After carefully thinking through Oscar's words, the others also agreed with his idea. Dai Mubai said:
"Since we already understand the purpose of the Master, then let's not waste any more time. We'll run together based on Rongrong's speed."
Saying that, Dai Mubai turned around and began leading the way forward. The others followed one after another. Auston, enduring the psychological pressure in his heart, took the weighted belt from Ning Rongrong and tied it onto himself.
Out of the students' sight, the Master arrived at the place where the teachers had gathered.
Before the Master could sit down and take a sip of tea, Shao Xin impatiently asked, "Master, what happened to this child Auston just now? Did you tell him something?
He first had weak legs, then rushed out ahead of the others. That doesn't quite match his personality.
By right, since he should already know the difficulty of the training task and combined with your reminder, he should have been able to figure out our true goal. No matter what, he should first formulate a plan before setting off."
"I didn't speak to him alone. Auston's unusual reaction is precisely because he already knew the difficulty of the training task in advance. If I'm not mistaken, the reason he lost composure was that he believed he couldn't complete the mission I assigned.
I've reviewed some of his previous video materials. All along, Auston has been able to complete his missions very well—his thinking is extremely thorough, and he never does anything reckless. All of you have felt very reassured by him.
But have you ever thought about whether Auston's behavior also, to some extent, shows that he actually lacks sharpness?
Always seeking stability means he fears trouble and danger. Many times, he gets intimidated by potential difficulties before things even begin, which makes him give up on his own ideas. This is not a mindset a strong person should have.
He needs more confidence to shape a stronger inner self. I hope that through this period of training, he can realize that he is far stronger than he thinks and able to do far more."
The Master's words left Shao Xin slightly stunned. Although he was Auston's teacher, he never expected that his seemingly perfect student actually had a timid and hesitant side deep within.
Hearing the Master point out Auston's problem, the other teachers involuntarily reviewed Auston's past behavior as well.
Soon, they discovered something unusual. In their impression, Auston—as the strategist of the small team—should have been the one deciding the direction of the team's actions.
But they found that within this small team, the one truly making decisions was Dai Mubai. Auston only analyzed situations for reference and almost never made final decisions.
If no one pointed this out, they would have continued thinking this was normal. But once the Master raised it, the teachers realized this phenomenon precisely confirmed Auston's tendency to hesitate when facing things, showing a lack of decisiveness.
"Mm, we indeed overlooked the mental weakness of Auston because of his always reassuring performance. This is something we need to fix." Flender spoke, affirming the Master's statement.
"So what should we do?" As Auston's teacher, Shao Xin quickly asked.
"No need to rush. This isn't something too difficult to resolve, and that child may have already sensed his own problem." The Master comforted Shao Xin first before continuing:
"Auston's hesitation is only because he lacks sufficient understanding of his own abilities—in other words, he lacks confidence in himself.
As long as we help him realize his own strength, this kind of mental weakness will be easily remedied."
The students naturally had no way of knowing the teachers' conversation over here. And even if they did, they had no extra energy to care about it now. After crawling under the low net and crossing a three-meter-high net wall, the team had already entered the mountain terrain.
The obstacles on the mountain track were mostly pit traps or small half-meter or one-meter-high barrier walls. Their difficulty was slightly lower than the obstacles on flat ground, but climbing the mountain consumed so much stamina that everyone felt their breathing becoming harder.
Reality proved Auston had underestimated the Master's ruthlessness. The mountain track was not the 2 kilometers he estimated but 3 kilometers.
On the way up, everyone was so focused on climbing that they had no intention to talk. They originally thought going downhill would be easier, but due to the steep slope, going downhill instead required even more caution.
"Going up a mountain is easy, going down is hard"—the ancients truly did not deceive us.
After descending the mountain, they immediately faced a tunnel-type trap passage. Seeing the dark, pitch-black passage ahead, Dai Mubai—who had been leading since the beginning—couldn't help slowing down.
This trap passage was different from all the visible obstacles earlier. To Dai Mubai, this was an unknown domain. He didn't know what awaited inside nor how to respond.
When facing the unknown, people naturally develop fear instinctively. Right now, Dai Mubai was exactly like that. Just as he was silently encouraging himself, a voice came from the rear of the team.
"Boss Dai, stop for a moment."
Dai Mubai, who was slightly distracted, froze for a second before realizing this was Auston's voice. He immediately stopped. He also remembered Auston's very unusual behavior at the start.
"Little Ao, what's wrong? Your state today isn't very normal. Calling a stop now—are you tired? Or is your body unwell?" Dai Mubai asked with concern.
Seeing everyone's eyes turning toward him, Auston felt a bit helpless but also very warm.
"Don't worry, I'm fine. Because I knew some of the course contents ahead of time from Cohen's scouting, when the Master issued the mission, I really was shocked by the terrifying amount of work, so I froze for a moment.
Now that things are set in stone, we naturally must deal with the problem in the best way. It just so happens I know some information about this trap passage, so I'll share it with you."
"What the— You had information and didn't tell us earlier! We were punished two extra laps by the Master for no reason! Now I'm really lacking confidence that I can stay awake till the end of this mission." Fatty Ma Hongjun immediately began complaining, his clothes completely soaked with sweat.
"I never thought I could finish the mission while staying awake in the first place." Auston replied irritably, then moved into the main topic.
"This trap passage mainly trains our observation and reaction abilities. It may also test whether we can help one another effectively.
Most traps here are triggered suddenly. Before we understand how the traps operate, we'll easily get caught off guard.
So my idea is to let the most familiar with trap mechanisms—Tang San—go in first. Some of the trap blueprints in this passage were provided by Little San. Among us, he's the one most capable of handling this place.
The rest of us must maintain proper spacing—not too close to avoid multiple people being hit by one trap, but also not too far apart so teammates can't save each other in time.
Therefore, we must arrange our formation carefully. Also, everyone needs to hold a sturdy vine. If danger appears, it'll help with rescue."
Hearing Auston suggest letting Tang San take the lead, the others were all a bit surprised. Dai Mubai even frowned.
But although dissatisfied with Tang San earlier today, Dai Mubai knew Auston was right. If he himself led the way, he definitely wouldn't perform better than Tang San in this area.
"Little Ao is right. Tang San, you take the lead. Also, you'll arrange our positions. I hope you won't do anything disappointing."
Although his tone was still not good, Dai Mubai still agreed to Auston's plan. Just as he had always said—he would never do something that harmed the team's interests.
........................
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