15 minutes later…
Felix and the rest had reached the open area that was just a field of ferns, wildflowers, and other herbaceous plants on the forest floor.
The area was big enough for the team to set up their tents in a circular shape around its center.
With the fir trees surrounding them, the camp would be getting some protection.
“This will do it for now.” Felix removed his backpack and unstrapped his black tent. He then went near the center and plucked those herbaceous plants to clear up his spot.
He threw them to the side as they weren’t edible.
After doing so, he started setting up his tent alone while glancing from time to time at Olivia and the others doing the same.
This time no one brought a bigger tent, as they learned their lesson from their practice.
It was better to take only a one-person tent as it would be less exposed to damages if they got attacked.
Besides, in this competition, they expected to move a lot due to searching for flags or escaping from other teams.
This meant they would have a temporary camp once in a while. It was much faster to set up a single-person tent than the rest.
After a while, ten different colored tents could be seen placed down around a star-shaped campfire that wasn’t turned on.
The woods were just prepared and left there.
They didn’t want to start a fire when they weren’t planning on cooking, or the visibility wasn’t hindered.
After all, the last thing they wanted was to give away their hiding spot for no reason.
Inside the black tent, Felix was changing his clothes. He took off the skydiving suit and wore his team’s uniform. He then folded the skydiving suit and placed it in his backpack for emergencies.
Next, he opened the tent’s zipper and went to sit next to the boys, who were gathering around the campfire.
Just like him, all of them had changed into their team’s outfit. Since the girls were nowhere to be seen, it was expected that they were still changing.
“What’s today’s plan?” Johnson looked at Felix as he asked, “Are we going to carry out the same plan we made yesterday?”
“Yes, no need to change.” Felix agreed with a head nod.
“I guess we need to be moving then.” Kenny dusted his ass as he stood up. “Let’s go, Walton.”
“If you get lost, just notify me, and I will start a fire to give you our position.” Felix said.
Upon hearing so, they gave him a swift thump up before beginning to sprint in the direction where they came from.
Their target? The Parachutes!
That’s right, their mission wasn’t to scout for camps or such but to bring as many parachutes as they could!
After all, the cloth was a well-needed material in the wilderness, and it could be used on many occasions. Plus, they would have nothing to lose by having it within their set of limited items.
Meanwhile, the rest of the boys didn’t remain in the camp but went hunting for their lunch, leaving only Felix behind with the girls.
However, the girls didn’t just sit still like dolls but actually searched together for wild plants to enrich their food.
Although Felix didn’t accompany them, he used his infrared vision once in a while to scout 500 meters around him for anything peculiar.
He didn’t worry about having his infrared vision getting found out, as the red shimmer’s intensity was lowered to barely noticeable due to his golden-pupil.
‘Asna, you up?’ Felix said eagerly, ‘It’s time for my daily enhancement.’
Every time he wakes up, he looks forward the most to starting his day with his affinity getting enhanced due to the euphoric feeling he receives.
Alas, his excitement was soon diminished after remembering that he was almost about to reach a 100% sand affinity rating.
He was currently sitting at 76% and needed only 24%, which meant he would stop taking them in eight days.
‘Give me a minute.’ Asna said in delight, ‘I am kicking the old snake’s ass in chess.’
‘Oh?’ Intrigued, Felix asked, ‘You guys switched to chess?’
‘How can I play Royalty with this cheating bastard?’ Asna boasted, ‘In chess, there is no dice or bullshit, just pure skill, and intelligence. He clearly lacks compared to m…’
‘Checkmate little Asna.’
The moment Felix heard the Jörmungandr say so, silence abruptly descended in his mind, forcing the boastful Asna to shush down.
“Good game.” The Jörmungandr lifted a small notebook placed on the table they were playing on and opened it up. It was showing a long string of victories and losses.
