NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 178 - Training Exercise 26
After Ye Zhengyan tied himself with the vines, he cautiously checked again to ensure there were no issues. Once he confirmed everything was in order, he gave a signal to all the members of the Sunlight Team to get ready.
Seeing that everyone had signaled they were ready, Ye Zhengyan placed his hand on the bamboo raft. Then, the entire raft beneath them disappeared, and everyone, along with the tree trunk, fell into the sea.
After the Sunlight Team fell into the water, the upper part of their combat suits and hoods automatically inflated due to water pressure. Although this automatic inflation wasn’t as large as a life jacket, it was enough to keep their heads above water without needing to swim.
However, this little bit of buoyancy was sufficient in calm waters. In the strong winds and huge waves, it was barely enough to keep them from being overwhelmed by the waves or knocked unconscious by their impact.
With the help of the vines, the Sunlight Team members struggled in the rough seas and made their way toward the tree trunk.
Booker was the first to climb onto the tree trunk, trying to position his upper body on the trunk and keep his lower half in the water to conserve energy.
However, with the strong winds and turbulent waves, the tree trunk became very slippery after getting wet. Without any solid footing, Booker couldn’t maintain his balance, and when a large wave came, he fell off.
“Everyone, grab each other’s hands and use each other as support!” Ye Zhengyan shouted loudly.
He spoke with all his might, but as soon as the words left his mouth, the wind and waves nearly drowned out his voice. Those who were close could faintly hear it, but those farther away couldn’t make it out clearly.
Seeing that the people farther away didn’t seem to hear clearly, Ye Zhengyan signaled Booker on the other side of the tree trunk to cooperate with him.
The two of them crawled up the tree trunk together, gripping the center of the trunk with their hands, each pulling the other. This way, their upper bodies could stay firmly on the trunk, and they wouldn’t be knocked off by the waves.
When the others saw that this method kept them from slipping off the tree trunk, they quickly followed suit, and soon everyone was lying on the tree trunk in the same way.
With their upper bodies resting on the trunk, the hoods on their heads inflated, greatly reducing the force of the waves hitting them.
Soon after the Sunlight Team entered the water, the wind and waves grew stronger, with giant waves, three to four meters high, hitting them one after another. The tree trunk was pushed underwater and then floated back up.
Sometimes, the whole tree trunk was thrown into the air, flipping over, and the Sunlight Team members would fall back into the water. They would once again struggle to climb the tree trunk, using the vines tied around their waists.
If they weren’t tethered by the vines, they would have long been scattered all over the sea by now.
When the tree trunk flipped for the fifth time, one of the team members was unable to reappear beside the trunk, using the vines tied around them like the others.
It was clear something had gone wrong. In a panic, everyone searched, and after a long distance of scanning, they finally spotted the missing member about four or five meters away.
But that four or five meters felt like an eternity in these rough seas. The rest of the team couldn’t reach out to help, and the missing member couldn’t swim back.
After a few more waves passed, the missing member’s figure disappeared completely.
Everyone felt a heavy weight in their hearts. After enduring the storm for so long, their energy was drained, and each of them was feeling exhausted.
In such circumstances, it was easy to lose track of time; it felt both incredibly short and painfully long.
Eventually, after an unknown amount of time, the rain above stopped. Ye Zhengyan, who had been lying on the tree trunk without being knocked into the sea, noticed that the wind and waves had calmed significantly.
However, he was so tired that he remained still, resting. Once he felt he had recovered enough, he lifted his head to check on the condition of his teammates.
Seeing that there were only seven of them, Ye Zhengyan took advantage of the pause between waves to check the situation of the missing team member on his light brain. When he saw the message that the person had been rescued, he finally let out a sigh of relief.
In this storm, they had lost one team member.
And now, they had no idea what kind of situation they would face next.
…
The Starlight Team was the first to be dropped into the desert, and they were placed in the central area of the vast desert.
Of course, the instructors weren’t so heartless as to drop them in a place where they wouldn’t find water for over ten days, causing them to be eliminated in less than two days.
After being thirsty for an entire day, the eight of them finally found an oasis in the desert.
In fact, if it weren’t for a small mistake in their judgment that led them to take a detour, they would have only been thirsty for half a day at most.
This oasis was vast, with water sources and exotic beasts, and more importantly, it had humans.
Before entering the oasis, the Starlight Team had already noticed human traces in the area. The evidence of human buildings was very obvious.
When they entered the oasis, they realized that it was more like a small settlement than a typical oasis.
The Starlight Team didn’t intend to disturb the humans living there. They arrived at the oasis at night, so they entered from the side where no humans were, drawing water from the lake.
As for boiling water with their combat suits, this was not something they needed to think twice about; their instructors had already explained the various uses of the combat suits to them.
While the Starlight Team was starting the fire to boil water, they heard some noise coming from the human settlement.
Ren Guang and the others thought the oasis was large, comparing it to the one in the survival live-stream game with the desert oasis.
In reality, the oasis was no bigger than a small town. Though the trees provided some cover, lighting a fire at night was still very obvious, and it was likely spotted by the humans on watch.
About ten minutes later, two men and a woman walked over from the lakeside.
The two men and the woman were all young. The woman in the lead had the highest cultivation, being a Level 4 martial artist. However, the reason the Starlight Team couldn’t help but stare at her wasn’t because of her cultivation, but because of her appearance.
This woman was exceptionally beautiful. If they were in the capital star, they would have glanced at a beautiful woman like her instinctively without being surprised.
But in a place like this, to see such an outstandingly beautiful woman was far beyond their expectations.
The two men flanked her on either side, clearly following her lead. The men looked slightly older than her, one being a Level 3 martial artist and the other a Level 2 martial artist.
The Starlight Team had no intention of interacting with the Liva Star people, especially since they didn’t speak the same language. Even if they wanted to speak, they wouldn’t know what to say.
Moreover, from their expressions, the three of them didn’t seem to have any intention of attacking them, though about a dozen people were lying in ambush nearby.
Since these three did not show any intention of attacking, the Starlight Team chose to stay put, ignoring them and continuing their work.