Chapter 20 - A Dog Taking Advantage of a Tiger
A big cat with yellow fur and black stripes… does it mean a stray cat?
"Describe it clearly," Lu Ran demanded. Crows had the intelligence of a five-year-old child. To understand its report, he had to ask it several questions to clarify.
Lu Ran's telepathy allowed him to communicate clearly with higher intelligence animals. If the animal was mentally deficient, then he could only interpret its thoughts through its behavior. This was why it was more difficult to communicate with insects.
However, Lu Ran felt that his telepathy was much more useful than basic mental connections. Anyone who became a beastmaster could communicate simplistically with their contracted familiar using the mental connection that came with the contract. However, beastmasters could only use this to communicate with their familiars.
In contrast, Lu Ran's telepathy didn’t limit who he could communicate with. He was able to communicate even without a contract, which was far more convenient. Additionally, whether it was using mental communication or telepathy, it was difficult at first and required practice.
Lu Ran learned telepathy two years ago, allowing him to avoid many of the difficulties in communicating with familiars.
The crow looked at Captain Doofus and tried describing it again.
“Big, big! A cat bigger than that dog.”
"Woof?"
Captain Doofus was shocked.
Lu Ran's expression sank.
You call that a cat? If it's bigger than Captain Doofus, then it must be a tiger!
Although, tigers were also cats.
"Nonsense. How could there be a tiger in such a place?" Lu Ran questioned.
However, in the next instant, Captain Doofus thoughtfully looked towards a certain direction. Its nose twitched as it picked up the scent of a beast. A dog's sense of smell was naturally keen, and now that it awakened the power of wind, Captain Doofus could pick up on scents in the air much easier.
"Ao!"
Captain Doofus’ sudden cry gave Lu Ran a shocking realization.
"No way, there really is a tiger?"
Lu Ran was a little surprised. First it was the crow’s report, and now even Captain Doofus had noticed that a beast was approaching. This wasn’t a dangerous secret secret realm, so where did the beast come from?
There weren’t any wild tigers in Green Sea City. The only place with tigers that Lu Ran could think of was… A few in the wildlife safari.
Could it be a tiger that escaped the wildlife safari?
"Thank you for your hard work. I'll bring you treats next time!"
Hearing this, the black crow left with satisfaction while crying out, “The king is wise!”
Glutton.
Lu Ran believed that every animal was a glutton and could be easily subdued with some food.
With this tiger revelation, Lu Ran definitely didn't want Captain Doofus to continue practicing swordsmanship. He frowned and began to think.
If a wild tiger really escaped then he needed to contact the fire department as soon as possible to prevent the tiger from hurting anyone. There were often many elderly and children hanging around the nearby parks and neighborhoods.
"Captain Doofus, let's go," Lu Ran said.
He actually wasn’t worried about his own safety. Besides the fact that Captain Doofus' combat strength improved by leaps and bounds, it was just a tiger. If he ever encountered dangers in reality, he had another huge trump card.
It wasn’t the Divine Deer Pendant, but rather the teleportation function to Limitless City!
It only took 10 seconds. He could teleport from the Blue Planet to Limitless City almost immediately. Even if a nuclear bomb were coming at him, Lu Ran wouldn’t be afraid as long as there was a warning alarm.
Sometimes, Lu Ran even imagined that if someone coveted his valuables, he could just hide in Limitless City until he reached level 100 before coming out again. Unfortunately, bad guys didn’t write “bad guy” on their faces, so he had to stay on guard against others.
"Ao."
Captain Doofus nodded and followed Lu Ran, both rushing off in the direction of the scent Captain Doofus had caught onto. After traveling for about one kilometer, Lu Ran stopped to hold his breath, leaned against a tree with Captain Doofus, and started observing a giant beast standing in the mountains.
Ssss...
Lu Ran's eyes widened. He saw a shoulder-height Northeastern tiger that was at least 1.5 meters tall and more than 3 meters long!
So huge!
Compared to this big guy, even Captain Doofus, now the size of a large dog, looked very petite.
"Grrr!"
The Northeastern tiger clearly noticed them approaching, letting out a low roar towards the tree.
"This is not an ordinary tiger, but rather one that has evolved into a Transcendent."
Lu Ran quickly figured out why this tiger was so big. It was just like what happened to Captain Doofus earlier; it had been strengthened by the contract card and completed its initial evolution!
This gigantic Northeastern tiger was much more terrifying than those demon cats.
