Ch. 267 - Thrilling! So Fucking Thrilling

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Just as the three of them were discussing their options.

The Mutant Thunderbird was already shivering uncontrollably, on the verge of bolting right then and there.

It seriously could not mess with a King-rank beast!

"Try to run and I'll bag you!"

Chen Shu whipped out a urea bag and snarled at it.

Ultimately, under the combined threats and promises of all three, the Mutant Thunderbird had no choice but to submit.

"Can't just charge straight in — that'd be asking to die."

Chen Shu stared at the White Lion ahead. His eyes swiveled, and he ordered his Slime to charge forward.

Its five-meter body was certainly large.

But to the White Lion, it posed no threat whatsoever.

"Goo-gii!"

The Slime, being far too dumb for its own good, felt not a trace of fear.

"ROAR!"

The White Lion let out a low growl, a flicker of fury passing through its eyes.

Something this pathetically weak dared to provoke it?

In an instant, the distance between them closed!

The White Lion's eyes shimmered with the radiance of a skill. White light erupted around its body, blindingly intense.

Chen Shu remained completely calm. He had predicted this exact scenario.

The Slime instantly activated Gigantification. Its original five-meter frame exploded to eight times its size, barreling forward like a small mountain.

...Huh? What the hell?

The White Lion froze, utterly baffled by how it had suddenly gotten so huge.

"Goo-gii!"

The Slime unleashed Deterrent Roar, aiming to interrupt the opponent's skill.

Chen Shu's timing was flawlessly precise. Against any ordinary Lord, the interrupt would have landed perfectly.

But the White Lion was completely unaffected — clearly a skill with innate Tyrant Body properties.

Tssss!

The white light surged forth, engulfing the Slime's entire body.

But by then, the Slime had already crashed into it, physically shoving the King backward with brute force!

BOOM!

A King-rank beast's power was terrifying, yet in terms of sheer mass, it still lost to the giant Slime.

Its body skidded back over ten meters involuntarily. A hint of almost-human shock flickered in its eyes.

The very next second, its expression twisted into absolute, incandescent rage.

The treasure that had been right beside it... had vanished!

"Bye-bye!"

Chen Shu waved, taking advantage of the moment the King had been knocked back. The Mutant Thunderbird swooped in.

He stuffed the treasure directly into his urea bag.

He glanced back — and his eyes widened in shock. The Slime's front body had been completely cracked open. Massive amounts of blood streamed down without pause. The wound was horrifying.

One single skill had inflicted heavy injuries on the Slime!

"RETREAT!"

All desire to fight evaporated from his heart. Fight my fucking ass!

The Slime was recalled into his Beast Taming Space instantly. The husky behind him, the same.

The Mutant Thunderbird wiggled its rear and cranked its speed to the absolute limit, racing toward the exit.

"Come to me!"

Seeing that the three had finally, temporarily, escaped the King-rank beast's aggro range, Du Ming finally dared approach and speak.

"Teacher, no need! Just look after yourself!"

The Mutant Thunderbird's body crackled with lightning. Its speed surged yet again — no holding back whatsoever.

Whoosh!

The Thunderbird streaked away like a bolt of light, leaving behind nothing but a dumbfounded Du Ming staring blankly into the distance...

"What the fuck is this thing?! How is a Level 9 contract spirit this fast?!"

Du Ming's eyes went wide. No wonder these three degenerates had no fear of death — with a Thunderbird like that, they really could rampage through any ordinary Alternate Dimension.

ROAR!

In that instant, a terrifying light bullet several meters wide came hurtling toward him.

The red avian beneath Du Ming refused to be outdone, immediately launching a fireball in response.

The two skills appeared evenly matched, canceling each other out.

"Got to fall back first!"

Du Ming patted his contract spirit and likewise activated every speed-boosting skill he had, racing in the direction of the escape route.

He had never fought a Black Iron King before — but even if he could win, it would be completely meaningless.

Don't forget, this thing was a King-rank beast!

A King capable of commanding every single beast in the entire Alternate Dimension!

