They began to climb the mountain. Shuishui brought a bottle of water with a little salt she had gotten from the canteen that morning.
She gave some to her teammates.
She ate another plum blossom to refresh herself.
This mountain path was rather rugged. Fortunately, it did not rain, so she could still walk. Shuishui walked very quickly. She was actually taking advantage of the situation. She wrapped her hands in cloth and grabbed the branches and long vines to pull herself along the path and to save her energy.
When the sun rose to the east, the path became clearer. Liu Mo drank water in big gulps. Her gaze stopped on Shuishui. "Shuishui, you walk pretty fast. You must have really good stamina."
"I do long-distance running to increase my stamina." Shuishui shrugged. Beads of sweat had formed on her forehead.
She wiped her hands. She knew that the hike up would be physically draining. She felt much more comfortable after she had sweat a little. She also liked to exercise and felt that the hike would be good for her.
She looked at the path and looked behind her. She was a little dazed because they had climbed quite high. She drank some water and glanced at the others, who had all stopped to rest.
Akong looked ahead. "We're almost at the gazebo, right?"
Instructor Xia nodded. "It's just ahead. We're going the right way. I can see the small waterfall over there. The surrounding things have already been put down. When we reach the gazebo, we can start searching."
Shuishui listened to their conversation. What were they looking for?
"All right. To the three groups, pay attention. When you reach the terrace, you can organize your own things. We've already prepared small shovels for you guys. You guys are going to dig up the packages we've buried nearby. There are some essential camping items inside. We've buried ten of them. Find as many as you can. It's eight o'clock now. We'll give you an hour to search for them later. Remember to bring your compass. Our terrace is in the north-south direction. The only waterfall in this mountain is actually quite easy to find. Everyone can hear its sound now, right?" Akong said loudly. However, they didn't stop because it was time for them to rest.
Shuishui ate one more plum and continued to follow. She felt helpless. She had just arrived and she had to look for that damn package. 'Honestly, what does all of this have to do with me?'
It was like a team training, and she was only a high school student.
However, since she was already there, she thought she would simply cooperate. It shouldn't be too difficult.
That was what Shuishui thought.
When they reached the balcony, they put down their things and started to calculate what their group needed.
Shuishui's group decided that they needed an iron rock, oil, and salt. Shuishui's backpack contained a sleeping bag and a box. Shuishui opened it and saw a first aid kit.
Beside it were scattered ropes, duct tape, and other unidentified objects.
Liu Mo carried a large tent, but it was relatively simple and crude. It was quite big and could accommodate four people.
Akong glanced at her watch. "Go now. Come back at nine thirty sharp. Those who are late will be punished. Prioritize your safety. It's best to work in groups of two and not travel alone. Safety first. Go."
They moved quickly.
Shuishui and Liu Mo paired up, while Xia He and Lin Yiyun went together.
Akong gave them a hint before they left. "What's important is where you look—rocks, sunlight, tall trees."
Shuishui and Liu Mo left together. Liu Mo pondered on the hint. "Rocks, sunlight, tall trees?"
"It should mean places with more rocks, places with more sunlight, and then under tall trees." Shuishui guessed that if that was the case, it would be easy to understand.
They found a tall tree, and Shuishui saw a bump. "Sister Liu, here."
"Okay."
Liu Mo moved very quickly. As she dug, she saw blue cloth. Liu Mo was very excited. "We're pretty fast. We found one. Take it and quickly find the others."
"Yeah. We're pretty lucky. Let's search for more," Shuishui said.
Actually, there were quite a lot of tall trees. They were pretty lucky and came to the right tree. They looked under a few trees, but they didn't find anything.
Then, Shuishui and Liu Mo walked to an area with a lot of stones. Shuishui frowned and said, "Sister Liu, let's not search here anymore."
"Why?" Liu Mo didn't understand.
"This area is too big. We might as well reduce the perimeter. There's no need to waste time here." Shuishui glanced around. It was at least a quarter of the size of a playground.
Liu Mo nodded, although she felt that there was no need to walk around the area.
They soon found another buried package. Shuishui opened the two packages. "We have seasonings and a bag of canned food."
"There's a big fork and a basin in this package." Shuishui then took out her phone and saw that signal reception was very weak. She glanced at the time.
"Let's go back," Shuishui said as she pulled Liu Mo. It was already nine fifteen. She didn't expect time to pass by quickly.
Liu Mo wanted to look for more. They were lucky.
