The group of fujoshi representatives, spearheaded by Shu Xiaoman, had already neglected the ultimate reward. Perhaps, it was better to say that they personally believed that they didn't have the capability of even getting close to the reward. They put all their focus on discussing how to make Zhao Yuan and Lin Wenxi into a pair. The verdict was working together to manufacture an exceptionally good opportunity for Zhao Yuan and help him succeed.
However, the girls led by Chen Wanxin were used to watching scheming palace harem dramas. They had a very different idea when it came to the concept of manufacturing an exceptionally good opportunity.
Thus, Zhao Yuan's supplies inexplicably disappeared. Wang Xiang, being a person who would rather advance and retreat together, shared his supplies with him. However, Wang Xiang's supplies disappeared as well. Thus, the members of the dorm discussed and came to the conclusion that everyone, except the weakling Lin Wenxi, would guard Zheng Kai and Lin Wenxi's life-saving rations in shifts. Sure enough, no one touched Lin Wenxi's part of the supplies. Lin Wenxi was simply too aloof that the other three came into an understanding that if he was unwilling to do something, they wouldn't force him either.
When it was late at night, Zheng Kai stared blankly at the sea of stars in the sky above. This was his best opportunity! Thinking about it, it had been three years since he last saw his father. His father's words at Green Fields Military Academy rang beside his ears: "Don't come home before establishing yourself in society and becoming an elite!" Since then, he had heard no news of his hometown.
Why did his father do this? His father didn't allow his mother to visit him. Over the past three years, he didn't even make a single phone call home. He supposed his family didn't even know if he was dead or alive. Now that he was selected to enter Jifu University, he was merely a hundred miles away from home. If his father knew this, what would he do?
He felt a stinging sensation pricking his eyes as if he was close to crying. Yet when he saw Chen Wanxin, a smile blossomed on his face.
"Zheng Kai, I want your rations," Chen Wanxin said, smiling.
"Sure." Zheng Kai directly handed her his knapsack.
"You're not going to ask me what for?" Chen Wanxin was a little startled.
"If you want it, I'll give it to you. There's nothing much to it," Zheng Kai replied.
"I'm menstruating recently, so thanks..." Chen Wanxin flashed him a lovely smile.
"Rest well and try to stay warm." Zheng Kai nodded. He wanted to say something but realized that they had no common topic to talk about. He could only watch as Chen Wanxin walked away.
It was more than enough for one person to fill his stomach with Lin Wenxi's rations. Now that there were four of them, it was hard to make sure that they could eat their fill. Lin Wenxi just ate a smaller portion and handed the remaining food to Wang Xiang to divide it between the three of them. Thus, all of their stomachs were only half-filled the next day. The pace of their squad became no different than the pace of the girls' squad.
Zhao Yuan's stolen supplies were indeed Zhang An'an and Shu Xiaoman's work just as they were setting off. Everyone was in such boisterous spirits that no one would have foreseen their classmates stealing from them. Their goal was to force Lin Wenxi to help a little. They didn't expect Wang Xiang to stir trouble for them. Thus, Zhang An'an confiscated his rations. Once again, they didn't expect Zheng Kai to be filled with brotherly affection, so they asked Chen Wanxin to make a personal appearance. This resulted in Lin Wenxi himself eating the least and sparing the most for his group members. While the two girls were dejected, they were even more worried about him. They knew that they must allow Zhao Yuan to pick up something tomorrow but this mustn't be discovered by other people.
"One puts himself above the common populace, and another can keep sleeping even if Mount Tai collapses," Wang Xiang said, helplessly summing up Lin Wenxi and Zhao Yuan. Lin Wenxi would typically go to bed early to counteract his hunger while Zhao Yuan would run around to look for wild herbs. Meanwhile, Zheng Kai and Wang Xiang were seated opposite each other. Zheng Kai couldn't help pulling on the weeds growing on the ground and chewing on them for a moment.
"It's also An'an who asked for my rations, saying that her period is here. Say, wouldn't it be nice if girls don't have a period?" Wang Xiang also painfully pulled on the weeds to chew.
