A Good-for-Nothing

256. You Want to Go Out with Me?

Translator: Dragon Rider

Dave and his teammates dejectedly received the punishment the organizing committee meted out to them – disqualification. A couple of members of the organizing committee were also in the Women’s Federation, so Julie was spared from a harsh beating, but Julie’s actions had infuriated the whole team, so she was expelled from the team before they got on the ship taking them back to the nearest city.

While He Zheng was talking with his teammates, someone from another team walked up to Chen Kai to thank him.

It turned out that Julie had secretly used her ability of mind-control to eliminate rival teams, and several teams had fallen victim to her, provoked others and been disqualified.

Chen Kai had found out about her dirty tricks and stopped her when she had been doing her mind control thing with another team. Actually Julie was not fully responsible for it. She had done those things because the team leader had asked her to, but eventually she had controlled her teammates, who then had found her dangerous and kicked her out of the team.

Overall, the whole team were evildoers, and they had got their just deserts.

As chance would have it, those Chen Kai had helped were Xiao Qi’s other teammates.

Xiao Qi had straggled because Xiao Han had been seasick, and Xiao Han’s absence was the reason why the team had almost fallen prey to Julie’s mind control.

Chen Kai waved his hand, signifying that it was nothing.

At this time, all his attention was drawn to the wolf he was riding.

“This wolf is so cool! I like it!” Chen Kai grabbed the hair on the nape of the wolf’s neck and rubbed it hard.

Carnotte gave a shudder and warned him in a low voice, “Do not touch me!”

“A werewolf? What a pity.” Chen Kai squinted his eyes, agilely pressed his hand onto the wolf’s head, did a backward somersault and then sure-footedly landed on the ground.

His eyes swept over those present, including the wolf. Then Chen Kai clapped his hands, looked at Li Zong and said, “I want to quit.”

He Zheng and Chen Qianlin both suspected they misheard. What did he just say?

He Zheng had not bargained on this new teammate giving them such a big “pleasant surprise” on first acquaintance. His face which was fairly genial instantly darkened.

Li Zong concisely uttered one word. “Reason.”

Chen Kai pointed at them in a very casual way and said, “I made someone a promise I’ll win the championship, but these guys seem to have no idea what this event is about, and they’re in no fit state to fight. If I attend the competition with them, we won’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of winning.”

He Zheng was so annoyed he dissolved into chuckle. “So you think you’re here for the trophy, while we’re here for the scenery?”

Chen Kai picked his nose. “You’re not here for the scenery? Since the moment I arrived at this island, every contestant that has got here in advance has been trying to get their rivals disqualified, resorting to every means at their disposal, which is a fact none of you have realized, I suppose?”

He Zheng couldn’t be bothered to defend himself. “If you want to quit, suit yourself. We don’t really need you on the team to win the championship.”

Even Tao Wujiu took a dislike to Chen Kai.

“It’s such a pretty wolf. What a shame.” Chen Kai clapped his hands and really started walking in the opposite direction.

Without looking back at Chen Kai, He Zheng said in a fairly flinty voice, “Nobody comes here to find a place to kill time, because time is precious for everybody. We wouldn’t have come here were we not determined to win.”

Chen Kai shook his head. “This is not just about winning the trophy,” he smiled.

“I know.” He Zheng paused, but his voice was still quite relaxed. “This is not only a competition but also a mission in which life-threatening dangers are involved. We could get hurt and bleed at any moment. We might even die here. It’s not like nobody has died in an exorcism championship before.

We might even be faced with countless enemies – those in the arena and those in disguise.

Just because we don’t talk about it doesn’t mean we don’t know it, and just because we are not afraid doesn’t mean we take them lightly.”

He Zheng glanced at Chen Kai’s receding back and continued, “If you think we’re not fit to be your teammates, then we don’t want you on our team. Standing by my side are my teammates, and you are just a stranger. You leaving will save us ironing out the kinks, which means it’ll save us both time and energy.”

Tao Wujiu gave He Zheng a pull.

He Zheng took a deep breath and made no more remarks on that score.

“Let’s go,” he said to his teammates.

The others nodded.

Li Zong had been silent in the whole process.

Chen Kai did not follow them, but it did not matter to them whether or not Chen Kai joined them.

If they forced Chen Kai on board, he would not be able to work as a team with them, and the whole thing would be pointless.

After that interlude, they reached the activity hall. When they entered, many teams were in there already, including the three strong ones: the Lion Kingdom, the Tiger Kingdom and the Neon Kingdom.

Many contestants fell into discussion in muted voices as He Zheng and his teammates walked inside. They instantly became the focus of attention.

Without appearing uptight, they walked up to the reception desk to check in.

According to the rules set by the organizing committee, the number of members of a team should be between four and six. Their team had five members, so they fit the bill.

After checking in, they took their room keys, planning to familiarize themselves with the environment first before going to their rooms to rest.

“Tomorrow, at nine o’clock in the morning, the Global Exorcism Committee will announce the rules of the competition here. Don’t be late,” a staff member specifically cautioned them.

After hearing this, they all walked off.

They had been assigned a small bungalow next to the hall.

This time around their rooms were still standard double rooms, but because the name list they had previously submitted suggested that there were seven of them, including Li Zong, so there was also a room for three, which now accommodated Lao Ka and Tao Wujiu.

