Chapter 1: The White-maned Lion
Chapter 1: The White-maned Lion
The Fanli Mountain area within Fuzhou City had dense vegetation and complex terrain. Lacking rich mineral deposits, the local government wasn’t very invested in developing the place.
However, as the region’s only natural ecological reserve and geological tourism resource, it boasted a wealth of wild and rare animals. To date, 33 species of mammals and 171 species of birds had been documented. Rare creatures like leopards, pythons, pangolins, musk deer, muntjacs, swans, silver pheasants, white cranes, white storks, black storks, red-billed leiothrixes, mandarin ducks, golden pheasants, tragopans, and bustards inhabited the deep mountain valleys.
Because of this, a few viewing platforms and tourist attractions had been developed around the periphery of the mountains. This also helped boost the economy of the villages on the mountain’s edge.
Sadly, there were no traces of ancient poets or scholars ever leaving their mark here. Consequently, it couldn’t even rank among the countless magnificent scenic areas nationwide.
Deep in the mountains, this sanctuary for animals, should have been devoid of human traces. Yet, by a pond in a valley, a pile of whittled wood was neatly stacked. A broken fire drill lay nearby too, as if primitive people had been trying to make fire just a short while ago.
Swoosh!
In the deep mountain ravine, a tall beast walked upright. Wild, shaggy fur, like a lion’s mane, covered its head. Fearsome tusks protruded from its mouth. Its arms were thick as pillars. It lightly scraped its sharp claws against a stone smoothed by years of pond water; the stone crumbled away like soft tofu.
The claws were incredibly sharp. No matter the rock, a single swipe left deep gashes.
Its white, wild fur looked majestic. Cold, fierce wildness radiated from its blood-red eyes.
Pieces of tattered cloth covered its waist and crotch. Combined with its upright stance, this also gave it a distinctly human quality.
Looking closely at the cloth pieces, one could tell they had once been a long-sleeved T-shirt and jeans.
“Day six!”
This humanoid white-maned lion scratched a deep character into a smooth boulder with its claws. It was the Hanzi character for “six” (六). Naturally, the characters for one, two, three, four, and five were also present.
Growl!
The white-maned lion opened its mouth and spoke fluent Mandarin. “Man, I’m starving!”
The lion-man wore a pained expression on its face. Weakly, it shuffled over to the pile of wood.
It stretched out a huge hand, quickly carving a point onto a piece of wood with a few swipes. Then, it started rubbing the drill wood against another piece.
Its terrifying eyes were now gentle, like those of someone watching a baby. It handled the wood with extreme care, as if afraid of breaking a delicate treasure.
Sadly, soon after, they heard a crack!
The wood in its hands snapped directly. It felt as fragile as tofu in its grasp.
“Dang it!”
The white-maned lion burst into furry, leaping up. It kicked the woodpile hard, scattering it everywhere. Still angry, it slammed its palm against a nearby tree trunk, snapping the tree in two.
After this outburst, it slumped to the ground in despair. Its eyes reflected pure agony.
It felt like it was going out of its mind.
“I need meat! I need meat! I can’t take this anymore!”
Wildness and ferocity radiated from its body. It arched its back and instantly shot forward, leaping easily between tree branches.
This white-maned lion brimmed with explosive strength. Ferocity surged within it. Its hearing and eyesight far surpassed any human’s, easily piercing the dense, complex foliage.
It sensed the rhythms around it. No creature could escape its perception. It could even clearly see an insect crawling.
The valley woods hid many wild animals. Relying on its body’s innate hunting instincts, the white-maned lion locked onto these prey from a distance.
It followed this natural talent. It didn’t always need to see or hear them; it could sense their traces far away.
This was the Hunting Rhythm it was feeling right now!
It locked onto a target. Instantly, it pounced from the shadows. Sharp claws pierced the base of a rabbit’s skull, killing it instantly. The rabbit died without pain or struggle.
From starting the hunt, locking onto the target dozens of meters away, to the fatal pounce – the whole process took mere seconds.
Its swift movements, fierce demeanor, and agile form marked it as nature’s born predator.
Yet, this king of the jungle, in this prey-rich mountain, suffered from hunger, feasting one meal, fasting the next.
“Man, I am starving!” The white-maned lion spoke human words. It struggled briefly against its revulsion, then violently devoured the rabbit meat, finishing every scrap in a few bites.