"I have an idea. You can get them pregnant. From a biological perspective..." Zheng Kai painfully spat out the weed in his mouth. He saw that Wang Xiang was already hiding inside the tent while enclosing his ears.
In reality, all they had to do was seek help from the nearby military instructors. However, the premise was that they would have to withdraw from the contest. To seek help from the military instructors no matter what happened during the course of the contest would be considered a withdrawal. There was no exception even for the case when someone had fainted. Jifu University's admission office had already made this very clear to the military instructors that the things like first aid, medicine, food, tent, and rope were well-prepared in the supplies they provided the students. Moreover, in order to become a student of Jifu University, the students would either have exceptional talent in medicating and nursing or were all-rounders with the innate ability to survive the wild. There were also those who were experts at rock climbing and shifting. Even among those who had no ability at all, some would at least know some poetry and use it as a spiritual fodder. Take for example, Wang Xiang.
At dawn, a few girls gathered for a discussion. One of them started sobbing. "Can you please let me go?!" The sound came from none other than the residence of the four guys in Dorm No. 216. Several military instructors grabbed their weapons and rushed over there. There, they discovered Zhao Yuan grabbing a rabbit by the ears and holding a sharp dagger in his other hand. He placed his hands together and quietly began the religious ceremony to help the soul of the rabbit to find peace. Just as the white knife was about to stab forward and a red knife was going to show up, the rabbit shivered in fright and put its paws together like Zhao Yuan did as it pleaded pitifully.
There was another rabbit struggling on the ground with its paws tied. Its snow-white fur was stained gray by the soil and the corner of its eyes seemed like it was about to burst forth with tears at any time. Judging from the blood stains on its frontal claws, it seemed that its paws were smashed by a rock until they had gone lame. With its eyes brimming with tears, it put its claws together and pleaded pitifully.
So it was a false alarm.
Shu Xiaoman walked up to them and gave Zhou Nannan a little push. "Hey, are you a manifestation of a rabbit spirit? Why are you asking them to let you go?"
"Let the pair of pitiful rabbits go is like... letting me go. I... I feel bad..." Zhou Nannan was sobbing so hard that she was sniveling.
Zheng Kai and Wang Xiang woke up muddleheaded after being awakened by all the clamor. Lin Wenxi's tent also trembled ever so slightly and before long, he finished neatening his clothes and slowly came out. The three of them were stupefied to see such a scene. When Zheng Kai saw the rabbits, his stomach immediately rumbled. Wang Xiang smacked his lips. Lin Wenxi squatted down to gently caress the rabbit's injured claws.
"Oh, you're not letting me eat the rabbit? You want us to starve to death?" Zhao Yuan said placidly.
"That... That rabbits smell good..." Zheng Kai couldn't help squatting down and feeding more wood to the fire.
"Zheng Kai, you bastard! You dare eat!" Chen Wanxin was the first to step up.
"Wang Xiang, you dare eat!" Zhang An'an put both of her hands on her hips.
"That... That... Lin Wenxi, you dare eat!" Suddenly, Shu Xiaoman said something similar to Lin Wenxi.
Lin Wenxi was rather dumbstruck and his expression turned apathetic. He wrapped a strip of plain white cloth around the frontal claws of the rabbit to stop its bleeding. Within seconds, the rabbit immediately limped far, far away and soon disappeared out of their sight.
"Hey! Lin Wenxi! Did you want the rabbit to come back after a thousand years to pay a debt of gratitude to you?!" Wang Xiang rose to his feet, feeling deep regret for the rabbit meat that never made its way into his mouth. He then turned to look at Zhang An'an with a bright smile. "The rabbit is actually a male. It's still okay for it to pay a debt of gratitude." Zhang An'an gave him a thumbs-up.
Zhao Yuan clenched the rabbit ears in his hand and scratched his neck with the handle of his dagger with a faint smile. The rabbit started struggling but like usual, Zhao Yuan didn't even raise his head.
Lin Wenxi silently walked over to him, intending to snatch the rabbit. Zhao Yuan tossed his knife and swiftly stuffed the rabbit into his embrace. Wearing a teasing smile, he yelled, "Lin Wenxi, take off my clothes if you want this rabbit."
