The cubs leaped on Zed and began playing with him. Their eyes contained a combination of awe, respect, and happiness.
The Red Tiger growled in joy as she saw Zed obliging her children. He displayed no signs of being annoyed or frustrated by their behavior.
Rather, he seemed genuinely pleased.
This melted her heart with happiness.
His facial characteristics, aura, and even body smell might have changed from the man she remembered, but she was fully sure he was still that man.
The feeling she felt back then still existed.
The unique aroma of power was still the same, but just with a major difference. This aroma of power was suppressed within. It was like something inside him was sealing it, like a container.
He was truly the man who saved her family.
Their savior.
When he first protected them, she didn’t dare express her gratitude. She was afraid that he saved them just to relieve his boredom.
After all, why else would a being of such power even care about their existence? Much less, go to the extent of killing members of own race for an animal species?
This fear made her hesitant in approaching him.
But then, the next time, she observed him from a distance.
He was with this woman but he turned around to wave her goodbye, with a smile. A smile that radiated kindness and sincerity. There were no traces of mocking she was so afraid of.
That smile made her realize that he didn’t consider them ants. It gave her the confidence to treat him in the manner she did just an hour ago.
In a corner, Ashlyn patiently stood without making any comments. She noticed the activities between Zed and the cubs, and was lost in thoughts.
A few minutes later, the cubs were exhausted and Zed handed them to their mother. She made them asleep in a make-shift room and covered its entrance.
Then she asked the humans guests to further proceed in the cave.
The light from moonstones lit the cave and enhanced its visibility. It also provided a stable warm environment needed by the cubs.
Not only moonstones, but Zed even saw a few crystals that had camouflage properties. He wondered what used they served.
A minute later, they reached their destination.
Both Zed and Ashlyn were taken aback by what they saw. Zed now understood what purpose those camouflage crystals served.
Towards the end of the cave, there was a continuous release of twinkling lights. This wasn’t from the moonstones but rather from countless items lying on the floor.
If one looked at those items, then one would wonder if the cave was some sort of treasury.
Gold, diamond, gem and other precious stones occupied only a portion of this treasury. The truly treasured items were hundreds of medicinal herbs and materials sealed in transparent wooden boxes.
The boxes were created from the fibers of a hundred year mutated glass tree that was capable of masking aura.
It was most likely the boxes were retrieved from humans in the forest.
“This!”
Zed was astonished. Each herb and medicinal material was at least Grade II. Even Grade IV materials existed!
He checked further inside and found even more priceless items. There were invaluable jades and energized beads emitting a presence that didn’t belong to Earth!
“They must be either from the core region… or from space debris that has fallen in a few places within the forest.”
He most likely felt it was from the debris but he was not sure. The alien serpent Kiba and Ashlyn defeated some time ago was also from one of the debris.
Even Ashlyn was impressed. She found many high-grade items that even Beta-rank mutants would be interested in.
While surprised, she showed no interest in picking them. She knew the tiger was showcasing these items to Zed and not her. She was just a companion so she only checked them from a distance and did nothing else.
“You are offering them to me?” Zed asked while using sign language.
The tiger happily nodded. She knew she couldn’t return the favor she owned, but she wanted to pay her respects.
Zed could understand her intentions. He was choosing his words when Ashlyn picked a box despite her initial reluctance to do so.
The box contained a Grade III – Seven-petal Golden Rose!
One of the items Kiba wanted!
In the auction, this flower was also auctioned, but due to Sophia’s intervention, he could not purchase it.
Ashlyn handed the box to Zed and said, “Your brother is in need of it.”
The corners of his mouth twitched at the mention of brother. He only has one sibling, and that was a sister despite them not sharing ties of blood.
“Yes, I know,” Zed replied.
The tiger felt pleased that it could help her savior. It could not understand human language, but just the fact that Ashlyn handed the box to Zed spoke volumes.
Zed traced a finger on the transparent box and looked at the Seven-petal Golden Rose. A soft, vitalizing glow sparkled the flower. It was sealed but from close contact, he could feel his immune system revitalized.
Seven-petal Rose’s essence was extremely beneficial in genetic engineering experiments.
