FGCT CH25.2

Xie Tianlang followed Gou Fugui out.

At this moment, however, the beautiful Fugui—no, he should now be called Brother Fugui—felt like he was bursting with strength. He was holding a jar of honey and drinking it mouthful by mouthful. Each sip was so sweet it made him grimace, but after finishing, he felt amazing.

That’s right. The journey had been way too tough, and by the time night completely fell, the beautiful Fugui had secretly transformed into Honey Badger Fugui in human form!

With the transformation, his overall combat power and physical stats were significantly boosted—basically, he wasn’t that far off from someone like Qin Feng anymore. Especially with his honey badger bloodline, which came with a 20% boost to regeneration and a skill called “Venomous Snake Spicy Strips”^[1], which allowed him to quickly recover stamina by drinking honey. Thanks to this overpowered regeneration, he pretty much breezed through the trip.

And now, he’d just downed five big gulps of honey!

Even though his mouth was starting to taste bitter from all the sweetness, his stamina was now fully restored.

The newly-energized Honey Badger Fugui carefully put away the jar of pure honey into his pocket and was all ready to go pick up some sticks when a voice suddenly spoke near his ear:

“It’s so sweet… Are you drinking honey?”

Honey Badger Fugui nearly clawed the person on reflex but managed to hold himself back at the last second.

He whipped his head around and snapped angrily, “Do you walk without making any noise!? Don’t you know you can scare someone to death?!”

Xie Tianlang squinted at Fugui’s shiny lips and his fierce but equally sparkly eyes. He chuckled as he walked forward.

“If you’re not guilty, why be scared when someone knocks on the door? What shady business were you up to?”

Secretly-transformed Fugui: “…Hmph.”

Father is done talking to you.

Fugui rolled his eyes dramatically and turned away to pick up branches in another direction. Xie Tianlang paused briefly when he noticed the change in direction but didn’t follow—Fugui hadn’t gone far, after all.

Can’t push too hard, or he’ll claw you.

Gathering firewood wasn’t all that hard—after all, with the heavy rain and raging winds that had swept through, plenty of branches had been knocked down from the trees in the mountains. Honey Badger Fugui only spent about twenty minutes collecting a decent pile, then carried the bundle back toward the tunnel.

Before he left, he thoughtfully called out to Xie Tianlang and the others. Once he got a reply, he headed back with peace of mind.

But on the way back, a sudden whiff of an animalistic stench reached his nose. It was faint—carried lightly on the wind and rain—but thanks to his bloodline enhancement, he still caught it.

The moment the scent hit him, Fugui’s body instinctively tensed. His blood was screaming at him—this smell signals danger.

Yet, as he scanned his surroundings in the rainy darkness, looking left, right, all around, he couldn’t spot anything out of place. In the end, with a trace of unease and hesitation, he returned to the tunnel.

Soon after, the group got a fire going.

Though it billowed thick smoke at first, the warm flames soon calmed everyone down completely.

The cozy, bright fire seemed to push back all the gloom and dampness. People huddled around, drying their soaked clothes and sharing food, realizing they’d never felt more grateful just to be alive.

“Ah… it feels so good to be alive!”

“Haha, now this feels like living. I used to curse this damned weather every day, but after today, I’m thinking, let it rain however it wants—as long as we can make it through each day, we win! I’m not giving in to the weather!”

“Yeah! We’re almost at the Qingchuan province. Once we get there, we can hit up the official refuge base, or even rent a place and settle down. No way this rain can keep pouring forever, and no way it can flood the highest plateau in the world!”

“Our elders made it through so many disasters. There’s no reason we can’t pull through now. As long as we stick together and keep pushing forward—just like today—there’s no obstacle we can’t overcome!”

Maybe it was the firelight, or maybe it was the spirit of unity, but the tense lines on people’s faces began to ease.

Children curled up in their parents’ arms and drifted off to sleep, while soft, soothing music began to echo gently through the tunnel.

Everything seemed perfect.

But suddenly, a fierce bark shattered the peace.

“Woof!”

The loud sound immediately jolted countless drowsy people awake. It sent elderly people clutching their chests in alarm, and children screaming and crying uncontrollably.

“What’s going on?! Which dog is barking?!”

“Where did this dog come from? Is it a stray?!”

Many people immediately became tense, and some instinctively grabbed their bags and weapons.

The members of the third, second, and fourth teams turned their eyes toward Gou Fugui, their faces showing a mix of confusion, suspicion, and even disgust.

“Hey, what’s up with your dog?! Why’s it barking in the middle of the night?! Can’t anyone get some sleep? I told you, you have no sense of decency! Fine, you brought a dog on the train, but a dog this big and you didn’t even tie it up at night?! Are you waiting for it to bite someone to death?!”

The young lady, who had never liked the black-backed dogs in the first place, exploded at this moment. She was still holding a grudge about the time Fugui had pushed her, and now, standing up, she pointed at him and started shouting:

“I’m telling you, get that dog to shut up now! If you don’t, I’ll have everyone kill it!”

The barking grew louder, echoing around the tunnel:

“Woof woof woof woof woof woof woof!!”

“Woof woof woof woof woof woof woof woof!!”

And then, amidst the chaos…

“Meow!!”

The sound was a strange mix of barks and a cat’s cry, adding to the confusion.

The young lady’s words hadn’t even finished when the Labrador, Husky, and the black cat—the small animals that had been quietly sitting around Gou Fugui—suddenly went wild, barking and hissing uncontrollably.

At that very moment, the black-backed police dog, the first to bark, shot out like a black bolt of lightning, charging forward fiercely and fearlessly!

With the sickening sound of crunching bones and grinding muscles, the entire tunnel was witness to a stunning sight—

The large black dog accurately collided with the gray figure that had been lunging through the air, sinking its teeth deep into the neck of the gray shadow!

As they crashed down from mid-air, the ground beneath them erupted in a cloud of dust.

“Awooo—”

“Grrr—Woof!”

Everyone’s minds went blank for a split second.

Then, the chaos exploded into uncontrollable screaming.

Unnoticed by them, outside the tunnel, dozens of eerie green eyes gleamed through the darkness, glowing with a chilling light.

Gou Fugui snapped into action in an instant. Grabbing a wooden stick from the ground, he charged forward.

“What the hell are you all doing just standing there?! The wolf pack is here!”

“Fight!”

The sound fell, and the young man’s hood slipped down. The silver-.white hair on his forehead dazzled everyone’s eyes.

Thud!

He directly sent a gray wolf flying.