Chapter 329 Desperate Straits
Gusty people would mostly be filled with extreme self-confidence.
The new student group from the Central Province Academy chose not to use the signal tube and wanted to personally rescue Peng Kunqi and Wu Jitong who were captured by the human-faced spiders. Other than self-confidence, this could also be said as arrogance.
Earlier when they had encountered the sneak attack by the spider army, their group didn’t collapse and performed outstandingly. That gave them courage.
If it wasn’t for the two of them being captured at the end, the performance of the Central Province Academy’s new student group could be said to be perfect.
“Those spiders’ hunting style is different from other spiders; they are the green-luos. They don’t weave webs to wait for prey to run into them. Rather, they shoot strands of spider silk with a bony spike at the front end!
“The bone spike is covered in strong numbing poison. Once it is embedded into a target, the target would fall unconscious.”
Li Ziqi explained to everyone.
With regard to the little sunny egg’s broad knowledge, the rest of them no longer felt surprised. Even Zhang Yanzong admitted that with Li Ziqi in the group, there were truly many benefits.
At the very least, when they encountered unknown species, Li Ziqi could give them detailed information rapidly. They didn’t need to panic blindly. “What should we do about the two of them? Should we stay behind to take care of them?”. Zhao Zhi asked.
Li Fen and Lu Qi were still unconscious.
Zhang Yanzong sank into contemplation. If he wanted to mount a rescue operation, of course the more the rescuer, the better. However, they mustn’t leave these two alone.
“The people from Chongde plan to rest and reorganize in their original location, waiting for their teachers to save the victims. Why don’t we ask them to help take care of the two of them?”
Chu Jian suggested.
Zhao Zhi gulped, wanting to say something but hesitating. He actually wanted to stay behind, but these words were too embarra.s.sing and he didn’t have the face to save them. In reality, not all students were filled with courage. An example was Zhao Zhi, who was badly frightened and actually wanted to withdraw from the compet.i.tion. His ability to withstand pressure was too weak!
“How about letting Zhao Zhi stay behind?”
Li Ziqi glanced at Zhang Yanzong. “N...”
Zhang Yanzong frowned. He originally wanted to reject it, but after seeing Zhao Zhi’s apprehensive expression, he finally understood. Hence, he nodded. “Alright. Zhao Zhi, you can stay behind to take care of them.”
“This is settled then. Everyone, drink some water and eat some food. We have to check our equipment too. We shall move out in two minutes!”
Li Ziqi clapped.
they should set off immediately, but after hearing Li Ziqi’s words, he didn’t object. He couldn’t help but admit that this girl was more meticulous compared to him when it came to solving problems.
He only cared about the danger before them, yet he neglected other details.
“Mn, letting her become the vice group leader so she can make up for my deficiencies is really a good choice.”
Zhang Yanzong pondered. He had already approved of Li Ziqi.
Weak athletic ability?
No problem. Little sunny egg’s value was enough to overcome this flaw. Also, she had a giant white tiger as a mount. Her movement speed was no longer slow.
Two minutes soon pa.s.sed. The group was about to set off, but Chu Jian realized that they were missing people.
“Where is that sickly invalid?”
Chu Jian counted the number of people here.
“Over there!”
Xu Dingjiang’s vision wasn’t bad, and he pointed toward a cliff.
Everyone turned and saw Tantai Yutang sliding down a steep wall.
Zhang Yanzong was unhappy. After Tantai Yutang came back, he immediately questioned him.
“Where did you go and what were you doing?” “To pick some medicine!”
Tantai Yutang walked toward Li Fen and spat out the medicinal herbs he was chewing. He then stuffed the herbs into Li Fen’s mouth, took a water bag, and funneled the water down her throat, helping her to get the medicine into her stomach.
“The venom of the green-luo spider will persist for a few days. If the victim isn’t saved in time, they would have to be bedridden for the following week.
Tantai Yutang explained.
