Chapter 42: A Haughty, Cold, and Imposing Att.i.tude
After soaking comfortably in the pool for a while and cleaning himself, w.a.n.g Hu ran straight toward the south.
With w.a.n.g Hu’s current speed, a mountain trail of 50 kilometers was nothing more than a matter of ten to twenty minutes even if he were to run at a normal speed.
He easily found the squad of soldiers that Li Tong had previously mentioned. Despite having prepared themselves a long time ago and even for every moment of the day, these carefully selected soldiers couldn’t help but freeze up all over and find themselves weak at the knees when w.a.n.g Hu’s enormous form appeared in front of them. Even breathing had become difficult, and it was as if they couldn’t do anything at all.
A shoulder height of 4.5 to 4.6 meters and a body length of approximately eight meters—that incredibly powerful might of w.a.n.g Hu’s was as though a towering mountain. Just a look from it was enough to entirely dissolve all of a person’s courage and willpower.
What an impressive tiger might!
These few words suddenly popped up in Zhang Yue’s mind as cold sweat formed all over him, and his throat went dry.
Zhang Yue, whose heart was beating extremely fast, found himself believing for the very first time that a tiger’s force of presence could really frighten someone to death, especially when the tiger in question was the one currently standing in front of him—His Excellency, the Northern Tiger King!
Frightening a normal human to death was definitely nothing difficult for him. That mighty presence of his was as though it had solidified. It was practically inconceivable and hard for one to even imagine.
Even the other soldiers, who had gone through so much rigorous training, didn’t fare much better.
Wry laughter accompanied by gasps of astonishment rang out. It was no wonder that this existence here had become the first person in China—in fact, in the whole world—to break through to the Second Realm. His achievement was simply beyond what a regular person could even imagine.
w.a.n.g Hu’s serene gaze swept dispa.s.sionately across the squad of soldiers, his presence emanating an air of aloof haughtiness and majesty.
Roar~!
“Tell Li Tong that I need two specific cell phones. In return, I’ll give him a dinosaur. Ask him when he wants to do the exchange.”
His calm and ordinary words were naturally understood.
Zhang Yue nodded at once. Then, he mustered his courage and said loudly, “Alright. Please wait for a moment, Your Excellency. We’ll contact General Li right away.”
After he spoke—at the sight of the Northern Tiger King who was still proudly standing there and not moving an inch, he immediately whipped out a cell phone with his hand—that was already gradually calming down and no longer trembling—and dialed Li Tong’s number in front of w.a.n.g Hu.
As soldiers standing guard here, they naturally had the means to directly contact Li Tong. It was just that they were usually forbidden from doing so. However, there was no doubt that they could right now.
After the phone call got through, he quickly related the events.
Li Tong, who was still in the capital with the planning team, c.o.c.ked an eyebrow. The Northern Tiger King wanted two cell phones?
He had already received the news just now that the cell phone that he had previously given w.a.n.g Hu had been damaged for some reason.
As a specially-manufactured cell phone, of course, they would pay special attention to it.
However, they didn’t monitor what w.a.n.g Hu and his family did with the cell phone in concrete. There wasn’t much point in doing so. Besides, once discovered, things would become troublesome, too.
They only kept watch over its location, whether it had been damaged or not—as well as encrypted it to prevent people from hacking into it or tracking it.
Since w.a.n.g Hu was requesting two more, then it was likely that they had accidentally broken the previous one and not deliberately damaged it.
This was something that he found understandable. After all, given w.a.n.g Hu and his wife’s physique and physical strength, it was very normal for them to damage the specially-made cell phone in a moment of carelessness.
He didn’t think much about it. No matter what, this was just a trivial—as well as a positive—matter. Therefore, he agreed to the request right away.
“Tell His Excellency that the cell phones will reach him within two hours.”
“Understood,” replied Zhang Yue immediately.
After he hung up, Zhang Yue maintained a stance that was neither pushy nor servile but only contained a hint of respect and said, “Your Excellency, General Li has agreed to it. The cell phones will arrive within two hours.”
