The Prehistoric Colossus charged forward, rushing into the mountain forest. Its massive frame struggled to move efficiently through the woods;

it could easily push over slender trees, but thicker, sturdier ones required considerable effort and time to overcome.

Thanks to its towering height and unobstructed view, it wasn't instantly left behind, managing to keep close pursuit of the Human-Faced Malicious Tiger.

Whoosh, whoosh~

The grass rustled and shook.

The Human-Faced Malicious Tiger sprinted rapidly, occasionally glancing back at the Prehistoric Colossus.

It attempted numerous methods but couldn't shake off the colossal beast.

The human face on the tiger's back contorted, emitting a sharp shriek, and simultaneously, the tiger's speed dramatically increased.

It plunged deeper into the forest, fleeing into a cave.

The cave entrance was about three meters high—just enough for the mutated, malformed tiger body controlled by the Human-Faced Malicious Tiger to squeeze through, but utterly impossible for the Prehistoric Colossus to enter.

This place was the den of the Human-Faced Malicious Tiger, deep inside lay many unfinished pieces of flesh and blood.

The creature was highly intelligent;

it had discovered long ago that after biting a living being, the victim would soon turn into its own kind, the flesh becoming putrid, foul-smelling, and nearly inedible.

To stockpile food, it experimented with many methods and finally found that biting off the creature's head prevented transformation. This way, the flesh could be preserved for a long time, eliminating the need to hunt daily.

The Human-Faced Malicious Tiger hid deep within the darkness of its den, staring intently at the cave entrance.

The ground trembled slightly, and a shadow fell, engulfing the entrance.

The next moment, a gigantic Beastly Eye appeared at the cave mouth. The Human-Faced Malicious Tiger let out a low growl, warning the Prehistoric Colossus to leave quickly.

Boom! The Prehistoric Colossus's claw struck down, causing the cave to shudder twice.

This was followed by several more tremors.

After the cave settled back into silence, the Human-Faced Malicious Tiger retrieved its stored flesh and blood, devouring it voraciously.

Zombies could survive without eating, and since the Human-Faced Malicious Tiger was also a type of zombie, not eating would only make it feel hungry, not starve it to death. Its obsession with flesh and blood was driven by its desire to create an outer shell.

Having lost its mutated, malformed tiger shell, it needed to consume vast amounts of flesh to recreate a new one for itself.

The more flesh it consumed, the larger the shell could be;

the higher the quality of the flesh, the stronger the shell would become.

Previously, the strength of its mutated malformed tiger shell couldn't withstand an explosive blast. Only after consuming high-quality flesh like Scar Tiger's did the shell's quality improve, allowing it to survive the explosion with only its jaw blown off and superficial head wounds.

A greedy glint appeared in the Human-Faced Malicious Tiger's fierce eyes—it desired to devour the Prehistoric Colossus. If it could consume the giant beast, it could evolve once more, creating a shell even stronger than before.

Outside the cave, Li Xuan maintained his Prehistoric Colossus form. He feared that if he reverted to his human form, the Human-Faced Malicious Tiger might suddenly burst out and eat him.

From the descriptions given by Scar Tiger's soldiers, he knew the Human-Faced Malicious Tiger possessed considerable intelligence, favored ambushes, and was cunning and treacherous.

It could have easily crushed Scar Tiger's team head-on, yet it chose to ambush them instead, waiting for the group to scatter before picking them off one by one.

Before long, Xia Xuebing arrived with a squad of soldiers, including the Bald Soldier, whose mouth still bore traces of unwashed blood.

"Boss, did you catch the mutated malformed tiger?" Xia Xuebing asked.

"The true body of the mutated malformed tiger is a Human-Faced Malicious Tiger. I killed its shell, but the main body was too fast and hid inside this cave," Li Xuan explained.

Hearing this, Xia Xuebing cautiously approached the cave entrance, her body tense and ready to flee at any moment. She stood on tiptoe, peering into the darkness of the cave.

Within the shadows, a pair of dark green eyes glowed with greed and ferocity, sending a chill down her spine.

