A Good-for-Nothing

261. We All Have Our Crosses to Bear

 

Translator: Dragon Rider

 

The team members came around one after another. All of them found it hard to believe that they had fallen victim to some kind of witchcraft when they hadn’t even entered the forest yet!

“My God. What kind of godforsaken place is this?!” wailed a member of the Rose Team.

He Zheng and his teammates looked much more composed. He Zheng looked from the little gray chick-like bird to Chen Kai. Chen Kai didn’t mind, his yellow bangs fluttering in breeze. However, he subconsciously averted his face from the baby phoenix on He Zheng’s shoulder, as if he, Chen Kai, did not dare to look him in the eye.

He Zheng stroked his chin. What the hell was Chen Kai exactly? Qiu Luo was a sword spirit and was immune to all kinds of illusory enchantments, but Chen Kai looked like a human, and he was able to drag them out of a reverie which even Qiu Luo couldn’t extricate them from … It seemed this guy was no common person.

“Hey, stop gazing at me, will you? Li Zong might kill me if you don’t.”

A faint smile curved the corners of He Zheng’s mouth. Compared to the person he used to be, He Zheng was now very different. The He Zheng he used to be would have started dressing Chen Kai down already.

“It’s okay. Li Zong won’t deem you a threat.”

Chen Kai took no offence. He picked his nose and said, “That’s true. After all, I’m quite straight.”

He Zheng couldn’t be bothered to say anything else. Chen Qianlin was the one he could annoy the most with this kind of words.

They looked at the cans of meat in their hands and all of them smiled mirthlessly. “It seems this is literally a ‘Foggy Forest’. All of us got caught in that magic reverie before the competition even started. I think in this championship we’ll … ”

He Zheng looked up at the sky. The sun was up completely now, and those standing beneath it were not afraid of darkness.

“Gather your stuff and get ready to leave.”

A black-robed team member wearing a cross around his neck kept muttering something.

Joe asked, “Abbot, what are you doing? We’re leaving.”

The man named Abbot abruptly opened his eyes, looking terrified, staring in the direction of the foggy forest, “We–We must not go inside. It’s too dangerous in there … It’s too dangerous. I can feel a powerful dark force enveloping this forest. It’s full of blood, death, and despair.”

Abbot was trembling all over when speaking, clenching his teeth as though trying to calm himself down. However, his hand holding his cross was quivering, his eyes bloodshot.

Xiao Qi’s countenance turned grave. He told He Zheng, “Abbot is a priest. He’s one of those serving God in our country. He has access to the Holy Light and nothing evil can escape his notice.”

Xiao Qi did not expound on it, but He Zheng and the others caught on to what he meant.

Abbot refused to take another step forward no matter how hard the others tried to persuade him. “Joe, we must not continue. That is no entrance to a competition zone. It’s the gate to Hell!”

“Abbot, pull yourself together.”

“Oh, no, no! This is not about me keeping my cool! I heard the warning this forest sent me – if you approach it, you will be punished! Joe, you need to listen to me. Do not lead us to death!” Abbot shook his head wildly, gripping Joe’s hand.

Joe appeared rather resigned. “Abbot, we’re in a competition. Now that we’ve already come here, we can’t just give up.”

Chen Qianlin and the others made no remarks. Although they were now partners, this was still an internal affair of another team.

He Zheng said, “We’d better stay together. We have only three minutes to enter the forest.”

Joe was also anxious. “Okay, I understand.”

Then he made another attempt to convince Abbot, but the latter wouldn’t budge. Joe produced a flare gun issued by the organizing committee from his backpack and said, “Alright, you may wait here for the ship and then go back to the island. We will meet you in three days.”

“Joe, you should leave with me!”

“Abbot, we’re here for the championship. We’ve come such a long way. How can we give up like this?”

Joe smiled at him and then motioned for the other team members to follow him.

Abbot crossed himself, praying for them.

Tao Wujiu, whose personality was similar to Zu Zhichong’s, was good at striking up conversations with strangers. When he saw Xiao Qi’s depressed face, Tao Wujiu stepped forward and nudged him with his shoulder, “Hey, bro, what’s bothering you?”

“I’m just a little worried. Joe and Abbot are bosom friends.” Xiao Qi pressed his lips together and glanced at Joe, who was leading the way with He Zheng. “Joe’s behavior strikes as a little strange.”

Tao Wujiu narrowed his eyes and asked impassively, “How so?”

“Joe didn’t try harder to convince Abbot. I keep having this feeling that … ” Xiao Qi shook his head and left his sentence hanging.

Tao Wujiu made no comment, but he became a little wary of Joe.

After all, there was no telling what the others were really thinking. Although they were partners on the surface, the two teams were actually rivals, so it was always advisable to have a contingency plan.

At 12 o’clock, they entered the foggy forest before the time limit set by the organizing committee was up.

Seen from outside, the forest was shrouded in mist so thick that even sunlight couldn’t penetrate it, but when they were inside it, it transpired that the visibility was not as low as they had expected. Although there were clouds of mist in the forest, they could still see the path.

“Stay sharp, everybody. Do not drop your guard!” He Zheng cautioned aloud.

