Chapter 51 - Tiger King

The two of them didn't have to wait long before their fellow hunters began returning one after another.

A hunter about the same age as Ma Hong walked over and asked, "Brother Hong, why did you call everyone back so early? What's going on?"

With a serious expression, Ma Hong slowly recounted what he saw in the dense forest. Everyone's faces changed. One of the younger hunters turned pale and stammered, "Sh-should we... should we head back first?"

"What nonsense are you talking about!" Ma Hong scolded. "We all came out together, so naturally, we must return together. If we leave and they return only to find no one here, they would go into the forest to look for us. What if they run into a tiger?"

The other hunters all nodded in agreement. The young hunter's lips trembled timidly, but he said no more.

As Ma Hong spoke, more hunters emerged from the forest. He silently counted the people.

Ma Hong found the only other hunter who was of similar age to himself and said, "Only Biaozi's[1] group is left. Do you remember who he went with?"

"I think it was Haozi," the older hunter replied after some thought, "Haozi is new to hunting in the mountains so Biaozi is looking after him."

Ma Hong nodded.

At this moment, all the hunters fell silent, tensely waiting. The atmosphere was strangely still as the wind whispered through the trees.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of footsteps crashing through the thickets. Ma Hong and the other hunters looked up alertly, an experienced hunter should know better. The commotion came from deep within the woods, but was getting closer and louder.

Crash!

Two messy figures burst out from a cluster of bushes in the distance.

Ma Hong and the others laughed with relief when they saw the two. "It's Biaozi!"

In the distance, Biaozi and Haozi were gesturing toward them, and Ma Hong raised his hand in response, shouting, "Over here! Biaozi! Over here!"

Ye Beizhi squinted his eyes slightly.

Biaozi took the lead with Haozi a pace behind him. Both were sprinting wildly toward them, their hands frantically waving in the air. By now, the hunters finally sensed that something was wrong.

Ma Hong hesitantly tapped the veteran hunter beside him. "What's going on with them?"

From afar, they could see Biaozi running wildly, tilting his head back and shouting at the top of his lungs, "Run! Run quickly!"

Roar!

The bellow rang through the hunters' ears. Before they could even react, another roar echoed through the entire mountain forest, completely drowning out Biaozi's warning!

Two massive tigers, as large as hills, sprang out of the forest. One was larger than the other. They both had pale foreheads and deadly eyes and emanated an imposing presence. The two beasts cast a disdainful glance in their direction, then smoothly bounded down the mountain!

Faced with the true hunters of the mountains, the faces of all the hunters had turned pale. Some were trembling, and one, the young hunter from before, even collapsed onto the ground in fright.

Ma Hong's face was ashen as well. Standing beside him, Ye Beizhi heard him mutter, "It's... it's a Tiger King. We're in big trouble now."

Ye Beizhi saw Ma Hong mumbling to himself, so he gave him a firm push on the shoulder, jostling him back to his senses.

Ma Hong was an experienced old hunter after all. Once he came to his senses, he immediately shouted, "It's a Tiger King! Everyone, run!"

Shaken by his shout, the hunters finally reacted; scrambling, rolling, and crawling down the mountain. Even the young hunter who had collapsed stood up and ran. He even made it to the front of the panicked pack.

Ma Hong's face was full of panic and urgency as he shouted, "Biaozi! Haozi! Run faster!"

Biaozi and Haozi were less than a hundred meters away, but the tigers behind them were easily closing the distance.

Seeing the tigers getting closer, Ma Hong gritted his teeth and grabbed Ye Beizhi. "Brother Ye, we need to run," he implored, "If we don't go now, we won't be able to escape!"

He desperately tried to pull Ye Beizhi, but Ye Beizhi didn't move. Ma Hong saw his partner staring at the tigers blankly. The tigers were almost upon them, and Ma Hong could already smell their fetid scent.

His voice quavered as he exhorted, "Brother Ye! Move! Run! If you don't go now, it'll be too late!"

Ye Beizhi turned to look at him and gave him a faint smile before focusing on the Tiger King.

Seeing Ye Beizhi like this, Ma Hong's face was filled with despair. He assumed Ye Beizhi had been scared stiff and accepted death. Setting his jaw, he sighed deeply and then turned to chase after the hunters running down the mountain.

Haozi was nearly in tears by now. If he remembered correctly, this was only his third time up the mountain. If he couldn't run any faster, it would be his last.

The ground trembled beneath his feet, and the deep growling at his heels reminded him that a single glance back would put him face-to-face with the tigers.

Haozi eyed the back of the man running ahead of him. Biaozi was still waving his hand and taking the time to loudly shout for the others to keep running.

Haozi glanced toward where he was pointing, everyone had already fled, leaving a lone person standing there unmoving. It seemed to be the patient from Ma Hong's house who stood there as stiff as a tree. He was seemingly paralyzed with fear.

The tigers' hot breath washed over his neck as he ran toward the last man left at the gathering point. An evil thought suddenly flashed through Haozi's mind.

Maybe this paralyzed guy can buy us some time?

But no, there were two tigers. Even if one found an early meal, what could he do about the other one? Haozi's gaze unconsciously locked on Biaozi, who was running just ahead of him.

I... I don't want to die yet!

Haozi viciously reached out to grab Biaozi's collar, and yanked him back with all his might! Biaozi lost his balance and tumbled to the ground, his momentum carrying him forward in an uncontrollable roll.

Haozi's eyes were filled with a feverish exhilaration. Looking down, he saw Biaozi staring at him in disbelief.

Almost in delirium, Haozi screamed, "I can't die! I can't die yet!"

With that, Haozi sped past Ye Beizhi and Biaozi as he raced down the mountain.

Biaozi rolled for quite a distance before finally stopping next to Ye Beizhi. As soon as he stopped, he scrambled toward Ye Beizhi. Once he got there, he stammered, “"Y-you, you're not too scared to run, are you?"

Ye Beizhi tilted his head to glance at him, noticing that Biaozi was utterly terrified. It was already an incredible show of composure that he managed to stay coherent.

Ye Beizhi turned to size up the two tigers. These two beasts were much larger than any he'd ever seen, and the biggest one was like a moving mountain.

Since their prey had stopped running, the pair of predators slowed down too. The smaller one was circling them to cut off any escape, while the larger Tiger King sat before them and looked at them with a mocking gaze.

Ye Beizhi felt intrigued to see such a disdainful expression in the eyes of a beast.

Just then, Biaozi leaned over again, whispering to Ye Beizhi, "L-listen... When I charge, you run... R-remember, don't look back..."

Biaozi swallowed hard and said, "If, and I mean if... you survive, tell my wife... not to mourn me for too long. Tell her to find a good man and remarry."

"You can tell her that yourself," said the man beside him.

Biaozi turned but only saw the blur of a machete slicing through the air. The smaller tiger, which had been circling them, collapsed instantly.

Roar!

The larger tiger cried out mournfully.

𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Biaozi was paralyzed with disbelief as Ye Beizhi pulled the machete out from the tiger's eye socket.

Ye Beizhi nudged the stunned man. "I remember you said... that tiger meat is worth a fortune."

Biaozi dumbly nodded.

With his face splattered with tiger blood, Ye Beizhi turned toward the Tiger King. Ye Beizhi's body exuded a suffocating killing intent. The Tiger King let out a low growl, lowered its body, and warily watched the man who killed its companion. It recognized an apex predator when it saw one.

The Tiger King had caught a scent that filled it with dread... a scent that was death.

1. The word zi "子" is a suffix often added to names or nicknames, to create a more familiar or affectionate term of address. ☜