Monster Club

Jiangcheng City, Third Satellite City.

A range of black rocky hills stood on the northern outskirts of City Three, almost entirely bare of vegetation. In the pitch-black night, the jutting contours of the rocks were barely visible, and there were no buildings or lights anywhere nearby.

Few pedestrians came here even during the day. At night, there was no one at all.

Heavy footsteps suddenly sounded in the darkness, crunching over loose gravel. Two figures emerged, rapidly approaching the rocky hills.

The figure on the left was tall and powerfully built, dressed in a crisp black suit. Above it sat a tiger's head with vivid markings, its gaze fierce and domineering.

The one on the right was lean, tall, and muscular, wearing an ordinary T-shirt and shorts over black fur. He, too, had a tiger's head, a black one, and even his eyes were dark. When he bared his teeth slightly in the dead of night, he looked like a row of teeth that had come to life.

These two figures were none other than Suit Tiger and Black Tiger, who had escaped from beneath the Tiger Head Gang's headquarters.

Black Tiger had originally been unable to transform. After that bloody battle, however, something had happened to him, and he had actually achieved a partial transformation, taking on this somewhat youthful humanoid form.

Together, they entered a sinister cave on the side of the black rocky hills. They followed the tunnel-like passage for several hundred meters, until a burning torch appeared in its depths.

Suit Tiger plucked a yellow hair from his ear and held it to the torch.

Hiss-

The yellow hair curled and burned, turning into a wisp of smoke.

A rumbling immediately echoed through the cave. Two large protruding rocks ahead slid apart, revealing a corridor paved with black square tiles! The ceiling, floor, and walls were all lined with electronic tiles glowing with hazy, iridescent light, their technological sophistication a stark contrast to the desolate rocky hills outside!

The pulse of music drifted faintly from within.

Those dreamy colors reflected in Black Tiger's eyes, which glimmered with curiosity.

Suit Tiger led him forward, and the stone doors closed automatically behind them. After passing through the corridor, they reached a second-floor railing. Below them lay an enormous dance floor awash in flashing lights and revelry!

More than a dozen colorful, rotating disco balls hung overhead, while speakers on every side blasted deafening music. Bodies of every description crowded the ground-floor dance floor.

Some had wings sprouting from their backs; others were covered in scales. Their heads came in all manner of shapes-birds and beasts, cattle and horses, chickens and ducks-all unleashing their animal hormones on the dance floor.

Without exception, they were all monsters!

Compared with human nightclubs, the monsters here were even more uninhibited. Their clothes were more revealing, their movements more explicit, and some of the scenes made Black Tiger blush.

Fortunately, his black fur concealed it completely.

Suit Tiger was clearly accustomed to all this. He paid it little attention and continued leading him forward.

Built into the cavern, the club had three floors. The first held the spacious dance floor, along with stages for the DJ and performers. The second was a relatively quiet bar area, where monsters sat drinking and chatting. The third consisted of private rooms with one-way glass, hiding everything inside from view.

Suit Tiger led Black Tiger straight to the bar, sat on a stool, and tapped the counter. "Two Immortal Points the Way cocktails."

The bartender behind the counter was a lion with golden dreadlocks, wearing a waistcoat and bow tie. Looking up and seeing Suit Tiger, he greeted him with a smile. "Brother Huang, haven't seen you in a while. Heard the Tiger Head Gang ran into a little trouble. Everything all right?"

"You certainly keep your ear to the ground," Suit Tiger replied bluntly. "That's exactly why I'm here today."

The dreadlocked lion glanced at Black Tiger. "Haven't seen this young fellow before. First time at the club?"

"He's our little Black," Suit Tiger replied. "He couldn't transform before, so he always stayed hidden at home. This time, he nearly died and was badly wounded, but that actually helped him gain some insight. Now he can partially transform."

The dreadlocked lion nodded. Transformation was actually quite difficult for monsters like them. The more spiritually gifted needed nearly a hundred years of cultivation, while the less gifted might need two or three hundred years just to achieve a partial transformation.

That meant looking like they did: broadly human in outline, but still retaining scales, fur, animal heads, tails, and other features. They had no way of blending into human society.

Even if they slipped into a city, they could only live in its shadows.

Only great monsters who had cultivated for who knew how many years could achieve a complete transformation. Only monsters like that could truly live as humans did. Once they reached that stage, no one could distinguish them from humans unless they deliberately released their monstrous power.

