Jiang Kai walked out from the forest, "You guys were way too careless, these two had been following you for a while, and you didn't even notice."
Jiang Kai casually picked up the redemption card dropped by the opponent.
Su Nuannuan and Hu Yan still hadn't recovered from the shock.
As a two-time winner of the Imprisonment Award, not only was Jiang Kai still alive, but he had actually taken the initiative to find the team?
"Jiang Kai, what exactly did you go through?", Su Nuannuan hurriedly asked.
"Ah, talking too much about it just brings tears," Jiang Kai let out a long sigh, then looked at Yuan Zhu and Ruan Yu. One was unconscious, the other completely still.
Jiang Kai first used five redemption cards to release Ruan Yu from the imprisoned state, then turned around and said seriously, "There are many experts in this tournament. Someone actually managed to escape from a king-level BOSS earlier; their strength is terrifying."
"Also, the beast invasion in phase three has doubled in speed. The upcoming competition is no joke. I'll tell you about my situation later, let's go find a Place of Redemption first."
After saying that, Jiang Kai used a positioning card to locate the nearest Place of Redemption. He struggled to carry Zhu and led the team to leave immediately.
When they arrived at the Place of Redemption, Su Nuannuan handed all 9 of her redemption cards to Jiang Kai. At this point, the team had a total of 20 redemption cards.
Jiang Kai exchanged for 5 abnormal status cleansing cards. Each one could be used four times. Five cards were basically enough for the team's needs.
In addition, Jiang Kai exchanged for a target locking card.
After that, Su Nuannuan immediately removed the drunken state from Yuan Zhu and Ruan Yu.
"Kai?", Yuan Zhu opened his eyes wide.
"Captain Kai, how did you get here?"
Jiang Kai smiled slightly, "I'll tell you later. For now, let's find a safe place. We need to plan the next tactic."
Although the Fire God Squad had no casualties, everyone except Jiang Kai was in poor condition.
There were no recovery-type cards at the Place of Redemption, and the competition had entered a crucial stage. There was no time to wait for Yuan Zhu and the others to recover.
Although the other teams were likely not doing much better, there was also the issue that some people seemed to be targeting Jiang Kai.
Overall, the Fire God Squad's current situation was not optimistic.
Jiang Kai took out the full-map information card to try to gather intel on the Mountain River(Shanhe) Squad and the Red Squad.
No results came back for the Mountain River Squad, indicating total annihilation. The Red Squad still had two members remaining: Lu Chong and He Jianguo.
Seeing the search results, Jiang Kai narrowed his eyes.
Brother Lu and the others were really killed by that Inada Society?
Su Nuannuan and the others also provided an important piece of information: when they were looking for Jiang Kai, they had once searched the Mountain River Squad's location. At the time, their location and the direction from which the Hunting Squad appeared had a high chance of encountering each other.
Jiang Kai had seen Kuramasuke's strength. A second-stage player capable of escaping from both a king-level and a leader-level BOSS? That was no ordinary person.
Which means, what that island nation swordsman said was true.
That man had used one word that Jiang Kai remembered deeply, execution.
That was the greatest insult to Brother Lu and the others.
Jiang Kai narrowed his eyes, "Kuramasuke... don't let me see you again."
The good news was that Lu Chong and He Jianguo had survived until now, and their location wasn't far from the Fire God team.
"Captain Kai, the beast invasion is so fast. Look, the area occupied by beasts is getting bigger and bigger. There's not much ground left for us," Hu Yan said.
Jiang Kai nodded, "According to the beasts' speed, I estimate there won't be a fourth phase in this competition. Before the beasts completely occupy the battlefield, all the teams will start encountering each other frequently."
Yuan Zhu furrowed his brows tightly, "There are still more than ten teams, over 500 people. Even if you're in good condition, Jiang Kai, the rest of us are in too poor shape. It's hard to win."
Jiang Kai thought for a moment and said, "Under such a brutal competition system, the other teams won't be doing much better. But that's exactly why we can't go head-to-head. The final battle will definitely be the most brutal. Who can last till the end is hard to say… But I have an idea, a clever trick."
"What trick?" The four all looked at Jiang Kai.
"Stand on the shoulders of giants," Jiang Kai smiled slightly, "Let's find Brother Lu and Brother He first."
Jiang Kai and the others immediately set out to meet Lu Chong and He Jianguo.
With the position of the two known, Jiang Kai and his team quickly found them.
At this point, Lu Chong and He Jianguo were in poor condition. Who knows what they had gone through.
Their eyes were already devoid of hope. But when they saw the Fire God Squad appear in front of them, they could barely believe their eyes.
