The look in Wang Hu's eyes became even gentler and even more resolute yet also unusually sharp.

It was so sharp that Di Baijun, who had just turned away, subconsciously shifted her gaze back to him.

An unfamiliar sense of panic and loss as to how she should react welled up fiercely within her. She felt especially discomfited; it was as though she didn't even know where she should direct her gaze.

At the same time, another thought also involuntarily came to her—what was the matter with the jerk?

Had he turned silly after beating up a piece of useless trash?

Di Baijun didn't understand. Under the influence of these emotions, it took only a short span of three seconds for her to become irritated.

She, who didn't know how she should react to Wang Hu, instinctively chose the way that she was the most familiar with. Her eyes widened, and she glared at that jerk with her big round eyes before she spoke coldly and disdainfully.

Roar~!

"I will naturally protect Big Treasure and Little Treasure well. No one is allowed to bully them. This has nothing to do with you, however."

Rendered somewhat speechless, Wang Hu shut his mouth.

Usually, shouldn't one be curious as to why he had said something like that instead?

Alright, expecting Silly Girl to think and consider how he was currently feeling was indeed asking too much of her.

Even if she did, hoping that she would do something heartwarming and ask him whether something bad had happened like a normal human wife… was even bigger wishful thinking.

However, it was alright as long as he could temporarily gloss over the matter about his strength.

He suppressed those somewhat complex emotions in his heart and spoke gently to Di Baijun.

Roar~!

"Don't be mad, Baijun. Although you're just as pretty as ever even when you're angry, I still prefer you to be happy instead."

Di Baijun caught her breath when she heard what he said. Embarrassed and mad, she glared at him and gave him a silent warning. Then, she snorted coldly and turned around before walking off with her chin slightly raised.

Behind her, a smile appeared on Wang Hu's face. After that, he took one last look at the livestream and switched the screen to cartoons for the two little fellows instead.

As he glanced at the two little fellows who seemed to have forgotten all about what had happened just now, as well as at Silly Girl who was starting to cultivate at the other side, the complex feelings in him gradually sank to the bottom of his heart.

His gaze shifted to the south with an exceedingly deep and solemn look in his eyes. Mixed within them was also a slight tinge of unusual emotion that seemed apologetic, serene, and exhausted.

He took a light breath and exhaled. Then, he turned around and started to cultivate.

…

While it seemed like Wang Hu and his family had returned to their peaceful days—in the world outside, the storm in China—and even the entire human world—had only just begun.

The influence of this incredibly serious and important incident in China, which had attracted the attention of everyone worldwide, was only just beginning.

Before they could even lick their own wounds, armies and experts started to arrive on a continuous and large-scale basis. Everyone in the whole of Hu County was immediately evacuated, leaving not a single civilian living in Hu County anymore.

Grand-scale construction in preparation for war also began. There was only one purpose behind this—to guard against that evidently unfriendly alternate world.

Or rather, it was to guard against that alternate world that had already formed a deep feud with part, if not more, of the people in this world.

Incidents like that absolutely mustn't happen a second time here.

Putting aside the various opinions flying about all over the Internet, it seemed like China—which had already been undergoing constant changes during the last three years—had been greatly triggered all at once.

Over the short span of a day, several extremely formal and serious meetings were held on administrative levels, ranging from the top all the way to the bottom.

A reform—they needed to enforce a thorough, head-to-toe reform.

There was no more hesitation, no more feeling like they couldn't bear to do it. Not a single person dared to oppose it anymore either.

The pain and agony from the Hu County incident had thoroughly afflicted the hearts of almost every Chinese in the country.

They had to change. Anyone that dared to oppose the change was the country's enemy, and they would never stop until they cut the other party down.

This was the second cabinet meeting being held on this day.

"We've set the general approach for the great reform during the last meeting so let's discuss the impact that the Hu County incident has on various aspects and how we should respond in this meeting."

After a momentary pause, an elderly man said solemnly, "I'm sure everyone here is aware of the Hu County incident's impact on foreign countries. Some are gloating and watching the show, but more have been put on the alert and are taking warnings from the incident.

"Generally speaking, with the Holy Tribunal of the Third Eye appearing first and that alternate world turning up next, the situation has bolstered the sense of unity among all the countries. There is very little negative impact with regard to foreign countries so this can be easily solved.

"Internally, the people's outrage indeed isn't easy to mitigate. I'll talk about the incident's casualties first."

He sighed softly before he went on. "The people have personally witnessed the bloodshed. Not many are directing their outrage at the cabinet; the majority of the people are directing it at the alternate world instead. They've also become fearful.

"How do we respond to the alternate world's presence? How do we dispel the people's fear?"

That's right, fear. To be honest, a lot of people's fury was actually fear—fear that they would also face something like that.

"What is the secretariat's opinion?" asked Dong Pingtao steadily.

"With regard to the alternate world, the secretariat's opinion is that we should first confirm an adversarial relationship with the alternate world and respond while centering on this relationship.

"After that, we should think of a way to explore the alternate world and do our best to understand what's going on inside there.

"Apart from that, we should also go straight to deploying the A-bombs and set up defensive measures in the area. When the spiritual energy density level rises again and reaches a level high enough to allow that Third Realm expert to enter China, we'll directly use the A-bombs on it.

"As for how we can dispel the public's fear, the secretariat's detailed proposal can be found in the documents."

All the elderly officials had already flipped open the documents and were reading them.

Ten minutes later, they fully confirmed the plan.

Chen Jianguo said calmly, "One more thing. It's time that we discuss the matter about the Northern Tiger King."

He fell silent after saying that as though he was just someone facilitating the meeting on the surface.

