“Damn little vampire!” Wen Tei muttered angrily as he slapped a mosquito that was greedily sucking blood from the back of his hand. At the same time, he secretly observed the movements of a group consisting of one man and five women about three hundred steps away.
If Zhang Wen had turned around and seen Wen Tei, he would have immediately remembered that this man trailing behind his squad was one of the “friends” introduced to him by Taler a few days ago at the Kemal Colosseum. In fact, Wen Tei had indeed come especially to assist him at Taler’s request.
However, just a few hours after entering the Sandala Forest, Wen Tei had already started to regret his decision. After all, he had established himself as a bounty warrior at the Kemal Colosseum. At his current peak level of seventh tier, he only needed to participate in seven or eight matches a month, crushing several novices of fifth or sixth tier, sometimes even fifth tier, to easily earn a substantial profit.
But, for some inexplicable reason, when he heard Taler’s plea, something in his mind had snapped. He had actually been convinced by that guy! He had abandoned his wonderful life in the city of Casares, left behind the seductive beauties at the colosseum who were longing for a man’s touch, and rushed all the way to the Sandala Forest just to feed the mosquitoes!
What made Wen Tei even more resentful was that while he was hiding alone in the woods, he had to watch another man living amidst a crowd of beautiful women. Especially that sexy beauty walking closely and intimately with him, it was simply infuriating for Wen Tei.
Although Wen Tei was too far away to see the sexy beauty’s face clearly, how could he possibly forget that stunning beauty who had captivated him at the Kemal Colosseum? Whether in terms of figure, face, or demeanor, that little seductress named Jina by Taler’s side couldn’t even compare.
Lucky bastard! Wen Tei muttered enviously. Perhaps only when he thought about the huge sum of two hundred thousand imperial shields promised by Taler, and the several young and beautiful female students from the Moore Academy that Taler had promised to introduce to him, could Wen Tei find a little comfort.
However, just as Wen Tei was indulging in fantasies about those female students from the Moore Academy, he suddenly and reluctantly noticed that the group ahead had started moving again.
“Damn it, where the hell are these people heading? Shit! Even a few little girls can run so fast! Their pants will end up torn by branches sooner or later!” Wen Tei could only grumble resentfully in his heart while lecherously imagining the group of beautiful women ahead, cautiously following them.
The six-person team from Almishus Academy was not moving quickly northward, seemingly indifferent to the urgency of their journey. On the contrary, they kept stopping intermittently, resting immediately whenever they felt tired. To Wen Tei, they didn’t look like participants in a survival competition at all, but rather like wealthy young ladies out on a leisurely outing.
As they continued to move forward in fits and starts, Wen Tei followed Zhang Wen’s group northward for about half an hour. Regardless of how slowly Zhang Wen’s team moved or how delicate and pampered the young ladies in their group appeared, after walking for three hours, they were now less than five kilometers away from the Dream River.
“That group is still heading north. I think it won’t be long before they reach the Dream River,” Wen Tei lazily reported his position to Taler and others using a finger-sized telepathic communicator.
“The Dream River? What are they doing going there?” Taler sounded somewhat surprised through the communicator, asking repeatedly, “Have they discovered your presence?”
“Of course not! Do you know who you’re talking to? I’m an honored gladiator from the Kemal Colosseum and a professional private detective. Hmph! I might be a bit cautious if one or two of the people you mentioned were high-level experts at the tenth tier. But with those few who haven’t even reached the peak of the seventh tier, if they could detect me, I’ll write my name Wen Tei backwards from now on!”
“Right, right! If I didn’t know your capabilities, Wen Tei, I wouldn’t have asked for your help.”
“Alright, stop wasting time with useless chatter. When are you guys coming to deal with them? I’m getting sick of this damn forest.”
“Well, Jina and I are a bit far from the group you’re following, and we need to deal with another target first. But don’t worry, we’ve already arranged for a few other friends to reach your location soon. Just hold on a bit longer, and they’ll contact you soon.”
“Fine. Then you guys better hurry up.” Reassured by Taler’s promise, Wen Tei finally ended the communication and patiently continued trailing behind Zhang Wen’s group.
Indeed, the other teams allied with Taler did not keep Wen Tei waiting for long. Shortly after ending the communication with Taler, Wen Tei received contact from two other groups. One of them was the green-clothed, bulgy-eyed man who had previously vowed in front of Jina to break several of Zhang Wen’s limbs.
However, unlike his previous conversation with Jina, the bulgy-eyed man’s tone was so flattering when facing the honored gladiator that Wen Tei, who was already arrogant by nature, found it almost unbearable. Yet, every time Wen Tei asked about the matter at hand, the bulgy-eyed man would always evade the question, refusing to give a clear answer.
