The Dark King – Chapter 18
The Desert
Can you guess what is going to happen in the next few chapters?
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“To survive for 10 days?” All children were confused. Although Tobu said it was “simple”, but after three months time spend with him they already knew that his concept of “simple” was very far away from the original meaning of the word. All of them had expected the assessment to be a paper test, but were worried about which subject would be chosen. No one had expected that this time it would be a practical one.
Obviously, to survive for ten days, you must have grasped all the preliminary details of four courses from “foraging” class.
Soon, some calculations were made.
As long as there is water, the body’s hunger strike limit is seven days to fifteen days. If the willpower is extremely tenacious, it’s possible for a person to live up to for a month without food. That is, children only need to find a water source. There was a hope to pass through the practical exam!
If the person was lucky enough to find a little food, they would be able to survive ten days without any problems!
Such a thought had greatly increased the confidense of many children.
Dudian slight frowned. He was not too optimistic about the situation. If he knew anything about Tobu’s style, then it was that Tobu would never test them with such a simple assessment.
“Children, come with me.” At this time Kris who was standing next to Tobu spoke: “Sister will take you to a fun place. I guarantee that you will like it.”
Some of the big boys heard her words, light burst out of their eyes.
“Line up.” Kris smiled and turned to lead the way.
All the children side by side, as a long team, were led by Kris. They came over to the school field. There were dozens of black carriages parked near the field. A single carriage was big enough to accommodate seven or eight adults, as for children around 10 to 11 of them could sit inside.
“Get on to carriages,” Kris smiled.
Dudian saw the youth who had came to pick him up from his house as a coachman in one of the carriages.
“Dean, come here,” Mason greeted Dudian.
Dudian took a look and walked inside.
In addition to Mason, the other two children who shared the room with Dudian were present in the carriage. Mason had convened them to act together in the test and mutually care for each other. Obviously, as the people from the same room were the most trustworthy ones.
“Damn, the curtains are sewn here.” Mason tried to lift the drapery to look out.
A bad feeling poured into Dudian’s heart. Is the test venue… outside the giant wall?
Dudian has closed his eyes, quietly listening and calculating everything since carriage had left the school field about 20 minutes ago. In the beginning he could hear the voices of passer-by people, but gradually noises quited down. After some time nothing but hoofs of horses and crackling of wheels were heard by Dudian.
This silence lasted for another half hour. The carriage speed gradually halt and it came to stop.
Dudian slowly opened his eyes: “Twenty-eight turns, short-stop for three times. The route taken should be to the west of the school … …”
His mind repeatedly recalled the previously felt line. The carriage speed was very fast so it felt very obvious when it was turning to right or left.
If at the moment Kris knew what Dudian was thinking about she would be stunned. It was not difficult to do what he did. As long as enough attention was given any of these children could have done that. However from the moment of entering to the carriage to the blockage of the windows, as well as the pressure by the possibility of the elimination was especially designed to put psychological oppression on them. Thoughts of children were filled with apprehensions and worries, so no one payed attention to small details the way Dudian did. It showed how calm he was.
The was the most important thing. The calmness of mind.
The carriage’s door was opened. Dudian immediately knew that it was not to check on them but they had reached their final destination.
The children quickly went down the carriages eager to look forward the place which they have to survive for the next ten days.
It turned out to be … … a desert!
The sand covered any and every place that they looked at.
Survive ten days in the desert? .
All children wanted to spurt blood.
Dudian jumped from the carriage to see this endless hot desert. He could not help but sigh deeply. Sure enough, if Tobu said “simple” it can never be so “simple”.
“Kids!” Kris with a charming smile on her face clapped her hands, drawing everyone’s attention. “For the next ten days you will be here. If you can’t hold on then just draw an “X” sign on the ground and you will be rescued. Of course, rescue means elimination. Similarly it means costs of the special training will be burdened by your family. I believe you know the approximate numbers. If you don’t want to ruin your homes, then do what you have to do and survive! ”
She stopped for a moment, blinked for a few times and said: “I wish you good luck. By the way, this is the first test and the most simple one.” Then, turned to jump onto a nearly three-meter-high dark horse. Dudian had seen this type of horse before. It was the same one as Fernando had used.
Obviously this also represented Kris’s identity as a hunter!
Dudian narrowed his eyes looking at Kris who whipped the horse and went away. The rest of the carriages also turned towards the same direction, maintaining the same formation, left away. Gradually they disappeared into the horizon.
For a time, in this huge desert, only more than 300 children were present.
“Is this how to survive?”
“This is murder!”
“I knew it was not going to be so simple … …”
Children’s anger were direct at Kris who led the carriage away.
“Ladies and gentlemen!” A physically strong, tall child loudly called out: “We have to unite! The first thing to do is to find water. As long as we can find water source, we can survive. The strength is in unity!”
Other children who hear him talk did not complain. Some heed his words while few others began to think about a way to survive for the next ten days. They began to skim through the knowledge that they had gained in the previous three months. Everyone had learned not to ask Tobu for advise, because they asked with their mouths but Tobu answered with the fist. It was a kind of mental training too. The point was to raise individuals who could critically think for themselves in cases such as this.
“Dean, let’s go with them,” Mason told to Dudian. Since the first day, Mason and other children in the room were used to consult Dudian’s views. In their room, even though Mason is the most charismatic, but the most prestigious was no doubt Dudian.
“No, the four of us will stay together to form a team.” Dudian shook his head in disapproval.
Macon was stunned: “Why?”
The other two children also were puzzled. It was an absolute truth that if they group together with everyone their strength would rise. Even the content of the course was based on this idiom: in harsh environments, if united would have a much better chance to survive!
They did not immediately questioned Dudian.
“It is easy to find water. But do not forget that we are in desert, not a jungle or swam. Even if we find water easily, it would be scarce. It would be enough to supply needs of some and ultimately the unity what you talk about will be disintegrated because of uneven distribution of resources”, Dudian directly said.
Macon and the other two children immediately woke up.
“Let’s go, we have already wasted a lot of time.” Dudian looked around, found a direction and left the place.