Chapter 338: The Shameless Love Rival Deserves a Beating
"AHHH, IT HURTS, IT HURTS, IT HURTS—"
No one saw what happened. There was just a faint flash of light, and Ai Li, who was at the very front, cried out and collapsed.
Ai Bin instinctively reached out to catch his sister, but Ke An grabbed him, pulled him back, and forced him to the ground.
Her reaction was incredibly fast. She raised her gun and fired toward the source of the sound while ordering the others to take cover. The rest snapped out of their shock, quickly drawing their guns and shooting in that direction.
For a moment, bullets flew everywhere, and the sound of impacts was incessant.
After about three minutes, the sounds of the chaotic firefight gradually died down.
The formation they had just set up was now a complete mess. Ke An frowned.
’Jiang Qingli spent the last few years just having fun, so she likely hasn’t had time for these kinds of activities. Lin Xiyue and Xia Qingqing are both females with poor physical stamina, so they shouldn’t have much experience either.’
’That means that on the Red Team, only Yuan Shiyao and a few of the males from the student council who participate every year are experienced. Among them, Yuan Shiyao is the most skilled.’
Yuan Shiyao’s previous strategy had always been to move near the water source, lie in wait for their prey, and play it safe. Ke An had already devised a counter-strategy before she arrived, but she hadn’t expected them to change their style.
’Is Jiang Qingli the one calling the shots on the other team?’
It was certainly possible, but Ke An hadn’t expected Jiang Qingli to attack right from the start.
She glanced over her team to assess the situation.
Ai Li, who had been scouting ahead, was the least prepared. She was hit in the abdomen by the first shot and then again in the arm, losing 70% of her health points in one go.
The other three females scouting with her lost 40%, 30%, and 10% of their health points, respectively.
The other males and Ke An herself had lost no health points.
Suddenly, Ke An felt like someone was missing from her line of sight. She scanned the area and found Gu Nian under a tree about a meter away.
Gu Nian was clutching his stomach, crouched and curled up against the tree with a pale face.
He was clearly in bad shape.
Ke An asked, "What’s wrong?"
He was Jiang Qingli’s man, after all. Although Ke An felt he was useless, she couldn’t just ignore him.
"Chairman, I think I’m injured..."
The young man clutched his stomach and held up his wristband to show her the reading: "75%."
Ai Bin came over, saw the number, and asked in confusion, "You lost that much health? Lili was at the very front and only lost 70%. How did you lose even more than her? You were at the very back."
Gu Nian bit his lip and said quietly, "Sorry, I was running too fast and tripped on a rock. I got up and tried to catch up, but I didn’t expect her marksmanship to be so good. She hit me in an instant, and I didn’t even have time to dodge... Then I hurt my leg when I fell, and now I don’t think I can get up..."
Ai Bin: "..."
He didn’t know if it was just his imagination, but he got the sense that Gu Nian sounded a little proud when he mentioned being hit by Jiang Qingli...
Ai Bin pushed the thought away and asked, "So how long will you need to recover?"
"I don’t know. My ankle really hurts right now," Gu Nian said apologetically. "I might need to rest for a while..."
"We can’t rest," someone said. "Jiang Qingli’s team is definitely looking for a water source and a cave by now. There will also be random bombings. If we wait for him, our whole plan will be ruined!"
Ke An frowned.
To make the game more interesting, the organizers did indeed have random "bombings," which involved sweeping the forest with beams of light that would damage the wristbands’ health points. Players needed to find cover to hide.
Gu Nian was already the weakest player, and with only 25% of his health points left, many assumed he would be the first one eliminated. Leaving him here was the logical choice.
’It makes no difference whether he’s with us or not, anyway.’
"Chairman, you guys go on ahead," Gu Nian said, as if afraid of holding them back. "I’ll just hide on my own when the time comes."
"Alright, then. You be careful," Ke An sighed. "Remember, when the bombing starts, don’t hide under a tree. It’s safer to find a big rock... Anyway, don’t feel too bad if you get eliminated. It’s just a game. I’ll treat everyone to a big dinner tonight."
