Chapter 545: Three Rapid Drum Beats!

The enemy side had only a mere two people, while our side had five generals; by the player's moral standards, we naturally began the righteous encirclement with no psychological pressure at all.

That man, Constance, and almost all of the player's heavy firepower faced a slower-moving, larger-targeted Titan Giant.

Meanwhile, Old Immortal Mo Di, Ba Gua You Shen, and the Temple of the Iris joined forces to counter the agile and even more threatening Primordial White Tiger.

Considering the differing abilities and specialties of the five, Constance and Ba Gua You Shen naturally served as the main tanks responsible for damage mitigation in their respective teams.

There's no need to explain Brother Gua's tactics; he simply relies on his layer of righteous Qi skin to act brazenly, like wearing a reverse armor—if you dare hit him, he dares to explode.

Constance's actions were even harsher than Ba Gua You Shen's; she launched a massive sacrifice, using her own undead servants as building blocks.

Thus, amid a sky‑high wail of resentment and a Pacific‑wide BGM, the perpetually tipsy woman summoned a gigantic Earth‑Grudge Demon.

Although the Titan Giant smashed it with a single punch, crushing the Earth‑Grudge Demon's head far more thoroughly than the old veteran's in the former dungeon.

But a child with a mother is a treasure; behind them stands a level‑70 mage acting as a healer, so repairing a broken limb is merely a matter of lifting a hand.

And just like that, the scene that unfolded a few days ago in New Luo Main City played out again.

Whether the mountain‑tall Titan Zombie or the killing‑aura‑filled Primordial White Tiger, all were swallowed by the player's boundless sea.

"Damn it, damn it, why do they always find a way to ruin my good plans?"

Wolf King and Wen Di Ge could never have imagined humans devising such outrageous tactics; for a moment they felt on the verge of tears without a drop.

Yet for a disloyal and unprincipled group, the best way to unite is pressure from outside.

So at the crucial moment, these already mismatched allies somehow rediscovered a fragment of their original rapport.

"Your Highness, don't rush; the reason we are in this predicament is simply that we haven't given our all."

"Exactly! As long as you and I, ruler and minister, are of one mind, these upright monkeys are nothing but leaping clowns."

"... Uh, if it's that shameless, boastful kind of rapport... then it's really unnecessary."

However, Wen Di Ge was not wrong about one thing: even though five top players suddenly appeared on our side, even with numerical superiority, we could only draw level with the Titan Giant and the White Tiger.

If we added Wolf King and Wen Di Ge, especially Wen Di Ge, the veteran quasi‑god, this fragile balance would be shattered instantly, causing the human front to collapse.

Yet just as they resolved to act together, striking in one swift blow, the battlefield situation changed once more.

While the player's front line was under pressure and repeatedly calling for reinforcements in the public chat, two massive dump trucks suddenly rolled in from the far rear.

And after lifting the black cloth covering the tug, they revealed two large cages underneath.

As for the people locked inside the cages...

"What!?"

Possessing the terrifying sight inherited from A Xi Bao, Wolf King instantly recognized who the captive in the cage was.

Not anyone else, but the Ox King and Fox King, who had clearly already activated Bloodline Reversion and fallen into complete madness!

No wonder Wolf King was so frightened he nearly leapt from his throne; as a special skill only top‑tier beast‑folk can wield, "Reversion" is something that makes every beast‑folk turn pale at the mention.

Once triggered, it never stops, and after Reversion the subject becomes a beast for life, never regaining sanity, turning into a neutral monster that attacks any person and kills any creature it sees.

But now? The two beast kings who had clearly "self‑destructed" have somehow both returned in perfect form?

Though imprisoned and still wounded, their eyes are clear, minds lucid, as if they could solve three advanced math problems at any moment!

No, impossible, this must be the humans' trick...

"Honorable nephew! Where is your father?"

Yet he was shocked, and the two beast kings, now accustomed to sunlight, were even more astonished, seeing A Xi Bao seated on the Wolf King's throne, his eyes practically bulging out.

"A Xi Bao! How did you end up on the throne?"

"I... I..."

Wolf King's face flushed red then turned pale, and in the end he could only lower his head.

"Uncle Ox, Aunt Fox, our father… has passed away… now I am the Wolf King!"

"Ah!?"

