When the Black Sheep dragged his exhausted body to the location specified by the Earth Tiger, he suddenly stopped outside the door.
The room was eerily quiet.
If the Compensating Tiger was awake… there was no way the room he occupied could ever be this silent.
His expression darkened as he lowered his head, only to see blood seeping from beneath the door, spreading across the hallway.
A few “Ants” lingered outside, their feet treading through the sticky blood as they stared back and forth at the unnervingly quiet door—they, too, seemed puzzled.
There were faint noises inside, but clearly not the sounds of a struggle.
The Black Sheep reached out several times to push the door open, but he simply didn’t have the courage.
What would he see if he opened it?
The mangled corpse of the Compensating Tiger?
If there had been even the slightest hint of a fight inside, he would’ve thrown the door open without hesitation and thrown his life at the Heaven Tiger right then and there.
But as things stood… the room was just too quiet. A silence so deep it sent shivers down the Black Sheep’s spine.
He had never felt so cowardly before. Right now, he didn’t even have the courage to open the door and look—his entire body trembled uncontrollably.
But what if the Compensating Tiger had won? What if he was badly wounded, waiting for help inside? After all, the “Ants” hadn’t barged in either…
After a long hesitation, countless mental battles later, the Black Sheep finally reached out and pushed the door open. The door swung inward, dragging the viscous blood across the floor in a fan-shaped smear.
The suffocating sight inside immediately flooded his vision.
The Compensating Tiger’s fur was drenched in blood. He lay motionless on the ground, his right arm completely gone, a pool of blood spreading beneath him, nearly covering the entire room.
A child who looked no older than a few years old stood with his back to the door, gnawing on a thick, severed arm with sickening crunching sounds.
The most heartbreaking part? The child appeared completely unharmed.
As the door swung open, the “Ants” outside suddenly seemed to sense something, their gazes all snapping toward the room.
But before they could pounce, the Black Sheep’s figure shot forward like a madman, crashing through furniture in his path.
The Heaven Tiger turned in confusion—just in time for the Black Sheep to seize his throat and slam him to the ground, the severed arm rolling away.
Eyes bloodshot, the Black Sheep felt all his pain drowned out by sheer rage. Before the Heaven Tiger could react, a devastating punch smashed into his face, instantly knocking out several teeth.
“You freak…!” The Black Sheep gritted his teeth, scooping up the fallen baby teeth and shoving them back into the Heaven Tiger’s mouth. “Not everyone in this world is gonna spoil you!”
Panicked, the Heaven Tiger bit down hard, severing several of the Black Sheep’s fingers in his mouth—but the Black Sheep didn’t let go. He tightened his grip on the Heaven Tiger’s throat, forcing the teeth and his own broken fingers deeper down his throat.
“Eat all you want… I’ll give you every last one of my bones…” The Black Sheep shoved his entire hand into the Heaven Tiger’s mouth with a look of utter despair. “You 70-year-old monster… You think my family is just food to you?!”
The Heaven Tiger gagged violently, spitting out the contents of his mouth before managing a twisted grin. “Hehe… I’ll eat you all… The weak deserve to be eaten…”
“The weak?” The Black Sheep tightened his grip. “With ‘Brute Force’… how could the Compensating Tiger be weaker than you? You mistake kindness for weakness, chains for incompetence…”
“A weak heart is still weakness…” The Heaven Tiger gasped, his tiny fingers prying at the Black Sheep’s grip. “People like you… if I don’t eat you… the world will… same difference…”
The Black Sheep’s strength was fueled purely by fury—but as the seconds dragged on, his grip began to falter.
“Just let yourself be eaten…” The Heaven Tiger finally wrenched free, laughing hoarsely. “Your family tasted so good… I wonder how you’ll taste…?”
“We won’t be eaten…” The Black Sheep said coldly. “This world can’t swallow us… and neither can you. You’re the one who’ll be devoured.”
With the last of his strength, he pinned the Heaven Tiger’s small body down, then—with his mangled hand—pulled a dagger from his back and drove it into the Heaven Tiger’s stomach.
But his strength was spent. The blade merely carved a deep, inches-long gash into the Heaven Tiger’s reinforced body.
“Haha!” The Heaven Tiger cackled, flailing on the ground. “The food’s out of strength!! Out of strength!!”
The Black Sheep smirked, tossing the dagger aside and pulling a single “Dao” from his pocket. His voice was hoarse:
“Every ‘Dao’ I owed the Compensating Tiger… this one pays it all back…”
With that, he pressed the “Dao” into the wound on the Heaven Tiger’s stomach, shoving it deep inside before letting go and collapsing weakly to the side.
Then, a swarm of pale figures lunged forward—each one impossibly strong, as if every last one had the power of an “Earth-level” fighter.
The Heaven Tiger bolted in terror, only for an “Ant” to grab his ankle and hurl him back down.
They slammed him onto the ground, then began searching his back.
“Ah! What are you—?! Granny Ma! Granny Ma!!”
Before his screams could carry far, a sharp pain erupted from his back—as if the eyes embedded there were being gouged out one by one.
Then the second. The third.
“AH!! AHHH—!!”
The agony sent his mind reeling, but soon, he forced himself to calm down… because he realized their target seemed to be only the eyes on his back.
If that was the case…
But before he could relax, the “Ants” sensed something else—there was still one more eye hidden deep within.
One “Ant” flipped him onto his stomach, exposing his abdomen.
“No… you can’t—” The Heaven Tiger’s limbs were instantly pinned. “GRANNY MA!! SAVE ME!!”
But the “Ants” paid no heed. Their bony, ice-cold fingers plunged into the wound in his stomach—then slowly began to tear it open.
Countless hands reached inside, searching for the elusive “Dao” drifting within his body.
The more hands, the harder the “Dao” was to grasp.
It slipped through their fingers, darting to ever more unreachable places.
Perhaps the guilty could never attain enlightenment.
But in this moment, every last “Ant”—the lowest of the low—reached for that fleeting hope.
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