Finding food wasn’t the problem. Facing raw flesh, it simply couldn’t bring itself to swallow it whole. Only when utterly famished, nearing breaking point, would it resort to eating it raw and bloody.
Because this creature that looked like a white-maned lion was actually… human, at least in mind. He was a reporter named Lan Mu from the Metropolis Morning Light Newspaper.
One week ago, Lan Mu was assigned a story. An anonymous tip complained that the management of the Fanli Mountain scenic area in Fuzhou City was neglecting its duty. The local nature reserve lacked sufficient supervision, allowing a poaching group to freely hunt wild and endangered animals.
The editor-in-chief sent him to interview the relevant local authorities. If he could secretly uncover a bombshell revelation, that would be even better.
Young and ambitious, Lan Mu dreamed of making a name for himself. Eager to succeed, he accepted this assignment, determined to find traces of the poachers.
So, the same day he arrived in Fuzhou City, he didn’t go to the government offices. Instead, he took a bus straight to the Fanli Mountain scenic area. He bought a ticket, rode the cable car, and questioned many staff members at various locations, trying to get information directly.
He didn’t learn anything useful from them. Then, on his disappointed walk back, he was bizarrely attacked.
Dusk was falling. In a sparsely populated part of the scenic park, several people ambushed him from behind. They knocked him out cold. Then, they heaved his unconscious body over a protective railing and threw him down the mountain.
He tumbled wildly down the steep slope. Within seconds, agonizing pain jolted him awake.
He woke up to find himself rolling uncontrollably. Panic seized him. At first, he tried to grab something to stop. But the momentum was too fast. His body curled into a ball like a wheel, crushing delicate twigs and underbrush as he plummeted. Tumbling head over heels, new cuts and scrapes tore across his body every second. Each bump sent a jolt through him, feeling like his bones were cracking.
He knew he couldn’t stop himself easily on the slope. Resigned to fate, he wrapped his arms around his head to protect it as best he could.
He clenched his teeth against the intense pain. His softer midriff took countless impacts unprotected. Every bone in his body screamed. Enduring the relentless beating, he finally passed out again.
He had no idea how long he was out. He woke up choking. Icy cold water shocked him awake. He swallowed two huge mouthfuls, his windpipe feeling crushed. The threat of drowning forced his limbs into action. He flailed desperately upwards. Every movement sent bone-deep agony through him. It felt like every bone was broken.
He broke the surface, eyes squinting. Without pause, he swam frantically for the bank. He choked and sputtered, using his last ounce of strength to haul himself onto a rock.
As he relaxed, before relief at surviving could even set in, tragedy struck again. He discovered he couldn’t move. He had countless broken bones, he just didn’t know how many.
All four limbs were numb and useless. He could only lie on the damp earth, waiting to die.
He couldn’t call for help. Being here meant waiting for death. His injuries were far too severe. Without immediate treatment, he probably wouldn’t survive the night.
As his consciousness faded, on the brink of passing out once more…
A snake slithered close to him. Right beside him lay a pile of animal carcasses. Crimson muscle tissue, bones, flesh – it seemed many creatures had perished there. Resting on top of this pile of gore was a small, spotless white sphere, pure milky-white.
The snake wasn’t interested in him. Its target was the milky-white sphere. Just as the snake reached about ten centimeters away, the sphere suddenly launched itself into the air and shot straight into the small snake’s body.
Instantly, the snake became covered by a thin, milky-white film. Then, in apparent agony, it lunged towards him.
Less than two seconds later, a pop! sounded. The snake exploded. It left behind a pile of shattered bone and flesh, and the sphere fell out amidst the gore.
The snake’s lunge had brought it close to Lan Mu. When it exploded, fragments and the sphere landed right on him. Unsurprisingly, the sphere immediately burrowed into Lan Mu’s body.
Lan Mu had seen the entire horrible process – the snake bursting as the white sphere entered it. He was certain death awaited him. To his utter shock, it instead saved his life.
His body was instantly wrapped in the same milky-white substance. Every cell itched intensely from the inside. This internal itch was maddening; he couldn’t scratch it. He desperately wanted it to end.
The expected explosion never came. The itching lasted only seconds before vanishing. Then, he felt an unprecedented sense of wellbeing.
