Chapter 161
"Um!"
Chu Huaiqin responded in a low voice, walked closer to Xia En, reached out and gently touched his cheek, and asked in a deep voice, "Does it hurt?"
"It doesn't hurt." Xia En replied.
It must be painful to be sunburned like this, but I just don't want to talk about it.
Chu Huaiqin took a deep breath, suppressed his emotions, and said, "Let's eat first, then rest."
Chu Huaiqin felt awful. He'd been feeling groggy today, and Xia En had been carrying him all the way. He'd felt it, but he'd been too exhausted to recover. He hadn't expected to see him like this the next time he saw him.
"Don't be sad, I'm really fine."
Xia En's voice was hoarse. He reached out and pulled Chu Huaiqin back to the tent to sit down. He took the water Chu Huaiqin handed him and drank a few sips. Then he took the cactus Chu Huaiqin handed him and ate a piece before eating the bread. Chu Huaiqin also took half a piece of bread and ate it while discussing his plan.
Sleep less at night, take a longer break at noon, get up early and rest late, and use these two times to travel.
While this plan was a good one, there were two drawbacks. First, it was easy to get lost in the desert at night. Second, night was when wild animals came out to forage. Even though the desert was barren of grass, there was still the worry of encountering large animals like lions or wolves.
As Chu Huaiqin was speaking, Xia Entang sat cross-legged opposite him, nodding his head continuously with his eyes half-closed and swaying. Seeing this, Chu Huaiqin sat down next to him. As soon as his hand touched him, Xia Entang fell down, still holding the bread in his hand. His head rested on Chu Huaiqin's shoulder. He fell into a deep sleep, breathing evenly.
Chu Huaiqin didn't move, sitting cross-legged for a long moment. Only after he was sure Xia Entang was sound asleep did he take the bread from his hand and carry him into the tent. He took off his watch, turned on the light, and hung it on the tent ceiling. He stripped Xia Entang of his clothes, and seeing his chest also stained blood, his heart ached. He pulled the medicine from his backpack and took out the sunburn medication. He first wiped the dust off Xia Entang's skin with water before carefully applying the medication.
After applying the cool medicine, Xia Entang muttered a few words in his sleep and went back to sleep. This time, applying the medicine took nearly forty minutes, and it was already eleven o'clock in the evening. Chu Huaiqin left the tent and went to the little monk's tent, opened the door, turned on his watch light, took it out, hung it on his hiking pole, and inserted it in the middle of the camp. Then he turned on his own watch light, took the map, and walked into the darkness according to the route on it.
The live broadcast room was shocked. What was Chu Huaiqin doing?
"He said before that he would travel at night. Is he exploring the route now?"
"I'm not just saying this. Walking at night is very dangerous."
"This is the last resort. They're running low on water, and they've been traveling during the day, which has consumed a lot of water. Plus, because of Chu Huaiqin, their journey is seriously delayed, and they'll probably be forced out in the end."
"Hopefully it goes well."
The Chinese audience in the live broadcast room were praying.
Chu Huaiqin walked along the road with a map, a compass, and the direction of the Big Dipper. After half an hour, he smiled. It seemed that this plan was feasible. Returning along the same route, Chu Huaiqin walked a little faster. The camp was quiet and silent. The three of them were sleeping soundly. At 2:20 in the morning, Chu Huaiqin returned to the tent and lay down to sleep.
Everyone fell asleep and the night became quiet. Many people logged out of the live broadcast room, but many people were still watching. They did not forget what Chu Huaiqin said, that they had to travel at night.
At 3:30 in the morning, many people were ready to go back to sleep, but there was movement in the tent. A moment later, Chu Huaiqin emerged. The temperature was only 2 degrees Celsius, so he wrapped himself in his coat and walked around to refresh himself. A moment later, Xia En also emerged.
"Why don't you sleep a little longer?" Chu Huaiqin planned to set off at four o'clock and call them at fifty, but he didn't expect Xia En to wake up.
"Not much," Xia En said, "You didn't get much sleep, did you?"
"It's okay. I slept a lot during the day." Chu Huaiqin replied, and returned to the tent to pull out his backpack. He dug out some cacti and cut the thorns. The audience in the live broadcast room were amazed. Chu Huaiqin and his friends had so much food.
The other teams also had some food, but unlike the Rolling Team, they didn't carry bags full of cacti on their backs. The reason the other teams had less food was because they trusted the director to provide food on time. However, they forgot one thing: if they didn't reach the food point on time when entering the Flaming Mountain, they would be out of food halfway through the journey.
Last night, many people from other teams were struggling to find food, but fortunately, this morning, the other teams were able to reach the next food point, solving their urgent problem.
As for the Rolling Team, they took three days to cover the distance that the program crew took one day to cover, and they still had food to eat because of their good habit of storing food.
At 3:50, Xia En went to call for help. The little monk and Lin Zhinan were still dazed, but they quickly sobered up when they heard they had to hurry. They had cactus on bread for breakfast, and the pet chicken ate the cactus skin. It was listless, and the little monk was worried it wouldn't survive the Flaming Mountain. Killing it would be a waste, and he felt a little regretful. He would have killed it and eaten it earlier.
They set off at four in the morning, two hours earlier than usual. Wrapped in their coats, they weren't too cold. Xia En and Chu Huaiqin were completely focused on the direction, stopping every few steps to compare directions. Even so, their speed was still a bit faster than during the day.
They didn't slow down until the sun came out in the morning, and caught up with the teams in front of them around ten o'clock in the morning. They arrived at the food point at the same time. Those teams were stunned when they saw Chu Huaiqin and his team appear.
