Healing?

Was this the ability of a druid? Curious, the crowd refused to leave to see how he healed.

An Yinong lowered his head and rested his forehead against the leopard's raised head, his mouth opening and closing as a silent incantation surrounded them.

The favor of the world descended the nectar of life, cleansing the leopard's wounds.

"Gulp." The little octopus boy that stayed on An Yinong sensed the life-giving force, and it stretched out its little tentacles, nudging the 'manna' that no one else could see and instinctively wanting more.

There wasn't any remarkable halo special effect; it just felt like a breeze surrounded it, and all the mutated animals quieted down as they turned towards An Yinong in a pilgrimage-like manner.

The keepers who knew their young best felt this inexplicable pressure, and they didn't move a muscle, letting some scrutinize them.

The leopard lifted its head and stretched its limbs. The broken bones seemed to be restored by an invisible force. The pain left by the long fight was like a mountain, but this mountain was removed today.

There was a gleam in its gray eyes.

"Ow-"

It threw back its head and roared.

Accompanying this roar, violent waves of air shook away, and the dumbfounded surrounding people shielded their faces with their arms to avoid the sudden gust of wind. But An Yinong, in the storm, tilted his head back to look at the leopard standing up, and all the wind bypassed him, leaving only a gentle bit behind.

"Ow-"

An even louder sound ripped through the silent sky like a knife, its body standing in the gale, its expression so angry.

Its thick mask that had congealed from countless beatings cracked. It wanted to be angry, to let it all out, to break free from its mountainous shackles, to roar 'I'm not happy' at its cruel fate!

Black flames were then on the surface of its body. The curse that made the leopard lose its supernatural ability was forced back a little bit by this enormous vitality and turned into black flower fire.

The negative energy contained in the curse burned the panther's sanity. It thought of all the pain in the past. The color of blood gradually colored its eyes.

"You can be angry; go ahead and vent to your heart's content." At this moment, An Yinong's gentle incantation brushed over its heart, dispelling the searing pain.

[What if I want revenge? Two wills wrestled within the leopard's body, and it cried out repeatedly, venting and questioning, [Does a world shaped by humans allow an animal's vengeance?]

"Not allowed. It's not that animal vengeance is not allowed. As long as it's vengeance that is not allowed by human rules, it's not allowed, including me."

An Yinong looked at it, "But I can fight the rules for you, only this time. You kill him, and I'll keep you alive and free."

[I don't need to be free nor know why I'm alive.] What was the point of living when the world had brought it so much pain, when it had been abandoned when, no matter how hard it tried, it couldn't pull away from the hand that held fate by the throat?

"One can find out." A hand belonging to a human combed over the top of its head, sunlight shining in after those countless painful moments, "If you really can't find it, can I be your reason for living?"

The leopard stopped and it looked to An Yinong.

[Why are you willing to go this far for me? You have no shortage of powerful mutated animals.]

An Yinong thought, "Probably because you specifically looked at me when we first met, I remembered it until now. It's me who chose you, and it's you who chose me. We are bound to each other."

[That's what you said. If you break your promise, I will bite and kill you."]

An Yinong saw the leopard's canine teeth slowly grow and protrude beyond his lips, growing against his jawbone like the legendary saber-toothed tigers.

He saw the black curse haloing away on the leopard's body, his blonde fur turning a little into pure black, while the originally beautiful rose-like spots became pure gold.

After the storm passed, the contestants saw a brand-new creature.

The second mutated and evolved leopard was still its original size, yet its aura was completely different.

The black fur that shone with a soft luster seemed like fine satin, and the golden roses that embellished it shimmered with a mysterious light, a layer of fuzzy halo enveloping it. It was as if it was an animal that had come from mythology, from that one legend.

"Goodness. Shouldn't this be an animal god only?"

Its beauty was awe-inspiring, its ethereal, solemn aura was awe-inspiring, and even the man who had so quickly abandoned it earlier stared in disbelief, doubting what he saw.

"This can't be it, this can't be it."

It ignored everyone and gracefully walked to An Yinong's face. It lowered its head and pressed down, the lofty animal god bowing its head for only one person. The golden eyes looked at An Yinong as if signaling him to sit up.

"I like paralleling you." An Yinong reached out to hug it, then stood up holding the goldfish bowl, "Give your newborn self a name."

It tilted its head and rubbed against Yinong's palm, its mouth vaguely audible.

"Horus, lovely name.

"Let's go."

All the mutated animals around them stepped back to make a passageway, and as An Yinong took the newborn leopard with him, he and Laila said, "There are too many people now, so we'll talk later."

"Okay, okay," Laila replied frostily, not yet recovered from the leopard's skin change shock.

"Wait!" The man with eyes full of greed stepped out, but he had only spoken when a curved moon swirled out of the golden rose patches on the leopard's body, quickly leaving several bone-chilling wounds on him.

The players who saw this scene were all shocked—actually evolved an outward ability?

Panther walked over and looked down at the man lying on the ground. Those golden eyes were unfamiliar to the man. The coldness and pure killing intent in them could stop all greed.

Gone were the days when men did whatever they wanted based on the kindness of their upbringing, and this leopard in front of him would kill him.

"Ta-da." A pair of sneakers appeared in the man's line of sight, right next to the leopard. Following the straight legs upwards, it was the feeder from China, the famous druid.