Shuishui shook her head. "Don't forget that if we're late, we'll be punished. Let's trust Sister Lin and the others."
Liu Mo hesitated, but she knew that Shuishui was right. "Okay."
When they got back to base at nine thirty, they realized that they were the first to return.
Akong and Coach Xia looked at Shuishui and Liu Mo and also saw the items in their hands. "We're lucky to have found two. They're all useful," Shuishui said.
Shuishui asked, "Are there any useless parcels?"
"Well, of course. Out of ten parcels, only six are usable. The rest are filled with dirt," Akong responded. There were ten parcels nearby, and they even gave hints. Still, it wasn't very easy.
Shuishui was speechless.
Liu Mo patted her chest in fear. "Shuishui, we're really lucky."
Shuishui suddenly thought of something. "Could those stones be fake?"
Akong was a little surprised. "Eh? How do you know?"
Shuishui had observed that the area they passed by was too big, and the stones were bumpy to begin with. She couldn't tell if there was anything useful, so they decided to overlook it.
"It was meant to confuse you. If you foolishly focused on the stones, you would not have gotten anything." Instructor Xia laughed. This child was really smart.
Liu Mo held Shuishui's hand. "Shuishui, you're very smart. If you hadn't decided not to look under the stones, we would not have found the second one."
"Hmm. Shuishui, you said you weren't going to look under the stones? Why?" Instructor Xia asked. He was curious to know Shuishui's answer.
"It's troublesome. There weren't any clues that would help us find the item. We would have had to dig it out. It would have taken us a lot of time," Shuishui answered.
"Yes, indeed. Good judgment. Let me ask you—is it possible that the parcel is under one of those larger stones?" he continued to ask. Along the way, Shuishui had seen similar large stones by the roadside, but they weren't really dumped together.
Shuishui also paid attention to the small details. "No, because moss has already appeared at the bottom of those stones, which means that the bottom is quite damp. If it was dug out, there would have been obvious traces. After all, it's a mission. It would have been boring if we dug everything out in that area."
"There's such a saying," Liu Mo said and nodded.
"En, and when we left, we saw two relatively large rock fields. We couldn't see anything. It would have been difficult to find anything there. Even if we found it, it would have been extremely troublesome." Shuishui felt that they couldn't throw away the watermelon and pick up the sesame seeds.
They had practiced good judgment during the mission.
It was already nine thirty, but the others hadn't returned yet. The others were ten minutes late by the time they had returned.
They were from another group, and they carried a bag of things.
They continued to wait for everyone to return. It was already ten minutes past ten.
Akong and Instructor Xia were not very happy. They had all agreed not to be late, but only one group had returned on time.
Instructor Xia was angry. "Those who are late, go to that side and do two hundred sit-ups. When you're done, stand for an hour."
They ran straight to the side of the area for their punishment. No one dared to complain.
Liu Mo and Shuishui stood by the side. "You're also at fault," Instructor Xia told them.
Liu Mo immediately said, "We should have looked for our other team members and come back together with them. We should not have returned by ourselves."
Shuishui frowned. This was what they called unity. 'No way. Will we be punished too?'
"The two of you, stand for half an hour now. Don't make any unnecessary movements," Instructor Xia said sternly.
Liu Mo and Shuishui were sent off for their punishment.
Under the sun, Shuishui would always sweat.
So annoying. What was the purpose of this? She felt really annoyed, but she had to finish what she started.
Shuishui stood there without saying anything. From a soldier's point of view, she and Liu Mo should not only care about themselves.
She understood why, so she felt better.
In fact, it was very tiring to stand under the sun for a long period of time.
In order to make herself feel better, Shuishui began to recite some chemical formulas that she had seen before. She did so to enrich her memory. If she could not remember them, she would convert them herself.
An hour passed very quickly. They were allowed to rest, but the others still had twenty minutes of punishment time.
Shuishui quickly drank large mouthfuls of water. She sweated profusely and needed to replenish her nutrients, or else her body would lose energy.
She continued to eat one more plum blossom. She liked that it tasted very salty.
By the time they finished their punishment, it was already close to twelve.
They took out the things they had obtained. They checked to see if there were items that they could exchange with the other groups. They could negotiate privately.
They only found one parcel. Shuishui's group had a total of three parcels, and they had many items that they could use.
Lin Yiyun was very happy. She laughed like a flower. "This is great. We can eat more at noon. You two are really lucky. You're early, and you even found two parcels."