LRAB Page 457
Page 457
Fortunately, this off-road test is conducted in pairs.
"Brother, I want to be in your group!" Lu Mingfei quickly grabbed Gu Ran's hand. "If you can help me pass this exam, I'll gladly become your godfather!"
"Haha, brother, it's not that I don't want to help you, but Norma randomly assigns the groups." Gu Ran pointed to the instructions in the exam notice, which stated that Norma was responsible for group assignments.
"Don't worry, you'll definitely be assigned a strong teammate," he reassured you.
Norma's core is EVA, and EVA has always been aligned with Lu Mingfei.
And indeed, that was the case. After the group assignments were announced, Lu Mingfei was in a group with Ling, while Gu Ran was in a group with Li Enshu.
Although Ling's knee was injured before, her bloodline and recovery ability were no less than Chu Zihang's. After a month and a half, her injury had basically healed.
But Lu Mingfei still felt sorry for her. She had been seriously injured, and the little girl looked even more fragile than him. He was too embarrassed to ask Zero to help carry the weight...
This time, the cross-country race was held in the Congo Basin in Africa. The route was a circle with a radius of 1,000 kilometers, and the center of the circle was the finish line. Students were paired up and distributed on the circumference of the circle 1,000 kilometers away.
In this way, the straight-line distance for each person to reach the destination is one thousand kilometers.
However, this is only the straight-line distance. If terrain factors are taken into account, the actual distance for each person would probably exceed one thousand kilometers.
But these are all trivial matters for mixed-race individuals.
Each person has a carrying limit of 30 kilograms. You can choose what you want to carry, but you are not allowed to bring food or water. You will have to get your own food and water.
At this time of year, it is the dry season in the Congo Basin, and carrying water and food is not allowed, which increases the difficulty of off-roading.
But the exam is conducted every year to train students' willpower and wilderness survival skills, because many dragons live in deep mountains and forests and can only rely on primitive methods without technological support.
As the vice principal said, in the past they had to ride horses to slay dragons, and when they arrived at their destination, they found that the dragon was not there, so they had to continue to search for it. Unlike now, they can sit in the office and remotely command the dragon slaying. They can just issue a command and EVA will help guide the missiles.
Although technology has advanced, the spirit of hard work and perseverance must not be forgotten, so this tradition of weighted cross-country testing has been preserved.
Two days later, the students arrived at the meeting point together, and the first thing they had to do was check their heavy luggage.
Professor Manstein glanced at Lu Mingfei's backpack. He was carrying several casters, some connecting equipment, aluminum alloy strips, and stainless steel cable ties.
The 39-year-old professor of discipline looked at Lu Mingfei with an annoyance: "Do you think I'm as stupid as Guderian, that I can't see what you're up to?"
"How could that be? My mentor, Guderian, is incredibly intelligent; he's a tenured professor at Harvard!" Lu Mingfei widened his eyes, pretending not to understand Manstein's unspoken message.
"Your load is confiscated. You can choose your load again here. I suggest you choose firearms, bayonets, and a canteen." Manstein was too lazy to waste words with Lu Mingfei and directly confiscated his pile of wheels.
Clearly, Lu Mingfei planned to assemble a trolley using casters, cable ties, and aluminum alloy strips, so he could be lazy and pull it around on the road.
How could such a little trick possibly fool Manstein? He had been a discipline teacher for so many years and had seen all sorts of cheating methods.
Lu Mingfei curled his lip: "Tch, as expected, this old man isn't that stupid."
He had no choice but to pick out a backpack at the camp, take a gun from it, and then take bullets for the rest.
“Bullets don’t count as a burden, because you’ll shoot them off on the way. Don’t think I don’t know your little tricks,” Manstein added.
Lu Mingfei stuck out his tongue, knowing that the old man would keep staring at him, so he took more guns and knives, but fewer bullets.
Weapons are a must. There are many wild animals in Africa, such as lions, leopards, crocodiles, and the African leopard, which are not easy to deal with. It would be troublesome if you were unarmed.
Next, Manstein began to check Zero's loadout. Her equipment was much simpler: a 1911 pistol, some bullets, a GPS and a mechanical compass, a water bottle, a pot, a tent, magnesium rods for kindling, a lighter, tools like a saw, and some climbing ropes—all very practical equipment.
But these items don't weigh 30 kilograms.
However, she had two wide dumbbells stuffed in her backpack.
"Why bring two dumbbells?" Manstein asked, puzzled.
"I didn't know what to bring, so I just brought two dumbbells for weight training," Zero said casually.
Manstein nodded and glanced at the two hollow steel pipes still in his heavy luggage.
He picked it up and asked, "What are the steel pipes used for?"
“I’m used to using steel pipes as weapons,” Zero said, still expressionless.
Although Manstein was puzzled, he didn't say anything. Everyone has the freedom to choose their own weapons, and that should be respected.
When Lu Mingfei saw that Ling had a tent on her back, he also got one from the campsite. He couldn't very well share a tent with the little girl, even though he thought Ling probably wouldn't mind sharing a tent with him.
Actually, this wasn't the first time he'd shared a room with a girl. He'd previously shared a room with Erii for over a week, so sharing with Zero now wouldn't be a bad idea.
But Lu Mingfei was still a little embarrassed...
After checking the load, about half an hour later, the off-road test officially began.
With a tearful face, Lu Mingfei began to walk deeper into the African savanna.
His and Zero's route was from north to south, traversing the tropical savanna of Central Africa, then through a stretch of tropical rainforest, with their final destination near the Congo River.
