Chapter 131: A Loose Tongue Causes Problems
Su Yu saw the excitement within Zhang Zhongmou but felt more worried instead, within this forest, any form of carelessness could cause one to lose their life.
Qin Jiagui looked over at Ma Ziye who was walking over as he spoke: “Congratulations on promoting to tier three.”
Ma Ziye had a faint smile on her face as she nodded to him before looking over to Su Yu: “Thanks.”
Su Yu shook his head: “What are you thanking me for? This was earned by your own abilities, your current strength isn’t any weaker than me, with more strength comes more responsibility.”
Zhang Zhongmou laughed: “Who knew that Su Yu also knew how to tease.”
Ma Ziye glared at Su Yu: “You’re making fun of me.”
Su Yu laughed: “I really mean it, the power of the Starlight is really phenomenal, together with your promoted Web of Metal, I really don’t have the confidence to beat you.”
Ma Ziye laughed: “It’s now called Heaven’s Net.”
Thinking of the Heaven’s Net combined with Ma Ziye’s blade arts as well as the prowess of the Star Blade, Su Yu saying that he did not have confidence to beat Ma Ziye was not merely being humble.
Zhang Zhongmou lit a cigarette as he passed one to both Su Yu and Qin Jiagui before tossing one to Zhao Shichang. Then, he looked towards Qin Jiagui: “Senior brother Qin, you’re really impressive, merely tier two yet so powerful, I think that your potential is the greatest amongst us.”
Although Qin Jiagui did not look fondly on Zhang Zhongmou, however, these words were extremely comforting and made their way to his heart. He still needed to act humble as he shook his head: “There’s still Su Yu and Ma Ziye, how can my little strength be considered much.”
Zhao Shichang said enviously: “You’re only tier two yet you have such powerful abilities, I’m feeling very disappointed, why do I only have a Bone Blade? I actually don’t have any other offensive methods.”
Ma Ziye then spoke: “Good preparation is the key to success, who knows, when you become tier three you may gain a frightening power that exceeds your imagination, don’t lose confidence.”
Zhao Shichang replied: “Lose my confidence? How could that be, haha. Each of our abilities have their own strengths and weaknesses.” He was still filled with confidence towards the changes of his strange energy.
While speaking he continued to slowly move to the other side, looking at the ground which was littered with corpses, the group became silent. This road was simply filled with too much death and bodies, the group had grown numb.
Zhang Zhongmou lifted a fist as he lightly punched Liu Zheng while laughing: “Fellows, you’ve passed the test, now everyone can be partners.”
Liu Zheng was swayed by his light punch, causing him to almost fall. His face was unhappy as he massaged the area which was hit: “Brother, can you please be lighter with your punches.”
Xu Ruyun calmly glanced over before pursing his lips, he continued to remain silent.
“I am Zhang Zhongmou, this is Su Yu, that’s Qin Jiagui, this is Instant Noodles…… eh, no, I mean that’s Ma Ziye, this is Jade, that’s Zhao Shichang……” Zhang Zhongmou swiftly introduced everyone, only Lei Rui who was unconscious and Ning Yan who was by the side were not introduced.
“Being able to live speaks of your capabilities, you are talents that can be molded. Everyone introduce yourself, in future we will be companions. Of course, if you are unwilling to follow us, you are free to proceed on your own.” Zhang Zhongmou had the air of a senior, they had already been in this forest for over ten days, this bunch of people who had just arrived seemed like a bunch of fresh chicks.
Zhang Zhongmou felt like an instructor before these people, looking at the seven of them, this feeling was simplyinvigorating.
Ma Ziye stood beside Su Yu as she harrumphed: “Big cigarette addict, stop faking it, you’re making them think you’re the leader of our group.”
Su Yu did not expect her to crudely say ‘fake it’ as he could not help but stare blankly before bursting into laughter.
Hearing a young lady say ‘fake it*’ was certainly quite interesting.
[T/N* Author uses a chinese colloquial term which means to pretend to be someone of status but in a derogatory manner.]
Beside Xu Ruyun and Liu Zheng, the others began to introduce themselves, in such a strange place, their hearts were filled with anxiety and although Zhang Zhongmou came off as demanding, no one was turned off and actually felt that this was perfectly normal.
After introducing themselves, the group finally found out that the bus driver was called Shi Guozhong, the middle aged uncle who constantly held onto his suitcase was called Huo Shan.
The youth who looked like a hooligan introduced himself: “People in the trade call me brother Xiang, everyone can just call me brother Xiang…….”
His words had barely been said when he suddenly noticed Zhang Zhongmou and Zhao Shichang looking over at him with ugly expressions.
“Brother Xiang? Hahaha…….” Zhou Huakang suddenly strode forward as he stared at him: “I wonder where brother Xiang mixes in? You actually want us to call you brother Xiang…….”