Hints of hesitation surfaced in the eyes of the greater half of the elderly officials present.

Several seconds later, an elderly official slowly said, "The Tiger King has done us a huge favor this time. We are greatly beholden to him. No matter what, he—as well as his family—is considered China's friends."

Everyone present stayed silent and continued to listen to him quietly.

"However," the elderly man went on, "the country takes precedence. He may be our friend, but one can never be too careful. The necessary preparations should still be done.

"After all, this world is no longer the same. All the countries in the world must band together, and we must also unite all the strength that we have, but even so, we must not let down our guard.

"Additionally, I also suggest that we give more attention to animals. Reality has proven that we didn't place enough importance on them previously. The Animal Planning team should be promoted to cabinet ministers."

The few elderly officials glanced at the speaking official pointedly before they shifted their gazes to the calm and steady Dong Pingtao.

At once, they more or less understood, and the looks of hesitation on their countenances disappeared.

Amid the silence, one of them took the initiative and said, "I agree."

Right on the heels of it, all the elderly officials—including Chen Jianguo—verbally expressed their agreement.

An unruffled Dong Pingtao then said, "Yes, we must do all the preparations that we should. However, we must also even more so do what we should… as friends.

"Raise all classified information about the Tiger King to SSS-class, the highest level of confidentiality. Only the cabinet and the military are allowed to access it. Anyone who dares to form disloyal thoughts will be punishable under the crime of treason."

No one objected to it. All of them knew that this friend of theirs, whom they knew so well, had already made up his mind to form a closer relationship with the Tiger King.

In that case, then there was no need to object… because everyone who had objected to his decisions in the past had all stepped down.

One must know that it wasn't like his strong-willed and unyielding nature and his heavy-handed ways had disappeared. Take the recent incident for example. Among all the major countries of the world, who—including themselves—would dare to allow the live broadcast to continue?

Well, he did.

On top of that, he had also immediately finalized the great reform's general approach with his heavy-handed methods.

What he said at the end also needed very much to be said. After all, as the saying went, there were all kinds of fish in the sea.

Similarly, when a country gained power, there would also be all kinds of people in it.

There would always be extremely daring and reckless people.

Besides, even they—the people currently present at the meeting, including the one who had made the decision himself—didn't necessarily not harbor discordant thoughts to some extent.

This was very normal.

They were the leaders of this country.

It was just that the world was indeed different now. Thus, they must suppress those discordant thoughts.

Moreover, since they had already made the decision, then they must follow it through to the end. Not giving anyone an opportunity to do otherwise benefited them all.

"I suggest changing the Animal Planning team to the Multi-Species Department. They'll be directly managed by the cabinet and specifically responsible for making contact with other species within Chinese borders. I will be Department Chief, and Elder Li will be Deputy Department Chief," said Dong Pingtao who spoke again at this point. He glanced at the elderly official that had spoken just now and then at the others.

"I agree."

Two words rang throughout the whole meeting room.

"Great. As for how we should thank the Tiger King and communicate with him after this, why don't you personally see to this, Elder Li?" Dong Pingtao suggested dispassionately.

"Alright." Elder Li, whose full name was Li Aimin, nodded seriously.

After that, they discussed other matters for another half an hour before the meeting concluded.

Thanks to the great global impact, huge changes were rapidly taking place in the world.

When a behemoth like China really moved at its full power, they were capable of exceedingly astonishing and incredible things.

Recruiting soldiers and expanding the army, redeploying military defenses, increasing the number of schools, changing the economic center, transforming China from all angles…

All these and more took place concurrently.

With various different changes taking place, China could be said to be a completely different place with each passing day.

…

The quiet forests in the mountains were completely different from the outside world.

Two days had passed since that incident.

On the surface, there was nothing out of the ordinary about Wang Hu, and it seemed like he had completely returned to what he was like in the past.

What he found somewhat troubling yet also enjoyable and amusing… was that Silly Girl had finally realized what was going on. He had been letting her win all this time.

Given her 'frosty on the outside but warm on the inside' type of personality, how could she possibly act like it didn't happen?

The look in her eyes when she looked at him—frustration, humiliation, and anger stemming from embarrassment amid indignation—the next day was already not quite right, and she also began ignoring him.

Wang Hu wanted to laugh when he saw her stuck-up little actions, wishing he could see it all the time.

However, all the cajoling that should be done still needed to be done. He let her calm down for a couple of days, but he also made her feel even more sullen for a couple of days.

On this day, Wang Hu returned with the food he had hunted and thought to himself that it was about time.

After watching Silly Girl—who had become significantly colder and haughtier than what she had been two days ago—and the two little fellows fill their stomachs and head off to do their own things, Wang Hu ran over to Silly Girl who was in the midst of cultivating.

In that split-second, she retracted that indiscernible sliver of attention she had left on him in her peripheral vision.

Di Baijun's chin rose a little higher, and the air around her became even colder and haughtier.

Roar~!

Wang Hu asked gently, "Are you angry at me again, Baijun?"

Di Baijun instinctively glared at him. Then, as if she had realized something, she immediately retracted her glare and disdainfully gave him a cold, impatient reply.

Roar~!

"How would I possibly be angry because of you? What a joke. Go away."

Wang Hu was unaffected by Silly Girl's reply. Most of what she said had to be understood and done the opposite way to be effective.

Roar~!

"It's fine as long as you're not mad. I hate seeing you angry the most, Baijun."

Di Baijun nearly couldn't keep her face straight. That jerk! If it hadn't been for that jerk, how would she possibly have been angry that often during the last three years? Or live with such feelings of frustration and humiliation?