wasn’t too bothered.
But as she was about to squeeze it open, she noticed the scratches on the mangosteen’s peel were actually a line of letters:
[Der Geschmack des Todes
(The Taste of Death)]
After seeing that line, the sweet taste of the mangosteen she had just eaten suddenly turned strange.
Author’s Notes:
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The political and military settings are fictional; please do not connect them to reality.
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[Fun Fact]
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Rán (蚺): A type of giant snake. The difference between a rán (boa) and a mǎng (python) is that boas are ovoviviparous (give birth to live young), while pythons are oviparous (lay eggs). Boas kill their prey by constriction, using their powerful muscles to coil around it before swallowing it whole.
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To avoid shattering your image of Major Bai, I suggest you do not look up pictures of boas (doge face). (T/n: lol, too late for me)
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