Next, Wang Tianwei harvested quite a few "desert snacks."
There were both mutated and non-mutated ones.
But since these things were edible and high in protein, she no longer cared whether they would earn her credits.
She snapped off all the scorpions' stingers, planning to roast them over a fire later that night.
She had been reluctant to finish her Star Wolf jerky and only had two or three strips left, but today she finally managed to replenish her food supply a bit.
By six o'clock, the sky began to darken.
The temperature in the desert dropped rapidly. At noon, it was so hot that one wished to run around naked, but now she had to pile on every piece of warm clothing she had.
Even with her outermost jacket collar pulled up as high as it would go, she could still feel the cold wind whistling in. The fine sand stung her exposed skin.
An hour later, Wang Tianwei couldn't see anything at all. Relying solely on the small watch on her wrist for illumination, she planned to walk a little further before finding a place to set up camp.
She completely failed to notice that the barometric pressure curve on the men's watch she wore on her other wrist had plummeted to rock bottom...
High above the desert, over a dozen rescue aircraft were densely gathered. The observers didn't dare take their eyes off the screens for a second.
"A sandstorm is advancing from west to east. Estimated time of arrival is 30 seconds. Speed is seventy kilometers per hour. All units, prepare for rescue operations."
The rescue teams and instructors stood by in full readiness, clutching their spatial buttons. A sandstorm of this magnitude could easily sweep away or bury several students.
The doors of the aircraft opened, and the instructors stepped out into the open area, facing the wind.
"Once you board your mechas, turn on your night vision and thermal imaging. Watch out for the students around you and avoid friendly fire."
"Understood."
Chao Hao took out a golden mecha from his spatial pendant. It was his comrade-in-arms that had accompanied him for ten years—Thunder.
It could only be said that this batch of students had terrible luck. If it were daytime, they would at least be able to see the yellow sand in advance and prepare early.
At night, however, they couldn't see a thing. The desert wind never stopped from morning till night, and very few people could tell the difference.
Those students who wanted to take advantage of the cool night to cover more ground would face this sandstorm head-on...
By the time Wang Tianwei realized something was wrong, the blowing sand had already made it impossible for her to open her eyes!
'Oh no! Have I run into a sandstorm?!'
She quickly turned her back to the wind, dropped to the ground, and pulled the goggles she used during the day out of her pocket to put them on.
The sandstorm grew stronger, crackling as it pelted against her clothes and military boots!
She pulled down the short-sleeved shirt wrapped around her head for wind and dust protection, pressing it tightly against her nose and mouth to prevent the sand from seeping through the gaps.
The two sticks she had used to feel her way forward were long gone!
Her hat, originally tied under her chin, had been blown away by the gale, leaving only a string hooked in her hand...
Only a minority of students could react as quickly as Wang Tianwei.
Having never experienced it before, the students initially thought it was just a simple gust of wind and sand, only realizing something was wrong when they were knocked down by the gale.
Some even instinctively opened their mouths to call out to their companions for help after falling, only to get a mouth full of sand and quickly choke to the point of suffocation...
"Idiots."
Piloting his mecha against the strong wind, Chao Hao scooped someone up and brought them to a safe zone, then immediately went to rescue another student who was stuck headfirst in the sand...
The other instructors were also racing against time. Although the scene was chaotic, there was order within the chaos.
With her head buried, Wang Tianwei couldn't see anything at all. She could only feel the stinging pain brought by the gravel hitting her exposed skin...
Her hair had been blown loose and was whipping wildly in the air, making her scalp ache terribly...
But the most critical problem right now was that as she breathed, the moisture dampened her clothes, which gradually became saturated with sand and dust...
Ten minutes? Or twenty minutes? She could hardly breathe! She just wanted to cough...
However, the wind and sand seemed to be gradually dying down. Just hold on a little longer and it will pass!
"...Cough, cough cough cough cough!"
When her black and white hair finally stopped whipping around, Wang Tianwei slowly loosened the clothing covering her nose and mouth, followed by several heavy coughs.
There was still a lot of floating dust in the air. Wang Tianwei held her breath again, shook out her clothes, switched to a dry side to continue covering her face, and then tried to stand up.
Her entire body had been buried in the yellow sand... No wonder she almost suffocated just now.
As soon as she pushed herself up on her legs, she was startled by a dark silhouette standing not far away!
What is that?! The two eyes at the very top were shining like searchlights?!
A Star Beast?! A mecha?! It looks like a mecha...
Chao Hao watched helplessly as Wang Tianwei shakily stood up, only to see her legs give way and kneel back down upon seeing him. He found it quite amusing.
Her vital signs were pretty good; she didn't need his rescue.
So, he maneuvered the mecha past her and continued to search for other students buried in the sand.
Using her watch for light, Wang Tianwei barely made out that it was a flashy golden mecha.
She watched as it plunged its arm into the sand and then pulled out an unconscious student, moving as if it were pulling up a radish...
Who knew how many people this sandstorm had eliminated.
Wang Tianwei stood up for the second time, fine sand sliding off her backpack and body.
The surroundings were still gray and murky, without a single trace of light. Now she truly had no strength left to continue her journey...
With weak legs, she found a spot to set up camp.
It wasn't until a crooked campfire was lit that a sliver of light finally appeared in the darkness.
Wang Tianwei entered the tent first, took off all her clothes and shook them out. Not to mention her clothes, there were at least two pounds of sand poured into her military boots alone!
The items in her backpack were still there. Of the four bags of water, two and a half remained.
Thank goodness she had kept the water bags from those two people, otherwise she probably would have been eliminated tomorrow...
She carefully poured out a little water to rinse her mouth, and used another bit to wash out her nose. Only then did she feel her nasal passages clear!
But the problem was that after cleaning her nose, she became even more sensitive to the floating sand in the air, even able to smell an earthy stench... Wang Tianwei had no choice but to wrap the shaken-out clothes back around her face.
She roasted the potato and the last three strips of meat jerky over the fire, washing them down with water, and finally roasted the scorpions.
She only had one potato left in her backpack. The jerky had all been eaten in this meal, so tomorrow during the day she could only rely on those scorpions for energy.
The deadline for this training exercise was 12:00 noon the day after tomorrow.
If she had to spend another night tomorrow, she would need to build another fire, so she had to use the solid fuel sparingly...
Food was a bit scarce, but her load would also be lighter. If she could reach the finish line earlier, she would be able to go out and eat!
While checking her backpack, Wang Tianwei found she still had a roll of gauze. She folded the gauze and tied it with the drawstring from her old hat, making three masks.
She didn't know when the floating dust would dissipate. The effectiveness of these gauze masks should be better than clothes, and now she had spares to swap out.
It was only then that the loudspeakers began broadcasting the list of eliminated students.
Every class was mentioned, and the broadcast went on continuously for about five minutes before stopping.
Wang Tianwei zipped up the tent and lay down wearing a mask.
The instructors had been very prompt in their rescues, so there shouldn't have been any major incidents... She hoped there wouldn't be any more unexpected disasters tomorrow...
