Chapter 14: The Little Cub
Jiang Xu had rented an independent office space, a small two-story building. The entire building was his; there was no need to squeeze into elevators with employees from other companies, which was convenient for both employees and clients.
Jiang Xu frowned as he looked at the ground a few paces away. A toddler about a year old was lying on the ground, wailing uncontrollably. He looked at the bugs passing by, but not a single one moved to help.
“Why are you crying?” Jiang Xu looked at the back of the child’s neck; this was a Cichong cub. How could the parents let such a small child out alone?
Jiang Xu crouched down and spoke as gently as possible. “Where are your father and mother? Why are you out here alone?”
the toddlerâs clothes were dirty, but he was quite chubby and fair-skinned, proving his family raised him well. He reached out and picked the child up, looking around, but saw no Zerg searching for a child.
“I was only gone for a few minutes, and you’ve already snatched a kid,” Zoe said as he came out and saw Jiang Xu holding a wailing child.
Jiang Xu was speechless. “Why don’t you go snatch one too?”
Zoe reached out and pinched the cub’s cheek. “Kid, do you have any friends? Snatched one for your uncle here too.”
The little Cichong looked at them warily. His crying subsided into slow sobs.
The two Xiongchong waited patiently for the cub to calm down. He called out to Jiang Xu in a soft, milky voice, “Gege, save… save Father.”
As he spoke, he began to cry even harder, looking quite pitiful.
However, Jiang Xu only felt a headache coming on. Hadn’t he just stopped?
“No crying,” Jiang Xu threatened. “If you cry again, I’ll put you back on the ground.”
Zoe was displeased. “How can you scare a child like that?” He looked at the cub with a gentle expression. “If you cry again, we’ll send you to the Big Xiong.”
The Big Xiong? What the hell?
Jiang Xu looked at Zoe in confusion, but his words worked like a miracle. The little Cichong pouted and stopped crying immediately.
He looked incredibly aggrieved.
This “Big Xiong” must be like the boogeyman humans talk about, Jiang Xu thought. It had strong deterrent power.
“N-no crying.” The little cub pouted and looked at Jiang Xu. “Gege, save… save Father.”
“Lead the way.” Jiang Xu watched the little mouth working hard to seek help. If he waited for the kid to finish the whole story, it might be too late. Heâd see the situation first.
The little cub spoke slowly, but he was quick to point the way and had a good memory.
Jiang Xuâs attention was entirely on communicating with the child, while Zoe spent quite a while staring at Jiang Xu. He seemed to have seen a side of the other that was unknown to other Zerg.
He saw the mud on the child’s hands leaving small prints on Jiang Xuâs clothes. He also saw Jiang Xuâs rare display of tenderness.
He couldn’t help but think that marriage had its benefitsâat least he knew how to be kind to children now.
“You’ve been married for a month. Is that Cichong at home pregnant with an egg yet?”
Zoeâs sudden, random comment left Jiang Xu stunned. “What?”
He doubted his own ears.
“Looking at you, youâll definitely be a good father in the future.” Zoe smiled, as if imagining Jiang Xu holding his own child.
“You’re thinking too much.”
Jiang Xu retorted. Under the cub’s guidance, they walked into an increasingly secluded area until they reached a hidden alleyway. This was a passage for mall employees to commute, hidden between two commercial buildings. It was easy to miss from the outside.
He had wanted to ask the cub something else, but sounds of a dispute and muffled groans came from deep in the alley. Those groans seemed to trigger something in the child, and he began to cry again.
“G-gege, F-father.” The cub was breathless, trying to hold back his tears as he continued, “Save… save… Gege.”
He clung to Jiang Xu, treating the Zerg before him as the straw that could save his father.
Jiang Xu looked at Zoe. “You going?”
Zoe had no interest in meddling in others’ business.
Since the other clearly wasn’t going, Jiang Xu walked inside while holding the child. As they got closer, the groans became heavier, and dull gasps for air echoed in the narrow space.
The Zerg inside seemed to have heard the child’s crying.
“Well, that little bastard is back too,” a voice said with excitement.
“Please, don’t…”
Broken speech followed, along with a final groan of pleading.
“Little basâ” A Zerg stepped out from behind some clutter and walked happily into the passage. He froze when he saw Jiang Xu and Zoe. “Who are you?”
“Father!” Without waiting for Jiang Xu to answer, the child in his arms struggled to get down and ran toward the clutter. “Father!”
Just as the child approached the other Zerg, he was kicked away several meters.
Jiang Xuâs gaze instantly turned cold as he looked sharply at the Zerg. “You’re looking for death.”
“Heh,” the other Zerg chuckled. “There are only two of you. Why would we be afraid of you?”
As soon as he finished, several more Zerg emerged from behind the clutter to join their teammate. Their momentum was greatâso great it made Zoe laugh.
“A few pieces of trash dare to bark in front of me.” Zoe tilted his head slightly and elegantly pulled a pocket square from his chest to wipe his dusty fingertips.
He tossed it to the side of the passage. “Threatening and intimidating a Xiongchong… I see you don’t want your lives anymore.”
“X-Xiongchong?” The Zerg clearly hadn’t expected the newcomers to be two Xiongchong. After all, without looking at the back of their necks and just judging by their height and build, no one would associate them with weak, delicate Xiongchong.
The Zerg beside him heard his partnerâs voice soften and nudged him, then turned to Jiang Xu and Zoe. “Who are you trying to scare? Xiongchong? Just the two of you? Do you really think we’ve never seen a Xiongchong before?”
Xiongchong were rare, but ordinary civilians still had chances to see them.
“Exactly. Who are you trying to scare? Xiongchong don’t look like you.”
The cold aura radiating from Jiang Xu and Zoe made them look more like decisive, battle-hardened Junci.
“Oh? And what do Xiongchong look like?” Zoe asked with interest, having found a reason to toy with them.
“Anyway, not like you.” The Zerg seemed to imagine something, a look of longing on his face.
Jiang Xu didn’t want to hear any more pointless dialogue. He tilted his head to Zoe. “Can you win?”
“I can’t.”
A decisive answer.
Jiang Xu looked at Zoe in surprise.
“Don’t look at me like that; I really can’t win.” There was a natural gap between the combat power of a Xiongchong and a Cichong. Right now, the two of them posed zero threat to the Cichong opposite them.
Not only that, if it came to a real fight, they were the ones who would get beaten.
But they were Xiongchong.
They couldn’t win a physical fight, but they had spiritual power.
Suddenly, a powerful and aggressive wave of spiritual power was released into the passage.
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