Poacher

Thanks to Yang Qi's help, Lan Mu actually managed to buy a hundred sausages with the money.

Lan Mu was so touched that he gave Yang Qi the last hundred yuan he had.

Yang Qi went in and out of the restroom several times. He wasn't being polite anymore and chuckled as he took the money.

"Have you never eaten sausages before? A hundred of them, and you just stuffed them all into your stomach in the restroom?"

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

Seeing that he wouldn't say more, Yang Qi didn't ask further. He took the money, said goodbye, and left.

Nearly an hour had passed. No matter how kind-hearted he was, his curiosity about this restroom weirdo, Lan Mu, had waned.

Lan Mu was left alone in the restroom, still feeling crowded.

However, Lan Mu didn't try to keep him. He was grateful to Yang Qi, but he had also given him a bit more money, considering it a transaction. After all, he didn't know if he could ever turn back into a human. It was better to settle things on the spot, in case he couldn't fulfill any future obligations.

After waiting a few more minutes, Lan Mu activated Hunting Rhythm again. The movements of all surrounding creatures were within his perception.

He became invisible, escaped the restroom, and rushed towards the railing. With a leap, he jumped directly down the mountainside.

His entire body trembled with excitement. He fell from the small mountain and crashed heavily onto the cliff face.

With a BOOM, his limbs plunged into the rock, and he hung on the cliff.

Rocks scattered, but he was unusually excited. This body was tough and resilient; bumping against the hard rock caused no harm.

Here, he no longer needed to hide his tracks. The feeling of freedom was wonderful. He descended frantically, reaching the bottom of the cliff in no time and disappearing into the dense forest.

Eating over a hundred sausages had barely restored a sliver of his stamina, allowing him to remain invisible for a few more seconds, finally escaping human sight.

Returning to nature, he felt how exhilarating freedom was – to run, jump, and do as he pleased!

He ran to the pond where he lived and found a wild rabbit he had hunted not long ago. The meat looked good, so he immediately used his lighter to start a fire, skinned and cleaned the rabbit, built a bonfire, and roasted it. He ate with immense satisfaction.

After a series of events, he was ravenous and exhausted. This body consumed a lot of energy. It was strong, but it also needed nourishment.

He roasted the rabbit meat. Soon, watching the meat sizzle and release oil, Lan Mu's mouth watered. He devoured it greedily.

One wasn't enough. He put down the branch, flashed out, and quickly returned with a small animal in each hand, continuing to roast and eat.

And so, he ate, then caught, caught, then ate. He continued until nightfall, when the moon was high.

He had eaten all the animals he could find nearby. He patted his stomach, surrounded by bone fragments, and felt only half full.

Counting how much he had eaten, he was shocked. He had consumed over thirty small animals in this meal, eating snakes, rats, chickens, and dogs without discrimination, and he was still only half full.

If he continued eating like this, this mountain would be emptied!

Lan Mu still had some ecological awareness and knew his existence had exceeded the carrying capacity of the local ecosystem's food chain.

"Hiss!"

"Being half full is enough. I can't eat any more... This mountain can barely support me!"

Having inexplicably become a glutton, Lan Mu was very troubled.

Ironically, he had come to investigate the poacher group, but instead, he found himself feasting in the mountains.

Fortunately, he wasn't eating any rare animals, just common wild game. Besides, he wasn't an environmentalist. He was starving; wasn't he allowed to eat?

However, his very existence exceeded the ecological carrying capacity. He would have to find new places to eat in the future and couldn't just hunt in one area.

He tidied up the bonfire and dug some soil around it to bury and extinguish the flames. He had his lighter, so he could start a fire anytime.

As the fire died down, the forest plunged into darkness. He lay down on the ground and immediately fell asleep.

Deep in the mountains, he wasn't worried about any danger.

What a joke! With such a powerful beastly body, what foolish beast would dare approach him? Did they think the king of the jungle didn't eat meat?

Full and satisfied, he slept soundly.

The next day, as the sun rose high, he instinctively woke up. The sunlight stimulated his eyes, but he didn't know what kind of structure they had, as staring directly at the sun caused no issues.

As soon as he woke up, the first thing he noticed was a leopard just a short distance away.

"Oh ho! This is a rare animal."

Lan Mu's stomach rumbled with hunger as soon as he woke up, but his stamina had recovered well. It seemed all the food from yesterday had been converted into energy.

He certainly wouldn't eat this leopard. There were plenty of wild animals in the mountains; there was no need to eat endangered species.

