Chapter 15

A huge danger is approaching!

Xiaohai clearly felt this.

Xiaoqi also became restless and agitated, continuously making "ao ao" sounds, as if a puppy had encountered a much larger dog. This had never happened to Xiaoqi before.

All the animals around had fled, whether they walked on the ground or flew in the sky.

Animals are far more sensitive to the arrival of threats than humans!

A low and terrifying roar echoed, followed by a gust of wind carrying a strong, pungent smell.

Clouds follow the dragon, and tigers follow the wind. Could it be a tiger?

Xiaohai sensed the direction of the smell and looked up.

On a towering ancient tree, a strange creature was slowly descending.

Forest monster!

A bizarrely styled forest monster!

This monster looked like a lion but also had some features of a tiger. It was about 1.8 meters long, weighed about 200 kilograms, and was roughly the size of a small tiger. Its front limbs were extremely strong, and when the left front limb extended, retractable sharp claws appeared. Its head was not very large, but inside its gaping mouth were the true canine teeth of a carnivore. Even more terrifying were the thick, long, knife-like cutting teeth.

These features were enough to prove that it was a fierce predator among carnivores.

The most peculiar thing was that it had a pouch on its abdomen!

Xiaohai almost doubted his eyes. Impossible, how could such an animal appear here? It must be a dream. When he first learned that the forest monster had a pouch, he immediately thought of a kangaroo, never considering this kind of animal.

During the ten years when Xiaohai was combined with the Dragon Spirit Pearl, his parents forcibly instilled countless pieces of knowledge about plants and animals into him, including many that were already extinct, such as dinosaurs and mammoths.

His parents had a very firm, or perhaps strange, belief that species proven by scientists to be extinct might still exist in some unknown corner of the Earth. They even firmly believed that the so-called Loch Ness Monster was a surviving dinosaur.

The forest monster in front of him, Xiaohai immediately recognized from the image memory in his mind:

In the world of survival of the fittest, to survive, one must be fierce, especially among mammals. Among the animals considered the most cruel, there are the "King of Beasts" tiger, the brutal African lion, the incredibly fast American leopard, and the "conspirator" Mongolian wolf. Even many canine species are extremely fierce. However, none of them are the most ferocious in the mammal family.

Compared to this "forest monster," they are not even worth mentioning.

—Thylacoleo!

This forest monster is actually a thylacoleo!

A thylacoleo can easily defeat a tiger or a lion, and its bite force even exceeds the combined strength of three lions! A 6-kilogram thylacoleo cub can effortlessly kill a 30-kilogram koala, showing just how terrifying it is. For this reason, it has a terrifying nickname— "Executioner"!

It is the most ferocious animal in the animal kingdom, without a doubt!

However—this most ferocious species went extinct 30,000 years ago. More importantly, according to research, thylacoleos generally lived on plains and rarely appeared in forests or shrublands!

But now, Xiaohai has seen a thylacoleo, which should have been extinct long ago, in the Huayan Naxi primeval forest!

Xiaohai drew a sharp breath. Originally, he thought the so-called "forest monster" was just some large animal, and with the help of the Dragon Spirit Pearl and Xiaoqi, he was confident he could defeat it. But what he saw was a thylacoleo, which, though not large in appearance, was incredibly ferocious!

Now, Xiaohai has no confidence at all.

Xiaoqi was completely terrified. Although it had never seen such a monster before, the accumulated ferocity of the thylacoleo species over thousands of years still gave Xiaoqi a huge shock. With the strength of a wolf, Xiaoqi felt as small as an ant in front of it!

The thylacoleo seemed to have eaten its fill and was not in a hurry to attack. It looked at Xiaohai as if it were a new toy.

A chill rose from Xiaohai's heart. He realized that although the thylacoleo seemed nonchalant, it was fully alert and ready to attack. Any slight movement could trigger a fatal strike!

Human and a puppy? The thylacoleo shook its head and let out a listless growl from its throat, as if telling Xiaohai that he was no match for it.

Although Xiaohai couldn't understand what the thylacoleo was saying, with the power of the Dragon Spirit Pearl, he could sense its contempt.

Xiaohai was instantly enraged. A beast dared to look down on him? "I'll damn you, you banana!" Xiaohai thought, "Even if I can't beat you, I'll tear off a piece of your flesh!"

His fists slowly clenched...

In an instant, the thylacoleo sensed the hostility from the human and immediately crouched!

This was the prelude to an attack!

"Xiaoqi, get out of the way!" Xiaohai took a deep breath, "If I get killed by this ugly brute, you run for your life!"

Xiaoqi made two more "ao ao" sounds, but no consciousness was transmitted. It seemed that Xiaoqi was truly terrified by the thylacoleo.

The thylacoleo raised its head and let out a deafening roar. Countless birds took flight in terror, desperately leaving this terrifying place...

...

A deafening roar echoed through the forest.

A dozen forest wolves trembled in fear, even without the monster appearing.

"The... the monster is coming..." a forest wolf trembled.

Xiaolin also shrank back in fear. The monster is coming, the monster is coming!

What about the human? What happened to the human?

No need to think, he must have been eaten by the forest monster.

Under the leaves, the Turtle Spirit shed tears for the third time. It was the master who had awakened its intelligence, a favor that could never be repaid. But when the master needed it the most, it could not be by his side...

...

"I'll damn you, you banana!"

Xiaohai stood up from the ground, wincing in pain.

He barely avoided the thylacoleo's fatal strike, but was still hit by its claws, leaving his body bloody and torn. Although the Dragon Spirit Pearl quickly healed him, the pain was unbearable.

The thylacoleo struck again with its paw, its sharp claws gleaming with a terrifying cold light.

Xiaohai roared and punched, colliding with the thylacoleo's paw.

Xiaohai was thrown back for the second time, his palm once again bloody and torn, the pain piercing his heart.

But the thylacoleo was unharmed, merely licking its paw and letting out a triumphant roar.

"I'll damn you, what the hell is this thing!" Xiaohai cursed in pain!

His punch could even make a black bear retreat, but the thylacoleo was unscathed!

When he fought the black bear, the bear knew pain, but his punch clearly did not even slightly harm the thylacoleo!

The thylacoleo leaped forward, and Xiaohai, having suffered two severe injuries, could not be healed in time by the Dragon Spirit Pearl, temporarily losing his fighting ability.

He had no way to avoid the thylacoleo's pounce!