Chapter 95: Chapter 95: Contract Variation Beast

Xu Xin returned to the dungeon, pushing the door open to enter the first room in the corridor.

Inside the room at this moment, Chang Yin and Xue Lan were sitting at a table, while a little boy and a maid were playing on the side. As Xu Xin pushed the door open and entered, the gaze of several stone statues all focused on him.

Being stared at by the seemingly vacant eyes of the four stone statues made Xu Xin feel a bit creepy. He quickly said, “The path above is indeed closed, it seems the corridor is the only way we can go.”

Chang Yin shrugged, “I told you, but you wouldn’t believe me, wasted so much time.”

Xu Xin didn’t feel the time was wasted, at least he managed to contact everyone in the [Exploration Group] and gathered some information.

“Then let’s set off, let’s try to get out of this underground by tonight.” Xu Xin didn’t sit down, leaning against the doorway as he spoke.

“Leave now?” Xue Lan looked at Xu Xin somewhat unexpectedly, “Aren’t you going to rest for a bit? Those mechanisms are quite frightening.”

Having been eating oranges and apricots, his spirit and physical strength so far were full, with no need to rest.

“No need, before leaving, I’ll first contract a few mutated beasts.”

Xu Xin and the four stone statues arrived at the entrance of the room where the mutated beasts were confined, and Chang Yin directly pushed open the door to enter.

In the vast underground stone chamber, the gaze of a group of mutated beasts that had already broken out of their cages immediately concentrated on Xu Xin and the others.

Sure enough, they were all awake.

With a few roars, a dozen or so mutated beasts at the front rushed towards them first.

Xu Xin was just about to draw his broom when he saw Chang Yin stomp his foot, causing the entire ground to tremble instantly, and then he roared, “Get back!”

All the mutated beasts were shocked into place, then slowly retreated, and in less than half a minute, all the mutated beasts had returned to the cages they had damaged, obediently lying down.

…So powerful?

“Alright, choose according to your preference, want some suggestions?” Chang Yin didn’t seem to think what he did was remarkable, turning his head to Xu Xin.

“Is there anything very fast and aggressive?” Xu Xin inquired.

“Follow me.”

Xue Lan, the child, and the maid did not enter. Chang Yin led Xu Xin through the gaps between the cages.

Looking at the already damaged cages around them and the mutated beasts that could jump out at any moment, Xu Xin would be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous. The distance was too close, with the explosive speed of these beasts, it would be difficult even to dodge.

But each time Chang Yin approached, the beasts in the cages either shrank their heads and lay down or huddled in the farthest corner of their cage, trembling like wronged puppies.

“Are they so afraid of you because they’ve already signed a contract with you?” Xu Xin asked curiously.

“No, they’re just afraid of my strength, plus I’ve done many experiments on them, it’s normal they’re afraid of me.”

Soon, Chang Yin brought Xu Xin to a cage, which amazingly was not made of iron but another metal. The cage wasn’t rusted nor damaged, but because its color was a dark reddish-rust color similar to the surroundings, Xu Xin didn’t notice the difference in this cage the first time he came.

Inside the cage was a cheetah covered in blood-red patterns. Unlike other mutated beasts that trembled, this cheetah bared its teeth at Xu Xin and Chang Yin outside the cage, growling lowly.

Keke, perched on Xu Xin’s shoulder, also bared its teeth at the cheetah in the cage.

“How does this cheetah seem to you?”

Xu Xin’s eyes lit up, it’s a cheetah! What a find!

Cheetahs are very familiar to Xu Xin. Though like leopards they have “leopard” in their name, cheetahs are not the muscular big cats of the Panthera genus but slender cats from the Felidae family, called leopards only because they resemble leopards.

Compared to tigers, lions, and leopards, cheetahs are much weaker, often seen as the underdogs of the savannah, bullied by hyenas, leopards, lions, and even vultures would dare to snatch the cheetah’s food.

Despite their weakness in strength, cheetahs have a powerful side. On Earth, cheetahs are the fastest land animals, with a top speed that can reach 130 kilometers per hour, three times Usain Bolt’s speed. Their acceleration to 100 kilometers per hour takes just over two seconds, outpacing most top sports cars.

Because of their speed, cheetahs have a hunting success rate of nearly 60%, astonishing considering the hunting success rate of tigers is not over 30% and a lion pride is less than 20%. However, success in hunting doesn’t mean they never go hungry since their food is often stolen due to their lack of strength. After all, they are the underdogs of the savannah.

But the mutated cheetah in front of them didn’t look weak at all. This cheetah was very large, looking to weigh close to 200 kilograms, even larger than some tigers. Had it not been for its still slender form, Xu Xin might have mistaken it for a leopard.

Moreover, this cheetah had very distinct red patterns on its body, almost comparable to the Blood Pattern Rabbit and Blood Patterned Cat Xu Xin had summoned from the altar.

“This cheetah is my most successful experiment, its grade is just shy of reaching the intermediate mutated beast level.” Chang Yin pointed to the two front paws of the cheetah.

Only then did Xu Xin notice that the cheetah’s two front paws had an appearance change similar to the Blood Patterned Cat’s, with the claws extended being incredibly sharp and akin to Wolverine’s claws.

“It’s just a pity, it’s the limit of what I can achieve. The reagent extracted from the flesh of intermediate mutated beasts might not be able to mutate ordinary beasts into intermediate beasts.” Chang Yin shook his head with some regret.

