Chapter 138: Undeniable Strength
Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Tehrn
Undeniable Strength
Wang Ben was not only surprised to find out how fast Wang Tong could swim, but also moved by Wang Tong for sharing his food and water with everyone while putting his own survival at stake.
Ma Xiaoru stared at the direction of Wang Tong. Her heart was touched by Wang Tong's altruistic act of saving the last bit of water for everyone else, despite the fact that he would need it more than anyone.
Rumi was on the verge of passing out again. Ma Xiaoru propped her head up and let the water touched her lips while other students remained where they were, trying to conserve their energy.
After Rumi had regained her consciousness, Ma Xiaoru passed the bottle around. After everyone had taken a sip from the bottle, they looked toward the direction where Wang Tong had gone.
Wang Tong knew then that he was the hope of the entire team. He was not sure if Samantha had given him the correct coordinates, but the situation had become so urgent that there was no time for him to think. He needed to act right away.
That large gulp of water he took should be able to sustain his body for a while since he had already sealed off his body using the Tactics of the Blade to minimize the loss of water.
In addition to using the tactics, another important factor that could help him survive such condition was his will. Unlike his classmates who were practically still "children", Wang Tong had experienced much harsher conditions on Norton. Therefore, he could remain calm and focused like an adult.
Wang Tong swum at high speed for about an hour, to his dismay, the dark spec remained the same size. Wang Tong could no longer ignore his feeling that something just didn't add up, so he stopped to re-evaluate his next move.
He knew that he had been moving ten times faster than he did with his classmates. At this speed, there should have been some degree of change in the size of that dark speck. "Unless… that is not the island at all!" Wang Tong thought. Wang Tong was tempted to set off again toward the black speck to figure out what exactly that was. However, he calculated that he might not be able to do it with the little energy left in him, especially when he wasn't even sure if he could reach that dark speck in the first place.
It was then clear to Wang Tong as to what he should do next.
Regardless of what it was in front of him — either it was a mistake at Samantha's end, or a survival test — Wang Tong's first and foremost task was to find food and water.
Wang Tong turned around and started to swim back. After one hour, he had reached the area where he had separated with the group. To his surprise, his classmates were nowhere to be seen. Wang Tong searched around the area and still didn’t find anyone. It was as if they had disappeared into thin air...
When Wang Ben gulped that large jug of water down his throat, he felt that he had never been so satisfied before.
Inside a submarine, Samantha watched at her students with her signature smirk. "Drink slowly."
Alongside with her students were those from Bernabeu, including Apache. They were also drinking large jugs of water as if they had been thirsty for days.
Martyrus regarded the group and said, "This was your first test. It was designed to test everyone's essential skills as a METAL fighter."
The students looked at each other in horror. They had never heard of such test, and they felt terrified at the thought of what would be involved in the real training.
"Mister Martyrus, why didn't you rescue Wang Tong."
"Yea, he had the least amount of water," the students from Ayrlarng agreed. They had already formed a bond with their leader, and it hurt them to think that Wang Tong was still out there suffering.
"You guys are so gullible. Do you really believe whatever Wang Tong says? Maybe he has more water and food in his space crystal," someone from Bernabeu sneered at the students from Ayrlarng.
Since it was a test, the students' actions were closely monitored by satellite surveillance cameras. After the desperate students from Bernabeu had been rescued, they had learned that Wang Tong had brought with him water and food which allowed the group from Ayrlarng to survive much longer. The thought of losing to Ayrlarng had made some of Bernabeu's students turn green and bitter.
"What's your problem?" Hu Yangxuan uttered a threat with an ugly grin.
"Hold your horses, both of you," Martyrus spoke out with a deep booming voice. The agitated students suddenly shriveled and backed away from each other.
In addition to Martyrus and Samantha, there were 19 students and a handful of workers inside the submarine. What had happened today was just a test, and Paradise Island was still many miles away. However, the two principals had learned a great deal about the students during this surprise test.
At first glance, Wang Tong had brought food and water and saved the day out of sheer luck; however, Martyrus knew that it had nothing to do with luck. Instead, Wang Tong had done so because he was always prepared and vigilant. To further observe Wang Tong, Martyrus ordered to leave him out there a bit longer.
