Poachers

Thanks to Yang Qi's help, he actually spent money to buy Lan Mu a hundred sausages.

Lan Mu was so moved that he gave Yang Qi the last hundred yuan he had on him.

Yang Qi had gone in and out of the restroom several times already. Now he no longer stood on ceremony, accepting the money with a smile.

"Have you never eaten sausages before or something? More than a hundred of them, and you stuffed them all into your stomach in the restroom?"

Lan Mu said awkwardly, "I had no choice. Thank you."

Seeing that he refused to explain, Yang Qi did not press him. He took the money, said goodbye, and left.

Nearly an hour had been wasted by then. No matter how kind-hearted he was or how curious he had been about this strange restroom dweller, he had lost interest now.

Lan Mu was left alone in the restroom, still squeezed into the cramped space.

But Lan Mu did not try to keep him. He was grateful to Yang Qi, but he had also paid him extra, so it counted as a transaction. After all, he did not know whether he could ever turn back into a human in this life. It was better to settle any debts on the spot. Perhaps he would never be able to repay them later.

After waiting a few more minutes, Lan Mu activated Hunting Rhythm again. The movements of every living creature around him could no longer escape his senses.

After turning invisible, he slipped out of the restroom. Taking three steps at a time, he hurried toward the railing, leaped up, and jumped straight down from the mountainside.

Every cell in his body trembled with excitement as he fell from the small mountain and slammed heavily into the cliff face.

With a boom, his limbs sank into the rock, leaving him hanging halfway down the cliff.

Rubble flew everywhere, but he was wildly excited. This body was thick-skinned and tough; bumping against hard stone did not matter at all.

At this point, he no longer needed to hide his tracks. Freedom felt wonderful. He descended madly and soon reached the bottom of the cliff, vanishing into the dense mountain forest.

After eating more than a hundred sausages, he had barely recovered a trace of strength, enough to let him stay invisible for a few more seconds. At last, he had escaped human sight.

Back in nature, he realized just how exhilarating freedom was. He could run, jump, and do whatever he pleased!

When he reached the pond where he lived, he found the wild rabbit he had hunted not long ago. Seeing that the meat was still good, he immediately lit a fire with his lighter, skinned and cleaned the rabbit, built a bonfire, roasted it, and ate with relish.

After everything that had happened, he was starving and exhausted. This body consumed far too much energy. It was powerful, sure, but it also needed nutrients.

As the rabbit roasted, oil soon began to sizzle from the meat. Lan Mu drooled all over the ground and dug in heartily.

One rabbit was not enough. He tossed aside the branch, flashed away, and quickly returned with a small animal in each hand, continuing to roast and eat.

That was how it went: after eating, he hunted; after hunting, he ate. He kept going until night fell and the moon rose above the treetops.

He had eaten all the animals he could catch nearby. Patting his belly, surrounded by scattered bones, he was only barely half full.

When he counted how much he had eaten, he shuddered. In one meal, he had consumed more than thirty small animals. Snakes, rats, chickens, dogs—he refused none of them, and he was only half full.

If he kept eating like this, he would probably eat this entire mountain empty!

Lan Mu still had some awareness of ecological conservation. He knew that his existence had already exceeded what this ecosystem's food chain could bear.

"Hiss!"

"Half full is enough. I can't eat anymore... This mountain can barely support me as it is!"

For no reason at all, he had become a foodie, which troubled Lan Mu greatly.

The irony was that he had come to investigate the Poaching Gang, yet he himself had started stuffing his face in the mountains.

Fortunately, none of what he ate were rare animals, only common wild game from the mountains. Besides, he was not an environmentalist. He was practically starving to death—was he not allowed to eat?

Still, his very existence had exceeded the ecosystem's capacity. In the future, he would have to eat in different places and could not hunt in just one area.

He cleaned up the bonfire, dug up some dirt nearby, and buried the fire to put it out. He had a lighter anyway and could start a fire whenever he wanted.

Once the firelight went out, the forest was plunged into darkness. He casually lay down on the ground and went straight to sleep.

Deep in the mountains and forests, he was not worried about danger at all.

What a joke. With such a powerful beastly body, what blind beast would dare approach him? Did they think the king of the jungle did not eat meat?

Full and satisfied, he slept soundly.

The next day, when the sun was already high in the sky, he jolted awake on instinct. The sunlight stung his eyes, but he had no idea what kind of structure his eyes had; staring directly at the sun did not affect him at all.

The first thing he noticed upon waking was a leopard right beside him.

"Well, well! That's a rare animal."

Lan Mu was already a little hungry after waking up, but his strength had recovered very well. It seemed that all of yesterday's food had been converted into energy and absorbed.

Of course, he would not eat this leopard. There were so many wild animals in the mountains that there was no need to eat a rare protected species.

"Shoo, shoo..."

