"Clang, clang, clang!!!"
From far away, he heard what sounded like a gong being struck.
"Ahahahaha..."
Right after that hearty laughter rang out, Xiao Ran's eyes grew hazy, and he abruptly stopped where he stood.
"Rustle, rustle, rustle..."
Seeing him suddenly freeze, the bugs behind him immediately swarmed toward him.
But just then, Xiao Ran spun around on the spot. He looked half-drunk and half-awake. Though he couldn't speak, a ferocious shadow appeared behind him. Its belly split open, and it let out a strange laugh.
As the bugs rushed toward him, the shadow swung the large fan in its hand at Xiao Ran's back.
Xiao Ran's body shuddered a few times. A stream of cold air surged uncontrollably up from his abdomen, and he opened his mouth and let out a loud belch like a toad's.
"Burp!!"
The sound was as muffled as a torn drum, yet strangely loud.
The bugs that had been rushing toward him heard the noise and scattered at once, as if they had sensed their natural predator.
"Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! Little bugs chirp and pretend to be tigers, but one croak from the golden toad strips them of their tiger might! Hahahahaha!!"
The fat man behind Xiao Ran was not only bizarre and sinister in appearance; even his laughter seemed to carry a bewitching quality. Seeing the swarm disperse, he grinned and brought his fan down on Xiao Ran's head.
The blow felt like a sudden crack from a club. Pain made Xiao Ran's vision go black, and he instinctively opened his mouth. A stream of cold air came spilling from his chest.
"Ptooey!!"
In an instant, the temperature around them plummeted. The bugs crawling all over the ground lost their strength, wriggled a few times, and went still.
Not only that, but the