The Marshal’s Wife is Wild
Chapter 350 - 349: The Fun of Exams

Chapter 350: Chapter 349: The Fun of Exams

On the first day, when fighting wasn’t allowed, Qu Tong took everyone to look for food.

Mushrooms with a Purification Value of 55%, don’t bother.

Wild vegetables with a 70% Purification Value, worth eating.

Yams with a 80% Purification Value, reluctantly acceptable.

Mutant deer with a 35% Purification Value, pick them up, after all, it’s meat. Later, purify it discreetly with Special Ability.

After walking most of the day, they hadn’t even seen a hint of a river.

She finally understood why the test was time-limited, as those with poor sense of direction might not even make it to the finish line in a week.

The Light Brain didn’t even have a map function, fortunately Xu An had jungle exploration experience and had a very strong sense of direction.

Finally, as it was getting dark, they found a small tributary.

Having walked all day, everyone was both tired and thirsty, so they decided to rest on the spot.

After a good rest, everyone started preparing today’s meal.

"Following Sister Tong really brings good luck; I’ve seen the seniors from the previous session struggle to find even half as many edible plants," Fei Wenxing remarked while sharpening his knife.

"Or else, do you think Sister Tong got to be the top student in the Pharmaceutical Department for nothing?" Cheng Yao became Qu Tong’s spokesperson, finally giving Qu Tong a grin, "Right, Sister Tong?"

Qu Tong, of course, nodded noncommittally in agreement.

The rusty dagger was Fei Wenxing’s find in a tree while raiding bird nests; it was from a parachute drop from a previous session and also contained a roll of high altitude safety rope.

To add interest to the test, the supervising instructors and mentors would randomly arrange for these parachute drops, but the numbers were very limited, only about twenty per day, and the contents were like opening a mystery box.

Parachute drops for their session wouldn’t start until tomorrow morning.

The deer meat, without salt, tasted like chewing wax to Qu Tong, a bit bitter, a bit fishy, and a bit tough.

She had secretly purified it with her Special Ability while cleaning it, but couldn’t purify it too thoroughly.

However, the team’s two new members, Kong Yang and Hu Xiao, were keenly gnawing at it.

Seeing Qu Tong chewing expressionlessly, Xu An handed his piece of roasted meat to He Zhou to cook, and started burying the yams he dug up into the campfire.

He also distributed the wild fruits to the only two women in the team, and no one else had any objections.

Xu An took Cheng Yao to scout the surrounding terrain, and Fei Wenxing pulled out the yams and divided them among the team, offering some to Qu Tong, "Sister Tong, have something to fill your stomach for now. Once tomorrow’s parachute packs come down, we can go and snatch others’."

"I heard there are Nutrient Solutions, salt and seasonings, and even pots and pans inside, all sorts of stuff."

Everyone spontaneously took extra care of Qu Tong, even Song Ke shared the black persimmons she found with Qu Tong.

The black persimmons weren’t very sweet and didn’t have much flesh, but after eating, Qu Tong collected the seeds.

*

The next day, Qu Tong was woken up by Fei Wenxing’s cries for help.

"Ahhhh!"

"Help!"

"Quick, Xu An, Song Ke, stop them!"

The moment Qu Tong opened her eyes, she saw Fei Wenxing screaming while running towards them, carrying two packages that made him bounce comically as he ran.

Hearing this, Xu An stood up, his spiritual power forming a wind blade that cut across the bushes behind Fei Wenxing, and Song Ke quickly grabbed a nearby firewood stick to block in front of Fei Wenxing.

The pursuing teams, both from the Second Military Academy, were intimidated by Xu An’s display and paused.

A person who appeared to be the team leader stepped forward, pointing at Fei Wenxing and shouting, "Kid, give us back our parachute packs! We won’t hold it against you today."

Fei Wenxing peeked out from behind Xu An, making faces, "I picked them up fair and square, why should I give them back to you?"

"Despicable!" the man cursed angrily, his gaze fierce, "Then don’t blame us for being impolite."

