5.9

Qiao Chen and company walked to the edge of the swamp. Qiao Chen first scanned the environment and saw that there were a lot of trees and some vegetation with very wide leaves.

Qiao Chen picked up a rock and threw it into the middle of the swamp. The stone fell into the water and sank with a plop. Then bubbles started coming up and popping at the water's surface.

Qiao Chen activated the system and took another look at the water to see what was in it. His whole body shivered in disgust. The things under the muddy water were really gross and there were a whole lot of them too. Goosebumps started appearing on his whole body.

Qiao Chen was thinking about whether or not he should just consider this location a loss and go to a different place. He finally figured that any other swamps and marshes in this jungle would probably cause the same level of nausea in him if not worse.

"This muddy water in the swamp smells so bad. Everything in it must be disgusting. That'd make it harder to deal with, so you guys need to be more cautious." Qiao Chen said. Then he whispered his battle plan to the other two men. The three men headed in three different directions and jumped into a tree. Qiao Chen signaled for them to begin, and Dick immediately sent several, consecutive blasts into the water.

Qiao Chen and Justin used the tree's branches to block the muddy water that splashed up. The wretched stench became even stronger once the water was disturbed.

A lot of bubbles began to rise up to the muddy water's surface after Dick's continuous blasts. The water began to vibrate and then ripple. It looked like something was about to breach the swamp.

A brownish-green frog the size of a human being suddenly jumped out of the muddy waters. About twenty more of the same frogs quickly followed behind the first one. The three could tell that the frogs' skin oozed with venom. The overall sight was a very disgusting looking and smelling frog.

Dick and Justin almost fell out of the tree in fear once they saw the creatures. Qiao Chen did warn them that the creatures that popped up might be disgusting, but he never mentioned that these gross creatures would be as big as them.

Almost immediately after the frogs jumped out of the swamp, they began attacking. They spat out venom at the three people in the trees. The trio jumped into a different tree to dodge the frog's venom shot. Blasts of energy were shot back at the frogs in retaliation.

While the group dodged and attacked, they were also carefully looking for the frog that was guarding the gem. They used their abilities to blast the frog until it when belly up. If they didn't see a gem, then they'd either chop it up into pieces burn it into a crisp. Chunks of frog flesh and frog venom flew all across the air for a long time. It was quite the disgusting sight to behold. Unfortunately, the trio didn't have the time to feel disgusted. The frogs began to attack more furiously and intensely than before. Furthermore, there was still a stream of frogs jumping out from the swamp below.

Danny, Chad, and the others were hiding behind the trees as they watched the trio battle the frogs. They couldn't help but feel greatly disgusted from it all. The nausea was temporarily pushed to their back of their heads when they saw Qiao Chen. Even though the group was a bit flustered by the frogs, they worked very well in a group. What surprised them even more was that everyone in the group seemed to have stronger abilities than what they showed before. Qiao Chen looked especially different because he was the one who bore most of the frogs' attacks by himself. This reduced the burden on the physically weaker Dick.

The group noticed that even though the trio continued to jump from tree to tree, they stayed in a triangle formation. Danny and company couldn't tell how Qiao Chen maintained the triangle formation, but it was very obvious that this triangle helped them avoid most of the frogs' attacks.

Qiao Chen was the only one in the group who multitasked. He attacked the frogs while consistently signaling and directing to Dick and Justin to the correct spots. They hadn't planned the triangle formation beforehand. Qiao Chen noticed that the maximum limits for the frogs' long range attacks stopped in the shape of a triangle, so they ended up staying in a triangle formation.

The venomous frogs finally dwindled in numbers. Eventually, more frogs died as less of them appeared. Finally, they killed off most if not all of the frogs, and the storm had passed. Qiao Chen had been looking for the gem throughout the assault, but still hadn't seen a single hint of it. His suspicions rose, so he carefully waited and observed for anymore frogs that might suddenly launch out of the swamp.

