Chapter 39
Chapter 39: Everything Can Be Eaten, Three-headed Giant Pythons Are Nothing – Fight It, Eat It!
“Report, Commander in Chief. Our Third Army Corps also wishes to give schoolmate Jiang Tea Tea absolute priority admission as a member of our Third Army Corps.”
“Her ability to react, her way of doing things, her strong body, and her great courage are exactly what our Third Army Corps values. Please approve us, Commander in Chief. After the Supremacy Tournament ends, let her come to our Third Army Corps. We will put her through the toughest training program we have.”
“Report, Commander in Chief. There is also our Fourth Army Corps…”
“Report, Commander in Chief. Our Fifth Army Corps…”
The twenty-nine Army Corps commanders were all red in the face. It had been many years since they had fought over a good seedling like this, and now it was happening again.
Chong Ming watched them through the screen with no change in his expression. He did not interrupt, just let them argue about terms of admission and yell at each other.
Only when they all finally stopped talking did he slowly open his mouth, his voice cold: “Deputy Officer Ai, the twenty-nine Army Corps commanders have taken the lead in acting without discipline. Deduct ten points from the total score of each Army Corps. Deduct another ten points from each commander personally.”
Deputy Officer Ai answered respectfully: “Yes, Your Highness.”
The twenty-nine commanders: “????”
They had only seen a good seedling and wanted to bring her under their command, to train her to be even better, to climb to an even higher level, and to become a pillar of the Empire. How had that turned into acting without discipline?
In what military district or Army Corps does anyone see a good seedling and not fight for her?
You have to fight even if you break your head doing it. Good seedlings are rare. Good talent is hard to find.
Through his invisibility earpiece, Ye Ying heard the real-time report of the scores of the thirty big Army Corps and gaped.
It had only been a short while. What had those other twenty-nine idiots done to get ten points deducted from their Army Corps and another ten from themselves?
On his ship his little rookies had only gotten three to five bird-kind beastmen to jump, yet his Army Corps ranking had already jumped back from thirtieth to first?
The surprise came too suddenly. Ye Ying felt as if he had been hit on the head. He scratched at his heart and liver in confusion, dying to know what exactly those other twenty-nine idiots had done.
“The rope is secure.” Sui Xuan Chu tugged on it and made sure it was tight, then said to Orange Sparrow: “Orange Sparrow, you are a feline family beastman. You are best at climbing trees and are light on your feet. You go down the rope first.”
Orange Sparrow slung his supply pack onto his back: “Okay. Hold it steady.”
Sui Xuan Chu gave him a firm nod: “Go ahead…”
Orange Sparrow, a feline family beastman, had a beast form that was a big orange cat with thick, fluffy long fur.
In human form he weighed over one hundred jin, but in beast form he was only about thirty. To save Sui Xuan Chu some strength, he turned into his beast form.
The big orange cat, with a large pack on his back, laid his sturdy paws on the rope, grabbed it, and leaped. Holding onto the rope, he slid down.
In just a moment he reached the tree, took the rope off, jumped onto the tree beside it, transformed into human form, and crouched on a branch next to Jiang Tea Tea to report that he had arrived safely.
Sui Xuan Chu received his report that he was safe and gestured to Cheng Xiao Ting.
Cheng Xiao Ting at once understood. He turned to the other students: “Darlings, schoolmates, senior schoolmates, senior male schoolmates, our squad has a handy staircase for going down – a rope.”
“You do not need to spend ten points, or even eight. You only need to spend five points, and you can go down this rope, avoid the Three-headed Giant Pythons, and safely reach the tree canopy below.”
“Schoolmates who need it, sign up quickly. Our rope will only stay up here for thirty minutes. First come, first served. If no one comes, we will go down ourselves, and you can think of your own ways after that…”
“Our squad of five will go.” A beastman squad whose members all had four legs spoke up first and tried to haggle: “Isn’t five points per person too expensive? Can you make it cheaper?”
Cheng Xiao Ting pointed down: “Schoolmate, look for yourself. If you jump straight down from here, you are just giving the Three-headed Giant Pythons a snack.”
“But with our rope it will be different. Not only will you not become a snack for the Three-headed Giant Pythons, even your clothes will not get wet. Also, someone from our squad risked their life to set up this rope. Five points really is not a high price.”
“If you think it is expensive, think about this the other way. If you forfeit, you only get ten points. Right now you can spend five points to go down and still have five points left.”
What he said made so much sense they felt embarrassed to keep bargaining.
The five from the beastman squad started to climb onto the rope, each paying five points.