The hearts of Shu Xiaoman and Zhang An'an blossomed into a flower after seeing this. They immediately quieted down. Chen Wanxi also watched Zhao Yuan and Lin Wenxi with great interest.
Lin Wenxi picked up the knife on the ground and gestured it at his wrist. His small face was as red as a tomato. Without needing him to speak, Zhao Yuan immediately took out the rabbit and threw it toward the wild. The rabbit flopped on the ground twice before turning around to flash them a smug smile and disappearing.
The girls were inevitably disappointed to see that such a hasty conclusion to a good show. Even so, they could see that Lin Wenxi was infuriated. They were afraid that he would take this seriously and do something foolish, so they were also secretly relieved at the turn of events. Zhang An'an gave it a thought and then signaled Shu Xiaoman with her eyes. Thus, the two of them thoughtfully sent some food that they had stolen from Zhao Yuan and Wang Xiang over to Lin Wenxi. Lin Wenxi didn't even spare them a glance. He handed the food to Wang Xiang and returned to his tent.
Zhao Yuan followed after Lin Wenxi closely and abruptly threw himself into the latter's tent. In a moment of careless, he pressed Lin Wenxi to the ground. Lin Wenxi immediately got a whiff of a strange smell from Zhao Yuan's body. Before he could react, Zhao Yuan was already laying on the ground with his jacket off. Inevitably, Lin Wenxi caught a glimpse of his lean figure. He couldn't help covering his eyes and cry out in fright.
His alarmed cry caused the students outside the tent to once again band together.
Zhao Yuan abruptly pulled onto the drapery in a moment of panic. Pitch-black darkness shrouded the inside of the tent. He immediately turned on the light. The people outside would want nothing more than to break into the tent and see what was going on. However, they were afraid that the delicate Lin Wenxi would easily collapse. Thus, all of them transformed into the young imperial guards of the Ming Dynasty, searching for crevices in the tent or pushing open the draped door ever so slightly. Unfortunately, even though it was Wang Xiang who helped Lin Wenxi build the tent, Lin Wenxi had many nuisances helping him reinforce the tent. The tent was built so tightly sealed that not even wind could enter. Inside the tent, Lin Wenxi also heard the commotion outside. He said nothing but kept his hands over his eyes. "Hey, even if it's a girl who saw me like this, I don't think she'll have such a big reaction? Haven't you gone nude in your upper half?" Zhao Yua
The group traced the terrain under Wang Xiang's leadership and studied the topography of the mountain. To their surprise, they discovered that they didn't have to go down the mountain via the winding road and could instead follow the creek downward. They soon saw another mountain top, where the first supply point was located. The flow of the creek was neither fast nor slow. It wasn't a shallow creek either. Based on the topography of the mountain, Wang Xiang concluded that there couldn't possibly be a waterfall. Thus, it was completely safe for them to follow the creek downward. However, there would be strange stones protruding from the sides of the creek every now and then. If they went down from the coastal side, they didn't know if they would be able to get a direct route. A glimpse through the binoculars told them that there were already a significant amount of olive-green silhouettes hidden from the view in the forest beneath the mountain. From the looks of things
"Zhao Yuan!" Wang Xiang uttered a pained cry. If something bad happened to Zhao Yuan, it would be impossible for him to escape censure. He had studied the map and topography of the mountain very well. There was no way that there would be a waterfall here. For a moment, Zheng Kai forgot to release his grasp on Lin Wenxi. Only when Lin Wenxi began struggling that he remembered him and immediately let go. The two of them crawled to the shore. If the waterfall was about ten meters high, the bamboo raft would probably have hit the waters by now. The raft flowed along the current and swiftly disappeared out of sight. Meanwhile, the pool of water under the waterfall was so quiet that it was terrifying. Lin Wenxi couldn't help wanting to climb down the waterfall but Zheng Kai was dragging him across the water and hauling him up the shore. He could only stare foolishly at the deep waters underneath as if he was possessed. "Climbing is prohibited!" The
