Surrounded and Suppressed

The morning of Lan Mu's seventh day after transforming arrived quickly. He was peacefully absorbing the scorching Solar Energy.

It was already September 4th. According to their agreement, Fang Moqi should have returned to the country at dawn.

"Jibber-jabber! Jibber-jabber!"

Suddenly, noisy voices rose from the foot of the mountain. Lan Mu could no longer sit still and lay at the mountaintop, looking down.

A dark mass of people had entered the depths of the forest. Aside from several villagers, everyone else was equipped and dressed with extreme professionalism and safety in mind. There were even more than a dozen police officers among them.

"Trouble has indeed come... There are even police..."

He knew this was one of the worst possible consequences of saving someone, but he felt no regret.

Lan Mu calculated the time. In less than ten hours, he would be able to turn back into a human.

"Ten hours left until I turn back into a human..."

"Malay police... I'm bored anyway. I'll play with you today."

Lan Mu remained in his beast form, his nine tails drifting freely as he ran down from the mountaintop and headed straight into the dense forest.

His tails were far too conspicuous, and he was spotted immediately. The police pointed at him and cried out in alarm, seemingly unable to believe that what the villagers had said was true.

Seeing a Nine-tailed Fox with their own eyes was no less shocking than witnessing Allah reveal Himself.

These police officers had come from the nearby city of Kuala Lumpur after receiving reports from the indigenous people within the nature reserve.

They had originally dismissed the existence of a Nine-tailed Fox as absurd nonsense. However, the Malay police still had to take reports from the indigenous people in the reserve seriously. This was one of the country's policies.

They could afford to be inefficient when dealing with the majority ethnicity, but they had to consider the feelings of the villages.

Especially since that fellow named Saisibin had even notified the media. If the police failed to respond, the media could publicize it that very day as police discrimination against ethnic minorities.

Thus, whatever the reason, the police entered the depths of the forest alongside the media to search for the so-called Nine-tailed Fox.

But they had never expected it to be real. There truly was a White Nine-tailed Fox in this world!

"Jibber-jabber!"

Lan Mu could not understand what they were saying. He only saw the police pull out their guns and begin climbing the mountain to intercept the Nine-tailed Fox.

Seeing the fox flickering in and out of sight on the mountain, one police officer fired from a great distance.

The shot had obviously missed, but it still made Lan Mu cautious. He hid behind a massive boulder.

"They actually fired right away!"

"A Nine-tailed Fox can't withstand firearms. I absolutely can't let myself enter their range."

The moment Lan Mu finished that thought, an eerie charm appeared. Before the Malay police could understand what was happening, they lost consciousness.

An invisible field enveloped the mountainside. No matter what equipment they wore, humans and animals alike fell into hallucinations.

Charm created a beautiful illusion in their hearts. Everyone became immersed in the temptation of the most wonderful thing they could imagine.

If you liked beautiful women, then the Nine-tailed Fox became the most intoxicating beauty. If you liked men, then the Nine-tailed Fox became the most charming man. Even if you liked dogs, then in your eyes, the Nine-tailed Fox would become the cutest dog!

In short, this illusion would always use whatever you were most obsessed with to bind you. Coupled with special subconscious guidance, almost no one could resist the power of charm. It was an illusion that acted directly upon the deepest parts of the brain, causing people to fall into a dazed state.

Without question, the Nine-tailed Fox Lan Mu had transformed into was a peerless calamity whose entire skill tree had been invested in charm.

As he grew more proficient during this period, Lan Mu's charm had become increasingly powerful. It was practically his only strength.

The charmed police officers had only climbed halfway up the mountain when they suddenly grew dizzy and fell into the illusion. Their feet slipped, and they rolled down the steep slope.

The villagers did not dare move recklessly and watched from the foot of the mountain. The little boy, Bolanggu, was among them. He anxiously shouted something, but unfortunately, Lan Mu could not understand him.

The dozen or so police officers were mentally tough. After recovering, they showed no fear.

They charged upward one after another. This time, they fired decisively, suppressing Lan Mu's hiding place with gunfire. They thought this would prevent them from losing consciousness like before.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

The bullets came in an unbroken stream, and Lan Mu did not even dare show his head.

The police viciously wanted to kill him. He could no longer avoid them.

It was easy enough to imagine how accepting humans were of things unlike themselves.

If they were not panicked and fearful, rejecting and discriminating, then they were shouting to kill, greedy and insatiable.

Only in very rare situations would humans feel goodwill toward something different, leading to worship and superstition.

