Chapter 69

“Roar! Roar!”

At that moment, a bear’s furious roar shattered the silence of the wilderness night.

At once, Gou Dan bolted out of the bear den, eyes locked on the depths of the distant forest.

Just now, he had caught a whiff of a scent he found repulsive.

At that moment, a faint green glow in the forest’s depths was watching them from afar.

After seeing Gou Dan charge out of the den and roar in his direction, the massive creature in the forest instinctively took two steps back.

Then it fixed its gaze even more warily on the emerging Gou Dan.

Though it knew it couldn’t defeat this black bear, it was absolutely certain the bear could never catch it—its confidence in its own speed was absolute.

Hei Dan, who had just been resting, was startled by his brother’s sudden roar and movement.

At first confused, he soon sensed the hostility radiating from his brother, then lifted his nose and sniffed intently.

“Roar! Roar!”

Hei Dan then charged straight out of the den—he hadn’t expected this thing to dare target his brother’s prey, no, to dare target his human master’s prey; it was asking for death.

Inside the wooden cabin, Xiao Yi frowned slightly after hearing Gou Dan’s bear roar.

Then, hearing Hei Dan’s roar as well, Xiao Yi immediately sensed something was wrong.

He grabbed his wooden staff and prepared to step outside, remembering how last time Gou Dan had emitted such hostile sounds was when it had lured the wolf pack to him.

“Crack!”

The moment he opened the door, Xiao Yi froze—Hei Dan was charging out of the den in a straight line toward the forest’s depths.

Seeing this, Gou Dan first sighed at Hei Dan’s recklessness, then broke into a run to follow.

“Sss! Sss! Sss!”

The sight before them sent the rabbits in the pen into a panic—they scrambled wildly inside their enclosure.

Xiao Yi, now outside, naturally spotted the green glow deep in the forest.

Under the drone’s light, Xiao Yi finally saw the massive creature in the forest’s depths, and couldn’t help exclaiming, “What a huge cat.”

The creature hiding deep in the forest was equally stunned—weren’t adult bears in the wild always solitary?

How could there be two adult bears here? And both were males—who could possibly handle this?

But there was no time for the creature in the forest to think further—it turned and bolted.

It was confident it could escape unharmed from one adult black bear, but here there were two.

Viewers in the livestream erupted in shock, and the chat flooded with messages.

“Of course, Xiao Shen’s nighttime livestreams are the most exciting—I caught this one, perfect!”

“That creature that just appeared must be the Maple Short-tailed Cat!”

“What’s a short-tailed cat? Can anyone explain it?”

“It’s what we commonly call the wildcat—just know it’s as strong as a wolf, absolutely a top predator of the wilderness.”

“No, I think it’s more like a Newfoundland lynx—that’s the real menace, known as the wolf’s natural enemy, and reportedly has killed moose.”

“Holy crap, that’s that powerful? Looks like Xiao Shen’s dinner table is getting a new member.”

“...I’m speechless, but somehow that makes perfect sense.”

“This is ridiculous! The lynx is a Class II protected species—are you trying to get Xiao Shen to go to Maple Country for free meals?”

“Then it’s definitely a short-tailed cat—Xiao Shen should just take it down, nothing’s off-limits to eat.”

“You’re overthinking again—the short-tailed cat is also a Class II protected species; my god still can’t eat it.”

“Hehe, then Xiong Zai and Hei Dan are in for a feast—this might make Xiao Shen really jealous.”

“Huh? That actually works—Xiao Shen just can’t act himself, or he’d still be breaking the law.”

“Why can’t Xiao Shen act? Though both lynx and short-tailed cat are Class II protected species in Maple Country, they’re low-risk protected animals—if local authorities grant permission, hunting is allowed. I live in Maple Country—I’ve hunted lynx with friends. I just don’t know if Yinfu Company has negotiated with the Maple government.”

Yinfu Official: “Yinfu has negotiated—feel free to hunt boldly.”

“Of course, Xiao Yin is hiding in Xiao Shen’s livestream—Xiao Yin, you’ve worked hard.”

“Xiao Yin, you’ve worked hard! No wonder Wu En the god dares to hunt.”

“Xiao Yin, you’ve worked hard!”

…

…

“By the way, was that creature just now a short-tailed cat or a lynx?”

“Based on my years of cat-keeping experience, it’s definitely a short-tailed cat.”

“Nonsense! Based on my years of watching ‘Animal World,’ that fleeing thing is definitely a lynx.”

“What experience do you even have? Just blabbering nonsense—too bad Bei Ye isn’t here.”

“Even if Bei Ye were here, it wouldn’t matter—short-tailed cats and lynx look nearly identical; they were once classified as the same species. At this distance, how could Bei Ye tell the difference? Unless Xiao Shen kills the creature and gets a close-up.”

“The Real vs. Fake Monkey King?”

“You could say that—but there are differences.”

…

…

In the livestream, most viewers were arguing whether the creature was a Maple short-tailed cat or a lynx.

But Xiao Yi didn’t care much—he simply waited quietly for news from Hei Dan and Gou Dan.

Whether it was a short-tailed cat or a lynx, neither should dare provoke Xiao Yi.

Otherwise, that wolf pack was the creature’s warning—Xiao Yi disliked killing, but even the Buddha has his wrathful form.

“Roar! Roar!”

An hour later, bear roars echoed again outside the cabin. Hearing it, Xiao Yi rose and stepped out to investigate.

He saw Hei Dan trudging back, head low, while Gou Dan lagged behind at a distance.

Hei Dan’s hunt had clearly failed, but Xiao Yi wasn’t surprised—he’d expected this.

Because the distance was too great and the cat had fled instantly upon seeing the lights, Xiao Yi couldn’t tell whether it was a short-tailed cat or a lynx.

But whether the cat was a short-tailed cat or a lynx, Xiao Yi had basic knowledge of both from his show training—they were both faster than these two bears.

Of course, Xiao Yi knew the cat had targeted his rabbit pen—but his rabbit pen wasn’t open to just any cat or dog.

Over the next two days, he’d see if the creature returned. If it didn’t, fine. If it did, he’d find a way to eliminate it.

After all, it’s not the thief you fear—it’s the thief who keeps thinking about you. The best way to prevent this is to kill the thief outright.

Still, Xiao Yi was confident in the pen’s security.

With these two bears present, the creature could never sneak in to steal his rabbits—especially now that they were already alerted.

It seemed these two bears had some use after all!