Chapter 1928 — Field Training

"Yes!" Now that they had witnessed Chen Yuxuan's prowess with their own eyes, was there a single one among these students who did not want to learn?

In truth, the military combat fist was indeed formidable, but it also depended on who was using it. If Chen Yuxuan had not been a Xuan-rank expert, a single punch could never have sent a man flying like that.

Still, Chen Yuxuan was only too glad to employ this method of firing up the students' morale and interest. Word of mouth was hollow; seeing was believing. The fight he had just had with Yellow Hair and Purple Hair was more persuasive than any explanation.

He was sure the pharmaceutical major would be one of the classes that studied the military combat fist most diligently during this training session. Under Chen Yuxuan's lead, everyone trained with fiery enthusiasm; even Wang Xinyan, fine beads of sweat standing out on her forehead from exhaustion, was still utterly earnest...

"Damn it, Young Master You, how did we get so unlucky?" Yellow Hair said helplessly as he ran.

"It's uncanny—every instructor you run into is a Xuan-rank expert. Xuan-rank experts are worth less than dirt these days!" You Panhu said with a frown. "But a wise man does not eat a loss in front of him. Run! Once we're back, we'll find a chance to teach that Wei Zhao a lesson!"

"I figured that without Bai Lingtou around during training, we could at least give Wei Zhao a taste of disgust. The kid got off easy!" Purple Hair said.

But Purple Hair had scarcely finished speaking when Chen Yuxuan's reprimand came ringing over: "What are you three muttering about? Seems you've got energy to spare—another hundred laps!"

Chen Yuxuan glanced at You Panhu. Though the man was only a Huang-rank expert, a few hundred laps would not kill him from exhaustion, so he simply added another hundred.

You Panhu and the others groaned inwardly, but there was nothing they could do...

In the blink of an eye, another three days had passed. The next item on the agenda was the field march—one of the most important items in military training, and also the most grueling.

It was a test of everyone's wilderness survival skills!

Early in the morning, several large buses carried all the biology department students to the foot of a mountain about fifty kilometers from the military camp. It was an unnamed range, not far from the border. The training exercise was this: three to a team, climb the mountain and find small flags planted at designated locations.

Because each flag was placed in a different spot, and each flag had a GPS locator on it, every team would randomly receive a GPS receiver. Only by following the coordinates on the receiver could the flags be found. The first three teams to find their flags would each earn every member a bonus of two extra points.

The exercise would last two days, from this morning until tomorrow evening. Teams that failed to find their flags would have a military training credit deducted.

The exercise looked simple enough, with GPS coordinates to guide them, but actually finding the flags was another matter entirely. This was no tourist attraction—there were no ready-made paths at all. Though the slopes were not steep, the mountain was covered in dense forest, and pushing through layer upon layer of woods to find the targets was plainly no light task.

What was more, each flag's location was different. On a mountain this vast, there was no chance of cheating or cooperating with other teams; each pair in a team could only rely on themselves.

Chen Yuxuan briefed the students present on the essential knowledge for wilderness survival. There were no wild beasts on this mountain, but most of these students had grown up in cities and had no survival experience whatsoever. If something went wrong, that would be trouble.

At first everyone had been somewhat worried at the prospect of going up the mountain alone to find their flags, but with this emergency switch, there was nothing to fear. As for being left behind, no one had even considered it—nobody would ever abandon a classmate.

"All right, next, students from each class form your own teams—three to a team—and come here to collect your GPS, compressed biscuits, drinking water, medical kit, and camping supplies," Chen Yuxuan said.

The number of students in Wei Zhao's class was not a multiple of three; there happened to be two left over. Wei Zhao did not hesitate and paired up with Wang Xinyan directly. Normally, in such a case, a spare student from another class should have been brought in to make up a team, but Chen Yuxuan knew Wei Zhao's strength—Wei Zhao taking Wang Xinyan up the mountain alone would pose absolutely no problem—so he agreed without a moment's hesitation.

Once every team had collected its supplies, at Chen Yuxuan's command everyone began preparing to head up the mountain. Not long after they set off, though, the groups had largely gone their separate ways, because each team's flag was in a different location, scattered far apart. The mountain was big and tall, and few were willing to take a detour to accompany others; most chose the straight-line route shown on the GPS...

On a mountain like this, however, even a straight-line route could not be walked truly straight—some rocks and trees simply had to be gone around.

Seeing Wei Zhao carrying all the luggage himself, Wang Xinyan felt a little embarrassed. "Wei Zhao, let me share some of that?"

Most teams had three boys, so however much and however heavy the gear, sharing it out did not amount to much. But Wei Zhao's team was short-handed to begin with, and had Wang Xinyan, a girl, among them, so the whole burden fell on Wei Zhao's shoulders.

"No need, this isn't heavy at all. You save your strength—if you collapse from exhaustion, I'll have to carry the gear and carry you too. Wouldn't that be even more tiring?" Wei Zhao said with a smile.

"Oh..." Wang Xinyan's face flushed slightly. For some reason, a sudden flicker of anticipation rose in her heart...

She did not know when it had begun, but Wang Xinyan had actually grown somewhat accustomed to having Wei Zhao at her side. In just these few days, she felt as though she had developed a kind of dependence on him...

Wang Xinyan did not know whether this feeling was good or bad, but she did not reject it... For the first time in her life, she was this close to a boy, and that she felt no aversion toward Wei Zhao surprised even herself.