Chapter 22: Captive

Just out of the dragon's pond, and into the tiger's den.

The fat officer could not help but think of this Eastern Xia idiom, wanting to cry but having no tears.

This ghostly place was far too terrifying! There were actually this many powerful extraordinary creatures.

The giant lion before him stood over two meters tall, a full twice the size of an ordinary lion! Even more terrifying—this fellow looked like merely a cub. Its fur was snow-white, with scattered blue ice crystals between its claws, looking majestic and domineering.

Seeing yet another giant beast before him, the young soldier Sangqi was already scared witless.

Could these giant beasts be the extraordinary creatures they were supposed to capture this time?

"F... fire..."

The fat officer gave the order, trembling all over.

It was already too late to flee! Under the threat of death, Sangqi overcame his psychological terror and drew his pistol.

Yet just as he was about to shoot, the white giant lion in his field of vision suddenly vanished! The next second, Sangqi felt a blast of cold air sweeping toward his face.

The white lion had already arrived beside the off-road vehicle!

Its speed was simply too fast! Bang! Then a powerful force struck the off-road vehicle from the side, directly knocking the moving vehicle sideways several meters through the air.

The driver, Old Wang, hastily slammed on the brakes.

The out-of-control off-road vehicle spun several circles on the snowfield before finally coming to a stop.

The fat officer, bleeding from a head wound, struggled to escape from the off-road vehicle.

But before he had taken two steps, he saw a massive head and a gaping bloody maw.

And so, the fat officer chose to faint cleanly and decisively.

"Huh? He fainted just like that? Am I really that terrifying?"

Looking at the unconscious black man, Chen Mo could not help but feel a bit speechless.

With that psychological fortitude, they still wanted to hunt extraordinary creatures on the snowfield? Seeing the giant white lion slowly approaching, the driver Old Wang and the young soldier Sangqi, who had not gotten out of the vehicle at the first moment, were both shaking with fear! Sangqi shakily tried to pick up the pistol that had fallen on the ground, only to see the giant white lion directly tear the car door off with its claws, then fling the two men onto the snow like little chicks.

"Roar!"

The white lion let out another deafening roar, instantly scaring the two men out of their wits.

Watching the white lion draw closer and closer, the two shut their eyes in despair, waiting for death to arrive.

Then they felt the white lion's claws roaming constantly over their bodies.

Very quickly, Chen Mo finished searching the two black men.

He did not find any other weapons; he only pulled two cell phones from their trouser pockets.

"Roar?" (Huawei?)

Chen Mo's eyes flickered with surprise when he saw the logos on the two black phones.

"Huh?"

Seeing the white lion reveal a human-like expression on its face, the two instantly realized that the white lion before them possessed intelligence.

So the next second, the two began kneeling on the ground begging for mercy.

"Lion God, spare our lives!"

"Lord Ice Lion, please let us go!"

Although they felt the Lion King before them might not necessarily understand human speech, it should be able to sense their intense will to live!

They wanted to live! Hearing the familiar pleas for mercy, Chen Mo's expression turned peculiar.

Good grief! You even learned that.

What was the deal with these two black men? Not only did they speak Huaxia, use Huawei phones, they had even learned how to beg for mercy!

After a moment of thought, Chen Mo scratched out a few Chinese characters in the snow with his claw—

"Obey, live."

Seeing the white lion write in the snow, both of their minds instantly went blank, their gazes shocked to the point of near vacancy, their worldview collapsing in this moment.

Had the world already become this fantastical!?

After a lion in the wild awakened, it had even taught itself Chinese!

But this undoubtedly also ignited the flame of survival in their hearts.

"Lord Lion King, don't kill me, I'm super obedient! If you tell me to go east, I will absolutely not go west!" "Drive, follow me."

Chen Mo wrote five Chinese characters in the snow; this place was not safe, so Chen Mo planned to return to the pride first before anything else.

"Squeak~"

At this moment, a squeaking sound suddenly came from not far away.

Chen Mo looked toward the sound and saw a small white mouse whose appearance and build somewhat resembled a snow ferret.

【Ice Crystal Mouse】

【Level: Low-rank Extraordinary】

【Constitution: 2】

【Agility: 11】

【Strength: 1】

【Spirit: 14】

【Overall Combat Power: 12】

With a thought, this little white mouse's information was laid bare before him.

This was probably the lowest overall combat power extraordinary creature Chen Mo had encountered so far.

Moreover, this Ice Crystal Mouse was extremely skewed in its attributes—its speed and spirit were decent, but its constitution and strength were truly pitifully low.

"Squeak squeak squeak!"

The Ice Crystal Mouse squeaked incessantly, its eyes showing some fear, its little mouse claws constantly gesturing at something.

Obviously, this ice crystal mouse is the one previously captured by the hunting squad.

It was locked in the iron cage of the off‑road truck; in fact it had woken up long ago, merely pretending to be anesthetized.

The prison cage that had held it, together with the off‑road truck, was split in two by the heavenly curtain ice spider, and the ice crystal mouse seized the chance to escape.

All the way fleeing, it happened to witness Chen Mo overturning the off‑road vehicle.

The moment it saw this ice lion, it formed the idea of seeking refuge.

After gaining spiritual awareness, the ice crystal mouse had witnessed many killings among supernatural beings.

In order to become stronger, supernatural beings are mutually hostile; upon meeting they often erupt into life‑or‑death battles.

Even formerly relatively docile herbivorous animals have become extremely brutal.

Poor little mouse, its innate attributes are too weak; even after awakening supernatural powers, its combat ability ranks among the lowest.

Each time it is the one being hunted, yet thanks to its proud speed it always manages to escape.

But it soon realized it needed a backer! The ice crystal mouse's awakened ability is supernatural perception, allowing it to roughly sense the strength of supernatural beings and the spiritual power stored within them.

This ice lion is the strongest spirit beast it has seen since its awakening.

Of course, except for that spider giant beast—it dare not sense the spiritual power hidden within the spider giant beast's body.

Strong, handsome, mighty, reliable! As for whether it would just eat it outright, such a high‑appearance handsome lion surely wouldn't do that, right?

Moreover, the ice crystal mouse is confident in its speed; if that handsome lion lunges at it, it will simply flee!

Chen Mo couldn't understand mouse language, but he still roughly grasped what the little white mouse meant—

This little guy seems to have come to seek refuge with him? He has never before encountered a supernatural being that actively seeks refuge.

All that can be said—

This ice crystal mouse before me… has good taste~ and its awakened ability is called supernatural perception, which looks quite useful.

"Roar!" ("Welcome! From now on I'll call you Little White.") Chen Mo extended his forepaw toward the little white mouse.

"Squeak!"

The ice crystal mouse naturally couldn't understand lion language either, but feeling the lion king's goodwill, the little creature's eyes shone with excitement; it hurried over and, in a worshipful posture, bowed to the lion king.

"Squeak!" ("Praise you! Mighty lion king!")

(End of chapter)