Chapter 113: Enduring Humiliation

His footfall stopped short.

Bai Yuxi spun around with a jolt, glaring angrily at the people from the Tiger Squad.

The man at their head, Brother Tiger, wore an apologetic smile, but the mockery in his eyes was utterly unhidden.

This was unbearable.

With a sharp crack, Bai Yuxi clenched both fists, his body leaning forward slightly, but before he could explode, a large hand came down on his shoulder and held him fast.

Even with the drastic growth in his physical condition from his recent super-evolution, he could not move at all.

Someone had gotten behind him without him noticing a thing. That sent a chill through Bai Yuxi, who had already begun growing used to his own hyper-sensory ability, and he turned back in alarm.

"Well, if it isn't Brother Tiger?"

"Why would someone of your stature be picking on one of our kids?"

Old Lei, the main member in charge of leading the Firebird Squad this time, greeted Brother Tiger warmly while resting a hand on Bai Yuxi's shoulder. The gesture looked casual enough, yet it pinned Bai Yuxi firmly in place.

"Oh?"

"So it's you, Old Lei?"

"Why are you the one leading the team?"

Brother Tiger looked as if he had only just noticed Old Lei, saying with feigned surprise, "Your Firebird boss, Flaming Eagle, didn't come this time?"

"We're only a small fry outfit," Old Lei said with a chuckle. "How could we compare with a big, wealthy squad like yours? Someone has to stay home and keep watch, right? If the higher-ups hadn't made participation mandatory, we wouldn't have had the time to come join the fun. We've still got our own little patch of ground to worry about."

"Is this a newcomer from your Firebird Squad?"

Brother Tiger chuckled as well, glancing at Bai Yuxi, whom Old Lei was holding down, and nodded with a smile. "Not bad, not bad. Your Firebird has been producing quite a few talents lately."

"You're too kind."

Old Lei smiled faintly. "Could it be that our kid was being rude and offended your esteemed self, Brother Tiger?"

"No, no."

"Wouldn't you know it, my little brother here has always had that rotten habit of being hateful to both man and dog."

Brother Tiger waved a hand in magnanimous fashion. "It's fine, it's fine. Just a misunderstanding."

"Good, good!"

Old Lei let out an exaggerated sigh of relief. "Then we'll leave you to it. When you're free, a few of us old brothers will come find you for a drink!"

As he spoke, he patted Bai Yuxi's shoulder and turned him away, walking back toward the Firebird Squad's camp while still nodding politely in the direction of the Tiger Squad.

"I won't ask what just happened. I figure it probably wasn't your fault."

"If I can give you only one piece of advice, it's this: if you're weak, then keep your tail tucked in. The extraordinary world doesn't have that much reason to speak of, and people with bad tempers tend to die young."

Only after they had walked far enough that the other side could no longer see them did the smile fade from Old Lei's face. Without even looking at Bai Yuxi, he said flatly, "And don't go causing trouble for the squad. If you die, that's one thing, but our Firebird can't afford to offend their Tiger Squad."

Seeing the members of the Seventh Team come out to greet them with some tension, Old Lei curled his lip and gestured. "Go on."

Bai Yuxi's face was dark as storm water. He glanced at Old Lei and nodded, counting it as thanks for having stepped in to get him out of that bind, but inside him a fire had been lit, a fire called unwillingness.

For all his generally mild nature, this was the first time in his life he had felt such intense hatred. Even the last time, when he had nearly died at the hands of the axe man, he had been nothing more than angry.

Taking a deep breath, he carved that feeling deep into his heart.

Bai Yuxi started toward his companions. Today, he had been given a proper lesson, and had learned the truth that all humiliation comes from weakness.

Just as Old Lei had said: if you're weak, keep your tail tucked in. Bad temper gets you killed quickly. That was the law of survival in the extraordinary world.

But Bai Yuxi did not notice that after he left, Old Lei rubbed the fingers that had just been pressing down on his shoulder, looking rather puzzled...

"Xiaobai?"

"Are you all right?"

Once inside the Seventh Team's tent, Luo Fei and the others looked at Bai Yuxi's somewhat grim expression and asked with concern, "What happened?"

"Nothing."

Bai Yuxi sat down on his cot and forced a smile. "I just ran into that mad dog from before again."

"Qu Yi?"

The members of the Seventh Team exchanged glances.

"Why would the Tiger Squad be assigned to this camp as well?" Luo Fei frowned. "Shouldn't they be in one of the more central camps?"

"The Tiger Squad isn't actually staying in this camp."

"They're just here to show support for that mad dog and will be gone after making the rounds."

"Qu Yi and his lackeys have been assigned to this camp."

Willy popped out like an informer with a face full of news. "After all, this is still the outer perimeter, so it's relatively safer."

"Let's just hope that lunatic doesn't come looking for us," Luo Fei and Chicken Leg said with a sigh, exchanging a glance. "Why do we keep running into him no matter where we go?"

"What's the deal with that Qu guy, anyway?"

"Why does he keep picking fights with our squad?"

Bai Yuxi asked, still puzzled, "Have we ever offended him before?"

"It's not that he's against us specifically. He's against everyone."

"Aside from the top three squads, whom he doesn't dare provoke, every trainee squad under the Jialuo Mountain Base has been driven to the brink of madness by him."

"No one knows what kind of fit that country hound is having. He barges around like some bumpkin thug who just got into the city and is about to piss a territory circle around himself. In short, he bites anyone he sees."

Xiaoyou rolled her eyes. "If Brother Zhao Hu of the Tiger Squad hadn't been shielding him all this time, and if the other squads weren't unwilling to clash with the Tiger Squad, he'd have been beaten to death long ago."

Encountering such an oddball really left one speechless.

Bai Yuxi, who had just been brimming with rage and ready to work hard to improve his strength, suddenly felt a little deflated. It seemed rather beneath him to waste energy fighting with someone like that...

"For a trainee squad as disregarded as ours, we really can't do anything to him."

"And if it comes to a fight, never mind whether we can beat his lackeys."

"Our Firebird backing us isn't strong enough either, and they definitely wouldn't protect us the way Zhao Hu protects Qu Yi."

Chicken Leg also said, somewhat helplessly, "A toad landing on your foot doesn't bite you, but it disgusts you to death... For now, we can only endure hardship in secret and train like mad, so that one day they'll understand that a young man must never be slighted for poverty..."

"All right."

"If we can avoid him, then let's avoid him."

"If a mad dog bites people, we can't exactly turn around and bite him back, can we?"

After this miserable episode, everyone lost some of their enthusiasm. Luo Fei, as the team leader, quickly rallied them. "The assignment has already been handed down: an extermination mission in Sector D24. All we need to do is hold this area and keep the mutated rats from escaping through it."