Sure enough, their journey to the second depot was much more difficult than getting to the first depot. With the girls stopping by every now and then to poke at the flora, their journey was greatly delayed. Zhao Yuan appeared a little anxious. He handed his knapsack to Wang Xiang and ran ahead of everyone else. He was unable to get through to Lin Wenxi on the phone. Several days ago, Zhang Dong had reminded them that the signal was very unstable on the mountain and requested the students to work in teams. Zhao Yuan was currently regretting not making Lin Wenxi stay earlier. The only thing was no one could guess what Lin Wenxi was thinking, with his temper and tendency to speak in half sentences! Zhao Yuan ran back to the spot where he separated with Lin Wenxi earlier and then traced him via two different directions for a good ten minutes. When he saw no sign of Lin Wenxi, he couldn't help feeling somewhat anxious. He cleared his throat and yelled all over the place. Th
Lin Wenxi fell on the ground, and his face twisted in agony. He was a little out of breath. "What's wrong? You're still so lively earlier!" Zhao Yuan felt Lin Wenxi's forehead. "I feel... weak all over," Lin Wenxi said with great difficulty. "Eat something first." Zhao Yuan then went off to look for Lin Wenxi's knapsack everywhere, only to find some of the food items and commonly-used tools soaked. The tent had already flown god knows where. It turned out that this pit was a large slope. When he looked down, he saw a muddy marsh with a sign erected atop: "Danger. Do not enter." Having experienced falling down a waterfall, Zhao Yuan wouldn't try and force it. However, there was no way for Lin Wenxi to consume those things. Worried, Zhao Yuan propped up Lin Wenxi and tried to help him walk upward. Lin Wenxi dropped to a squat. "Make the call and tell them I'm giving up. I don't want to walk anymore. Just let me s
"Dear God! What did I just see?!" Shu Xiaoman's screech caused Zhao Yuan to immediately relax his hand. He said solemnly, "You know how to play along." Lin Wenxi instantly stopped crying and nodded. "Damn it! Isn't it just a little fall? You're just like a girl, crying that much! I didn't even say anything!" Zhao Yuan said loudly as he rubbed Lin Wenxi's hair roughly. He also tried weaving a braid with Lin Wenxi's hair. "Isn't it because you're too fat and squashed me?!" Lin Wenxi retorted hatefully. "I'm fat? Lin Wenxi, don't you think your reason is too far-fetched?" When Zhao Yuan saw that Lin Wenxi had yet to recover his senses, he had no choice but to add, "I just farted, that's all. To think you'll get such a fright that you fell down! How strange!" Lin Wenxi was momentarily stunned. He suppressed the smile that was threatening to show up on his face and replied, "Good that you know yo
The sun descended in the west, blanketing the world in a layer of sunset glow. The golden evening light spilled on a bunch of tired but excited faces. The air seemed to have become completely still as the autumn scenery stretched on before them. Silence fell over everyone, submerging them in tranquil peace. The setting sun returned to the mountain, unveiling curtains to the night and the starry sky that washed away all the daytime clamor. Every now and then, autumn insects would make some noise. The breeze passed through the forest and caressed their faces. The air was so fresh that one couldn't help wanting to take a deep breath. In the dark night without the city lights, young hearts could find those innocent flavors of life more easily. The group carefully studied the map before deciding on their route for tomorrow. However, they found out that they were still nearly one hundred kilometers away from their second stop. Everyone estimated that they had unexpectedly wa
The next morning, when Zhao Yuan got out of his tent, he discovered something unusual. "How come there are two holes in the tents? Did some mouses come to gnaw on the tent? But these holes are about one meter above the ground? How could mouses do that?" He deliberately remained silent about that, and made a fire to cook noodles for everyone. The team had enough noodles but did not have enough sauce. In the end, among the seven bowls of noodles he cooked, only five had sauce. He went to ask Lin Wenxi to get up, but he still looked sleepy. He wiggled a little with a meaningful smile on his face. "You brat..." Zhao Yuan thought and pinched his ear. Lin Wenxi finally got up while smiling. After that, Zhao Yuan went to the other tents to wake up the others. Soon enough, nearly everyone got out of their tents and ruched toward the noodles. Although Chen Wanxin was a girl, she showed a raw energy like a man and quickly finished her b