“Alright, when exactly do you plan to act? I’m only helping you guys for Taler’s sake, so don’t you dare mess this up!” Finally, an angry Wen Tei couldn’t help but shout into the communicator.
Under Wen Tei’s furious roar, the helpless bulgy-eyed man finally reluctantly explained his situation.
In fact, the bulgy-eyed man and others were not unwilling to quickly eliminate Zhang Wen’s team from the competition. However, with Wen Tei trailing behind Almishus Academy and serving as their tail, the bulgy-eyed man and others no longer needed the telepathy students to help them sense their opponents’ positions. Therefore, in order to catch up with Zhang Wen’s team as soon as possible, both the bulgy-eyed man and another team had traveled light, leaving all their telepathy students behind.
As a result, even if they joined forces, their numbers were only comparable to Almishus Academy’s.
The telepathy students from Almishus Academy were famously strong. Last year, when the bulgy-eyed man and others were ambushing Almishus Academy, they had already encountered several telepathy students from Almishus Academy who demonstrated physical combat skills nearly at the fifth-tier level. As for the physical combat students, although they were far inferior to those from the Temis Academy, they were still somewhat stronger than the students from the bulgy-eyed man’s smaller academy.
Therefore, the bulgy-eyed man had no confidence in engaging Zhang Wen and others in battle. He certainly didn’t want to turn an ambush into an uncertain fight where the outcome was unclear.
“Alright, then what do you want to do?” Wen Tei listened patiently to the bulgy-eyed man’s rambling for a while, and as soon as he understood his meaning, he immediately interrupted him.
“Hehe! Well… We’ll try to divert Almishus Academy’s attention, making them think we don’t have any intention of targeting them. Then, you can keep an eye out for us. When they relax and become less vigilant, you can notify us. We’ll then launch a surprise attack and catch them off guard! What do you think?” The bulgy-eyed man, as if he had been waiting for Wen Tei’s question, grinned a few times and quickly said.
“Fine, that’s the plan then.” Wen Tei impatiently removed the communicator.
“Phew!” After ending the communication with Wen Tei, the bulgy-eyed man immediately exhaled a long breath of relief.
“Alright, Mr. Wen Tei, the honored gladiator, has agreed to help us keep an eye on Almishus Academy’s movements. As soon as they relax, he will notify us. Now we just need to find someone to divert Almishus Academy’s attention, and then we can wait for victory.” He turned around and proudly announced to the five people following him.
“Hmm! Frank, your idea sounds great. However… having one of our students take all the badges and divert Almishus Academy’s attention? Isn’t that too dangerous?” Looking at the bulgy-eyed man’s smug expression, a gray-uniformed instructor who had joined Frank couldn’t help but remind him.
“Don’t worry. Hehe! Right now, Almishus Academy’s group is like a pack of stray dogs, barely managing to escape with their lives. They won’t have the courage to turn around and attack us. Besides, even if, in the most extreme case, they actually get hot-headed and dare to split their forces to attack us…” Here, the bulgy-eyed man deliberately paused, glancing left and right, putting on a mysterious expression, “Taler previously told me that Mr. Wen Tei is a professional detective. With him following Almishus Academy’s group, we can rest assured. As soon as Almishus Academy splits their forces, we will know immediately. At that time, we can call little Porter back.”
“Oh! So that’s the case. Then it’s indeed foolproof!” The gray-clad instructor was immediately convinced by the bulgy-eyed man’s words and couldn’t help but burst into laughter with joy.
“Of course! Haha! We’ll just wait for the ambush on those foolish Almishus Academy students!” The bulgy-eyed man also laughed heartily, his mind drifting to Jina’s charming face and voluptuous figure.
Hehe! Jina specifically asked us to give that guy named Zhang Wen a hard time. He must have really offended her badly. If I can help Jina fulfill this wish, won’t she be extremely grateful to me? These days, it seems that Taler and Jina’s relationship hasn’t been very good. Maybe at that time, I could…
As he thought, the bulgy-eyed man suddenly imagined Jina standing in front of him with her eyes sparkling with desire, her hands about to remove the last piece of fabric covering her chest. His entire body’s blood seemed to rush to his head in an instant.
As the bulgy-eyed man indulged in his dirty thoughts about Jina, Wen Tei, not long after ending his communication with him, discovered that he had unknowingly followed Zhang Wen’s group all the way to the Dream River.