It's currently the dry season in Africa, and the sun is scorching, with daytime temperatures almost always above 35 degrees Celsius.
Moreover, there wasn't a single cloud in the sky, and the scorching sunlight was truly shining directly on people's heads.
Fortunately, Lu Mingfei had the foresight to bring a straw hat with a wide brim, which was both breathable and sun-protective.
But Zero wasn't wearing a hat. Her skin was very fair and delicate, reflecting the sunlight. Her long, light golden hair was tied into a scorpion braid, and her pretty face remained as exquisite and beautiful as ever.
"I brought an extra baseball cap, do you want it?" Lu Mingfei took a baseball cap out of his backpack and put it on Ling's little head before she could answer.
"Thank you."
Zero said calmly.
"Speaking of which... can't we walk a little slower?" Lu Mingfei had been walking for a short while and was already panting heavily.
Because they have to walk 125 kilometers every day, they have to walk at least 10 kilometers every hour for 13 hours straight before they can rest.
Zero glanced at Lu Mingfei: "We must reach a riverbank in the south before 2 PM to collect fresh water and food, and then rest until night. It's too hot now, so I suggest we travel at night and rest during the day to conserve our energy."
“That makes sense, it’s better to travel at night!” Lu Mingfei looked up at the sky. The daytime sun was really scorching, even hotter than when Tang Sanzang crossed the Flaming Mountains.
In equatorial regions, day and night are of equal length, with 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness, and the early morning hours are also relatively cool.
“There’s a tree over there,” Zero pointed to a spot not far away.
"So what if there's a tree..." Lu Mingfei thought to himself. What's so special about a tree on the grassland?
Zero arrived at the tree, took out two saws from his backpack, and tossed them to Lu Mingfei: "I need some branches, cut them to about a meter long."
"Huh?" Lu Mingfei looked at her, puzzled.
But Zero didn't explain; he just looked at Lu Mingfei.
Lu Mingfei was stared at by the little queen for a long time, and finally gave in, climbing up the tree to saw some branches.
Zero opened his backpack and seemed to be assembling something.
Lu Mingfei had never done carpentry before, and he wasn't good at using a saw at first. Fortunately, he was good at learning and adjusting, and soon he learned the correct way to use a saw and quickly sawed a lot of branches.
And now, he finally understood what Zero wanted to do.
The two dumbbells in the zero belt have weight plates that are 20 centimeters in diameter on each side, and these plates can be removed.
After taking it apart, she inserted a hollow, thick steel tube into the dumbbell handle and then reattached the dumbbell plates.
In this way, a pair of dumbbells becomes four wheels.
After that, Zero simply placed tree branches on top of the thick steel pipe, made a large basket out of the branches, and secured it with climbing ropes.
Before long, a simple basket cart with dumbbells as wheels was made, big enough for them to put all their heavy luggage on.
"What a genius!" Lu Mingfei was truly impressed. How could he not have thought of that?
In any case, it's easier to pull a cart than to carry it on your back, and the dumbbells are made of solid metal, making them very durable. Plus, the African savanna is mostly flat, so pulling the cart is very effortless.
“We’ve taken turns pulling it, one hour each,” Zero said. “Once we get to the rainforest, this thing has to be dismantled and won’t work anymore.”
Because the forest is dense, there are many obstacles inside.
Lu Mingfei readily agreed. Pulling this thing around wasn't too strenuous, and it was better than carrying it on his back all the time.
Chapter 532 A fishing guy will never be in the air force!
"I'll pull it for an hour first, then you come the next hour. While you're pulling, I'll go hunting." Zero, with her small frame, asked as she pulled the cart, "What do you want to eat?"
What food do you have?
"Lions, cheetahs, elephants, zebras, hyenas, giraffes, camels..."
"Stop, stop, stop! Can't you come up with something normal?" Lu Mingfei interrupted the list of dishes. He was really afraid that the little queen would go and hunt a lion or an elephant like a caveman.
Only Goku from Dragon Ball is so indiscriminate in his hunger.
"Are there any lower-end animals, like birds or reptiles? Fish would be fine too, tilapia are quite delicious!"
“This is a grassland, there aren’t many fish here.” Zero was surprisingly considerate of Lu Mingfei. “I remember that wild game in China includes monkey brains and civets, and we have those here too…”
"How about we get some rabbits?" Lu Mingfei said, covering his face. "I don't eat monkey brains."
“There are plenty of rabbits, but there’s not much rabbit meat.” Ling Qing looked at Lu Mingfei with clear eyes and asked, “How about ostrich? It has more meat.”
"also!"
Ling nodded, indicating that he had made a note of it.
*……*……*
On the other hand, Gu Ran's off-road test was the easiest.
His route started in Rwanda in the east and went west into the depths of the Congo Basin.
The Congo Basin is surrounded by isolated hills and mountains, while deep within it lies tropical rainforest.
Gu Ran brought some unusual equipment; he actually brought a hang glider, which weighed 26 kilograms and was quite large!
This hang glider is unpowered, meaning it cannot fly in the air using its own power.
The person in charge of inspecting the weighted equipment was Nono. She wore black-rimmed glasses and spent most of the day looking at the hang glider, the four-leaf clover pendant she wore swaying back and forth with her ear.
"Are you sure you want to bring this hang glider? Let me tell you, you can't just throw this thing away halfway through. You have to bring it to the finish line, or you'll have to retake the test."
"I know, and I'm sure," Gu Ran said matter-of-factly.
"Why are you carrying this thing?" Nono asked curiously.
"I won't tell you."
"Tch, who cares!" Nono said arrogantly.