148: Chapter 148 Peril at Sea

The dozens of New Recruits present didn't say a word; everyone lowered their heads.

Everyone could see the look on Instructor Hu's face; no one wanted to speak more, for fear of suffering the consequences.

Instructor Hu coldly scanned the crowd and roared, "Look at all of you! If this were a battlefield, do you plan on fighting in your underwear?"

As soon as he said this, everyone present tried their hardest to suppress their laughter.

Meanwhile, the New Recruit wearing only underwear lowered his head in shame; he obviously knew who Instructor Hu was talking about...

Instructor Hu pulled out a timer again.

"Now! I'm giving you five minutes. If anyone is still improperly dressed when they appear here, then congratulations! You can go home early!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the crowd bolted toward the dormitory like wild horses that had broken free from their reins, especially the guy in his underwear.

Instructor Hu, however, glanced at Qin Mo and the others with some surprise; the four of them were the most neatly dressed among all the New Recruits.

...

Before long, everyone appeared downstairs, fully dressed and ready.

Once everyone was ready, Instructor Hu checked the timer and nodded in satisfaction.

"Today is your first day as New Recruits. I've prepared a great gift for you—today, I'm taking you to see the sunrise!"

Just as he spoke, a bus drove up.

Instructor Hu scanned the area and shouted, "Everyone! Get on the bus!"

Immediately, all the New Recruits downstairs swarmed toward the bus.

Soon, the bus slowly set off toward the seaside.

"Does Tiger Black Face really have such a good heart? Taking us to see the sunrise?"

Shi Hao, sitting behind Qin Mo, asked with a face full of doubt.

"Keep it down! Do you fucking want to run there again?"

Qin Mo said irritably.

"Anyway, everyone be careful. I have a feeling Tiger Black Face is up to no good!"

Zheng Xiaohu, who was beside them, also spoke up.

The streets after the rain were exceptionally difficult to navigate, with puddles everywhere. What should have been a ten-minute journey took them a full half-hour.

After reaching the seaside, they boarded small speedboats and headed out to sea.

"It just fucking rained; where is there going to be a sunrise?"

A New Recruit also noticed something was wrong and spoke up with a look of impatience.

Qin Mo and the other three grew secretly vigilant.

They had noticed that Tiger Black Face hadn't followed the New Recruits; aside from a veteran operating the boat, there were forty-nine New Recruits in total.

It seemed Tiger Black Face was finding a different way to mess with them.

By now, the boat had been traveling out to sea for nearly an hour. Aside from the endless ocean surface, there were no landmarks left.

Suddenly, the boat slowly came to a halt.

"Out of fuel!"

The veteran in charge of the boat let out a loud shout.

Everyone was stunned. After all, they were just a bunch of pampered New Recruits with no experience in handling such emergencies.

"Don't panic, everyone! We'll just wait here for the unit's rescue!"

At that moment, a bald New Recruit shouted.

Qin Mo recognized him; it was Zhao Wu, the New Recruit who had previously said he wanted to take Qin Mo as his lackey.

"The captain is gone!"

Just then, a New Recruit pointed at the captain's empty seat in terror.

"What?"

The crowd immediately erupted into an uproar.

Zhao Wu frowned. "Did he fall into the sea?"

At these words, everyone immediately looked into the water.

However, aside from the endless ocean surface, nothing could be seen.

"Did that veteran sink to the bottom?"

Zheng Xiaohu asked, looking surprised.

"Impossible!"

Zhao Wu flatly denied it.

"That veteran is experienced and knowledgeable; his abilities are certainly beyond ours. Even if he fell in, he definitely knows how to swim."

"Then where did he go? And what do we do now? They fucking dumped us in the middle of the ocean! It just rained heavily yesterday, and the water is bone-chillingly cold; going in would be certain death!"

Upon hearing this, everyone present fell silent...

They hadn't expected that instead of seeing the sunrise, they would encounter such an accident.

Qin Mo slowly stood up and said calmly, "Do you think this might be training from Tiger Black Face? I've been watching that veteran; he jumped off on his own when we weren't looking. I'd bet there's an eighty percent chance there is an island nearby, and he knows the way."

"The reason he left us here is probably because he wants us to swim back!"

"What?"

Everyone was startled by Qin Mo's reasoning.

"That Tiger Black Face is such a bastard! He made me worry for nothing!"

Zheng Xiaohu cursed out loud.

Everyone was quite angry; anyone dumped in the middle of the vast ocean wouldn't be in a good mood.

"So what should we do now?"

Everyone looked at Qin Mo and asked in unison.

Qin Mo lowered his head in thought for a moment, then looked up at everyone. "Since this is a test, there probably aren't any satellite phones or life jackets on the boat."

"So we have two paths now: one is to swim back, and the other is to find a nearby island. Both are extremely dangerous."

"I've calculated it; swimming back would take at least two hours, and we'd likely encounter sharks along the way."

"Finding a nearby island would be the best option, but if there isn't one, we could easily get lost at sea. After all, we don't know if there are undercurrents or even underwater cliffs here."

"No matter how you look at it, both paths are a ninety percent chance of death and only a ten percent chance of survival!"

A New Recruit blurted out in shock.

Zhao Wu was silent for a moment before looking at everyone. "What do you all plan to do? Which path will you choose?"

"This..."

Hearing this, everyone began to hesitate. After all, one mistake could mean a watery grave! They had to consider it carefully.

"I have a great idea!"

Suddenly, a voice rang out in pleasant surprise.

Everyone immediately turned their gaze toward Wang Hao; even Qin Mo looked at him with some surprise.

Was there something he had missed?

"If some of us stay on the boat while others get in the water to push it, acting as the boat's engine, and we rotate between the two groups, wouldn't we avoid the risk?"

"Right! That's a great idea!"

As soon as he said this, everyone began to agree, their faces filled with excitement.

"No!"

Just as everyone was getting excited, Qin Mo threw a wet blanket on their enthusiasm.

"What do you mean? Why not?"

"Yeah! It's such a good idea, why won't it work?"

Everyone looked at Qin Mo in confusion.

Qin Mo let out a helpless sigh.

"Haven't you noticed? The boat is getting closer and closer to the water's surface."

"I think when that veteran left the boat, he had already punctured it. It probably won't be long before the boat sinks to the bottom."

...