However, the Nine-tailed Fox Lan Mu was at this moment probably did not fit this group's image of a god.

On the contrary, they saw Lan Mu as a demon, an evil spirit.

Most Malays believed in Islam, while some believed in Buddhism and Hinduism. Some indigenous people had their own primitive beliefs.

And no matter which faith it was, none of them would consider Lan Mu's nine-tailed form an Auspicious Omen.

Fear bred anger, and what followed was deep malice.

"Does a Nine-tailed Fox deserve to die?"

He waited indifferently for the police to approach, then charmed them all with a thought. This time, he was not merely making them fall. He was drawing them closer.

After charming them, Lan Mu stood upon a stone platform, his bearing completely changed.

Seeing that their colleagues were not attacking the fox, the two police officers at the foot of the mountain raised their guns at Lan Mu.

At that moment, Bolanggu rushed out from the crowd, hugged someone who appeared to be an officer, and pulled at his arm to stop him from firing.

"Jibber-jabber! Jibber-jabber!" Lan Mu could not understand Bolanggu's language, but he understood what he was trying to do.

Lan Mu watched in surprise as Bolanggu tried to stop the police, only to be dragged back by his family in the end.

Shaking his head, Lan Mu made up his mind.

"Little guy, you can't change adults whose way of thinking has long taken root..."

He murmured softly. When the police climbed before him, one of his tails swept out, drawing a dense stream of energy from their bodies. It carried an intensely pleasurable sensation before finally settling into his second tail.

"Human vitality is much richer... and... it feels even better!"

Lan Mu was astonished. Although the Nine-tailed Fox instinctively had no appetite whatsoever for humans, human vitality was undoubtedly the richest nourishment he had ever encountered. A single person was equivalent to more than thirty Wild Chickens he had absorbed!

After their vitality was stripped away, the police suddenly stopped moving and collapsed weakly, limp as mud.

In mere moments, they became haggard and gaunt, with deep black bags beneath their eyes. It seemed that all their vitality had been taken. Under such extreme weakness, they soon died.

"Jibber-jabber! Jibber-jabber!"

As the police officers fell one after another, the two police officers at the foot of the mountain were terrified and pulled out their pistols, firing wildly.

"Ridiculous. You think you can hit me from over a hundred meters away?"

Lan Mu hid behind the stone platform. Although the police could not hit him, he did not dare charge down either. If he were struck by a stray bullet, it would be no minor injury for the fragile body of a Nine-tailed Fox.

More than a dozen police officers had fallen on the mountain! Whether they were dead or not, it was still major news.

The reporters contacted their colleagues in the city, while the police contacted their superiors to request reinforcements.

The police blocked off the foot of the mountain and waited for over an hour before more professionals finally arrived.

There were experts and professors in suits, heavily armed police reinforcements, and reporters who only wanted to watch the excitement grow.

Lan Mu feared none of them. He hid in the shadows and secretly observed his enemies.

The reporters filmed the mountain and interviewed villagers who had seen the Nine-tailed Fox, though most of them directly questioned the scholarly-looking man.

As for that scholarly-looking man, upon learning that the Nine-tailed Fox had truly appeared, he was so excited that tears filled his eyes.

He shouted to himself in Malay, "Nine-tailed Fox!"

Lan Mu could not understand Malay at all and ignored him completely. Even if he had understood, he would not have shown himself. It would be troublesome if he were hit by a bullet. The Nine-tailed Fox's defense was simply too low.

"There really is a Nine-tailed Fox! And it's in our Dahan Mountain Nature Reserve."

"This is a legendary beast that has swept across East Asia, a creature of legend. Who would have thought our country actually has one?"

The expert scholar sighed repeatedly. Although he had not personally seen the Nine-tailed Fox, he believed it without hesitation and kept searching for traces of it with his eyes.

"Send more people! Seal off this entire mountain!"

"We absolutely cannot let the Nine-tailed Fox escape! This is a mountain of gold! A huge mountain of gold!"

"No matter what, we must capture this Nine-tailed Fox alive. It's a Nine-tailed Fox!"

The expert excitedly directed the police. In his heart, he repeatedly fantasized about capturing the nine-tailed fox alive, as though wishing could make it happen.

If he truly caught the Nine-tailed Fox, its value would be immeasurable. Even an unknown nobody like him would surely rise to fame.

It could even be called one of the greatest discoveries of this century. The Nine-tailed Fox would be crucial to biological research.

Thinking of this, the expert could not help but snicker. His desire intensified, and astonishing greed filled his eyes.

"I swear, creature of myth... I will definitely catch you!"