Hearing this, Uncle A Xi Bao and Aunt A Xi Bao's brain both crashed.

Until Wolf King, out of junior courtesy, shamefully announced his own death three times, finally managing to regain speech.

However, after taking several deep breaths, Ox King suddenly slammed his foot to the ground, his robust body nearly tearing the shaking cage apart, and, gripping the rail, he shouted.

"My elder brother is invincible! How could he possibly die!"

Fox King's reaction wasn't as dramatic, but his eight tails twisted into a knot.

"Impossible! Honorable nephew! With a great enemy before us, your father's death must have something suspicious; you must investigate thoroughly and catch the culprit!"

Staring at each other, the three suspects who are hard to interview. jpg

Wolf King dared not continue this dangerous conversation, quickly changing the subject.

"I understand; I'm already investigating this matter, but you! Didn't you activate Bloodline Reversion right before my eyes? Why…"

"Sigh."

Fox King shook his head and sighed.

"That happened after you left…"

Knowing the fact is one thing; understanding the reason is another.

Therefore, in the field of medicine there is not only pharmacology but also pathology, to thoroughly study every aspect of the treatment process.

So why, when both are burst‑type and both heavily increase white value, is Frenzy a normal combat skill while Reversion is a terrifying self‑destruct skill?

—Because when a beast‑folk elite activates the bloodline, their normal mind is utterly destroyed, turning them into a battle‑only demon beast.

In other words, as they activate the bloodline, their innate desires are amplified to madness, eventually crushing and shattering logical thought.

"Ah, doesn't this principle sound familiar?"

Isn't this exactly the members of the Secret Forest Church who could at any moment be transformed by senior envoys into Blood Crosses, existing solely as expendable dead believers?

Unfortunately, many NPCs in the player's novice village who worship the God of Crops were formerly mixed into the Secret Forest, and they have everything from the lowest‑grade materials to the highest‑grade flowers.

With these "empathetic" lunatics serving as mentors and senior experts, the players had actually already devised targeted strategies when battling Deep Forest in the Radiant Western Realm.

In short—"Cheng Long, quickly beat the drum three times!"

So while the two rampaging beasts were tearing things down everywhere, the positive‑Qi cultivators among the players gathered into an army, began beating drums and gongs at them, and recited sutras.

"Strange changes, even changes, symbols look at quadrants……"

"The first law of thermodynamics……"

"You are the worst class I've ever taught……"

With this righteous aura, the high‑dimensional knowledge and sounds countered it, gradually suppressing the murderous intent and madness that had dominated the Beast Kings' minds.

The two who had reverted to human form collapsed on the ground, staring blankly around: "Ah, what?"

A chubby officer with a donut in his mouth and a Glock in hand shouted: "Cut the crap, you're under arrest! Don't eat sour radish! Put your hands on the police car! Quickly!"

The Beast Kings, barely clinging to life, also behaved, obediently huddling in the cell for a few days until today they were brought out, and the players asked them to try to persuade the Wolf King to surrender.

They neither agreed nor objected, thinking they'd first scout the battlefield, but the Wolf King was gone, and sitting on the throne was actually A Xi Bao?

Moreover, the Beast army had vanished, replaced by a horde of rotten, stinking undead heads?

"Ah, this."

The Wolf King could only keep shaking his head, silently resenting why these humans were so indecisive, refusing to kill the prisoners of war.

Yet according to Murphy's Law, the more a person fears something, the more fate brings it to them.

So when he feared his disguise might be exposed, the Fox King suddenly let out an angry roar.

"That's not right, that look and expression… you aren't A Xi Bao!"

"Ah ya!"

The Wolf King, whose identity had been exposed, let out a scream, so frightened that his whole body trembled, and he quickly frowned and tried to speak defiantly.

"What? Hu Yi, what joke are you playing! I am A Xi Bao!"

To prove his words true, he even tossed the speaking turn to the Ox King on the other side.

"Niu Shu, quickly give a verdict, Hu Yi has started talking nonsense!"

But the Ox King at that moment also caught on; he narrowed his copper‑bell‑like eyes, took a close look, and his complexion suddenly changed.

"That's not right, nephew, when you look at us you wouldn't have that look… you, you're not A Xi Bao, who are you really!?"

Amid the continuous questioning by the two Beast Kings, the already uneasy Wolf King dared not answer.

