Chapter 29 — Section Twenty-Eight: How Strange!

In his haze, Tang Tang dimly heard someone calling his name.

It sounded like a girl, a stranger, but it was that voice that pulled him back from the murk, and he slowly came to.

"Tang Tang... Tang Tang..."

Tang Tang forced his eyes open. The glaring sunlight made him squint instinctively, and it was a while before he adjusted. He opened his eyes again, and an unfamiliar face swam into view.

"You are..."

Tang Tang asked, still muddled. Groggily he struggled to sit up and looked around—an unfamiliar place. Where was this?

"Big Brother! Big Brother!"

A cheerful voice piped up from below.

Hm?

Tang Tang followed the sound and lowered his head, and there he found a small hand straining to climb up. A middle-aged woman chased after it, calling, "Nannan, careful now, careful, don't fall."

Swish—a little head with a skyward-tied braid popped into view, face alight with delight: "Big Brother, you're finally awake!"

Tang Tang looked at the little girl, and it all came rushing back: "Ah ah ah, you're that little thing who was being chased the other day... wait, hold on, how did I end up here?"

Tang Tang whipped his head this way and that, craning about, muttering, "Did that big dumb ox carry me here? What is this place? Where's that big dumb ox?"

"Big Brother, the big dumb ox is under your bottom!" the little girl said happily.

Under his bottom...

Tang Tang froze, looked down, and leapt to his feet with a yelp. "Ah ah ah, how did it get under me? Huh, no, wait—why isn't it moving? I think it's dead..."

Han Zhao had been watching Tang Tang in secret all along. Until today, she had felt only scorn, contempt, and bewilderment—scorn and contempt for Tang Tang, bewilderment at Shangguan Qianhui.

But now, the image of Tang Tang in her mind had been utterly overturned.

Brave but unthinking? Single-minded? A freakish physique? Wild?

All at once, Han Zhao found it terribly hard to define this apparently simple fellow before her.

What sort of person was he, really?

Nannan, though, had no such complicated thoughts. She raised her plump little palm: "He got beaten to death by Big Brother."

"Beaten to death by me?" Tang Tang pointed at himself, dazed, utterly incredulous.

He had beaten it to death?

How had he managed to beat such a ferocious beast to death?

He tried hard to remember, but all he could recall was the big dumb ox charging desperately into the bamboo sea, and himself furiously pounding it with his fists. After that, nothing at all.

How had the kill become his?

Han Zhao watched Tang Tang, and his blank expression only made him seem more unfathomable in her eyes. Was he putting on an act? Did he truly not know?

Impossible!

Han Zhao's first instinct was to reject the notion outright.

This was a Black-Armored Iron Rhino, a mid-fourth-rank beast, and in these parts its strength was absolutely that of a beast king. Even she, facing it, could only be sure of holding it off for a time. To kill such a ferocious beast would require at least high fourth-rank strength.

In all of Yaocheng, the experts with such power could be counted on one hand.

And yet the carcass of the Black-Armored Iron Rhino lay there in the flesh before her, and even the wounds on its body showed that Tang Tang had struck the blows. Tang Tang himself was covered in cuts, and they had followed the trail of the rhino's trampling charge all the way here.

"When we found you, you were like this," Han Zhao said coolly. "We watched over you for three days."

"Watched over me for three days?" Tang Tang reacted at once and hurried to say, "Thank you, thank you, thank you so much!"

Suddenly he remembered how many wounds he had taken on that big dumb ox, and he looked down—only to find the cuts on his body had already scabbed over.

"Huh, how are my wounds already healed?" Tang Tang was astonished.

Little Nannan raised her small palm: "It's Bamboo Bee King Salve! Little Nannan put Bamboo Bee King Salve on Big Brother—it's really useful, you know!"

"Oh ho, little girl, you're amazing!" Tang Tang leaned his head in, full of praise.

Little Nannan puffed out her chest with effort, her little face all pride: "Nannan is the most amazing!"

Tang Tang ruffled Little Nannan's head; he was very fond of this kind, lovely little girl. Little Nannan squinted her eyes, basking in it.

"We truly thank you for this!" Nannan's mother spoke up then too, her face full of gratitude. "Nannan is the mischievous one—I never imagined she'd stir up such a huge trouble. If not for you, I truly dare not think what would have happened!"

Tang Tang scratched his head and laughed heartily: "I still haven't figured out what's going on!"

Suddenly a question occurred to him, and he pointed at the Black-Armored Iron Rhino beneath him: "What kind of monster is this?"

"Black-Armored Iron Rhino," Han Zhao said, suddenly speaking up. "A mid-fourth-rank beast, ferocious in strength, savage in temper, and monstrously powerful. It has already formed a soul core and can wield true force—you should have felt its might."

"Mm, that one hit was vicious! I nearly couldn't get back up!" Tang Tang was still shaken.

Han Zhao said nothing, but at those words she could not help rolling her eyes. Anyone else would not have gotten up at all.

Tang Tang jumped down from the rhino's carcass and looked around, asking curiously, "How does the Bithern Bamboo Sea have such a heavy, such a huge beast? Doesn't it sink into the swamp?"

"It doesn't," Han Zhao explained. "The scales on its body, called inkwater scales, are excellent water-attribute scales. It can live not only in swamps but in great rivers too."

"Wow! That amazing!" Tang Tang was astonished.

Little Nannan raised her tender little palm again and called out in her sweet, milky voice, "Big Brother is even more amazing!"

Tang Tang suddenly propped his chin on his hand and sank into deep thought. His expression was grave, as though pondering a most serious problem.

After a while, Tang Tang still had not moved. Han Zhao could not hold back, and her lovely eyes flickered: "What are you thinking about?"

At that, Tang Tang looked up, fixed his gaze on Han Zhao, and asked earnestly, "Did I really kill it?"

"That's right," Han Zhao nodded. "There were no traces of anyone else at the scene."

"Really?" Tang Tang's gaze did not waver, his expression earnest and grave.

Could there be something hidden in this?

Han Zhao's heart stirred, but she still insisted with a nod: "You killed it."

"It was Big Brother who killed it!" Little Nannan tried hard to make her presence known.

Tang Tang gave a heavy nod, his expression growing even more solemn: "Very good."

The next instant, the grave look melted away entirely, dissolving into a smile bright as sunlight, baring two rows of snow-white teeth.

"Where do I sell this thing? It should fetch a good bit of money, right!"

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※

"We're here," Han Zhao said, voice cold as frost, face blank.

"Huff, huff, huff, finally here! I'm exhausted! If only the Fly Ox were here..." Tang Tang muttered to himself as he wiped his sweat.

Han Zhao had been utterly stunned by Tang Tang's monstrous physique. She had tested it—this Black-Armored Iron Rhino weighed over nine hundred catties; it was practically a mountain of meat.

And Tang Tang had actually dragged it for dozens of li on foot, still looking as vigorous as a dragon or a tiger.

This fellow was the real beast here!

In Han Zhao's mind rose the images of those other experts, all tall and elegant in bearing—set beside Tang Tang, they would truly be bean sprouts.

Truly hothouse flowers!

Han Zhao sighed inwardly; it was the first time she had ever felt this way. The talented young men who usually surrounded her—they had outstanding gifts, refined manners and speech, they knew romance, they knew how to enjoy life, and everyone thought them brilliant.

For the first time, Han Zhao had met a kind of person utterly different from all of them.