It had to be said, the Wolf King was truly skilled — it even knew how to flatter. And the conditions it proposed were so satisfying that it left people feeling extremely comfortable. If they kept refusing now, it would seem a bit overacted.

Nan Muran furrowed her brow as if deep in thought, then reluctantly nodded. “Alright. When dawn breaks, we’ll go with you to have a look.”

Just as the Wolf King was feeling relieved that she had finally agreed—

A streak of white and green light shot out from Nan Muran’s left wrist, flying straight toward the Wolf King. The light circled around its nose once, then completely vanished without a trace.

The Wolf King immediately checked itself, but felt no abnormalities. Yet that thing had clearly disappeared into its body.

“It won’t affect your body,” Nan Muran said, her gaze icy, her tone indifferent. “It will only temporarily prevent you from recovering your ability.”

This was a small vine she had developed after absorbing the essence of Dr. Jin’s original giant vine, combined with Xiaobai’s powers.

At first, she had been curious why Xiaobai insisted she absorb that vine, but later she discovered — this small vine, crafted from the giant vine, could effectively suppress a mutant’s ability once it entered their body.

Meanwhile, as the host, she could still use her own abilities without the slightest hindrance.

The Wolf King listened to each word the Tree Person spoke. It understood perfectly, but that didn’t stop it from feeling utterly bullied and dumbfounded.

Originally, it had gone through all the trouble to persuade Nan Muran to agree to seek out the great treasure hidden in the mountain cave. The plan was to approach the treasure, quickly recover its strength, and have a fighting chance against these humans.

But now, with its abilities sealed, it had no way out at all.

Nan Muran easily saw through the Wolf King’s petty thoughts and naturally wouldn’t give it the opportunity: “Wu Ge, you and Eagle, go retrieve the Tiger’s mutated core.”

Without hesitation, Jiawu and Eagle drew their daggers and approached the barely breathing Tiger, squatting beside it.

“Give it a quick death,” Jiawu said to Eagle.

The Tiger was still alive — extracting its core while it was breathing was indeed cruel. But to intimidate the Wolf King, they had no choice. Besides, it was much easier to be ruthless knowing that this Tiger had eaten living people.

Eagle swiftly sliced through the Tiger’s throat with his dagger. Blood spurted out, and the Tiger immediately stopped breathing.

Jiawu skillfully plunged his dagger into the Tiger’s skull and extracted a golden-yellow mutated core.

“Eagle, absorb the core immediately,” Nan Muran ordered, her voice steady, cold as the wind.

Eagle was visibly stunned. Why the rush to have him absorb it?

But Jiawu more or less understood Nan Muran’s intent. Seeing Si Ye nod slightly beside her, he was even more certain — part of it was to intimidate the Wolf King, but also to show the people from the Electromechanical Plant that Eagle was merely a subordinate who followed orders, discouraging any stray thoughts.

He nudged the dazed Eagle. “Don’t just stand there. Absorb it.”

Eagle didn’t fully understand, but he obeyed. After all, Sister Nan was his queen.

In front of the whole courtyard, Eagle activated his ability to absorb the Tiger’s core. Soon, the originally deep yellow crystal gradually turned into a translucent white crystal.

Once Eagle finished absorbing—

Nan Muran turned again to the Wolf King. “Now, are you sure you want to lead me to the treasure you mentioned?”

The Wolf King stared at the lifeless Tiger, heart full of complicated emotions. That had been the King of the Forest.

There was no need to think — if it dared resist, this seemingly beautiful human would surely extract its core and absorb it without hesitation.

After a long silence, the Wolf King finally said: I’ll take you to the great treasure, but you must let the wolf pack leave.

Sacrificing itself alone was fine, but the rest of the pack had to live.

Nan Muran clapped her hands and stood up. “Deal.”

She, Si Ye, and Jiawu then moved aside from the Taoist temple’s gate, opening up a path for the wolves to leave.

The Wolf King, relieved that she agreed, let out a low growl toward the wolves surrounding the courtyard.

The wolf pack answered with low growls of their own. Then, as the Wolf King’s gaze turned chillingly cold, the pack began to disperse and leave. A mother wolf kept glancing back, reluctant to go, but in the end, she too was driven away by the Wolf King.

Xiao Liu, seeing that the wolf pack had retreated, immediately withdrew the protective wall he had constructed around the Electromechanical Plant survivors and returned to Nan Muran’s left wrist.

Freed from restraint, the Fu parents were momentarily stunned, then hurriedly supported each other as they rushed toward Eagle.

“Second son, you’re back!” Fu Mother’s eyes were filled with tears, her whole body trembling.

Fu Father reached out and patted his son’s shoulder, his eyes reddening too. “Good, good. You didn’t starve. You came back safely — that’s all that matters.”

“Big Brother, I’m back,” Eagle said in a low voice, knowing full well how much pain his brother must have suffered losing his wife and child.

“You’re back, that’s all that matters,” Fu Chao said, finally letting go of his tightly clenched heart.

The family of four embraced each other tightly.

The other survivors from the Electromechanical Plant were also deeply moved. Many of them knew Eagle — they knew he had gone to serve in the military — and they all felt a wave of relief.

Si Ye glanced at the remaining thirty-odd survivors and sighed helplessly. “It’s too dark. With the elderly and children here, it’s too dangerous to head down the mountain.”

“Let’s just stay at the temple for the night and roast the Tiger for food,” he said casually.

Before the apocalypse, this would have been a major crime — tigers were a nationally protected species, and eating one would land you in prison.

But now, in the apocalypse, survival itself was hard enough. A tiger was merely food to fill an empty stomach.

Si Ye and Jiawu quickly cooperated to skin the Tiger.

Then they gathered firewood, built a bonfire, and fashioned a roasting rack. When the flames rose, they strung up the prepared Tiger meat over the fire.

Before long, the entire Taoist temple was filled with the rich aroma of roasting meat, laced with the scent of spices.

Jiawu’s backpack contained a full set of seasonings — a thoughtful preparation by Bai Mei when they left. Now, it was finally coming in handy.

As the delicious smell spread, the survivors from the Electromechanical Plant, who were already starving, couldn’t help but drool.

“Dad, I want to eat meat,” a little boy around seven or eight years old licked his lips, unable to endure the hunger after two days without food.

The man was starving too, but he didn’t dare approach the girl and two men to ask for meat — not only because they were strangers, but also because of how ruthlessly and decisively they had dealt with the Tiger and the Wolf King earlier. Their methods were cold, fierce, and terrifying.

Everyone was thinking the same thing, but the hunger was real. Eventually, almost all of them turned their hopeful gazes toward Eagle, the familiar face among them.

“Eagle…” a man about the same age as Eagle’s father finally spoke up, planning to ask Eagle to get them some meat.