Chapter 740 - 43: Group 5_2
Moreover, throughout this entire process, his spirit never wavered, and he even endured a fierce battle.
Even though his energy was remarkable, he couldn’t help but feel a bit fatigued.
But time won’t have mercy on him, and other challengers won’t wait for him; no matter how tired he is, he has to muster up the energy to face the upcoming challenges.
After all, at this moment, he is not alone—he carries the lives of Paul and the Three-headed Saw-toothed Tiger on his shoulders—
Chen Zhou never considered himself particularly kind, but he sees himself as a person who can take responsibility.
While surviving on a deserted island, he made every effort to allow the natives to live a civilized and prosperous life, eradicating slavery and exploitation under his iron fist.
Now, in this Prehistoric World, he can equally shoulder the responsibility of being a reliable partner.
...
The return journey took three hours.
Without needing to look after Paul, maintaining a stable hold around Tiger Third with both arms, Chen Zhou’s speed increased more than twofold.
If he hadn’t deliberately checked the path for any traces, his speed would have been even faster.
...
A night passed, the sun rose again, yet the signal beacon over the Black Forest was no longer as bright as it once was, growing dimmer.
The jade-like trees cast sunlight, a bit of the smooth bark reflecting daylight, adorning the dark and gloomy forest.
The challengers who camped on the edge of the forest last night were nowhere to be seen, even the team on the cliff had left the bonfire, which Chen Zhou figured meant they had entered the Black Forest.
Below the cliff on the tundra was only the lone wolf, packing up his survival tools, seemingly ready to leave this place of heartbreak—
The other challengers were all full teams; to compete for supplies, he would have to fight one against two.
This person evidently didn’t think he had that kind of strength; leaving at this moment was also a good choice, though from a certain angle, it might be considered cowardly, yet it was wise.
At this time, everyone’s attention was attracted to the supplies, and no one wanted to waste time initiating conflict early to fight over a few redundant survival tools, which gave him the best opportunity to leave.
If there were no supplies, he probably would have been attacked by the others, and his deceased partners being subsequently eliminated.
Watching this person slowly climb up the cliff, Chen Zhou again carefully scanned the forest perimeter, confirming that no one remained outside the forest, and then he too plunged into the depths of the Black Forest.
...
Chen Zhou still remembered the camp area of the team that had been stationed on the edge of the Black Forest last night, following his memory, he indeed found the bonfire and a beast’s carcass left by those two individuals.
Whether it was due to confidence or carelessness, after setting off, the two had not erased the traces they left behind, allowing Chen Zhou to easily tail them and successfully achieve a "bend and overtake," getting ahead of them.
...
Initially, when there was enough time and Paul was not injured, Chen Zhou thought of setting traps, constructing the central area into a battlefield suitable for him, then using unbearable risks to "discourage" other challengers.
After Paul got injured, setting traps was practically out of the picture.
The Black Forest’s interior had little soil and was rocky; even if he hammered with the axe’s head, digging a trap would take hours.
As for snares or clamp-type traps, they might work on beasts, but against humans, it would be hard for even slightly cautious ones to fall into them.
Besides, they could use ropes to set up triggered traps, or place stones on high branches to create rockfall traps.
But no matter which trap it was, someone had to share the workload and use quantity to make up for the lack of quality.
When the plan to set traps and confront head-on fell through, Chen Zhou thought of competing for speed—
Relying on his high mobility, he would first reach the supply drop center, climb up high on a tree and wait, intercept it in mid-air before it landed, then head towards the Broken Cliff with the supplies, leaving false information to mislead pursuers, changing direction midway to meet with Paul, and finally, they would escape from the forest’s other end.
This plan seemed flawless, but in reality, it highly depended on the performance of other challengers—
Should other challengers arrive too early, they would certainly focus on inspecting the drop area; Black Forest’s trees were bare of leaves, and as long as the others weren’t blind, they could definitely see him and launch an attack.
Thus, his interception plan would naturally fall apart, unless he gambled that the other challengers wouldn’t look up, or had poor eyesight and didn’t see him, but that was hardly likely.
