Chapter 86: High-quality Stress Ball

    As soon as the child and the dog made their appearance inside the bus, a hushed discussion descended among the players at once.

    "Wait a moment... how could there be a husky in the Cycle? The Nightmare has not gone so far as to choose a dog as a player, right?!"

    "I–I also haven’t heard of this before. It doesn’t look like a husky to me, though. A samoyed? A white wolf? Is it a summoning skill?"

    "Hahaha, only an idiot will use their skill card right after they get into the bus!"

    "You’re right, Jiang Shun. That brat doesn’t look too bright. It seems like we don’t have to be wary of him if he’s stupid enough to use his skill card at a time like this..."

    Hearing the faint discussion around him, Shen Nianzu finally snapped out of his rage mania and let go of the white fluff he was strangling with all of his might. Damn it! It seemed like since he got to know Jin Jiuchi, he would always get dragged into the center of attention whether he wanted or not. This was completely different from his usual style of preferring to keep a low profile and stay hidden until the end!

    Alas, there was no use crying over spilled milk. He should have known that Jin Jiuchi would create a ruckus sooner or later. What did he expect?

    Huffing and puffing, he rolled over and got down from Jin Jiuchi’s body, and only then did he carefully look at what kind of form had Jin Jiuchi shifted into.

    Right now, Jin Jiuchi was laying belly-down on the floor with his front paws covering his head, whimpering dramatically as if he had been abused half to death. From afar he looked just like a huge ball of white fluff from the sheer amount of fur on his body.

    Sensing that the weight pressing down on him had been lifted, Jin Jiuchi moved the paw covering his face to peek at Shen Nianzu, only to curl back again upon seeing the jade doll’s frosty glare. He let out another pitiful whimper, his ears folding back. However, the fluffy tail that swished back and forth behind his butt had already betrayed the playful mood he was in.

    "What are you doing?" Shen Nianzu hissed at him in a low voice that only both of them could hear. "Get up and move to your seat! We will only become the center of attention this way!"

    Jin Jiuchi took another peek at him, then he let out a string of garbled and unintelligible sounds from his throat. Shen Nianzu could almost hear the man’s voice beside his ears complaining about how cruel he was, and his glare intensified. Only then did Jin Jiuchi finally deign to straighten up and rise to his feet.

    And as soon as he did, the hushed chatter in the bus died down in an instant.

    Shen Nianzu’s jaws dropped as he stared at the creature in front of him. The players were right when they could not ascertain whether Jin Jiuchi was a husky, samoyed or wolf. Though his face looked sharp and fierce like a husky, he had extremely thick and pure white fur akin to samoyed. However, that was not the thing that shocked Shen Nianzu the most.

    It was Jin Jiuchi’s size. He... He was huge!

    Shen Nianzu had failed to notice it when they tussled and wrestled with each other earlier, but now that Jin Jiuchi was standing on his four paws, he became one or two inches taller than Shen Nianzu’s young form, almost towering above him. It was hard to believe that this was the same creature who had been under his mercy just a moment ago.

    Shen Nianzu’s face darkened when a possibility crossed his mind. Damn it, had Jin Jiuchi gone easy on him and let himself be strangled?! Was he a fucking masochist?!

    "Woof," Jin Jiuchi nudged his wet nose against Shen Nianzu’s cheek and turned to walk down the bus aisle, his fluffy tail swishing back and forth as all eyes fell on him.

    Despite it being his first attempt at using the skill card and shifting into this particular form, there was no awkwardness or clumsiness to his gait. On the contrary, he exuded an aura of elegance and grace that befitting the sovereign of animal kingdom. His footsteps were measured and firm, while every movement of his forepaw showcased the subtle flex of muscles concealed beneath the dense fur.

    Staring at Jin Jiuchi from behind, the Nightmare’s description suddenly flashed through Shen Nianzu’s mind — ’He is the guardian of the wild and the symbol of untamed majesty.’

    It felt strangely... apt, for some reason.

