Chapter 53: The Girl in the Tiger’s Mouth

He felt incredibly liberated the moment he freed all his thoughts and indulged himself for once.

After being cautious for more than ten years—no, for dozens of years including during his past life, he had long since become accustomed to acting and being hypocritical.

He had already gotten used to it. It didn’t matter to him anymore. He didn’t feel like there was anything bad about it either. In fact, he even reveled in it.

When was the last time he had been this self-indulgent?

As he indulged himself, w.a.n.g Hu—whose sense of heroism had reached all the way to the clouds—wondered for a moment. He couldn’t remember when the last time he had done so during his past life was.

As for this lifetime… heh.

It was when he had become man and wife with Silly Girl, of course.

Although it was a decision made while in the throes of despair, it had felt fantastic nevertheless.

Now that he had shaken off his human obsessions, he no longer needed to pretend to be someone else in front of the camera; neither did he need to consider so many things before doing anything anymore. He could completely and thoroughly indulge himself now.

He just didn’t expect his self-indulgence to bring him such a wonderful family the moment he did.

However, it seemed like it was exactly this same family that had turned him even more hypocritical, even more cautious, and even bigger of an actor. This behavior had penetrated much more deeply into him than before.

There was no other reason for this apart from… just wanting to protect the family.

G.o.dd*mn it, karma might sometimes really exist after all.

Never mind, he wasn’t going to think about it anymore. He would just kill that ugly thing that disgusted both him and Silly Girl first.

…

As though an earthquake had broken out, the inside of the school was a complete wreck everywhere by now. Thanks to the others’ coordinated efforts, Chen Yong returned to the school for the seventh time.

His face was unnaturally flushed, and he panted heavily. Only his eyes remained as determined as ever.

A short distance away, the monster glared brutally and with intense killing intent at Chen Yong. It was terribly frustrated and irritated, but it continued to stay near the school. In fact, it didn’t even chase or try to kill the soldiers firing projectiles at it and obstructing its way.

After a short deadlock, upon seeing that Chen Yong wasn’t coming forward anymore, the monster sneered and started to slowly walk toward the people hiding in the buildings.

Left with no choice, Chen Yong could only go forward again.

Boom!

A few seconds later, the pursuit started again. It was as if even the entire ground itself was shaking. Fire from the artillery projectiles followed during this period again.

The terribly thrilling and dangerous situation lasted for about two minutes. Chen Yong barely managed to rush out of the school, escaping the clutches of the monster by a hair’s breadth, which had been held back for the span of a breath by a projectile.

Everyone watching in front of their screens, as well as those present on-site who saw what had happened, heaved sighs of relief again.

After chasing Chen Yong for approximately 1,000 meters, the monster abruptly sped up a little, significantly reducing the gap between them in one go.

Great fear broke out on the Internet.

“Quick, run!”

“Hurry up! D*mmit, that b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”

“Oh no, that b*stard’s playing tricks!”

……

After giving up six consecutive times, no one expected that the monster would continue the pursuit during the seventh time.

After running for approximately 1,000 meters, Chen Yong—who had inevitably relaxed somewhat—felt chills all over his body. He circulated his True Essence at such a breakneck speed that even his meridians had somewhat torn.

Fortunately, by relying on the terrain and a.s.sistance from other people, he managed to avoid being caught by the monster even after it pursued him for another few kilometers.

Roar~!

The monster let out a terribly irate and enraged roar as it wantonly wrecked all the houses in the surroundings with its front limbs. Under its claws, it was as if these houses constructed from iron and cement were as soft as jelly.

It stayed like that for a good half a minute or so before it finally shot toward the elementary school like a flash of lightning.

At once, an order was given for the rescuers to temporarily retreat.

At the same time, a voice also sounded in Chen Yong’s earphone.

“Good job. The main troops will arrive in another four minutes. Chen Yong, please make sure to stall it one more time.” Division Commander Li’s grim voice rang out.

“Understood!”

The out-of-breath Chen Yong responded loudly before he quickly went back.