She picked up the gun Gu Nian had dropped, pressed it into his hand, offered a few more words of comfort, and then called for the others to leave.
After the sound of footsteps had faded a hundred meters away, Gu Nian lifted his eyelids and glanced into the distance.
A leaf suddenly rustled, hiding a female’s flustered face.
A faint smile flickered across his lips. Leaning on the tree, Gu Nian staggered to his feet and limped away.
After he left, the female behind the leaves breathed a sigh of relief and said to the person next to her, "I thought he saw me. That scared the life out of me!"
"It wouldn’t have mattered if he did," Lin Xiyue said. "His skill level is probably even worse than ours. He didn’t even try to dodge when he got hit earlier. You could probably hit him right now if you tried."
"They haven’t been gone long. They’ll come back if they hear anything," Xia Qingqing said. "Besides, Chairman Jiang only told me to scout. I wouldn’t dare do anything rash."
As she spoke, she glanced a few meters behind her where Jiang Qingli and a few others were hiding. After the ambush, they had been waiting for the other team to leave so they could plan their next move.
The girl had a serious expression, her cheek smudged with some dirt, but her eyes were sparkling brightly.
Xia Qingqing couldn’t help but feel a little impressed. "I never thought Chairman Jiang was so formidable. She launched an ambush right at the entrance and caught them completely off guard. Ke An really does like to play it safe, so it won’t be easy to pull off another fast attack like that later."
Moreover, their position was more concealed. The females in the inner circle weren’t injured at all, and among those on the outer perimeter, the highest health loss was only 20%.
"Right?" Lin Xiyue said with a grin. "So all we have to do is be good scouts and cling to her coattails."
As they were chatting, Jiang Qingli waved them over and asked what they had observed.
When she heard that Gu Nian had lost 75% of his health and was even abandoned by his team, the corner of Jiang Qingli’s mouth twitched.
"What’s wrong, Chairman Jiang?" someone teased. "You’re not feeling sorry for him, are you? Your burst of fire at Ai Li was dead-on. Why the sudden concern for your Beast Husband?"
Jiang Qingli waved her hand dismissively. "Don’t be ridiculous. I’m just thinking..."
’Of course I’m not feeling sorry for him.’
’Gu Nian has been number one on the assassin leaderboards for several years running!’
’My skills might give me an edge against my peers, but how could I have possibly hit Gu Nian so easily?’
’He must have gotten hit on purpose as an excuse to leave his team and go cause some trouble...’
The little bunny might look pure and innocent, but Jiang Qingli knew better than anyone that he was full of nasty tricks.
But this wasn’t the time to be thinking about that.
Jiang Qingli snapped back to the present. She and the others found a base of operations. Then, she and Yuan Shiyao went out to look for a hiding spot, while Chi Yan and the other males stayed behind to guard against the Blue Team. The plan was to search for half an hour, and if they found nothing, they would switch locations and send different people out.
Along the way, Yuan Shiyao wanted to chat with Jiang Qingli, but her expression was serious, and she clearly had no intention of making small talk, so he reined in his thoughts.
The two of them searched for over twenty minutes with no success.
Jiang Qingli sighed in disappointment.
"It’s alright," Yuan Shiyao said comfortingly when he noticed the sweat on her brow. "We’ll find one. Rest for a few minutes, then we can head back."
As he spoke, he raised his hand, intending to pat Jiang Qingli’s back.
But just as his hand went up, a gust of wind blew past, making the leaves rustle.
The feeling of being watched was extremely intense.
’Such a shameless wannabe, trying to force himself on her.’
In a tree a few meters away from them, the young man narrowed his eyes in displeasure.
Seeing Yuan Shiyao about to raise his hand again, Gu Nian snorted, lifted his own gun, and fired several shots in his direction.
Although the simulated bullets didn’t have the force of real ones, they still packed a bit of a punch.
The young man’s pink eyes were fixed intently on Jiang Qingli; he didn’t even spare Yuan Shiyao a sideways glance, yet his shots were extremely accurate.
Every single bullet was aimed mercilessly—
right at Yuan Shiyao’s crotch!