A Tender Night in the Tent

Night had fully fallen.

The middle-aged "know-it-all" who had bragged about hiking for over a decade had long since crawled back into his tent with his companions. Only the wind howled through the valley. Lead-gray clouds hung lower and lower, and the air was so heavy with moisture it felt as though water could be wrung from it. The signs of a heavy snowfall were written across the sky.

Su Bai rinsed the last batch of bowls and chopsticks clean in the stream and put them away in the cooler. He looked up at the sky, then turned and crawled back into the tent.

This top-of-the-line MSR four-season tent was remarkably spacious inside. A thick double egg-crate sleeping pad had been laid out, with two extra-thick down sleeping bags stacked on top. At the center of the tent, the pink-and-white cherry blossom pink cassette stove burned steadily.

A blue heart-shaped flame flickered quietly inside the tent, bathing the entire space in cozy warmth.

Su Bai had deliberately left the stove on. The little invention Wan Xinyue had spent several nights modifying would have been wasted on hotpot, but as a heating lamp right now, it was perfect.

"The wind outside is getting stronger." Su Bai zipped up the tent, shutting out the roaring mountain wind. "But our campsite is secure. Look."

He pointed to a palm-sized black device in the corner of the tent. It was a temporary surveillance setup he had specifically brought along before leaving. Four miniature cameras had been mounted on pine trees around the campsite, transmitting live footage to the tablet inside the tent. With the night vision activated, every movement within a hundred meters of the camp was crystal clear.

"You even do this when camping." Leaning against her sleeping bag, Chen Yusheng looked at