Chapter 90: China’s Meeting
w.a.n.g Hu, who was in the midst of eating, was taken aback for a moment. Then, he glanced over. When he became sure that Big Treasure was talking about their food, he became amused right away.
That little rascal. Did he think his father was silly?
Then, he glanced at the little rascal’s round little tummy. Whatever w.a.n.g Hu gave him could definitely fill him up. He was definitely just being greedy, eying the food in someone else’s bowl while eating the food on his own.
Most importantly, his eyes had strayed to even the food in his father’s bowl.
w.a.n.g Hu lifted his hand and gave that round little head a good, hard rubbing before he chided in amus.e.m.e.nt, “Hurry up and eat your food. If you don’t, when Daddy’s finished his, he’s going to eat yours.”
Big Treasure was rather indignant, but he nevertheless lowered his head and strove to eat faster.
Soon, w.a.n.g Hu was the first to finish. He was far from being satiated, but it was alright. It didn’t get in the way of things.
When he noticed Old Third and Su Ling still watching him hopefully, he laughed softly and said, “Bring your own food here tomorrow. I’ll process it for you.”
Roar~!
“Big Brother’s the best!”
Old Third cheered in joy right away.
“My lord’s the best.” Su Ling cheered happily as well.
w.a.n.g Hu made nothing of what they said. They weren’t meant to be taken seriously. When he beat up Old Third or frightened the tool-fox, they wouldn’t say that he was the best anymore.
However, the food that he had processed was beneficial to Old Third and Su Ling to a certain extent.
After all, there were no impurities in them, and the whole thing was pure essence. Besides, it didn’t take much effort for him.
He would just process it along the way together with the others when it was mealtime.
Half a minute later, Big Treasure finished his food and burped lightly. His charmingly naive and adorable appearance put a smile on w.a.n.g Hu’s face.
Then, as though he hadn’t had enough yet, Big Treasure licked his lips and looked at the spot in front of his father right away.
There wasn’t any left!
With a somewhat dejected expression, he then turned to look at Little Treasure. Then, his eyes lit up, and he got ready to run over with his short little legs.
w.a.n.g Hu grabbed him behind the neck right away and pulled him back. Amused, he gently chastised, “What are you doing? You’re not allowed to s.n.a.t.c.h your younger sister’s food.”
Big Treasure, whose eyes were fixed on the meat in front of Little Treasure, started to cry out sadly.
Roar~!
“Don’t pull Big Treasure back. Big Treasure isn’t s.n.a.t.c.hing her food. Big Treasure wants to help Little Treasure eat her food.”
“Haha!” w.a.n.g Hu didn’t manage to hold himself back and ended up laughing. Then, he started to rub that little tiger head again as he said, “Does she even need your help? Behave yourself and stay here.”
That little rascal. He was clearly full. It was just that he was being greedy and wanted more. Given his level of self-awareness, he definitely wouldn’t stop until he managed to eat more.
An extremely unyielding Big Treasure struggled and cried out very seriously.
Roar~!
“Daddy, don’t stop Big Treasure. Big Treasure’s going over to help. Little Treasure won’t be able to finish.”
Roar~!
“Little Treasure can finish it. Little Treasure doesn’t need Big Treasure’s help.”
On the other side, Little Treasure raised her little head and replied in her childish voice while glaring warily at Big Treasure.
Roar~!
“Little Treasure is lying. You can’t finish it.”
Big Treasure replied to her as though what he said was justified, not backing down in the least.
Roar~!
“Little Treasure can finish it. Little Treasure doesn’t like Big Treasure anymore. Big Treasure is a stupid big brother.”
Little Treasure said angrily as she turned away and blocked his view of her food.
Roar~!
“Little Treasure is also a stupid younger sister, too. Big Treasure doesn’t like Little Treasure anymore either.”
Big Treasure shouted indignantly as he twisted his head to peek at the food hidden from his view while being held by his father.
Amused by the sight, w.a.n.g Hu didn’t stop them. Instead, he continued to watch with great interest.
Kids fighting with one another was simply so fun. Their tantrums came unusually quickly at the drop of a hat without any prior warning or sign and came even faster than a grown woman’s.
However, they also disappeared quickly and were easy to cajole. Similarly, they were also easier to cajole than grown women.
