Chapter 160: Handling

If possible, Su Chen would rather have let Ferraro and Mendiano go than Danba.

That guy was simply too cunning. In fact, he was so cunning that he didn’t seem like he was from the Ferocious Race anymore.

If the brainless Ferocious Race had him as a leader, things would become much more complicated.

Unfortunately, battles weren’t like business transactions. You couldn’t make a substitution just because you wanted to.

Even though the other students all arrived quickly and began searching the surroundings, they were unable to find Danba.

The students weren’t hired soldiers. They couldn’t afford to expend too much energy just to find Danba, and they were forced to return to the stone mountain empty-handed after some time.

The whole way there, Su Chen was clearly in bad spirits.

“Alright, you don’t need to be so melancholy. We were still able to finish off two Ferocious Race individuals, one of them a Temple Warrior. These are all your accomplishments,” He Yuandong said while comforting him.

“Danba really isn’t simple. The fact that he escaped is going to give us no end of troubles in the future,” Su Chen sighed.

“I know. However, you don’t need to be too anxious. First of all, he is injured, and the Ferocious Race doesn’t have much in the way of recovery medicines. At least in the short-term, he won’t be able to completely recover, so he won’t be as much of a danger. Second, Danba is Danba, and the Ferocious Race is the Ferocious Race. The only person he can really control is himself, not the other Ferocious Race youths.”

Su Chen’s eyes lit up. “Leader is still the most clear-headed; you’re absolutely right. Danba can only control himself, not the other Ferocious Race youths.”

If Danba had the authority to control the other Ferocious Race youths, then there wouldn’t have been a Takusha in the first place. Thus, even though Danba was smart, he wouldn’t be able to use his intelligence to its full potential.”

He Yuandong had managed to pinpoint Danba’s main weakness in just a few sentences.

“That’s right.” Wang Doushan also rushed over to comfort him. “It’s just Danba. Even if he’s smart, his strength is only so-so, and you were even able to injure him.”

“That’s right. He’s a Temple Warrior, but Third Senior Brother was actually able to injure him in a one-on-one. He really only seems so-so.” Jiang Hanfeng ran over to fawn on Su Chen as well.

Su Chen, however, let him have a little bit. “Don’t spout such rubbish. Even though it was a one-on-one then, Danba had to constantly focus on dealing with Doushan and the others. Regardless of whether he was blocking them or using them, he would need to divert some of his attention. There’s no way he could have focused completely on fighting me. In addition, my Armor-Piercing Awl uses too much Blood Qi, and I can’t use it often. On some level, Doushan and I are similar; we rely on overdrawing ourselves to temporarily fight our opponents to a standstill. If it were truly a fair fight, I wouldn’t be Danba’s opponent. Temple Warriors are still Temple Warriors. Right now, I’m not strong enough to deal with him.”

“Oh, that’s how it was.” Upon hearing what Su Chen said, Jiang Hanfeng felt deflated.

“However, this is only temporary. Even though I may not be his opponent right now, I’ll be able to take him down in the not-so-distant future,” Su Chen laughed.

“Mhm! Third Senior Brother, you can definitely do it!” Jiang Hanfeng raised his hand into the air and yelled.

As they conversed, everyone finally returned to the stone mountain.

They had just arrived when they saw Cloud Leopard, Ji Hanyan, and Gan Haoli walk over.

While the rest of them had gone to kill Danba, the three of them had arrived at the stone mountain.

Cloud Leopard and Ji Hanyan had bickered the whole way, depressing Gan Haoli to the point that he greeted the others as if they were long-lost family members.

After explaining what had happened, both sides gradually came to know what had transpired.

“No wonder I thought this person seemed familiar; it’s actually Fatty Wang,” Ji Hanyan said as she looked at Wang Doushan.

After Wang Doushan had slimmed down, his appearance was very different from how it had been before.

“Yeah, Senior Brother Wang looks much more handsome now,” Gan Haoli said, joining in.

Wang Doushan beamed with laughter.

Truth be told, Wang Doushan was pretty handsome when he wasn’t that fat.

Off to the side, Cloud Leopard coldly added, “He’s much weaker too.”

Wang Doushan was infuriated. “Dammit, Leopard, do you not know how to say something civilized for once?”

Cloud Leopard turned around and ignored him.

