Chapter 27.1

Qilin and Lightning ran swiftly, their limbs naturally suited for navigating through the forest.

The mountain cars quickly fell behind, and Major Chang immediately ordered a squad of soldiers to dismount and pursue on foot.

Watching the long line of uniformed soldiers leading their war beasts at full speed, Mu Ling hurriedly asked, “Should I go with them?”

Major Chang shook his head, “Stay in the car. Don’t worry, with them there, Qilin and Lightning will be fine.”

Though still concerned, Mu Ling could only nod, then asked puzzled, “But why did Qilin and Lightning suddenly become so agitated?”

After a moment of silence, Major Chang finally replied, “Generally, when S-class war beasts exhibit such extreme behavior, it means they’ve detected a mutant beast with medium-level infection or higher.”

Mu Ling: “…”

Mu Ling went numb. “They ran off to fight a medium-level contaminated beast? Oh my ghost, can they handle it? They’re both not in good condition, especially Qilin – the wound on its back has barely scabbed over. And last time when it fought that python, it nearly died along with it. Brother Xiang said that python was only low-level infected, and it barely won against that!”

Major Chang: “…”

Seeing how Mu Ling treated Qilin like a baby, completely unaware of an S-class war beast’s combat capabilities, Major Chang explained, “It’s not that simple. Tigers aren’t naturally good at fighting snakes. Snakes are slippery, making them hard for tigers to pin down, and they risk getting bitten. In nature, tigers usually avoid snakes, and young tigers can even fall prey to large pythons. That’s why we typically deploy bird-type war beasts like eagles and hawks against snake-type mutant beasts. Their talons can grip snake bodies more firmly, and their beaks can more precisely pierce the snake’s gallbladder. So the fact that Qilin could kill the python alone was actually quite impressive.”

Hearing Major Chang’s explanation, Mu Ling was somewhat surprised and eventually nodded. She then looked toward the forest ahead, where the mountain breeze rustled the trees, and apart from cicada songs and insect calls, there were no other sounds.

Meanwhile, within less than ten minutes, the black panther and tiger, having run over ten kilometers, finally began to slow their pace.

The panther led the way, with the tiger following two steps behind.

Suddenly, the panther leaped up, its agile forelegs landing directly on a large rock. After reaching the rock, it turned and climbed onto the trunk of a nearby large tree, its sharp claws gripping the bark. In two or three moves, it had reached a high branch. Its black fur gleamed in the midday sun as it surveyed the entire forest below.

Below, the tiger had also climbed onto the rock. It raised its head, nostrils flaring as it carefully identified the scents carried by the breeze.

“Roar!” Suddenly, the panther bellowed in one direction and leaped forward.

The tiger immediately followed. Moving in perfect coordination, one behind the other, they advanced precisely in a specific direction through the winding primitive forest.

Only after running another twenty kilometers did the tiger and panther stop again.

They now stood in a grassland below a cliff. The vegetation was extremely dense, nearly submerging their bodies as they entered.

“Snap!” Just then, a sound came from the cliff face above.

Both the tiger and panther looked up to see a lazy tiger emerging from a cave about three to four meters above ground.

This tiger was extraordinarily large with red fur, a long neck, and a hunched forward posture. Two extremely long fangs, curved like hooks, hung down in front of its face, looking both fierce and strange, almost as long as elephant tusks.

Seeing this tiger, Qilin immediately lowered its front legs, assuming an attack stance.

The black panther circled behind Qilin, concealing itself in the tall grass while moving to the other side, allowing them to surround the red-fanged tiger from front and back.

But the red-fanged tiger had already noticed the panther’s movement.

It stood on the platform before its cave, its massive body pacing back and forth at the entrance, seemingly contemplating which side to attack first.

“Roar!” Qilin suddenly let out a thunderous cry.

Its tiger’s roar was deep and imposing, causing the surrounding tree branches to tremble.

The red-fanged tiger seemed provoked by the roar. With cat-like agility, it leaped down from the three to four meter high cave entrance, charging straight at Qilin.

At the exact moment it attacked, the black panther burst out from behind, ambushing the red-fanged tiger.

Sensing danger, the red-fanged tiger quickly dodged. Fortunately, it avoided the panther, but unfortunately, it was immediately struck by a powerful blow from the golden tiger’s paw and sent flying.

A Ripper Tiger’s full-power strike can reach one ton of force.

Though Qilin was injured and couldn’t reach its peak strength, this strike still carried at least six to seven hundred kilograms of force.

The red-fanged tiger rolled once on the ground before quickly rising. Enraged, it recklessly charged at Qilin again.

Halfway through its charge, the black panther rushed in from the right, ramming it away.

The red-fanged tiger fell again, rolling twice before shakily standing up.

Qilin and Lightning bared their cold fangs as they slowly tightened their encirclement of the red-fanged tiger.

Just as they prepared to pounce simultaneously – one for the head, one for the tail – to subdue the red-fanged tiger, it proved not to be foolish. It quickly ran toward the empty space on the left, evading their assault and retreating to its cave with its tail tucked.

The cave was high up, and once back at the entrance, seemingly feeling safe, it howled provocatively at the tiger and panther below.

Then the golden tiger leaped up, immediately attacking without warning, using both paws to pin down the red-fanged tiger’s head while biting its back.