Of course, while he was certainly having fun watching them, Little Treasure hadn’t finished eating yet. He couldn’t let go and allow Big Treasure to go over and s.n.a.t.c.h her food, of course.
All of a sudden, his expression froze.
This wasn’t right!
Silly Girl had gone into seclusion. In that case, didn’t that mean that he was going to have to look after Big Treasure and Little Treasure alone again?!
Memories of the troublesome days from the past rushed back into his mind, and he felt the urge to back away.
Taking care of children wasn’t something that typical men could do.
He glanced at the two little fellows, who were still mad, and suddenly felt a headache coming on.
He then glanced at Old Third and Su Ling before he secretly shook his head. Never mind, there was no way he could count on them.
It was still alright during usual times when Big Treasure and Little Treasure slept, ate, played, and watched cartoons. They didn’t need to pay any attention to them because they would play by themselves.
However, when they were testing the adults’ patience, Old Third and Su Ling weren’t to be counted on at all.
Since Silly Girl wasn’t around, then he would definitely be the one whose patience would be tested.
He couldn’t help but frown. A few seconds later, he sighed softly. What was he to do? They were his kids after all!
His gaze s.h.i.+fted to the cave where Silly Girl had gone into seclusion, and he started to look forward to when she came out of seclusion even more.
…
While w.a.n.g Hu was being troubled over the high likelihood that the two little fellows were going to test his patience in the near future, China’s cabinet and Bureau of Foreign Affairs were exceptionally busy despite the fact that the day hadn’t dawned yet.
Dong Pingtao, Li Aimin, Chen Jianguo, and the other cabinet members hadn’t slept a wink the whole night.
They were a.n.a.lyzing and discussing the impact brought about by the incident this time.
“The other countries are applying more and more pressure on us. They’ve already banded together to ask us what exactly is going on.
“In fact, some are even straight-up asking us whether the Tiger King has broken through to the Third Realm. It’s currently the honeymoon phase of the various countries’ partners.h.i.+p. I’m afraid this question won’t be easy to answer,” said a frowning elderly man.
“Let’s wait a little more. We’ll give them a clear answer when we’ve done everything we can to get an understanding of the situation,” said Dong Pingtao calmly.
“Alright.” The elderly man nodded.
“As for the Tiger King and his family, the Multi-Species Department will try to contact them again at 9 o’clock. If we manage to get in contact with them, I will pay them a visit and talk to them,” said Li Aimin.
Everyone’s expressions became even more solemn and graver.
The Third Realm!
Moreover, given the Tiger King’s performance in the past, it was definitely no ordinary breakthrough to the Third Realm or a state where he had only just freshly broken through.
The moment they thought of how such a powerful existence was prominently occupying the northern borders, they couldn’t help but feel great fear and trepidation. As a result, they couldn’t ignore this; neither could they afford not to give this more thought.
After a few seconds of silence, Dong Pingtao asked, “Is the research center’s report still not here yet?”
A secretary answered, “They still need about half an hour more.”
“We’ll talk about this after half an hour then,” replied Dong Pingtao decisively.
No one raised any objections. The most important part of this matter was no one knew how strong the Northern Tiger King was and to what extent had he reached.
Even if they couldn’t get a concrete idea, a rough idea would also do.
It was only when they had an idea of what was going on could they make decisions with regard to several matters.
Half an hour pa.s.sed very quickly. A video channel was connected.
An elderly man that looked to be in his sixties or seventies appeared on the screen. He had spa.r.s.e hair but surprisingly seemed to be in good spirits. He said seriously, “Dear leaders, regarding the matter of the Tiger King’s breakthrough, we’ve conducted the most stringent investigations, research, and deductions from start to finish.
“When the Tiger King had moved to a new place; when the commotion among the animals had started; our current spiritual energy density level; the description of the Third Realm as stated in the two great legacies; and so on.
“Based on these clues, we estimate the Tiger King to have gone through at least seven rounds of metamorphosis. There’s a 60% chance that he has gone through eight rounds, and a 10% chance that he has gone through nine before he attained the Divine Body Realm, which the two legacies also refer to as the Spiritual Energy Realm.”
Before he even finished, Dong Pingtao and the others’ expressions had already turned a few notches graver upon hearing what he said.
