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The second place Qiao Chen and his group arrived at was a cave with a giant spider nesting inside. Qiao Chen was worried that if they used any explosive abilities, then the cave would collapse. This meant that Dick's greatest strength was shelved momentarily. Therefore, Qiao Chen stationed Dick at the cave's entrance and told him to defend the cave from intruders while he and Justin fought against the spider inside.
Dick agreed and stood guard at the cave's entrance. Unfortunately, quite some time had passed already and he was starting to get worried. He knew that Qiao Chen was currently a very strong person, but they were taking longer than he thought they would.
While Dick was in the middle of his worry, he suddenly heard some footsteps that indicated someone approaching the cave. He looked vigilantly at the jungle. Dick watched until he saw Harold and his two Class D teammates appear from the brush. Dick was surprised because it was just like Qiao Chen said. They had followed them again. However, Danny and his group mates weren't there. Have they split up?…
Harold's and Danny's group really did split up. Chad insisted that they shouldn't follow Qiao Chen anymore, but Harold didn't want to miss the opportunity to finally punish Qiao Chen for his transgressions. Therefore, once they separated, Harold had his group double back and follow Qiao Chen's group.
Harold saw Dick at the cave's entrance and determined that Qiao Chen should be inside.'
"What are you guys doing?" Dick stopped Harold and the others from entering the cave. Qiao Chen stressed that other people, especially Harold and his group, should be allowed entry.
"It's none of your business. Now get out of my way." Harold retorted. He reached out to push Dick out of his way.
Dick took two steps back and didn't allow Harold's hand to touch him. Then he warned, "This cave is ours. We got here first, so you better go to a different one. If you want to go in this cave, then you have to go through me to get to it."
"What is this? First come first serve? If I follow that logic, then doesn't that mean that the whole jungle is first come first serve? So everyone else who didn't land first needs to scram?" Harold snorted. "You want to play this game? I can play this game. But I have to ask, are you even strong enough to go against me?" Harold replied with disdain.
Harold waited, but Dick still stood in his way. Without another word of warning, he shot out an attack towards Dick. However, the energy burst he sent out to Dick couldn't even break though Dick's counterattack. His attack failed, and Dick's attack forced him a few steps back.
Harold covered his chest in shock. It was throbbing in pain. He never expected Dick to have such a strong ability. Even though he wanted to kick Dick's ass now, he wanted to beat Qiao Chen up even more. He brushed it off and inwardly though that there were more opportunities for him to retaliate against a nobody like Dick later.
With that thought, Harold didn't want to play around with Dick anymore. He didn't know how long Qiao Chen had been in that cave. He was worried that if he stayed out here any longer, then Qiao Chen and Justin would have gotten the gem already.
"You two. Go open a path for me." Harold commanded the Class D cadets. He planned on having the Class D students deal with Dick, so he could get the opportunity to enter the cave by himself.
The two Class D cadets glanced at each other and didn't follow his command.
"What are you just looking around for? This isn't the school's ranking test where there are rules that you can't attack each other. It's a competition. You can use any means you need. Don't tell me that two Class D cadets are afraid of a measly Class F cadet?"Harold roared. "I'm the leader. You do what you're supposed to do and follow my orders. If you don't then I'll give you something to look at. Now hurry up."
The two Class D cadets could only walk over and attack Dick together.
Dick's abilities were already stabilized because of Qiao Chen's chip. After that, he had Fred's daily intensive training he had to go through. The two Class D cadets weren't a problem for him.
The two Class D cadets only attacked Dick because they were afraid of Harold. They didn't put their heart into it and half-assed the assault. Dick couldn't control his strength well, so he injured them within two blows. They were both knocked out on the floor.
"What a waste of space." Harold gritted his teeth and complained. He was annoyed that the two had been downed by Dick. If two members of the team were knocked out, then their group's progress was stalled. What made the situation even worse was that their scores would go down too. Harold decided to personally teach Dick what would happen when someone crossed him.
Even though Dicks ability was a bit stronger than Harold, he still wasn't as good as Harold in terms of fighting. Harold was more advanced in fighting techniques and his constitution and strength were higher too. Adding in Harold's experience and anger meant that Harold was going all out against Dick. Dick tried to use his abilities, but Harold's melee skills continued to prevent him from fully exhibiting his abilities' strength.
Dick defended himself as best he could, but he couldn't hold out for long. Eventually, Harold punched him in the face. Dick fell onto the ground in pain. Harold raised his foot. He wanted stomp on Dick's head. Dick was already down and unable to defend any longer. He cringed and waited for the blow, but an energy blast suddenly shot out of the cave and hit Harold.
The attack blew Harold ten meters away. He landed on the floor and immediately went to stand up. However, he felt a deep and sharp pain in his chest and spat out some blood. He realized that his internal organs were heavily injured.