In the school…

The monster took only a short twenty-odd seconds to return.

On the surface, it looked like there was already one person missing from the group of adults and children who had originally been making use of the opportunity to escape.

The monster landed next to the building and looked toward the main gates leisurely.

They didn’t let the monster down. Soon, Chen Yong showed up.

With a savage smile, the monster slowly reached out its hand toward the building.

Chen Yong gnashed his teeth in fury and charged forward brazenly.

Everyone who saw it was infuriated to the extreme. It was obvious that the b*stard was blatantly luring Chen Yong over and forcing him into action, and yet they had no other choice. If he didn’t go forward, the children would be in trouble.

Chen Yong charged over until he was only about 100 meters away and threw a punch. His last remaining bit of True Essence erupted into action, and a red beam of light shot straight toward the monster from midair.

Not bothered in the least, the monster dived straight toward the red light beam, upon which Chen Yong immediately made a run for it in a practiced manner.

Yet another thrilling chase ensued. A dozen or so seconds later, the monster which had been obstructed once again by artillery projectiles roared furiously. It abruptly ran toward the school buildings and wrecked one of the walls with a strike of its palm.

Bam!

“Ahhh!”

“Quick, run! Run!”

…

The people inside the building screamed and cried when the wall was destroyed. Some of them ran chaotically toward the outside while some straight-up fell limp onto the ground.

The monster watched the fleeing people leisurely. It waited until they had run more than ten meters away before it took a step forward and easily chased after them again. As it did so, it even turned around and gave the enraged Chen Yong a mocking smile as if it was saying ‘Come over here. If you don’t, they shall die.’

Without any hesitation, Chen Yong immediately turned and charged over.

The monster’s smile widened. It roared lightly and looked at the people in front who were running for their lives.

Roar~!

At once, the trembling figures began to run even faster. Suddenly, a look of hesitation came over the countenance of a middle-aged man with a little girl. Then, with a pained expression, he loosened his hold on her.

Surprised, the little girl blanked out, causing her to instantly lag behind everyone else.

The little girl, who was only six to seven years old, stared blankly at the figures running further and further away from her. She had a completely dazed look on her face as if she couldn’t react at all.

Two livestream channels that had captured what just happened on camera fell into silence right away.

The monster didn’t pay these things any heed. Instead, it turned and glanced at Chen Yong who was currently charging over with a smile full of brutality.

Just as he was about to reach a point about 100 meters away—where he could launch an attack, the enormous figure swooped right toward the little girl with a pleased look in its eyes.

A jolt went through Chen Yong, as well as everyone who saw what had happened. They knew that that b*stard was taking revenge and venting its frustrations.

Innumerable people’s hatred toward the monster had already reached an extreme stage a long time ago, and surging within their emotions was even a manic sense of frenzy.

D*mn it!

Just as a great number of people shut their eyes because they couldn’t make themselves watch any further, a golden light suddenly appeared in a flash in that split-second.

Bang!

The sound of flesh colliding hard against flesh rang out. Extremely deep and dull yet also loud and sonorous like a series of m.u.f.fled gongs, it echoed abruptly within school grounds.

Before anyone could even react, an ear-piercing screech of claws sc.r.a.ping against the ground rang out.

When they directed their gaze there once more, a look of stunned surprise appeared in everyone’s eyes.

Several black stripes adorned the golden fur. A huge and indescribably cold and domineering figure braced itself against the ground on all fours, its razor-sharp claws making deep slashes measuring dozens of meters long on the cement ground.

It had obviously been forcibly knocked away by a great force, yet the ‘king’ character pattern on its forehead, its raised chin, and every part of it was conveying an overflowing sense of dominance and might that was beyond compare. It showed no sign of falling into a disadvantageous position or being forced into a tight corner at all.

“That’s…! The Northern Tiger King!”

“The Northern Tiger King! It’s him! It’s him! There’s no way I would make a mistake!”

“Why is the Northern Tiger King here?”