As a natural boundary between the green safe zone and the yellow exploration zone, the Dream River was also one of the most famous rivers on the planet Casares. It was over 4,300 kilometers long, cutting through half the continent and dividing the Sandala Forest into two parts. Near the mouth of the Dream River, its width exceeded ten kilometers, and its water flow was almost comparable to the famous Amazon River on Earth. The scene of its turbulent waters rushing into the sea left countless people in awe.
However, the location where Zhang Wen and his group had now arrived was very close to the source of the Dream River. Here, the Dream River was not as wild and turbulent as it was at the mouth. The river was only about tens of meters wide, with clear water flowing gently. Together with the lush green trees on both banks, it resembled a very beautiful pastoral painting.
To see such a beautiful sight in the Sandala Forest, which was always rumored to be incredibly terrifying, Wen Tei also felt quite surprised. “Wow!” Not long after, Wen Tei heard the excited exclamations of the girls.
“Indeed, a bunch of young ladies,” Wen Tei sneered disdainfully, once again poking his head out from the bushes and carefully observing the movements of Zhang Wen’s group.
He soon saw that among the six people on the opposite side, several girls wearing student uniforms were clearly captivated by the surrounding scenery and excitedly gathered together to chat. Meanwhile, the male and female teachers seemed to maintain a certain level of vigilance. However, soon after, the sexy female teacher closed her eyes for a moment to sense the surroundings. When she opened her eyes again, a slightly relaxed smile appeared on her face.
Then, the sexy female teacher said something to the man who made Wen Tei so jealous, and together they called out to the students, and then all of them sat down happily, chatting and laughing.
“Tsk! Can that brown-noser’s plan actually work?” Seeing the scene in front of him, Wen Tei couldn’t help but curl his lips in disdain.
Before setting out, Taler had told Wen Tei that all the team members participating in the survival competition were carrying badges that both sides could sense. Therefore, Wen Tei could roughly guess that the reason this group suddenly relaxed was that they had sensed the badges of “that brown-noser’s” group moving away.
Not long after, the group of girls chattering together suddenly ran into the woods. A short while later, Wen Tei was shocked to discover that all the girls had actually taken off their competition uniforms and changed into eye-catching swimsuits!
Although the four girls in the squad didn’t have such exaggerated good figures as Linoah, the sight of several young and beautiful girls in swimsuits was still enough to make Wen Tei, who was already somewhat lecherous, brighten his eyes. Moreover, among those girls, there was also Amelice, a long-legged beauty who was only slightly inferior to Linoah, and Joliet, a pure and youthful beauty.
Perhaps the only thing that made Vent feel regret was that he hadn’t had enough time to fully appreciate the alluring curves and legs of the young women in their swimsuits before they joyfully rushed into the Dream River.
“Hmm… it looks like I can almost call those brown-nosers over now,” Vent murmured to himself while smacking his lips, still savoring the breathtaking scene from moments ago, as he once again pulled out his communicator.
However, Vent’s motion of retrieving the communicator had barely begun before he suddenly froze. To his shock, he noticed that the male and female instructors had taken advantage of his brief moment of distraction and vanished right under his nose!
“Damn it!” Vent muttered angrily in a low voice, hastily putting the communicator back into his pocket. Then, cautiously, he peeked out again, carefully observing the spot where Zhang Wen and Linoah had disappeared from his sight.
As a private detective with eight years of experience, Vent’s observational skills were unquestionable. With just a glance, he was nearly certain that Zhang Wen and Linoah had indeed left together just moments ago. Moreover, the direction they had taken was exactly opposite to where the female trainees had entered the water to swim.
“Could these two have discovered me? Were their earlier actions just a ruse to trick me into a trap?” This sudden thought immediately made Vent’s heart race with alarm.
Less than an hour ago, Vent had boldly boasted in front of Taler and the “Goldfish Eyes” that he could definitely keep an eye on Zhang Wen and his group. If he let Zhang Wen and Linoah slip away like this, how could he ever show his face to his friends again?
Thinking of this, Vent hurriedly stepped out from his hiding place and quickly yet cautiously began tracking the trail left by Zhang Wen and Linoah.
“Cursed bastards! Did they really discover me?” After following for a while, Vent soon realized that the two were seemingly going out of their way to challenge him, deliberately choosing routes that were heavily wooded and extremely difficult to traverse. This only heightened Vent’s alertness.
After carefully following them for about five or six minutes, Vent suddenly noticed that the trail left by the two abruptly ended. At the same time, an unusual rustling sound came from a dense thicket to his side.
“Oh no, looks like I really have been discovered! Are they planning to ambush me?” Seeing the bush slightly sway, Vent’s heart tightened, and he almost felt the urge to turn and run.
However, before Vent could even figure out a safe escape route, he was startled by a soft, flirtatious giggle coming from behind the thicket.