Lan Mu bared his fangs, made a face, and waved his paws, wanting to chase the leopard away.

Unexpectedly, the leopard was startled at first. After pacing around nearby twice, it came closer again.

"Heh! You're not afraid of me?"

Lan Mu had been transformed for six days now, so he had a decent understanding of this body.

He was like a natural-born king. Ordinary animals ran as soon as they saw him, and even his scent radiated the majesty of a hunter. This was the first time an animal had dared approach him. Animals usually trusted their instincts, so this leopard was far too bold.

Lan Mu clapped his hands and teased the leopard like a dog, coaxing it to come closer.

The leopard was bold, but not that bold. It approached cautiously, padding forward with feline steps, inching closer bit by bit.

Lan Mu could easily hunt the leopard, but naturally he would not. Alone in these mountains, he would have no one to talk to in the future, and he had no idea how many years he would have to stay here. Now that there was an animal that was not so afraid of him, he began entertaining the idea of keeping a pet. At least it could keep him company.

The leopard moved unbearably slowly. Lan Mu grew impatient, stood up from the ground, and shouted, "Come here already!"

His shout had the opposite effect. The leopard was so frightened that terror filled its face. It twisted around and ran, its front legs even slipping from its frantic movement, making for a ridiculous sight.

Seeing his chosen pet run away, Lan Mu laughed, pushed off with both legs, and shot forward like lightning.

If there was any land animal in the world that could match his speed, it was probably only a leopard.

Although the mountain leopard was not as fast as a cheetah on the plains, it was still the king of speed in these mountains.

Lan Mu chased after the leopard, one in front and one behind. He was purely playing around by scaring it, a way to pass the time in the deep mountains and forests.

Or perhaps it was another form of training. He wanted to tame this leopard.

The two of them chased each other deep into the forest, and he had no idea how far they had run. The leopard was exhausted, panting heavily and hunching over.

Lan Mu jumped down from a tree and landed in front of it. His tall, terrifying body blocked out the sunlight.

The leopard cowered against a tree trunk, trembling. Where was the hunter of the mountains now? It was nothing more than a pitiful little kitten.

"This little leopard is pretty pitiful. I've chased it for so long that it must be scared to death, right? What a silly kitty! It doesn't even know I'm just scaring it."

"Right, this monster body of mine looks a lot like a lion. Even though it's white-haired, it might still be a feline. Ah, I can't casually call it a silly kitty anymore."

Lan Mu picked up the leopard, rubbed its head, teased its chin and soft belly, and smoothed its spotted fur. He truly seemed to be raising the leopard as a pet cat.

"From now on, your name is Kitty. Come on! What do you want to eat? Eat whatever you want!"

Loneliness had clearly gotten to Lan Mu. Holding the leopard like a pet, he bounded through the mountain forest.

He casually caught several Wild Chickens and immediately lit a fire to roast them.

He did not just eat them himself; he fed Kitty too. It was cooked meat without any bloody smell, and Kitty initially refused to eat.

But under Lan Mu's oppressive force, it took one bite and immediately could not stop, beginning to fight Lan Mu for food.

After eating one wild chicken, Kitty was more or less full. Lan Mu finished all the rest, yet he was still hungry.

"Sigh, not even enough to fill the gaps between my teeth... But I can't eat anymore. I have to control my appetite."

For the sake of the future, Lan Mu did not dare hunt excessively. Before finding a way to change back, he still had to live off these mountains.

After that, with nothing to do, he played with Kitty. The poor leopard was tormented until its eyes filled with tears by his huge hands. Lan Mu even used his claws to leave a mark on its tail as a sign that it was his pet.

Yet intimidated by Lan Mu's majesty, the leopard did not dare resist. It truly behaved like a little kitten.

After playing for a while, Lan Mu lost interest. He leaned against a rock and went to sleep. Over the past six days, the thing he had done most in the mountains was sleep.

When he woke from his afternoon nap, he discovered that Kitty had disappeared. It had probably slipped away while he was sleeping.

"Tsk, tsk, impossible to tame!"

Lan Mu did not care. There could not be only one leopard in the mountains, and it had its own den. There was no need to force it to stay.

Looking at the sky, he saw that the sun was slanting westward. It was probably around four or five in the afternoon.

After stretching his body, he began searching for prey.

Having eaten too much small game, he wanted to find a larger animal for dinner so he would not have to hunt over and over again.

After activating Hunting Rhythm, his vision turned scarlet. Countless animals, near and far, appeared before his eyes, ignoring every obstacle.

"Found something big..."

Nearly a kilometer away from Lan Mu, there were several large creatures.

He licked his fangs and swiftly darted through the forest.

But the closer he got, the more something felt wrong. Creatures walking upright, on the ground...

Then he realized, "Those are people!"

Lan Mu did not know what he was feeling. On one hand, he wanted to avoid contact with humans. On the other, he wanted to get close to them and interact with his former kind.