This hooliganistic youth was a hoodlum, his character was very coarse and although he was able to see that Zhou Huakang had ill intentions, he continued to stand his ground: “This is how the brothers of the past referred to me……”
“Pa!”
Zhou Huakang suddenly threw a slap as the hooliganistic youth tumbled backwards, nearly falling to the ground.
“Xiang your mother, having come here you still have the cheek to act cool? God damn, still claim to be loved by the brothers of the trade? This fellow doesn’t look good on hooligans like you, if you wish to die earlier go ahead, don’t be so shameless.”
Zhou Huakang suddenly seemed infuriated as he began to curse.
Zhang Zhongmou whispered softly to Su Yu: “It seems that Zhou Huakang must have been bullied by hooligans in the past, otherwise, it seems unlikely that he would act like this.”
Su Yu laughed, Zhang Zhongmou’s deduction did seem to have some truth to it.
“I’ll f*** your mother!” This hooligan was not a virtuous person, in his anger his eyes immediately turned red as his fists punched towards Zhou Huakang, when it came to fighting, the hooligan did have some experience.
Li Dong immediately stepped forward, his relationship with Zhou Huakang was decent and would certainly not let Zhou Huakang be disadvantaged.
It was clear that he was overly cautious, how could the hooligan possibly be a threat to Zhou Huakang who was already tier one, even if he knew how to fight, he had merely killed a single Lesser Goblin, the speed of his fists and legs were merely a joke in front of Zhou Huakang who simply lifted a leg and heavily kicked the chest of the hooligan.
The hooligan groaned as he miserably fell away.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
Zhou Huakang followed the hooligan as he continued to kick him.
“F***, aren’t you all capable? Aren’t you ‘brother Xiang’? Stand up, leaving a scum like you would be a detriment to all of us, it’s better if you die early!” Zhou Huakang continued to curse.
Li Dong was extremely direct: “Just kill him to prevent any future problems.” Zhou Huakang had already given the hooligan a vicious beating, if he gave him the chance in future, he would definitely seek revenge.
Xu Ruyun, Liu Zheng, Huo Shan and the others had arrived here together with this hooligan, although no one really liked him, when they saw how Li Dong and Zhou Huakang prepared to kill the youth, a feeling of unhappiness welled up within them, when the rabbit dies, the fox grieves.*
[T/N* Sympathy for a person who is in similar straits in distress]
The truth was, the hooligan had merely said some words, how could this warrant him being killed?
Qin Jiagui could feel the atmosphere and became grim.
“No, don’t kill him……” At this moment, the blonde haired female who was with the hooligan hurriedly ran forward.
Qin Jiagui immediately walked forward as he said in a heavy voice: “Zhou Huakang, that’s enough. He hasn’t done anything bad, stop right now.”
Zhou Huakang kicked the hooligan one more time before speaking: “You better remember, don’t create trouble in future otherwise I will kill you. Damn, your f***ing parents nurtured you but rather than living well to repay them, you actually join the gangs? Do you really think you can make a name for yourself? Who cares how they addressed you in the past, you better be well behaved or this fellow will deal with you.”
The hooligan was infuriated but he used his hands to cover his face, hiding it in fear of Zhou Huakang noticing.
The blond haired female ran to his side, her face filled with worry.
Li Dong looked unhappily at Qin Jiagui, he could tell that the hooligan was a threat and keeping him would be problematic.
Qin Jiagui was naturally able to read the mood of Li Dong but could not help but shake his head, this fellow was simply too brash, killing the hooligan in such a scene would definitely cause the hearts of Xu Ruyun, Liu Zheng and the other newcomers to grow cold. They had plenty of time in the future to deal with this problem, the hooligan had merely killed a single Lesser Goblin, his chance of dying was rather high, since that was the case, there was simply no need to kill him with their own hands, that would create disgust in the heart of others.
Of course, his thoughts were not spoken out loud.
Although they could choose to ignore the newcomers or even viciously kill them all, Qin Jiagui still hoped for a few of the new people to join the group, they had enough food to support more people and having more people meant the chances of living were even higher. Because of this, he had acted to prevent Zhou Huakang from killing the hooligan.
Zhang Zhongmou smiled as he spoke up at this moment: “We’ve interacted for half a day but still haven’t gotten your names, could it be that we really have to address him as brother Xiang in future?”
Earlier, it had been this addressing of ‘brother Xiang’ that had caused so much distress, the blond haired female hastily replied: “He is called Wang Xiang, my name is Mao Mingzhu.” Her character was also rather barbaric but she had been frightened earlier, Zhou Huakang was simply too ferocious, even the ‘brother Xiang’ whom she admired had been beaten miserably, she simply did not have the guts to fight back.
