When the Wolf King Baibai returned to Black Whale City, the morning star still shone brightly in the sky, and the eastern dawn glowed with a blood-red hue. Baibai quietly entered Alice's room, slowly lay down, and soon drifted into a deep sleep.
When Alice awoke, she stretched adorably and murmured, "What a comfortable sleep." Then, languidly sitting up, she sniffed the air and asked, "Hmm, what's that smell?"
Baibai, somewhat excited from the night before, had forgotten to wash the blood off his body upon returning. Thus, Alice's room was thick with the pungent scent of blood. Frowning, she stared at Baibai and said, "What is that on you? It's so disgusting!"
Baibai shook his head, now fully awake, and hearing Alice's words, he stood up, glanced down at himself, and saw that the blood had darkened into a sickly brown—truly repulsive.
As Baibai rose, Alice was stunned: "Baibai, where did you go last night? You've grown taller, and... why has the fur around your neck gotten so long?" Though young, Alice was perceptive and immediately noticed the changes in Baibai.
Baibai nodded to Alice, then left her room to find a basin and began washing the blood off his body.
Alice, having changed her clothes, stepped out of her room and, watching Baibai cleanse himself, murmured to herself with puzzlement, "What on earth was Baibai doing last night?"
Feeling the matter was strange, Alice hurried to Xiao Feng's room. "Brother Xiao Feng, Brother Xiao Feng..."
Xiao Feng had spent the entire night gathering magic crystals and only returned to Black Whale City past three in the morning, utterly exhausted and still deep in slumber, oblivious to Alice's calls.
Alice pushed the door open, and seeing Xiao Feng still lying in bed, she went over and shook him. "Get up! Brother Xiao Feng, you're so lazy..."
Rubbing his eyes, Xiao Feng looked at the little Alice, tousled her golden hair, and said, "What's the matter, Alice? I was just so tired last night. Please don't disturb me; let me sleep a little longer."
"Brother Xiao Feng, Baibai changed a lot last night, and no one knows what he was up to. You have to come see for yourself!"
Hearing this, Xiao Feng seemed intrigued. Suppressing his sleepiness, he sat up. "Alright, you go out first. I'll change clothes and then come to see."
Alice grinned mischievously, "I'm not leaving. I'm going to watch you change."
Xiao Feng gave her a helpless look. "Little rascal, there's nothing to see. Go wait outside."
"No, I won't! I want to watch..."
With no choice, Xiao Feng shook his head and, right before Alice's eyes, took off his pajama top, revealing his well-toned muscles.
"Hey... Xiao Feng, what are you doing?" Ivy's voice suddenly came from outside the door. "Xiao Feng, you're such a scoundrel! Alice is just a kid, and you're not sparing her?"
"Hey, I'm not! I didn't do anything! What are you imagining?" Xiao Feng replied helplessly.
Ivy's beautiful face darkened with suspicion. "Not doing anything? Then why are you taking off your clothes? Luckily I came in; otherwise, I wouldn't know what you were up to."
Watching Ivy's impassioned expression, Alice chuckled softly. "Sister Ivy, you're really misunderstanding Brother Xiao Feng. He's just changing clothes. I asked him to come out to see how Baibai has changed."
Ivy, who was also familiar with Baibai, asked eagerly, "What? How has Baibai changed?"
"Let's all go out and see for ourselves..."
At that moment, Xiao Feng quickly finished dressing and patted Alice's head. "Alright, let's go."
Alice happily hooked her arm through Xiao Feng's, and together they walked out.
Ivy looked at Alice's intimate gesture and, a bit jealous, said, "I want to hook my arm too..."
Xiao Feng frowned. "Come on, stop messing around. If you two cling to me like that in public, how will I survive in the legion? I don't want to be a playboy."
Ivy pressed, "Aren't you one already?"
"I'm not... definitely not..." Xiao Feng said firmly.
The three arrived at the basin, where Baibai was already clean. Xiao Feng froze, especially at the mane around Baibai's neck, which resembled a lion's mane—except Baibai's fur was white.
"How could this be? When I saw him yesterday, his fur wasn't this long."
"Yeah, you're right. It wasn't this long. But how do we explain this now?" Ivy pointed at Baibai.
Xiao Feng pondered calmly. "I'll get my watch. It can identify the level of magical beasts."
Returning to his room, Xiao Feng retrieved his watch and examined the display. But he was stunned. After locating himself, he looked toward Baibai, yet Baibai's position did not appear on the screen.
Frowning, Xiao Feng muttered, "What's going on? Why isn't Baibai showing up?"
Suddenly shocked, Xiao Feng recalled that his watch could detect magical beasts below rank C—information Lin had given him. But there was no sign of Baibai on the device.
After some thought, realization dawned on him. Frowning, he whispered, "No way... Baibai might have reached rank B as a magical beast."
...
...
At Black Whale City's north gate, a black SUV slowly approached the checkpoint. After a day of fierce battle, the legion soldiers felt weary. They lazily waved the vehicle to stop, and a fully armed soldier knocked on the window.
The driver rolled down the window.
"Where are you coming from? What's your business entering the city?" the soldier asked, eyeing the driver.
The driver, a handsome man dressed like a gentleman, chuckled softly. "Officer, we come from the New City, here to visit my sister..."