"Great! We've finally met a Huaxia team," Lu Chong said excitedly, "Since our captain was killed, we've been extremely cautious, avoiding all opponents. We thought we had no hope left, didn't expect to run into you."
Su Nuannuan immediately helped treat some of their external injuries.
Although only two members of the Red Squad remained, even one surviving until the end would earn rewards.
This was likely the key reason why they had held on till now.
"Brother Lu, Brother He, listen to me. The plan I have might be risky. Think about whether you want to follow us," Jiang Kai said.
Lu Chong and He Jianguo looked at each other. Jiang Kai wasn't their captain, and strictly speaking, the Fire God Squad wasn't even a military team. His rewards had to be split fifty-fifty with the military.
This was all because Su Nuannuan and Yuan Zhu were military personnel.
One could say that Jiang Kai had always represented only himself.
But the two still quickly made a decision.
"Jiang Kai, a lot of people say you have no ambition and only care about money, but we still believe you are, at least, a Huaxia man. We'll follow you."
Jiang Kai frowned, "Hey, wait a minute... Who said I have no ambition and only care about money..."
Yuan Zhu muttered on the side, "Insightful."
Su Nuannuan quickly grabbed Jiang Kai, "Keyboard warriors, definitely just keyboard warriors. Don't mind them. Just tell us your plan, time's tight!"
Jiang Kai shook his head, 'Alright, no time to argue about this now.'
"Ahem, well, my plan is actually quite simple. I previously ran into a scouting squad of monsters, a group of stone giants. One of them was even king-level. I have a way to make sure they don't detect us. As long as we follow them, we can avoid fighting."
After hearing Jiang Kai's plan, Lu Chong realized his earlier promise might have been a bit hasty.
"F-follow... a king-level monster... Jiang Kai, are you sure it's follow and not suicide?"
The monsters in different countries' territories were different species. Many people had never seen stone crystal giants.
However, Jiang Kai was now quite familiar with the characteristics of stone crystal giants.
"Would I lead the team to their deaths?", Jiang Kai retorted, "Of course, there are risks. But with our current condition, if we don't take a dangerous gamble, there's no way we're winning this competition."
"In desperate times, we must take risks!"
Lu Chong and He Jianguo looked at each other. Their eyes gradually firmed up.
"That's right. With our current state, we can't win! Jiang Kai, we believe in you!"
Jiang Kai nodded and immediately used the target locking card to lock onto the position of the king-level stone crystal giant.
On the map, Jiang Kai pointed at the giant's location and said to the others, "They're here. We're lucky, there's dense forest ahead. We need to get to a spot ten kilometers in front of them and prepare in advance."
"Remember, when following them, your feet must not touch the ground. Once they lock onto you, even if you climb a tree afterward, it's useless."
———
Somewhere by a lake in the competition zone, Kuramasuke finished cleaning the wound on his back and was resting.
His injuries were serious, and he was in a dangerous situation.
At that moment, two people suddenly walked out of the forest.
Yes, walked out. With leisurely steps, no killing intent in their eyes.
Kuramasuke immediately became alert, hand on his sword hilt, eyes narrowed as he looked at the two in front.
They were two white Europeans. One of them was about thirty, wore silver armor, was tall and straight, and had metal gauntlets on his hands.
"Martial Artist?", Kuramasuke narrowed his eyes.
Martial Artist,the profession ranked seventh globally by the Golden Compass. A top-tier combat class.
However, the other one looked a bit strange.
He looked about twenty, wore casual clothes, held a fishing rod in one hand, and a fish basket in the other. His messy blond hair was all over the place, and he was smiling at him.
The martial artist was instead standing behind the young man, like a servant.
The young man smiled and looked at Kuramasuke, "With both 'Full Reincarnation' and 'Bloodthirsty Phantom', two god-tier ninja talents, Kuramasuke, your strength has always been underestimated."
Kuramasuke's eyes widened.
People might've known about his Reincarnation talent, but the Bloodthirsty Phantom? Not even the Inada Society knew about it.
Yet this man saw through it in an instant.
"Y-you... who are you!"
"My name is Weiss. Don't worry, I won't kill you right now," Weiss said casually, tossing over a medicine, "Inside is a Rapid Recovery Pill, a gift from an alchemist friend. I won't use it, so it's yours."
Kuramasuke looked in surprise at the medicine bottle in his hand. Inside the transparent glass was a light purple pill rolling around.
"You..."
"Hehehehe," Weiss laughed, "Relax, I like strong ones. You're too skinny."
Kuramasuke's eyes widened, 'What does he mean by that?'
Weiss continued, "The reason I'm helping you is because... I want to see you fight Jiang Kai."
"And the winner between you two... will qualify to fight me!"
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