He Zheng entered the room, put down his baggage and found that there was no toilet in the room. There was only a shower head in the bathroom, so he planned to go out and look for a toilet. He followed the signposts and found that there was only a public restroom in the hall. The infrastructure here was really poor. Wouldn’t he have to wait in line in front of the pubic restroom before he could answer a call of nature tomorrow morning?

Depressed, He Zheng returned to his place only to notice a familiar figure entering the hall.

He Zheng narrowed its eyes and hesitated for a while before he slowly followed in that person’s wake.

Chen Kai strode into the hall. What he had done earlier this day was enough to put him in the limelight. When Chen Kai told a staff member that he was a member of the national team of the Republic of Hua, a couple of foreign contestants who had not left yet were both astonished and envious.

“Humph, what an asshole. He said he didn’t want to be on our team, but he secretly came back here.” When He Zheng was inwardly muttering, Chen Kai had already entered his name and walked out.

The yellow-haired pal seemed not to notice He Zheng’s presence, his hands in his pockets. He Zheng found that he showed no inclination to go to the temporary accommodation.

He Zheng paused briefly and then followed.

Humming some inexplicable square-dance tune, Chen Kai leisurely walked towards the gates.

There were many tall coconut trees beside the sandy beach outside. After a few steps, Chen Kai stopped, staring straight at He Zheng. He whistled and then said, “If Li Zong finds out you followed me here, he might think I try to seduce you.”

Chen Kai was actually very young. He looked no older than 19. He Zheng, though spotted, did not feel embarrassed at all. He walked up to Chen Kai in a natural way and said, “Anybody can tell you are not my type, so Li Zong won’t misunderstand.”

“Aren’t you a member of the He family? Show me the Welkin Upender.”

“Why? And what is your surname?”

“My surname is Chen.”

“Oh, what a coincidence – Chen is the surname I hate the most.”

Chen Kai gave a toothy smile.

Arms folded over his chest, He Zheng stared at Chen Kai and said, “A moment ago a guy claimed that he didn’t want to be on the same team with us, but now he has secretly entered his name again, which is very shameless.”

“Anyway, your mouth is yours, and you may say whatever you want with it.” Chen Kai had a glib tongue and could spin everything.

He Zheng snorted, turned on his heel and left.

Smiling, Chen Kai lowered his head and followed.

The two of them came back one after the other. At the sight of this, Tao Wujiu and all the others wondered whether they were hallucinating. Li Zong, however, was totally unsurprised as though he had some time ago seen it coming.

Old Ka glanced at Chen Kai. Tao Wujiu drew He Zheng to the side and asked in a hushed voice, “Did you sleep with him to get him back here? Didn’t Chen Kai say he would never join us?”

“Fuck you. Say that again and I’ll sodomize you,” demurred He Zheng, looking sulky.

Tao Wujiu was faint with anxiety. “Just tell me already. Don’t prolong the agony.”

He Zheng rolled his eyes upwards. “Why are you as annoying as Chen Qianlin? I don’t know why he changed his mind. I was just out there looking for a toilet.”

“Lao Chen has one in his room,” Tao Wujiu said.

He Zheng went there to take a look and found that Tao Wujiu was telling the truth.

It turned out that odd-numbered rooms had toilets while even-numbered ones didn’t.

He Zheng insisted on swapping rooms with Chen Qianlin, who naturally refused. He Zheng and Chen Qianlin started scrapping after a few moments. Tao Wujiu and Qiu Luo each restrained one of the two and managed to stop the fight.

He Zheng, who was in a bad mood, was taken back to the room by Li Zong who then tried to placate him. Chen Qianlin was sitting in a chair, an awkward look on his face. A moment ago, when Qiu Luo had come to the room, he had really been scared.

He and Qiu Luo were the only ones left in the room.

Lao Chen, who was not very straight, found that his feelings had undergone a huge change within merely a couple of days. For example, when facing Qiu Luo, Chen Qianlin always felt that something was not quite right.

“On that day, before the special training session, I went to an orphanage to play with the kids there. Some little girls found a female TV celebrity very interesting, so I disguised myself as her and played with them. And I didn’t find time to change clothes before going to the training session.”

Chen Qianlin averted his face. ‘So he’s not a drag queen,’ he inwardly muttered, but the next moment he said, “Oh, I see, but why are you explaining this to me?”

Qiu Luo smiled. Chen Qianlin was sitting in a chair, leaning against the window. On this island the sunshine felt particularly warm and bright. It was pouring through the window and more than half of it hit Chen Qianlin’s face.

Qiu Luo reached out a hand and affectionately tweaked Chen Qianlin’s earlobe.

“You’ve found out, I suppose?”

Chen Qianlin subconsciously twisted his head aside, a pink flush over his earlobes. “Wh–What do you mean?” he stuttered.

Qiu Luo chuckled, “I thought you were incapable of any other facial expressions apart from a sulky one, but it turns out you can be shy in some circumstances.”

Chen Qianlin’s face darkened quickly, and with that he stiffened his neck and said, “I’m not being shy!”

“I have feelings for you.”

Chen Qianlin was astounded.

Smiling, Qiu Luo fixed Chen Qianlin with a gaze and bore down on him. “If you don’t hate me, I’d like to ask you out. What do you say?”

Chen Qianlin, “!!!”