Yan Bubu ran so fast that, when he was grabbed by the arm and hauled into the air, his legs were still a blur. Then an arm clamped over his neck and a hard object jabbed into his temple.
He was barely able to breath like this. His throat spasmed as he couldn’t even recite the magic spell. He struggled desperately to pry at the arm around his neck.
“Stop moving, brat. Do it again and I’ll paint the ground with your brains.” An aggressive voice hissed from above.
Yan Bubu knew deep down that there was a fundamental difference between the kind of gun against his head and his finger guns. Since he couldn’t use his most powerful magic, he stopped struggling and didn’t dare to move.
As he was carried back, Feng Chen and one of Chu Shi’s subordinates were circling around a broken wall. Chu Shi and the others stood not far away. Some were silently amused, as if they were watching a cat teasing a rat, while others even whistled and cheered.
That subordinate was just teasing Feng Chen at first, but after a few circles around the block, he found that the teen was as slippery as a fish and gradually got serious.
Feng Chen was in flight rather than fight mode. He dodged that guy’s grasp while surveying the nearby terrain.
–Chu Shi and the others stood a distance away. He could find a chance to run.
When he was once again behind the wall, Feng Chen suddenly stopped. The man in hot pursuit couldn’t stop in time and took a vicious punch to the face. His nose gushed blood as his vision spun.
Feng Chen was about to rush towards the ruins on the left when he heard another voice from ahead, “Hey, Kid named Feng. Stop or I’ll shoot your little lackey dead.”
Feng Chen looked in that direction and saw Yan Bubu being held in front of a man’s chest with a gun to his head. The child peered fearfully at him.
His expression sank as he came to a stop.
The subordinate who got sucker punched took this opportunity to catch up and twist his arms behind him. Then he shoved Feng Chen heavily against a nearby wall.
Feng Chen slammed into the wall with a thud. A muffled grunt of pain came out of his mouth.
“Damn, why don’t you keep running, huh? Huh? Are you a fucking rabbit?” The subordinate cursed viciously as he kicked him in the calf.
Feng Chen didn’t make a sound, but a wince flickered across his face. Yan Bubu started struggling hard again after seeing Feng Chen being assaulted.
The subordinate slammed Feng Chen’s face against the wall and raised his fist when Chu Shi impatiently called out, “That’s enough. There’s no point in beating him. Business first.”
“Fuck, I’ll deal with you later.”
The subordinate didn’t dare to disobey Chu Shi. He freed a hand to tug at Feng Chen’s backpack, cursing up a storm.
As Feng Chen’s cheek was pressed against the wall, he happened to meet Yan Bubu’s eyes. He chomped his teeth, motioning for Yan Bubu to bite the arm of the man who was holding his neck.
Yan Bubu stared at him before nodding with difficulty, indicating that he understood.
Feng Chen’s right hand slowly came down to touch the dagger behind his waist. He planned to stab the person behind him, while Yan Bubu broke free by biting his captor. Then he would rushed over, grab Yan Bubu and run.
Yet at that moment, Yan Bubu suddenly stopped struggling and stared at something behind him with eyes wide with terror.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Mfcu Jtfc vlvc’a ecvfgrajcv kts. Llr tfjga rxlqqfv j yfja jr tlr wbnfwfcar rajiifv rilutais.
Dea tf rbbc ecvfgrabbv.
C mbiv klcv gertfv qjra yftlcv tlw, rwfiilcu ragbcuis bo gba jcv yibbv. Ktfc atf uglq bc tlr ybvs ibbrfcfv jr atf reybgvlcjaf ifa bea j tjgrt rmgfjw.
Mfcu Jtfc vlvc’a ybatfg ab rff ktja kjr tjqqfclcu jcv vjrtfv bea. Lf tfjgv rbwfbcf fzmijlwlcu, “Klufg! Ktfgf’r j oemxlcu alufg!”
He glanced over for a second and saw a large tiger with yellow strips biting the man’s neck and dragging him deeper into the ruins.