Seeing how the sickly invalid continued force-feeding medicine to Lu Qi, even Zeng Gang who was extremely muscular and burly was trembling as he spoke in a low voice, “I would rather be bed-ridden for a week!”
“Me too, if I’m hit by the green-luos’ poison, please don’t let him force-feed me medicine!”
Xu Jialiang felt a bout of disgust. But when he glanced at Lu Zhiruo, he thought that he wouldn’t mind if it was this big-breasted girl who fed him the medicine.
Naturally, Ying Baiwu was fine too. Although her chest was a little small, it was still within his acceptable expectation. But as for Li Ziqi, it was definitely a no-no.
The morale of the new student group from Chongde was low.
After suffering this setback, everyone knew that their ranking would surely be abysmal. There was basically no chance for them to get into the ‘C’ grade.
“This is just the first round. We haven’t lost
yet!”
Li Rongguang tried to cheer everyone up. However, he didn’t have any confidence in his words.
According to the past year’s standard, the three rounds of compet.i.tion would only grow in difficulty.
“Everyone, we are brothers in hards.h.i.+p!”
Chai Yong suggested, “Why don’t we form a temporary alliance with those from the Central Province Academy?”
This time around, Wu Ran no longer mocked them.
Next, if they wanted a good ranking, they shouldn’t make any detours. Hence, they still had to barge through the human-faced valley. This was why the new student group of the Central Province Academy was their best ally.
“They most probably wouldn’t agree, right?”
Li Rongguang sighed. If they went over now, they would surely be jeered at.
The expressions of the students were unsightly as well. Clearly, they were recalling their ugly appearances when they mocked the Central Province’s group before.
“Wu Ran, your character is really bad!”
Someone started to scold.
“What’s wrong with me?”
Wu Ran was reluctant to admit a mistake.
“Alright, everyone shut up!”
Li Rongguang stood up. “I’ll go and make the request!”
However, before Li Rongguang went over, they all saw that the new student group from the Central Province Academy left three of their members behind. The others all set off toward the human-faced canyon.
“What are they trying to do?”
Chai Yong couldn’t comprehend it. From the looks of things, it was as though they wanted to abandon their three teammates and proceed on first?
csa
“They can’t be thinking of rescuing the two captured students by themselves, right?” Before Chen Chen could finish speaking, Wu Ran interrupted.
“How is that possible? They wouldn’t do that unless they are crazy!”
Wu Ran spoke with confidence. By doing something so dangerous, they would surely die.
Li Rongguang sped over and chased after them. He spoke with Zhang Yanzong for a while and returned. Zhang Yanzong’s group continued on their way swiftly.
“Group leader, they couldn’t possibly go and save the victims, right?”
After Li Rongguang returned, Chao Yong impatiently asked.
“Mn!”
Li Rongguang nodded. He then sat down at the side with a desolate look on his face. He basically didn’t even dare to think about saving others. This time around, there was really no way to compare. Their group had lost completely.
The Central Province Academy most probably would rise this year!
Everyone was cautiously climbing into the cracks where the two victims were captured. They felt an incoming headache.
Inside here, there were simply too many tunnels. It was basically impossible to know where the spiders had fled to! “Which of you knows how to track?”
Zhang Yanzong felt helpless.
Everyone exchanged glances. Who would be so free to train their tracking skills?
“What are you waiting for?”
Xuanyuan Po urged the sickly fellow.
Swish
The gazes of everyone turned to Tantai Yutang.
“Let me!”
Tantai Yutang walked to the front of the group. After inspecting the traces on the ground, he pointed out a path.
“Are you sure?”
Xu Dingjiang frowned. This wasn’t a joke. If they got lost, let alone wasting time, their lives would be in danger.
“Cough, cough. You can choose not to come!”
Tantai Yutang covered his mouth with a handkerchief and coughed. His voice was calm, with no hints of nervousness at all.
“Lead the way then!”
Zhang Yanzong shot a glance at Li Ziqi and discovered that she didn’t doubt the sickly invalid. This meant that Tantai Yutang was reliable.