What's going on? Where is its beastmaster? It couldn't be untamed.
"Ah-woo!"
What made Lu Ran even more helpless was that, even when facing such a ferocious beast, Captain Doofus was not only not afraid, but its eyes were actually full of fighting spirit.
"Don't cause trouble—we don't know the situation yet. And also, this guy should have a beastmaster. We’ll have to pay compensation if we beat it up.
"This fella is also an endangered species. If we kill it, I will have to spend an eternity in prison," Lu Ran joked with Captain Doofus.
"Woof!"
Captain Doofus glared at Lu Ran.
It has a beastmaster? Stop joking.
Captain Doofus could smell human blood coming from the tiger’s breath.
If there was a beastmaster, they must already be in its stomach.
"What?"
Lu Ran was confused. He thought of something and reacted quickly by taking out his cell phone to make a call.
He would call the fire department if it were just an ordinary beast that escaped, but this situation was obviously different.
"C’mon, pick up."
Lu Ran leaned against a tree and made a call while Captain Doofus confronted the tiger. Luckily, the call connected quickly, and a familiar voice came from the other side.
"Hello, who is this?"
"Surfing White Dragon?" Lu Ran asked.
"That’s me."
Surprised, the person on the line asked, "Uh… your voice… Pedestrian A!?
“Haha, you contacted me so quickly. I thought you would sleep first and get a good night’s rest. Do you want to know where to register your identity?" White Dragon asked.
"That’s not too urgent right now. Listen to me first. I was walking my dog in the rear mountain of our neighborhood and ran into a Northeastern tiger. This tiger seemed to have evolved, but I didn't see its beastmaster. Most importantly, it seems to have eaten someone. My dog smelled human blood on it."
After Lu Ran finished speaking, White Dragon suddenly became quiet.
After a while, he finally cried out.
"!@#$!"
Surfing White Dragon couldn't help but swear.
"What's the situation right now? Are you in danger? Where are you? It should be a contract backlash. This situation is very common abroad. Some people want to use black cards to contract beasts they can't control, which leads to their death in a tiger's mouth.
"Pedestrian A, listen to me. Right now, you need to first find somewhere safe. Tell me the address, and I will find someone to deal with that tiger immediately."
"Okay," Lu Ran said as he nodded.
He didn't expect to meet official beastmasters so soon. He originally thought that he wouldn’t run into one on the Blue Planet until he went to register his identity.
"I'm at..."
Lu Ran was about to tell White Dragon where he was when the tiger’s roar shook the forest. The giant tiger didn’t continue its stare-off with Captain Doofus. It seemed to be enraged and rushed over with a roar!
Only those who have actually heard the thundering roar would understand its horror. Even through the phone, White Dragon could hear the terrifying roar.
White Dragon's face suddenly turned pale. Tigers, once contracted, were ranked at least as Superior-Transcendent. Even if its attribute wasn’t awakened and only at level one, it could easily kill low-level creatures of lower species.
Damn it!
"Pedestrian A!" he shouted urgently, wanting to find out what was happening. However, Lu Ran didn’t reply.
After the giant tiger attacked, Captain Doofus' eyes lit up as if that was what it was waiting for. Sky-blue energy appeared all over its body.
Swish!
The dust on the ground around it was immediately stirred up. Its sprint, supported by Wind-attribute energy, turned it into a string of afterimages, making its speed much faster than that of the tiger.
Speed was power. From Lu Ran and Captain Doofus’ point of view, all the giant tiger had was its size. The opponent should only be level 1 and couldn’t even use the simplest energy infusion.
Against Captain Doofus, who had awakened its attribute, it was indeed just a large cat with a bigger body. Facing the gust-cloaked Captain Doofus, the Northeastern tiger was obviously a little stunned. By the time it reacted, its body had already collided directly with Captain Doofus’.
"Rwaa!"
Although this tiger was only level 1, Captain Doofus and Lu Ran finally understood what it meant to be a high-ranking king of the jungle.
Even though the tiger was at a disadvantage in many aspects, Captain Doofus could still feel the huge power that erupted from its opponent during the collision, which hurt it a little.
It would’ve completely crushed its level 1 self.
"Roar!!!"
Because Captain Doofus was too fast, some of the tiger's hunting skills couldn’t be well displayed, and Captain Doofus knocked it back several meters. Captain Doofus colliding with it was probably comparable to a speeding car hitting the tiger.
