Isn't there a more decent way

With that, Chen Guan crouched down and looked straight into Baobao’s violet eyes, which were filled with accusation. He pulled out a low-grade demon core.

He held it to Baobao’s mouth. The leopard’s howls instantly died in its throat. It glanced at the food right in front of it and, humiliated, opened its mouth.

“Meow…”

After letting out a faint whimper, it swallowed the demon core in one gulp.

Delicious.

“See? It likes it.”

Chen Guan stood up and dusted off his hands, looking completely satisfied. He knew it—he had chosen a great name.

Big White immediately rolled her eyes.

Traitor! Secret agent! Mole! Lapdog!

I really misjudged that leopard!

If she ever stood up for that stupid leopard again, she’d be a sick cat!

“All right, all right. I’m leaving now.”

White Tiger looked at Chen Guan. “I still have something to take care of. Do you need me to take you to your friends?”

“Can I ask what it is?” Chen Guan asked, his ears perking up with curiosity.

White Tiger put on a solemn expression. “To prevent the world from being destroyed, and to protect the peace of the universe…”

Chen Guan: “…”

“Are you Musashi or Kojiro?”

“Huh? You’ve actually seen it?”

White Tiger immediately returned to his serious demeanor. “All right, enough fooling around. I really do have something important to handle. I’ll take you back to where White Hawk is first.”

“As for teaching this leopard to speak, you’ll have to put in the effort yourself. I’ll let the others know about the disappearance of that coffin, so you can return to your normal life without any worries.”

Chen Guan straightened up and said solemnly, “Thank you, Tiger Bro.”

After hesitating for a moment, White Tiger continued, “Actually, compared to me, the person you should really thank is the boss.”

“A large part of the help I’ve given you came from the boss’s orders.”

“The boss is truly a great person.”

“Although the boss has never met you, you have to trust him. He’s been watching over you in silence all this time.”

“If one day…” White Tiger stopped himself. “Never mind. In short, you can trust the boss just as you trust me.”

The boss… Was he talking about Zero Sum?

To be honest, Chen Guan knew nothing about Zero Sum. He only knew that Zero Sum was the highest-ranking leader of the Guiyuan Group—a mysterious figure who existed solely as a code name.

The joking expression faded from White Tiger’s face. He patted Chen Guan on the shoulder, his hand heavy as a mountain.

“Remember, every decision the boss makes is for a greater goal.”

White Tiger gave Chen Guan a complicated look. He paused, but in the end, all that came out was a sigh. He said no more.

He snapped his fingers, and his carefree grin returned.

“I’ll drop you off near the camp. You’ll have to walk the rest of the way yourself.”

…

The camp.

The moment Chen Guan’s feet touched the solid snow, the off-road vehicle behind him had already sped away, its tires kicking up snow that the cold wind blew straight into his face.

The camp’s lights flickered in the distance through the snowstorm.

He looked back. The auras of White Tiger and Big White had completely vanished.

“Awooo.”

Baobao stuck out its tongue and licked its nose, its violet eyes filled with protest.

Chen Guan said nothing. He simply pulled a high-grade demon core from his pocket and waved it in front of Baobao’s eyes. It was emergency food he had wrangled out of White Tiger.

The protest instantly turned into an ingratiating purr, and its tail began wagging like a drumstick.

Chen Guan crouched down and held the demon core to its mouth.

Baobao swallowed it in one bite, its throat producing an indistinct rumbling sound.

Chen Guan stood up, brushed the snowflakes from his hands, and walked toward the camp.

Baobao happily rubbed against his pant leg, behaving like a well-trained house cat.

At the camp, the flames of the bonfire illuminated Yin Chen’s focused profile in shifting light and shadow. He was carefully wiping a kitchen knife with a piece of deerskin. The blade reflected the firelight—and his exceptionally handsome, intensely focused face.

Hong Yuan sat beside the fire with her knees hugged to her chest, idly drawing circles in the snow with a branch.

Today, the two of them were supposed to be standing guard. In reality, they were just barbecuing here.

“What a coincidence, you two.”

Chen Guan’s voice cut through the wind and snow, ringing out across the camp.

“Chen Guan!”

Hong Yuan lifted her head in delighted surprise. The branch in her hand slipped and fell into the fire with a snap.

Yin Chen paused in the middle of wiping his knife and looked toward Chen Guan as he approached. “You’re back?”

“What’s that? Wow, what a beautiful leopard!”

Hong Yuan had already rushed over. Her eyes practically glowed as she examined Baobao.

“Chen Guan, where did you kidnap it from? Does it bite?”

Surrounded by strangers, Baobao warily shrank behind Chen Guan, a low warning growl rumbling in its throat.

“You’ve seen it before. It’s that lightning cheetah from the beginning. It got struck by lightning and underwent a super-evolution.”

Chen Guan was talking nonsense with a straight face. Fortunately, Hong Yuan didn’t think too deeply about it. She crouched down and tentatively reached a hand toward Baobao, a friendly smile on her face.

“Hi, Baobao. Want to be friends?”

Baobao looked at her, then turned back to Chen Guan. Chen Guan gave no indication either way and simply watched in silence.

After hesitating for a moment, Baobao finally extended its tongue and gave Hong Yuan’s fingertip a gentle lick.

“Wow, it licked me!”

Hong Yuan laughed happily, looking every bit like a devoted cat person. Watching the scene, Chen Guan remembered what White Tiger had said.

Maybe letting Baobao spend more time around people really wasn’t a bad idea.

“Speaking of which, Chen Guan…”

Yin Chen’s voice sounded again. He looked at Chen Guan. “You didn’t run into any trouble this time, did you?”

“Nothing serious. I just got drafted into doing some free labor.”

Chen Guan shrugged indifferently. “Do I need to register when I go in?”

“No, that won’t be necessary.”

Yin Chen stepped aside and gestured for him to pass. “I’ll report it later. You just got back, so go get some rest first.”

He turned to look at Hong Yuan, who was still having the time of her life, and immediately looked away in exasperation.

“Hong Yuan, stop playing around. Chen Guan needs to get back to the dorm and rest.”

“Oh, right.”

Hong Yuan reluctantly let go of Baobao. Thinking of her beloved tortoise, she couldn’t help feeling a little resentful.

A turtle’s shell was nowhere near as nice to touch as a leopard’s fur.

Why didn’t turtles have fur?!

After bidding farewell to the two of them, Chen Guan headed toward the dormitory. He didn’t run into any familiar faces along the way. His trip with White Tiger had taken less than a day in total, so everything at the camp remained as peaceful as ever.

When he returned to the dorm, everything was exactly as he had left it.

Chen Guan could barely wait. “Baobao, bring out my coffin.”

Baobao obediently opened its mouth, and a violent bout of dry heaving came from deep within its throat.

Its entire back instantly tensed into a rigid bow. The violet fur covering its small body stood on end without any wind. In front of it, the air was torn apart by an invisible force, forcibly twisting open an unstable vortex.

The next second, a muffled, thunderous boom erupted.

The ancient black coffin, still half-buried in frozen earth, burst out of thin air and crashed heavily onto the dormitory’s hardwood floor, sending a choking cloud of dust billowing in every direction.

It looked exactly like Baobao had just vomited it up.

“Awo.”

Having completed its task, Baobao rushed to Chen Guan’s feet as if asking for praise, rubbing its head against his pant leg while its tail wagged so fast it blurred.

…Was there really no more dignified way to do this?