Harold stood up through the pain when he saw Qiao Chen and Justin exit the cave. Qiao Chen quickly walked up to Harold and punched him hard in the face. Harold nearly fell back to the ground from it, but straightened himself up.
Harold was force back a couple steps, but recovered his stance. He wanted to fight against Qiao Chen and threw a punch. Qiao Chen blocked his hand and punched him in the face again.
Qiao Chen focused his abilities in his arm and punched Harold dozens of times before he finally stopped. Harold's face turned black and blue as blood dripped out his wounds. Qiao Chen threw Harold down to the floor. He repeated Harold's actions from earlier and stepped on Harold's face. Then he coldly warned, "I already told you not to follow us, or else I wouldn't be able to guarantee what will happen. If you have a death wish, then you can go ahead and keep following me. I already got the second gem. We're about to get the third one now and win the competition. Let's see how you follow me then."
Fred was standing behind Au Luo in the command room. He watched as Harold beat Dick up. Fred quietly put his hands behind his back and then tightly clenched them into fists. He wanted to drop down from the airship and beat Harold within an inch of his life. He was slightly relieved when he saw Qiao Chen beat Harold up in his place, but he still hoped that he could have been the one to beat Harold into pulp.
Qiao Chen taught Harold his lesson and then returned to his teammates. Justin had just helped Dick stand up. Qiao Chen patted Dick on the shoulder and praised, "Good job."
"I almost couldn't stop him. It's a good thing you got the gem before he broke through." Even though Dick's rank in Class F was higher than the other Class F cadets, there were hundreds of people in their grade who ranked way higher than him in the other classes. He was used to losing, and didn't have the drive to win. But something changed in him when Qiao Chen helped him find his confidence. Now he had the drive and the fire, because he never wanted to lose anymore. He especially didn't want to lose against someone like Harold.
Qiao Chen noticed his low mood and knew what Dick was thinking about. He encouraged Dick, "You've improved leaps and bounds compared to before. As long as you work hard, then I'm sure that you'll be stronger than Harold in no time."
"Thank you." Dick sincerely said.
The trio left Harold and his group behind. They immediately headed to the last location to get the final gem.
Harold struggled to push himself up from the ground into a sitting position after Qiao Chen left. He took the first aid sprat and applied it to his wounds. His whole body was shaking, half because of pain and the other half was because of anger. Anger burned deeper in his soul than it had ever burned before. Now he wanted to break Qiao Chen into tiny little pieces.
Harold was greatly injured because of Qiao Chen and his two Class D teammates were knocked out. It was common sense that he should request a withdrawal from the competition because his group had lost so thoroughly. Harold, however, couldn't bring himself to do that. If he withdrew from the competition, then how could he teach Qiao Chen what it meant to cross him? Even if he didn't have any chances of winning the competition anymore, he didn't care. All he cared about now was that Qiao An and his group shouldn't be able to win the competition either.
Qiao An and his teammates easily obtained their second gem already. They would win the moment they obtained the third one. Harold never expected Qiao An's group to be able to obtain the gems this quickly. It was too fast, and he didn't know whether Danny and his group had even gotten their first gem. He needed to stop Qiao An from winning the competition before Danny did. He absolutely didn't want Qiao An to get first place. He still hadn't taken revenge on Qiao An yet either. He wasn't going to let Qiao An walk free and unfettered anymore. He needed to quench the hate that burned in his very core. He needed to get his revenge.
Harold knew that everyone on the airship could see everything that they did, but he still didn't care. His hatred for Qiao Chen had grown so much that it blinded his common sense. He didn't care about scores or winning anymore. Anyways, they did say we can use any methods we liked.
Harold abandoned the two Class D cadets who were knocked out on the ground. He ignored them and didn't try to wake them up either. He got up and followed the direction that Qiao Chen headed in.
Harold was by himself and injured, so he was much more careful. He finally realized that Qiao An's strength was no joke. He decided that he couldn't fight them head on. He secretly followed Qiao An and waited for the opportunity to ambush them when they were at their weakest.
It was impossible for Qiao Chen to not realize that Harold was still following them. He knew that Harold's personality wouldn't let him let go of the matter so easily. Harold could never mind his own business, so Qiao Chen patiently waited. He was waiting because he wanted Harold to experience the pain he was forced to go through when he was Qiao An. Qiao Chen wanted Harold to know how it felt when you'd rather be dead than alive. Qiao An was going to have his revenge.
Qiao Chen saw many cadets fighting against all sorts of fierce beasts on the way to their last location. He didn't want to get involved in unnecessary battles, so he carefully avoided those groups and places.
Qiao Chen and his group walked through a large flower bush and found a hive. This hive was around the same height as two or three people combined.
"Why are the beasts in this jungle so gross?" Justin complained as he looked at the goosebumps on his arms. First, they had to deal with the poison frogs. Then they had to fight against the hairy spider in the cave. Now, they reached this hive. Justin thought that the hive was the worse of them all.
