Chapter 80
Chapter 80: One Punch to the Cub’s Mother’s Belly—Let Her Die
Jiang Tea Tea snapped, clearly in a foul mood. “Who killed us? The Royal Military Academy’s ‘wipe out the other twenty-nine military academies’ squad, of course!”
Then she added, like it barely mattered, “Oh, right. We’re just going to roast a little something and fill our stomachs. Are we in your way? If we are, we’ll move.”
Bai Han Shu tried to read something from their faces, but all he saw was thick face paint. He couldn’t make out a damn thing. “You’re not in the way. Do whatever you want.”
The moment he said it, Jiang Tea Tea reached into her storage button and casually dumped a pile of game on the ground—wild chicken, rabbit, mountain badger—thud, thud, thud.
Sui Xuan Chu and the other three rolled up their sleeves, pulled out knives, and started skinning and prepping the meat. Three of them went to gather dry firewood.
At a glance, they really did look like people who’d come here just to grill something, never expecting to run into anyone else.
Watching the scene, Bai Han Shu and his fourteen teammates finally let their guard drop a fraction. They all came out, stopped a few paces away from Sui Xuan Chu’s group, and sat down.
Bai Han Shu studied the quick, practiced hands stripping rabbit hide and asked, “Instructor group—are the ‘wipe out the other twenty-nine military academies’ squad members really that strong? Is everyone above 2S rank?”
“Yeah,” another dragon blurted, unable to hold it back. “Instructor, their squad points and personal points are way ahead. Like, cliff-level ahead. Are they really that insane?”
Sui Xuan Chu spoke first. When he went ruthless, he didn’t even spare himself. “The ‘wipe out the other twenty-nine military academies’ squad? Every one of them has abilities above 3S rank. Their favorite move is being shameless—ambushes and sneak attacks. That’s how we died. They slit our throats.”
Huang Da Zhuang nodded hard. “Exactly. And that squad? They say there’s a pure human with no abilities. That’s a lie. It’s all illusion spell bullshit. That ‘pure human’? A 3S rank strength-type. One punch and she can drive a 3S rank instructor straight into the ground. You wouldn’t be able to dig them out.”
Cheng Xiao Ting held his skinning knife and pointed toward the people collecting firewood in the distance. “Those guys? They got tricked by that so-called powerless pure human female. One knife each—three people, dead in under five seconds.”
Ju Que and the others gathering wood heard every word. They even stretched their necks out on purpose, showing off the fresh red marks where their throats had been “slit,” right there for all fifteen dragons to see.
Bai Han Shu’s group sighed in sympathy. “So you all got taken out by them… Guess we need to avoid them.”
“Our strongest is only 3S rank,” one of Bai Han Shu’s teammates said grimly. “Most of us are S rank, double S rank. If we run into them head-on, our odds aren’t great—unless we use beast form.”
While the dragons were handing over their own intel without realizing it, Jiang Tea Tea speared a fish in the pond, flicked it to Sui Xuan Chu, and replied to Bai Han Shu like she was making casual conversation. “And how exactly do you ‘avoid’ them? They’ve got a signal jammer from the first round.”
“They’ve completely masked their signal,” she went on. “On the shared Lightbrain net between instructor groups and cadets, they don’t even have coordinates.”
Bai Han Shu heard how naturally she said it and became fully convinced these people really were eliminated instructors. He grinned. “We’ve got a signal jammer too. We’ve been using it right here and we’ve already killed dozens of Royal Military Academy cadets!”
Jiang Tea Tea made an exaggerated face. “Wow. Trapping turtles in a jar, waiting for rabbits by a tree—nice. You don’t even have to scour the mountains.”
Bai Han Shu chuckled. “It’s decent. We regret killing off instructor groups in the first round and not grabbing more loot.”
“If we’d looted more, we could’ve used it in the second round too. We wouldn’t have to be this passive. We could go on the offensive.”
Jiang Tea Tea speared three more fish, carried the stick over, and said, “You’re not wrong. The ‘wipe out the other twenty-nine military academies’ squad got a ton of spoils from instructor groups in the first round.”