Tantai Yutang’s speed soon rose to his limits.
“Slow down!”
Zeng Gang grumbled.
The cave was pitch-black. Even though they had a torch, the light from the torch could only illuminate a small area ahead of them.
“Ziqi, can he be depended on or not?”
Zhang Yanzong grew uncertain because the speed at which Tantai Yutang confirmed the path was simply too quick. Even a hunting dog had to pause awhile to sniff the tracks! “No problem!”
Li Ziqi recalled how Tantai Yutang had found Lu Zhiruo when she had been kidnapped back then.
“I found them, they are just right ahead!”
Tantai Yutang suddenly paused. This sentence from him caused everyone to instantly grow nervous.
“How far away roughly?” Zhang Yanzong asked. “About 50-60 meters?”
Tantai Yutang calculated.
“Ziqi, should we rush together or leave someone behind to provide support?” Zhang Yanzong asked. “Ziqi is so impressive!”
Ying Baiwu sighed silently in admiration. Zhang Yanzong was proud and egoistical. At the start, he kept giving orders and ignoring others because he was the group leader. But now, he actually started to seek Li Ziqi’s opinion. This meant that he had approved of the little sunny egg. “Rush together. The terrain here is too complex. Once we lose our way, it won’t be so easy for us to get out. Also, if we rush together, our firepower is stronger!”
Li Ziqi didn’t hesitate and gave a reason.
“Alright. Xuanyuan Po, Xu Dingjiang, and I will take the front. If I’m injured. Ziqi will take over my position as the group leader.”
After Zhang Yanzong spoke, he went and stood in front.
At this moment, the courage of their group leader was able to encourage the entire group.
As expected, this move by Zhang Yanzong caused the group’s morale to rise.
Tantai Yutang whistled lightly.
“Move out!”
Zhang Yanzong dashed out, leading the charge. Sadly, Xuanyuan Po overtook him after a few steps.
Li Ziqi was counting the steps to gauge the distance while rus.h.i.+ng over. In the end, her feet kicked a stone and she almost fell. Luckily, Tantai Yutang had quick reflexes and swiftly stopped her fall.
“You don’t have to count. I’m here!”
Tantai Yutang persuaded her. He had guessed that the little sunny egg would do this.
They traveled a distance of 57 meters and after three corners, they entered an oval-shaped cave. Peng Kunqi and Wu Jitong were wrapped into a pupa-shape by white-colored spider silk. Only their heads were exposed and they were hanging upside down from the ceiling.
Other than them, the few unlucky students from Chongde were here as well.
“Save them!”
As the sound of Zhang Yanzong’s voice faded, Li Ziqi waved her sword. Two white birds materialized and flew over, slicing apart the spider silk.
Xuanyuan Po and the others leaped and caught hold of the unconscious students.
“Retreat!”
Zhang Yanzong led the group, wanting to leave from the way they came. “I’m afraid it’s too late!”
Tantai Yutang bitterly smiled.
“What’s wrong?”
Lu Zhiruo was very nervous.
“Don’t you guys feel that our infiltration was too smooth?”
Tantai Yutang suddenly used all his strength and tossed the torch out.
Pak!
The torch landed on the ground and illuminated the area ahead. A large group of malevolent spiders were there waiting for them.
The new student group from the Central Province Academy was surrounded.
“I thought that the teachers from Chongde would have a fast response, hence, I wanted to follow behind them. After they have lured the spiders away, we could take the advantage and save the victims. However, I didn’t expect them to be so slow!”
Li Ziqi bitterly smiled.
“That’s right!”
Tantai Yutang had the same intention. If not, he would surely not take the risk. After all, the spiders’ nest wasn’t a location they could barge in just like that.
“It’s too late to say anything now. Let’s kill our way out!”
Xuanyuan Po brandished his silver spear and prepared to fight. “No, you must absolutely not move!”
Tantai Yutang stopped him. From the sounds, he gauged that there were several hundred spiders or even a thousand. It was too difficult if they wanted to slaughter a path out.