The man couldn't see his face, only the circle of backlit gold trim.

"The deal is over. It was your pride and arrogance that cost you it. Thank you for your arrogance and ignorance."

Because it was too noticeable, An Yinong didn't go to watch the Hai Dongqing match, and he immediately took a car back to the temporary residence of the Chinese team. Who knew the captain was already waiting for him there and wouldn't leave with his eyes glued to the leopard: "It's so beautiful. All that money was well spent."

"So soon?"

"How can you not know when it's such a big deal? They're all speculating that its evolution has something to do with you."

"It has nothing to do with me. It was Horus' accumulation that reached the level of metamorphosis and exploded momentarily. As for the mutation direction change to change skin, it should be the relationship of that curse that fell on it before."

"Curse?"

"Well, its opponent in the last game was a Darkness-type Mutation Direction with abilities similar to curses and seals."

The captain believed what An Yinong said, so he was even more surprised, "The variety of mutant abilities in animals isn't less than humans at all. In the future, people will pay more and more attention to mutated animals, right?

"But no matter how noticeable this black panther is, it won't have as much influence as you do. I believe your words, but other people may not, and I'm afraid that there will be a lot of people who come to visit you afterward."

An Yinong smiled, "I'm prepared for that. By the way, I'm worried Horus's original country will have ideas, such as recapturing it. Even though the silver goods were delivered, things will become troublesome if he says that the deal is not legal."

"It won't," the captain wasn't worried about this issue, "they wouldn't dare."

Nowadays, Huaxia has enough strength to protect its legitimate and legal transactions. They don't do things that defraud people but don't allow others to cheat on their heads.

Saying goodbye to the somewhat excited captain, An Yinong found Sting and Duanwu, who were nocturnal creatures huffing and puffing during the day. However, sensing an unfamiliar aura approaching, the alert ones still immediately opened their eyes and took a fighting stance at the first opportunity.

"Meow?" Sting looked at An Yinong and then at this creature belonging to the feline family.

"It is your new companion, Horus. It's sad because it was maliciously hurt by nasty guys before and was on death. I'm a human, and communication isn't as easy as yours, so I'll leave comforting it to you, brother."

Before Sting could get upset, he heard the word 'brother,' he turned his head again to look at the black panther covered in golden rose spots, and a strange, something called 'older brother's baggage' made him steady his expression.

"Meow." Sting meowed haughtily to Horus: Do I even have to coax people? What a no-brainer, choosing your humans.

The owl pokes half his head out from behind, "Coo-coo?" I'm Ergo.

"Pah!" Octopus Boy slapped a tentacle on the glass wall. I'm the one.

Horus just looked high and cold and unapproachable. Still, his personality was kind of the softest, and he plopped down and listened to Sting meowing about his outstanding achievements - how to get back at the asshole cats, dogs, and humans who bullied him back in the day.

Duanwu fell asleep against the corner of the wall, what Sting said it had heard eight hundred times. On the contrary, the little octopus boy looked curious and seemed eager to use these 'fun little tactics' on other people/beasts.

It was late afternoon when it was easiest to get sleepy.

The sunlight lazily spread on the floor of the reed-woven straw mats, the plants baked warm and soft by the sunlight and filled with the fresh scent of nature.

Horus thought of all the times when he used to go hunting and had passed many places with natural scents, wildflowers, grasses, birds, and animals. It was just that I was struggling between life and death then, and I couldn't stop appreciating it in detail.

It was brilliant. It was born as a mutant beast, and only then did it evolve its brain, and only after that did it become its hunting ability.

Horus had been fighting and killing all these years, and once it stopped fighting that consumed its life, it would quickly be seized by loneliness and exhaustion. That was why it had never enjoyed such peace and leisure. What in the world could be better than this in a house with only animals, without shackles, lying in the golden sunlight, lazily stretching out?

"Shh." The picture in the house was so beautiful that An Yinong, posted in the corner peeking, tiptoed out, "Don't disturb them."

He and the captain returned to the vestibule and made a tea pot.

"What did HQ say? Can we take it back?"

"Yes, and they took care of all the paperwork. It's your pet now; no one can take it away."

"Thank you, captain. When we return and get the special breeding license, we can walk together. It's just that I'm worried that the neighbors will be afraid when they see it."

"Don't you know?"

"Know what?"

The captain looked skeptical, "How old are you anyway? Do you even care about internet news? The black panther has already caught fire on the internet, and the country knows it's your pet. You don't have to worry about the neighborhood being afraid of it. Instead, you can worry about its fur being jerked bald by the neighborhood."

"Wait, this isn't a competition, and it's not live. How would people on the internet know?"

"Don't you know there are cameras all over this island? To smash this matter, our comrades convinced the others to post this very 'newsworthy' video clip to the official website of the Mutant Animal Competition. I don't know how often it's been reprinted and spread, so I guess the whole world remembers you and Black Panther."

"This competition has an official website?" An Yinong was shocked.

"...... care a little about the competition you're participating in."

The captain sighed, "Anyway, this matter is considered satisfactorily resolved. There's another matter next: seven national teams already want to meet with you to talk about the psychological problems of mutant animals. Two teams have already come to the door, right in the front parlor."

"Who and who?"

The captain looked at him with pity, "Team Merica and Team Ross."