“Phew—” Su Mo stood at the bow of the ship, facing the sea breeze as he let out a long breath. That spectacular dance just now had really drained a lot of his energy.
“What a pity you weren’t wearing Hanfu. Otherwise, they would’ve been completely captivated by you.” Ye Qingyi looked at Su Mo with eyes full of admiration, like a devoted little fanboy who couldn’t snap out of it after watching a stunning dance performance.
“No need.” Su Mo’s casual words were full of pride. Ye Qingyi felt like she was about to fall for him completely…
…
The sea breeze blew fiercely, stirring countless emotions in Su Mo’s heart. He was just about to recite a poem when he realized he didn’t have any stored up in his head, so he could only lean on the railing and let out a long sigh: “Ah, this feels great!”
Suddenly, someone wrapped their arms around his waist from behind and said softly: “Open your arms.”
Su Mo found it baffling, but he still did as told.
“Look, don’t we look like Jack and Rose?” Ye Qingyi suddenly said.
Su Mo was stunned for a moment, then immediately realized what she was talking about, and said: “Look, both of us are completely innocent—neither of us is a married woman or a married man…”
“You…” Ye Qingyi was momentarily speechless, then said indignantly: “Romance! Romance, do you understand?”
Su Mo pursed his lips: “Even then, it doesn’t count. I should be standing in the back.”
“Is this about who stands where?” Ye Qingyi laughed in exasperation. “Besides, with your current height, if you stood in the back, you’d just disappear completely!”
Su Mo said firmly: “I don’t care. Anyway, I want to stand in the back. When the day comes that I can stand in the back, we’ll take a photo like that too.”
At this moment, Su Mo was like an immature little kid.
Ye Qingyi couldn’t argue with him, so she could only say repeatedly: “Okay, okay, okay, we’ll do it your way, alright?”
“That’s more like it.”
Ye Qingyi shook her head helplessly, gradually understanding what the internet meant by “men never grow up.”
“But then again, who are we supposed to get to take the photo?” Ye Qingyi thought seriously. “Such a romantic scene—I don’t want any outsiders around.”
Su Mo said: “You’re so silly. We’ll definitely have kids in the future. Just let them do it.”
“Them?” Ye Qingyi raised an eyebrow slightly.
Su Mo started whistling, pretending to be absent-minded…
…
A week later.
The Giant Whale arrived in Peru. Delta had come here to discuss business. He had originally planned to have someone send them to land on the eastern or northern side of the continent, so they could avoid the massive barrier that runs through South America—the Andes Mountains. But then Long Tianyu said it would be a perfect opportunity to show everyone the scenery of the Andes.
Calling it “enjoying the scenery” was really just another kind of trial.
When the students of the Tianjiao Camp learned that they would need to trek across the Andes on foot and reach the mouth of the Amazon River within a month, all of them wore bitter expressions.
Never mind how many dangers were waiting for them in that primeval forest known as the lungs of the Earth—just the straight-line distance of over four thousand kilometers was already a tough challenge in itself.
And those were only the most basic requirements. If they wanted a high score, they had to bring back useful things. If they couldn’t even complete the basics, they would be directly expelled from the Tianjiao Camp.
As for the score, there was no upper limit.
Long Tianyu’s smile now seemed a bit too cruel in everyone’s eyes. He said with a smile: “The base score is out of one hundred. As for what can earn bonus points, it’s all in the mission list. Each team captain will get one soon. Take a look for yourselves.”
“What if something isn’t on the manual?” Blake asked.
“If it’s not on there, then either its level is too low and doesn’t meet the mission requirements, or we simply haven’t discovered it before. In that case, we’ll invite experts from the Extraordinary Biology Research Institute to assess it on-site, and there will be extra bonus points.”
“Is there a quantity limit for a single item?” Su Mo asked, voicing his confusion.
“Of course not. The things on the mission list are all extremely rare or extremely hard to obtain. There’s no way there could be too many of them.”
Then someone else asked: “Will anyone protect us? We are humanity’s elite. This place is full of dangers. Every death is a huge loss for all of humanity.”
Long Tianyu glanced at that person: “Of course there will be. But they generally won’t step in. Once they do, you’ll most likely already be crippled. So if you want to stay alive, don’t count on others. The only ones you can rely on are yourselves and your teammates.”
Long Tianyu wasn’t trying to scare them. He truly intended to do exactly that. After all, a small number of elites was far better than a large number of trash.
Actually, anyone who could make it to the Tianjiao Camp and remain until now was no trash. It was just that they were striving for perfection, competing over who was stronger.
After all, resources were limited. Cultivating so many people successfully at the same time was impossible. One had to know that the current Tianjiao Camp had the full support of giant powers from all over the world. Otherwise, it couldn’t possibly keep running.
“One last thing. The top ten qualifying teams will have the right to become Tianjiao Squads. The remaining teams will either be eliminated or wait for the next session and continue competing against them.”
After saying that, Long Tianyu turned and boarded the helicopter that had long been waiting, calling the instructors to come along.
“What are you looking at? The assessment has already begun. From now on, you have six hours to run. After six hours, the instructors will turn into villains and obstruct you.
They may not threaten your lives, but they can definitely make things disgusting for you. As for what methods they’ll use, you’ll find out when the time comes.”
The students scattered in an instant.
“Damn, the chief instructor’s words are way too scary. I’m already starting to get afraid.”
“Of course I’m afraid. I even saw our instructor smile. That smile was so creepy. Something big is definitely about to happen. Run!”
Most teams fought on their own, and a few chose to ally, but doing so easily led to internal conflict over uneven distribution of benefits. So Su Mo and the others had no intention of cooperating with anyone.
In the team, Ye Qingyi was the captain, but the one actually in charge was Su Mo. It wasn’t that Su Mo insisted on “coveting” that little bit of authority—it was simply that when Su Mo was around, Ye Qingyi couldn’t be bothered to think for herself.
It had almost become an instinct.
As it happened, the other members of the team also had extremely high recognition of Su Mo, even surpassing Ye Qingyi.
Huo Jingshu and Xia Qingqing naturally needed no explanation. As long as Wu Heng and Zhuge Zhi didn’t object, there would be no problem at all.
And as it happened, both of them were quite convinced by him.
And so, Su Mo, this special existence of vice-captain with the captain’s executive authority, came to be.
“Everyone, let’s share your thoughts first.” As the captain, this line definitely belonged to her.
Xia Qingqing spoke first: “I’ll listen to the captain and the vice-captain.”
Huo Jingshu: “Same here.”
Zhuge Zhi thought for a moment, then smiled: “My brain can’t come up with any good ideas either. You all figure out the arrangements. I’ll just do the work.”
“Tsk, and you’re surnamed Zhuge?” Xia Qingqing retorted to Zhuge Zhi as usual.
Zhuge Zhi was already used to it and gave her a roll of his eyes.
Only Wu Heng offered his own view: “I think it’s necessary for us to first get to know the local situation. After all, the Andes are not some little hill in front of our house. Weather, terrain distribution—all of it will directly affect our travel efficiency and safety.”
This was exactly what Su Mo was thinking too.
