Chapter 157
The accident happened so fast that everyone, whether at the scene or in the live broadcast room, screamed in fear. Xia En, who was standing next to Chu Huaiqin, took a sudden step forward before anyone could react. His gloved hand instantly grabbed the snake's head and swung it towards Chen. However, in mid-air, Arnold grabbed it and swung it again, sending it flying into the distant rock wall.
Live broadcast room: ...
"Ahem, I yelled too loudly just now, my throat hurts."
"Ahhh, I'm so scared! This is a rattlesnake. One bite from it can kill a person. It's so scary."
"What the hell is Chen? Why the hell is he throwing rocks at snakes? Is there something wrong with his brain?"
"He must be doing it on purpose! Since the competition, he's been keeping a low profile, like a venomous snake, hiding in the shadows and plotting to bite his brother."
"Can you please be a little polite? His name is Chen Zigao, and he just wanted to chase the snake away. Don't we usually chase snakes away with something when we see them?"
"That's right. Chen Zigao was also within the range of the rattlesnake. How could he have done it on purpose? You are using your own mean intentions to deceive others."
"I don't know whether to be angry or amused. This snake is crawling on the rocky mountain above my brother and the others, and Chen is hiding at the back of everyone. Who has the guilty conscience? Only you know."
There was a lot of noise in the live broadcast room, but at this time Chen Zigao walked out in the angry gaze of everyone, pulled down the veil on his face, revealing a very handsome face.
"I'm very sorry. I wanted to use a stone to drive away the snake, but I didn't expect it to shoot towards you." Chen Zigao bowed in front of everyone's surprised gaze.
"Chen certainly meant well but ended up doing something awful," Arnold, who had been following Chen Zigao, said. "He's been learning business management from Mr. Chen since he was little, either staying at Gaohui Group or flying high. He has very limited common sense and didn't realize that this would anger the snake. On behalf of Mr. Chen, I apologize to everyone. I'll make amends to everyone after the competition is over."
The sudden reveal of Chen Zigao's identity, always a low-profile figure, undoubtedly had an effect. Gaohui Group, formerly a Chinese enterprise belonging to the Chu family, was founded during the Republic of China era. However, as his descendants preferred literature to business, management remained under the purview of managers until it was inherited by Chen Minghui, the son-in-law of the Chu family. Through his leadership, the Chu family enterprise rose from a top 100 domestic enterprise to an international trading conglomerate. Thirteen years ago, Chen Minghui, the son-in-law, divorced the family's only daughter, and the Chu family enterprise was renamed Gaohui Group, catapulting it into the top 30 of the Forbes rankings.
Gaohui Group is also very famous internationally. Even though some people here are not celebrities, the young man who runs such a huge company still retracted his previously overly angry expression.
"Since he didn't mean it, forget it," Phil said, his hands in his pockets. Although his expression was arrogant, many people could clearly sense that he was softening his attitude towards Chen Zigao. Fawning was out of the question. After all, he was an Oscar-winning actor. Right now, he was just treating Chen Zigao as a wealthy second-generation dandy who could befriend him after the competition.
"Let's just forget about it if everyone is fine!" Agata from the Russian team spoke up. She was a model. The entertainment industry in Russia was underdeveloped, while the entertainment market in China was huge. It was okay for her to do a favor for Chen Zigao.
"Since everything is fine, let's go. It will be troublesome if we stay here." David from Kangaroo Country said.
"Thank you for your generosity, everyone. I'll be careful next time," Chen Zigao said with a smile. When this man, who rarely showed his face, and when he did, wore a stern expression, he smiled, many people in the livestream room screamed.
The reason why Chen Minghui was loved by the only daughter of the Chu family was not only because of his extraordinary ability, but also because of his good looks. It was just that his character was not good. Chen Zigao inherited his father's looks.
Chu Huaiqin smiled, pulled the somewhat angry Xia Entang, and told him not to be impulsive, then said: "In that case, let's go!"
"Brother," Lin Zhinan stretched his head out, smiled at Chen Zigao, and said, "I read a lot of books about the desert before coming to participate in the competition, so I understand this common sense. Brother, you didn't even know that poisonous snakes will attack when frightened. It seems you are really busy, so busy that you didn't have time to do your homework before coming to participate in the competition."
Everyone at the scene: ...
Live broadcast room: ...
"Pfft, good job, sister."
"Yeah, what is he doing here? If he's busy, why is he here as an amateur? If he's not busy, why is he here without doing his homework?"
"It's a young master's game. Disgusting."
"Who said amateurs can't come and play?"
"If you're here to have fun, don't drag others down. Do you really think we all have to take care of him?"
Chu Huaiqin's fans in the live broadcast room held their breath and quarreled with Chen Zigao's new fans. Many domestic viewers lamented that Chu Huaiqin's current fans are no longer soft buns, but strong and huge.
After this little setback, everyone gathered themselves and set off. Because of this incident, everyone became much more cautious afterwards.
