Chapter 1

“Daniel, haven’t you had enough?

“Alex feels so guilty after you gave him that attitude earlier that he’s afraid to even drink water.

“You play basketball for hours without a problem, and you’ll sit in the sun fishing for half a day on weekends without ever complaining about the heat. So what are you pretending to be weak for now?

“Do you really have to pull this right now and make everyone else worry about you?”

I didn’t know how much time had passed.

Claire’s irritated voice came through the radio clipped to my backpack.

A moment later, Alex’s guilty voice followed.

“Claire, don’t blame Daniel.

“This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have drunk that bottle of electrolyte water.

“Daniel must be angry with me. Maybe I should go back and find him and give him the other half of the bottle.”

Claire’s voice immediately softened.

“Don’t be ridiculous.

“Your heel is already badly blistered. If you walk all the way back, what if it gets infected?

“He’s just taking advantage of my patience and deliberately making a scene.

“Leave him alone. Once he’s done feeling sorry for himself, he’ll catch up with us.”

The other team members gradually chimed in.

“Exactly, Alex. Why do you even care about him?”

“Daniel’s temper is all Claire’s fault. She’s spoiled him. Just because he’s her boyfriend, he thinks he has the right to get jealous over everything.”

“We’re all practically being roasted alive. Who has time to watch him put on this pathetic act?”

“He’s a grown man, sitting on the ground pretending to be dead just to get his girlfriend’s attention. Isn’t he embarrassed?”

I desperately wanted to crawl over to my backpack, grab the radio, and tell them I wasn’t pretending.

But I didn’t even have the strength to crawl that far.

The voices on the radio continued.

Then the system spoke again.

[Exit command confirmed. World transfer countdown: 30 minutes.]

At the same time, a burst of cheering suddenly came through the radio.

“There’s a vehicle! It’s a rescue truck!”

“Thank God! We don’t have to walk back ourselves!”

A moment later, an unfamiliar male voice came through.

“You’re with the Raptor Expedition Team, right?

“Didn’t you check the weather forecast? The ground temperature is over 120 degrees today, and you still went this far into the wilderness?”

Claire’s voice was polite.

“We’re sorry. We underestimated the weather conditions.

“Sir, one of our male teammates injured his foot and is showing mild signs of heat exhaustion. Could you take him back to camp first?”

The rescue worker flipped through the registration sheet in his hand.

“We can take him.

“But you have eight people registered. Why are there only seven of you?

“Where’s the other team member?”

I thought I was finally going to be rescued.

But the next second, I heard Claire’s calm, steady voice through the radio.

“Oh, him?

“He had something urgent come up and left the expedition early. There are only seven of us here now.”

The others remained silent, as if they had silently agreed to go along with her story.

The rescue worker didn’t suspect anything.

“All right. The injured person can get in first. There’s air conditioning and ice water in the truck.

“The rest of you shouldn’t push yourselves either. Follow the main road and head back as soon as possible.”

Just as despair swallowed me whole, I heard Claire lower her voice.

“Daniel, I know you can hear me.

“There are only two seats left in the rescue truck. Alex injured his foot and needs to get to the medical tent as soon as possible. Every minute we wait is another minute his injury could get infected.

“Don’t embarrass yourself by using the radio to make a scene at a time like this.

“Walk back to camp on your own. Tonight, I’ll take you out for your favorite barbecue.”