Putting effort in, Lan Mu stood up directly. The agonizing injuries that had plagued him mysteriously vanished.
This bizarre sequence had rescued him from the brink of death, healing all his injuries.
But it had also exacted a terrible price. His body had swollen up. He stood at least two meters tall now, with thick muscles. His feet had grown so large his shoes had burst.
He had transformed into a white-maned lion beastman.
Though this monstrous body looked leonine, Lan Mu knew it wasn’t a true lion. It was far too powerful. Neither its strength, speed, nor the strange energy he felt flowing within it belonged to any creature on Earth.
Its claws could shred anything in these mountains. Yet, its tall frame moved with extreme agility, capable of leaping nimbly among tree branches.
Even more terrifying, he had instinctually acquired formidable hunting abilities.
His astounding sight and smell were just the beginning. His monstrous body contained a strange energy.
Releasing this innate energy allowed him to sense the biological rhythms of all creatures within a square kilometer. No prey could hide from him.
Furthermore, when he used this energy to stalk, he could stand right in front of prey, and they wouldn’t see him. They couldn’t sense the impending danger at all.
It was as if he were invisible.
Lan Mu was initially ecstatic. He rampaged through the valley – running, leaping, unleashing the raging wildness inside him.
Sooner, though, a heavy stillness settled over him. Looking like this, how could he ever reveal himself to others?
He had become a beast. And beasts belonged in the wild mountains. He could never return to society.
What else could he do? A modern man, turned into this monster. How was he supposed to live? Hide in the deep mountains, eating flesh raw and drinking blood like an animal? Until one day he was discovered, captured, and dissected in a lab?
Not being able to return to society was pure agony for Lan Mu.
Thinking about his future life left him dazed, lost for three whole days.
For those three days, he remained hidden deep in the mountains, a king over beasts, yet too afraid to leave. Even though he could easily scale sheer cliffs, climbing rock faces bare-handed.
It wasn’t until the gnawing hunger became unbearable that he jolted back to reality.
No matter what his future held, right now, he had to survive. All living things possess a powerful survival instinct. As long as he lived, perhaps one day, he could become human again.
Yet, even now, on the sixth day of his monstrous transformation, he had only eaten three meals.
Just three rabbits in six days. Even for such a formidable monster, this was unbearably insufficient.
The truth was, the more powerful the beast, the greater its need for food. His strong muscles, towering physique, and lightning-fast movements consumed enormous energy. The biggest drain, however, was that mysterious inner force – piercing barriers to sense prey and turning invisible. Using these abilities left him acutely aware of the emptiness within.
Under such extreme hunger, his wild nature often overwhelmed his reason. So, when starving, he ate raw hunks of flesh, swallowing living prey whole!
After eating his fill, intense psychological discomfort followed. It wasn’t just his human soul recoiling; it seemed this body also had preferences.
He had no clue what kind of beast this white-maned lion was, but it appeared to prefer cooked food. However, with each day of eating raw meat, his body’s wild instincts grew stronger, steadily dulling the aversion.
If he didn’t eat cooked food soon, he feared he would lose his mind completely, becoming nothing but a savage, blood-hungry monster.
“Sigh. I’ve actually killed quite a few animals already.” he thought. “Every time hunger overcame me, I’ve abused my powers to hunt small creatures. I’ve already spilled blood. Why am I still pretending to care about being environmentally friendly now?”
His mind constantly argued, trying to convince himself: “You’ve already killed them. Why quibble now about how you eat them? You can’t go back to human society anyway. Embrace this beast’s lot – eat raw flesh, drink blood, just survive.”
His life had irrevocably changed. He was terrified of forgetting who he once was – a human.
“RAAAAAAH!”
Lan Mu threw back his head and roared. The sound echoed like a tiger’s growl mixed with a lion’s bellow. Nearby small animals scattered in terror.
“Fire! I must get fire! Dang it, there’s a reason fire is called the root of civilization! It’s too stinking important!”
Six days. Six days trapped in this untouched wilderness. Now, he finally decided he had to go out. Not for long. Just long enough to steal fire.
To get fire, he must get near the cable car exit point. There was a viewing platform and a staff office there, occupied year-round. He remembered interviewing a staff member on duty before; the guy smoked. He definitely had a lighter.
“Sigh. Stealing fire…”