"The new recruit you brought back, they severely injured Captain Lei's Fatty Zheng, who is still in the medical bay, his life hanging in the balance..."
The scene immediately fell silent. At this moment, the fall of a silver needle would have been audible.
A look of shock and confusion appeared on everyone's faces. Had they misheard? Captain Lei's Fatty Zheng? That monstrous, mountain of flesh? Severely injured by a newcomer?
This news was undoubtedly beyond their capacity to comprehend, leaving them stunned for a long time. It wasn't until the guards had already left that Winnie, with a sudden slap of his thigh, shouted.
"Damn it, hurry and go support the boss!"
Everyone snapped to attention, their expressions changing as they rushed towards the medical bay. They all knew Fatty Zheng's position within Captain Lei's ranks. At a time like this, if they didn't stay by Yi Long's side, who knew what mistreatment they might suffer.
After all, the boss couldn't beat Lei Feng!
A group of people hurried along and soon caught up with Yi Long, who was already halfway there.
Yi Long remained silent, his face grim. The others also remained quiet, making their way in silence until they reached the entrance of the medical bay. Captain Lei's men had already gathered there.
"They're here, Long Team's guys are here."
Among the three teams of the Dark Division, aside from the camaraderie between the leaders, the other members had little interaction. Therefore, upon seeing Yi Long and his group, those from Captain Lei's team gathered there all displayed angry expressions.
"Hand over the newcomer!"
A man from Captain Lei's team immediately yelled at Yi Long and his group, but Yi Long ignored him and walked directly into the medical bay. Xiao Jin, Winnie, and the others were blocked.
Facing the hostile crowd from Captain Lei's team, Winnie remained unfazed and said coldly, "What, you lost face and now you want to take it out on us?"
"Pah!"
The man from Captain Lei's team spat, his face flushed with anger.
"If it weren't for your newcomer's sneak attack, would Fatty Zheng be in this state?"
Unaware of the truth, he spoke with righteous indignation. Those in the crowd who knew the truth, however, lowered their heads, not daring to speak. As witnesses, they naturally knew the entire sequence of events. But to reveal the truth honestly would be a complete disgrace.
Therefore, they dared not speak the truth from beginning to end. Whether it was others from Captain Lei's team asking them or Captain Lei Feng himself, they stammered and could not explain clearly, only knowing that Fatty Zheng was suddenly lying on the ground.
Such a statement would naturally lead to misunderstanding, making people believe that Li Chonglou had attacked sneakily to injure Fatty. After all, none of them could believe that a newcomer possessed such strength, capable of severely injuring the fifth-ranked expert in the entire Dark Division upon arrival.
Not just the entire Dark Division, but most people in every hunting team were former contestants. Their current strength was entirely honed through training in the Iron Forest, and it was because of this that they always held a senior attitude towards newcomers.
So when Captain Lei's men uttered these words, Xiao Jin and the others did not refute. Undoubtedly, they also could not believe that Li Chonglou was that formidable.
If he truly possessed such strength, why would he even participate in the Iron Forest competition? Would such a master need to improve his status through the Iron Forest competition?
Who would believe that!
Thus, for a time, everyone from Yi Long's team fell silent, speechless.
It wasn't until Captain Lei's men pressed for Li Chonglou's whereabouts that Xiao San stepped forward and said, "Hmph, if you want to settle scores, go find that newcomer. What good is it to get angry at us?"
As soon as Xiao San finished speaking, Xiao Jin said with some displeasure, "You can't say that. Who saw our newcomer ambush? Such groundless accusations are pure hearsay. If you can't provide substantive evidence, then their interaction was merely a sparring match."
If Li Chonglou were to be convicted of a sneak attack, the matter would be grave. It wouldn't just be a scolding, because a sneak attack constituted unprovoked assault on a teammate. Here, it could result in expulsion from the Dark Division at best, and severe private punishment at worst. This was no laughing matter.
However, when Xiao Jin said this, Captain Lei's men burst into laughter, enraged.
"Do you believe what you're saying yourself? If I recall correctly, you are Xiao Jin, right? How about you wait until our Fatty bro wakes up and have a one-on-one fight with him? Even if Fatty bro is still recovering from his injuries, he could cripple you with one hand, believe it or not!"
A flicker of shame and anger crossed Xiao Jin's face at the insult, but recalling the strength of Fatty Zheng from Captain Lei's team and his massive, mountain-like physique, Xiao Jin immediately cowered.
Therefore, he dared not respond, merely saying in a low voice, "In any case, this matter cannot be judged rashly. We'll deal with it after Fatty Zheng wakes up."
Actually, there was one sentence he dared not utter: Perhaps the newcomer truly defeated Fatty Zheng honorably?
Even without that sentence, among Yi Long's team, only he, who had witnessed Li Chonglou's strength, had a sliver of confidence to retort to Captain Lei's men.
At this moment, everyone else remained silent, not daring to speak a word.
Although Winnie also had a slight bit of confidence, he lacked Xiao Jin's courage.
Facing the angry stares of Captain Lei's men, even Xiao Jin lowered his head slightly, no longer speaking.
However, his words did have some effect. Arbitrarily convicting any member, or anyone in the Dark Division, was considered a major taboo.
So after Xiao Jin spoke, Captain Lei's men did not continue to question, merely throwing a cold parting shot.
"Then we'll settle this with you after Fatty bro wakes up!"
Meanwhile, inside the medical bay, Yi Long looked at Fatty Zheng, lying on the bed still unconscious, his brow furrowed.
Beside him, Lei Feng's face was filled with icy coldness. Neither of them spoke, but the atmosphere was exceptionally tense.
After a long while, Lei Feng slowly uttered, "The mission is about to begin. If this matter is related to you, you know the consequences."
Yi Long sighed and said, "This really has nothing to do with me. However, this newcomer is indeed quite fierce. Have you investigated this matter clearly?"
Yi Long was also worried that Fatty Zheng had been sneak attacked by Li Chonglou. If it were a fair one-on-one duel, it would at most be Fatty Zheng's own fault. But if it were a sneak attack, as the people outside the Long Team suspected, then the matter would be huge.
"Absurd. Are you implying that this newcomer can crush Fatty Zheng?"
Yi Long instinctively felt it was impossible. Although he knew Li Chonglou was hiding his strength, he was even more aware of Fatty Zheng's strength. Take Fang Zhang from the Light Division for example.
If it were Fatty Zheng facing him, Fang Zhang would not have lasted ten seconds!