He Zheng and Lao Ka were leading the way, while Tao Wujiu and Xiao Han were in the middle, Xiao Qi and Joe bringing the rear. Qiu Luo, Chen Qianlin, Chen Kai and the others with great fighting strength were on the flanks.

Chen Qianlin, holding Sharpness, was on full alert. The forest was so quiet it was frightening.

“Wait. What’s that?” Luca the Snow Wolf found something unusual.

Everyone turned to look where he was staring and saw that there was actually a signpost.

The road sign read, “Go forward and find a wooden house.”

“Why do they want us to find a wooden house? Are we supposed to go there, disguise ourselves as Little Red Riding Hood and wait for the Big Bad Wolf?” Chen Qianlin said.

He Zheng curled his lip. “Let’s just go.”

They headed towards the wooden house. Though they had encountered some trouble outside the forest, their trip inside it had been rather uneventful so far.

The other teams, however, were not so lucky.

The two teams of the Lion-Tiger Alliance had been hand in glove with each other for many years, and their teamwork was better than that of any of their rivals. Therefore, the two teams were very confident that they would win the championship.

Unexpectedly, something got in their way the moment they stepped into the forest.

Members of the Lion-Tiger Alliance, who had been blindsided by vines flying towards them from all directions, were now in a sorry plight. They were on the verge of losing their marbles. The captain of the Tiger Team, Ben, roared, “Shit! Shit! Shit! These goddamn vines!”

“Watch out, Allen!” someone cried in alarm. The captain of the Lion team, Allen, was hung by his feet from the vines! Ben immediately rushed to his rescue helter-skelter.

They had been fighting these damn vines since their entry into the forest, and two of them had now been put out of action!

Every contestant had a monitoring chip planted in their body. When a contestant’s vital signs reached certain thresholds, the chip would automatically decide that they were “dead” and then professional rescuers designated by the organizing committee would arrive and whisk the contestant away.

The two team members who were no longer in a fit state to fight had been deemed “dead”!

How could the captain of the Tiger team not be angry?

Not far away from this area, the Neon team and the Southeast Asian team, who had entered the forest together, were not doing very well either. They had not encountered any vine-Yōkai but was faced with a huge poisonous snake. A member of the Southeast Asian team was a Jiangtou-caster who was good at using Snake-Jiangtou. If the two teams had worked together, they would have disposed of the snake quickly and at the same time added to the trouble faced by the Lion-Tiger Alliance.

But the two teams could barely communicate!

Both teams had strong accents and nobody in either team could understand what any member of the other team was saying!

As the two teams couldn’t understand each other, they were unable to join hands, which was why they were rather flustered when fighting the snake.

Nakayi Hakute had been standing by all along. Of course, his teammates didn’t dare accuse him and were just trying their best to bring the snake down.

However, Wu Yaguang, captain of the Southeast Asian team, was not very happy about it. He yelled angrily at Nakayi Hakute, “Hey! Don’t just watch! We could use some help!”

Unfortunately, what with his accent, Nakayi Hakute couldn’t understand him.

But Wu Yaguang regarded Nakayi Hakute’s silence as a provocation. He told the exorcists on his team to deal with the giant snake and then went to challenge Nakayi Hakute to a single combat.

The teams that had landed on the island in other spots, like their rivals, had also encountered many difficulties.

He Zheng’s team finally emerged from the dense woods and reached a clearing in the middle of which stood a small wooden house.

“Let’s go inside and take a look.”

Nobody on the two teams raised any objections, so they walked into the house.

The house was empty and looked like a temporary accommodation for hunters. It was all dusty. On the only bed in the cabin, they found another wooden tablet, which bore the words “The King of the Forest let out a furious roar. He spits out a shiny orb and presents it to the warrior.”

“What’s this supposed to mean?” He Zheng frowned. The King of the Forest? The Lion King?

“I think it means whoever finds the so-called ‘King of the Forest’ first gets an orb and wins the championship.”

“Well, who knows?” He Zheng shrugged. “This year’s organizing committee are so fond of little games.”

“Wow! Check this out! There’s a lot of food here!” Tao Wujiu walked out with a whole bunch of canned foods in his arms. They even found a cooker in the cabin.

“Is this a reward offered by the organizing committee?” said Joe, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

It seemed that they were quite lucky. So far, the two teams following He Zheng had not suffered any casualties or encountered any life-threatening danger.

They took everything useful from the house. Lao Ka and Luca, both thickset, carried the supplies on their backs. Then they resumed the trip, intending to find the so-called King of the Forest.

Later, they found another two wooden signs, which gave them more information about that mysterious King of the Forest.

In the end, He Zheng, who had learned how to sketch in college with the intention to hit on girls, draw a picture of the King of the Forest.

It was a humanoid monster with pointed horns on his forehead and heels. He was hiding in the depths of the forest and was rather grumpy. He had been sighted in many places and was no doubt a freak.

It had been a few years ago that some members of the organizing committee had discovered the monster. They had sent out a large number of crack exorcists who had later overpowered the monster. Afterward the monster had been brought to the island and made the ultimate target of this year’s competition.