CSGM - Chapter 69
Chapter 69: Trainees Get Lost
By a quarter past six, the Director couldn't wait any longer and called for a headcount at the assembly point.
The count revealed that 13 trainees had not yet returned.
Just then, someone in the assembled crowd raised their hand and exclaimed, "Director, Zhou Shi said he's lost!"
A classmate was lost?!
Everyone was shocked to hear this. They all turned to look toward the source of the voice. The Director's brow furrowed, and he quickly walked over to ask:
"What's going on?"
The trainee who reported the news showed the Director the chat history on their phone while relaying three names. "The three of them are lost in the woods and can't find their way out. They said it'll take them a while to get back and told us to go ahead without them."
"Are you kidding me!" the Director snapped at the air. They were just a bunch of kids. Did they really think getting lost was something you could just walk back from whenever you felt like it?
They had no sense of crisis at all. He was getting anxious just standing here on their behalf!
But besides those three, there were still ten others.
The Director quickly compiled a list of the names and contact information for the ten missing trainees and started making calls.
It was the same story: they were all lost in the woods, unable to find their bearings.
Fortunately, it was summer. It was just after six in the evening, and the sun was still bright.
But it would be setting soon. In another hour, it would likely be dark. Unlike some of the carefree trainees, who were like newborn calves unafraid of tigers, the Director knew the danger. He was burning with anxiety, worried about how perilous it would become once night fell.
They had to find them, and fast.
He hurriedly instructed the crew, "Quick, call the local rescue team!"
At that moment, some naive simpleton actually suggested, "Why don't we all go look for them together? There's strength in numbers!"
This person looked like they might not even be twenty, their eyes full of foolishness. The Director had no energy to lecture them and just let out a heavy sigh. "All of you, stay right here! No one is to go anywhere!"
He already had a big enough headache with 13 lost trainees. Did he really want to let more people go in and get lost too?
Chu Xi walked past the naive simpleton, patting their shoulder. "Your intentions are good, but don't act on them just yet."
The simpleton looked completely bewildered. It wasn't until other trainees with more common sense explained the danger of his suggestion that he finally understood.
Chu Xi walked up to the Director's side and said, "Let me see the names of the ones who haven't returned."
After looking at the list, Chu Xi tagged the 13 trainees in the main training camp group chat and sent a message:
【Do a 360-degree turn on the spot and record a video of your surroundings for me.】
After sending it, she took the Director's small megaphone and turned to the others waiting at the assembly point. "Nobody say anything in the group chat right now. Don't let their messages get pushed up."
She... gave the order with such confidence that even the Director was momentarily stunned.
The Director blinked, looking at Chu Xi. "What are you doing?"
Chu Xi said, "First, I'm confirming their locations."
"...?"
"It's all forest out there. You think you can tell where they are?"
"Probably," Chu Xi said lightly.
The group of lost trainees, aside from one who was alone, were all clustered in small groups. In total, they were scattered across five different locations in the forest.
Five videos soon appeared in the main group chat.
Chu Xi watched them, and the others eagerly tapped to play them as well.
Then they began whispering to each other, their tones now tinged with undeniable worry.
"How did they go in so deep?"
"You can't tell where this is at all. Everything looks exactly the same."
"This looks like a path I rode on... wait, no, I don't think so..."
"Damn, the five videos look like they were shot in the same place! No wonder they got lost!"
In short, all five videos shared the same characteristics: lush green vegetation and dense forest canopy, with tall, numerous trees that nearly blotted out the sky and obscured the paths.
Chu Xi stared at the phone as the videos played on a loop, pacing silently beside it and cupping her chin in thought.
"Chu Xi, have you figured anything out?"
The Director turned to ask, but he found his words were completely blocked out by Chu Xi.
She was immersed in her own world, oblivious to the sounds around her.
Ren Zhi watched for a moment, then stepped forward and said to the Director, "Don't disturb her for now. Let her look."
She gave him a look that said, be patient.
The Director paused. He suddenly remembered that Chu Xi had, at the very least, helped the police solve a case before. "...Alright."
Let's hope Chu Xi can really pull this off!
A few minutes later.
Chu Xi mentally scanned the map of the route she had taken today. Finally, she matched it to one of the videos.
This forest was too deep and vast. The other groups had gone to places she hadn't been.
The vegetation, the appearance of the paths, the landmarks-none of it matched any location in her memory.
It was a bit mentally taxing.
She rubbed her temples and tagged the trainees from the location she had recognized. The two parties added each other as friends, and she initiated a video call-all in one smooth motion.
Four trainees appeared on the screen, each looking more dazed than the last, with a hint of panic and guilt in their eyes.
"Chu Xi? What's up?" the one holding the phone asked, their eyes wide.