The tiger suddenly saw the nearby Yan Bubu and seemed to recall something. Its eyes glinted with cold hatred as it let go of the man in its mouth and pounced in the child’s direction.
The man lay on the rubble with bloody holes in his neck that gurgled out blood. His body kept twitching.
“A-Si!” Someone beside Chu Shi called out to him as he drew his gun and fired at the tiger.
This tiger unexpectedly seemed to understand the power of bullets. It abruptly pounced behind a boulder to avoid the bullets before rushing out with a roar.
Only this time its target was no longer Yan Bubu, but the men who were shooting at it.
Chu Shi saw Feng Chen running away and bellowed, “Never mind the tiger, grab the kid first!”
The man holding Yan Bubu panicked at the sudden emergence of such a tiger. He couldn’t care less about Yan Bubu and turned his gun on the predator.
The arm around Yan Bubu’s neck loosened. Fresh air instantly rushed into his lungs. He could obviously take advantage of this opportunity to slide down to the ground, but he recalled Feng Chen’s order just now. Between loud coughs, he lunged for the man’s straightened right arm and chomped down hard.
“Arrgh!” The man was caught off guard and screamed. The gun in his hand fell to the ground.
Yan Bubu landed on the ground. He was grabbed by the back of his collar before he could even straighten and instantly went into the air again.
Both his body and mind have become used to this state. He instantly recognized the person carrying him and became as docile as a kitten being grabbed by the scruff by its mother.
Feng Chen dashed deeper into the ruins with Yan Bubu like the wind, vaulting over the bricks and rubble.
Behind them was the footsteps of Chu Shi’s group as well as the roars of the tiger.
The subordinates had to keep chasing Feng Chen while also fending off the tiger with their guns, greatly reducing their speed.
This tiger was unusually agile, dodging the rain of bullets and constantly lunging at them.
It has been completely enraged. Its bloodshot eyes gleaming with the need to bite a few people to death. It seemed only death could stop it at this point.
Thus painting a peculiar picture: the teen carrying a child in his arms was in the front, running like the wind, followed by a group of people who chased him while having a life-and-death brawl with a tiger.
With the tiger’s indirect help, Feng Chen was able to create some distance from his pursuers even with Yan Bubu in tow. But when he glanced to the side for a second, he discovered that someone had managed to evade the tiger and was catching up from the left.
“Bang bang bang bang bang.” Yan Bubu faced backwards from the way Feng Cheng was carrying him. The sounds of gunshots came from his mouth.
Feng Chen thought he was making finger guns again. He almost tripped over thin air when he inadvertently glanced at the child.
There was an actual gun in Yan Bubu’s hands, pointed wobblingly to the rear. The child didn’t know that you needed to pull the trigger to shoot, so he just made sound effect with his mouth.
Apparently he picked up the gun of the man whose arm he had just bitten.
Feng Chen bellowed, “Yan Bubu, give me the gun!” Then he flung him over his left shoulder like a sack.
Yan Bubu’s world went topsy-turvy. The gun slipped out of his hands, but Feng Chen has already freed his right hand and caught the gun in midair. He smoothly fired a shot to the back and left.
With a bang and a shower of debris, the man after them was nearly hit. He was caught off guard and tripped over a rock as he dodged.
By the time he regained his balance, Feng Chen had already disappeared into the ruins of a nearby neighbourhood.
This used to be a slum where poor people lived. It was densely packed with houses with alleyways all over the place like a giant spiderweb. The houses might have collapsed, but there were still broken walls standing everywhere. It was like stepping into a maze.
Feng Chen and Yan Bubu hid in the shadows behind a row of wreckage, with their backs against the broken wall, not daring to breathe too loudly. That subordinate was just a short distance away from them, looking around.
The ruins were very quiet aside from the guttural roars of the tiger coming from the street, and the constant gunfire as well as howls of misery.
The temperature was high. Feng Chen was sweating like a waterfall after running all the way here. He looked like he just came out of the shower. He glanced at Yan Bubu next to him. The child wasn’t much better off, his head of curly hair sticking to his cheeks.