If he got bogged down, what awaited him was an endless, boundless sea of beasts!

Chen Shu's expression was grim. He kept glancing back — the crisis was far from resolved.

The King-rank beast's intelligence was exceptionally high. It had long since locked its aggro onto him and would not attack Du Ming first.

Unless Du Ming intervened himself. But this was the gaokao — the moment he acted, Chen Shu and the others would lose points.

The White Lion's eyes blazed with incandescent white light. Just as it prepared to give chase, a massive horde of beasts surged forth from the horizon.

Exactly the beast pack it had summoned earlier!

"ROAR!"

The White Lion roared with fury.

In an instant, countless beasts received the order, locking onto the distant Mutant Thunderbird.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

Led by the White Lion, an endless Beast Tide erupted, thoroughly shattering the silence of the night.

"They are genuinely courting death..."

Du Ming swallowed. He had never imagined three students could be this fucking insane.

Back when he was Black Iron rank, he hadn't even dared provoke a Lord — and these kids were already taunting a King.

Du Ming's red avian concealed its presence, avoiding the beast horde's attention, and swiftly caught up to the Mutant Thunderbird.

"Thrilling! So fucking thrilling!"

Chen Shu spread his arms wide, welcoming the icy night wind against his face.

Bathed in moonlight, his face bore the feral grin of a true bandit.

And behind him — countless beasts, roaring in pursuit.

This scene would have shaken anyone to their core!

But in that exact moment, the Mutant Thunderbird let out a sharp cry. The lightning shrouding its body dimmed to near extinction. Its speed plummeted instantly.

Clearly, the skill's duration had run out!

"Son of a... so not lasting!"

Chen Shu's mouth twitched. He had just been about to have someone snap a photo for the cover of his future bandit memoirs.

And then the Thunderbird suddenly let him down...

In the span of mere minutes, the distance between them and the beast horde had closed significantly.

"Give up! I'll get you out of here!"

Du Ming called out. If he rescued the three, they would lose points — and their chance at a top university along with them.

This whole mess was trouble they had stirred up themselves. Naturally, they had to have the courage to bear the consequences. There was no way the gaokao rules could be broken over this.

"Chen Pi, what's the call?"

Xu Xingxing spoke up, glancing back at the Beast Tide behind them. He couldn't help but swallow.

This time... might have been a bit much...

Chen Shu rubbed his chin. On the surface, he was as steady as an old dog. Inside, he was actually starting to panic a little too...

"It was just a few rocks and herbs. Did they really need to go this crazy?"

Chen Shu muttered to himself, frantically thinking of an escape plan.

The Mutant Thunderbird's peak speed rivaled Silver rank.

But flying back to the base point would take at least a day. No skill could last that long.

"Chen Pi! Maybe we should just chuck the stuff!"

"The situation's way too dangerous. We can't hold onto it!"

Both Xu Xingxing and the other were starting to panic. If they truly fell into that Beast Tide, not a single bone of theirs would remain.

"Wait!"

Chen Shu took a deep breath. His eyes darted back and forth.

In an instant, options appeared before him once more.

[Option 1: Let Du Ming intervene. Forfeit the high score — survival comes first! Reward: Massive amount of Beast Taming Power]

[Option 2: Find an escape plan and get away clean! Reward: Elemental beast skill damage +5%]

[Option 3: Jump off the Thunderbird and fight the Beast Tide to the death! Reward: One tombstone! Epitaph: "A Vary Brave Person"]

[Option 4: Abandon the treasure and beg the King-rank beast for forgiveness... Reward: Charm +3]

[1] 敲勇 / "一个敲勇的人": An intentional misspelling of "超勇" (super brave), Zhang Dali's signature catchphrase from Chapter 1: "I always said, he's super brave!" The System offers Chen Shu a tombstone as his "reward" for dying against the Beast Tide; the mangled epitaph ("Vary" for "Very") amplifies the pathetic absurdity of a pointless death. The canonical spelling "超勇" reappears later in the novel as a System title reward.