C12 The Beast Tide(2)

"Pfft!"

The driver shuddered, his previously flushed face from the intense battle now ashen, as he opened his mouth to expel a gush of blood.

The porcupine was dead, shredded into fragments by a pack of vicious wolves.

With only two elite-grade spirit animals remaining, the squad's combat power had plummeted by at least thirty percent.

The number of encircling vicious wolves was increasing, now exceeding two hundred.

That alone would have been manageable, but among the wolves, they spotted a few barbed sus scrofa and vicious jackals.

In the wild, the barbed sus scrofa were the epitome of brutes, charging at anything in sight. A group of more than ten would deter even the vicious jackals from engaging.

Both the feral jackals and the evil jackals belonged to the same category of fiend beasts, sharing the same elite status.

Typically, barbed sus scrofa and vicious jackals wouldn't mingle, so what was unfolding before them?

"Could this be... a beast tide?"

Fatty and the driver exchanged a glance, each seeing the mirror of their own despair.

...

"What's this? It's a bit over the top, isn't it?"

Zhou Mu, having set the car to autopilot, pulled out his phone to dive into a novel.

A cataclysm four centuries prior had steered the world onto a path vastly different from his previous life, triggering a domino effect of changes.

Every piece of literature revolved around spirit animals, monotonously similar and devoid of originality.

The majority featured fortunate Animal Whisperers stumbling upon a high-quality spirit animal cub, sharing in battles and growth.

On rare occasions, the narrative flipped: the spirit animal became the Animal Whisperer's master, or transformed into a human to lead an unabashed life with its Whisperer.

And then there were those second-rate authors, whose works were frankly too dreadful to endure.

Titles like The Tyrannical Bear Fell in Love with Me, The Secrets I Must Keep from My 1200-Year-Old Nine-Tailed Fox Landlady, and The Young Snake...

Zhou Mu flipped through a book and felt a sense of déjà vu with some of the plots.

The landlord...

The Snake's academic performance was less than stellar...

"Damn, I'm an upstanding guy. Why do they keep recommending these kinds of books to me?"

He grumbled under his breath but was soon engrossed in the reading.

Life in the wilderness was monotonous, a never-ending cycle of travel and combat.

Thankfully, the vehicle's state-of-the-art energy system made these prolonged journeys possible.

"I've racked up over 8,000 points. I'll head back once I hit 10,000."

Zhou Mu stretched, feeling the growth in his soul intensity, now at 2.9 points. He was on the cusp of becoming a level three Animal Whisperer and bonding with a second spirit animal.

For now, his sole focus was on accumulating points, setting aside concerns about money and missions.

After all, the items in the points shop couldn't be purchased with money. Some were regulated goods; others didn't even belong to this world.

Money was the least of his worries. Despite his father slashing his monthly allowance to 500,000 yuan, the head of the Zhou family wasn't him.

A little charm with Grandpa, coupled with a display of his newfound strength, would surely open the family coffers.

"Ah, having such a family really saps one's drive."

Zhou Mu sighed in frustration, his whiny demeanor almost too much for Gator to stomach.

"Hiss!"

Gator, feigning sleep on the co-pilot's seat, suddenly perked up, its large, round eyes reflecting a grave alertness as it sensed impending danger.

The next moment, a shrill alarm blared through the cabin.

The vehicle's radar had picked up a massive assembly of fiend beasts—over five hundred.

"Clumsy Turtle, Savage Jackal, Fire Fox, and Barbed Boar. What's happening here? Aren't these fiend beasts part of a food chain hierarchy? Why aren't they attacking each other?"

Zhou Mu's brow furrowed deeply as a troubling thought struck him.

A Beast Tide!

Periodically, the wilderness would be overwhelmed by a beast tide.

Their scope varied; the smaller ones involved hundreds of thousands of ordinary fiend beasts, while the larger ones could exceed ten million, including numerous elite fiend beasts among them.

The super large beast tide numbered in the hundreds of millions, with countless Commander-level fiend beasts leading the charge. A small beast tide could obliterate a county-level city, a large one could wipe out a city, and a super large beast tide was an apocalyptic force that no one could withstand.

In front of Zhou Mu, there were about six hundred fiend beasts, the strongest among them only at the fourth rank. He figured it wouldn't pose much of a problem. With that thought, he promptly dispatched a small drone to capture photos and relay the information back to the Animal Whisperer Union. It was always better to err on the side of caution—a false alarm was preferable to being caught off guard.

"Hmm? Is someone there?"

The beasts seemed to notice the drone overhead, and desperate cries for help rose from within their ranks. Zhou Mu pondered briefly before deciding to intervene. Human life was precious, and he was willing to lend aid, provided his own safety wasn't compromised. Besides, he had already documented the scene. Ignoring these people could lead to complications with the Animal Whisperer Union later on.

And after all, these were just ordinary fiend beasts. Once Gator unleashed his dragon aura, they'd all be subdued.

Sure enough, as Zhou Mu approached, the fiend beasts ceased their assault and lay down submissively. A few even wagged their tails, as if currying favor.

After Zhou Mu sent several vicious wolves flying with his vehicle, he executed a stylish drift and came to a stop before the three stranded individuals. The driver, still reeling from the brush with death, felt as though he'd been given a second chance at life.

"Are you guys alright?" Zhou Mu asked, propping himself against the car and flicking back his nonexistent long hair.

"Thank you for saving us! We would have been goners without you," the plump man responded, his gratitude evident.

Though it was odd to see the fiend beasts so docile, it was clear that the man before them had something to do with it. Among Animal Whisperers, it was a serious faux pas to ask about another's spirit animal's abilities. The man, now safe thanks to his rescuer, wouldn't dream of making such a blunder.

"Let's get out of here before it gets any more complicated," Zhou Mu suggested.

"Is your car still operational?" Zhou Mu inquired.

"Uh, seems like it's not," the driver replied with a sigh, frustration etching his face. "Stupid Trishaw, I swear if I buy one of these again, I might as well write my name upside down."

"Upside down? Might I inquire as to your surname?"

"Tian!"

Zhou Mu just stared blankly for a moment.

"Come on, get in. We'll figure it out once we're away from here," the driver motioned.

Zhou Mu exhaled deeply, sensing that this squad might not be the most dependable.

"Thanks!" he said.

After expressing his gratitude once more, the portly man led the way, squeezing into the car first. The other two quickly followed, not wanting to be left behind.

Zhou Mu, in contrast to Qi Xiang, drove with much more care and restraint.

The engine bellowed furiously, the car shooting forward like a wild donkey breaking free from its tether.

The pack of ferocious wolves that had been in their path was instantly reduced to a pulp, taken out before they even had a chance to react.