April had brought a great deal, but due to her poor stamina, she had discarded almost everything before entering the sea. Thinking of this made her wince, and she admired Shaxini to the very depths of her soul. Anyone who could carry this much and make it this far clearly possessed exceptional ability.

Shaxini laughed happily, "Actually, Arsfied carried most of it for me during the sea trek, and Lingyin carried everything for the run—"

Lingyin chimed in, "Bo* did."

Shaxini paused for a moment in surprise, "Oh, Bo* carried it for me." She gave a flirtatious smile, "Girls, you have to learn to leverage your advantages to get men to help you. In short: learn to use men."

Among those present, Ziye, Gemini, and Lingyin were all individuals disinclined to rely on men. Hearing this, they merely smiled faintly, sighed that everyone had their own way, and moved on. But for April and Aina, Shaxini had practically opened an entirely new door; they were so impressed they almost wished to become her disciples on the spot.

Finally showered, April lent Lingyin a set of clothes, and the large contingent headed back to the camp.

During this time, Silverdew, inside the tent, finished her meat and soup, fetched some water from the nearby pond, wiped herself clean, and settled back into her sleeping bag to continue sleeping, as if she hadn't moved at all.

When Ziye and the others returned, they saw the empty tableware outside the tent, shook their heads, and crawled into their own tents to sleep.

After all the commotion, everyone was exhausted past the point of wanting to stay up late talking by the dim light of a lamp. They all fell asleep within two seconds.

When the clock hand turned to six, the assembly horn sounded.

Ziye habitually woke at six. The moment the whistle blew, she was awake. She pushed open her collapsible sleeping bag with both hands, leaped out, shouted, "Assembly!" and immediately bolted out the door. To prevent being caught unprepared by a sudden assembly in the middle of the night or early morning, she hadn't even bothered to change clothes, and most others were the same, resulting in a rush of people pouring out instantly.

Ziye was the very first from A01 to burst out. As soon as she stopped, someone gasped, "Ziye, why aren't the mosquitoes biting you?"

Ziye turned around, startled, and was immediately horrified. Wow, what was this situation? Every single person's face was bright red—upon closer inspection, it was a constellation of angry red welts covering their entire faces!

It was utterly excessive!

Even the flawlessly soft-skinned Bo*. Aimanite hadn't been spared. Seeing how unnaturally clean Ziye's face was, he couldn't help but question, "Did you sleep with your face stuffed into the sleeping bag?"

Although the sleeping bags zipped up from foot to head, their faces were deliberately exposed, with no protective netting. The hungry insects of the forest night had feasted upon them, turning them into pincushions.

Ziye sheepishly covered her face. "No, I slept normally."

"What method did you use to keep the bugs away?" everyone crowded around to ask. Before Ziye could answer, a neat, crisp chorus of female voices sounded from behind her: "That is our secret."

The six girls of A01 stood together, their faces completely free of any rash, looking refreshed, radiant, and spirited. The others couldn't help but exclaim in unison, "That's impossible!"

Ziye said gratefully, "Shaxini, you're our hero." If not for sharing the lavender essential oil body wash, and if not for her dripping a single drop of the oil onto everyone's pillow before sleeping, how could they have slept so soundly?

Shaxini raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Sisters, give me a thumbs-up."

Everyone suddenly understood. "Shaxini, you brought mosquito repellent?"

Shaxini smiled without confirming. The others assumed they had guessed correctly and sighed in unison, "Why didn't I think to bring that? Alas."

Ziye scanned the area, not seeing Silverdew, and whispered, "Where's Silverdew? Why isn't she out?"

April muttered, "She said she couldn't bear to appear in public without washing up, so she's brushing her teeth and washing her face right now."

Ziye let out a breath and said nothing. To each their own, she thought. Let her be.

Just as she was thinking this, the Major's second whistle blew. He started the countdown with a blank expression: "Ten, nine, ... three, two, one!"

Suddenly, there was a crash from somewhere unknown. Everyone turned to look in the direction of the sound and were surprised to see one of the tents belonging to Group B collapse, startling those nearby. After it fell, eight dusty, disheveled young men crawled out from underneath, one after the other. Seeing everyone staring, they felt a wave of shame and quietly shuffled to the back.

The Major's face turned black as soot. He roared, "You eight, step forward!"

The eight young men shuffled forward hesitantly, heads bowed, silent before the Major.

The Major was shaking with suppressed rage. "Are you men? What have you become! During the sea swim the day before yesterday, six out of nine eliminated were boys. During yesterday's long run, three out of five who dropped out were boys. Today, it's the boys' tent that collapses. Where is your manly spirit?"

The Major's pitch climbed higher and higher; he was almost on the verge of snapping.

The eight young men dared not breathe. The other men felt equally disgraced, and for a moment, no one dared speak.

The Major said coldly, "One thousand push-ups each. Now!"

After they finished the push-ups, the Major was still unsatisfied. Looking at the sparse crowd, he threw down the next order: "Are you all waiting for breakfast? Complete a ten-kilometer cross-country run. Boys, you will carry an extra ten jin! Anyone who returns late forfeits breakfast."

A ten-kilometer cross-country run wasn't difficult, nor was carrying ten kilograms. Ziye was still energized from the morning's adrenaline rush. For the sake of breakfast, she clenched her fist, pulled a piece of chocolate from her pocket, popped it into her mouth, and set off immediately.

This time, it was clearly the start of formal training. The cross-country route had direction markers and distance displays, and several water stations were even set up along the way. However, seeing these provisions now only brought two words to the students' eyes: contempt.

Why were there no rest points during the 27.5-nautical-mile swim earlier? Why was there no fresh water supplied during yesterday's grueling eight-hour trek?

Contempt for the instructors, contempt for the Major—absolute contempt!

After her moment of scorn, Ziye reached a water station, took a disposable water pouch, filled it, and gulped the water down.

Scorn is one thing; drinking is quite another.

Bo* caught up, saw her, waved a greeting, and continued running. Ziye watched him from a distance, intensely wanting to tell him, "Actually, your bright red face looks quite nice." Unfortunately, she wasn't Lingyin, and she wasn't familiar enough with Bo* for such a comment. Moreover, she guessed that if she said it, Bo* would probably explode.

After drinking, she continued running.

She had been harshly trained by An Junlie and Little Sprout previously, so the ten-kilometer run felt like a piece of cake; she felt remarkably light.

When she was about halfway through, something suddenly hit the top of her head. She snapped her head up to see Little Sprout falling from mid-air, hitting her again. "Ziye little idiot, how can you run so slowly?"

Ziye reached out and caught the creature. "How am I slow?" She hadn't brought it when she rushed out at the sound of the whistle this morning, but she hadn't expected it to chase after her on its own—truly worthy of being her pet.

Little Sprout flapped its wings above her head. "I thought, given your speed, I would catch up to you at the 6.49-kilometer mark. Right now, you've only covered 5.83 kilometers. I despise you." (To be continued)