Chapter 107: Puppet Mutant Tiger

Chapter 107: Puppet Mutant Tiger

"Touch it, I'm controlling it."

Jiang Lanyue had awakened Puppetry, which also counted as a form of mental power ability.

Muzhilin's gaze was sharp, and he quickly detected the trick. He raised his hand, summoning vines that bound the puppet enforcers in place.

Upon seeing that Muzhilin was also an ability user, a cold glint flashed in Jiang Lanyue's eyes. She sneered, contempt evident in her gaze, "You might as well not waste your effort..."

No sooner had she finished speaking than the lush green vines split apart from their middles, as if sliced open by a small blade, revealing rows of sharp and densely packed teeth within.

Jiang Lanyue's scalp tingled with unease.

What on earth was this?!

Amidst her astonishment, the vines coiled around the puppet enforcers and began to gnaw at them.

"Snap, crackle!" In no time, the puppets were devoured by the vines, leaving Jiang Lanyue staring in disbelief. She had never encountered such a creature before.

Yet, she quickly composed herself, glared fiercely at Muzhilin, and then clapped her hands. In an instant, two tigers larger than Siberian tigers roared as they ran into the room.

The tigers carried the chill from outside with them. Their muscular bodies exuded power, their claws were like steel hooks, their tails like iron whips, and their sharp teeth instilled fear in all who beheld them.

When faced with such fierce beasts, no human could remain calm.

Upon seeing the two living, breathing tigers, the gamblers of "Fortunate Pavilion" panicked and fled in a frenzy.

"Tigers are eating people!"

"Ahh! Run for it!!"

"Fortune Pavilion" instantly descended into chaos. Tables and chairs were toppled as people scrambled to escape. Some got tripped by the furniture and were trampled underfoot in the panic.

In an instant, the room echoed with a cacophony of shrill screams and cries for help.

Chu Chuan's gaze sharpened, focusing on the tiger. It was a mutated tiger; judging from its size and aura, it was no less than Level 4.

This person seemed to have some real skills.

Chu Yi, trembling with fear, crouched in a corner, taking precautions by dragging a wooden chair in front of him to shield himself from the woman who could summon tigers, lest he be accidentally injured by her.

Equally self-aware, Mu Shiqi fixated her gaze on the enormous tiger. She yearned to join the battle, after all, she was also a meta-human.

But she was aware of her own capabilities; those two tigers looked anything but docile. Rushing out blindly might not only prove unhelpful but could also hinder their progress, weighing them down instead.

Seeing their awe-struck expressions, Jiang Lanyue finally felt a sense of relief.

She lifted her chin and, with both hands, stroked the tiger's rigid fur as she issued her command in a cold tone.

"Tiger! Little Tiger! Rip them apart!"

"Ahhhh!"

"Roar!"

A deafening roar of a tiger echoed, something Muzhilin had only experienced from a distance at a zoo. Never before had he faced a tiger so directly. His heart skipped a beat, yet he stood frozen, his eyes locked on the looming beast as it pounced towards him.

Chu Chuan stepped forward, promptly encircling his waist and pulling him away from the tiger's pouncing path.

"Muzhilin! How are you? Don't be afraid, this tiger is already dead – it's just a dead one," Chu Chuan reassured.

Just like the puppet humans, the mutated tiger summoned by Jiang Lanyue was also lifeless, controlled to appear animate.

"You see, the tiger's movements are stiff. That person is only at Level 3 of his abilities but is controlling a Level 4 mutated tiger. It's impossible for him to unleash the tiger's full strength. Don't be scared. Even if both tigers attack, they wouldn't stand a chance against you," Muzhilin calmed down as he listened to Chu Chuan, lifting his head to nod at him.

He had indeed been momentarily stunned.

Upon hearing Chu Chuan describe her big and little tigers as stiff, Jiang Lanyue instantly flew into a rage.

How dare he speak nonsense!

Nonetheless, she refrained from underestimating the two men any longer. She suppressed her anger and unleashed her abilities once more, summoning other mutated beasts.

Aside from the two tigers, however, the rest of the mutated beasts were merely at Levels 2 or 3.

The mutated tiger, having failed its first pounce, roared in fury and lunged again.

"ROAR!!"

Its massive paws, capable of shattering an adult's skull, swung towards Muzhilin and Chu Chuan. Just as Muzhilin was about to command the vines into action, Chu Chuan held up his hand to stop him.

"Brother Lin, leave it to me."

A glint flashed in Chu Chuan's eyes as he unleashed a burst of mental energy. The charging tiger suddenly halted its assault on them and redirected its attack towards Jiang Lanyue instead.

Jiang Lanyue's eyes widened, and her lips trembled uncontrollably, a mix of shock and terror.

She found it inconceivable.

The mental energy she had imprinted onto the mutated tiger was actually erased by this person before her.

"It's impossible!!"

She yelled, disregarding the need to maintain her composed demeanor. She commanded her other puppet beasts to shield her from the attack.

Under Chu Chuan's control, the mutated tigers moved with even greater agility and grace, causing Jiang Lanyue to feel both anger and a hint of fear.

This person had actually seized her most formidable puppet beasts in a single encounter!

"Kitty! Monkey! Engage him!"

Jiang Lanyue poured all her mental energy into directing the two fastest puppet beasts to bypass the mutated tigers and surround Chu Chuan, hoping to disrupt his control over them and reassert her imprint on her Big and Little Tigers.

To her astonishment, Kitty and Monkey never returned!

Chu Chuan effortlessly re-imprinted Kitty and Monkey, while Jiang Lanyue's attempts to erase his imprints proved futile.