Thinking he only had one choice left—
Capture the groups of challengers entering the Black Forest, find a way to defeat them one by one, or intimidate them into giving up the idea of competing with him.
Just then, a better method suddenly flashed in Chen Zhou’s mind—
Taking advantage of the chaos.
According to the information he currently had, at least three groups of challengers had entered the Black Forest.
One group entered from the forest’s edge, one from atop the cliff, and one from the farther cliff base, each group’s distance was about one or two kilometers apart.
This was quite an ambiguous distance.
Within this not-too-far range, should conflict arise between the other challengers, they would be able to arrive in time or benefit after the two parties have a winner.
The supplies hadn’t dropped yet, and these three groups of challengers were exercising restraint.
But as they gradually ventured deeper into the Black Forest, heading towards the same goal, the distance between them would undoubtedly shrink, and conflict would be inevitable then.
After all, whoever could seize the air-drops largely depended on luck; after both sides suffer losses, a calm-hidden strong person might just step in unexpectedly and snatch the supplies away.
Only by resolving competitors before the supplies land can they ensure they get them for sure.
So, even with a bit of distance, these three groups of challengers were already poised to go against each other, only the timing wasn’t right, and the tension wasn’t thick enough yet.
And what Chen Zhou intended to do was ignite this gunpowder barrel in advance.
Once the others started fighting, it would be convenient for him to strike from the shadows, and capitalize on the chaos, seizing the supplies while their energies were diverted.
...
In military pursuits, the key is knowing oneself and the enemy to ensure victory.
But with time pressing, Chen Zhou didn’t have the luxury to observe the challengers and gather information, so he had to improvise and create a rough plan, moving step by step with the aim of merely completing rather than perfection.
After confirming the location and route of the group of challengers behind him, estimating their arrival time at the central point, Chen Zhou didn’t linger and immediately went to find another group of challengers.
...
An entire day passed in the blink of an eye.
Forcing himself to stay alert, Chen Zhou hardly dared to stop, he circled around the central point in advance, only hurriedly drinking half a bag of the meat soup made last night to replenish his strength.
The rewards from exhaustive reconnaissance were significant.
Not only did he confirm the positions of the three groups of challengers, but was astonished to find that aside from those three in the Black Forest, there seemed to be a fifth group of challengers.
This group was exceptionally cautious, deliberately erasing all traces of campfires and cooking while moving through the Black Forest.
But they didn’t anticipate Chen Zhou’s remarkable observation skills and keen sense of smell.
There was a lingering scent, akin to sandalwood, left in the places they passed; this scent certainly shouldn’t exist in a Black Forest devoid of living trees, and through this, Chen Zhou caught their trail.
Uncertain when this group of challengers entered the forest, Chen Zhou attempted to approach them to observe their attire, appearance, weapons—
Challengers came from different timelines and worlds, each uniquely distinctive; whether they specialize in close combat, marksmanship, or possess outstanding trap-setting abilities, could usually be discerned at a glance.
Unfortunately, this group’s hearing was exceptionally acute, and their vigilance was high, as Chen Zhou hadn’t even come within a hundred meters before they reacted, directly approaching him.
Wary of alerting them, Chen Zhou could only muffle his footsteps and retreat swiftly.
But the setback in reconnaissance didn’t discourage Chen Zhou; he even felt a tinge of relief in his heart—
If he had harbored any luck, only circling around once, believing there were only three groups of challengers in the Black Forest, he might have suffered a major setback.
Going a little further, expending a bit more energy, compared to this outcome, was undoubtedly worthwhile.
As for these challengers reluctant to show themselves, it was a smaller issue.
As long as he lured the other two groups over, given this group’s secretive nature and sensitive temperament, a conflict would undoubtedly erupt.
At that point, the entire area would be filled with intense combat sounds, leaving this group of challengers without the energy to focus on him, they’d probably struggle to protect themselves, revealing their appearance and weaponry could lose all mystery.