“This will do.” Xu Xin took out a [Mutated Beast Contract] and directly crushed it on this cheetah.

“Hey, you…”

[Contract failed, please try again.]

Huh? Can contracts fail too? Xu Xin felt a bit awkward.

“I told you, this one is almost at intermediate level. Even if it isn’t quite there yet, you can’t just forcefully make a contract, can you? You need it to feel some sense of subjugation towards you first,” Chang Yin looked at Xu Xin, lines of worry crossing his face.

Xu Xin awkwardly rubbed his nose, thinking that these contracts could be enforced directly.

Thinking it over, it really seemed to be the case.

Up till now, he had only formed contracts with the Silver King and the bat within the ring.

When the contract with the Silver King was made, it was already in a dying state. If it didn’t agree to the contract, it could drop dead at any moment. Xu Xin told it that if it wanted to continue living, it should sign the contract, and only then did the Wolf King agree with its strong desire to survive.

While contracting with the bat, it was so scared by the special broom in Xu Xin’s hand that it didn’t dare move, trembling in surrender, so the contracting process went smoothly.

Xu Xin immediately took out the broom from his backpack.

The moment it was revealed, the beasts in the surrounding cages shrank back in unison, away from Xu Xin.

Even the cheetah in the cage in front of him took a step back, hissing at him threateningly. Since he kept cats at home, Xu Xin knew this threat carried a hint of fear.

“Your broom is really useful,” Xu Xin couldn’t help but say to Chang Yin.

“Of course, it’s been coated with… why am I telling you this? Just hurry up and sign a contract with it, we still need to leave,” Chang Yin began to say half a sentence before stopping, urging Xu Xin.

But Xu Xin caught a bit of information. This broom had been coated with something, which is why low-level mutant beasts were afraid of it. Could it be the blood of some higher-level mutant beast?

“Keke, are you afraid of this thing?” Xu Xin waved the broom in front of Keke, causing the surrounding beasts to shrink into the corners of their cages instantly, and the cheetah in front of him puffed up in fear, letting out a meow and scratching at the metal bars in front of Xu Xin.

Luckily, the metal bars were specially made and weren’t broken by its claws.

“Whimper.” Keke shook its head and then glanced disdainfully at the cheetah in the cage, as if saying, “Imagine, such a big guy reacting so strongly to a broom.”

Cheetahs, being part of the cat family, let out meows instead of roars like tigers or lions. Xu Xin found this amusing, never expecting that even a large cheetah could sound so cute.

At this point, Chang Yin helped Xu Xin by stomping his foot, striking fear into the caged cheetah, making it tremble. He then urged, “Hurry up, poke it a few times with that gun, and it might just submit.”

But Xu Xin didn’t do that, Chang Yin’s contract didn’t have the ability to heal injuries.

Xu Xin squatted down to meet the cheetah’s gaze, holding a contract, and started with mouth artillery: “I bet you don’t want to stay in this cage, would you rather run out in the wide world? We’re about to leave, this is your last chance. Once we go, this place will be sealed, and you’ll stay in this cage until you die.”

The Blood-Stripe Cheetah seemed to understand Xu Xin’s words, gradually closing its mouth that was ready to hiss, its expression becoming less fierce.

“After forming the contract, you’ll be my partner. I’ll provide shelter and food, and you’ll live without worries,”

“Whimper whimper!” Keke jumped to the front of the cage, patted its chest, indicating that Xu Xin was telling the truth.

Maybe Keke had an effect, for the cheetah’s tense body gradually relaxed.

Striking while the iron was hot, Xu Xin tossed a large red berry into the cage.

Tempted by the smell of the red berry, the cheetah sniffed it a couple of times, glanced at them, and finally couldn’t resist, eating the red berry.

At this time, Xu Xin once again crushed the contract in his hand.

This time, the cheetah only symbolically struggled a bit before giving up resistance, being enveloped by the contract fragments.

That was quite easy, wasn’t it?

[Contract with mutant cheetah, points earned: 90]

Calculating at a ratio of five to one, this cheetah had scored 450 points in the last hunting event, while the Blood Pattern Rabbit and Blood Patterned Cat scored 500. Surely, it was just a notch away from intermediate-level mutant beasts.

Chang Yin pressed a mechanism nearby, and the specially made cage slowly began to open.

The contracted Blood-Stripe Cheetah became much more docile but unlike the Silver King, it didn’t come and snuggle with Xu Xin, instead, standing coldly by his side. When Xu Xin reached out to touch it, it sidestepped away.

Maybe that’s the difference between felines and canines.

“What material is this cage made of?” Xu Xin was a bit envious of the metal, able to remain unharmed against the cheetah’s claws.

“Don’t even think about it, I don’t know either, it’s been here underground from the start.”

Xu Xin tried to reclaim the cage, but it didn’t work, so he gave up.

After subjugating the cheetah, Xu Xin felt much more confident.

With a panda-like Keke sensitive to danger and treasure, a mutant bat that could fly ahead and scout, a mutant cheetah with rapid speed and strong attack, and outside there is a Silver King with such strong stamina that it can run long distances without tiring, his beast team was gradually growing stronger.

“Alright, let’s go!” said Chang Yin, “Now there shouldn’t be any issues, take us out from this eternally dark underground.”