“Signal jammers, paintball guns, space nodes, even flyers. Jungle skateboard flyers, too. Their gear pile is bigger than ours.”
Bai Han Shu’s eyes sharpened. “If a paintball gun hits someone… does that count as a death elimination?”
Jiang Tea Tea nodded. “Of course. Didn’t the instructor broadcast say first-round spoils can be used in the second round?”
“A paintball gun is literally the gun that blew cadets’ heads off in the first round. Why wouldn’t it count as an elimination gun in the second round?”
Realization dawned on Bai Han Shu. “So that’s why you’ve got paintball marks on you. And why your necks look like they were slit.”
He glanced at their ragged gear with a pitying look. “You didn’t even have clean instructor uniforms to change into, did you?”
The misunderstanding was perfect. Beautiful. Absolutely delicious.
Jiang Tea Tea slid the fish off the stick and said lightly, “You guessed it. First we got hit by their paintball gun. Then they slit our throats after, just to deepen the marks.”
She glanced toward the direction the wood gatherers had gone. “Those guys still aren’t back. I’ll go check. Big Black Dragon—scrape the scales off those four fish. We’ll do grilled fish later.”
Sui Xuan Chu lifted his gaze, met hers, and seemed to catch her intent immediately. “Got it. Go hurry them up.”
Jiang Tea Tea tossed down the stick, dusted off her hands, and walked toward Zhang Ting Zhou, Ju Que, and Cheng Lin Yue. She gave them a sharp look—one quick, silent signal.
They set their gathered wood down and followed her into a dense grove of flowering trees.
Jiang Tea Tea reached into her storage button and pulled out paintball guns, handing one to each of them. Without a sound, she mouthed, “No discrimination. Shoot everyone.”
The three of them took the guns, stashed them back into their storage buttons, hugged the wood bundles again, and split off in different directions—making sure all four cardinal directions would have a gun.
When they were in position, Jiang Tea Tea raised her own gun and shouted toward the clearing, “Huang Big Dog! Come over and carry the wood!”
Huang Da Zhuang called back, “Coming…” and jogged over.
The moment he was close—
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Four paintball guns opened up at once, firing in a vicious, indiscriminate spray at Bai Han Shu and his fifteen dragons.
At the same time, Sui Xuan Chu, Cheng Xiao Ting, and Yan Yu rushed in with red flexible blades. Taking advantage of the chaos, they went straight for throats.
Bai Han Shu’s group snapped into motion, instincts and powers kicking in. Lightning summoning flared as they tried to pull electricity and ignite fire.
Huang Da Zhuang howled at the top of his lungs, “You’ve already been hit by the paint rounds! You’re dead! Using your abilities to attack us doesn’t count! Killing us doesn’t count for points either!”
Four guns. One magazine each with dozens of paint rounds. Fifteen dragon clan cadets from Airborne Command Academy—no one escaped. Every one of them was splattered, stained red from head to toe.
Bai Han Shu’s neck had also been cut by a red flexible blade. He stared, wide-eyed, disbelief cracking his voice. “You… you’re not eliminated instructor group?”
Sui Xuan Chu dragged the red flexible blade across his own neck again, baring his teeth in a wild grin. “Fake. We cut ourselves to bait you. Surprise? Shocked? Didn’t see it coming?”
Bai Han Shu and his teammates were furious, faces twisting. “If you’re not instructor group, then who are you? Which military academy? Tell us your names—we’ll remember you!”
Cheng Xiao Ting slung an arm over Sui Xuan Chu’s shoulder. “Captain, these dragons are really not as smart as you. A minute ago they were gossiping about us, and now they’re asking who we are. Their class is trash.”
Sui Xuan Chu nodded solemnly. “Agreed. These fifteen dragons are too stupid. No brains at all. Yellow dragon clan, white dragon clan, azure dragon clan… too many colors mixed together. Makes them slow.”
Bai Han Shu jabbed a finger at them, suddenly putting it together. “The ‘wipe out the other twenty-nine military academies’ squad. You’re members of the ‘wipe out the other twenty-nine military academies’ squad. You deliberately smeared your throats and ambushed us!”
