Mutated Leopard
Huo Keyu’s refusal clearly stunned the group of young students. They had assumed that since they’d run into acquaintances, they would surely be able to hitch a ride.1 They never expected…
“Hey, what’s your problem!” The boy who’d tried to act overly familiar2 flushed red and glared at the unfriendly Huo Keyu, his displeasure obvious. “I was asking Jian Dan and the others! Who are you? What gives you the right…”
“The right is that I don’t know you!” Huo Keyu was like a cat with its fur on end,3 staring down the group without yielding an inch.
“You Ugly Freak, you have no compassion…”
“I don’t know you, so why should I have compassion for you!”
Seeing Huo Keyu was about to get into a shouting match, Ren Chenxi quickly stepped in and pulled her back. “Keyu, calm down. They… they don’t mean any harm.”
On the other side, a girl next to the boy yanked his arm hard, rolling her eyes as she scolded him. “Yang Xiangrui, stop making a fool of yourself!4 If you don’t know how to talk, then shut up! We’re the ones begging them for a ride!”
After she finished, the other students chimed in, apologizing to Huo Keyu and earnestly promising they meant no harm; they just wanted to hitch a ride.
Perhaps their sincere attitude moved her slightly, because the tension in Huo Keyu’s face finally eased. But that didn’t mean she agreed to let them on.
“What about your own car? Why did you go into the woods only to come running back out?”
“Our car ran out of gas…” another boy explained with a miserable look on his face. “We got lost and had to take detours in the forest, and before we knew it, the tank was empty. We waited in the car for a while, hoping another vehicle might pass by and give us a lift. We actually did see one, but they weren’t willing to take so many of us. Before they left, though, they warned us that there was a 4th-Order Mutated Beast5 deep in the woods and that a lot of espers had already died in there. They told us to abandon our car and run.”
In the two years since the apocalypse began, the ferocious and predatory mutated beasts had often evolved faster than human espers. The highest-level esper Ren Chenxi had encountered on her journey was only 3rd-Order, yet here was a 4th-Order Mutated Beast! A 4th-Order! Her last two Explosion Cards6 wouldn’t be nearly enough to handle it…
“You have espers with you, right? What are your abil—”
Huo Keyu was still questioning them defensively when Ren Chenxi noticed something on her mini-map. A single red dot7 was closing in on them at an incredible speed. Connecting that with what the students had just said, her expression hardened. She rushed to the control panel, hit the switch to open the doors, and yelled out the window, “Stop talking and get on, now! A mutated beast is coming! It might be that 4th-Order!”
The moment they heard a 4th-Order Mutated Beast was coming, the students scrambled onto the bus in a panic. A few of the boys maintained their gentlemanly conduct, letting the girls board first. Yang Xiangrui, the one who’d spoken so tactlessly earlier, even helped a girl who nearly tripped in her haste.
The last person had barely set foot on the bus when the mutated beast appeared on the other side of the vehicle. It was a massive Mutated Leopard.8 No wonder its dot had been moving so fast on the mini-map!
With no time to even tell Chang Ling to close the door, several people urged her to drive.
“Go, go, go! The mutated beast is pouncing!”
Chang Ling started the bus as fast as she could and lurched forward. Her voice trembled as she asked, “Xi-jie, where do we go now? Do we turn back?”
“No! Go around this patch of trees and head straight for the forest! If the 4th-Order is already out here, what other dangers could be left inside?” The instant Ren Chenxi had glanced at the Mutated Leopard, she’d seen its level and its ridiculously long health bar.9 “Don’t worry. With this Mutated Leopard around, any other beasts will probably run from us! Listen to me. Turn the wheel right. We’ll go around it from the right side!”
Guided by Ren Chenxi’s deceptively calm voice, Chang Ling’s panicked trembling subsided. She followed Ren Chenxi’s command, turning the bus to the right and hitting the gas.
No one on the bus wanted a head-on confrontation with a 4th-Order Mutated Leopard, but did they really think the beast would just let them run? It let out a furious roar and lunged at the left side of the bus.
CRUNCH!
The bus groaned under the impact, the entire frame shuddering violently. Fortunately, the vehicle was heavy and large enough that the leopard didn’t manage to knock it over.
When its first pounce failed, the Mutated Leopard prepared to attack the windows again. The glass had already been shattered by the initial impact. Seeing this, Ren Chenxi immediately threw a fruit knife straight at the beast’s eye.
Her accuracy was one hundred percent, but the 4th-Order Mutated Leopard was fast enough to dodge. The knife flew straight for its eye, but the beast twisted its head and avoided the attack. At the same time, Chang Ling swerved hard, shaking the leopard off the side of the bus.
“Go, go, go, go! Run!” A crowd of students surrounded Chang Ling, even more agitated than she was.
“Xiao Ling, keep turning right! See that big tree covered in vines in the distance? Go around it, then turn left and head straight into the woods!” With the leopard thrown off, Ren Chenxi took a moment to check the mini-map and continued giving directions.