The red-fanged tiger’s back immediately began bleeding. It struggled frantically, trying to bite Qilin’s paws. Having undergone rigorous training, Qilin instantly used its other paw to step on the red-fanged tiger’s neck, immobilizing it while biting down harder on its back.

At this moment, the black panther also jumped up, going straight for the red-fanged tiger’s throat. Panthers prefer killing with a single strike, typically targeting vital points.

Sensing mortal danger, the red-fanged tiger somehow found the strength to break free from Qilin’s hold, then rammed past both Qilin and Lightning, quickly jumping out of the cave.

Qilin and Lightning immediately gave chase, but the red-fanged tiger clearly knew the mountain terrain better than them. After running into the forest, it vanished without a trace.

Qilin and Lightning tracked the scent of blood, racing through the forest.

Meanwhile, Qingjiao, who had squeezed through a small hole in Bi Ke Zoo’s damaged protective fence into the deep forest on the other side, was also tracking scents in the air.

Its already dirty gray fur, now covered in mud, looked even more disheveled. It stopped somewhere in the forest, its ear tips twitching, nose sniffing, then dashed toward the woods on the right.

Qingjiao ran swiftly – wolves are no slower than tigers or panthers. After starting and stopping three or four times, it finally slowed down, its red eyes coldly fixed on the swamp forest ahead.

Just then, the scent of blood wafted through the air.

Qingjiao looked back to see the red-furred tiger with elephant-like tusks running toward it, covered in blood.

“Howl!” Qing Jiao immediately blocked the red-fanged tiger’s path, halting its advance.

Forced to stop, the red-fanged tiger anxiously looked toward the deeper swamp forest, raising its tired neck to let out a mournful roar.

This was a call for companions.

Qingjiao’s sharp teeth were fully exposed, having sensed that this red-fanged tiger was also a mutant beast. Without hesitation, it charged forward, pinning the red-fanged tiger’s head and biting its nape.

The red-fanged tiger let out agonized screams that grew increasingly weak until finally falling silent.

After confirming the red-fanged tiger was immobile, Qingjiao shook its flesh once more before releasing its bite, its crimson tongue licking the blood from its mouth.

“Rustle.” The sound of disturbed grass came from afar.

Qingjiao immediately raised its head, looking toward the direction the red-fanged tiger had come from, again assuming an attack stance.

When Qilin and Lightning arrived, they found the dead red-fanged tiger and the dark snow wolf, teeth bared and fur completely bristled.

The tiger and panther remained in place, watching the gray wolf. After observing the tiger and panther for a moment, Qingjiao’s bristled fur gradually settled. Its lowered body slowly straightened as it continued licking the blood from its whiskers, then looked down to lick its bloodied paws.

The black panther then approached, walking to the red-fanged tiger to smell it.

The gray wolf was only a step away but didn’t attack the panther, just quietly watching.

Bi Ke Zoo was vast, but after spending months on the mountain, they had all become familiar with it.

The gray wolf recognized both the golden tiger and black panther, and they were all familiar with each other’s scents, though they had never interacted before.

The golden tiger then approached, its eyes fixed on the swamp forest ahead.

Rustling footsteps emerged from the swamp forest.

Soon, a red-fanged tiger even larger than the dead one appeared.

This tiger’s fur was redder than the previous one, but its fangs weren’t white – they were black.

Black fangs indicated something significant – that its contamination level had far exceeded medium-level contamination.

This was a red-furred black-fanged tiger on the verge of becoming high-level contaminated.

It would clearly be much more difficult to deal with than the smaller red-fanged tiger.

Qingjiao slowly moved right, Qilin stood steady in the middle, and Lightning gradually moved left.

The three S-class war beasts, without any communication, seamlessly and subtly surrounded the massive black-fanged tiger.

The black-fanged tiger saw the dead red-fanged tiger on the ground and seemed enraged. It raised its head and let out a mighty roar: “ROAR!”

Animals use their calls to intimidate enemies. If faced with such a terrifying roar from the black-fanged tiger, ordinary animals would surely submit.

But the three S-class war beasts saw only opportunity.

While the black-fanged tiger was showing off with its flashy roaring, Qingjiao, Lightning, and Qilin advanced simultaneously – one for the neck, one for the rear, one for the head.

However, the black-fanged tiger’s fur was extremely thick. Even Qingjiao and Lightning, with their 500-kilogram bite force, couldn’t penetrate its hide.

Even Qilin’s paw strike of six to seven hundred kilograms couldn’t knock it down.

The black-fanged tiger twisted its body dramatically, throwing off all three enemies. Just as its paw was about to strike the black panther, Qilin charged in, going for its eyes.

Qingjiao attacked from behind, biting its tail.

No matter how thick the fur, eyes and tail remain vulnerable.

A tiger’s tail is long and rope-like – Qing Jiao bit through it in one snap.

Meanwhile, blood flowed from the black-fanged tiger’s eyes. Maddened with pain, it erupted with tremendous strength, again throwing off Qingjiao and Qilin, but Lightning had recovered and suddenly pounced, jumping onto the black-fanged tiger’s back.

As Qingjiao and Qilin stood back up, they charged again. The three beasts worked together – while one drew aggro, the other two would strike, always targeting the black-fanged tiger’s weakest points.