Camping Companions

The management of private aircraft has become much more relaxed nowadays. Whether it's reporting flight paths or applying before takeoff, it's all quite simple. Basically, one application is valid for a long period for a single route.

For some temporary short-distance flights, if there's no report, the authorities generally won't investigate unless someone complains. This is especially true for flights outside of cities; as long as you're not too flashy, there's usually no problem.

Honestly, those idiots playing with homemade drones near airports are far more likely to cause serious accidents than private helicopters flying illegally. The authorities crack down on illegal drone flights much harder than on illegal private helicopter flights.

Of course, the main reason is that there are far more people flying drones than helicopters.

Qin Luming shook his phone. The helicopter had located him and was gradually descending. It hovered above Qin Luming, then lowered the equipment he needed via a sling.

Sun Yuechi, Qin Xiaotian's secretary, poked her head out and greeted Qin Luming before signaling the helicopter to return.

Qin Luming waved as he watched the helicopter leave. He knew Sun Yuechi. She had been with Qin Xiaotian for perhaps ten years, transforming from a pretty young lady into a mature woman. Qin Xiaotian hadn't married, and Sun Yuechi hadn't married either... As a young man, he couldn't understand the complicated emotions between these middle-aged artistic individuals.

Qin Luming looked at the horizon in the distance. The clouds, the color of fish bellies, were gradually losing their last light. In another half hour, there would be no natural light left.

Qin Luming first found a powerful flashlight, a ledlenser-x21r. It was good value for money and very useful, with a maximum output of 3200 lumens. Qin Luming chose the lowest setting of 200 lumens, which could last for a day and a half of continuous illumination. Unfortunately, he couldn't find a fixed tripod, so he had to place the flashlight on a distant rock to illuminate the area. Then he began to dismantle the other equipment.

Two power banks were brought over, slightly larger than typical car batteries. One was to power Qin Luming's laptop, phone, and other electrical equipment, while the other was specifically for the monitoring devices.

Qin Luming first set up the tent. He wasn't in a hurry to install the monitoring equipment; he'd do that when he was ready to sleep.

He didn't plan to let Zuozuo and Caicai come out to take turns observing the dam... If they were reliable for such tasks, pigs would turn into beauties.

Although they would surely be interested in setting up tents and camping, Qin Luming didn't need them to cause trouble. He would let them out to keep him company after the tent was set up. Otherwise, they would make everything he did twice as difficult.

It took Qin Luming an hour to set up the tent. It wasn't a luxurious tent for vacationing; it was relatively simple. The main time-consuming part was staking it down securely. After all, this was the wilderness, and they needed to guard against large wild animals suddenly charging and knocking the tent over while they slept.

He had taken courses in wilderness survival and outdoor safety measures during high school. Because it was a private school, these courses, which included self-rescue and first aid, were mandatory. Not many parents objected or thought they interfered with proper studies. Qin Luming checked the surroundings; this was a suitable campsite.

He might be staying here for three days, so Qin Luming took the specially requested entrenching tool and dug a small pit about half a meter deep downwind. He lined the bottom with a thick layer of odor-absorbing gravel and sand to create a urinal. Then, he set up a small screen facing the tent from the urinal to block both odor and provide privacy, as it was definitely not just for him.

After digging the urinal, he dug a pit behind a tree, about fifty centimeters long, forty centimeters wide, and a little over a meter deep, to serve as a toilet. He swept many leaves into the bottom of the pit and sprinkled some odor-absorbing sand on them. This way, when heavy, wet objects fell in, they would sink into the soft leaves, and the surrounding odor-absorbing sand would flow and envelop them due to the settling.

The odor-absorbing sand was biodegradable and did not kill the beneficial bacteria that decompose feces.

After completing all this, Qin Luming looked at the entrenching tool in his hand with satisfaction. It was truly a great tool... Having an entrenching tool in the wilderness greatly increased survival rates. This thing was an absolute artifact, often much more useful than a Swiss Army knife.

How should he start a novel titled "Transmigrating to 1644 with an Entrenching Tool"? Qin Luming habitually pondered this question, but then he felt a bit hungry and decided to summon Zuozuo and Caicai to prepare dinner together.

A shout came from nearby. Qin Luming was slightly surprised. Who would be climbing to the top of this remote mountain so late?

He turned his head, and a strong beam of light shone towards him, landing on Qin Luming's face. The bright light flickered a few times before hitting Qin Luming again, as if someone was scrutinizing him.

Qin Luming raised his hand to block the light and heard the voices of men and women. The person holding the flashlight kept the beam on Qin Luming.

Qin Luming became a little annoyed. He turned around, took out his own flashlight, adjusted the focus mode, and directly switched the brightness from 200 lumens to 3200 lumens, shining it towards the group of people.

"Holy crap!"

"Hey! What are you doing?"

"Ouch..."

"Oh my god, what's going on?"

Qin Luming's flashlight didn't have impressive data like tens of thousands of lumens, but its focusing effect was excellent, capable of illuminating over six hundred meters away. At its strongest setting, direct eye contact at close range could temporarily blind someone.

When Qin Luming drove, he never showed mercy to drivers who misused their high beams. Generally, after flashing his headlights, honking, and slowing down to warn them, if the other party still didn't turn off their high beams, Qin Luming would take out a powerful flashlight like this and see who went blind first.

"Buddy, turn off your light."

"Handsome, we didn't mean to."

Qin Luming wasn't petty, so he immediately turned off his flashlight. After all, among the group, only one person was shining the light around randomly.

Seeing Qin Luming turn off his flashlight, the person holding the flashlight shone it over again, quickly scanning Qin Luming's face, then moving elsewhere. However, someone next to them snatched the flashlight away.

The group walked over and greeted Qin Luming. It turned out they were members of a local outdoor activity group from City A. They had organized a camping trip for the weekend, checking the weather forecast which predicted clear skies. They planned to camp on the mountaintop tonight and wake up early to shoot some short videos for Douyin. Recently, this dam had become a popular spot in City A.

Qin Luming searched for check-in videos and photos of this dam in City A. Indeed, there were many people wearing professional-looking gear, portraying a sunny lifestyle, experiencing outdoor sports, and appearing very passionate and accomplished. They received numerous comments, shares, and likes.

Boring.

Qin Luming frowned slightly. If these people encountered Zhou Nan, they would likely disappear without a trace, just like Gu Qing'an.