This collision immediately made the tiger realize that Captain Doofus was not easy to mess with. It turned around to leave, but it was rare for Captain Doofus to meet such a powerful opponent, so it had no intention of letting it go.
"Awoo!!!"
Captain Doofus howled excitedly and bit onto a long branch next to him to use as a sword to perform sword skills.
Swish, swish, swish.
The power of wind wrapped around the branch, making it look like a shining wind blade. Holding the wind blade in its mouth, Captain Doofus chased after the tiger. The king of the jungle only amounted to this!
The Dog-style Sword flashed by!
Seeing this, the tiger was even more shocked. It ran while looking back, almost falling while fleeing. It didn’t have the demeanor of a king of the jungle at all.
"Hey, hey, hey, Pedestrian A!!!"
White Dragon was still shouting on the phone.
"Uh, I'm fine."
Lu Ran hid behind the tree, watching the scene, and scratched his head.
"The tiger just attacked, so I helped you resolve the situation. Fortunately, my Captain Doofus awakened its attribute and became much stronger. Otherwise, it would’ve been really dangerous.
"What a pity. Such a big tiger… It would’ve been great if it hadn’t hurt anyone," Lu Ran lamented. "I guess I should count this as self-defense."
"Uh... Did you subdue it?" White Dragon was stunned.
However, when he thought about Lu Ran's strong performance in the beginner’s trial, combined with the fact that Captain Doofus had awakened its attribute, he could somewhat understand why Lu Ran had an advantage over the tiger.
Huuu...
White Dragon breathed a sigh of relief. As long as he was fine.
Although he understood, it was rare for a teenager like Lu Ran to have the courage. Was this really a high school student? What was his family background?
"Be careful, and give me the address. I will contact the relevant departments over there to recover the tiger.
"Thank goodness you were there. If a Northeastern tiger had entered the city, the consequences would have been disastrous. I will help you apply for reward money!"
"Okay. Forget about the reward money, though. I'm not short on cash. Why don't you think of a way to get me into Mystic University instead? I don't want to take the college entrance exam," Lu Ran replied.
Actually, Lu Ran really didn't want the diploma anymore, but he had studied for so many years. He would always feel like he lost out if he didn't get one. Whatever, he would just be a beastmaster with a diploma.
“???”
As he talked, Lu Ran walked towards Captain Doofus. The Northeastern tiger’s body had several bleeding scratches.
Blocked by Captain Doofus wielding a branch at the foot of the mountain, the tiger trembled. Like a frightened bird, its face was full of fear, and it kept roaring to scare away the enemy.
Lu Ran looked at the branch in Captain Doofus' mouth with surprise. This fella had made great progress. Just earlier, the wind energy destroyed the wooden sword, but it could now skillfully use its energy to wrap around the branch.
Was it a genius?
"You look kind of unfamiliar. You must have arrived in the last couple of months."
Lu Ran turned his head and looked at the tiger again. He had met the tigers in the safari several times, but he didn't recognize this one, so it must be new.
Unfortunately, someone had been injured, so how it would be dealt with was unknown.
A while later, among the several police officers who had entered the back mountain of Red Leaf Park to search for the escaped Northeastern tiger, a fourth-generation beastmaster stopped and answered his phone.
"Officer Luo Shang, this is the first division. A local beastmaster has resolved the Northeastern tiger devouring its owner and fleeing incident reported in Green Sea City. He has already brought the Northeastern tiger under control. I will send you the location."
"What?"
Luo Shang, who was fully armed, gun in hand, and accompanied by an extraordinary police dog, was stunned.
"Aren’t I the only beastmaster in Green Sea City currently?"
"It's a new beastmaster."
"How can a newcomer… Yes! I'll take people there right away."
Luo Shang took a deep breath. It was somewhat unbelievable. He was also a new beastmaster a week ago. The D he attained was already a very high score, but even so, his professionally trained police dog trembled just at the scent of the fleeing Northeastern tiger. What kind of newcomer could subdue a transcendent tiger without the help of firearms?
Could it be that the other party contracted an even more ferocious beast?
A moment later...
Luo Shang led a group of people to the location sent by Lu Ran and saw an extremely shocking scene.
A huge Northeastern tiger was curled up at the foot of the mountain like a poor kitty getting bullied by a husky wielding a branch. Next to it was a young man, who looked like a student, sitting on a rock and playing with his cell phone.