Qiao Chen's suspicions proved to be true. A venomous frog that was two or three times bigger than the ones they had just fought jumped out of the mud. It was the frog boss. Qiao Chen saw a green gemstone embedded in its head as it jumped out. He didn't know how the Lion Corps attached the gem on its head. He was quite curious and decided to check it with his system once they finished dealing with it.

There were only two or three of the common venomous frogs hopping around. They were the leftovers from the army of them from earlier. The three of them would be able to finish off the leftovers and the boss frog easily. However, Qiao Chen did a quick sweep of the surrounding area and saw the two groups hiding behind the trees. He quietly signaled to Dick and Justin to retreat first. He planned on quickly taking care of the frog boss and his remaining minions.

Qiao Chen needed to kill the frog boss without turning it into mincemeat like the other ones. If he attacked the frog boss in such a manner, then he would probably destroy the gem on its head. Then, all their word would have been for nothing.

Dick and Justin watched as Qiao Chen jumped and lured the frogs around. They were a bit confused because they knew how vicious that frog king was. Qiao Chen had almost been hit several times now. They wanted to jump in and assist him, but he didn't give them the signal yet. They didn't want to act recklessly in case they were to end up ruining one of his plans.

Qiao Chen had finally verified the frog boss' strength. He launched a counter attack on the beast. He still held back some of his strength so he wouldn't break the gem. Once Qiao Chen had weakened the frog boss enough, he was about to deal the killing blow, but a figure suddenly rushed out of the forest. The figure leapt in front of Qiao Chen and attacked the frog boss.

It was Danny. He was the one who suddenly rushed out and dealt the killing blow on the frog boss. The frog boss' huge body collapsed to the ground after it took in Danny's attack. Danny leapt towards the frog boss' corpse and reached out for the gem on its head.

"Agh!' Danny screamed the moment his hand touched the gem. He stepped back a few times before he finally collapsed on the ground and cried, "My hand hurts! Ow. My hand hurts so much! Agh!"

"Danny!" Chad and Harold immediately ran over to check on Danny.

"My hand- it hurts!" Danny raised his right hand to show them. He felt like he was about to die from the pain. Danny looked at the wound on his hand and saw the skin from the palm on his hand rotting. His blood splashed on the floor. He wailed out in horror, "How could this be? My hand! My hand…"

Chad immediately took out his first aid kid and then grabbed Danny's wrist. He sprayed the first aid treatment on Danny's palm, but it had little to no effect. Danny's hand continued to decay at a rapid pace. Danny cried out in fear and pain. He moved so much that the others had to restrain him so that his hand wouldn't come into contact with anything else.

Qiao Chen plucked a large piece of leave from the edge of the swamp. Then he used the leave to hold onto the gem and cut it out of the venomous frog's head. Once he retrieved the gem, he used the leaves to wrap it up. Finally, he grabbed some other leaves to carefully wipe the corrosive venom from the gem.

Qiao Chen grabbed the cleaned gem in his hand and played with it for a bit. Then he walked over to Danny and his group and said, "It looks like this venom is extremely corrosive on top of its toxicity. If you don't quickly cut off the afflicted skin, then the venom will spread to the entire arm. Or, you can signal for a withdrawal right now. I'm sure the doctors on the aircraft should be able to treat him."

"Danny…" Chad looked at Danny. He didn't know what to do.

"No, we can't give up the competition." Danny shook his head and said. He didn't want to miss the opportunity to become the country's representative. If he quit now, then he'd be given no score. The flesh on his hand could re-grow, but there won't be another chance to stand out from all the other cadets before the entire country while still being able to join the Lion Corps all in one go.

"Prepare yourself. Bear with it Danny." Chad took out his dagger and began cutting off the infected flesh on Danny's hand. He didn't want Danny to suffer any more than he had to, so he cut it all off with the quickest speed he could go.

"Ahhh! Aggggghhhh!" Danny cried out in agony. Chad immediately applied a healing and pain relief ointment and wrapped Danny's hand up in a bandage.

