Chapter 162
The weather was incredibly hot, and the temperature didn't cool down until around 4 p.m. The group still fell into a deep sleep, kneeling on their backpacks, and didn't wake up until 6 p.m. When they awoke, hungry, the young monk immediately searched his backpack for cacti, only to find they were short. He counted them and found only a dozen or so pieces.
Chu Huaiqin saw the little monk's actions and shook several water bottles. He had drunk all the water he brought with him, and one of the two reserve water bags had been drunk two-thirds, which was accumulated because he did not travel at noon.
"Brother, we still have two days left. Can we make it?" the young monk asked anxiously. Before setting out, they'd estimated the twenty-kilometer journey would take two and a half days. Only after setting off did they realize the difficulty of the journey, and that two and a half days simply wasn't enough to successfully cross the Flaming Mountain. So far, they'd walked nine kilometers, four kilometers yesterday, and five kilometers today. From four in the morning to ten in the morning, it took six hours, which shows how much time it would take.
The desert was different from the plains. Besides the soft sand slowing their pace, climbing the dunes was the biggest drain on their energy and hindering their speed. Chu Huaiqin planned to set off at 6:30 PM and stop to rest until the early morning, aiming to cover another two kilometers. Only nine kilometers remained. Based on their distance today, they could add another two kilometers to the day's journey out of Huoyan Mountain. If they could manage to cover another two kilometers tomorrow, they could cross the mountain in one day.
"Hurrying on the journey is secondary. The most important thing is that we must not go in the wrong direction," Xia En said.
"Well, we only have enough water for one day. If nothing unexpected happens, we will be out of the Flaming Mountain the day after tomorrow morning." Chu Huaiqin looked at the two children looking at him with bright eyes and smiled, "Hold on, keep going."
"Hold on, keep going." The two little ones said in unison.
With anticipation in their hearts, the four of them split half of the cactus and divided the three loaves of bread into four pieces, leaving them with four loaves of bread and six pieces of cactus. They were on their way, and they would definitely need another meal before bed. Food was running low, and they had to reach the next food point before noon tomorrow. They had to be ahead of the other groups, or arrive at the same time, otherwise they would be in trouble.
The four of them set off. By then, the teams ahead of them had dispersed. The Sam Nation was traveling with the British Empire and the Kangaroo Nation, the Russians were traveling with the Double Eagles, and the Mali team was traveling alone. They were scattered, and none of them could reach the next food point. Fortunately, the bread at lunchtime was divided into two portions, so those who got more could eat more, and those who got less could eat less.
The Sam Nation group, leading the way, was delighted. They had left everyone behind them in the dust. If they arrived first tomorrow, they would take all the food. The other teams without food would eventually be forced out. The outcome seemed decided.
However, their water was running out quickly. When they shook the kettle, it made a clanging sound. Those who were chewing on bread did not dare to drink the water. They still had a day's journey to go tomorrow, and they could not continue their journey without water.
"I can't stand it, I have to drink a sip." Phil shouted, his mouth was dry and uncomfortable after eating the sticky bread.
When the others heard his voice, they turned around and saw that he restrained himself and took a small sip. He couldn't help swallowing his saliva, but found that his mouth was not wet at all. After persisting for a while, they couldn't help but drink another sip. However, when they saw the water at the bottom of the kettle, they regretted it and cursed themselves.
As Chu Huaiqin and his team hurried on under the cover of darkness, they noticed that, except for the three teams from the United States, the other teams continued on their way after dinner. If the United States could think of food, couldn't they?
At nine o'clock in the evening, the team behind caught up. The three teams from the United States looked at these people and didn't know what to feel for a moment.
"Let's go together tomorrow," Abadi from the Mali team said bluntly, "after all, food is important."
"What do you mean?" Fili asked dissatisfiedly first.
"I mean we don't want to go together. No one should leave. I don't want to be forced to hurry on the road like today. The desert is very dangerous at night." Abadi from the Mali team raised his chin and laughed wildly.
"Oh, how are you going to stop us?" Liman wasn't one to be trifled with. He'd been keeping a low profile recently simply because something was puzzling him, not because he'd become a coward. With his sleeves rolled up, revealing his muscular build, Liman walked towards the Malian team.
Abadi was so arrogant, he wasn't afraid. He beckoned his fingers, and a team of five stood up. They didn't believe in fairness; winning was winning. Liman's fighting power was formidable, but even if they were injured, they could still take Liman's watch.
Wills saw the Mali team's intention and quickly ran forward to hold Liman, preventing him from going to Abadi. Liman had a bad temper and didn't listen to Wills at all. He almost started a fight with him. Fortunately, Wills brought Chu Huaiqin out in time.
