Guided by Little Sprout, the two soon located about a dozen wild vegetables in the dimly lit earth. Just as Ziye was about to stand up after gathering them, something flew past in the darkness. Instinctively, she pointed Little Sprout toward the object and let loose a small burst of electricity.

With a soft thwump, something dropped from the air. Holding their lamp, the two ran over and found a beautiful, plump Bar-winged Trogon.

Ziye happily caught the stunned bird, followed the low-lying ground until they reached a small pond, quickly washed the vegetables, and started back with Aina.

When they returned, B01—the group led by **—was already cooking, eight people gathered around the pot, the aroma thick in the air.

Ziye took a deep breath, licked her lips, and swallowed. Her own group hadn't even managed to start a fire; they were useless. Lingyin and another person were back, struggling with the fire, which only produced billowing black smoke after much effort.

Ziye leaned in for a look. It was all fresh branches; how could they possibly burn? Poor Shaxinni, usually meticulous about her appearance, looked like a soot-covered kitten, covered in ash and black smudges.

No sooner had Ziye arrived than the Twins showed up behind her. The angle of her approach was unlucky; a cloud of thick smoke enveloped her face, making her eyes stream with tears. She coughed, crying out, “Which idiot, quickly take out these wet branches!” She held two rabbits in her hands, both shot, their white fur stained crimson. Seeing the Bar-winged Trogon in Ziye’s hand, she whistled like a rogue, “Pretty.”

Ziye placed it on the ground. “I hope it tastes good too.”

Just then, an instructor came by for inspection. Seeing the bird on the ground, he suddenly declared, “That is a Nanniazan Trogon, a rare species among rare species, a globally protected bird.”

Ziye instantly retorted, “Instructor, when you are surviving in the wild, do you first verify if an animal is protected? I recall you ate wild boar this morning. Isn't that a protected animal too?”

“…” The instructor was stumped into silence, so he simply pretended not to see it and continued his patrol.

Lingyin ingratiatingly handed two bags of water to Ziye and the Twin. “Drink up and quench your thirst. I’ll handle the rabbits and the bird.” Once they took the water, she immediately took out her knife and began working.

Ziye drank the water down in one go, feeling much refreshed. She looked over and saw Lingyin skinning the rabbit with clean, decisive movements, possessing the precision of a surgeon; the rabbit’s hide peeled off in one complete sheet, not damaged in the slightest. Ziye was genuinely surprised.

Lingyin split the rabbit open with one precise cut, splattering blood. She dabbed a little on the corner of her lip and licked it, chuckling happily. “My main job is armor crafting; my side gig is medicine. Heh... learned it from my old lady.”

Seeing Lingyin’s look of enjoyment while licking the blood, Ziye couldn't help but think her mother must have been a professional killer!

The fire finally caught. Siyue, who had been playing dead and refusing to forage earlier, finally found her talent: cooking. She boiled one rabbit. She had Lingyin slice the meat and arrange it on a plate, while she skimmed off the fat to stir-fry vegetables. Then she dropped the Bar-winged Trogon into the pot.

As for the other rabbit, she couldn't deal with it immediately. She glanced around and saw Group B02 was also starting to cook. With a swift chop, she sliced half its belly open and thrust it into Aina’s hand. “Go trade this for a chicken at B02’s spot.”

Aina had never seen such a gruesome scene. Gritting her teeth, she took the rabbit leg and went. Soon enough, she returned with a chicken. Siyue expressed great admiration for her and told Lingyin to toss the chicken into the soup to boil.

Once that was cooked and retrieved, they added the final half of the rabbit to boil the rabbit soup.

As for Yinlu, she nibbled some bread and retreated directly to her tent. Seeing her poor state, no one called her out.

Half an hour later, the three meats, two vegetable dishes, and one soup were successfully served, making Ziye instantly want to sneak a bite. Shaxinni, a stickler for details, slapped her hand away with a sharp snap. She meticulously laid out the set of tableware she had brought, served the soup into individual bowls, and then ran inside to call for Yinlu.

Yinlu mumbled, “Not eating,” and burrowed deeper into sleep.

Returning to the group, she set a portion aside for Yinlu and announced happily, “We are eating now!”

The moment the words left her mouth, Ziye drained her bowl of soup and immediately lunged for the meat. The Twins and Lingyin reacted instantly; seeing Ziye’s move, they dove in to grab first, terrifying Shaxinni almost to tears: “No, you can’t do that! You have to savor the flavor by eating slowly!”

Ziye chuckled sheepishly, sat back down in her spot, and began tearing into the rabbit leg she had managed to secure.

Out in the wilderness, food made with the simplest utensils from the simplest ingredients truly couldn't compare to the delicacies they usually ate. But in an age where robots were ubiquitous, who seriously bothered to cook a full meal or stir-fry a dish anymore?

Except for Siyue, everyone else was cooking for the first time, and doing so in the wild, eating without any pretense of composure, sitting right on the ground facing the pot.

The richness of the rabbit meat, the sweetness of the chicken broth, the crispness of the wild vegetables—they were all utterly irresistible.

Group B01 ate theirs like a hotpot, tossing everything into the pot, whittling a few sticks for utensils, and everyone scooped food out with two sticks each. After they finished, the soup had cooled. They poured it into nutrient bags, one bag per person, and divided it immediately. They started fast and finished fast. Group A01, who started cooking only after B01 was done, came over to watch.

Seeing a group of girls sitting on the ground using tableware that, by current standards, was incredibly exquisite, eating carefully arranged dishes, they felt a surge of envy and resentment. One boy shouted, “Instructor, next time let’s have mixed-gender teams! These girls know how to cook!”

The instructor walked over and coolly dropped a sentence: “Here, every action is recorded and will be sent back to the school as part of your military training score, including your food preparation skills.”

Buz, a boy from Group B01, shrieked, “Will you really record me dropping into the water? That’s not scientific!” As he ran back to his tent, ** Emmannite happened to be stepping out with clothes. He immediately asked, “Where are you going?”

** replied flatly, “To bathe.”

The B01 boys instantly found their mission; they grabbed their clothes and rushed off for a shower. Buz grinned maliciously; if they bathed first, the girls would have to use their leftover bathwater…

Shaxinni immediately lost her appetite and put down her utensils. “What do we do after they’ve washed?” She would rather die than bathe in the same place after the boys, but not bathing meant sleeping covered in sea salt and sweat.

Ziye comforted her. “It’s only one o’clock. Let’s hurry up and finish eating, and then we’ll go wash up together. As long as this isn't the same single pond nearby, we can clean up.”

The six of them finished everything, not leaving a single drop of soup. They all went to find their clothes. Only Lingyin, having lost her entire luggage, had nothing to look for. She sat beside Ziye and worried, “What if they steal everything?”

PS: +Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, four updates today, thanks to Suo-chan, muah!+