Chapter 296: Screwing Over Two American Teams!!
American Team One’s boat was rammed by China Team One’s boat. Captain Joseph was annoyed but secretly pleased, thinking that China Team One had fallen for the stratagem.
He was very confident in the next plan, and the smile at the corner of his mouth could no longer be suppressed.
As if he could already see the stratagem succeeding!
But he never imagined that the pit dug by the American captain would ultimately trap him badly.
American Team Two kept biting behind and chasing fiercely. With American Team One’s help in slowing down, they quickly caught up and overtook China Team One and American Team One.
Seeing that Team Two had caught up as planned, American Team One began executing the second half of the plan—
Shake off China Team One and let Team Two take over.
However, Chen Jun had long seen through the American team’s stratagem. When American Team One tried to shake off China Team One, Chen Jun didn’t give him the opportunity.
No matter how American Team One accelerated, China Team One stuck tightly behind them.
Just like they were connected together.
They couldn’t shake them off or drive them away.
Joseph, who had been smugly smiling, found that he couldn’t shake off China Team One no matter what, and his face grew increasingly ugly with time.
Since American Team One couldn’t shake off China Team One, American Team Two had no way to take over the position.
The most uncomfortable ones turned out to be the American team!
The “Irna Assault” special forces soldier competition was neither a conventional military gymnastics competition nor a civilian competition, but a special competition that comprehensively weighed time and effect.
Arriving at the competition location ahead of time meant exposing one’s goal early and committing a foul.
It would be penalized with penalty points.
If arriving past the time limit, it meant slow action delaying the opportunity.
It would also be penalized with penalty points by the referee.
Therefore, the sense of time was extremely important. Each participating team had to have an overall concept, unite as one, focus their strength from a global perspective, and unify their actions.
Now American Team One couldn’t shake off China Team One, and American Team Two was ahead of both teams.
If this state continued, both American Team One and China Team One would be overtime, losing four penalty cards together in this stage.
American Team Two, running at the front, would arrive too fast and also lose points.
It was equivalent to the United States exchanging two teams for China Team One, a total blood loss no matter how you looked at it.
Joseph wasn’t a fool; he definitely wouldn’t do such a thing.
So even if he was extremely unwilling, he could only temporarily “let go” of China Team One in this stage and think of other methods for revenge later.
He ordered American Team Two to slow down and give up the front position.
This way, American Team One could quickly speed up, reclaim the lost time ahead, and strive to arrive at the control point within thirty-five minutes as much as possible.
However, the American team couldn’t outmaneuver them and wanted to concede, “letting go” of China Team One to preserve their result first.
Unfortunately, it was already too late!
The current situation had escaped the American team’s control; China Team One had truly taken control. Whether American Team One could leave depended on China Team One’s nod.
If American Team One acted cheap and just left, there was no such good thing in the world.
Chen Jun disagreed.
American Team One couldn’t leave easily.
To break away, American Team One could only accelerate, but when they tried to speed up, they found China Team One accelerating along with them.
Moreover, they were shouting chants that the American team had never heard, yet full of morale and rhythm.
Under the accompaniment of these chants, China Team One’s speed steadily increased. Not only were they not shaken off by the American team, they even began to overtake.
And the overtaking speed was very fast.
American Team One paddled furiously with their heads down. By the time they noticed, it was too late—China Team One had already passed by half a boat length, and it was too late to stop.
They could only watch helplessly as China Team One, with a paddling speed far exceeding theirs, overtook their boat in just a few seconds.
Seeing how fierce China Team One was, the two American teams were so angry they ranted and cursed wildly there, unable to believe that the participating team from the feudal backward country in their cognition was actually so strong.
Their American team, the world’s number one military power, had been ruthlessly crushed.
In the eyes of the American team members, this was no different from a fierce tiger being killed by a cat—it completely subverted their common sense and was utterly unacceptable.
However, no matter how unacceptable, reality was right in front of them.
And.
This was just the beginning.
The worse was yet to come.
China Team One, after overtaking, didn’t run away. They played the Murong family’s tactic of using the enemy’s methods against them, turning around to suppress American Team One.
Seeing their main team suppressed by China Team One, American Team Two, who wanted to leave, couldn’t either.