…

…

After a very brief moment of surprise, comments started to gush forth in a frenzy online. Puzzled voices were everywhere.

Both Dong Pingtao and Chen Jianguo were also surprised. Why had the Tiger King come?

Suddenly, as if something had occurred to him, Dong Pingtao quickly ordered, “a.n.a.lyze whether the Tiger King can deal with that beast or not.”

At these words, Chen Jianguo snapped back to reality. His eyes lit up when he thought of the scene that had unfolded just now.

In front of a huge cell phone, Di Baijun—whose brows were initially drawn together—raised an eyebrow. A hint of worry and astonishment flashed across her countenance, but when she took a good, close look; a pout subconsciously formed on her lips.

That jerk’s defenses… he…

Awooo~! Awooo~!

“Daddy! It’s Daddy! It’s Daddy!”

After blinking a couple of times in puzzlement, Big Treasure and Little Treasure immediately started to whoop in joy—even though they didn’t know what they were so happy about either.

Di Baijun’s senses snapped back. After a moment’s consideration, she decided to let the two little fellows watch on.

Hmph, how dare that jerk deceive me. It’s his just deserts even if he dies.

Back at the school, as innumerable people looked on, the cold and austere Northern Tiger King that boasted an incredibly domineering might jumped over to where Chen Yong—who had also remained where he was in surprise—was.

He lowered his head, and then—in a gentle motion that brimmed with an extreme sense of contradiction and was the complete opposite of his mighty presence and physique, he opened his mouth slightly. A little girl then slid out and landed on her bottom on the ground.

She still had a dazed look on her little face. Still and motionless, her big eyes stared hard at the enormous creature in front of her.

In this instant, innumerable people watching their screens found themselves tearing up for no reason.

“G.o.dd*mn it, a grown-up man like me cried when I saw this. Thank you, Tiger King.”

“I’m in love now. From now on, no one’d better G.o.dd*mn badmouth the Tiger King in front of me. Thank you, Tiger King.”

“Thank you, Tiger King.”

…

The frenzy of comments seemed to be venting their posters’ despair and repressed emotions from just now.

The look in Dong Pingtao and Chen Jianguo’s eyes also mellowed in this instant.

w.a.n.g Hu didn’t know any of these. Neither was he thinking of that much at the moment. His cold eyes gazed somewhat in relief at the little one in front of him.

It was fortunate that he’d subconsciously chosen a solution like this at that time. Otherwise, he really didn’t have the confidence that he could protect the little one when faced with that monster’s physical strength that had exceeded his initial expectations.

After all, this little one was simply too small and weak to them, so much so that they could kill her just by blowing at her.

It was fine as long as she was safe.

Then, w.a.n.g Hu turned around and faced the monster. It was that b*stard’s turn next.

Roar~!

“Take her away from here.”

His soft words brought Chen Yong, who had been standing there in a daze the whole time, back to reality with a start. Instinctively, he immediately nodded repeatedly and obediently picked up the little girl and ran toward the gates.

The little girl’s head turned around, and she continued to stare hard at that enormous creature.

The monster didn’t pay any attention to Chen Yong and the others. Ever since w.a.n.g Hu’s appearance, its eyes had been fixed on him. The look of greed in its eyes intensified.

In the blink of an eye, the whole place became unusually quiet.

On the Internet, the initial frenzy of comments also gradually came to a stop, and it became unusually quiet as well.

Nervousness, grimness, hope, and other emotions led to them not daring to type anything anymore.

In the capital, Chen Jianguo’s fists balled up tightly, and he actually couldn’t stop himself from pressing the research inst.i.tute and the secretariat for an answer. “How is it? Can the Tiger King deal with the monster?”

“We’re not sure. According to our deductions, the Tiger King isn’t at peak-level Second Realm, but the speed and defenses that he had just exhibited are both exceptionally powerful. We don’t know the outcome yet.”

The research inst.i.tute and the secretariat immediately gave him their report.

At this point, the main reinforcement troops had also finally arrived at the school’s main gates.