Chapter Ninety-One: The Grounded Tiger and the Guardian Lion

As Zhou Shu faced danger within the virtual battlefield, an unwelcome guest had also arrived at his old home in the real world.

A car was parked in the simple lot beside the banquet hall at the edge of the village. In the shadow of the other vehicles, it looked utterly unremarkable. Though, like the rest, its engine was off and its lights were dark, there was someone inside.

A tall, thin woman in a hat.

If Zhou Shu had been here, he would have recognized her at once as Bai Huayue.

Yet unlike the Bai Huayue who had once stood atop a rooftop, looking down on all living things with contempt, the woman now was filled only with hatred, hatred for Zhou Shu.

If not for Zhou Shu, she should have been savoring the fruits of victory, taking the evolution serum and growing stronger, not hiding in a car like this and radiating venom in solitude.

Even so, this was still fortunate. The Ascension Society had not discovered her treacherous ambitions, and the Evolution Organization still did not know that she was "still" alive.

If those two organizations learned the truth, that would be her end.

Still, it did not matter. She could keep deceiving the Ascension Society for now, and as for the Evolution Organization, so long as she first collected some interest and then told them about Zhou Shu’s existence, she should not be eliminated. She might even receive some reward.

If her undercover contact in the Demon Suppression Bureau had not told her about Zhou Shu, she would never have known such a genius existed in the world.

Unfortunately, because that contact was of low rank and merely a junior operative, the person only knew a rough outline, and some of the information was even hearsay. Still, that was enough.

Someone like Zhou Shu, if allowed to grow, would certainly become a massive obstacle to the Evolution Organization’s future goals. But if the organization learned of him now...

Heh. A genius who never gets to grow up is simply a brilliant life cut short by heaven’s envy.

And if she delivered such important news to the Evolution Organization, what sort of reward would they give her?

At the thought, a smile even appeared on her face, but it was quickly replaced by a vicious expression.

Glancing at the village beside her, she quietly got out of the car and slipped inside.

Seeing the blocked side roads and the militia standing guard at the main entrance, she sneered in contempt, then walked to the side of a dwelling and with a light leap sprang onto the roof.

The moment she landed, she saw a shadow crouched nearby with two points of green light shining at her, and she nearly lost her footing and fell.

She quickly steadied herself with a hand on the roof and only then saw that it was a cat.

Phew.

She let out a breath. She did not know whose stray cat it was, sneaking out in the middle of the night to scare people.

Meow.

“Get lost.”

Bai Huayue said softly, waving the cat away before moving on.

What she did not know was that when she later slipped down from the far side of the roof as quietly as a thief, the cat she had driven off was still watching her from the edge of the roof.

Meow.

The cat gave a soft cry, leaped down from the roof, and ran swiftly off along the other side.

A cat sprinting through a village at night was nothing unusual, but Bai Huayue could not afford such carelessness. She had to be cautious and leave no trace behind.

Even if she did leave one, it would have to be one she had deliberately left herself.

For example, a warning.

“Hmph. I’ll make you feel pain too, Zhou Shu!”

“You ruined my entire plan.”

“Fast was useless too. As a bronze-level handler, he actually got his head blown off by one shot. Useless.”

While muttering about everyone else’s mistakes, Bai Huayue drew closer and closer to Zhou Shu’s grandfather’s house, and all along the way she kept encountering cats.

“Are there really this many cats in this village?”

Eager for revenge, the closer she got to Zhou Shu’s grandfather’s home, the more excited she became, and she failed to realize that she had walked into a feline encirclement, with the opening of the trap right near the old Zhou residence.

Just one more turn and she would see her target’s house. Bai Huayue’s face had even begun to flush with anticipation. But when she turned the corner, she did not see the house she wanted. Instead, her eyes were seized by a “tiger-striped leopard” crouching in the middle of the road.

Why would there be a leopard with tiger stripes in this village?

Wait, what kind of leopard has tiger stripes?

Realizing the absurdity of that thought, even her soft, careful steps came to a halt. Only then did she look around and discover that cats were everywhere: on the road, on the sidewalk, in the flowerbeds, in the trees, on the walls, and on the eaves.

A pair of green-lit eyes in every direction, all staring at her.

“...”

Hiss—

Bai Huayue drew in a sharp breath, every hair on her body standing on end.

The one crouching in the middle of the road was naturally Huahua. But now, unlike when it faced Zhou Shu’s grandparents and that human cub Zhou Shu with gentleness, it possessed only the coldness of an apex predator.

Only it was not an ordinary apex predator. It was also a cat boss.

The stench of this woman made it sick. Besides, its children seldom had the chance to encounter an enemy of this level, so she would make a fine sparring partner.

Thus it remained crouched in the center of the road without moving, merely giving a soft cry.

Meow.

At that call, the cats on the road, the sidewalk, in the flowerbeds, in the trees, on the walls, and under the eaves all lunged straight at Bai Huayue.

Meow——

They moved like lightning, their green-glowing eyes tracing threads of phosphorescence through the black air.

Yet those glowing lines were not straight. They were tangled and intricate, crossing, turning, running parallel, never colliding with one another.

Dozens of cats put on a dazzling group dance of luminous chaos.

But in the end, these cats were not Huahua. They were all lightweight, “ordinary” cats. Even if their strength rivaled that of an adult human, the one they were facing was a tier-two monster.

She looked soft and delicate, but in truth she was rough-skinned and blood-thick.

And there were simply too many of them. Their target was only a Bai Huayue-sized human, so the force of their attacks was limited. They could do little more than leave streaks of claw marks across her body.

When Bai Huayue realized that the great cat which had filled her with dread was only watching and not moving, she gritted her teeth against the pain and tried to break through.

Compared with the lightweight cats, she could use her weight and strength to batter them aside and force an escape.

But the cats were faster than she was, so in no time they swarmed after her and added a few more wounds to her body.

Though each strike did not deal much damage on its own, there were enough of them to keep Bai Huayue steadily bleeding.

Watching the woman flee farther and farther away, Huahua did not give chase. It simply crouched in the middle of the road and yawned.

Its duty was to guard the house and protect the family. It would not leave so easily for some petty thief.

Besides, though it was a cat, it was a learned cat. It knew the saying about luring the tiger away from the mountain.

Well, compared with a cat, it was actually more like a tiger, so it felt that the saying fit perfectly.

What if it left and another little thief came by in the meantime?

So it let its children give chase. If they could kill the intruder, all the better. If they could not, at least they would get some training.

Still, as it considered the matter, Huahua felt its descendants were better suited to gathering intelligence. Direct, head-on fighting really was not for them.

Thinking this, Huahua rose, walked a few steps, then leaped up onto the roof of its own house and crouched there like a stone guardian lion.

A tiger was good. A lion seemed good too.

Meow.

P.S. Damn it, the power is going out for the whole day today!