Demon Ancestors

The next day, Old Ninth groggily opened his eyes.

He had spent the entire night lying on the floor beside Little White Tiger's bed.

He glanced at Little White Tiger, who was still unconscious. His breathing was steady, but he showed no sign of waking.

Just then, Mr. Li entered the room with the doctor to change Little White Tiger's dressings.

They stared at one another, then at Little White Tiger, who looked as though he were merely sleeping.

"Why isn't he awake yet?"

The doctor fussed over Little White Tiger, checking his wounds and then the equipment, looking just as baffled.

"He should be awake by now. I didn't use enough anesthetic yesterday to keep him under this long."

The doctor placed a stethoscope against Little White Tiger's chest, then lifted his eyelids.

"What's that supposed to mean? You don't know either?"

Old Ninth grabbed his shotgun and pressed it against the Black-Market Doctor's head. "If my brother doesn't wake up, you're going down there to keep him company."

"Brother, brother, calm down. There are no absolutes in medicine," the Black-Market Doctor explained, pushing the barrel aside.

Old Ninth looked ready to eat him alive, and it was genuinely terrifying. The doctor looked close to tears. "He might not wake up until noon."

"I don't want to hear about your fucking medicine right now. If my brother won't wake up, try theology. Get on your knees and pray for him. You stay down until he opens his eyes." Cursing, Old Ninth shouted to Yellow Hair, "Hi Dog, go get that... that cross and bring it in so he can pray to it."

Mr. Li watched the farce in the operating room with cold eyes and rubbed his aching temples.

The doctor had no idea, but Mr. Li had probably already figured it out.

Little White Tiger had absorbed the Demon Ancestor's Blood. How overwhelming was that power?

It was a miracle Little White Tiger hadn't burst from it.

"Could you have missed some fragments in his wounds?" Mr. Li asked, putting on an act.

"Impossible. Absolutely impossible."

The doctor shook his head like a rattle drum and assured him, "I checked over and over."

"Could whatever was in the container have affected him?" After considerable hesitation, Mr. Li asked without revealing exactly what the container had held.

The doctor's eyes lit up, and he nodded repeatedly.

"It's possible. We don't know what was in the container, so it could very well have affected him. I swear on my wife and children that the operation was a complete success. In fact..."

The doctor hurriedly opened Little White Tiger's clothes.

The bullet holes had vanished, without leaving so much as a scar.

Even more astonishingly, white fur had begun growing over Little White Tiger's body, and his nails had grown several centimeters overnight.

"I've never encountered anything like this in all my years practicing medicine. He... he seems to have mutated."

The doctor explained with a miserable expression, terrified that Old Ninth's gun might go off.

For a moment, everyone in the room was at a loss.

An ordinary person absorbing the Demon Ancestor's Blood was unprecedented. Even Mr. Li had no idea what to expect.

"Is there any way to wake him?"

Mr. Li patiently asked in a low voice.

"You could try stimulating him. His body is healthier and stronger than a normal person's now. I suspect the problem lies in his brain."

After some thought, the doctor offered a suggestion that barely qualified as one.

Mr. Li gave Old Ninth a meaningful look and left the room.

"Things have changed. I need to go out and consult some experts. Stay here and watch him," Mr. Li said quietly to Old Ninth in the hallway.

If Little White Tiger never woke, an entire vial of the Demon Ancestor's Blood would have been wasted. Mr. Li dared not imagine how the big boss would react.

At that moment, both men were worried about Little White Tiger, and Old Ninth's wariness toward Mr. Li eased considerably.

"Make it quick."

"All right."

Mr. Li took a trench coat from the living room, draped it over himself, and hurried out.

Old Ninth stood gloomily in the hallway and finished the remaining half of his cigarette. He ground it out underfoot, then returned to the room.

Downstairs, a young couple who had been kissing checked that no one was around, then hurriedly pulled out a phone.

"Hello, boss? We found Old Ninth."

"Good. Keep your eyes on him. Fuck, I'm going to skin him alive today. I'll be there in half an hour."

Inside the operating room.

Little White Tiger's breathing grew increasingly rapid, and low, beastlike growls occasionally rumbled from his throat.

His already powerful body seemed to have grown even taller.

Most noticeable was the fur covering him, which was visibly growing denser.