After the five of them went down, Sui Xuan Chu and his group happily collected twenty-five points. Right after that, more people from other squads came. A ten-person squad came and, in a single turn, they earned fifty points.
The way they were farming points set off sparks in the Dragon Clan and the bird-kind beastmen. They thought, If they can earn points with just a rope, we can earn points by flying. They could ride the clouds and had big wings. They could carry people too.
For the sake of points, they said it and did it. They also began shouting to offer rides, taking people down one by one, each person for five points.
For a while, Dragon Clan members were turning into beast form to carry people, and bird-kind beastmen were turning into beast form to carry people. They were all busy and happy, and no one was yelling anymore that the drill instructor group was treating them like the Insectoid Race.
Not a single person mentioned forfeiting and spending ten points to let the drill instructors use a flying device to take them down. Everyone was willing to spend five points instead.
Just as this point-farming project was going in full swing, Sui Xuan Chu received a call from Orange Sparrow: “Sui Xuan Chu, hurry and have Cheng Xiao Ting and Yan Yu bring Cheng Lin Yue and Zhang Ting Zhou down. Several Three-headed Giant Pythons are coming our way. Where we are now is not safe.”
“Okay, right away!” Sui Xuan Chu answered, quickly calling Cheng Xiao Ting and the others to go down fast. After they were down, he untied the rope from his waist, held it in his hand, and jumped down himself.
On his way down, a bird beastman flying with a person on his back was also heading down. Suddenly, a Three-headed Giant Python shot up out of the river, its three bloody mouths open wide as it lunged to bite them.
The bird beastman was so shocked his face turned white. He flapped his wings hard and managed to dodge the Three-headed Giant Python, but the person on his back was scared and fell off.
The Three-headed Giant Python, having missed the bird beastman, instantly turned and went after the student falling toward the river.
“Shit!” Sui Xuan Chu cursed. He drew on his supernatural abilities and called down a bolt of lightning that crashed onto the Three-headed Giant Python.
One of the python’s heads was charred. It let out a cry of pain and fell back into the river.
The falling student hit the river with a splash and could not save himself, the churning water carrying him toward the waterfall.
Sui Xuan Chu shouted at the flapping beastman: “Damn White-headed Eagle, that is your guest. You took his points, you should be the one to save him.”
The scolded bird beastman flapped his wings, dove down, and chased after the student being swept toward the waterfall.
At the last second, the bird beastman grabbed the student and soared back into the sky. Just as he rose, a Three-headed Giant Python shot out from under the waterfall and snapped at the spot they had just been in, biting nothing but air.
Sui Xuan Chu held the rope and used its pull to land safely on a tree branch.
“Jump down the tree. There are at least ten Three-headed Giant Pythons coming.” Jiang Tea Tea untied the rope and jumped down along the trunk.
Sui Xuan Chu did not hesitate even a bit and followed her down.
The woods near the rivers were wet and rotten. Every step felt like stepping on soft, decayed corpses.
Jiang Tea Tea loved this feeling. It was all natural fertilizer. If the conditions allowed, she really wanted to put down roots here and turn into a towering tree, drinking in the nutrients in the soil and the essence of the sun and moon.
When Cheng Xiao Ting and the others saw them jump down, they took off running.
Jiang Tea Tea and Sui Xuan Chu ran behind them.
The trees in the forest were too dense and kept them from running at full speed.
“Ahhh.”
Students who had come down from the ship and were trying to find a way through the woods screamed in fear: “Run, run, the Three-headed Giant Pythons are coming, the Three-headed Giant Pythons are coming!”
More than ten Three-headed Giant Pythons burst out of the river and crawled out from under rotting leaves, their huge bodies moving through the forest as they chased moving sources of heat.
“Forfeit, hurry and forfeit. I do not want to die in a Three-headed Giant Python’s mouth.”
One student, seeing he was about to be caught by a Three-headed Giant Python, did not think at all and smashed his surrender capsule. A column of red smoke shot up.
The drill instructors appeared like ghosts, putting a thermal isolation shield over the student who had forfeited. The Three-headed Giant Pythons could no longer feel his heat and shot past the shield, continuing to chase the others.
Jiang Tea Tea was torn between loving the rotten organic fertilizer on the ground and wondering what Three-headed Giant Python meat tasted like. With bodies eighty or ninety meters long, would they be very nourishing?
Nourishing…
Right. Since she had come all this way, there was no reason not to eat food that delivered itself to her door.
Jiang Tea Tea suddenly stopped running and said to Sui Xuan Chu and the others: “You go first. I will stay at the rear and kill these Three-headed Giant Pythons!”