A hovercraft came to a stop outside the ruins. Chu Shi’s voice could be heard, “Where are they?”
The subordinate reported, “I was them come here, but I lost track of them. They shouldn’t be too far.”
Feng Chen looked out from a very small gap and saw Chu Shi leisurely turn around and take out a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher from the hovercraft.
He handed the cigar he was smoking to A-Dai and slowly exhaled a cloud of smoke. He shouted at the ruins, “Kid, I’ll count down from three. Be good and come out.”
Although Yan Bubu didn’t see what was going on, he tensed nonetheless and subconsciously grabbed Feng Chen’s arm.
“Three, two, one.”
The shell came out with a bang, a glorious explosion enveloping the leftmost part of the ruins from the street. Debris rained down from the sky.
Yan Bubu dove into Feng Chen’s arms and wrapped his little arms tightly around his waist.
Feng Chen shook off the dust on his head and continued to wach. He saw Chu Shi take A-Dai’s hand for a smoke break. One mechanical finger rested on the trigger of the rocket launcher, glinting like cold metal in the firelight.
Feng Chen’s heart skipped a beat when those cold, viper-like eyes swept to the far right. Although he knew they hadn’t been spotted, he still moved away from the gap.
“Kid, don’t think you have a chance just because you got a gun. You won’t make it out alive if you resist. I know you’re hiding in there, so be good, come out and stop wasting everyone’s time.”
Feng Chen’s thumb rubbed the handle of the gun. He knew that Chu Shi was dead serious. That subordinate and A-Dai had their guns trained on the ruins at all times. They would be shot without mercy at the slightest movement.
“Here’s your chance. I’ll count down from three again… Three, two, one.”
With that, another shell discharged and exploded much closer to their hiding spot.
Although Yan Bubu had buried his head in Feng Chen’s arms, his ears were buzzing even through the fabric.
As the explosions faded, the gunfire and shrieks nearby became audible again. Chu Shi roared impatiently in that direction, “Haven’t you lot fucking smoked that tiger yet?”
Aside from the leftmost part where Yan Bubu and Feng Chen were hiding, everywhere else on this row was burning. There were two giant craters on the ground.
“Do they have a death wish? Are they already dead? Or are they still cowering like rats in a corner somewhere? Hmm, I think they’re probably snivelling in a corner somewhere…”
Chu Shi’s tone was as unhurried as ever, even revealing a kind of twisted elation.
“I love light and fire. It’s still so dark over here…no, no, no. We have to make it bright too. So…let’s get another shell and boom! Hahahaha…”
Yan Bubu lifted his face from Feng Chen’s chest. He took a deep breath and opened his mouth.
Before he could recite the magic spell, Feng Chen clamped a hand over his mouth and shushed him quietly.
Yan Bubu stared at him, his eyes saying: I can do it.
Feng Chen slowly but firmly shook his head. No, you can’t.
My last brain cell while translating this chapter…
Feng Chen: Let me see what you have.
Yan Bubu: A gun!
Feng Chen: NO!
***
I hope you all enjoyed the first twenty chapters of CUBS. Lots more funny, heartwarming, heartbreaking and thrilling moments to come!
CUBS will be updated biweekly on Wednesday and Sunday (and sometimes Friday). From ch 21 onward, you can find the Chrysanthemum Garden password on the Discord.
I’m still working out the specifics, but some advance chapters should become available on Patreon soon if that interests you.
Hey I love this! Could Bubu’s spiritual beast be a cat?? He really resembles a small curious kitten hehe
Bubu, the sweet docile puppy
This man is serious. I like it, I’m tied of weak antagonists. But trying to kill kids it’s still one of the most powerful sigh in my opinion
Thank you for your translation 💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗
*sin (auto corrector trying to make my speech more peaceful)
It’s been a while since I’ve felt actual hatred towards an antagonist.
Thank you for the translation 💛
Hi my dear friend E, did you figure it out?👀