"Brother Lin, do you want to touch it?"

Chu Chuan held Muzhilin's hand, guiding him towards the tiger's rough fur.

Muzhilin's fingers recoiled slightly. He could touch adorable pandas, even towering giraffes and deer, but a tiger – that was something he had never dared to imagine.

"Brother Lin, tigers are no different from kittens; you don't need to be afraid of them, they're no match for you."

"..." Could this be compared?

"Go on, touch it. I'm controlling it."

"..."

Listening to the two of them joking about her beloved Big Tiger and Little Tiger, Jiang Lanyue felt her blood boil and her chest ready to burst.

She tried time and again but was utterly unable to erase Chu Chuan's imprint.

Clenching her fists, she poured all her mental energy into another attempt to remove the mark, only to end up with a flushed face and no success.

With frustration, she roared, "Impossible!"

How could anyone possess stronger mental strength than hers? Even the Base Commander dared not confront her—how could this person possibly do so? !

Looking up, she saw Chu Chuan's relaxed expression, as if erasing and re-imprinting mental imprints were mere trivial matters to him.

"Brother Lin, how does it feel?"

"It's prickly."

"Well, isn't this a dead tiger?"

Jiang Lanyue observed the two still finding the time to flirt, and suddenly, fear gripped her heart.

She finally realized that she was no match for the person before her.

Silently taking a half-step back, she signaled to the stunned woman in red beside her.

—Go find the Base Commander!

The woman in red nodded timidly, but just as she was about to act, she witnessed a horrifying scene.

"Boss!"

She cried out in alarm, attempting to warn Jiang Lanyue of something behind her. Unfortunately, at that very moment, Jiang Lanyue was bound by the vines with lightning speed.

In the next moment, the mutated tiger pounced.

Jiang Lanyue's pupils constricted as she saw the charging beast. She tried to dodge, but the vines hindered her movement. In a desperate attempt, she pulled the red-clad woman in front of her, only to have her upper body drenched in warm blood amidst the woman's screams.

The red-clad woman's head was sent flying by the mutated tiger, her severed carotid artery spurting blood in a violent spray.

Jiang Lanyue gasped for breath, still in disbelief as another tiger lunged at her. Its sharp teeth instantly severed her neck.

Jiang Lanyue died with eyes wide open, her head hanging limply from her neck, staring fixedly at the large and small tigers as if she couldn't comprehend why she had been killed by her own puppet beasts.

These were the big and little tigers she cherished and cared for the most. To make these two mutated beasts more agile and lifelike, she fed them live humans every day. Why did this happen...

"Cold-hearted wench. I was going to spare her because of the warehouse, but she didn't know when to quit," Chu Chuan snorted coldly.

"You dare to cause trouble in my base! Who do you think you are?!" A thunderous roar echoed, belonging to the leader of the "Youmi Town Base."

Chu Chuan's patience wore thin from the continuous fighting. Gazing at the man who had clearly come to deal with them, he raised his hand and threw out a magic artifact. With a loud cry of "Explode!", the artifact detonated, the deafening sound causing the ground to tremble twice, demonstrating its immense power.

Base Commander Meng Qize was forced two steps back by Chu Chuan's sudden attack.

He wiped his face in astonishment, staring at Chu Chuan and Muzhilin in disbelief. He never imagined that someone would use a magical artifact as a disposable weapon to explode – this was unheard of.

Muzhilin, on the other hand, was quite accustomed to it since Chu Chuan, when provoked by the ancient tree, had also been known to throw away his artifacts in fits of rage. However, the tree's tough exterior rendered most ordinary artifacts ineffective against it.

Next to them, both Shiqi and Chu Yi were now numb from the series of shocking events.

As Chu Yi wasn't a psychic, he couldn't sense the surge of spiritual energy released during the explosion of the artifact; he only knew that the object had an immense power, even greater than what he'd seen from grenades on television.

Meanwhile, Mu Shiqi's eyes sparkled as she gazed at the aftermath of the blast. That spiritual energy was undoubtedly the signature of an artifact.

Brother Chu had just blown one up like that!

How extravagant!

Seeing that Chu Chuan was about to throw another artifact due to his inaccurate first throw, Meng Qize hastily intervened.

"A misunderstanding! A misunderstanding! I'm the base commander, and I just came over to see what all the commotion was about."

Meng Qize spoke anxiously, casting a glance at the additional artifact that Chu Chuan had pulled out of his spatial pocket. A mix of emotions suddenly stirred within him.

The man actually took out another magical artifact!

Despite being the base leader, his life was rather frugal. If one were to compare, he might not even be as wealthy as that woman, Jiang Lanyue.

At least she never lacked crystal cores; sometimes, she would even bribe him with them, asking him to turn a blind eye to matters concerning the "Lucky Emporium."

Looking at Chu Chuan's extravagant act of throwing away magical artifacts like talismans, he suddenly felt that his position as base leader was utterly poverty-stricken.

Upon hearing Muzhilin's words, he stopped Chu Chuan from tossing away the magical artifact in a fit of rage.

Chu Chuan was still fuming, but his expression improved after Muzhilin gently squeezed his fingers.

Meng Qize smiled and, noticing the crowd still watching them, invited the two men, "Why don't you both come over to my place?"

Muzhilin didn't wish to endure the scrutiny of the onlookers any longer, despite most of their gazes being filled with shock and admiration. He turned around, searching for Mu Shiqi and Chu Yi. After locating them, the group exited the "Lucky Emporium."

Aicao wasn't at the door, and Muzhilin assumed she had returned home, so he didn't give it much thought.

"Author's Note"