"Didn't you say Chu is your biggest enemy? It seems you don't want to make it to the end." Wills yelled, successfully shocking Liman. Liman then made a wiping-neck gesture to Abadi of the Mali team and sneered.
The two teams have become enemies.
The Russian team was very satisfied with the result. They didn't want to travel in the middle of the night. They almost climbed over the wrong sand dunes several times before. If they made a mistake, they might walk into the depths of the Flaming Mountain at any time.
Climbing over the wrong sand dune is indeed the most feared event when traveling at night, and Chu Huaiqin and his friends encountered this problem.
The vast expanse of the desert had now turned from black to a gray-green. Because of its vastness, the surroundings weren't pitch black up close. However, the sand dunes beneath them were harder to discern. The general direction was correct, but the two large dune ridges ahead also followed the same path. They were worried they might lose their way halfway, which would be troublesome.
After a brief chat, Chu Huaiqin and Xia En decided to turn left. Turning back, they saw the two children huddled together, nearly asleep. It was already ten o'clock in the evening, and according to their plan, they still had two hours to walk.
They couldn't bear it, but they had to wake him up. The four of them continued on their way, walking slowly along the sand ridges in the awe-inspiring desert, facing the whistling wind, and their figures gradually disappeared into the darkness.
At twelve o'clock in the morning, the four of them successfully reached the estimated point and completed the two-kilometer journey. Thinking that they would soon be able to get out of the Flaming Mountain, the two children were so excited that they didn't want to sleep. Chu Huaiqin stuffed each of them with half a piece of bread and rushed them back to the tent.
Hurry up and you will be able to leave the Flaming Mountain in just one day.
This expectation allowed several teams to sleep particularly peacefully tonight.
But the desert is cruel. The livestream audience was the first to notice. Some checked the weather forecast, and when they found out the temperature in the area would reach a high of 48 degrees Celsius tomorrow, everyone was shocked and anxious. The audience from the Rolling Team, in particular, immediately thought of Chu Huaiqin. Many simply stayed awake. Since it was summer vacation, they stayed in the livestream, watching Chu Huaiqin and his team's tent, worried.
Chu Huaiqin and the others quickly noticed this strange temperature. It was still normal when they woke up around 3:30 a.m., but as dawn broke, just after 5:40, the temperature shot up to 38 degrees Celsius, as if it had been injected with chicken blood. Xia En stared at the wrist thermometer, which was rising by a degree, his brow furrowed.
On the last day, things really wouldn't go so smoothly for them.
Due to the sudden change in temperature, the four of them slowed down significantly. By seven in the morning, the temperature had reached forty degrees Celsius. With only one day left, Chu Huaiqin and the others couldn't stop. At first, Chu Huaiqin insisted on walking on his own. By nine o'clock, the 43-degree heat had once again weakened Chu Huaiqin.
"Brother, drink more water!" Lin Zhinan was worried that Chu Huaiqin might collapse. "Walk for another ten minutes." Chu Huaiqin shook his head. Because the temperature was too high this morning, they had already finished the last water bag. It was only nine o'clock, not yet the highest temperature. For five people, that was less than a liter per person. If they finished drinking now, they would be in trouble later.
"But you..." Xia En supported Chu Huaiqin. Seeing Chu Huaiqin in pain made him feel even worse. "If I drink less, there will be more."
"Yes, brother, I'm small and I don't drink much, so you drink a little!" Lin Zhinan was anxious and almost cried. She was especially afraid that Chu Huaiqin would fall into a semi-comatose state like the day before yesterday.
"Brother, you drink it. I have a nickname, called Little Turtle. It's okay if I don't drink water." The little monk jumped around, trying to block the sunlight for Chu Huaiqin, but found that no matter where he stood, the sunlight was shining on Chu Huaiqin, and he became even more anxious.
Chu Huaiqin smiled and finally took a sip.
The people in the live broadcast room were almost crying because of these four people, thinking about Agata of the Russian team yesterday. At the same time, they didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the monk's statement. Did he know what the turtle was referring to? He just said it without thinking.
The weather had significantly slowed their pace that morning, so even at ten o'clock, the Rolling Team didn't intend to stop for a rest. The temperature continued to rise, and Chu Huaiqin's backpack once again reached Xia En's back. To conserve water, they ate the remaining six cacti. They continued their march until noon, when they finally stopped.
The camera in A1's live broadcast room kept switching between the two sides. The Chinese audience stayed in Gungun's live broadcast room the whole time because they were worried about Chu Huaiqin and the others. The traffic on A1's side was actually lower than that of Gungun's live broadcast room. However, these did not make the Chinese audience happy. They looked at Chu Huaiqin lying behind Xia Entang and were very scared, very afraid that something would happen to him.
