Cold Thorn Part 1

This Chinese excerpt is from the modern militant action novel “Cold Thorn”, or 冷刺, written by 天地飘鸥. You’ll be reading the first part of Chapter 1: King of the Commandos (特种兵之王).
Advanced Chinese Reading: Cold Thorn Part 1The language here is very heavy on the cheesy military slang, so if you like action movies and thrillers, you’ll be able to catch quite a few of the cliches.
If you’d like to finish reading the book after you finish this first bit, the full text is available online from Sina.com‘s book archive.
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冬眠 – dōng mián – Hibernation
斑驳- bān bó – Mottled
潜伏 – qián fú – Concealed, covered
纹丝不动 – wén sī bù dòng – Not move a whisker
闷热 – mēn rè – sultry
追踪 – zhuī zōng – Track, trace, follow a trail
特战 – tè zhàn – Special forces
狙 – jū – Lie in ambush
杀戮 – shā lù – Massacre
匪夷所思 – fěi yí suǒ sī – Freak, fantastic
比武 – bǐ wǔ – Martial / military contest
军区 – jūn qū – Military region
出局 – chū jú – Be eliminated [from a contest]
韩枫静静地伏在厚厚的落叶下，一动不动，安静得如同一条冬眠的蛇，不，他比蛇还要无声无息，谁也不会想到斑驳腐烂的落叶堆里会有这样坚强的生命存在，仿佛亘古就是如此。真是无法想象一个人能在这样的环境中潜伏两天两夜，不吃不喝，纹丝不动。在苍茫的原始丛林中，空气闷热得令人窒息，浑身就像霉烂了似的，湿漉漉的感觉别提有多难受了，何况韩枫的身上还捂着这么厚的一堆落叶，真是连气也喘不过来了。
韩枫就这样无声无息地潜伏着，安静得几乎连生命的体征也消失了，身边来来往往已经过去了几个特种小组，就连最擅长追踪的“灵狐”特战小组也没有发现他。
他不能动，也不敢动，因为他知道林中还有不少特战高手在伺机狙杀，他要做最有耐心的猎人而不是成为别人的猎物。他们这一组除了他，其他人都“挂”了，在三天前残酷的“杀戮”中先后“阵亡”，而他，凭着超强的第六感和匪夷所思的身手不但逃过了对方的狙杀，而且还“杀”了数名富有经验的特战精英，居然毫发无伤。在十多个特战精英小组的攻击下能做到这一点，真是奇迹！
这次的特种兵大比武，是五年一度的全国“特种兵”对抗大赛，来自全国七大军区的特战精英，个个都是身经百战的高手，随便挑出一个，横扫一个普通连队绝不是痴人说梦。这次的特种兵大比武是实兵对抗，一切从实战出发，除了弹药是空包弹外，其他都是特种部队必需的武器装备。十天为限，没有后援，没有给养，各自为战，淘汰者出局。
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Han Feng silently hid beneath a thick pile of dead leaves, motionless, as calm as a hibernating snake; no, he was even more silent than a snake. No one would think that a strong life could exist inside such a motley, rotten pile of dead leaves, it was as if [the pile] had always been this way. There was no way to imagine that a person could hide in this environment for two days without food or drink, not moving a whisker. In this vast primeval forest, the weather was so stiflingly hot as to make men suffocate, as if they were rotting from head to toe; needless to say the clamminess was very uncomfortable, moreso since Han Feng was covered in a thick pile of dead leaves – it was difficult to even draw breath.
And so Han Feng hid there not making a sound, his very sense of life nearly fading away, as special units came and went around him; even the most expert trackers, the “Quick Foxes” special forces unit, didn’t discover his position.
He didn’t move, he didn’t dare, because he knew that in the forest special forces experts were laying in wait to ambush him. He must be the most patient hunter, or else he would become someone else’s prey. Everyone else in his group had already been “hung”. In the “massacre” three days before, they’d “died” in battle one after the other. But he, relying on his superior sixth sense and freakish agility, had escaped his opponent’s ambush, and had also “killed” more than a few of supremely experienced special forces elite, somehow taking no wounds himself. It was a real miracle that he’d managed this under attack from 10-plus special forces elite groups!
To this Commando Competition, an international “special forces soldier” face-off held once every five years, came elite commandos from the world’s seven major military regions. Each [soldier] had [proven themselves] in numerous battles – it would not be unrealistic to say that any one you picked out of the bunch could single-handedly wipe out a whole unit of regular soldiers. This Commando Competition was a real military engagement, everything was like a real war, except for the fact that blanks are used for ammunition, all other equipment was special forces standard issue. A ten day limit, no reinforcements, no support, every man for himself, anyone eliminated is out of the running.