Chapter 25 - Training Camp IV (1/2)
Chapter 25: Training Camp IV
Translated by Shiya of Exiled Rebels Translations
A person who had completed special missions and was a high-ranking officer in the army. After some thoughts, Li Sui concluded that the only person who could fulfill all the criteria was Lu Shang’s father. This military badge belonged to Lu Shang’s father, but Lu Shang just gave it to him, to someone who wasn’t even a blood relative. No matter how much Li Sui tried thinking, he couldn’t grasp the reasoning behind it.
“Li Sui. It’s time for the assembly!”
“Coming.” Li Sui placed the military badge back under his shirt carefully. His thoughts began to calm down as he felt the chill from the badge at his chest.
Li Sui thought that once he returned home, he would ask Lu Shang and get to the bottom of this.
“Divide into teams of two people, each person will get a bag. Inside the bags are food, water, a tent, a lighter, a map, some emergency medicine, and a flare signal.” The trainer continued, “Besides all that, you will each get to choose a weapon.”
“The time limit is five pm tomorrow. Find the marked treasure chest, obtain the treasure inside, then bring it back here. You will pass the test once you bring it back.”
“Remember not to wander out of the protected zone. If you encounter any situation you cannot handle, use the flare to signal us, we will reach you within ten minutes.”
Just in case they injured others on accident, all the weapon options were small and easy to handle. Li Sui picked out a small dagger, he then put the dagger in the backpack. SiMa JingRong was lazy and didn’t want to carry extra weight, so he didn’t choose one.
The two of them walked into the woods for a while, then they ran into Wang Wei. Wang Wei knew that the trainer wasn’t going to allow attendees to bring extra things to the exam, so he packed up everything early in the day and left it here. He was waiting for Li Sui and SiMa JingRong there to give them the equipment.
“Isn’t it enough already? I think the trainer gave us a lot of supplies already,” Li Sui said.
“No. You must bring more. The food supplied are only enough for one day, so if you don’t want to starve, you have to bring these too. Lu Lao Ban said that it’s fine if you cannot complete the mission, but you must stay safe.”
The second Li Sui heard it was Lu Shang who prepared all this, he immediately cooperated, “Then I will pack them into our bags.”
SiMa JingRong listened in to their conversation with blank eyes, his brain couldn’t follow what they were talking about, “What are you guys saying? What about Lu Lao Ban?”
Li Sui ignored him, he tidied up the bags, as he searched through the supplies, he found a gun. He gasped, “There’s even a gun in here!?”
Wang Wei had an awkward expression, he scratched the back of his head and said, “I’m used to bringing it. I’d feel unsafe without it, so I prepared one for you too.”
SiMa JingRong had shock written all over his face as well, he exclaimed, “A real… real gun!?”
“Of course not, this is just an air gun. Ehh, be careful. Don’t point this at people, you’d might hurt someone.”
“Do… do you mean you had this thing with you for the whole month we are together?”
Wang Wei giggled grimly.
SiMa JingRong pounded his own chest a few times, looking extremely shocked.
“Thanks.” Li Sui packed up all the supplies, then nodded at Wang Wei to show his gratitude.
Wang Wei looked at Li Sui, it seemed like he had something to say. However, with SiMa JingRong present, he kind of felt that the words would be too mean to him. Wang Wei just waved his hand and went into the woods himself.
“Let’s go too.”
“Wait. Explain to me what’s happening first. What’s up with Wang Wei? Also, why is the sadist at your home giving you a gun?”
Li Sui took big strides forward as he said, “Lu Shang is not a sadist, the scars on me have nothing to do with him. He has always treated me well, that’s why he arranged Wang Wei into the camp. Do you understand when I put it like this?”
SiMa JingRong didn’t reply with anything, after a while he just went up to rummage through Li Sui’s backpack.
“What are you trying to find?”
“He’s prepared so much, so I’m wondering if there’s dog food in here.”
“……”
They did not discover anything worthwhile in the first day, all the teams were not dispersed yet—they ran into a few teams as they walked through the woods. SiMa JingRong found a treasure chest in an abandoned bird nest, unfortunately it was already opened. That meant this area had already been searched by others, so they had to go deeper in.
In the afternoon, the two of them rested beside a river. They opened a few packs of biscuits and refilled their water bottles. The fruits of a month of intense training were showing completely now, even after walking in the woods for the whole morning, they didn’t feel tired, just a little too hot. They were searching while enjoying the scenery; if the roads didn’t get rougher on the way and the woods thicker, they would be sure that they were just hiking for fun.
“We been searching for the whole day, but we’ve still found nothing. Seriously, where did they put those treasure chests?”
Li Sui had been observing the environment carefully all this time, after SiMa JingRong asked, he said, “This area hasn’t been searched by any teams yet, let’s try searching this area more carefully, there should be a chest here.”
“How do you know this area hasn’t been searched yet?”
“Footprints.” Li Sui pointed to his feet, “There are no human footprints in this area.”
“I see. Sounds reasonable.”
SiMa JingRong held a pair of binoculars, the other hand held a broken tree branch, flicking the leaves on the ground around. Unfortunately, except for dried leaves and broken pieces of wood, he found nothing. After searching for a while, he began to lose his patience, he hummed while slacking off.
“The wind is picking up.” Li Sui said.
“It looks like it’s going to rain soon, we should find shelter.”
There was often a lot of rainfall in the summer season, but usually it would begin in a hurry and end just as quickly. SiMa JingRong chose a huge tree, then he pulled out a tarpaulin, hanging it up the branches. Li Sui raised his head to look at the cloudy sky, in the clouds were flickers of lightning, he stopped SiMa JingRong and said, “You’d become a lightning rod here, we need to find a cave.”
Before they came to this area, they saw a cave along the way, so they immediately turned back. Not long after they located the cave and hid in it, lightning and thunder roared in the woods. Heavy rainfall poured from the sky. In an instant, it was as if the sounds of rain hitting trees and leaves had engulfed the mountain, as if scores of drums were played, it was extremely ear-piercing.
It wasn’t night yet, but it was dark in the woods because of the clouds, along with the heavy rain, it was as if there were a layer of mist.
Li Sui gathered some dry woods and leaves in the cave, with the lighter, he started a fire.
“There isn’t enough wood, the fire won’t last through the night.” Li Sui controlled the fire into a smaller size, so that it was just enough for lighting. Li Sui continued, “When the rain stops, we have to go get some more wood. We should just stay here tonight”
They did not check how deep the cave was, but it was pitch black inside, as if things could jump out any second. SiMa JingRong’s face was as pale as paper, he absolutely hated the idea of staying here. Instead of facing the unknown darkness, he would much rather go to sleep with the spiders up a tree. However, the rain outside was too heavy, so he couldn’t think of any other places to stay in. He stared into the depths of the cave, not being able to make out anything in the darkness, he tried averting his attention by chatting with Li Sui.
“Come on. Tell me.”
Li Sui took out the canned meat Wang Wei gave him; after opening the can, he added some water and cooked it on the fire, “Tell you about what?”