Roar~!
“I’ll be back in two hours.”
w.a.n.g Hu turned and went away after leaving behind a haughty and cold response. Within the span of a breath, his enormous form had already disappeared from sight.
At once, everyone—including Zhang Yue himself—heaved huge sighs of relief. They felt as if they had just survived a great disaster, and were close to falling limp onto the ground.
Someone couldn’t help but say with some lingering fear, “So, that’s the Northern Tiger King! How terrifying! He’s so terrifying that it’s almost unbelievable.”
At once, someone else also nodded and echoed his sentiments. He said, “Yeah, I almost felt as if I couldn’t breathe anymore, even though he was just standing there!”
“He’s too powerful! As expected of the first person to break through to the Second Realm!”
…
…
After facing such a huge scare just now, everyone couldn’t help but speculate with one another amid their curiosity, relief, and some excitement.
There were even a few hints of idolization in their voices.
After all, that mighty presence and that extreme sense of power even when he wasn’t doing anything were simply too lethal to men.
Zhang Yue didn’t partic.i.p.ate in the conversation. After allowing them to softly discuss a little, he gave the order to stop. After all, they were still on duty at the moment.
Elsewhere, w.a.n.g Hu quickly returned and entered the dinosaur world to catch the dinosaur to be used for the exchange.
Things should be kept separate and distinct. Although the other party pretty much wouldn’t reject his request even if he had straight-up requested two cell phones anyway, it was better to obtain them via a transaction regardless. This way, neither of them owed the other anything.
Things would go awry sooner or later if one party took too much from the other without giving anything in return.
Roughly two hours later, w.a.n.g Hu returned with a smallish dinosaur carca.s.s. Two cell phones also appeared in front of him.
“Your Excellency, if you’d like, we can deliver the cell phone to your residence,” said Zhang Yue with some respect.
Roar~!
“It’s fine,” replied w.a.n.g Hu aloofly.
Somewhat satisfied upon noticing that the two cell phones were packed together in a large bag that had an area that he could easily hold with his mouth, he then picked up the bag with his mouth and left.
He fully exhibited his cold, haughty, and imposing aura during the whole process and didn’t show any desire to speak any further.
Zhang Yue and the others didn’t find this out of the ordinary either. Perhaps that was what the strong were supposed to be like.
Moreover, the Northern Tiger King was ultimately even a feline and the king of all beasts.
A cold and haughty demeanor was its inherent nature while a dignified air of majesty was its charm.
w.a.n.g Hu raced through the forests in the mountains with the two cell phones. To be honest, adopting and maintaining a cold, haughty, and imposing bearing in front of those people was naturally something that he had deliberately done.
What kind of att.i.tude should he take when he was making contact with China?
w.a.n.g Hu had thought about a lot ever since Li Tong’s first visit.
Before he became strong enough to protect himself, he mustn’t make China too nervous about him.
To split it into a few aspects, holding back some strength—as well as keeping a few trump cards—were things that went without saying.
Secondly, he mustn’t show any hostility toward China. He didn’t harbor any at the moment anyway so this was negligible.
Thirdly, he mustn’t exhibit behavior that seemed too clever or sly. It was even easier for an ent.i.ty like that to induce nervousness or fear in people.
In that case, then he might as well just display a feline’s usually cold and haughty att.i.tude, as well as his mighty presence as a Tiger King.
Even though it might seem like he wasn’t someone easy to get along with on the surface, to China, this would definitely still be considered a normal situation.
Being too friendly would actually seem too unusual instead. Unusualness would then equate to abnormality. It was even more possible that they might become nervous about him instead.
Moreover, his current att.i.tude also allowed him to maintain his status and eminent position in China’s eyes.
That was exactly what reality was like—the harder to get along with one was and the colder and haughtier one was, the more likely it was for other people to view you with more importance.
The next thing was that, with such a stance, he could also reduce his dealings with China. Before he became strong enough to protect himself for sure, he really didn’t wish to interact with China any more than necessary.
w.a.n.g Hu was ultimately not someone of overwhelming intelligence. As he made his way step by step to where he currently was, he had constantly kept one word firmly in his mind—’caution’.