Sui Xuan Chu and Cheng Xiao Ting exchanged a grin. “Oh, wow,” Sui Xuan Chu said. “They finally figured it out. Congratulations—”
He didn’t get to finish.
Zzzzt!
The sharp crackle of an electric-type ability cut through the air. Everyone snapped their heads toward the sound—toward where Jiang Tea Tea had gone.
A towering blaze erupted, roaring up into the sky.
Sui Xuan Chu’s face changed instantly. Huang Da Zhuang and Cheng Lin Yue’s expressions collapsed too. They bolted at the same time.
Flames soared. Cheng Lin Yue forced her water-element ability outward, trying to smother the fire.
Sui Xuan Chu charged straight in without hesitation.
Left to right. Front to back. He tore through the blaze, searching, coughing, eyes stinging. He found no one. By the time he stumbled out, the ends of his hair were singed.
He turned to the others, voice tight. “Sister Tea isn’t in the fire.”
Cheng Lin Yue whipped her water stream around and drenched him, extinguishing the sparks on his clothes. “She’s not in the fire… then where is she? She was standing right here. I saw her.”
Zhang Ting Zhou nodded frantically. “Yes! I saw her too. She was right behind that cover. How can she be gone?”
“Don’t panic,” Cheng Xiao Ting said quickly, trying to steady everyone. “Huang Da Zhuang and I will check first. Huang Da Zhuang—beast form. Track by scent.”
Huang Da Zhuang transformed on the spot into a big, golden-yellow dog and began sniffing the ground with frantic intensity.
Cheng Xiao Ting was from the reconnaissance department. He’d only been studying for half a year, but he knew the basics. He swept the area as he spoke. “There was fire ability here. Electric-type ability. Blink shift. Blink shift…”
“Woof! Woof! Woof!”
The yellow dog barked sharply, then took off at a sprint.
Sui Xuan Chu didn’t hesitate. “Move—follow him!”
They ran after Huang Da Zhuang at full speed.
Behind them, Bai Han Shu and his team stared after their retreat, stunned.
“…They just killed us and ran off?” someone muttered.
Where was the trust between beasts?
What a wrongful death.
Bang!
Jiang Tea Tea hit the uneven ground hard. Her waist slammed against a jagged stone and pain exploded up her spine. She sucked in a sharp breath, eyes snapping open. She couldn’t get up. She lay there, one hand braced against the ground, staring at the figures in front of her—masked people whose beastfolk traits were faint, almost unnoticeable.
She opened her mouth and called the leader by name without hesitation.
“Jiang Yi Cheng. My dear brother. You’ve got nerve—kidnapping me under Chong Ming the commander-in-chief’s full surveillance.”
Jiang Yi Cheng wasn’t wearing a Royal Military Academy uniform. He wore instructor group gear. He had a mask too—and he clearly hadn’t expected to be recognized.
At that point, he stopped pretending. He grabbed the mask and yanked it off.
“Sister,” he said coldly, “I really underestimated you.”
“You disguised yourself as someone who hadn’t awakened abilities. You sent Dad, Mom, and Sister in. Then you came to this competition and made a spectacle of yourself right under Chong Ming’s cameras.”
“First in personal points. First in squad points. Stepping on more than 1.8 million cadets. Grinding legion commanders and instructor groups into the dirt.” His eyes glittered with resentment. “You’re really something.”
Jiang Tea Tea pressed a hand to her waist. She tried to cover the pain with magic power—and realized it wouldn’t respond. Whatever they’d sprayed on her had crippled it, leaving her able to draw only a thin thread of strength.
That tiny bit eased the pain enough for her to push herself up slowly.
Her gaze locked on Jiang Yi Cheng. “My abilities are far beyond this. If you dare kidnap me, then I dare send you in to join Dad, Mom, and Sister—”
Jiang Yi Cheng lunged forward in a blur, fist clenched, and smashed it down toward her belly.
“Jiang Tea Tea,” he snarled, “you’ve got a big mouth. Let me tell you something—today, I’m going to make sure you die right here!”