But the Mutated Leopard had only been temporarily thrown off. Seeing the bus pull away, it let out a low growl and charged again. The bus, already slower than a sedan, was no match for the leopard’s speed. In just a few moments, the vehicle jolted again. The entire rear window shattered, and even more terrifyingly, the cunning beast hooked its claws into the frame and thrust its enormous head inside!
It’s trying to get into the bus!
Before Ren Chenxi could even shout a warning, Song Xin screamed in panic. “Is anyone else an esper?! The leopard is climbing in, and it’s 4th-Order! My Slowing Sound10 has no effect on it!”
“I’m a Strength-System Esper!” a slender girl announced, stepping forward.
“Lu Ping, don’t go! Let me handle it. I’m a Wind-System Esper!” another boy said, stopping her and turning to face the leopard.
But both of them were only 2nd-Order espers. Their abilities would barely scratch the beast. And as they spoke, the leopard had already forced half its body through the window.
Without a second thought, Ren Chenxi flung an Explosion Card at it. Perhaps because it couldn’t see the card, the leopard made no move to dodge. But it must have instinctively sensed the danger, because it tilted its head slightly.
BOOM!
The leopard’s dodge wasn’t enough. The Explosion Card struck its massive head with pinpoint accuracy. With a deafening blast, a patch of fur was blown clean off, and blood began to pour from the wound.
An R-Rank card against a 4th-Order Mutated Beast really didn’t do much damage. The leopard’s long health bar had only decreased by about a tenth.
The sudden explosion didn’t make the beast release its grip. Instead, it completely enraged the ferocious animal. It roared, struggling and kicking its legs to force its way into the bus, its massive body warping the window frame.
“Wuuuuulaaaaa—” Jian Dan began to play her erhu.11
“Clang-clang-clang-clang—” Whether it would work or not, Song Xin started banging her small cymbals.
The boy who called himself a Wind-System Esper launched one wind blade after another at the leopard.
Lu Ping, the Strength-System Esper, was already holding a long iron rod and cautiously approaching the beast.
Yang Xiangrui, the boy who had almost fought with Huo Keyu, was also holding an iron rod. With trembling hands, he jabbed at the leopard’s face, trying to push it off the bus. Incredibly, his arms were extending, just like a character Ren Chenxi had once seen in an anime!
“Are your arms made of rubber?” Even in such a crisis, Ren Chenxi’s focus couldn’t help but stray.
“They’re made of flesh!” Yang Xiangrui shot her a smile that was uglier than a grimace. “If it bites them off, they’re gone for good…”
Oh… How tragic.
Not just tragic, but seemingly useless at the moment. Since his power wasn’t strength-based, the iron rod he was using had been clamped firmly in the leopard’s jaws. With his strength, there was no way he could push the beast off the bus.
“I’ll help you.” Lu Ping, the strength-based girl, dropped her own rod and moved to Yang Xiangrui’s side. She grabbed his elongated arms and began to pull with all her might.
“Hey, hey, hey! Big Sis, be gentle! You’re gonna break my arm…”
While everyone’s nerves were stretched taut, their eyes fixed on the leopard trying to force its way in, Ren Chenxi took the opportunity to throw out a Greasy Card.12
“Yang Xiangrui, shut up! Be a true man!13 What’s a little pain like this? Lu Ping, use more force! I think you pushed it out a little… Huh? It’s sliding off?”
The instant the Greasy Card hit, the Mutated Leopard’s entire body began to exude oil. The claws that had been digging into the seat in front of the window immediately started to slip, losing their grip. At that exact moment, Lu Ping gave another hard shove, and the leopard slid right off the bus.
“ROAR!!!” Seeing that it had almost made it inside only to slip off again, the Mutated Leopard could only let out a roar of pure frustration.
“It’s off! It’s off!”
“Floor it! Lose it!”
After a collective sigh of relief, the group started urging Chang Ling on again.
“The pedal is already to the floor! How the hell am I supposed to speed up my ass?!”14 Now that the immediate danger had passed, Chang Ling found the energy to talk back. A moment ago, when the leopard was climbing in, all she could do in response to their shouts was scream, “Ahhh!” in frantic terror.
Meanwhile, Yang Xiangrui retracted his arms, rubbing them as he praised Lu Ping. “Big Sis, you’re so strong! You even pushed a 4th-Order Mutated Leopard off the bus~”
Lu Ping, however, stared strangely at the leopard still stubbornly chasing them. “It wasn’t my strength. The leopard… it looked like it started sweating on its own…”
“It wasn’t just sweating!” the girl who had been cheering for Lu Ping chimed in. “I saw it! The leopard was sweating all over, and then Lu Ping pushed it and it slipped off. Look, it’s still slipping and sliding while it’s chasing us! Tsk, tsk, that’s a scary amount of sweat…”
…It’s not sweat, people, it’s oil! The smell was so strong… Then again, the bus already reeked of oil anyway.
✨ Unlock Early Access to Chapters! ✨
Choose your perfect membership at bamboopandatl.net:
📚 Full Access ($4.99)
• Advanced chapters of ALL ongoing novels
• Access to complete finished novels
• Ad-free reading experience
📖 Single Novel Access ($1.49)
• Advanced chapters of ONE specific novel
• Ad-free reading for chosen novel
PayPal is the only current payment option!