At this time, Su Huaichen had been taken back to the capital for a while. After two days of hospitalization, he was taken to Xia Huang's residence after a checkup. From that day on, Su Huaichen became a violent lion. When he wasn't watching the live broadcast, he would beat Xia Huang, whether he was happy or not, and he showed no mercy. Since Su Huaichen moved into the residence, Xia Huang's assistant had never seen his face clean. It was always bruised or swollen, and from time to time, you could see the bleeding claw marks.
"He's been holding back his anger for so many years. Letting it out won't make him so angry anymore." Xia Huang touched the wound at the corner of his mouth. The result of stealing a kiss was just a bite, but it was worth it. "How's the investigation into the Chen family going?"
"It's clear now. Thirteen years ago, what Chen Minghui did to the Chu family made many people dissatisfied, so it would be difficult for him to use the Chu family's connections in the imperial capital again. The people he knows are all people in the business world, and businessmen will not do anything without profit. It is not difficult for him to break through the Chen Group." The assistant reported while glancing at the wound at the corner of his boss's mouth and laughing secretly.
"Bankruptcy is just losing money. What I want is to have nothing: fame, power, money, and personal freedom." Xia Huang folded his hands, supporting his chin. He closed his eyes, and the scene of Su Huaichen's bloody hand reappeared in his mind. "That kid Xia En will be grateful to me too."
At a young age, Xia En founded Qing En Technology with the sole purpose of accumulating connections, power, and status to avenge Chu Huaiqin. Unfortunately, his personality didn't allow him to achieve such feats. Despite his intelligence and some contributions to drone development, his management and networking skills were a complete mess. While Xia En was nominally the chairman of Qing En Technology, Xia Huang was the one actually coming up with the management ideas. Furthermore, Xia Huang's assistants helped him manage his networks, leaving Xia En simply sitting there, not doing anything.
"Well, he is Mr. Chu's father after all. Mr. Chu and the young master..." the assistant reminded hesitantly.
"I guess that man is no different from a stranger to him." If Chu Huaiqin could still be soft-hearted towards Chen Minghui, then it would mean that Xia Huang had misjudged him.
Assistant: "Mr. Xia, it may take Manager An quite some time to evaluate the Chen bankruptcy project."
Xia Huang: "What I, Xia Huang, lack is not time. I have patience."
The assistant nodded, understanding.
The groups in this world that can make it to Forbes are not scary. What is scary are those that make it to Forbes from unscrupulous sources.
As for the Chen family, it's like a towering building. If you want to demolish it, there will be many people who oppose it, especially when it's filled with rich and powerful residents. But once the authorities tell these residents that the building's foundation is unstable and will collapse at any moment, the people inside will rush out regardless, and maybe even someone will help with a few hammer strikes.
As for when the Chen building will be demolished, as Mr. Xia said, he has no shortage of time and he has absolute strength.
Chen, you shouldn’t mess with people you shouldn’t mess with.
At this point in the Moyeer Desert, everyone was on high alert. Any snakes, insects, rats, or ants they encountered later would be easily dealt with. At 6:30 PM, everyone slowly emerged from the forest of rocky mountains. The view suddenly opened up, and the endless desert appeared before them again. The heat wave hit them head-on. It was obvious that the temperature outside was even more terrifying than inside.
"It's half past six now. In the past, the sun would have been setting at this time, so it wouldn't have been this hot." Russell of the Double Eagles looked at his wrist. The temperature displayed on it was astonishing: 38 degrees.
"How are you?" Xia En looked at Chu Huaiqin worriedly. He gave him a few sips of water and asked anxiously, "Are you feeling better?"
It was too hot, and Chu Huaiqin's energy was draining away quickly. He didn't want to talk, so he could only nod and signal to Xia En with his eyes that he was hungry.
Xia En smiled when he saw Chu Huaiqin touching his belly.
"You two take good care of him. I'll go find something to eat," Xia En continued. "Go back inside!"
"I'll go with you!" The little monk remembered that Chu Huaiqin had said that no one could be left behind alone.
"You have to take care of Qing, Qingqing." Xia En's cheeks felt a little hot as he finished speaking. He stole a glance at Chu Huaiqin and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw he didn't object. Since this morning, he felt his relationship with Qingqing should be taken to the next level, so he started by calling her by her name, slowly getting her used to it.
The little monk looked at Xia Entang in surprise. He had always called him brother, so why did he suddenly call him by his name?
"Did you hear that?" Xia En called out when he saw the little monk's absent-minded expression.
"Oh, okay," the little monk nodded. It was obvious that the man named Chen was not a good person. He looked very uncomfortable. He couldn't leave him alone here, and he couldn't let Lin Zhinan, who was only slightly better than him, go with Xia Entang. After thinking it through, the little monk said, "Thank you for your hard work."
"Just take good care of Qingqing." When Xia En said Chu Huaiqin's name, he still didn't dare to look at him directly, for fear of seeing his displeased expression, but when he saw Chu Huaiqin didn't respond out of the corner of his eye, he felt a little uncomfortable.