The Sun Never Sets players reacted the fastest. Arnold scurried out to retrieve the box. Chen, carrying his backpack, ran the entire way, falling several times and getting up covered in sand. His utterly disheveled appearance stunned the participants and some viewers in the livestream. They couldn't help but wonder: Is this man really the crown prince of the Chen family? Is he truly weak and humble beneath his glamorous exterior?
Chu Huaiqin didn't think to argue with them. The little monk took off his backpack and rushed out to look for the box. His speed was so fast that several teams were amazed. Xia Entropy quickly followed. Everyone saw this and became even more frantic, fearing that Chu Huaiqin and his men would take two more boxes.
Chu Huaiqin was at a loss whether to laugh or cry when he saw everyone's reactions.
The people who were rushing to grab the boxes only saw that the little monk was only holding one box after they got the boxes. He ran towards Chu Huaiqin quickly as if he was mocking their impatience.
Captains of several teams: I really want to beat them up, what should I do?
When they got the food and opened it, they saw it was still just bread. Everyone's faces changed. Didn't the production team know that eating bread makes you thirsty? Everyone was low on water, and they still had a day and a half to go. They were going too far.
The production team had been going overboard for a while, and everyone could only curse at them. It was only 10:30 in the morning after breakfast, when the temperature wasn't at its highest yet. The other teams quickly packed up and set off, but as they walked, they realized they hadn't seen Chu Huaiqin and his group. Everyone was puzzled, wondering if they had gotten away again.
Chu Huaiqin and his companions hadn't even set out yet; they were setting up camp. Using the same method from yesterday, they used a trekking pole to pull a blanket over the top, then laid a sun-proof tent on top. They placed two tents on the ground, with one tent blocking the sun's rays.
The tent was built very thoughtfully, but it could not lower the temperature. The high temperature of 40 degrees made it impossible for the people to sleep. Even with two layers of tents on the ground, it was still scorching hot. The people could only lie on the backpacks in a circle and hang two fans in the middle to blow them in a circle.
"Hold on, hold on. In another day and a half, we will be able to get out of the Flaming Mountain." Chu Huaiqin said while exhaling with his mouth half open.
"Brother, it's okay." Lin Zhinan was very sleepy, but too hot to sleep, and tears came out. "When I was filming, I only slept three hours a day on average for a week. I could stick to it then, so this time it's no big deal."
Lin Zhinan said it lightly, but everyone knew that this was completely different.
After hearing Chu Huaiqin's words, many viewers in the live broadcast room apologized, but they still couldn't find the water source.
Although this apology came out of nowhere, it shows how many people were looking forward to this victory.
The scorching temperature reached a peak of 43 degrees Celsius around noon. Chu Huaiqin and his companions didn't set out, and they couldn't sleep. The only benefit of doing so was that they could save water. When they were thirsty, some of them ate cacti, but seeing the cacti slowly dwindling, they felt uneasy.
The other teams that set off in a hurry also panicked when they saw that the water was getting less and less. They collected all the water for the team members and began to limit their water intake, with each person only being able to drink a small sip every half an hour.
On a scorching summer day, the entire desert looked as if it were ablaze from afar. The first person to have problems was Agata from the Maozi team. She had begged Andre several times before the incident, but seeing that the rest of the team was still holding on, Andre had to grit his teeth and refuse, comforting her to just bear with it.
"I really can't stand it anymore. Just give me a sip, please." Agata grabbed Andre's hand, her body shaking uncontrollably.
"There are still five minutes left, hold on. It's only noon now. The earliest we can get out of the Flaming Mountain is around 2 pm tomorrow. You can't drink water casually anymore." Andre felt uncomfortable seeing her like this, but there was nothing he could do.
"I didn't, I didn't drink it casually, just one sip. Otherwise, you can just lick it for me." Agata held Andre's hand and cried softly.
Andre shook his head: "It really won't work, just hold on a little longer."
"No, then give me my water. If I finish it, I won't ask you for more." Agata licked her dry lips and begged.
Andre couldn't bear it any longer, so he looked at the others, but saw them shaking their heads, so he had to say, "No."
Agata was completely disappointed. She dropped her hands, turned around and walked slowly forward. She suddenly thought of the girl from the Rolling Team. As the only two female contestants, what would happen if Lin Zhinan begged her captain like this?
She didn't get an answer, and the next second, she fell into the desert and fainted completely.
The doctor from the program team ran up and after a quick examination, found that the patient was severely dehydrated.
"Get out!" Victor from the Russian team said in a deep voice.
Although he hesitated, he finally nodded.
The audience in the live broadcast room watched all this and suddenly felt a little disappointed. They suddenly remembered that this was a singles competition.
The news of Agatha's elimination came over the drone. Several members of the Rolling Team were sleeping with their heads tilted on their backpacks, and were almost startled to fall off by the sudden sound of the drone. "I don't know why we were eliminated?" the little monk muttered, closing his eyes again. "Brother, what time is it?"
This was the first time the little monk wished time would pass quickly, preferably by six in the afternoon so they could set off.
"Two-thirty in the afternoon." Xia En answered on behalf of Chu Huaiqin. He turned around and wiped the sweat off Chu Huaiqin's forehead with a towel.
"I can't take it anymore. I feel like vomiting from lying down like this." The little monk was the first one who couldn't stand lying down like this. He turned around and sat down. It was so hot that he almost jumped up, but he persisted for a while and actually got used to it.
Live broadcast room: You will get hemorrhoids.
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