"Go away, go away..."

Lan Mu bared his teeth and waved his paws, trying to scare the leopard away.

To his surprise, the leopard, after being startled and circling the area a few times, approached again.

"Huh? You're not afraid of me?"

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

It was as if he were a natural king. Most animals would flee upon seeing him; his scent exuded the dominance of a predator. This was the first time an animal had dared to approach him. Animals generally trusted their instincts, so this leopard was incredibly bold.

Lan Mu clapped his hands, teasing the leopard like a dog, coaxing it closer.

While the leopard was bold, it wasn't entirely fearless. It approached cautiously, walking with feline grace, step by step.

Although Lan Mu could easily hunt a leopard, he naturally wouldn't. Staying alone in the mountains, with no one to talk to in the future, and not knowing how many years he'd be there, now that there was an animal that wasn't too afraid of him, he started thinking about raising a pet, something to keep him company.

The leopard walked with a slow, cat-like gait. Lan Mu grew impatient and stood up from the ground, shouting, "Hurry up!"

His shout had the opposite effect; the leopard was startled and showed fear, twisting its body and running away. Its front paws slipped due to its excessive movements, making it look quite comical.

Seeing his intended pet running away, Lan Mu chuckled, pushed off the ground with his legs, and shot out like lightning.

If there was any terrestrial reptile in this world whose speed could rival his, it would probably only be a leopard.

Although the leopards in the mountains weren't as fast as cheetahs on the savanna, at least in this mountainous region, it was the king of speed.

Lan Mu and the leopard chased each other, purely to scare it for fun, a way to pass the time in the deep mountains and old forests.

Or perhaps it was another form of taming; he wanted to subdue this leopard.

They chased each other deep into the forest, running who knows how far. The leopard was already panting, its body hunched over from exhaustion.

Lan Mu jumped down from a tree, landing in front of it. The sunlight was blocked by his tall, terrifying figure.

The leopard cowered against the tree trunk, trembling. It was no longer the hunter of the forest, but a pitiful little kitten.

"This little leopard is quite pitiable, being chased by me for so long. It must be terrified to death, right? What a silly cat! It doesn't even know I'm just scaring it."

"Right, my monstrous body looks a lot like a lion's, even though it's white-haired. Perhaps it's a type of feline. Ah, I can't call it a silly cat anymore."

Lan Mu picked up the leopard, stroked its head, and then teased its chin and soft belly. He smoothed its spotted fur, clearly intending to raise the leopard as a pet cat.

"From now on, your name is MeowMeow. Come on! What do you want to eat! Anything!"

Lan Mu was truly going mad from loneliness. He held the leopard like a pet, leaping through the mountains and forests.

He casually caught a few pheasants and immediately started a fire to roast them.

He didn't just eat himself; he also fed MeowMeow. This was cooked food, without the smell of blood. At first, MeowMeow was reluctant to eat.

But under Lan Mu's intimidating presence, it took a bite and immediately couldn't stop, starting to snatch food from Lan Mu.

After eating one pheasant, MeowMeow was almost full. Lan Mu finished the rest, still hungry.

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

For the long term, Lan Mu didn't dare to hunt excessively. After all, until he could change back, he had to rely on the mountain for food.

Next, bored, he played with MeowMeow. The poor leopard was tormented by his large hands until tears welled up in its eyes. Lan Mu also drew a scratch on its tail with his sharp claws, marking it as his pet.

But fearing Lan Mu's power, the leopard didn't dare to resist, truly acting like a little kitten.

As he played, Lan Mu lost interest and leaned against a rock to sleep. For the past six days, the most he had done in the mountains was sleep.

When he woke up from his nap, he found that MeowMeow was gone. He assumed it had taken the opportunity to escape while he was sleeping.

"Tsk, ungrateful!"

Lan Mu didn't care. There couldn't be only one leopard in the mountains, and it had its own den. There was no need to force it to stay.

He checked the sky; the sun was setting, probably around four or five in the afternoon.

He stretched his body and began to search for prey.

After eating too many small game animals, he wanted to find a larger animal for dinner, so he wouldn't have to hunt repeatedly.

After activating Hunting Rhythm, his vision turned blood red. Dense numbers of animals, near and far, appeared before him, ignoring all obstructions.

"Found a big one..."

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

He licked his sharp teeth and moved rapidly through the jungle.

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

Then he realized: "That's people!"