So far, Martyrus could not find any fault in Wang Tong as he seemed to be the perfect student that he had been searching for ever since he had become a teacher.
He noticed that Wang Tong was not only a strong METAL fighter but also a natural leader. Like Wang Tong, Apache also had excellent combat and survival skills, but he was not good at motivating people and was not a good team player.
Wang Tong was born with the flare of a leader, but Martyrus knew that he had not yet seen the real potential of this young man and therefore, Martyrus had decided to uncover his real potential using the most effective method: despair.
Martyrus reckoned that friends had played a significant role in evoking Wang Tong's fighting spirit and boosting his morale; therefore, the old fox had separated Wang Tong with his friends, waiting for loneliness and despair to set in upon the young boy. Driven by curiosity, Martyrus decided to push Wang Tong to his limits.
The image of Wang Tong on the Tv screen quickly draw everyone's attention.
Wang Tong had then realized that his only option was to move forward. However, he also reckoned that he would need to find food and water first.
He still had the bento, so he had figured that finding food was less urgent than finding water. It seemed that the only way to find water was by hunting fish. However, while he was traveling back and forth, he didn't notice any fish around this area.
Wang Tong finally felt that his GN force started to become sluggish; therefore, he decided to stop for a while to practice a round of tactics to stabilize his GN force output.
In contrary to what Martyrus had calculated, Wang Tong didn't feel any negative emotions; instead, he was slightly excited by the challenge ahead. He remained confident that eventually, he would be able to find a way out.
After completing a few rounds of tactics, Wang Tong felt much better, and even the ruthless force of the sun seemed to be waning. Although he was still starving, his GN force had stabilized. He then charged up his body with soul power; as the soul power started to emanate out from his body, he allowed it to reach deep down into the ocean.
To his surprise, he felt a strong surge of power underneath the ocean, and it suddenly shot through Wang Tong's body. For a moment, Wang Tong felt that this energy had connected his sea of consciousness, and as he was going to "communicate" with this energy, their connection was suddenly lost.
Wang Tong had then realized that this energy was the soul energy of other marine creatures. Every kind of conscious creatures had its own soul power since the soul power was simply the energy from its consciousness. However, human's soul energy was the strongest among all.
Through the very weak connection of the soul energy, Wang Tong registered that this marine creature he had detected was descending into the depth. He heaved a sigh of disappointment. Wang Tong had wished to catch this creature, but now it had escaped.
"What's going on?" Samantha asked the worker who was manning the radar.
"It seems that there was a large marine creature that had just passed by him."
The creature's escape had taken a toll on Wang Tong's patience. However, he calmed himself quickly, realizing that the situation was only going to get worse if he suddenly lost his marbles.
A half hour had passed while everyone watched as Wang Tong rested in the water motionless. His audience had started to become more impatient than him.
Martyrus nodded in approval of Wang Tong's calmness. To be level-headed and make the right decision under even the worst circumstance was essential to a strong leader, and Wang Tong had done just that.
Quietly and slowly, Wang Tong dived down into the sea. In less than five minutes, he resurfaced again while holding a giant fish in both hands.
Wang Tong hacked the fish into pieces and sucked its blood. Despite the salty and fishy taste, the water in the fish's blood should be able to quench Wang Tong's thirst for now. Wang Tong then took out a kitchen knife and filleted the fish into slices of Sashimi.
"Umm… Better than Zerg meat!" Wang Tong mumbled as he ate, "Damn, I forgot to bring soy sauce!"
No one spoke in the submarine as they were trying to come to terms with what they just saw.
Wang Tong kept the remaining fish in the space crystal to keep it fresh.
Martyrus smiled at Samantha knowingly and said, "That's enough, let's fish him out of there."
Wang Tong had successfully found out the way to survive. Therefore, the test had become meaningless. Wang Tong was the most amazing student Martyrus had discovered in his 30 years as a teacher.
"Who said that our Captain Wang Tong had a secret stash of water?" Carl bawled out at students from Bernabeu.
The student named Shi Liang lowered his head and said quietly, "Sorry, my bad."