With Mu Yi joining the fight in force, the Giant Ants that had hoped to take advantage of the chaos had instead delivered themselves right to their door.
Nearly the entire ant army had been wiped out. Only one ant had escaped the net and was fleeing into the distance.
Of course Mu Yi wasn't about to let it go. He immediately took off after it.
But Zhong Xuezhi suddenly darted in front of him and blocked his path. "Don't chase it. It's trying to lure us back to their nest."
He had no desire to stir up an ant nest.
Mu Yi, however, was quite keen to do exactly that. His eyes lit up at the explanation, and he stepped around Zhong Xuezhi to continue the chase.
Yet he had barely taken two steps before Zhong Xuezhi grabbed him by the back of his collar again.
"What are you doing? Let go!!" Growing anxious, Mu Yi couldn't help releasing a burst of electricity.
The shock left Zhong Xuezhi's arm slightly numb. He promptly switched hands and kept his grip.
"Don't go. It's too dangerous," he urged.
Mu Yi looked back in bewilderment. "What the fuck does it have to do with you?" I didn't ask you to come.
"Let go already!"
Still clutching his clothes, Zhong Xuezhi replied, "It really has nothing to do with me, but the admirable virtues deeply rooted in my heart won't allow me to stand by and let you die."
Mu Yi glared. Are you out of your mind!?
"Stay the fuck out of my business!" He struggled hard, electricity crackling over his body. His impatience was plain to see.
Holding his clothes was no longer enough to restrain him. Zhong Xuezhi hurriedly wrapped an arm around his waist and used his energy to suppress the electrical attacks.
He continued coaxing him. "Hey! Calm down, calm down..."
"You wasted so much energy just now that even if you catch up, you won't get many attacks in. You won't get your fill, and you'll just throw your life away. It's not worth it!"
Mu Yi's answer remained the same. "What the fuck does it have to do with you!"
As he spoke, he released another barrage of electrical attacks. Unfortunately, Zhong Xuezhi was more powerful than him and blocked every wave.
And the arm around his waist kept tightening, like an iron clamp!
Unable to break free, Mu Yi could only watch the distant Giant Ant grow fainter and fainter until it disappeared completely.
"Fuck..." Furious, he turned and started grappling with Zhong Xuezhi.
Since his pheromones couldn't win, he would have to try a different approach.
Mu Yi went straight for Zhong Xuezhi's hair, tearing his neatly tied, partially curly hair into a complete mess.
Pain shot through Zhong Xuezhi's scalp, and he immediately cried out, "Hey! What kind of fighting technique is this? Stop pulling my hair!"
"I'll fucking pull it if I want!" Mu Yi put all ten fingers to work, clinging to Zhong Xuezhi's head and refusing to let go.
Yet as his hands fumbled around, he seemed to touch something strange. Something furry.
"Huh?"
Mu Yi stopped pulling and looked over in confusion, only to freeze on the spot.
Once he stopped, Zhong Xuezhi could finally raise his head properly. Grimacing, he asked, "What, finally done going crazy?"
Mu Yi moved his fingers and squeezed what he was holding, his expression dubious. "Your... ears?"
At that, Zhong Xuezhi hurriedly pulled Mu Yi's hands away and opened the personal safety diagnostics interface on his Identity Bracelet.
Sure enough, the reading in his mutation level field had shot into the red and was still slowly rising.
Fuck. The side effects of overusing my energy had kicked in.
Whenever his mutation level grew too high, his mutated form tended to emerge, and he couldn't retract it for a while.
Zhong Xuezhi's expression soured at the realization. He retreated several large steps and quickly tied his disheveled hair back up. "I'm done fighting."
The moment Zhong Xuezhi put some distance between them, Mu Yi's eyes lit up. He had spotted the thick, long, fluffy tail behind him.
If the ears alone hadn't been enough to identify him, the markings on his tail now settled it.
Mu Yi was certain this was a Snow Leopard!
A Snow Leopard, of all things...
His eyes kept moving, his burning gaze sweeping back and forth between Zhong Xuezhi's ears and tail.
The staring made Zhong Xuezhi uncomfortable all over. Frowning, he asked, "What? Never seen a Mutant's mutated form before?"
Mu Yi really hadn't. After looking him over for a while, he said, "Holy shit, that's cool..."
Zhong Xuezhi paused at that and repeated, "Cool?"
"Yeah." Mu Yi nodded sincerely, then added, "Really beautiful."
Mu Yi was interested in all sorts of things, but there were very few he truly loved. Big cats were one of them.
And Snow Leopards were his favorite kind of big cat.
From what he could see, the fur on Zhong Xuezhi's tail was pale, almost pure white. Even its spotted markings were light gray with a faint metallic sheen.
This was definitely the best-looking Snow Leopard he had ever seen.