They could only try to catch up and cover for American Team One to escape the passive situation.
But China Team One’s boat-handling skills were too good. Whenever one of their two teams tried to overtake, China Team One would immediately turn ahead to cause trouble.
Sometimes wedging the boat, sometimes blocking the boat.
All kinds of tricky maneuvers.
They just stubbornly blocked the two American teams, forcing them to stay behind China Team One.
At this point, the distance to the control point was less than 500 meters. Plus, American Team One had previously slowed down deliberately to intercept China Team One and let American Team Two catch up, so the remaining time was not much.
American Team One had no time to go around from the side and could only grit their teeth to race speed with China Team One.
Not only did various countries fail to successfully overtake, they panicked in their haste, nearly capsizing the boat in the sea midway.
Although they stabilized after a series of maneuvers, the boat was already full of seawater.
Paddling with half a boat of seawater was even harder, and the speed was slower.
The last few hundred meters passed quickly.
China Team One, mastering the initiative and controlling the speed, achieved a result that wasn’t perfect but completely crushed the American team in comparison.
American Team Two, to help American Team One, arrived at the control point nearly 6 minutes early.
Exceeding the standard by nearly one minute!
The competition standard allowed only a five-minute fluctuation up or down. Even one extra second was unqualified, let alone nearly one minute early.
According to the competition rules, it was total annihilation; all four team members had to take a penalty card.
American Team One was continuously suppressed by Chen Jun’s team, and with seawater in the boat making it impossible to paddle smoothly, they fell far behind China Team One.
The final result was being 9 minutes late, far exceeding the limit by four minutes.
They also couldn’t avoid four penalty cards!
The first competition subject ended with zero points, and in the relatively lowest difficulty subject, both the main team and deputy team got zero points.
The American team really refreshed the record, creating an unprecedented one.
Once this result was announced, it would surely become a big joke.
But now during the competition period, all teams’ results were only recorded, not announced, and would be uniformly published after the competition ended.
The American team’s embarrassing competition record was still unknown to the world.
The American team could still barely hold onto their last dignity, deceiving themselves into thinking they would recover face in the later subjects and continue with the other competition subjects.
Meanwhile, China Team One, which had fiercely slapped the American team’s face, reached the peak of morale.
Riding this morale, they went straight for the champion.
Under Chen Jun’s careful organization, China Team One, in the following time, began one project after another with quick and fierce actions.
Items such as the 5 kilometers circuitous insertion in the primeval forest, breaking up and dispersing to find target points, vehicle driving on various complex roads, etc.
China Team One, led by Chen Jun, performed outstandingly like a fierce tiger entering the scene.
China Team Two, led by Qi Huan, was no less inferior. The active-duty soldiers who didn’t set off first also led ahead, with each subject not inferior to the foreign teams at all.
Even though the competition area was covered by primeval forest, with pine branches and decaying leaves several feet thick, sinking with a squish when stepped on, swamps and quicksand covering every step, making walking extremely difficult.
Moreover, fallen rotten wood lay crisscrossed, stones covered with slippery moss— a slight carelessness would lead to falling and injury, and in severe cases, death.
All kinds of challenges couldn’t stump the Chinese team; they all fell under the firm willpower of the Chinese soldiers.
However, no matter how firm the willpower, accidents were inevitable.
China Team Two’s Ba Te Er, during a night march, saw a thirty-centimeter-thick log on the ground and thought it was solid, so he tried to step on it to cross.
But the log had long rotted to just the bark, with very limited load-bearing capacity.
When Ba Te Er stepped on the rotten wood, it shattered entirely like an eggshell with a crack, and Ba Te Er lost balance and fell.
Falling itself wasn’t a big deal, but unluckily, with too much load making his body cumbersome, he twisted his right foot, and the ankle quickly swelled to the thickness of a bowl mouth.
That kind of pain—those who know, know.
It could be called heart-piercing!
However, Ba Te Er embodied what a tough guy is, what the military soul of Chinese soldiers is, what steel-like firm willpower is.
He gritted his teeth and persisted in keeping up with the team amid this heart-piercing pain.
Even though Qi Huan worried his leg couldn’t hold and kindly suggested taking some supplies off him to share among the other three to carry.