"About seven people. Hm? There aren't just people, there's something big too. Seems like a wild boar. Maybe they're in trouble. I'll go take a look!"

From a distance, Lan Mu saw that the group seemed to be chased by a wild boar, so he immediately sped up.

When he stopped in a large tree, he saw seven sturdy adult men wearing leather jackets. Each of them held a long hunting rifle, the kind of crudely handmade firearm anyone could recognize at a glance.

At that moment, they were being attacked by an incredibly massive wild boar. Charging about like a monster, it rammed recklessly into their formation.

"Shoot! Shoot it!"

"It doesn't work! This thing has taken at least three bullets from me, and it's fine!"

The group dodged in panic, weaving through the forest with the help of tree trunks to evade the boar's charges.

Yet despite having several chances to escape, they did not leave. Instead, they dodged the boar's attacks, remained in the area, and waited for chances to aim at its head.

"Hiss... These people look like... poachers!"

Lan Mu frowned, immediately discarding his original thought of secretly helping them.

Looking again at the wild boar, it had gone berserk. It stood 1.6 meters tall, nearly as tall as a horse. Its bristles stood upright like terrifying steel needles, and its bloated, sturdy body resembled a small elephant. Its solid limbs were explosively powerful, tearing the earth to pieces as it rooted at the ground. Its terrifying weight made every charge overwhelmingly imposing.

Not to mention its thick, long tusks, which added even more killing power.

If Lan Mu had not seen it himself, he would never have believed that such an absurdly powerful wild boar existed in the world. Was this even a wild boar? It was practically a tank!

With his sharp eyes, Lan Mu spotted several bullets hidden among the boar's bristles, as though they had become lodged in its muscles.

It seemed these poachers had provoked this wild boar, which had no idea how long it had lived, driving it into a berserk rage. They had brought this upon themselves.

Since they were poachers, they deserved whatever lesson the wild boar gave them. Lan Mu would not help them.

He would rather stand with the pig than with those people.

But humans were humans, especially experienced poachers. They had plenty of ways to deal with wild beasts.

Even though their Hunting Rifles were ineffective, they did not give up on killing the astonishingly huge wild boar.

So what if the boar was thick-skinned and tough? Two agile hunters circled behind it and fired at its rear. Two others shot at its head from the side, while the rest kept distracting it from the front.

They coordinated with one another, taking turns drawing its aggro. Lan Mu watched in astonishment. It was like drawing monsters in an online game. Were these hunters treating the wild boar like a boss?

The boar's rear was soft and could not withstand many bullets. It soon began staggering. Its rear was covered in blood, and its originally scarlet eyes grew dim and listless.

"Oh no, the big boar isn't going to make it!"

Lan Mu watched anxiously, wishing he could jump into the clearing and subdue the poachers two at a time.

But he had too many concerns and could never make up his mind to show himself.

The wild boar had lost a great deal of blood and charged around for too long. Its strength was exhausted. At last, it stopped moving and trembled all over.

"It can't keep going!"

"Great! I've never seen such a huge wild boar in all my years!"

"Quick! Don't damage the hide. Stick the gun into its mouth and blow its brains out."

The group cheered and advanced toward the boar step by step. The boar was already at the end of its rope, yet it still refused to collapse, glaring fiercely at the seven men.

The seven hesitated for a long time, dragging their feet and fearing that the wild boar still had enough strength for one final desperate counterattack.

This was no joke. Wild boars were incredibly formidable creatures. Even tigers, leopards, jackals, and wolves in the mountains did not dare provoke them. When they went mad, even tigers had to run from them.

The experienced poachers naturally knew that a wild boar's last counterattack before death was the most terrifying. What was more, this boar was so enormous that it was practically unheard of. One hit would kill; one graze would cripple! No one dared be the first to test it, and the situation reached a stalemate.

Lan Mu looked at the giant wild boar pityingly and sighed. As a natural hunter, he could tell that the boar had reached its limit.

At last, he made up his mind. Up in the tree, he took off the tattered clothes and shoes wrapped around his waist, hid them away, and leaped naked toward the ground.

While still in midair, he let out a resounding Lion's Roar. Those nearby were deafened, their heartbeats seeming to skip as their legs went weak.

They looked in terror toward the source of the sound, and their faces instantly turned pale.

A powerfully built White-haired Lion, standing on all fours, stared at them with scarlet eyes. It padded toward them step by step.

Even without mentioning its knotted muscles and terrifying claws, the White-haired Lion's majestic appearance alone frightened the group out of their wits.

They had never seen such a huge lion. Its wild mane spread out recklessly, radiating overwhelming dominance.

"Hiss..."

The White Lion merely bared its fangs and expelled a faint breath through them, producing a hissing sound.

One young poacher's legs went weak, and he collapsed to the ground.

It looked like he had been scared so badly that he wet himself.