"Brother Nine, the doctor said to stimulate Brother Tiger. How about..." Hi Dog pulled a large-denomination bill from his pocket. "I go find a couple of tall foreign babes to give him some stimulation?"

"Are you trying to fucking stimulate him or me?" Old Ninth waved him away irritably. "Out, out, out. All of you, get the fuck out."

Once everyone had left, Old Ninth silently lit a cigarette and sat beside Little White Tiger's bed.

The two had grown up together, and their bond was far stronger than that of blood brothers.

Everyone knew Old Ninth was every bit as capable as Little White Tiger, yet he was perfectly content to be his second-in-command. Why?

Because of the brotherhood between Old Ninth and Little White Tiger, of course.

"Tiezi, you've got to fucking pull through. We can't do this without you."

Old Ninth, known to outsiders for his madness and viciousness, revealed his vulnerable side for the first time, his eyes reddening.

"I'm telling you, don't even think about leaving us behind. If you really die, I'll strap explosives to myself right now and take Old Xie down with me."

"Fuck, we grew up together in the garbage heaps. We finally made it this far, and now you're just going to abandon us? Xiao Xiao, Zhuang Zhuang, and Rotten were all fucking murdered. Don't you want revenge?"

After finishing his cigarette, Old Ninth rubbed his reddened eyes, breathing heavily. He picked up the shotgun from the table and left the room.

The instant Old Ninth closed the door, two trails of tears slid down Little White Tiger's face.

Little White Tiger had heard everything he said, but he couldn't wake up.

His soul had been drawn into some unknown space.

He was inside a cave. Everything around him was deathly still, with nothing but pitch-black darkness and the sound of water dripping onto the ground.

The only exit lay a short distance ahead of him.

A five-meter-long White Tiger, glowing with silver light, lay directly in his path.

Man and tiger had stared each other down all night. Their standoff had begun the moment Little White Tiger absorbed the Silver-Patterned Tiger's blood.

Though Little White Tiger had no idea where he was, he could hear Old Ninth's voice.

That only made him more anxious. He knew Old Ninth's temper all too well. If he didn't wake up soon, Old Ninth would go after Old Xie.

"CNM, if I die, I die. You're a tiger, but so am I. Let's see whose teeth are tougher."

Little White Tiger steeled himself and walked straight toward the giant tiger.

"Roar!"

At the sight, the giant tiger slowly rose and let out an enraged roar that shook heaven and earth.

Though Little White Tiger was only a soul, he seemed to have boundless strength. He strode forward, stopping ten meters from the giant tiger.

Thud.

Without the slightest hesitation, Little White Tiger dropped to his knees.

"Big brother, I know you're one of the Demon Ancestors. Could you shift your ass a little and let me out?"

Having grown up on the streets, Little White Tiger took knowing when to bow and when to stand tall to its absolute limit.

The giant tiger did indeed understand human behavior. A hint of confusion appeared in his eyes.

"If you agree, just take a couple of steps to the side."

Little White Tiger forced himself to keep pleading.

The giant tiger remained motionless, his white fur stirring without a breeze, his presence imposing.

"You won't eat me, and you won't let me past. CNM, is this a kidnapping?"

Seeing that neither pleading nor threats worked on the Demon Ancestors, Little White Tiger suddenly sprang up and slammed his head into the giant tiger's lower jaw.

Perhaps it was because he was a soul, or perhaps because he had absorbed a drop of the Demon Ancestor's Blood, but Little White Tiger actually knocked the giant tiger back a step.

"I'll beat you to death, fuck!"

Little White Tiger leaped onto the giant tiger's back in a flash and unleashed a flurry of blows against his head.

Though Little White Tiger's attacks couldn't harm the giant tiger at all, being straddled and beaten like this still infuriated him.

Bang!

The giant tiger shook his body, flinging Little White Tiger more than ten meters away.

"Young man."

Little White Tiger got up, astonished to discover that he felt no pain. Just as he was about to attack again, the giant tiger spoke.

"I am Lian Shen."

Little White Tiger froze at the giant tiger's words.

A tiger could actually talk?

"A... a Demon Ancestor?"

Little White Tiger assumed a defensive stance and, still uneasy, retreated another two steps.

"Yes. I am a Demon Ancestor. You may also call me the Silver-Patterned Tiger."