This would reduce the pressure on his leg a lot, making walking less painful.
But Ba Te Er sternly refused, saying seriously: “Each of our loads is at the limit. If I distribute my supplies to you, your three bodies won’t hold up; you might all be dragged down by me.
And I’m still managing now; it’s not broken. It’s just a twist; I won’t die here. Grit my teeth and endure it, and it’ll pass.”
Ba Te Er’s true tough guy words made Wu Zhe, Qi Huan, and Tuo Yonggang admire him from the heart.
So they didn’t force him anymore!
China Team Two encountered an accident, and Chen Jun’s Team One also faced various situations in the primitive jungle, with all sorts of unexpected incidents.
During the 5 kilometers circuitous insertion, they needed to cross a swamp, which was hard to judge from the surface.
Plus night marching, the field of vision was really too poor.
Xu Sanduo, as the lead soldier walking ahead, no matter how careful he was, probing ahead with a stick in advance, still accidentally stepped into the swamp.
Like falling into water, he sank with a gurgle.
In a few seconds, from the knee to the chest.
Fortunately, Captain Chen Jun’s reaction speed was fast enough; in less than five seconds, he reacted precisely, unloading his backpack and taking out the spare safety rope.
Then he used a lasso trick, throwing the rope loop to firmly catch Xu Sanduo’s arms.
The suction of the swamp was very strong; Chen Jun alone couldn’t pull him out, especially with Xu Sanduo carrying seventy jin of supplies.
Luckily, it was a team action; the team’s advantage saved Xu Sanduo.
Chen Jun alone couldn’t pull him out, but Cheng Cai and Wu Liu Yi were there to help; their reactions were also very fast, rushing over immediately.
After several twists and turns, sweating like old men, the three finally pulled Xu Sanduo out from the swamp of death.
Recalling it after pulling him out still made the heart race.
If Chen Jun’s speed and reaction had been even a bit slower, probably in no more than ten seconds, Xu Sanduo would have been buried under the unfathomably deep mud.
Even with heaven-defying ability, it would be useless; no human power could save Xu Sanduo then.
And through Xu Sanduo’s crisis this time, Cheng Cai and Wu Liu Yi gained a deeper cognition of this competition and repositioned it.
This was not only a contest of skills and techniques but also a test of soldiers’ courage.
For the Chinese team to stand out here and win the champion that only warriors qualify for, they must show tenacious willpower and accept all kinds of difficult tests.
In the primeval forest, besides terrain full of traps everywhere, natural killing pits abound; one carelessness and you’d die there.
The abundant flora and fauna also posed dangers.
The forest environment was very suitable for breeding mosquitoes and insects, making the mosquitoes and bugs here terrifyingly numerous.
If you accidentally intrude and disturb them, billions would rise like a whistling black cloud, blotting out the sky.
Even if you had insect repellent and sprayed it on immediately, it couldn’t provide absolute immunity.
Once these insect swarms came overwhelmingly, pouncing on people and launching crazy attacks, any exposed skin would be covered in a black layer; one slap could kill hundreds.
Just a few seconds of attack would make your whole body covered in bumps.
That full-body itch was simply maddening.
Even a veteran soldier with firm willpower like Chen Jun, after passing through an insect-infested area—even with his face and such wrapped in advance—felt life worse than death upon exiting.
Gaps in wrist gloves and clothes, the neck exposed at the collar, mosquitoes drilling in through pants seams…
The insects would bite dense bumps in all possible places with all sorts of bizarre and extreme methods.
And layered bumps, turning the skin into chicken skin.
That itchy feeling…
Impossible to describe in words.
If it didn’t affect the next competition, Chen Jun would rather peel off his skin than endure this bone-deep itch; it was simply too painful.
Although the insects’ attacks weren’t fatal, they could make one extremely miserable.
Life worse than death was exactly this!
Active lynxes, wolves, bears, and other fierce beasts were enough to cause fatal threats, their howls alone terrifying online.
The Chinese team had to remain vigilant at all times during the march to prevent attacks from wild beasts hiding in the darkness.
And among them, the most dangerous, nearly deadly, was encountering a venomous snake attack.