"Something happened."
This comment appeared on GunGun's live broadcast screen. Most people were puzzled, and then thought that this person was cursing the GunGun team. Before he started cursing, he saw him speak again, and those teams came out.
This story begins this morning. The high temperatures also affected the other teams, causing them to run out of food before reaching the next food point. Worst of all, the water supply became critically low, and each team tightened their water intake again. By noon, several teams had gone without water for over half an hour, with the longest being the Double Eagles, who had gone an hour without a drink.
Noon is when the sun is at its strongest. It's so hot that we have to travel without water to drink. You can see how serious the situation is.
The first to raise concerns was Salma of the Double Eagles. He pulled his captain, Russell, and said he saw a lake ahead. Everyone looked over, but saw nothing but desert, so they assumed he was just trying to convince himself. Half an hour later, Sergio of the Double Eagles also said he saw a lake ahead. The two shouted and tried to rush over, but Russell, the captain, had someone hold them back.
This anomaly attracted the attention of other teams. If it was a mirage, it would be impossible that only the two of them saw it. There was only one possibility: these two people were so dehydrated that they had hallucinations.
The audience in the live broadcast room were all worried when they saw this scene.
"Oh my God, what's going on? Is it a mirage or are they just going crazy?"
"You're out of your mind? Don't be so scary. Can the heat really damage your nerves?"
"Haven't you heard of people dying from the heat? It happens every year, especially at a time like this."
"It's too cruel, too cruel. The production team should be human!"
The audience in the live broadcast room was shocked and cried when they saw all this. The doctor rushed over and handed them water, which also indicated that the two were out of the game. At this moment, Barre of the Mali team fell headfirst into the sand, and there was another round of panic and rescue.
Three people are out.
The most difficult moment of the global competition so far has arrived.
"Let's withdraw from the competition!" Valeri from the Russian team muttered as he watched the three people being carried away, his face showing horror. He was scared. He was frightened by the way the two people rushed to drink water like crazy. He didn't want to become like that.
"Valery, be strong," Vasily saw his brother was so weak, so he reached out and grabbed his ear and shouted, "Hold on a little longer, and we can get out of the Flaming Mountain tonight."
"Will there be water to drink once we get out?" Valeri licked his dry lips and looked at his brother expectantly, with fragility in his eyes, as if he would collapse if his brother said 'no'.
Vasily gritted his teeth, stepped forward and pressed his brother into his arms, the words coming out through gritted teeth, "Yes, there's water to drink, plenty of water."
Not only Valeri of the Russian team felt timid, but the remaining three members of the Double Eagles team and two members of the Mali team also had the idea of withdrawing from the competition, but the latter was suppressed by Mali captain Abadi.
Live broadcast room:
"I never thought that one day surviving in the wild would be so difficult."
"The reasons for withdrawing from the competition this time are all sorts of weird, aren't they?"
"Haha, as a fan of Wilderness, this show was the most enjoyable to watch."
"Yes, yes, survival in the wild comes first."
Fans who like to watch wilderness survival shows praised the show, while fans of several teams were angry.
"Can you guys just shut up? This show was designed from the beginning to attract celebrity participants. Being so harsh is way too much."
"That's right, professionals can't stand this kind of competition."
"This is all the production team's fault. Is this a show for people? The division settings are ridiculous."
"That's right, this is a wilderness survival competition for celebrities. We're not professionals, so don't go too far."
"Since it's a celebrity event, why are there foreign players later on? The funniest thing is, they're not even professionals. They're either martial artists or mercenaries. What are they doing here? Are they here to fight? You celebrities bringing foreign players into the competition are just trying to crush the other teams with force and win. Are you here to survive in the wilderness?"
"I'm speaking my mind and supporting it."
Many fans of the show were furious about the deterioration of Wild Survival. They clashed with fans of various celebrities, and it's hard to say who was to blame. Initially, Korea and the Monkeys in the Asian region hired foreign players. After reaching the global competition, subsequent teams followed suit and hired foreign players. Starting with the third season, Wild Survival became a combination of foreign players and celebrities, with the foreign players' primary role being to help the celebrities reach the finals and win the championship.
The two groups' fans bickered endlessly, and Chinese audiences ignored them. Since the production team didn't ban foreign talent, it seemed they condoned this behavior for the sake of the show's appeal. Now, Chinese audiences were only worried about Qin Ge and his team. While the Gun Gun team might not have much water, they were still better than the others. If they ran into a team whose water was running low, they'd be in trouble.
Seeing Xia Entropy walking slowly forward with his brother on his back, the people in the live broadcast room were extremely anxious. "Go slower, don't bump into him."
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