He was out of steam; the two Beast Kings' thoughts were so swift they were about to fly to the neighboring Centaur Star System to find the Trisolarans.

"Wait! Second Sister, does the way 'A Xi Bao' is thinking now resemble big brother?"

"Ah?"

The Fox King was stunned, followed the Ox King's gaze, compared the two images in his mind, and discovered…

Holy crap, it really looks like that!

But despite the shock, her brain didn't crash; instead it became unusually active, hopping left and right to produce a terrifying inference.

Perhaps because of literary snobbery, she had always disliked Lao Yang Tou, also a mage, so she directly aimed the contradiction at him.

"You! What did you two do to my nephew? Wen Di Ge, how dare you help He Chi Na murder……"

"Silence!"

The Wolf King wouldn't let her continue, hysterically stopped the Fox King's Conan‑like behavior, then pointed at them and ranted.

"They defame me! They envy my throne! They plot rebellion, shameless traitors, damned rebels!"

Unfortunately he was so impatient that his fabricated lie hadn't even been finished, yet he switched to a completely different explanation.

"By the way, the real Fox King and Ox King have already activated their ancestral bloodlines and turned into beasts; the ones here are fake! They are humans in disguise! It's a human conspiracy!"

Although the Wolf King's baseless argument was shattered at the first poke, even the observing players were amused.

Now, however, the few people of sound mind left beside him were all co‑conspirators from the Strange Council, and they all nodded.

Nevertheless, even if Wen Di Ge and others echo the Wolf King's slanders, it didn't prevent the two Beast Kings from turning red on the spot.

"He Chi Na, you despicable, shameless scoundrel! I even regarded you as big brother, and you bite back at us?"

The Fox King kept reasoning with him, but the Ox King beside him had already started shaking the cage.

"Let me out, let me out quickly! I want to avenge my good nephew!"

"Hey! Hey! Step back! You are a captive, you cannot do that!"

A security guard, frightened, grabbed a stun baton nearby, but before he could power it, the Ox King snatched it, snapped it in two with a thwap, and shoved the pieces back into his hand.

"If I wanted to run, I'd have run already, understand? I don't run for my own sake but for my people!"

Since the players hadn't slain these two enemy chieftains, the ordinary beasts who surrendered or were captured on the spot would be even safer.

In fact, the players strictly observed the Geneva Convention, providing food, shelter, and even letting doctors save many near‑dead unlucky souls.

For the players, this saved labor loss in war, and they would later need the locals' help when they tread the wasteland.

But for the wasteland folk, accustomed to treating lives as cheap and even raiding, this was akin to a saintly act of ancient times.

Thus the two Beast Kings both chose to be "obedient", and even though the cage couldn't contain them, they stayed calmly inside.

As a reward for their cooperation, and to grant two extra level‑70 combat powers, the various governments, after an emergency meeting, chose to trust.

"Here's the key, you may leave now."

"…Rest assured, if we can return alive, we'll lock ourselves in again with our own hands!"

Grabbing the cage key, the Fox King and Ox King, each on opposite sides, rushed to slay the Wolf King who sat firmly behind the enemy lines.

"Fine, fine, you didn't flee but came straight to me? Excellent! Saves me the trouble of hunting you down!"

The Wolf King, already murderous, let out a hearty laugh, red light flashing in his eyes, and with a single step he surged toward the airborne Fox King, and then…

Then, overexerting himself, he flew over the Fox King's head, landed imprecisely, and like a bowling ball knocked down a legion of skeletal soldiers.

Everyone: ……

Alright, seems the Wolf King truly can't fight; even with a level‑70 body he's destined to be a clown.

So Wen Di Ge didn't hold back, hid in the black robe and chuckled for a while, and only raised the wand in his hand after the Wolf King had already been captured on the spot by the Ox King.

But before he could even act, the old fox who captured the thief before the king saw his chance and hurled a Flame Explosion Technique the size of a van.

Now that was a disaster; the embarrassment was huge. The Wolf King, who had just been spouting grandiose words, was grabbed by the Ox King by the collar and slapped several times in public.

Wen Di Ge, who had been crouching at the back hoping to claim everything, hadn't even had time to step onto the stage and start showing off when he was blown up into a torn cloth sack.

(End of chapter)