"Resisting nauseous things can be a kind of training too. But you know, some people's hearts are even more cruel and disgusting than these beasts." Qiao Chen said. "The final gem should be inside the hive. If we want to grab the gem, then we have to either kill or distract these bees first."
"Alright. You tell us how, and we'll follow." Justin replied, completely convinced because of Qiao Chen's explanation.
"Bees are harder to deal with than the frogs and the spiders. They stay in large groups. If they target you, then they are notoriously difficult to get rid of. Furthermore, one of them stings you, then you'd be immediately injured and probably go into toxic shock. There's no cure for their venom either, so it's better if we don't fight them directly. The better choice is to find a way to lead them all away from the hive." Qiao Chen said.
"How do we do that?" Dick asked.
"We can use the flower bush we just passed. The flower that grows on it is the bees' favorite flower. It's the one with round, purple petals. If we make a huge barrel and put a lot of those purple flowers in it, then we can lure all the bees into the barrel and trap them in it."
Qiao Chen explained what they needed to do to prepare and the three men immediately began to work. First, they knocked down several trees. Then they made a thick wooden barrel that could fit two or three people in it. Finally, they used some strong vines to reinforce the wood.
Qiao Chen had warned them that the flowers had a relatively weak scent, so they all spent two to three hours picking the purple flowers until they filled the barrel about halfway up.
Qiao Chen finally told them they had enough, and the three men took the lid off the barrel. They stood it upright and quickly hid behind other trees to wait.
Qiao Chen finally saw one or two fist size bees fly out of the hive about half an hour later. The bees circled the flowers for some time before they landed on the barrel's edge. They stayed there some more until they finally flew into the barrel.
The two bees exited the barrel and flew back to the hive. Once the two bees communicated with their hive, the trio finally saw a stream of fist sized bees fly towards the barrel.
When the last bee was finally within the barrel's edges, Qiao Chen pulled a vine hanging on the tree. He barrel's lid immediately fell and covered the whole. The latch fell over and locked the bees inside the barrel. The sound of bees buzzing and colliding against the barrel was heard.
The three of them jumped down from the tree and walked towards the barrel. Harold was hiding in bushes nearby with the branches and leaves acting as cover. He suddenly stood up and blasted the barrel. The barrel exploded and all the bees flew out of their trap.
Qiao Chen and company immediately backed up, and Harold dove back into the flower bush again. The bees buzzed angrily as they gathered in a swarm. They all looked like a huge, angry cloud in the sky. It even felt like the sky had darkened because of they were big enough to block out the sun.
They were buzzing noisily. It seemed like they were very annoyed by the trap, so they were looking for a target to attack. However, the bees didn't sting Qiao Chen and the others who stood in the distance, but still in view. They instead flew towards Harold who was hiding in the flower bush. They surrounded the entire bush and desperately attacked him. Soon, Harold's body couldn't be seen because there was a bee where ever he was.
"Ahh! Aghhh!" Harold howled in pain. The branches and leaves he used as cover couldn't protect him from the bee stings. The bees continued to sting him until Harold couldn't walk anymore. He dropped to the floor and rolled in pain. He couldn't even escape because the bees had completely surrounded him in their swarm.
Harold continued to cry out miserably. It sounded so bad that some other cadets came to investigate and possibly help, but once they saw Harold surrounded by the swarm of bees, the immediately ran away in fear. No one was able to help him with all those bees there.
Dick was standing at the distance. He couldn't bear to look anymore and turned around. Qiao Chen hadn't paid any attention to Harold at all. He was busy extracting the gem from the bee hive while the bees were distracted.
Qiao Chen and his group hadn't been targeted by the bees for a reason. They had quietly crushed some grass and smeared its juices all over themselves while they collected the purple flowers. This grass was something that the bees hated.
Qiao Chen knew that Harold was waiting nearby for the opportunity to attack. He found a way to sneak in the flower bushes when they weren't paying attention. While he was in the bushes, all of the flower's pollen had fallen all over his body. He smelled like their favorite flowers that were in the barrel. Who else would they have targeted?
Harold had long passed out by the time the bees decided to return to their hive. He body was filled with punctures as blood seeped out of his body. He no longer looked like Harold, but a pile of meat.
Qiao Chen walked to Harold's side. He looked at Harold's appearance and thought about his previous life. Harold looked quite similar to how he looked like after the bramble wolves had used their bramble bites against him. The flesh and skin from bramble wolf bites couldn't recover on its own or be healed. He was left with only a wisp of consciousness. Even though Qiao Chen wanted to get his revenge, Harold was the one who caused his own misfortune. Qiao Chen didn't do much besides fan the flames of Harold's anger. Harold could only blame himself for the actions he chose to take.
Qiao Chen picked some leave and used it to wipe the blood off the communicator on Harold's wrist. Then he helped Harold push the help button and withdraw from the competition.
…..