"Oh yeah…" Qiao Chen said after Danny's flesh had been cut off. "Hey, I forgot to tell you that there should be large leaves growing on the edges of the swamp. They can detoxify the frog's venom. As long as you crush the leaves so the juices come out and apply it to the afflicted area, then the wound should heal in a day or two. Furthermore, since this takes care of the corrosive nature of the venom, the flesh can grow back quicker."

"You…" Danny, Chad, and the rest of their group stared at Qiao Chen. It was very obvious that Qiao Chen waited until they had finished with cutting off Danny's palm before he decided to tell them about the other method.

"How could you treat me like this? I ended up like this because I wanted to help you." Danny made a sad look like he was in disbelief. Inwardly though, he wanted to sever both of Qiao Chen's hands.

"You wanted to help me?" Qiao Chen laughed sarcastically and said, "You can go ahead and tell them things like that because only those with such low IQ will believe you. You don't need to tell me. You hid in the forest for so long, but still didn't help when we were fighting against the army of frogs. But when I was about to deal the killing blow, you suddenly jumped out to 'help me' because you wanted to steal the gem. You're trying to tell me that you only wanted to help me. If I said this when the situations were reversed, then would you believe me?"

"I….. I wanted to get the gem and then give it to you. Why do you keep thinking that I'm such a bad person?" Danny defended.

Even Chad and Benji couldn't believe Danny when he said that. The knew that Qiao Chen was very obviously one blow away from killing that frog boss. He didn't need Danny's extra help at all. It was very obvious that Danny was aiming for the gem.

"All of that doesn't matter. How can you make Danny cut off the entire palm of his hand? You're too cruel and wicked Qiao An." Chad knew that Danny more likely than not wanted to steal the gem, but he still almost reflexively defended and helped Danny. Before they left for the competition, Danny had said that only their group was strong enough to win and bring glory to their country. If they needed to use some unsavory tactics to be able to bring glory to the country, then so be it.

"I made him? You are too funny. The person who cut his palm off was you. Oh well. Who made it so that you have neither common sense nor wisdom? What's even worse is that you naively and easily listen to other people's words." Qiao Chen sighed.

"Chad just never expected you to be such a vindictive and hateful person. He chose to believe you. I have never thought about taking your things, but you do this every single time. You target me. You hurt me. Qiao An, if you keep doing these things, then I can only be your enemy. I have no other choice."

Danny looked at Qiao like he was in immense pain and distress. He made it seem like this was the hardest decision he had to make in his life. In reality, he was just spouting righteous words to prevent other people from thinking that everything he was planning on doing to Qiao An from now on was unprovoked.

Qiao Chen made him skin his own hands. He couldn't use his abilities like normal for now. However, this slight would be avenged in the future.

"Alright, well you keep playing pretend and use those words to trick them well. Have fun, because I don't want to join you in playing a game of pretend. I will warn you though. If you follow me again, then I won't guarantee your safety if anything happens. After all, this is a jungle with accidents just waiting to happen." Qiao Chen smirked. Then her turned around and had Dick and Justin leave with him.

Harold glared fiercely at Qiao Chen's back. He hated Qiao An no less than Danny did.

It was only the frogs' body that secreted venom. Their heads had smooth skin and didn't have any pustule like bumps that secreted the toxins. This was why the Lion Corps put the gem on the frog boss' head. While Qiao Chen was 'evaluating' the frog boss' strength, he tricked the other frog minions to spray their venom at him. He'd dodge and the venom would hit the jewel on the frog boss' head. The reason why it took so long for him to 'evaluate' the frog was because he did all of this while blocking Danny's line of sight, so he wouldn't see the venom splash on the jewels.

Qiao Chen knew that Danny wasn't the type of person to just let Qiao An get a gem that easily. He was very obviously planning something. Then, as expected, Danny couldn't resist at towards the end of his battle and tried to snatch the gem. Honestly, Qiao Chen's plans wouldn't work if his past lives' oppressors minded their own business. Who told them to be so ambitious?

Au Luo was in the airship's command room. He saw that Qiao Chen forced Danny to temporarily lose his hand on top of being the first one to obtain a gem among all the cadets in the competition. Satisfaction welled up in his heart as he thought, "Yep. He's the one I want."