Xia Xuebing's gaze met theirs, and every hair on her body stood on end.

Grrrowl~

A low growl echoed from the cave.

Xia Xuebing turned and ran, only realizing after sprinting several dozen meters that the Human-Faced Malicious Tiger hadn't pursued her.

"Incredibly intelligent. It didn't take the bait and even knows how to intimidate," she murmured thoughtfully.

Then she suggested, "Boss, your claws are sharp enough to pierce concrete walls. Digging open this cave shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"No, I considered that too, but it won't work. It's clever and has a strong ability to mimic. It also possesses the Claw and Fang Enhancement characteristic—its claws can dig just as well. If I start digging, it will learn and dig too, making capturing it exponentially harder," Li Xuan reasoned.

Troublesome—the Human-Faced Malicious Tiger actually had Claw and Fang Enhancement.

Xia Xuebing frowned for a moment, then immediately thought of another method. "Blow it up! Since it's hiding in there, we'll use explosives to kill it!"

The explosives in the base, each the size of a human head, were extremely heavy. Even a strong, healthy adult man couldn't throw them very far;

they were essentially suicide weapons. The Bald Soldier had survived earlier only because the mutated malformed tiger, unfamiliar with explosives, foolishly bit one, and the blast didn't reach him.

But the Prehistoric Colossus, transformed by Li Xuan, possessed immense strength and could easily hurl the heavy explosives like grenades.

Xia Xuebing called the Bald Soldier over and ordered him to bring all the explosives from the base.

Half an hour later, the soldiers returned to the mountain, carrying the explosives.

The soldiers assisted with lighting the fuses, while Li Xuan grabbed the explosives and threw them, one after another, into the cave.

Inside the cave, the Human-Faced Malicious Tiger was busy devouring flesh when suddenly a tin box flew in. It recognized the object instantly, retreating and hiding within a pile of bones.

BOOM!

The tin box exploded, flames scattering in all directions, engulfing the bone pile.

The Hidden Human-Faced Malicious Tiger, realizing it was unharmed, was just about to emerge and resume eating when more tin boxes flew into the cave.

More and more of them.

BOOM! BOOM!

The explosions were continuous, thick black smoke billowing out from the cave.

Xia Xuebing shouted orders, "Be alert! The Human-Faced Malicious Tiger could charge out at any moment! Don't get killed! Try to stay behind the Boss!"

The soldiers lighting the fuses looked worried;

they had to light them and couldn't take cover.

Xia Xuebing stepped forward, taking over for the soldiers lighting the fuses. "You, fall back! I'll handle the lighting!"

"Base Leader!"

"Stop dithering! Fall back now!" Xia Xuebing commanded.

After a while, the explosives were exhausted.

The black smoke gradually dispersed, but the Human-Faced Malicious Tiger still hadn't emerged, and there was no movement from within the cave.

"Is it dead?" Xia Xuebing muttered to herself.

This Human-Faced Malicious Tiger was so clever—could it be pretending to be dead?

Luring people inside to kill them?

Yun Xiuzhi, perched on the giant beast's head, spoke up, "The black smoke hasn't fully cleared yet. I can fly in to check."

"No, even if you go in, you won't see anything. Wait until the smoke completely dissipates, then send someone in to investigate," Li Xuan said.

After a long wait, the black smoke finally cleared completely.

Xia Xuebing pursed her lips and addressed the soldiers, "Who is willing to go in and check the status of the Human-Faced Malicious Tiger? The reward is one month's worth of food!"

Li Xuan suddenly interjected, "If the Human-Faced Malicious Tiger isn't dead, I will additionally reward one Supernatural Characteristic."

The Chaotic Evolution characteristic was useless to him anyway;

better to use it as a bounty.

The crowd stirred;

the soldiers were utterly surprised that Li Xuan would offer a Supernatural Characteristic as a reward.

Who among them didn't understand the importance of a Supernatural Characteristic?

Before Li Xuan arrived at the Black Bear Base, Scar Tiger, Sister Hua, and Bear Lord had all been scheming desperately to obtain one!

The Bald Soldier stepped forward. "I'll go!"