“Hehe! Zhang Wen, why are you in such a hurry? I haven’t already agreed to everything for you?”
“Huh?” Vent’s body froze for a moment, then he quickly turned his head around. Something didn’t seem right! Vent licked his lips. He could recognize that soft, seductive voice that sent shivers down his spine—it definitely belonged to the sexy female instructor, Linoah, whom he had met briefly before.
“Hehe! Who could blame me, Linoah? You’re just so beautiful and sexy. Even a wooden statue would probably turn into a lecher upon seeing you,” came the male voice from behind the bushes, making Vent so jealous he could spit blood.
“A pair of shameless lovers! You almost gave your old granddad a heart attack!” Vent gritted his teeth furiously, his earlier tension now completely replaced by envy and jealousy.
“Ahh! Don’t keep touching there… I’m so sensitive… Ah!” Linoah’s moan, filled with the sound of feigned reluctance, nearly made Vent’s eyes pop out in jealousy.
“Hehe! The feel of your body, Linoah, is truly amazing. But I think I like these legs even more,” the infuriating male voice sounded again from behind the trees. After a low groan from Linoah, she suddenly let out a stifled cry as if biting her lip.
“What the hell!” Hearing Linoah’s sudden cry, Vent, who was only a few meters away from the bush, felt his blood rush to a certain part of his body. He could vividly imagine Zhang Wen’s hands slowly gliding up Linoah’s exquisite legs, and when the sexy beauty’s face was flushed with excitement, he suddenly breached her final defenses.
“Woo…” Linoah moaned passionately, but soon her voice stopped. Then, from behind the trees, came the sound of the two passionately kissing.
Not long after, Vent noticed the bush suddenly rustling again. Then, the pink combat suit that Linoah had been wearing was thrown out from behind the bush and, by sheer coincidence, landed right on a branch in front of Vent!
“Damn it! I can’t take it anymore!” Unable to endure any longer, Vent inhaled the faint fragrance emanating from the combat suit. He clenched his teeth tightly and recklessly emerged from the bush where he had been hiding, attempting to sneak around to the other side of the thicket. Even if he couldn’t personally enjoy the sexy beauty who had scored a perfect ten in his mind, watching a live erotic performance would make all his suffering worthwhile!
Unfortunately, Vent hadn’t even managed to circle halfway around the bush when Zhang Wen, the man he hated so much, poured another bucket of cold water over his head.
“Hmm?” Zhang Wen suddenly let out a doubtful sound, as if he had sensed something.
Terrified, Vent immediately dropped to the ground and quickly hid behind the nearest bush.
“What’s wrong?” Linoah’s lazy, seductive voice still sounded as enticing as ever.
“I thought I heard something. Could there possibly be someone watching us nearby?” Zhang Wen’s words once again made Vent break out in a cold sweat.
“Nonsense! Didn’t we check earlier? There’s definitely no one around. It must just be some small animal running by. Come on, hurry up! I’m begging you,” Linoah said in her most seductive tone.
“Alright, alright! You naughty temptress…” As Zhang Wen chuckled mischievously, Linoah’s moans of desire, which made one’s heart itch, once again echoed from behind the bush.
As Zhang Wen and Linoah resumed their passionate activities behind the trees, Vent, this time, had no desire to peek. Instead, he felt like crying.
Earlier, out of fear of being discovered by Zhang Wen and Linoah, Vent hadn’t noticed that his current hiding spot had unknowingly brought him several meters closer to the couple. Now, the distance between them was almost just separated by two bushes! Given Zhang Wen’s earlier alertness, Vent had no doubt that the slightest movement on his part would be detected immediately.
If it had been others from Almishus Academy engaging in such activities behind the bush, Vent probably wouldn’t have felt so nervous. After all, even if the couple caught him sneaking around, Vent could easily claim to be just a curious adventurer. Without solid evidence, they couldn’t do much to him.
But the Zhang Wen and Linoah who had entered the bush were different. They were both people who had encountered Vent in the Kemur Arena before! If Vent were discovered, it would be a miracle if these two didn’t immediately associate him with Taler’s cheating scheme!
Once the news got out, even if Governor Temiso didn’t get angry, given Almishus Academy’s power and influence on the planet Kasares, killing a mere honorary warrior like Vent would be as easy as squashing an ant.
Vent certainly loved beautiful women, but compared to that, he valued his own life even more.
After much deliberation, Vent finally accepted his fate. He could only obediently lie behind the bush where he was hiding, enduring the agony of hearing Linoah’s enchanting moans stir his blood without any means of release.
“God, please let that cursed couple finish quickly,” Vent desperately cried out in his heart.
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