After "cool," Zhong Xuezhi's mutated form had now earned the description "beautiful."
Zhong Xuezhi seemed a little awkward about that. He coughed twice and ran a hand through his hair before replying, "Ah, thanks."
Plenty of people had commented on his mutated form, but most of those comments had been negative.
Almost everyone thought the "Snow God" ought to have some extraordinary, imposing mutated form.
But all he had were big, furry ears and a rather unwieldy long tail.
He couldn't even let out a proper roar, only meow.
Yet those were precisely the things Mu Yi loved.
He stepped forward and circled Zhong Xuezhi twice, asking excitedly, "But don't you have wings too? Since when do Snow Leopards have wings?"
Zhong Xuezhi touched his neck and took a few seconds before replying, "It was a rare species. The hunting team back then went to considerable trouble to obtain its infection source. They were nearly wiped out, too."
After hearing that, Mu Yi had even more questions. First there had been some infection level, and now there was an infection source.
Besides, from the way Zhong Xuezhi put it, it sounded as though he had acquired the same mutated traits and form by using that rare Snow Leopard's infection source.
So... were all Mutants artificially modified after birth?
Thoughts raced through Mu Yi's mind, but what he finally asked was, "Which mountain range do these Snow Leopards live in?"
Zhong Xuezhi eyed him warily and asked, "What are you planning?"
"Catch one and keep it." Mu Yi practically radiated eagerness.
In his original world, Snow Leopards couldn't be kept as private pets. It was illegal.
But things were clearly different here. He could have all the Snow Leopards he wanted!
Unfortunately, Zhong Xuezhi's next words mercilessly cut that dream short.
"Forget it. With beasts as scarce and elusive as Snow Leopards, the hunting teams haven't found any sign of them in decades."
"Whether they're Variants or not, rare or otherwise, they're probably long extinct."
Mu Yi immediately pressed him. "How many infection sources did that hunting team get back then?"
Zhong Xuezhi said, "One."
Mu Yi was stunned. "Then you're the only Snow Leopard left in the whole world?!"
Zhong Xuezhi immediately raised a hand. "Stop right there. I'm a human, not a Snow Leopard."
Ignoring his insistence, Mu Yi continued, "Can your mutated form turn into a complete Snow Leopard?"
Zhong Xuezhi looked down at him for a few seconds before saying slowly, "Isn't your grasp of basic knowledge a little too weak?"
"If a Mutant enters a fully mutated form, he no longer counts as a human. He's a Variant."
Crack! Mu Yi heard the sound of his dream shattering. He frowned unhappily and raked his fingers through his hair in irritation.
All I wanted was a pet Snow Leopard. Why was it so hard?
After stewing for a moment, he suddenly snapped his head up and looked straight at Zhong Xuezhi, his eyes lighting up again. "I'd like to reserve you in advance."
Zhong Xuezhi immediately sensed trouble and leaned back defensively. "Reserve what?"
Mu Yi flashed his little white teeth and continued, "If you turn into a Variant someday, I'll keep you."
"Huh?" Zhong Xuezhi brought his body back upright, then slowly leaned forward instead.
Drawing close to Mu Yi, he asked sincerely, "Would you listen to yourself? Is that something a decent human being would say?"
Mu Yi met his gaze without a shred of shame and smiled as he offered something a decent human being might say. "Don't worry. I'll treat you well when the time comes."
"Hiss..." Zhong Xuezhi sucked in a breath, straightened, and backed away a few steps. With a sigh, he said, "Forget it. I should never have discussed this with you."
There was simply no reasoning with him.
Feeling a slight headache coming on, he turned and began wrapping up their operation.
Mu Yi immediately followed, his lovely, smiling eyes curving slightly as his gaze tracked the swaying of Zhong Xuezhi's tail.
After watching for a while, he saw Zhong Xuezhi draw the dagger strapped to his thigh and plunge it into the abdomen of a Giant Ant whose corpse was still intact.
Curious, he asked, "What are you doing?"
Without pausing his work, Zhong Xuezhi replied, "Collecting the formic acid from their venom glands."
Mu Yi nodded in understanding. "For research?"
"Not just that. It can also be used in medicine, made into weapons, traded for supplies, or sold directly for money."
Mu Yi understood. Apparently, Variant body parts had quite a few uses.
"Then I wasted all the ones I burned."
Zhong Xuezhi said, "Not really. These remaining ones are enough."
At least there were crystal fragments scattered all over the ground for the taking, saving him a lot of work dissecting corpses.
Zhong Xuezhi carefully finished extracting the formic acid from one Giant Ant, then moved on to the second.
With his arms folded, Mu Yi followed close behind him, thoroughly enjoying the sight as he alternated between watching the unconsciously swishing tail and the occasional twitch of his ears.
As for stirring up the ant nest?
He had long since forgotten all about it.
Before you continue