The food spot marked on the map was not far away, but it was difficult to get. Standing under the rock wall, everyone looked at the scattered boxes on it and secretly cursed the program over and over again in their hearts.
The teams dispersed and secretly discussed, as if afraid others would hear their bright ideas. In the end, they only had one solution: climb up. Xia En had already begun to climb, but before he reached the top, the weathered outer layer of the rock peeled off and scattered all over the ground.
The others were terrified, but they had to try. When their hands touched the rock wall, even through their gloves, they could feel the terrifying temperature.
"It's so hot, how can we get up there?"
Some people roared out the thoughts of everyone, and some people cursed the production team, but in the end they still had to climb up. Even if some people found a good position, they still couldn't reach it. Halfway through, they fell down holding pieces of weathered stones and hit the ground so hard that their internal organs were almost squeezed out.
Sweat was pouring down like crazy. Many people from other teams came back and forth to try, but Xia En was the only one left in the Gun Gun Team who was still working hard. In the live broadcast room, his skin, which was occasionally exposed, was terribly red. It seemed that it would be flaky all day long.
Live broadcast room:
"The production team is speechless. How did they put it up there?"
"Drone!"
"Thinking about the domestic Saiqinge and his team catching drones, can we catch a drone and hang it down now?"
"During the domestic competition, my brothers and I caught drones to use as lighting. Now, we need remote controls to lift things. What's the point of catching them without remote controls?"
The livestreamers sighed, not knowing what to say as they watched the contestants being tortured so badly by Anthony. It was 38 degrees Celsius right now, and this rock had been baked all day, showing just how terrifying the surface temperature was. If everyone hadn't been wearing gloves, they might have been cooked.
The people in the livestream were shaking their heads. Just then, Xia Entropy did something unexpected: he took off his gloves, stuffed them into his pockets, and climbed up barehanded. The drone caught Xia Entropy's eye in time. His face, now covered in veil, was even redder than before, and sweat was pouring down his face.
"Oh my god, I seem to smell the sizzling sound of frying meat and the smell of burning."
"Is he crazy? The surface temperature is at least 60 degrees!"
"It's ripe, it must be ripe."
Perhaps the production team noticed the comments in the livestream's comments section, but they zoomed in specifically to focus on Xia En's hands. The fans of the "Rolling Team" were left in a state of confusion, unsure how to criticize the production team. However, as the camera zoomed in, everyone saw the palm of his hand—it was completely red, as if it had been scalded by boiling water.
Concerned hearts clenched in knots, yet Xia Entang's actions proved effective. With his gloves off, his hands could more directly feel the rock beneath him. He quickly climbed up, found the nearest box, lifted it up, and scooped up another on his way back down. The people below were all anxious. The food the production team had previously given out wasn't divided into portions, but it was just enough. Now, with the boxes, would each team only get one? Xia Entang had taken two, so wouldn't that mean one less?
Instantly, teams were energized, following Xia En's lead and removing their gloves. As soon as they placed their hands on the rock face, many were so burned they pulled back, taking several steps back.
"Anthony, you want to burn us to death?"
Philly from the United States gave the drone a middle finger.
Live broadcast room: ...
Xia En's descent was much easier, drawing jealous glances from several teams upon landing. Without batting an eyelid, Xia En carried two boxes to find Chu Huaiqin and the others. Back in the aisle, Chu Huaiqin, sitting in the shade, looked much better, though his brows were still furrowed, suggesting he was still feeling a bit unwell. This had a lot to do with the fact that it was 7 p.m. and the sun hadn't set yet, making the temperature extremely hot.
Xia Entang gave the two boxes to the little monk, and came to Chu Huaiqin. He took off his gloves and placed them on Chu Huaiqin's forehead. Before he could figure out Huaiqin's condition, he realized his hands were burning and his palms were a little numb. Then he remembered that his palms had been burned for a long time and were a little hurt. He quickly pulled back, but was caught by Chu Huaiqin in mid-air.
Chu Huaiqin endured the discomfort in his body and pried open Xia En's palm, which was red.
"What's going on?" Chu Huaiqin frowned and tried hard to think of anything here that could burn his hands.
Xia Entang didn't want to hide it and recounted the process of taking the box.
Chu Huaiqin thought for a moment and said, "Remember I told you I roughly knew where the end point was?"
Xia En nodded.
The people in the live broadcast room nodded repeatedly: We also remember that we, who have obsessive-compulsive disorder, were almost suffocating to death waiting for this secret.
Chu Huaiqin sat up and said in a deep voice, "When I saw the lake, I guessed that we must have reached the desert on the Sudanese border. There is a very scary place on the Sudanese border, the Flaming Mountain, which is known as the hell on earth."
Live broadcast room: Hey, you still haven’t told me the end point!
The author has something to say: The solution to the Chu family’s problem will be put in the extra chapter, and will only be mentioned briefly in the main text, following a timeline.
As for the story of Xia Huang and Su Huaichen, if someone wants to read it, I will write two extra chapters. If no one wants to read it, I will simply mention it outside the story of Chu Huaiqin without going into details.
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