Judging by the sound, it wasn’t far.
Li Changsheng’s expression suddenly changed, and he spun around to look forward.
In the distant darkness, a ball of orange-red flame bloomed, and a piercing scream was abruptly silenced.
’Shit...’
Li Changsheng froze for a moment and cursed under his breath, then herded Xiaohua to the other side of the pen.
At that moment, clouds veiled the moon.
Across the vast Beast Valley, bright lamps were extinguished one by one. Soon, less than half the lights remained, and most of the pens were swallowed by darkness.
Li Changsheng stood at the edge of the pen, cautiously poking his head out to watch the path leading toward the center of Beast Valley.
Behind him, Xiaohua seemed to sense the heavy atmosphere, standing quietly without making the slightest sound.
Time passed slowly.
Just when Li Changsheng thought he was in the clear, a RUSTLING sound suddenly came from the grass in front of the pen.
Li Changsheng whipped his head around to look, his pupils shrinking violently.
In the grass about ten meters from the pen, a tall, thin man wearing a black bandana over his face slowly stepped out, walking toward the enclosure with light footsteps.
Li Changsheng quickly pulled his head back. The faint sounds reaching his ears made his chest rise and fall violently.
’Who is he?’
’Is he the thief from earlier today?’
Li Changsheng’s mind was a mess. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and reached into his clothes to pull out a bamboo tube.
BUZZ...
With a nearly inaudible flutter of wings, four Red-winged Blood Bamboos flew out and vanished into midair.
Just then, a low whisper suddenly reached Li Changsheng’s ears.
"Only one adult Tusked Pig?"
"But eleven piglets will do."
"I’d better make my move. It’ll get troublesome if anyone else shows up."
Having muttered to himself, the intruder’s footsteps suddenly quickened.
CREAK...
The sound of the courtyard gate opening echoed from the small yard.
Li Changsheng peeked from the corner of the pen and saw the man standing by the window, craning his neck to look inside the house. At some point, a gleaming long knife had appeared in his hand.
’Considering his actions and words, his intentions were obvious.’
’He isn’t the thief from before. He’s here to kill me and take the Tusked Pigs.’
’And there wasn’t just one of them.’
And by now, he had already entered the house.
Li Changsheng stared at the wooden house, his expression grim and uncertain. A ruthless light gradually began to shine in his eyes.
CREAK...
The sound of a door came again. The intruder, knife in hand, warily entered the kitchen.
A moment later, he came back out. His gaze swept around him, his steps becoming more cautious.
’Shit, he’s not even home.’
Qi Yu cursed inwardly. As he looked at the surrounding darkness, a thread of fear inexplicably sprouted in his heart.
’Can’t stay here any longer. I’ll just grab the piglets and go.’
Qi Yu’s eyes hardened. He strode quickly toward the pen, his long knife held in a defensive posture, his vigilance at its peak.
Then, the pen gate was opened.
A thought flickered through Li Changsheng’s mind.
BUZZ...
In midair, four dark shapes swooped down, slipping through the gaps in the pen’s fencing.
Immediately after, a fluctuation of Spiritual Power rippled out from inside the pen.
Li Changsheng crept to the pen and peered inside through a crack in the wood.
Inside the pen, Big Flower and the piglets were collapsed on the ground. The man held a woven basket, picking up the piglets one by one and tossing them inside.
Rage surged in Li Changsheng’s heart. With a vicious look in his eyes, he sent a mental command.
The four Red-winged Blood Bamboos hidden inside the pen flew silently behind the intruder, instantly erupting with Spiritual Qi and shooting out like bolts of electricity, straight for the back of his head.
Qi Yu was excitedly gathering the unconscious piglets. By the time he sensed the Spiritual Qi, the vicious maws of the Red-winged Blood Bamboos had already landed on the back of his head.
POP...
"What the—"
Qi Yu felt a sharp sting on the back of his head. His hand instinctively shot back to swat at it, but halfway there, his vision suddenly went black.
THUMP... His body collapsed to the ground, and a pool of crimson blood stained the dirt.
Li Changsheng waited a moment, making sure the man was as dead as could be.
"Hooo..."
Li Changsheng let out a sigh of relief and quickly walked into the pen.
Xiaohua followed close behind him like a bodyguard.
Once inside the pen, Li Changsheng’s first move was to check on Big Flower and the piglets. He breathed a sigh of relief upon finding they were merely unconscious.
He walked over to Qi Yu’s body, crouched down, and pulled off his bandana.
Beneath it was a gaunt face, belonging to a man who looked to be in his thirties. His features had a sinister cast.
Li Changsheng racked his brain but couldn’t place the man. Recalling his words—"if anyone else shows up"—his expression grew grim, and a sense of urgency rose within him.
He searched the man’s body, found a bundle, and stuffed it into his own clothes before picking up the corpse and leaving the pen.
Li Changsheng glanced around, then casually tossed the body into a fissure in the cliff behind the wooden house.
Back at the pen, Big Flower had already regained consciousness, though she still seemed listless.
Li Changsheng comforted Big Flower for a moment before peering out through the fence. Only then did he realize that more than half the usual lights in Beast Valley had been extinguished.
’I can’t stay in Beast Valley for now.’
Li Changsheng made his decision. He grabbed the basket full of piglets and herded Big Flower out of the pen.
Seeing Big Flower, Xiaohua went over and nuzzled her, grunting softly twice.
"Stop being so lovey-dovey. Follow me into the mountains."
Li Changsheng shouldered the bamboo basket and called to the two pigs, leading them down the path toward the mountains behind.
Above his head, the four Red-winged Blood Bamboos circled without rest.
The journey passed without incident.
The winding mountain path before them led straight to the summit. Li Changsheng hesitated for a moment, then turned and led Big Flower and Xiaohua into the grass to the side.
This time, he made no special effort to cover their tracks; Big Flower and Xiaohua were simply too large, making it impossible to hide the trail completely.
But he wasn’t concerned. Once they crossed this stretch of grass and entered the forest proper, there were plenty of ways to hide their trail.
「Not long after he left.」
One person after another arrived at his pen. Seeing it empty, they all assumed someone else had beaten them to the punch.
After cursing their "bad luck," they quickly melted back into the darkness.
「A moment later.」
Two figures, one tall and one short, emerged from the darkness.
One of them held a Bone-Chopping Knife that was over half a meter long and stained with blackened blood. The other was hunched over, warily scanning his surroundings.
They were none other than Wang Li and Ma Wu, who had been coveting Li Changsheng’s pigs for a long time.
The two of them quickly arrived outside the pen, looking at the wide-open gate to the small yard.
Ma Wu’s expression changed slightly, and he quickly ran into the brightly lit pen.
A few breaths later, Ma Wu walked out with an ugly look on his face. "It’s empty," he said in a low voice.
Wang Li showed no sign of surprise. He surveyed the area, then turned and strode away.
Watching Wang Li’s back, Ma Wu’s expression flickered. His hand twitched several times, as if wanting to reach into his robes, but every time he saw that blood-stained Bone-Chopping Knife, a look of fear appeared on his face.
After hesitating for a few breaths, he broke into a jog and followed.
What he didn’t know was that Wang Li, walking ahead, only appeared relaxed. In reality, his muscles were tense, and Spiritual Power was gathered in his Bone-Chopping Knife, ready to deliver a thunderous strike at any moment.
After the two of them left, the pen returned to silence once more.
Meanwhile, Li Changsheng looked at the tall mountain forest not far ahead, and his tense expression softened a little.
He quickly led Big Flower and Xiaohua into the woods. Without stopping, he wove a twisting path through the mountain forest, finally arriving before a cliff face covered in vines.