Reborn as a tiger, he was chosen by the nation as its guardian beast.

Chapter 169 A Collaboration That Came to Our Door

This force, compared to the frost serpents they encountered outside the Thirteenth lair, was nothing.

But the sudden appearance of so many mutants still startled Wang Hu and Lin Yue.

"What's going on? Did we stir up a hornet's nest?"

Lin Yue's expression instantly turned extremely solemn. With a "whoosh," the five-colored wings on her back unfolded, and dazzling divine fire danced at the edges of the wings, dispelling some of the cold air around her.

She was ready for battle; if these monsters dared to make any move, she would not hesitate to turn this place into a sea of ​​fire.

Wang Hu didn't speak. He simply lowered his body, his limbs slightly bent, his muscles taut, like a fully drawn bow.

Its golden vertical pupils coldly scanned the surrounding monsters, and a warning growl escaped its throat.

His sense of danger was more acute than ever before, and countless malicious gazes pierced him like needles. But strangely, this malice, though immense, did not translate into any real killing intent.

It's like—a pack of hungry wolves watching two sheep that have wandered into their territory.

They want to eat you, but none of them dare to make a move without the alpha wolf's order.

Wang Hu understood instantly.

These mutants are all under control.

The mastermind behind the scenes in the Xiangxiong Kingdom region knew they would come out from here, so he laid a trap in advance, waiting for them here.

This is a demonstration, and also a test.

"Calm down."

Wang Hu gestured to Lin Yue beside him with his eyes.

Tell her not to make the first move, and to see what this mutant here is up to.

Lin Yue gritted her teeth and nodded. She could also see that although these monsters were terrifying in number, their actions were surprisingly unified, clearly restrained by some higher will.

In the current situation, the enemy is in the dark while we are in the light, so taking action rashly would definitely not be a wise move.

Time passed by, second by second.

Throughout the entire mine, apart from the suppressed breathing and roars of the mutants, only the heartbeats of Wang Hu and Lin Yue could be heard.

This deathly silence was more oppressive than the sound of thousands of troops charging into battle.

Just as the tense atmosphere was about to reach its peak, a slight commotion suddenly broke out within the encirclement.

The bone-armored mantises and shelled giant insects that were blocking the way seemed to receive a silent command, and slowly moved aside, making way for a narrow passage that could only accommodate one person at a time.

"Tap, tap, tap—"

The crisp sound of footsteps came from the end of the passage, sounding particularly clear in the deathly silent mine.

A figure slowly emerged from the shadows.

Wang Hu and Lin Yue were both stunned when they saw that figure.

That was a person.

He was an ordinary-looking middle-aged man. He was wearing faded blue overalls, with a humble yet ingratiating smile on his face, and even bowed slightly to them.

If he hadn't emerged from that group of ferocious and terrifying mutants, anyone would have thought he was just an ordinary miner working in this mine.

A fake.

The word flashed through Wang Hu's mind instantly.

This is a puppet controlled by the regional mastermind.

The fake man walked step by step to within ten meters of them and stopped.

His smile widened, even taking on a hint of obsequiousness.

"Welcome back, both of you."

His voice was a little hoarse and his tone was a little strange, as if he hadn't spoken in a long time, but his pronunciation was exceptionally clear.

"My master has been waiting for a long time."

As he spoke, he bowed deeply to the two of them again, his posture extremely humble.

This completely baffled Lin Yue.

She had expected a fierce battle and was even prepared to fight her way out. But what was going on now?

The other side made such a big show just to send a puppet over to bow and greet them.

"Your master made such a big fuss just to scare us?" Lin Yue asked with a frown and an unfriendly tone.

She didn't believe this guy had any good intentions.

"No, no, no, you've misunderstood."

The fake man hurriedly waved his hand, his smile appearing somewhat comical due to his eagerness: "My master has absolutely no ill intentions."

This setup is simply to demonstrate our sincerity and strength to you both, and also to protect you from other unstable external factors.

Protect?

Upon hearing those two words, Wang Hu almost burst out laughing.

Surrounding people with tens of thousands of mutants and calling that protection? The brain circuitry of this mastermind is indeed different from that of a normal person.

He remained silent, coldly watching the fake performer's act. He wanted to see what tricks this "good son" of number thirteen was up to.

"Sincerity?"

Lin Yue sneered, "How come I don't see that? I only see a threat. If you don't get to the point, I'm not going to be able to control my temper anymore."

As she spoke, the five-colored divine fire in her hand suddenly rose half a meter high, and the intense heat made the smile on the fake man's face freeze for a moment.

"No! Don't be impulsive!"

The fake man was startled and quickly said, "My master, it wants to—it wants to talk to the two countries behind China about cooperation."

Cooperation?

Upon hearing this word, Lin Yue and Wang Hu exchanged a glance, both seeing a look of "I knew it" in each other's eyes.

It seems that Master Long's guess was completely correct.

The commotion in the other world has already been detected by the mainframe.

It sensed a survival crisis and was eager to cling to a powerful backer.

Seeing that the two seemed somewhat interested, the imposter quickly pressed his advantage, continuing, "My master knows that you two have just returned from 'over there.' My master has also sensed what happened 'over there.'"

He chose his words carefully, seemingly filled with fear of Number Thirteen.

"My master believes that it's better to choose us than to cooperate with 'that over there.' Because we are more sincere and need China's friendship more."

After the fake man finished speaking, he bowed deeply again, and when he raised his head, his face was full of sincerity.

Silence fell once again throughout the mine.

Only countless gleaming eyes and that groveling hypocrite await the final judgment of Wang Hu and Lin Yue.

"ha?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Yue was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help but burst out laughing.

She extinguished the flame in her hand and looked at the obsequious hypocrite before her with great interest, as if watching a farce.

"So, after all that, you're afraid your dad will eat you up, so you want us as your backers?"

Lin Yue's words were blunt, directly exposing the other party's little scheme.

A hint of embarrassment flashed across the fake man's face, but it was quickly replaced by an even more obsequious smile.

"Miss, you jest. We simply—simply believe that cooperating with a great and friendly country like China is more beneficial to both sides. That person over there—is too domineering; cooperating with him might bring unnecessary risks."