“Alright, let’s not squabble,” He Yuandong said. “Right now, Danba won’t be able to keep an eye on us for now because he is injured. It’s time to put our plan into effect.”

The plan that He Yuandong was referring to was the establishment of a headquarters that Qi Weiyan and Su Chen had discussed earlier.

Using the stone mountain as a headquarters, they could send out teams and collect resources.

The stronger individuals would be formed into small teams for expeditions, while the weaker ones would remain to guard the headquarters, handle logistics, and act as reinforcements if necessary.

If faced with a small annoyance, the small teams would take care of it. However, if faced with a bigger problem, they could call for reinforcements or combine teams. Su Chen had done this when he requested nearly ten people to help him deal with the Demonic Beast in the forest. Within the ruins, there would likely be more than one Demonic Beast; if needed, anyone could request the backup of the other teams.

If they encountered any dangerous targets, like other Ferocious Race youths, they could run back in the direction of the stone mountain and fire off emergency arrows. The people at the stone mountain would also react accordingly.

This way, their ability to explore the ruins would become much greater, and it would be much safer as well.

There were a total of 26 people at the mountain in this instant: He Yuandong, Qi Weiyan, Su Chen, Feng Yigu, Zhu Anyi, Shen Yucheng, Shen Longcheng, Pi Yuanhong, Wang Doushan, Cloud Leopard, Yue Longsha, Ji Hanyan, Gu Qingluo, Shi Jiangbai, Fan Ruzhi, Shui Dong, Li Yun, Wu Xiao, Wang Xuan’an, Gan Haoli, Jiang Hanfeng, Wei Yang, Yan Ling, Ma Xuan, Han Linxia, and Ji Ruoyu.

Taking away the students who had already been killed and Zhao Xin, who had yet to return, they had already gathered most of the students. It really was time for them to continue with the next step of their plan.

Based on He Yuandong’s arrangements, the 26 people were split into two groups, and those two groups were responsible for external or internal affairs.

Su Chen, Gan Haoli, Jiang Hanfeng, Wei Yang, Yan Ling, Ma Xuan, Han Linxia, and Ji Ruoyu made up the eight-man team responsible for handling everything within the headquarters, including guarding the mountain and forming emergency rescue teams.

The other eighteen people would be split into teams to explore the ruins.

Because Qi Weiyan was still recovering from her injuries, she would temporarily stay in the mountain to nurse her wounds.

Wang Doushan had truly become much weaker after losing all that fat, so he was placed with Cloud Leopard, Gu Qingluo, and Yue Longsha.

He Yuandong, Wu Xiao, and the Shen brothers were another four-man team, and they were the strongest one. They chose to head to the north, where the other large mountain was. Their task wasn’t to gather resources but mainly to scout out the area, collecting resources as they went, in order to determine a good next step.

The remaining three three-person teams each chose a direction. They would leave at sunrise and return by sunset, exploring the surroundings and gathering resources.

He Yuandong would handle the external affairs, while the internal affairs would be handled by Qi Weiyan.

He Yuandong said to Su Chen, a restless expression on his face, “I know that Brother Su is extremely knowledgeable and talented, and it would have been more suitable to leave the internal logistics to you. However, given that our headquarters will need to be in contact with all the other students, we’ll need to coordinate the other student teams, which requires a more human touch as opposed to pure knowledge. Weiyan is extremely suited for this. Thus, I ended up choosing her to handle the internal affairs, but unfortunately, that leaves you out.”

Su Chen smiled. “I think that sounds great. You’ll be responsible for handling the outside situations, while Senior Sister Qi will be responsible for dispatching reinforcements; that’s a perfectly fine arrangement. The more people we have, the more difficult things will be. For instance, look at Leopard and Miss Ji - the two of them seem to fight as soon as they even look at each other. We can’t allow this to go on forever, so someone will need to act as a mediator between them. I don’t have any confidence in my ability to do this, but Senior Sister Qi is well-suited for this kind of thing. I have a lot of faith in letting her handle this.”

He Yuandong nodded. “As long as you understand.”

Su Chen laughed, “In any case, it’s not like I won’t have anything to do. You two can focus on handling the other students. I, on the other hand......”

He purposely paused, then laughed, “I’ll be responsible for handling the Ferocious Race youths.”