Apart from these two contestants, the others are still holding on for now.
The Australian Association watched the contestants’ situation and couldn’t help but shake their heads.
"It’s difficult; the weather has worsened this year, with extre weather occurring frequently. The difficulty for the contestants to complete the challenge has skyrocketed!"
The president of the Australian Association shook his head, no longer holding expectations for the remaining contestants.
It’s not that the contestants are not strong this year, but the climate is too harsh.
Under the global trend of increasingly extre weather, local climates are also severely worsening.
Especially in regions with already harsh environnts, the difficulty of survival is escalating drastically.
Beside him, the older vice president, after arranging for the return of a few contestants,
couldn’t help but say, "The country’s promotion of survival skills is correct. Our environnt is harsher than those of other countries. We must teach our people basic survival skills to prevent them from being helpless in such situations."
The president nodded in agreent.
He lost interest in this challenge: "Please take care of things here. I need to think about the strategy for future challenges. The current environnt is not like it used to be, and our strategy needs adjustnt."
The vice president curiously asked, "You’re not concerned about the results? Elvin is still surviving out there."
"Him?"
The president shook his head, not in contempt but in a calm, factual tone: "His team is down to two people. Whether they can make it out of the desert remains to be seen."
"What about Oleg? He was once your competitor."
The vice president continued to ask.
The president shook his head again: "The team morale is gone. They are also facing serious attrition."
"Hope? He could be considered one of the strongest survivors of the previous generation."
"He’s hard to predict, but I doubt he can get out of the Kimberley Plateau. He’s too steady and lacks impulse."
"What about Yoshikawa Feng, Matsui Reika from Japan, and Feng Zhong from Hua Country?"
"They will inevitably co into conflict with Chen Wen, which won’t end well."
"Then what about Chen Wen?"
Hearing this na, the president pondered: "If they can track down the cals, they’ll be fine. If not, they’ll run out of ti."
The vice president nodded slightly, agreeing with this view.
Without cals, the desert will significantly delay them. Even if Chen Wen can continue, they’ll be overti.
...
In the oasis.
Chen Wen and his group stayed in a burrow for the morning.
When Chen Wen felt the wind subsiding, he cautiously moved the vegetation, poked his head out, and observed the outside.
Monts later, Chen Wen pulled back.
"How is it outside?"
Hua Yun hurriedly asked as she saw Chen Wen return.
"The wind has lessened a lot, but the dust is still heavy; however, we can go out now."
Hearing this, everyone couldn’t wait to crawl out of the burrow.
It was too stifling in there.
After erging from the burrow, they looked at the sky, which was the sa color as the dust, and gasped in shock.
Looking at the apocalyptic scenery, everyone felt a bit anxious.
"What should we do next?"
Hua Yun asked.
The other three, Adam among them, all looked at Chen Wen.
Chen Wen shook the sand from his head and said, "Let’s try to find the cals first. Without them, it’ll take twice as long to get out of the desert."
This made sense.
The cals carried a lot of the load and could transport several people during the hottest tis.
"Let’s take this spot as the center and search in four directions for the cals. I’ll go this way."
Chen Wen assigned tasks and then reminded them, "Don’t go too far; the sandstorm hasn’t fully settled and could intensify at any mont. Be prepared to return to the burrow at any ti."
Everyone nodded before splitting up to search for the cals.
Chen Wen headed toward the waterhole, trying to find traces of the cals.
But the sandstorm had covered many tracks, and after circling the area, Chen Wen found nothing useful.
Seeing no clues, Chen Wen decided to cast a wider net and searched a large area within the oasis.
When he t up with Hua Yun,
Chen Wen asked, "Did you find anything?"
"No, and you?"
Hua Yun shook her head helplessly.
She hadn’t even seen a trace of cal dung, let alone the cals themselves.
"Sa."
Chen Wen said dejectedly, "These cals really have abandoned us!"
At this point, Chen Wen felt even more disheartened.
It was his first ti experiencing tad animals wandering off.
Seeing Chen Wen so dejected, Hua Yun comforted him, "Maybe they went in a different direction? Let’s go back and see how the others are doing."
...
The two returned to camp.
The others were also returning one after another.
Although everyone’s faces were covered by masks, making it hard to see their expressions, their gloomy deanor was evident.
Everyone sat around the burrow, unsure of what to say.
"It seems we’ve lost all the cals."
Chen Wen broke the silence and said, "Do any of you have any ideas?"
Dennis hesitated for a mont: "Let’s not move today. We should rest well and pick up the pace tomorrow, leaving so excess baggage behind and heading to the third oasis."
Fred asked gloomily, "And then what?"
Dennis gritted his teeth and said determinedly, "We’ll take by force! Our pace should catch up. We’ll wait at the third oasis and take the cals from anyone who cos. That’ll solve our current problem!"
This solution was aggressive but effective.
Adam was tempted.
He nodded and said, "Alright, I agree. We just need to capture five cals!"
Hua Yun glanced at Chen Wen, who was silent, and asked, "What do you think?"
Chen Wen looked up and said, "This plan can be a backup plan. My idea is to try taming the cals!"
Taming the cals?
Dennis questioned, "But wild drodaries have a defensive instinct against humans. Are you sure it’ll work?"
Chen Wen didn’t claim certainty, just said, "We brought wheat, so I can try. That’s why I say your plan is a backup. If I fail to ta them, we’ll go with your thod."
After thinking it over, Dennis nodded and said, "Alright."
The others had no objections.
Everyone began to set up camp around the burrow, waiting for the dust to settle.
Soon, night fell.
Everyone went to bed early but couldn’t sleep well, worried about the lost cals.
Adam couldn’t help but say, "We’ve treated these cals well, right? Why would they just abandon us like this?"
Fred echoed in a muffled voice, "Yeah, I always felt I treated my cal well; I even fed it so of my saved wheat."
Hua Yun also felt frustrated.
It was the second ti she felt betrayed by her tad animals.
It was painful!
Listening to the others, Chen Wen also felt down.
Their taming wasn’t quite the sa as his.
Just as Chen Wen was thinking about the cal, he suddenly heard footsteps.
"What was that sound? Did you hear it?"
Dennis sat up, sounding a bit wary.
Adam imdiately reached for his bow and arrow; he heard it too.
Heavy footsteps, not a small animal.
As everyone remained alert, Hua Yun looked behind Chen Wen with a surprised expression: "Is that... a cal?"
What?
Chen Wen turned around in surprise to see the cal he had tad earlier slowly walking toward them.
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