A dozen people rolled up their sleeves, their fingers cracking ominously, clearly ready to resolve the matter by force.

Xu An and Qu Tong looked at each other and exclaimed in unison, "Run!"

Qu Tong used a piece of safety rope to scoop up the dry straw padding on the ground and threw it over. The others intuitively started running.

Kong Yang and Hu Xiao caught on and also began to chase frantically from behind. Otherwise, considering how indebted Fei Wenxing was, if they fell into the hands of those people, would they have a good outcome?

The folks from the Second Military Academy probably hadn’t eaten well the previous night; they chased for a while and then were seen no more.

Qu Tong led everyone in a non-frantic escape, following the downstream flow of the river.

Cheng Yao gave Fei Wenxing a thumbs-up, admiringly.

"Haha, I’m practically the reincarnation of Lady Luck. I just went out to relieve myself, and a drop fell right in front of me. I noticed they were still asleep, so I went over and picked up everything in front of them. I was so happy as I left that I tripped, which woke them up," Fei Wenxing elaborated triumphantly about his experience.

"Let me see, what did you get."

Anxious to help, Cheng Yao hurriedly stepped forward as Fei Wenxing dawdled.

The luck wasn’t bad: they found a Space Button and a smoke bomb.

"That’s too bad, there’s no salt," Fei Wenxing pouted, somewhat disappointed.

After placing the smoke bomb inside the Space Button, he handed it to Qu Tong: "Sister Tong, keep this for us."

Qu Tong did not hesitate and clasped it onto her wrist.

A sweep with spiritual power revealed no Star Beasts above the Sixth Tier nearby, though there were a few teams around.

"Let’s go, keep following the river. There should be fish downstream."

It was not long before they discovered the presence of cod in a lake formed by the confluence of two rivers.

Cheng Yao lay beside the lake to drink.

After one sip, he started coughing violently.

"Cough, cough! This is seawater!"

Xu An tasted the water on the other side of the river, his face brightening, "It really is seawater; we won’t have to worry about salt now."

The group split up, Qu Tong, and Xu An set about grinding stones to make salt, while Fei Wenxing and four others went to catch fish.

By the time Qu Tong’s side had set up a stone pot, Fei Wenxing’s group had caught nothing.

"This won’t do. The pond is too big, we can’t catch anything without tools," Fei Wenxing was soaked through.

"Dumb!" Qu Tong, seeing Fei Wenxing and Cheng Yao trying to catch with their bare hands, was somewhat speechless. Where was their common sense?

Qu Tong picked up a long, straight piece of wood, sharpened it with a dagger, rolled up her trouser legs, and entered the water.

Raising the stick, she held her breath and concentrated on the water below.

Fei Wenxing and the others, already on the shore, watched Qu Tong’s movements, staying silent for fear of scaring the fish.

Finally, an oblivious fish swam by. Qu Tong’s stick suddenly stabbed downward—quickly, accurately, and ruthlessly, without any hesitation.

When she raised it, a plump fish was impaled on the stick below.

Fei Wenxing and Cheng Yao rushed up cheering, "Sister Tong, that was awesome! I want to try too. Let me do it."

Song Ke walked over and complimented, "Does little sister Qu Tong have such a skill too?"

"It’s nothing. The Luyi Star also has fish; I used to catch them all the time," Qu Tong casually mentioned.

"Ah! How could I miss, I was sure I aimed right," said Fei Wenxing and Cheng Yao after several unsuccessful attempts.

Qu Tong sighed, "You need to aim a little lower than the fish. Haven’t you learned about the refraction of water?"

Fei Wenxing paused for a moment, then his eyes lit up, "Oh, oh! I’ve learned that! So that’s how you apply it."

With the reminder from Qu Tong, the two of them managed to hit their marks after trying a few more times.

Eventually, Qu Tong also got to enjoy some delicious fish soup.

This meal took quite some time. They ate and drank to their fill, nearly forgetting that they still had tasks to complete.