Chapter 36: Sangqi

Chen Mo answered the phone.

"Good morning, Your Excellency the Lion King."

The old man on the other end of the phone sounded rather weary, but still managed a smile and greeted Chen Mo.

Chen Mo nodded calmly, waiting for the other party to state his purpose.

"Your Excellency the Lion King, I'm calling you this time to request that you release the Cheetah Squad early."

"Our current situation is far from optimistic. As spiritual Qi spreads and intensifies, more and more animals and plants are mutating, and we're already struggling to cope."

"Just yesterday, Sunset Town erupted in a beast tide crisis. a Class A demonic beast, an Ice-Armored White Rhino, led a host of demonic beasts to seize Sunset Town."

"I know Your Excellency the Lion King may not believe it, but this is all fact. The videos I'm sending you now were all filmed from the soldiers' first-person perspectives."

The old man on the other end appeared quite sincere.

Chen Mo glanced at the videos.

The first video was set in a relatively urbanized area; Chen Mo thought it was very likely the capital of Tanzanila.

In the city, rats larger than dogs scurried through the streets while soldiers with rifles shot at them, the background filled with rising and falling screams and gunfire.

The second video showed a large black cat suddenly going berserk and killing people on a street, then fighting fiercely with soldiers who rushed to the scene.

As for the last video, it was filmed in a small town.

A white rhino behemoth several stories tall, its entire body covered in hard ice armor, charged wildly through the town, with a dozen or so smaller black rhino behemoths following close behind, trampling the town's houses and residents like plowing a field.

Countless bullets and explosives rained down on the white rhino behemoth.

But they were all blocked by the layer of ice armor on its body. Regarding Tanzania's current situation, Chen Mo actually had a rough idea already.

As the revival of spiritual Qi deepened, the number of extraordinary creatures appearing would only grow higher. Even if cities took preemptive action to kill cats and dogs, creatures like rats and cockroaches could never be fully eradicated.

In this day and age, even a single tree could mutate.

And Tanzanila, as an entire country, had only just over thirty thousand active-duty soldiers; spread across every town, there weren't many left.

【This has nothing to do with me.】

Chen Mo wrote on the snow. Seeing this, the general couldn't help but feel somewhat dejected.

But soon, he saw the Ice Lion write again on the snow—

【But I'm willing to release them.】

The general was a bit excited; he hadn't expected this Lion King to be quite reasonable.

But after writing those five words, the general noticed the Lion King was still writing. The three words that followed were none other than—

【Gotta pay extra!】

"Agreed. We're willing to provide you with two more demon cores from mid-tier extraordinary demonic beasts!"

The general replied.

To them, the value of demon cores really wasn't that great. As long as they could get the Cheetah Squad back early, it was definitely worth it.

At this moment, the general even felt a twinge of regret. If he'd known this Lion King was so easy to deal with, he should have ransomed the Cheetah Squad back sooner.

【Deal.】

Chen Mo wrote again.

The Cheetah Squad wasn't that important to him anymore.

Given Tanzanila's current situation, the military clearly couldn't spare attention for it.

Moreover, he had already passed his weakest period. Conventional human weapons could no longer harm him at all.

Releasing these humans early didn't matter.

Finally, to show his sincerity, Chen Mo offered to release the Fat Officer and Old Wang the driver as well.

Neither of them had awakened to the extraordinary; keeping them with the lion pride was purely a waste of food.

After the call ended, everyone in the Cheetah Squad was thrilled.

After being imprisoned by the lion pride for over a week, they could finally go home!

"Lord Lion King, thank you for your mercy."

Kalam said gratefully.

The Fat Officer and Old Wang were overjoyed; they never expected to be sent back together as "freebies."

Freebies were great! Freebies were absolutely wonderful! Then they looked at Sangqi with pitying eyes.

The Lion King had kept him behind alone.

This poor guy!

The Fat Officer went up to Sangqi, patted his shoulder, and said with a hint of sarcasm, "Serve Lord Lion King well! You'll have a bright future!".

These past days, because he couldn't provide any value to the pride, his treatment among them hadn't been good.

Yet Sangqi, his former subordinate, was thriving.

This made him feel deeply frustrated and resentful.

At this moment, all that pent-up frustration came pouring out.

You wanted to show off, and now look what happened? You got kept by the Lion King as "talent" in the pride.

Right after saying that, the Fat Officer noticed Sangqi's eyes reddening, his gaze filled with extreme grief.

Seeing this, he couldn't bring himself to keep being sarcastic.

After patting his shoulder once more, he grabbed Old Wang and ran over to chat with the Cheetah Squad.

Sangqi's grief wasn't because he was being left behind with the pride.

These past days, he had grown accustomed to being around the pride, and even found the feeling rather pleasant.

His grief and anguish stemmed from the news he had just heard—

Sunset Town had been seized by fierce beasts.

And his parents lived in Sunset Town!

"Lord Lion King, may I make a phone call with a mobile phone?"

After hanging up the phone, Chen Mo saw Sang Qi suddenly kneel before him.

"Roar!"

Chen Mo nodded.

Among the captured humans, the one he trusted most was Sang Qi.

Besides being responsible for grilling meat for Chen Mo every day, he could also use 【Ice Healing】 to treat lions injured during hunts.

He was essentially the cook plus doctor of the pride.

Many lions in the pride had a good impression of him and even regarded him as a friend.

This was also why Chen Mo had let the fat officer and the driver Xiao Wang go as "freebies," but kept Sang Qi behind.

Moreover, the entirety of Tanzanira was now in complete chaos, and humans posed little threat to the pride.

Letting him make a phone call, or even returning the mobile phone to him, was no problem.

"Lord Lion King, my parents are in Sunset Town. I want to call back and see if they're still alive."

Sang Qi explained to Chen Mo the reason for the phone call.

At this moment, his heart was burning with anxiety, deeply worried about his parents' safety.

Sang Qi nervously dialed his mother's phone number.

Beep beep—

After half a minute, still no one answered, and the call disconnected automatically.

Panic and fear showed in Sang Qi's eyes. He immediately dialed again, but still no one answered.

In the end, Sang Qi made over a dozen calls in succession, but the result was always the same.

Tears fell uncontrollably from his eyes.

Then he suddenly dropped to his knees and said to the giant lion before him, voice choking: "Lord Lion King, could you let me go back just once! I promise I'll come back. If you're worried, you can have Xiao Bai follow me."

"If I can come back, I'm willing to give everything I have for Lord Lion King!"

Sang Qi pleaded, though he knew the chances of the Lion King granting his request were extremely slim.

He knew the special nature of his healing ability, and the pride would not easily let him leave.

Moreover, his destination this time was Sunset Town, overrun by fierce beasts, and there was a very high possibility he would die.

But for his parents, he could only lay down all his "bargaining chips" and beg the Lion King for a chance! (End of this chapter)