Part 3
He gritted his teeth and steeled his heart. Large patches of pollutants with blood scabs were torn off. Roars of a fierce beast echoed in the jungle. The blood mist surrounding its body vanished, revealing large areas of mangled wounds. Large amounts of blood remained on the ground, and a lot of blood splattered. With a few “sizzles,” large patches of plants were corroded.
The pink light-strands rolled up the leftover black blood and crushed it clean, the light on them dimming until they turned into dim specks of light and drilled back into the cub’s body. Shen Lin wiped the sweat from his brow; his small face was pale and his whole body was dirty.
He walked to a small stream not far away and jumped into the water with a splash. The clear stream carried the blood—diluted to a light pink—far away. Shen Lin stood at a bend in the stream, letting the water wash away the dirt on his body. He submerged his head completely in the stream, his pink hair floating in the water like new seaweed.
The cub scrubbed himself clean and sniffed to ensure there was no lingering scent on him before climbing onto the bank with the help of the Ghost Vine’s extended vines. The Ghost Vine’s body had returned to its original state; the branches were gone, leaving only a single main vine coiled solitarily. Shen Lin was very generous to his own people, passing the last trace of energy in his body to the Ghost Vine.
He rubbed its only piece of downy sprout. “Thanks~”
The Ghost Vine felt as if it had eaten a great tonic, the whole vine feeling ethereal. It rubbed against the cub’s small hand like a lapdog and entered the pink diamond bracelet to sink into a deep sleep. He didn’t know when it would wake up from this sleep.
Shen Lin rubbed his wrist, but his gaze looked at the unconscious, huge black tiger. The cub stayed in the jungle for a while longer. Seeing the sky darkening, he left reluctantly, looking back every three steps. He appeared outside the small castle where he lived, and as expected, he saw the head maid searching for him.
Crunch, crunch~
A series of crisp crunching sounds rang out. A human cub with a head of pink fur was holding a piece of Golden Bamboo leaf that completely covered his face, munching on it.
The exterior of Golden Bamboo looked very much like gold, and a golden liquid occasionally flashed through the veins of the bamboo leaf. Shen Lin had originally thought Golden Bamboo was as hard as real gold and that he certainly wouldn’t be able to chew it with his mouth that only had one tooth; he had worried about this for a while.
To not eat it would be a betrayal of Little Chicken Brother’s good intentions. To eat it would be a betrayal of his teeth.
He never expected that Golden Bamboo would not only defy his imagination in appearance, but its taste would also be very unique. It wasn’t hard; with just a light bite, a crisp “clack” sound rang out, and the Golden Bamboo shattered into countless pieces that fell into his mouth and melted rapidly. A mouthful of sweetness hit his taste buds.
The cub squinted his eyes in enjoyment. Every day, in addition to staples like Pearl Bamboo, he added Golden Bamboo to the menu. In the small bag he carried with him, there were shimmering Golden Bamboo leaves; he’d take out a few bites whenever he felt like it. The cub was at the age for growing, and seeing that the Little Master loved it, the head maid filled the small bag to the brim every day. As long as the Little Master was tired from playing, he could grab some to eat.
The black tiger heard the crisp sounds by its ear and saw the cub—who usually liked to nap on its belly—had already slid down to its lower abdomen and was leisurely eating grass against its hind leg. A pair of nimble almond eyes were squinted, seemingly savoring the sweetness of the bamboo leaf.
The black tiger leaned forward and sniffed, but it didn’t smell anything that made it want to eat. It turned its large head away in disappointment. The little cub felt a swirl of wind blow over his head and looked at the black tiger in confusion, not understanding what it was doing.
Looking down at the Golden Bamboo leaf in his hand, he thought for a moment and stuffed the remaining leaf into his mouth. He took a bamboo leaf from his small bag and stuffed it into the black tiger’s mouth. Two rows of teeth flashing with a cold light were ignored by the cub; half of the cub’s body was about to crawl into the black tiger’s mouth.
From a distance, it looked like the black tiger was eating a child.
“Eat~”
A little milk voice emerged, and the cub’s eyes were filled with anticipation as he looked at the black tiger. The black tiger’s body stiffened, its instinct was to spit out the strange taste in its mouth, but meeting the cub’s sparkling gaze, its throat rolled and it swallowed it.
The black tiger reacted as if it had been stimulated, its fur standing on end. It had wiped away the thick, blood-colored dust, and those soul-stirring golden pupils flashed with human-like shock.
“Don’t… like…?”
Seeing the black tiger’s reaction, Shen Lin reached into its mouth with his bare hand and pulled out the Golden Bamboo leaf that hadn’t completely dissolved. His hand was covered in saliva, but he didn’t seem to mind, just took out a handkerchief to wipe it off.
While wiping his hand, Shen Lin sighed in his heart: having changed worlds, Baba still didn’t like being a vegetarian. Fine~ who asked him to be his Baba? He’d just have to spoil him~
Shen Lin looked at the black tiger slowly running to the riverside to rinse its mouth, a flash of cleverness in his eyes. The wounds on the black tiger were healing, and its matted fur was now glossy and smooth, like a piece of silk with an excellent feel. Its vigorous limbs showed smooth muscle lines as it walked, each block filled with unrivaled power. Golden pupils, a deathly gaze. Like the forest before him, it was filled with bone-chilling coldness.
A group of primitive elks were grazing leisurely in the forest, not noticing the golden vertical pupils revealed in the woods nearby.
“Roar~”
A tiger’s roar filled the mountains, and all things submitted. It startled the elk herd, which scattered and fled. A male elk, larger than the others, was vigorous and had just run a distance when the massive black tiger swung its thick tail, leaped with its hind legs, and bit through the prey’s neck in one go.
The black tiger carried the elk’s carcass back to its territory, but it didn’t see the cub. After searching around, the cub’s scent extended outward. It ran to the edge of the jungle, and the cub’s scent could no longer be captured in the air. The black tiger stopped at the edge for a moment, then turned and went back to its territory.
The food in its mouth had lost its flavor.
Shen Lin saw the black tiger disappear into the forest and thought his “outdoor time” for today was over, so he left too. He had no idea the black tiger had gone to hunt for him.
The reason belonging to “Marshal Shen” had not yet been remembered; its current actions were all driven by primitive tiger instincts. It had tasted the food offered by the cub; it couldn’t even be described as “edible,” it was simply impossible to swallow. A trace of pity for the cub grew in its heart.
Poor cub, what kind of hard life did he live before? He’s so poor he’s eating grass.
He didn’t know how the cub’s parents could bear to let such a small cub out to forage. The black tiger secretly despised that irresponsible parent in its heart. It had run off to catch a deer and bring it back, wanting to show off in front of the cub and subtly suggest that it would raise him in the future. Unfortunately, the prey was in hand, but the cub was gone. The black tiger was dejected and listless; it had lost its goal in life and couldn’t muster any energy.
The mountain-like giant beast was in its “emo” phase.
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