"Why is it that wherever I go, I meet fellow countrymen..." Ansheng looked into the bushes with a peculiar expression.
It's bad enough that the lioness spoke so flirtatiously; her accent was even more outrageous.
Ansheng was even afraid to look up and say to the streetlight, "This light takes forever."
Then the lioness might reply, "Isn't it just?"
"What are you looking at?"
Li Wenkang stopped on the walkway when he saw Master Fuli standing upright, gazing at the scorching savanna entering the dry season.
At night, the savanna's grass was yellowed, making it the perfect camouflage for the lioness and her cubs.
Even as Li Wenkang followed Master Fuli's gaze, he couldn't detect anything unusual.
"Nothing much, I just think I might have helped Old Jin find a pretty beast wife."
With a look of amazement, Ansheng commented on the flirtatious words and moves of the lion opposite.
Upon entering a new area, Ansheng naturally had no rush to action; as usual, the first step was to find the local countrymen and use food to bribe and paralyze their inner guard.
Then, through some crafty persuasion, he would entice the locals to gossip for a five-kilogram feast and relay tasks via a two-ton network.
Harnessing the power of the masses, he would swiftly uncover secrets of the foreign land and achieve total map visibility.
Originally, Ansheng thought finding fellow countrymen in the chaotic Gold-digging Town would be challenging, talking about secrets even locals might not know.
After all... amidst blazing cannons here, beasts were either obliterated or scared away.
Yet, right upon stepping out, he encountered one particularly flamboyant creature.
"Oi! Hey there—this way!"
Leaning over the Steel Giant Beast's railing, Ansheng addressed the lioness across from him, "Didn't expect to see countrymen in this place. Why not have a chat? Look at your kids; they're so skinny. Get them some meat."
"!?"
Though the Steel Giant Beast was a war fortress, its road lighting was well-equipped, and the lioness easily spotted the fox perched on the big vehicle.
"Meow?"
The cubs, full of curiosity, looked at the white fox that made the call and then at their mother.
"Shh! Don't say anything, back away slowly..."
"Just look at them; clearly dubious. End up in the hands of bipeds, and it's the fire hoops for you. Remember how your dad died!?"
"Performing fire hoop jumps during the day and roaring till his throat was inflamed, and at night having to accompany over a dozen lionesses."
Faced with Master Fuli's greeting, the clearly spiritualized lioness did not approach, nor did she roar angrily like the Spirit Beasts of Xia Country to drive off invaders.
The lioness, crouched in the grass, led the cubs back slowly, using the endless camouflage of the scorched yellow grass to hide themselves.
"Hm!? Why back off? Even if not coming up to give me a couple of meow punches, shouldn't you at least glare at me?"
Ansheng looked at the lioness in disbelief and then turned to Li Wenkang.
"Spirit Beasts on the Tropical Continent are different from those in Europe or Asia..."
Under Master Fuli's guidance, Li Wenkang saw the camouflaged lion pride and chuckled:
"On the Tropical Continent, where humans have long coexisted with big beasts, the beasts know humans are fierce, and there's no Animal Protection Law here."
"Even now, there's a ten-thousand-dollar trophy hunt for a male lion or wild elephant. Tropical Continent Spiritual Beasts know humans are worse than hyenas, so they avoid them."
In Asia and Europe, Spirit Beasts tend to occupy territory, and some European Spirit Beasts even habitually live in trash bins, marking territory by streets.
But uniquely, the Spirit Beasts of the Tropical Continent lack the notion of territory because humans hunt them with long spears year-round, and territorial costs are too high, making the street-smart bipeds unbearably irritating.
Spirit Beasts run away to avoid bother.
"According to our Security Bureau's investigation report, Tropical Continent Spirit Beasts proactively avoid humans, but in doing so, they also sneak into human gatherings to observe and learn human habits..."
"After all... beasts like raw meat simply because they don't have wild men to light a fire for them. It's not that beasts inherently love raw meat," Li Wenkang smiled.
"You really make sense," Ansheng commented, his forehead showing black lines in amazement.
Indeed, one could blame the incompetent wild men; otherwise, he wouldn't have resorted to digging for field mice right after weaning.
"Lin Wanying, bring me the big caliber!"
Ansheng raised a paw beckoning her, and Lin Wanying, clad in a chemical suit, froze, looked around, then turned to grab someone by the neck, placing them on Master Fuli's shoulder: "Fu Xian, she has the largest caliber."
"!?"
Ansheng was dumbfounded when he saw the clearly sleeping person Lin Wanying dragged up.
"Greetings, Lord Fu Xian, my caliber is quite large. I can work non-stop for half an hour, and the emitted toxins can scatter ash."
The girl in the nightgown, kneeling on Master Fuli's shoulder with a raised rear, awkwardly replied.
"Well... spray in that direction."
Ansheng woodenly pointed to a spot around 200 meters beside the lions.
"Okay..."
The girl in the nightgown opened her mouth wide, as black chitin spread from her mouth, gradually enveloping her entirety, her throat transforming, with flesh hardening into two spiral mouthpieces.
Two high-pressure water lines sprayed, merging, and upon contact with air, boiled wildly, turning into corrosive liquid.
The chemical liquid sprayed on the ground, the corrosive fluid scattering, rapidly carbonizing the soil and other objects, covering them in chemical toxins capable of eroding flesh and bone.
"......"
Ansheng looked at the insect girl on his shoulder, his fox face twitching gently.
"You do... take frequent showers, right? You wouldn't crawl through the sewage like cockroaches, would you?"
"Uh-huh!" The insect girl shook her head, indicating she had a naturally odorous body type and, if conditions allowed, would bathe four to five times daily, also using deodorant.
"That's good, no need to find my slippers..." Ansheng nodded in understanding, then grabbed the insect girl's chin and aimed at the lioness.
"Listen up, fellow countryman over there; Master Fuli is giving you a chance to surrender with both hands behind your head!"
"You've been caught spying on Xia Country's military secrets; surrender immediately for leniency."
"I have a bachelor male lion here, living in a mansion, managing hundreds of subordinates. Surrender now and I'll arrange a blind date."
When the corrosive liquid sprayed, the warriors on the Steel Giant Beast had already drawn their guns, opened the side door of the vehicle, rocket launcher platforms extending out, and each dark barrel aimed at the lioness.
"Oh my gosh—"
The lioness's eyes widened in shock; the lions were dumbstruck. What heavenly rule had she broken?
Why was the opponent pulling out big guns to blast her?
"Meow?"
The lioness made an emergency brake, huddled, and the cubs followed suit by squatting, raising their little paws high above their heads, meowing.