Hearing her unabashedly sweet words, Song Huan knew that she was angry. But there was no other way. From the beginning, everything was to test her choice.
"That's great, thank goodness!"
Qin Wei breathed a sigh of relief. Zhou Fang was fine. Nothing happening was the best outcome.
But when she said this, it made Song Huan a little surprised. She blurted out, "Shouldn't you be questioning why I tricked you?"
Qin Wei was stunned for a moment, then turned her head to look at her and smiled coldly.
Song Huan then realized that she seemed to have said the wrong thing.
"You actually tricked me! This was all your doing??"
Qin Wei rolled her eyes at her.
"The best thing in the world is a 'false alarm'. If this didn't happen, we wouldn't know the pit was this deep. I was worried that Zhou Fang would fall down and get hurt. As long as she's fine, that's good."
I see.
A rare gentleness filled Song Huan's eyes.
"But Song Huan, we're not done with you tricking me. Wait until I get back, I'm going to file a complaint against you!"
Qin Wei gnashed her teeth and pointed at Song Huan, then turned around and walked back the same way she had come.
Song Huan sighed and took out a remote control the size of a cell phone from her pocket.
She looked up at the military mini drone hovering in the air.
Protection had always been there, I just didn't tell you.
...
By the time she walked back to the rescue rope, the sky had brightened. She was a little surprised to see that Han Zhou was still there waiting in the same place.
At a glance, she saw that Song Huan had also come over, so she hurriedly climbed up the rope first.
However, Song Huan managed to climb up faster with just her bare hands.
"Why are you still here? Didn't Instructor Song tell you to go back first?"
Qin Wei climbed up and brushed the dust off her body.
"I was worried about you too. If anything happened to you, what would Qiao do? Cough cough... And we're teammates anyway..."
Han Zhou glanced at Song Huan and said, "Where's Zhou Fang?"
"Zhou Fang has already been sent back."
Song Huan replied. Hearing "Qiao", she couldn't help being nosy and asked further:
"Qiao? That famous actress? Tell me more about her."
Han Zhou nodded.
Qin Wei sighed and started pushing Han Zhou while walking forward:
"You don't need to tell her these things. You two are worlds apart. Let's go back first. It's past 7 o'clock already. If we don't leave soon, we won't make it."
When they reached the fork in the road, she was surprised to find that Jiang Zhiyu and Ye Jiahe were still there and hadn't left early.
After confirming Zhou Fang was alright, the four group members were present. Without daring to delay any further, they headed back the same way they had come.
"We walked from nightfall until daybreak, and there was no one left..."
Qin Wei rubbed her eyebrows and looked back at her teammates, each completely exhausted. Only Song Huan was still full of energy as usual.
What is she, a robot...
"Take a break here for five minutes."
Perhaps noticing Qin Wei's gaze, Song Huan suddenly stopped and glanced at her watch, then found a place to sit down and rest.
The other few were also extremely tired and sat down to rest on the spot.
After drinking some water and regaining some strength, Song Huan went over to Han Zhou again:
"That actress, tell me about her?"
Han Zhou was quite willing to talk about it, but couldn't help glancing at Qin Wei.
Qin Wei signaled her with her eyes not to pay any attention to Song Huan.
Han Zhou hesitated.
"Listen to me. When you get your phone back, I'll share some good stuff with you, written by Director Sun himself."
Qin Wei knew what to say to convince her.
"Anything produced by Director Sun is guaranteed to be a masterpiece! Thank you, Qin Wei!"
Han Zhou nodded, then looked at Song Huan again, "I'm sorry Instructor Song, I can't say."
Song Huan: "......"
The break was supposed to be five minutes, but sitting there for fifteen minutes, Jiang Zhiyu still didn't feel rested at all. Ye Jiahe and Han Zhou were also too tired, nearly dozing off despite Song Huan's reminders to keep going several times.
"There are fifteen more minutes until eight o'clock."
Song Huan reminded them again. As before, she did not interfere according to regulations, only waited quietly on the side.
"How much farther until we arrive?"
