Chapter 4: Chapter 4

C4 – Pig

Upon detecting Gator’s presence, the Gopher instantly flattened itself against the ground, shivering uncontrollably. One particularly faint-hearted Gopher was so terrified it wet itself.

With a look of disdain, Gator sidestepped the scared creature and devoured the remaining nine.

Zhou Mu felt somewhat resigned as he put an end to the skittish rodent with a quick stomp.

The first-rank fiend beasts—a three-star wild dog, a four-star mule, and a five-star fiery fox—were all overpowered, lying on the ground, quaking incessantly.

Gator breezed through five checkpoints with eerie ease.

To Zhou Mu, this seemed perfectly normal, but the spectators buzzed with speculation.

Accusations flew, condemning Zhou Mu for cheating and Zhou Ming for flouting the law.

“Silence!” Zhou Ming’s roar cut through the murmurs, his level six Animal Whisperer authority radiating in all directions.

The crowd in the stands fell deathly quiet at Zhou Ming’s fury. Known as a notorious devil king and a level six Animal Whisperer, Zhou Ming was no stranger to controversy.

He was prone to slip-ups, like the time he berated an old woman trying to scam him for two hours straight, leaving her so enraged she suffered a brain hemorrhage.

Though he had mellowed with time, his fundamental nature remained unchanged.

“It’s my call whether he cheated or not. If you think you can, then step up and challenge him,” Zhou Ming declared, his gaze sweeping over the silenced onlookers, who all averted their eyes, none daring to meet his stare.

“Uncle Ming, please, let me deal with this,” Zhou Mu interjected with a sigh, his desire for a low profile thwarted once again.

“Fine,” Zhou Ming conceded with a nod, stepping back to let Zhou Mu take the lead, curious to see how his mild-mannered nephew would navigate the accusations.

“It seems everyone’s convinced I’ve cheated. But no explanation from me will suffice,” Zhou Mu stated, prompting a fresh wave of murmurs from the crowd.

“So, you’re admitting to cheating?” The sultry voice that followed belonged to none other than his former girlfriend, Wu Yuexia.

Wu Yuexia was the Wu family’s 56th daughter, a family where the patriarch had sired a legion of offspring. Her eldest brother had already reached his sixties, while her youngest sibling was still in diapers.

She entered into a relationship with Zhou Mu with the sole intent of pilfering the Zhou family’s trade secrets.

The Wu family’s power was formidable, matching the Zhou family stride for stride. They were well-positioned for healthy competition.

Regrettably, the Wu family resorted to deploying Wu Yuexia to entice Zhou Mu.

Zhou Mu, disengaged from family matters, left Wu Yuexia’s half-year efforts fruitless, acquiring no valuable intelligence.

Enraged, Wu Yuexia ended their relationship, maliciously spreading rumors of his impotence.

“When have you ever heard me confess?”

Zhou Mu scoffed, his gaze on Wu Yuexia as dismissive as one would look at a common fowl.

“Afraid to own up to your actions?”

A flicker of scorn crossed Wu Yuexia’s eyes at Zhou Mu’s retort.

Handsome he may be, but his physical and soul intensity fell short. He had no interest in mastering business management.

“Why would I admit to something I haven’t done?”

Zhou Mu had no inclination to engage with her. Scanning the crowd, he challenged, “If you’re so convinced, prove it. Defeat me with a spirit animal of no more than second rank, and I’ll concede to cheating.”

“You’re on!”

Wu Yuexia didn’t hesitate, descending from the stands upon hearing Zhou Mu’s challenge.

The breakup had left Zhou Mu in a prolonged slump.

Zhou Chun, Zhou Mu’s father, noticing his son’s despondency, launched an investigation. Discovering the Wu family’s machinations, he initiated a business onslaught and, with Zhou Hao, decimated the Wu family’s key players.

Had it not been for the fear of public scrutiny, the Wu family would have been eradicated already.

Now, facing Zhou Mu, Wu Yuexia clenched her teeth with loathing.

“I won’t take advantage of you. Just endure three minutes, and I’ll acknowledge your fairness.”

She stressed “three minutes” as she beckoned forth her spirit animal with a wave of her hand.

A pig emerged, its hide sheathed in a dense carapace.

“A second rank, three-star barbed sus scrofa!”

The crowd buzzed with excitement at the sight of Wu Yuexia’s formidable spirit animal.

Even Zhou Ming couldn’t help but take the situation seriously.

The barbed sus scrofa was a formidable spirit animal of elite quality, known for its high attack and defense capabilities, as well as its recklessness. Animal Whisperers who battled in the wild preferred to face tigers or leopards rather than confront a wild boar. Injured tigers or leopards would flee, but an injured wild boar would become frenzied.

Wu Yuexia’s intent in summoning the barbed sus scrofa was clear to all onlookers.

“With everyone’s eyes on him, Zhou Mu can’t back down. He’s fresh out of graduation; he’s no match for the barbed sus scrofa!” they murmured.

Zhou Ming weighed the option of taking Wu Yuexia down. Years of being criticized had left him indifferent to the stigma of picking on the weaker.

But the next turn of events caught Zhou Ming off guard. Wu Yuexia was just as stunned.

The barbed sus scrofa unexpectedly lay down and began inching towards Gator.

“What’s happening?” Wu Yuexia’s face betrayed her bewilderment.

In every battle, the barbed sus scrofa either sustained severe injuries or inflicted them. But now? It lay there, tail wagging.

Wu Yuexia was powerless to stop it. As she stood there, dumbfounded, the barbed sus scrofa had already crept up to Gator and gently nudged its tail with its nose.

Zhou Mu sighed in resignation, his hand instinctively covering his face.

Gator’s round eyes looked on with disdain at the barbed sus scrofa’s antics. With a couple of barks, the wild boar sprang to its feet.

This cleared the fog of confusion for Wu Yuexia. The barbed sus scrofa wouldn’t just lie down to be attacked. It must be feigning weakness before striking lethally.

While curious about the wild boar’s sudden show of intelligence, Wu Yuexia’s current focus was solely on defeating the snake.

Her plan was sound in theory, but reality proved to be far more brutal than she could have ever imagined.

Upon hearing Gator’s shriek, the barbed sus scrofa lifted its head high before violently slamming it down onto the ground.

A muffled thud was punctuated by the sharp crack of splintering. Incredibly, the barbed sus scrofa had snapped its own tusks.

Zhou Ming watched in disbelief as the creature disregarded its master’s commands in its frenzy.

What was happening?

It had broken its tusks?

Weren’t those tusks the barbed sus scrofa’s most formidable weapons?

The whole spectacle was beyond comprehension.

The barbed sus scrofa then rose to its feet, only to be gradually consumed by Gator.

At that moment, everyone grasped the truth.

The barbed sus scrofa had shattered its tusks to avoid injuring Gator.

It stood to facilitate Gator’s consumption.

Wu Yuexia, stricken with terror, pointed at Zhou Mu.

The barbed sus scrofa was dead.

As the soul contract linked to the barbed sus scrofa dissipated, Wu Yuexia suffered severe injuries and vomited blood.

“You really are a glutton!” Zhou Mu remarked, paying no mind to the ashen Wu Yuexia. He affectionately stroked Gator’s sleek head, his voice filled with adoration.

Gator appeared shy, coiling its tail around Zhou Mu’s thigh and softly caressing it.

Overwhelmed with rage at the sight of Zhou Mu and Gator, and the loss of the barbed sus scrofa she had fought so hard to bond with, Wu Yuexia spat another mouthful of blood and collapsed unconscious.