"Huh? Oh oh oh... Coming, brother!"
Hearing Lord Fox's shout, the fat cat, who had witnessed the entire Beast King Contest, snapped back to reality, looking utterly astonished as it responded to Lord Fox.
It saw very clearly that when Lord Fox was swinging the giant hammer, the handle was twisted, and as the hammer pushed forward, the air around seemed to twist and warp, accompanied by a tearing screech.
The giant hammer struck the antelope bull, and a phenomenon occurred that the fat cat couldn't begin to describe.
At the moment of impact, it was as if a mist scattered, exploding into a circular dispersion ring.
The antelope bull's body flew out from the center of the ring, creating a gust like a shockwave, with Lord Fox's toe as the starting point—a fan-shaped spread; within hundreds of meters, all the trees and grass bent forward, pointing in the direction where the antelope bull flew, kicking up a cloud of dust and sand.
The fat cat knew Lord Fox was fierce.
But Sister Leopard had never mentioned that Lord Fox was so fierce he could send a tough Guardian Level spirit beast to sleep with just one hammer blow.
From the fat cat's shallow knowledge and the gossip it overheard during its two years of idleness at its job,
Lord Fox...
Probably... might soon be promoted to the province leader, right?
The words "Territory Auspicious" kept echoing in the fat cat's mind.
...
"Dun dun dun—"
Lord Fox placed the giant hammer on the ground and sat its fox's butt on the edge of the hammer, holding a 1.25-liter bottle of Nongfu Spring with both paws, pouring water into its mouth to relieve the nausea from motion sickness.
"Lin Ying, you drink some too, rinse your mouth." Ansheng put down the big bottle of mineral water, let out a sigh of relief, looking thoroughly pleased.
"Mm..."
Lin Ying sat beside Lord Fox, took a sip of water to rinse her mouth, while Lin Shu, who had been responsible for the wild driving all along, stood by Lin Ying as if nothing had happened.
"Regarding last night's matter, I owe Lord Fox an apology..."
"I don't know what happened, I just felt extraordinarily excited, with my heart pounding rapidly and intensely, as if I had limitless strength."
Lin Ying looked at Lord Fox as she spoke.
Even though some time had passed, Lin Ying still found it all too crazy when she recalled it.
She embraced Lord Fox, singing together on the couch with clear and gentle fox coos, both swaying left and right to the rhythm of the song.
Eventually, she was happily cooing continuously, holding Lord Fox's little paw and dancing in the living room.
After the spirit particle potion entered her body, Lin Ying felt the world become colorful, filled with hue; the sounds of insects and birds, which should have been mere noise in the neighborhood, turned into cheerful melodies in her mind.
Even the low-frequency noise on the road felt like the interlude of a joyous chorus, bringing delight.
After the commotion.
Lin Ying drifted to sleep without dreams, free from the ever-present sharpness and slicing phantom pain.
She slept naturally, as if her oppression and gloom had been deeply cleansed away.
"It's alright, singing is pretty fun too." Ansheng waved off the need for an apology when Lin Ying brought up last night's events, saying it was all good as long as it was fun.
"A fox after all!"
"Naturally joyful, likes to dig, and when excited, would nip someone. It's only natural."
"Mm... when the time comes, I'll see if there's a chance to visit the Earth Mineral Group. I'll ask Wang Qiqi to lend me two more boxes of spirit particle potion. I feel that stuff seems to have a therapeutic effect on your condition."
The spirit particle potion doesn't actually cure diseases.
But after Lin Ying turned into Fox Lady, she inexplicably caught on to the fox's natural joy and boundless energy.
It's just... the house-demolishing, that made Ansheng feel slightly melancholic.
A mattress worth over two hundred thousand...
If Ansheng is forced to buy one, when he brings it home, he wouldn't just sleep on the mattress, he'd cover himself with it like a quilt.
Letting the mattress sleep on him, so the battered bed frame wouldn't harm the springs.
And last night, Lin Ying recklessly bounced right on the mattress.
In her Two-Tailed Fox Lady form, Lin Ying was not weak. It took just five minutes for her to stomp the mattress flat.
"Brother's here, brother! It's served...."
While Ansheng and Lin Ying were chatting, the fat cat wobbled over, leading a team of veterinarians from the rescue center, speaking to Lord Fox, with a brand new flatbed cart being pushed by a group of seven or eight people in the back.
The gray-black antelope bull looked white as a sheet, its chest wrapped in bandages and support plates, and upon closer inspection, you could even see some exposed steel pins for fastening.
It had six or seven drip bottles hanging around its neck.
[Boundless opulence to display, untouchable power to wield, seafood and feasts to relish, endless money to spend, compliments to never tire of hearing, endless gifts to receive, these are the dreams of the antelope bull. Yet, meeting Lord Fox, those dreams turned to nothing—as if a dream of empty rice straw.]
[Wish Power +6]
Meeting the antelope bull again after a short separation, a light screen popped up in Ansheng's mind on his wish list.
"Goodness! I can't believe it! I look at your forehead and see a giant pair of horns that make it seem like you've come with a couplet."
"On the left: Corruption and bribery bring endless joy; on the right: Job embezzlement is endlessly fun; horizontally, it reads: Injection Death Penalty."
"You darn thing, seems like you're most suited for a labor dispatch job with two days off a month."
Seeing the details in the wish list, Ansheng's mouth twitched slightly, suddenly understanding why this guy had such a keen interest in getting off the hook.
It's different from the fat cat.
The fat cat's ideal could be summed up as wanting a safe iron rice bowl to earn a stable retirement pension.
Whereas the antelope bull wants to make a quick escape with a big score.
"Fox... fox! It's a fox!"
Still under the influence of anesthesia, the antelope bull, originally lying on the flatbed cart with its tongue hanging out, upon seeing Ansheng, reacted as if seeing some terrifying monster, entering a state of stress.
It wriggled to escape, requiring the combined effort of a dozen staff members to barely hold it in place.
"Where are you running off to? I'm not gonna eat beef." Ansheng looked at the antelope bull with a black line on his face, and said:
"You old bull, it looks like you're not cut out for peace. Later, come along to the Agricultural Research Institute with me and help the students plow the fields instead of tractors. If you don't agree, I'll cut off your orbs."
This old bull exuded an air of greed.
If it were really handed to the Security Bureau, given their eagerness for powerful spirit beasts,
this dude might seriously end up as a Spirit Beast Mayor.
That wouldn't be a punishment, it would clearly be a reward.
"Plowing! This old bull loves plowing; I love the plow, the plow loves me, the electric thresher serenades me sweetly…" The antelope bull, caught in a double state of anesthetic and fear-induced delirium, even began singing on the flatbed cart, nearly driving itself mad.
Lord Fox's single hammer.
Like a flash of meteor, it slammed straight onto its forehead.
In the antelope bull's heart,
Lord Fox ≈ Natural Disaster.
"Uh... we're a wildlife rescue center; we don't have much experience with anesthetizing spirit beasts, so we followed the data from the Security Bureau and gave it two drip bottles..." A worker said awkwardly:
"Lord Fox, if you want to interrogate it, it might take another half hour..."