This was because they knew very well what that represented.
A minimum of seven rounds, a 60% chance of eight rounds, and a 10% chance of nine rounds. His strength…
After only a short pause, the elderly man on the screen went on. “In terms of strength, if we base it off the Ten Floors of cla.s.sification that we made in the beginning, the beginner phase is cla.s.sified as the First Floor.
“Even those that go through eight rounds of metamorphosis before they attain the Third Realm are also cla.s.sified as the First Floor if they’ve only just broken through.
“Only those that go through nine rounds of metamorphosis before they attain the Divine Body Realm while newly breaking through are considered the Second Floor.
“We cannot be entirely sure how many rounds of metamorphosis the Tiger King went through, but based on the Tiger King’s past performance, we can be sure that his combat strength has at least reached the Second Floor or even the Third Floor.
“At present, he is the strongest existence among all the experts that we’ve encountered, including those that we met in the Hu County alternate world…”
He spoke for another few minutes and told them all the results from their investigation before the video stopped.
The meeting room fell silent again.
It was only after a whole two minutes that Dong Pingtao spoke and broke the silence.
“You’ve all heard him. The Tiger King is very strong, unexpectedly so. He has already become an influential force on Earth.
“As for how we, China—as well as the whole of humanity—should treat that influential force, I believe everyone has already arrived at an answer.”
A few seconds after he spoke, Li Aimin took the lead and spoke up first, his voice firm and determined.
“I’ll make my stance clear first. I suggest that we put in more effort to form good relations with the Tiger King. The Tiger King holds no animosity toward China or humanity. We have a common enemy, and we also hold the same interests.
“The Tiger King’s strength is also immensely useful to China as well as the whole world. I believe that if we show our sincerity, we’ll be able to coexist peacefully with the Tiger King… or even become allies.”
“I agree. Disregarding everything else for now and just focusing on the Hu County alternate world, if a Third Realm Hui really finds the world pa.s.sage and enters China, with the Tiger King around; it’ll be a lot easier for us to deal with it.
“We can request for the Tiger King’s help at a price. Nevertheless, I’m sure this price is smaller than the one we have to pay if we use nuclear weapons,” said Chen Jianguo right after.
“I’ll talk a little about my opinion.” An elderly man said solemnly, “Everyone should be aware of the Third Realm’s level of destructiveness. We’ve already destroyed two ent.i.ties from the First Floor of the Ten Floors. While we haven’t dealt with anyone from the Second Floor or the Third Floor, we can easily imagine just how powerful they must be.
“The Tiger King’s existence ultimately still unsettles me. I forfeit taking a stance.”
The moment he finished, the atmosphere in the meeting room turned even heavier and even more somber.
He had given voice to the worry hidden in everyone’s hearts.
It was fine that the Tiger King was strong, but for him to reach a point where he could pose a threat to China in one go, as leaders of the country, they couldn’t not-worry over it.
They were afraid, very afraid. They had no choice but to be afraid. They couldn’t help but be afraid. Only fools wouldn’t be afraid, and those fools wouldn’t be worthy of sitting in there at all.
“Cough, cough. Let me talk a little about my opinion.” Another elderly man let out a couple of light coughs before he spoke. Then, he sighed and said, “Everyone, you’ve already heard what Department Chief Li said just now.
“I’ll just be honest here. I’d like to ask something. Our speculations toward the Tiger King’s strength are just speculations. In fact, they are even conservative speculations. In that case, do we really have absolute confidence in eliminating that power?
“If we attack but end up becoming unable to eliminate it, what should we do? Who can shoulder such a responsibility?”
The meeting room was dead silent. They knew instantly that they had their answer.
The elderly man went on. “Secondly, if we do make a move, then all the efforts that we have put in the beginning with regard to the various animal species will all be in vain. n.o.body knows—for sure—how things will change, but I daresay that it won’t be any better than what it is now.
“We may have to face two enemies—the evil and sinister alternate worlds, as well as all the animals in our own world.
“My opinion is that we shouldn’t hesitate at all. Neither do we have any choice. Right now, stability is the most important. I rest my case.”
After a few seconds of silence, Dong Pingtao said, “Let me know your stand. Those that agree that we should put in more effort to build better relations with the Tiger King, raise your hand.”