As usual, setting the first tier aside, fewer than five hundred and thirty of the second tier's thousand contestants had made it to the fourth stage. Most of those forced out had Jiang Hao's team to thank for it.
Some blabbermouth had spread the news that Jiang Hao and his teammates had cleaned out most of the snow rabbits and snow wolves in the Frozen Canyon. The contestants who had climbed all the way up on empty stomachs gnashed their teeth in hatred, vowing to make Jiang Hao's team pay—or at least beat them soundly in the Team Competition to vent their anger.
The registration area bustled with activity. Some teammates argued endlessly over what to name their teams, while others recognized Chubby and his five companions as members of Jiang Hao's team and deliberately came over to sneer at them, threatening to beat them until they were crawling around looking for their teeth on the Competition Platform.
Jiang Hao's team could not register without its captain present, so Chubby and the others could only stand awkwardly off to the side, enduring everyone's pointing and whispering. Furious, Chubby tried several times to rush over and hit someone. Fortunately, most of the six were fairly levelheaded, preventing a fight outside the arena.
With the registration deadline fast approaching, vice-captain Song Jie finally lost patience and proposed registering as captain himself. Doing so would effectively declare that Jiang Hao had forfeited his eligibility.
Chubby would never accept that. He had always believed Jiang Hao would come, but with only ten minutes left before the deadline, the last thread of hope in his heart slowly began to unravel.
Song Jie grew anxious. "Guo Dundun, I know you're closer to Jiang Hao than anyone, but you can't hold up the rest of us just for him! We worked so hard to get here. Are you saying that just because Jiang Hao is the captain, we can't register ourselves when he's absent?"
"Look at Yang Qingliu. She's sacrificed so much for this tournament. Can you really bear to do that to her?"
Song Jie's words left Chubby speechless.
The others were one thing, but Yang Qingliu had staked her future on participating in this Beast Pet Tournament. Was he right or wrong to keep insisting?
"I..."
Before Chubby could finish-
"Make way! Everyone, make way!"
"Who's this? He's so filthy! Disgusting!"
"He stinks! Get lost! Don't touch me!"
A sudden commotion broke out at the registration desk.
Chubby had sharp ears. The moment he heard that familiar voice, he thought he was imagining things. Pointing at the thin figure pushing through the crowd, he cried excitedly, "Y-you guys, look! Is that Hao? Is it? Is it?"
At the mention of Hao, almost everyone turned toward the registration desk at once.
"I'm Jiang Hao, captain of Jiang Hao's team. I'm here to register."
Hearing Jiang Hao's name, Liao Yunxiao looked up. She almost failed to recognize him in his ghastly state.
Another referee turned to Liao Yunxiao. After she nodded, the referee handed Jiang Hao a form, and he filled in the team name and the names of its captain, vice-captain, and members.
Once his identity was confirmed, the crowd behind him erupted.
A woman looked utterly disappointed. "I heard Jiang Hao was handsome! How did he end up looking like this?"
"Did he just get back from hauling bricks at some kiln?"
"Hahaha! Serves him right!"
Watching Chubby and the others pull the shivering Jiang Hao away, Liao Yunxiao said a few words to the other referees, then rose and left.
"Hao, you finally showed up! You have no idea how worried everyone was when we realized you were missing. Where on earth did you go? We thought you'd already... Pah, pah! Me and my big mouth!"
With that, Chubby wrapped Jiang Hao in a bear hug. Everything that needed saying was conveyed without words.
But less than a second later, he hastily let go and muttered, "You stink! Hao, did you go crawling through a sewer?"
Then came Wen Ruxue. Seeing tears tumble down her cheeks, Jiang Hao would have been lying if he said he wasn't moved. "All right, don't cry. I made it here safely, didn't I? I kept my word!"
"You rotten guy! Xue'er nearly cried her eyes out while you were gone. If you ever dare treat her badly, I'll cripple you! Hmph!"
Wen Ruxue wiped her tears in embarrassment. "Qianxun, don't make things up. When did I cry? I'm... I'm just happy."
"Jiang Hao, come with me. The rest of you, hurry up and get ready for your match."
Liao Yunxiao's ill-timed arrival interrupted the team's brief reunion. Jiang Hao gave everyone an apologetic look and followed her toward the logistics department.
"Second Sister."
"Shut up. You stinking, ugly little brat-at least you're back. I'll find you some clothes and food first. Everything else can wait until after the match."
Soon, Liao Yunxiao handed Jiang Hao a new backpack and told him where Chubby and the others had set up camp.
Taking the backpack to the six teammates' small campsite, Jiang Hao pitched his tent, then took the clothes to a deserted corner and cleaned himself with snow.
"Cold, not cold, cold, not cold! Fuck!"
Shivering, he changed into his new clothes and returned to the tent. Jiang Hao eagerly pulled out the food and wolfed it down, letting Big Hen out as well. "Phoenix, we've got food! Here, this is for you!"
