"Hate this so much! I didn’t say anything... It was that human who figured it out on their own! Why beat me up? Always picking on monsters!"
[Note: If you violate the rules again, you will be eliminated immediately.]
Amei the Spider fell silent, completely deflated as she crawled away, quietly picking up her severed legs. She skillfully pulled out a needle and thread, ready to sew them back on... Tough life, but she wasn’t afraid.
Qi Xu finished collecting the scrap, completing his day job, and stepped out feeling refreshed.
His mood improved even more when he spotted the owl at the entrance, puffing up like an angry blowfish.
"Oh, you’re still waiting?"
The owl replied with sarcasm, "Oh, esteemed scrap collector, are you finally done? I need to take you to the rehearsal site, and then I have other matters to attend to. I can’t waste my whole day babysitting you while you pick through trash."
Qi Xu snorted coldly. "Is this how you treat a VIP? I’m filing a complaint!"
The owl trembled with rage...
Finally, as if spitting fire, it forced out three words: "I... apologize..."
"Fine, can’t be bothered to argue. Let’s go, take me to the rehearsal site."
Having vented his madness, Qi Xu was finally ready to properly experience this "stage."
The rehearsal site was a bit far. The little canary and pumpkin carriage still came to pick him up, but... their earlier eager enthusiasm was gone. Instead, they wore the same bitter expressions as the owl, as if life had dealt them a terrible hand.
Especially when Qi Xu boarded the carriage—it sped off like a bullet. In just ten minutes, they arrived, leaving even Qi Xu, who never got carsick, feeling a bit dizzy.
The moment he stepped off, Qi Xu turned to say a few words, but the owl, canary, and pumpkin carriage vanished from sight in under five seconds.
Qi Xu nodded, retracting his outstretched hand and swallowing the unspoken positive review, then turned and entered the rehearsal hall.
It was a massive dimly lit stage, about waist-high, with red velvet curtains draped in folds. The gold-thread embroidered peonies had faded with time, but their former grandeur was still faintly visible.
The wooden floor gleamed from years of use, though cracks ran through it in places. The speakers on either side were covered in dusty red silk—perhaps the only things that still looked somewhat alive here.
Then, the spotlight lit up.
It shone directly on Qi Xu, and in that instant, all his confusion seemed to clear—everything made sense now.
He had purchased twenty animals, yet the rehearsal site was completely empty. Upon closer inspection, he understood why.
Qi Xu strode forward, yanking out the little rabbits hiding under the audience seats, mid-launch in their ambush, and tossed them onto the stage like sandbags.
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven... Wow, you all look like septuplets."
Then, red-beaked birds swooped in from all directions. Qi Xu casually reached under a chair and grabbed two seals lying in wait for a sneak attack.
Gripping their tails, he swung them like baseball bats, knocking every single bird onto the stage before hurling the seals up as well.
Then, he spun around just in time to meet the exaggeratedly muscular black bear in a fist-to-fist clash.
Qi Xu was growing fond of this kind of raw power exchange—so satisfying!
The black bear staggered back three steps, while Qi Xu stood firm, hands behind his back, smirking. "That’s it?"
The bear flared its nostrils, hot breath puffing out in furious bursts, growling low and menacingly. It glared at Qi Xu but hesitated, wary.
Seizing the moment, Qi Xu charged. Just three steps away, the bear swung its tree-trunk-thick arm in a sweeping strike.
Qi Xu dropped low, rolling beneath it, fingertips brushing the bear’s furry paw before driving an elbow into the back of its knee.
As the bear lost balance, Qi Xu locked onto its arms and yanked backward.
The massive body lurched forward, and Qi Xu twisted, channeling all his strength into his hips—executing a flawless shoulder throw, slamming the 300-kilogram beast onto the ground.
Then, he dusted off his sleeves and stepped away, graceful as ever.
The bear howled in pain, struggling to rise for revenge when the scar-covered tiger emerged from behind the red curtains.
"Move. I’ll handle this."
The bear reluctantly stepped aside, ceding the battlefield.
Qi Xu tutted. "You sure you’re up for this? You’re barely holding together."
"Human... DIE!"
Before the words fully left its mouth, the tiger lunged like an arrow, claws gleaming, the stench of wild fury thick in the air—enough to make Qi Xu’s blood race.
Just as the animals braced for another brutal fight, Qi Xu leaped into a sprint-slide, flipping midair to land atop the tiger, pinning it hard to the floor.
He pulled out Yingluo, crossing the blades beside its head. The tiger froze instantly... No more struggling. This human player was truly ruthless.
With most of them dealt with, the gorilla finally stepped forward.
"Stop fighting! Stop fighting! We’re all in the same group—can’t we just shake hands and make up?"
It looked at Qi Xu with genuine concern, extending a hand in truce.
Qi Xu played along, gripping it—but before the gorilla could react, he swung it around and slammed it onto the ground.
"You can join them. Your acting’s terrible—I’ll coach you sometime."
The gorilla hugged itself in shock, lips quivering. "Y-you...!"
"You can call me weak, but you can’t say I’m a bad actor!"
Qi Xu wasn’t buying it. "You are."
"Waaah—!" The gorilla burst into tears, throwing itself into the black bear’s arms. The bear patted its back like comforting a child.
Only the tiger, still pinned under Qi Xu’s foot, scowled. It started to growl but got a swift smack to the head, silencing it again.
Qi Xu then turned to the dolphin in the side-stage pool. It instantly dove to the bottom, its stance clear: "I don’t wanna fight. Or get wrecked."
Finally, the black three-tailed fox stepped gracefully from the back of the audience seats.
"I told you she was strong. You didn’t listen. Serves you right."
Only then did Qi Xu grin, kicking the tiger aside as he walked toward the fox.
...........