This was something that he had understood bit by bit over the dozens of years from his past life and current life, and it was also something that he kept firmly in mind.
He needed to be even more cautious when dealing with China, of course. He knew that he couldn’t achieve a comprehensive and watertight way of doing things so all he could do was do his best to think a little more and do a little more to protect his family.
He carried the two cell phones and walked several kilometers. Then, he came to a stop, took out a cell phone, and started to use it.
Naturally, he didn’t ask for two cell phones so that he could bring both back and give Silly Girl and himself one each.
He was absolutely sure that he wouldn’t get either for a short period in the future if he were to bring both back.
Silly Girl had been so angry and had even straight-up broken the cell phone to prevent him from seeing it. He was very curious as to why she had done that.
Besides, if he left a cell phone that belonged solely to him outside, perhaps it might come into use someday.
He switched on the cell phone and began to surf the Internet.
The headline ‘Congratulations to our country for establis.h.i.+ng an agreement with the Northern Tiger King for peaceful coexistence’ caught his eye right away.
When he tapped on it and read the article, his eyes immediately lit up.
Romantic love!
The fruits born of their love!
Fate!
What the heck, this is such a well-written article!
w.a.n.g Hu was amused by the article. Had he not been the tiger in question, even he would’ve believed it.
However, one must admit that China had done a good job this time and made a ‘really accurate’ guess.
He now understood why Silly Girl had been so angry.
This article practically outright tore her wound open, taunting and provoking her.
Still, it was alright. He was very happy about it.
He had already helped to bear the consequences of angering Silly Girl. At worst, they could just fight again. It was fine even if they fought every day anyway.
He scrolled down to the bottom and read the comments—they were all positive comments. Evidently, this outcome was thanks to China’s move. Their objective was very clear, and there were no surprises.
Before long, when w.a.n.g Hu saw the comments posted by ‘This n.o.ble One has a Big Treasure and a Little Treasure’, the light in his eyes became even brighter.
That Silly Girl!
w.a.n.g Hu had a huge smile on his face.
As expected of a silly little thing…
She hadn’t posted any more replies after that and had straight-up gotten angry at him instead. It likely wasn’t because she had admitted defeat and hadn’t wanted to reply anymore; rather, she must have been banned from posting instead?
The thought of it made him want to laugh.
Because of his good mood, he continued to read the comments. Even though he knew that they were definitely guided comments—among which were even a large number of ‘Internet navy[1]’, w.a.n.g Hu read them with great interest nevertheless.
One must admit that there were simply too many talented people on the Internet.
On top of that, they even spoke such pleasing words that practically reached deep into his heart.
Take, for example, this part—”One must admit that, as a longtime fan that has been paying attention to the Northern Tiger King for as long as ten years, the Tiger Queen’s appearance is really one that’s destined in his life. She and the Tiger King are a match made in Heaven.
“In the past, I was worried because the Tiger King didn’t have any offspring. What were we to do if his excellent genes couldn’t be pa.s.sed down to future generations? That would be the world’s regret.
“Little did I expect that the Tiger Queen would then show up. The Tiger Queen looks so elegant and beautiful. No other tiger can compare to her.
“They really are a destined couple. And wouldn’t you look at that? Even the prince and the princess are so impressive as to directly awaken their bloodlines and become White Tigers.
“I sincerely wish them well and hope that the Tiger King will always be the strongest, the Tiger Queen always be the most beautiful, and the tiger babies always be the most adorable.”
Look at that! How could one not be in a good mood when faced with such words?
After reading for a long while, w.a.n.g Hu readjusted his emotions and put his joy aside. Then, he hid one of the cell phones in a safe location and brought the other one back home.
[1] Literally “Internet Water Army”. This refers to Internet ghostwriters paid to post online comments with particular content in China, especially on online platforms like Weibo, WeChat, and Taobao. The ‘water army’ metaphor refers to ‘the large number of people who are well-organized to flood the Internet with purposeful comments and articles’