This Monster Club had been established specifically for partially transformed monsters like them.

They yearned for the pleasures of the human world but could not fit into it. Here, on the outskirts in the dead of night, they could enjoy themselves the way humans did. Surrounded by their own kind, they could relax even more.

At the club, they could also make deals, exchange information, and build a network of connections that offered considerable support to isolated monsters in the city. No one knew who ran the Monster Club. They only knew that its influence was vast, with a branch in every city.

This was a utopia for urban monsters.

"Welcome to the Monster Club!"

The dreadlocked lion mixed another brilliantly colored drink and pushed it in front of Black Tiger with a warm smile.

"This one's on me. What's your name, young fellow?" he asked.

"I... I'm called, Black..." Black Tiger stammered, his pronunciation awkward.

"He's only just transformed, so he's still not used to speaking human language," Suit Tiger answered for him. "Our family has always used colors and family positions for names. For example, I'm Huang Dahu, and my brothers are Huang Erhu, Huang Sanhu... Little Black is the youngest in our family, and he was born a little black tiger cub, so his name is..."

"My name is Hei Xiaozai!"

Black Tiger managed his own name fairly smoothly. Apparently, he had practiced it specifically.

"..." The dreadlocked lion fell silent for a moment, then pushed over two more drinks, shimmering blue light floating on their surfaces. "So, what sort of guidance are you looking for?"

"Two human cultivators wiped out our Tiger Head Gang. Destroying the gang was one thing, but they also killed three of my brothers. I can't leave them unavenged." Huang Dahu's voice was low. "I want two powerful helpers to take those humans out with me."

"Are they with the authorities?" the dreadlocked lion asked.

"Not the Supernatural Affairs Bureau. Just a couple of busybodies. Apparently, they took five hundred yuan to wipe out our gang. Hah." Huang Dahu gritted his teeth, hatred filling his eyes. "The Supernatural Affairs Bureau wouldn't come after us, either. I've never missed a payment to them."

"That makes things easier." The dreadlocked lion nodded. "I

happen to have two who just slipped in from the Wasteland Zone. Put up five hundred thousand, and we can get this done."

"Fresh out of the Wasteland Zone?" Huang Dahu frowned, hesitating.

New arrivals would not really understand the rules of human cities and were likely to make mistakes. He felt uneasy about hiring monsters like that as helpers.

"They've got that vicious streak precisely because they just came out of the Wasteland Zone. Who's going to help you kill cultivators after spending years in the city?" the dreadlocked lion said. "Even if you could find someone like that, they certainly wouldn't come this cheap."

"All right..."

Huang Dahu agreed through gritted teeth. His urge to kill had evidently outweighed his caution.

After a moment's thought, he added, "You have to make it clear to them. The rules in the city are complicated. They must follow my orders, not act on their own."

"Don't worry." The dreadlocked lion smiled. "They're hungry! They'll get the job done to your complete satisfaction!"

"Every monster that comes here fresh from the Wasteland Zone is hungry." Huang Dahu seemed to remember something, his voice heavy with emotion. "When my brothers and I first came to the city, we'd do anything for money, too. We were constantly fighting to survive and found ourselves facing certain death more than once."

"Even at the most dangerous moments, we never abandoned one another. As long as we fought side by side, we feared no opponent! That ferocity was what let us carve out a place for ourselves in City Seven."

"Who could have imagined we'd suffer such a disaster now?"

"When little Black couldn't transform, hiding from place to place with him was truly dangerous. But not one of us ever suggested leaving him behind. And now, only the two of us are left... Little Black, you have to keep going for your brothers, too..."

Overcome with emotion, his eyes filled with hot tears, grief and fury mingling as he turned toward the last brother he had left.

Only to find Black Tiger staring blankly down at the dance floor, a besotted smile on his face.

Following his gaze, he saw a female leopard monster in the middle of the dance floor, wearing a strapless top and a short skirt. Her figure was voluptuous and sexy, with full breasts and generous hips, and every twist of her body was utterly seductive. More than a dozen monsters surrounded her, all drawn to her charms.

"You little brat!" Huang Dahu smacked Black Tiger hard on the back of the head. "Your brothers haven't even been avenged, and you're already thinking about this?"

"And you've got a thing for fucking leopard print?"