Lan Mu didn't know what his state of mind was. On one hand, he wanted to avoid contact with humans, but on the other hand, he wanted to approach humans and communicate with his former kind.

"About seven people. Hmm? Not only people, but also a big one, looks like a wild boar. Maybe they're in trouble. I'll go take a look!"

Lan Mu, spotting the group being chased by a wild boar from a distance, immediately sped up.

When he stopped on a large tree, he saw with his own eyes seven strong adult men wearing leather clothes, each holding a long hunting rifle, the kind that looked like handmade muzzle-loaders at first glance.

They were currently being attacked by an astonishingly robust wild boar. The charging boar was like a monster, wantonly disrupting their formation.

"Shoot! Shoot!"

"It's no use! This guy took at least three shots from me and is fine!"

The men dodged frantically, using the tree trunks in the jungle to weave and evade the boar's charges.

But there were several opportunities for them to escape, yet they didn't. Instead, they maneuvered around the boar's attacks, staying in place and aiming for the boar's head.

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

Lan Mu frowned. His initial thought of secretly helping them immediately vanished.

Looking at the boar again, it was in a frenzy. It stood about 1.6 meters tall, almost as tall as a horse, its bristles standing on end like terrifying steel needles. Its plump, thick body was like a small elephant, with powerful, sturdy legs. The ground was churned up beneath it, and its terrifying weight made each charge awe-inspiring.

Not to mention its thick, long tusks, which added to its lethality.

Lan Mu wouldn't have believed such a monstrous wild boar existed in the world if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes. It wasn't a boar at all; it was a tank!

Lan Mu, with his sharp eyes, noticed several bullets lodged in the boar's bristles, seemingly stuck in its muscles.

He figured this group of poachers must have provoked this ancient boar, driving it into a frenzy. They brought this upon themselves.

Since they were poachers, they deserved to be taught a lesson by the boar. Lan Mu had no intention of helping them.

He'd rather side with the boar than with those men.

But humans were still humans, especially experienced poachers who knew how to deal with beasts.

Even though their hunting rifles were ineffective, they hadn't given up on killing the astonishingly large wild boar.

What was a tough hide and thick flesh to them? Two agile hunters circled behind the boar and shot at its rear. Two others fired at its head from the side, while the rest kept it occupied from the front.

With such coordination and rotating aggro, Lan Mu watched, dumbfounded. It was like a scene from an online game, pulling mobs. Were these hunters treating the boar like a boss?

The boar's rear was soft flesh and couldn't withstand many shots. Soon, its steps faltered. Its rear was covered in blood, and its once blood-red eyes had become listless.

"Damn, the big boar's not gonna make it!"

Lan Mu watched anxiously, wishing he could jump into the fray and subdue all these poachers with his bare hands.

But he was filled with apprehension and couldn't bring himself to reveal himself.

The boar, having bled profusely and charged for a long time, finally stopped, its body trembling from exhaustion.

"It's done for!"

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

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

The group cheered and cautiously approached the boar. The boar was at its last breath but still stood, glaring fiercely at the seven men.

The seven men hesitated for a long time, shuffling their feet, afraid the boar still had the strength for a final desperate counterattack.

This was no joke. Wild boars were incredibly dangerous creatures. Tigers, leopards, and jackals in the mountains dared not provoke it. When it went mad, even a tiger would be chased away.

The experienced poachers knew that a dying boar's counterattack was the most terrifying. Moreover, this was an unprecedentedly massive boar. It would surely kill with a touch and cripple with a graze! None of them dared to be the first to test it, leading to a stalemate.

Lan Mu looked at the giant boar with pity, sighing. As a natural hunter, he could tell the boar had reached its limit.

He finally made up his mind. He took off his tattered clothes and shoes from his waist while in the tree, hid them, and then leaped to the ground, naked.

Mid-air, he let out a loud lion's roar that deafened those nearby, making their hearts skip a beat and their legs go weak.

They looked in terror towards the source of the sound, their faces immediately turning pale.

A majestic, four-legged White-haired Lion with blood-red eyes was approaching them with a feline gait, step by step.

Not to mention its rippling muscles and terrifying claws, just the White-haired Lion's imposing presence was enough to terrify the group.

They had never seen such a large lion. Its wild mane was unrestrained, exuding sheer dominance.

"Tsk..."

The White Lion merely bared its teeth and let out a puff of air from its mouth with a "tsk" sound.

One of the young poachers' legs gave out, and he collapsed to the ground.

He looked like he had wet himself in fear.