    However, that awe-inspiring image was instantly shattered once Jin Jiuchi climbed into his seat and saw that Shen Nianzu was still motionless on the front. He threw his head back and let out a long miserable cry, "Awoowowooo~"

    That one cry was effective in snapping Shen Nianzu back to his senses. He walked forward in brisk steps and took his seat beside Jin Jiuchi. He had just wanted to tell the man to stop playing around and shift back into his human form when the male player adjacent to them asked in an arrogant tone,

    "Hey, little brat. Is that your summoning skill?"

    Shen Nianzu had not even thought of an appropriate response yet when Jin Jiuchi’s fur abruptly exploded and he bared his sharp and jagged teeth at the player, a low threatening growl forming on his throat.

    Normal people would be startled when such a huge creature turned aggressive on them all of a sudden, but the male player remained calm and unruffled. Not only that, the gaze he directed toward Jin Jiuchi was condescending and disdainful, it was he was looking at a filthy stray dog on the street.

    "Take care of your pet, will you?" He rolled his eyes at Shen Nianzu in annoyance.

    Upon noticing the shift of his mood, the woman sitting beside him caressed his shoulder coquettishly. "There, there, don’t be angry at them, Jiang Shun. They’re not worth it." She then glanced at them with a look full of arrogance, though her tone remained meek as she whispered to the man, "The skill may look powerful, but it’s nothing more than a huge dog. There’s no need for you to waste your energy. I can deal with them for you if you want."

    The woman’s sultry and gentle coaxing succeeded in appeasing the male player named Jiang Shun, and he held the woman closer to him, "Forget it. Like you said, they are not worth it."

    They ignored Jin Jiuchi and Shen Nianzu afterward as they flirted with each other.

    All the while, Shen Nianzu’s eyes remained cold and placid like the surface of frozen lake. From the short interaction he had with the two players, he could immediately tell that they were veteran players. One of them would most probably be Dance of the Wind who was here to kill Jin Jiuchi. It was fortunate that he stayed in his child form this time, making them lower their guard and not taking him seriously.

    He reached out to hold Jin Jiuchi’s big paw and secretly kneaded his soft beans a few times. En, it felt like a high-quality stress ball.

    "Why are you angry at them?" He asked in a low voice as he observed the couple through his peripheral vision.

    Again, Jin Jiuchi let out a string of garbled sounds and whimpered a few more times for good measure. He nuzzled his snout against the crook of Shen Nianzu’s shoulder and tried to act cute, resulting in Shen Nianzu almost swallowing a mouthful of white fur.

    Shen Nianzu rolled his eyes. "I don’t understand what you are saying. Turn back." But Jin Jiuchi shook his head to express that he wanted to stay in this form.

    During the time they conversed with the two veteran players, a few more people entered the bus, making the space feel crowded in an instant.

    It was easy to pinpoint two newbies among the crowd – one male and one female – as they brought no supplies unlike the players who had been notified of their destination beforehand.

    "W–Where am I?" The female newbie, a young woman with shoulder-length wavy hair, had a pale complexion as she scanned her surroundings nervously. "I... I received this ticket a few days ago and someone told me that I have to come here if I don’t want to die. Please... can anybody tell me what’s going on?!"

    An intermediate player sitting on the front row kindly explained to her, "Miss, right now you are..."

    Ten people, Shen Nianzu counted. There were ten people who were going to challenge this Cycle. Aside from the two newbies, eight of them were either Intermediate or Veteran players.

    Low-level Cycle would usually contain only five to seven players at most and the fact that there were ten people here proved that... there were more people who were interested in Jin Jiuchi other than the Dance of the Wind.

    He couldn’t help but squeeze Jin Jiuchi’s paw again and remarked with gritted teeth, "You’re really popular."

    Confused, Jin Jiuchi let out an, "Awo?"

    Just then, Shen Nianzu caught a familiar face among the players. It was none other than the timid crossdresser who had been with them on the previous Cycle – Xinxin.