At eight o'clock sharp, Qin Wei asked Song Huan.
Since it wasn't a secret, Song Huan answered, "About five kilometers left."
"Four hours, five kilometers."
Qin Wei made a quick mental calculation, but her math skills weren't great. She just said,
"Let them rest a little longer, there's still time."
"It's a mountain road, and it's downhill. Actually not easy to walk," Song Huan reminded her, and curiously asked,
"Aren't you tired at all, Qin Wei?"
"Of course I'm tired. Only an idiot wouldn't be tired now."
Qin Wei glared at her, clearly implying that she was talking about her.
"Let's go. Resting more might really make us late."
Ye Jiahe always felt that continuing this discussion might anger Song Huan, which would disadvantage Lu E. So she stood up to support Jiang Zhiyu, and everyone continued on their way.
Originally not at the back of the team, they had fallen behind the main group because they went to find Zhou Fang, costing them some time.
11:30 am.
There was a place to drop off rucksacks at the foot of the mountain, which lowered the difficulty for them again. The weight-bearing section ended here, just hiking was enough for the remainder.
Song Huan accompanied the four-person team down the mountain. She glanced at the positioning system, then said to Qin Wei:
"For the next stretch, you'll basically have to run to barely make it back on time. Otherwise you definitely won't make it before the deadline."
But after scanning the few people, one was already limping, two had no energy at all and were struggling just to walk, let alone run, which was unrealistic.
"Qin Wei, can you still run?"
Song Huan looked around before asking her. She seemed to be in the best shape.
Qin Wei had supported Jiang Zhiyu for a long distance. At this moment, hearing Song Huan's question, she didn't even lift her head to coldly reply:
"Can't run, no strength left."
"Then..."
Song Huan smiled at the few people, "During this hike, instructors are not allowed to help. Accompanying you just now was out of consideration for your safety. I can't help you now, so I'll go on ahead first."
Song Huan waved to them and turned to leave, running off.
Her speed wasn't slow, and her footsteps were still very light. Her condition seemed exactly the same as when the new students had first set off on this journey last night.
Watching her retreating figure, Qin Wei couldn't help frowning:
"What did she grow up eating? How is she not tired at all??"
Beside her, Jiang Zhiyu looked at Qin Wei:
"I think you can still make it back on time. Please go ahead first, you've already helped me a lot..."
...
11:58 am.
The camp gates were wide open. Students who had already arrived were casually sitting on the ground, some not even bothering to get up, just lying down after an exhausting night. It would probably take them a while to recover.
11:59 am.
Zheng Qiancheng glanced at the countdown timer, having a general sense by now of the outcome for this weight-bearing hike.
A simple estimate told him that around five hundred people from both routes had staggered back so far.
To be honest, it had been quite harsh on these kids, but they had already done remarkably well.
"We can close the doors now." Zheng Qiancheng stood at the entrance and said to the sentries.
The automatic gates slowly started closing. Zheng Qiancheng began counting down—
"Five!"
"Four!"
"Three!"
When he counted down to three, the gates were basically shut, but a figure darted through, flipping cleanly over the gate and landing steadily.
The resting students may have been exhausted, but seeing such a cool scene, they still couldn't help crying out in admiration.
"Song Huan, you're late."
The stopwatch hit zero. Zheng Qiancheng gave her a look.
"Did some bad things along the way, held me up."
Song Huan dusted off her clothes, hands on her waist, continually gazing out the gates.
She seemed to be waiting expectantly for something.
Zheng Qiancheng unconsciously followed her gaze, but there was nothing.
"Anybody else?"
"There was someone who could've run back with me."
Song Huan said,
"But she just wouldn't."
Zheng Qiancheng didn't believe her words. Although both were soldiers, he knew the gap between himself and Song Huan:
"Who else could be like you? Coming out of that demonic Commando training camp, even I can't compare."
Song Huan frowned:
"You can say anything about me, even call me a devil, but don't talk about my unit like that.
"Forget it, I guess there's no hope left. This hike was too harsh after all. Push the deadline back another hour, go notify everyone that those who return before 1 pm still pass."