He placed a large clump of rice in his palm and fed it to Big Hen. Man and chicken leaned against each other, eating with relish.
When Chubby and the others arrived, they found this harmonious scene: Jiang Hao leaned weakly against Big Hen's side, holding the chicken close and feeding it with one hand while continually stuffing food into his own mouth with the other.
"Hao, tell us where you've been all this time."
"You're all here!"
Jiang Hao came out of the tent with Big Hen. Unbothered by the dirt, everyone sat around him in the snow and quietly listened as he recounted his experiences.
As for the Snow and Ice Banshee's strength, even Jiang Hao himself hadn't figured it out. He only knew that the banshee was incredibly, incredibly powerful. He left that part out to spare everyone the worry.
Chubby asked curiously, "So there really is a Snow and Ice Banshee? What does it look like? Describe it for us."
Jiang Hao felt deeply awkward. The Snow and Ice Banshee had reshaped its face to match his own-how was he supposed to describe that? Tell everyone the banshee had the same face as him?
They might well laugh at him for being so full of himself.
"All right, I've told you everything there is to tell. The matches started over an hour ago. Let's hurry over."
Chubby immediately stood up. "Right, right! Hao, you have no idea how nasty those guys were. They even said they'd beat us until we were crawling around looking for our teeth on the Competition Platform!"
News of Jiang Hao's return to the arena soon spread. Although no projection fly followed him, he appeared on the livestream through other people's projection flies and was immediately spotted by sharp-eyed viewers.
Jiang Hao wasn't dead?
Did that mean the legendary Snow and Ice Banshee was a hoax?
Everyone soon agreed with that conjecture, and the citizens of Wuji City breathed a particular sigh of relief.
On the way, Jiang Hao had already discussed their Team Competition plan with everyone. He would be the main attacker. They all knew his strength, so that went without question. After reaching the Competition Platforms and carefully observing the basic situation at the second tier's five platforms, Jiang Hao chose to challenge the fifth platform. His reason was simple: people from the Fifth Competition Zone ought to hold the fifth Competition Platform. He would give those who wanted to knock their teeth out a good look—some words, once spoken, became promises that had to be fulfilled.
The team currently defending the fifth arena came from the First Competition Zone and was called the Pinnacle Team. It had eight members. Its captain, Liu Zhiwei, was a student of Shenzhou Academy. His beast pet was a gorilla, a golden body realm melee fighter descended from one of the Elder Giant Ape's bloodlines, with highly explosive strength.
Under his leadership, the Pinnacle Team had won every battle, achieving nine consecutive victories. One more win would earn them the bonus points for ten consecutive victories.
Besides their captain Liu Zhiwei, the team had another ranged fighter like Jiang Hao, named Qian Zhonglin. His beast pet was a giant hornet at the peak of the golden body realm, capable of continuously firing venomous stingers that were almost impossible to guard against.
Besides those two main fighters, they had three defensive fighters and three support fighters. The support lineup consisted of two healers and one buffer, making it a thoroughly standard composition. As long as the defensive fighters firmly protected those three supports, the Pinnacle Team could stand undefeated.
With more people participating, the Competition Platforms for the Team Competition were much larger than those used in the preliminaries. The designated area, thirty meters in diameter, gave both teams ample room to display their full strength.
"Come on, let's see what they've got!"
Once the referee announced the result, Jiang Hao was the first to rush onto the Competition Platform and report his team's name. After the referee checked everything, the two teams took opposite sides and prepared for the match.
Liu Zhiwei had once borrowed a Hand-Cast Net from Jiang Hao, so he recognized him at a glance. Remembering how Jiang Hao had fleeced him filled him with anger. Seeing Jiang Hao dare to challenge him, he sneered repeatedly, his ill-intentioned gaze lingering on Wen Ruxue and Gongsun Qianxun as he looked them up and down with utter sleaziness.
Before the match began, Liu Zhiwei deliberately provoked Jiang Hao. "Jiang Hao, you were behind what happened in the Frozen Canyon, weren't you? Don't deny it. A real man owns up to his deeds. You caused two important members of our team to be eliminated early. Today, I'll teach you a proper lesson and make you understand why you should leave people a way out, so you can face each other again someday."
Looking bewildered, Jiang Hao turned to Chubby. What outrage against heaven and man had he committed now to upset everyone?
"Hao, some bastard spread the news that we'd slaughtered everything in the Frozen Canyon. The people behind us couldn't replenish their food supplies and had no choice but to withdraw early."
After learning the whole story, Jiang Hao was speechless. "That's not our fault, is it? Were we supposed to let the snow wolves surround us without fighting back? What kind of bullshit logic is that? Do you know who's been wagging their tongue?"
Song Jie cut in. "No. Strange things keep happening, one after another. We suspect someone's deliberately pulling strings behind the scenes. The avalanche in the Dense Fog Zone might even have been caused by the same people. If we find out who it was, I'll skin them alive. It's infuriating."
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