He flipped to a middle page and wrote today’s date down to the second, and next to it, he wrote ]Chess’s game, Jörmungandr’s win[
“With this, I am currently on my 2nd 10 win streak.” He smiled in satisfaction as he showed the cursed notebook to the stunned Asna, who still couldn’t fathom how she lost.
Although it was just a checkmate, she could see clearly that her king had only one move to make, and it was useless.
“Again? Or you wanna play a different game?” The Jörmungandr asked while placing down the notebook.
“Again! You just got lucky in the last match.”
Asna eyes’ were a bit bloodshot as she started to set up her pieces on the board.
She tried her best to hold her anger this time instead of exploding with curses and insults like always.
Felix didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the way she conflicts her own words to her advantage.
She just said that chess required only skill and intelligence when she was in the lead, but after she lost, it was due to luck now.
Alas, he didn’t find it surprising anymore, as Asna’s personality was really more shameless than his.
‘How about my daily enhancement?’ Felix asked.
‘F*ck off! Unless I win a match, I am not standing from this table.” Asna snapped at Felix and closed the connection between them to focus on the match.
‘I guess I am going to be stuck in 76% forever.’ Felix sighed in dejection.
Thankfully, the connection was closed. Otherwise, Felix could forget about receiving his enhancement for the day.
….
Four hours later…
The entire team was gathered around the campfire, waiting for lunch to be cooked. It was grilled dear meat from the hunt with some vegetables at the side.
Kenny and Walton were back in one piece two hours ago, bringing with them four parachutes.
They were folded messily and placed next to tents. To avoid having them taken by the wind at night, they put a couple of rocks on them.
“So we are just going to chill today?” Lena asked calmly.
“Well, it’s just a waste of energy to try and locate flags without the tracker.” Adam said, “It’s better to play it slow today and hope that an airdrop land near us.”
This was the plan originally made yesterday in their hotel with George.
On the first day, they secure a camp and prepare enough food and water for at least two or three days.
Then, they just lay low until 24 hours passed by and the first ten airdrops get sent down in the competition zone.
If an airdrop landed near their camp, they would attempt to secure it at all cost.
However, if it was miles and miles away, they could only give up on it and wait for another airdrop.
Unsurprisingly, this plan wasn’t unique to just them, as most of the teams took this approach.
It might be the smartest thing to do, but it couldn’t get any more boring watching them doing nothing for the viewers.
After the MCs explained why so, some of the viewers decided to sleep now to wake up when the excitement is on the verge of starting.
…
The next morning, 08:00 AM…
Vrrrrrr! Vrrrr!
The booming sound of the planes’ engines resounded in the entire forest. Felix and the rest put down the spoon from their mouths and raised their heads, looking at three planes high up in the sky.
Those were actually the ones in their field of view as the rest were way further than them.
“Finish up quick.” Felix said while gulping down the hot vegetable soup in two mouthfuls. He then placed down the bowl and focused on the nearest upcoming plane.
Luckily, it was approaching them while still holding into the package.
They hoped that it could release it somewhat close to them but not right on top of them.
After all, the last thing they wanted was for their newly erected camp to turn into a warzone for the package.
Alas, the plane was getting closer and closer, yet the airdrop was still not in sight.
Everyone stopped eating at once and just kept staring in nervousness at the plane that was right above their heads.
Just as they thought that luck was going to f*ck them up, the plane went past them and carried on its journey.
A few seconds later, a small dot could be seen dropping from the tail of the plane. It didn’t take long for the parachute to inflate, and let everyone in the area notice the airdrop.
“Ah, thank god.” Johnson wiped his sweaty forehead and said, “I really thought it was going land in our camp.”
Alas, the moment Johnson mentioned this, the wind’s speed increased noticeably and started pushing the airdrop in their direction instead of landing near its position!
Everyone’s eyes widened in panic at the sight of the airdrop getting closer and closer to their camp. They didn’t know what the hell happened for their luck to switch to horrible in a single moment.
But after remembering who spoke last, they all turned to the dumbfounded Johnson and glared at him in irritation.
“Thank you for jinxing it again!”