Chu Xi's gaze first swept over their background before she spoke, getting straight to the point.
"I know where you are. Now, switch to the front-facing camera and ride out in the direction I tell you."
"Huh?"
Chu Xi spoke without any preamble, catching the four of them completely off guard. They all looked bewildered.
After a few seconds of stunned silence, they finally reacted. "Oh, okay, okay!"
As they ran to their bikes, they waved the phone's camera around, repeatedly checking.
"Chu Xi, do you really know where this is? There are so many trees here, everything looks identical! Oh my god, our GPS just had us going in circles!"
In an undeveloped area with so few people, even GPS could fail.
Hearing this new development, the Director hurried over, asking worriedly, "Can you really do this? Do you actually know the way? Don't get them even more lost..."
"I won't." Chu Xi gave the Director a concise reply. Mindful that the trainees' phone batteries might not last, she immediately turned back and started giving directions.
"Stop wasting time. To your left, ride to that big banyan tree..."
The sound of sirens, wuwu wawa, echoed through the mountains, gradually drawing closer.
A short while later, personnel from the local fire and rescue station and the suburban police station arrived on the scene. They hurried out of their vehicles, neatly dressed in uniform and fully equipped. The captain in the lead came over first to inquire about the situation.
The Director was in the middle of an intense discussion with the officers.
"Thirteen lost people?"
Hearing that number, both the firefighters and the police officers wore grave expressions.
"Scattered across five locations in total, got it..."
They quickly took notes, preparing to set out.
The setting sun overhead was already showing signs of dipping below the horizon. The deep crimson on the skyline was steadily being painted over with darker and darker shades.
The lack of time and the encroaching night made everyone's heart pound with tension!
They could ask about the rest later. Finding the trainees was the priority!
Just then, Chu Xi suddenly spoke up. "Wait! It's not thirteen. There are only nine left."
She knew the rescue personnel were in a great hurry, so she spoke crisply. "I'm about to guide four of them out right now. The rest are scattered across four different locations. Can you start a video call when you go in?"
Chu Xi successfully made them stop in their tracks.
The fire captain turned and asked, "How are you guiding them out?"
At the same time, the police captain asked, "Why?"
Chu Xi continued giving directions to the trainees on the video call while simultaneously talking to the captains. To the onlookers, it seemed like her CPU was about to overheat as she seamlessly switched between two different topics with a single mouth, conversing about both!
The crucial thing was that Chu Xi wasn't getting confused at all. How clearly compartmentalized were the different topic sections in her brain?
"There are four people here. I recognize the path they took, so I can tell them how to ride out."
Chu Xi pointed to her phone screen, then turned back to the trainees on the video call and said:
"Now, go to the right. You'll see a grove of willow trees. Head in the direction of the one with the beehive hanging from it."
"Okay!" came the obedient reply from the other end.
Because all the directions Chu Xi had given so far were perfectly clear, the four of them had been riding for a while now and instinctively felt they could trust her completely!
The eyes of the firefighters and police were also fixed on Chu Xi's screen, watching with focused, scrutinizing gazes.
Can you really guide people out... like this?
The Director stood just behind and to the side, with a crowd of other trainees behind him. Although they were too far away to see clearly, the group's gazes were all fixed on the small, blurry phone screen.
On the other end of the video call, the phone was mounted on the bicycle's handlebars. As the bike turned, a grove of willow trees indeed appeared in the frame!
The fire captain was instantly astonished, his eyes widening. Just then, several more vehicles drove up the mountainside.
Staff from the local sub-district office had received the news and arrived in two cars to help.
Running out of another car were reporters from a local media outlet who had caught wind of the story. Someone got lost in this place again! They always say hiking in the mountains is dangerous, and here's another cautionary tale!
Tripods, microphones, cameras, livestreaming cables... The two reporters and their accompanying cameraman started unloading their gear from the trunk with a clatter.
On the other end of the video call-
"Sister Xi! Are you talking about that dead beehive?!" a trainee in the woods exclaimed excitedly, pointing the phone at the beehive they saw ahead and zooming in for Chu Xi to see.
They were excited because Chu Xi truly remembered the path-she even knew there was a beehive here! It proved that the directions she was giving them were absolutely correct!
In that instant, their form of address for her had subconsciously changed.
Chu Xi confirmed it for them. "Yes, ride past it. Keep going straight on this path."
"You got it!"
The fire captain's mouth fell slightly open in astonishment. He looked at Chu Xi. This woman actually remembered the route; she wasn't just making things up.
The next second, Chu Xi turned to the police captain to answer his question. "Because if you let me watch the videos from each group as they go in, I can help you eliminate redundant routes and impossible areas. Drones can't even fly in there, so you don't have an aerial view, but I can visualize it."
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