Finally, a simple and honest fat fellow spoke up: “I’m called Xie Zhiming, I work as a programmer, my family consists of my dad, mom, grandpa and grandma. My grandpa and grandma were born on the same day and are already eighty this year. I was rushing home to celebrate their eightieth birthday but……. Who knew that we would end up in such straits.” A sad expression could be seen on the fatty Xie Zhiming’s face.
Qin Jiagui looked over at him: “Take it easy, we will definitely all go back, you will definitely be able to take part in their birthday.”
Xie Zhiming’s simple and honest face had a bitter smile on it as he muttered: “Hopefully.”
Unknowingly, it was already noon and the group found a clean area to have lunch, there was sufficient food and the newcomers were also given some food to eat. As for Wang Xiang, he continued to stare at Zhou Huakang and Li Dong throughout his meal, viciousness flashing through them before swiftly disappearing for fear of them noticing.
He had been beaten swollen by Zhou Huakang, although there were no life threatening injuries, Wang Xiang was deeply insulted by the actions of Zhou Huakang, the pain he felt was simply nothing in comparison to the humiliation.
As he ate, Zhang Zhongmou looked at the ground not far away that was still littered with corpses as he suddenly said curiously: “I wonder what the monsters usually eat.”
Su Yu replied: “Gnomes eat plants and roots, as for the Goblins and Zombies that is a mystery.”
He had barely spoken when Xu Ruyun suddenly walked forward, choosing the corpse of a Lesser Goblin as he suddenly unfurled his black coat, the group were shocked to see several different kinds of small blades hung within.
Retrieving out a small blade, he began to dissect the corpse of the Lesser Goblin, he was very experienced as he swiftly created an incision at the stomach region before pushing his hand in to investigate, as though he were inspecting something.
Zhang Zhongmou, Qin Jiagui and the others were dazed as they exchanged glances, Zhang Zhongmou could not help but exclaim: “What is this fellow up to?!”
Not long after, Xu Ruyun lightly flicked the green juice off his hands before walking back.
“Xu Ruyun, what were you doing earlier?” Ma Ziye asked curiously.
“Dissection.” Xu Ruyun said simply: “No stomach.” as he pointed at the corpse of the Lesser Goblin.
“No stomach?” The group were stunned, Zhang Zhongmou could not help but speak out: “No stomach? They don’t need to eat anything?”
Xu Ruyun had a contemplative expression on his face before replying: “They seem to have the same ability as plants to photosynthesize, there should be chlorophyll within their bodies……. However……. Science cannot explain how this is happening.”
Zhao Shichang also could not help but exclaim: “Are you saying that the Lesser Goblin are like plants and actually nourish themselves with sunlight? My god……. How could this be possible? This is actually the dream of us humans, however, I remember some science magazine stating that this is simply impossible, only plants are able to do so.”
Xu Ruyun spread his hands: “There is no explanation.”
Zhang Zhongmou suddenly spoke up in revelation: “Your grandmother, I finally understand why the bodies of those Goblins are green, it’s to allow them to photosynthesize, aren’t they then classified as plants? Since they are plants, their bodies are completely green. Haha.”
The group were stunned as they heard this, there seemed to be a slight possibility of truth in Zhang Zhongmou’s words.
Jade then interrupted: “Xu Ruyun, what do you do for a living?”
“Surgeon.” Xu Ruyun indifferently replied.
Su Yu replied: “No wonder, that’s why you are so familiar with the surgical knife.” He was able to recall the wounds on the Greater Goblin, they had all been at critical areas of the body.
Qin Jiagui smiled: “So you’re actually a surgeon, but you carry so many surgical knives on your person, that is still rather weird.”
Xu Ruyun calmly smiled without explaining, his person seemed to be filled with mystery causing Jade and the others to measure him a few more times.
This male was simply like a firefly in the night, regardless of what environment he was placed in, he would still be in the limelight. This was so even though he did not speak much and seemed very reserved.
“Since you’re a doctor, can you help me to check her condition?” Jade hurriedly pointed at Lei Rui.
Xu Ruyun nodded before carefully inspecting Lei Rui, a deep expression appeared on his face before he shook his head: “There is no way to tell what is going on.” A dismayed expression appeared on his face, it seemed that since he became a doctor, he had not experienced such scenes where science was unable to explain the matters before him.
Zhao Shichang interrupted: “Jade, stop thinking about it, something which even chinese medical practitioners can’t diagnose, how could western medicine possibly be of use.”
Although Zhao Shichang did not really like learning about chinese medicine, he came from a household of chinese medicine practitioners, faced with matters which western medicine could not explain, he could not help but voice out his opinions.
Xu Ruyun glanced over at Zhao Shichang before continuing: “When it comes to fooling people, western medicine is indeed inferior to chinese medicine.”
“What did you say?” Zhao Shichang jumped up.