Every major species have two subsystems of the immune system: Innate and Adaptive. During genetic experiments, the body is under continuous exposure to foreign particles, and it is during this that Adaptive immune system plays a major role.
The systemic cells would consider every foreign particle as pathogens and eliminate it. This would reduce the efficiency of the experiment, this, in turn, would create troubles for the subject.
The essence of Seven-petal Rose has the ability to temporarily manipulate immunological memory. It is immunological memory that recognizes an antigen that the body has previously encountered and initiate a corresponding immune response.
This makes it valuable in high-risk genetic experiments.
“Felicity…”
This rose was needed for the solution he has in mind for Felicity. Of course, it was only a side component but it was important.
Such a beneficial flower was extremely rare in nature. It would be closely guarded by ominous beasts who wanted to consume it for their own benefit.
Besides its ability to manage immunological memory, the essence has the power to boost both innate and adaptive immune system. For ominous beasts who lived under constant threat of both humans and dangerous plants, Seven-petal Golden Rose was a divine flower.
Zed could visualize the difficulties Red Tiger must have faced to acquire it.
Why would she get this flower unless she needed it?
Acquiring wealth was as important as maintaining wealth. The treasury of Red Tiger was both for her and her children’s future.
Yet, she was offering everything to him.
“Haah~” Zed couldn’t help but sigh.
He has lived for a little over twenty years, but he has witnessed pretty much everything.
Greed, envy, and selfishness.
When he lived in slums, he believed they were traits restricted to those at the bottom of society. After all, people there lacked means and so they have to do whatever it takes to survive.
But later on, he fused with Cosmic Spark and entered Delta City. It was there he realized these traits were universal.
Both in slums and city, he has eyewitnessed the scenes of people paying favors with enmity. Very few would actually repay the favors with good intent.
“Children’s storybooks say kindness begets kindness… but that’s just fiction,” Zed shook his head.
Society pretty much has the inability to recognize goodness. It repays kindness with vice.
Zed has seen so much negativity in the world that this gesture of Red Tiger left him flabbergasted.
Sure, he might have protected her family but to him, it was nothing worth mentioning.
Back then, he did what he did because he desired to. Not because she would remember it for a lifetime and repay him.
Of course, he was well aware how his actions would be perceived by her. For her, his intervention was no different than that help from a god.
As such, he knew the status he held in her mind. He even knew the extent she felt gratitude for him, but it was very rare that someone pays gratitude with everything that one possesses.
It was what his experience taught him…
His alter ego could not be the serial seducer if he wasn’t a master of psychology. But this time, he was caught off-guard by a beast…
Red Tiger has smashed his notions of selfishness to pieces.
“For the first time, it doesn’t feel bad to be proven wrong,” Zed mused with a smile.
He crouched down on the floor. He looked at the wooden box containing Seven-petal Golden Rose before placing it with other boxes.
Ashlyn and Red Tiger were dumbfounded by his actions. He then grabbed a sizable amount of gold and diamonds.
“I hope you don’t mind me having them,” Zed said as he transferred them to his storage ring.
For a moment, Red Tiger was at a loss for a reaction. She then quickly offered other items including the rose but he refused.
“No, they don’t interest me.”
Zed tried his best to cross the language barrier. He pointed to his silver bracelet and rings to make a point on how he treasured jewelry items.
If Claudia was here, she would be amused by his words. Back then, he has tried to resist wearing bracelet by saying how he hated such items.
The Red Tiger poked at him to take medicinal herbs or jade stones that contained alien aura. She even carried these items in her jaw and dropped it on his lap.
With a smile, he placed the items back in their former position. He ran a hand over the tiger’s head and said, “I’m in real need of money… gold and diamonds would help me when I return back.”
It took him a while to assure Red Tiger he truly was in need of gold and diamonds. The Red Tiger was still not sure, but she finally gave up trying to force him to accept items she found precious.
“I will be taking a few more,” Zed said while practically grabbing every piece of jewelry.
Despite her nature, Ashlyn was astounded. Out of all the items in this treasury, gold and diamonds were the most useless.
In fact, they carried no value compared to other items. Even for Red Tiger, gold and diamond were no better than trash.
After all, they only had materialistic benefits which were of no use to a beast like her. It was just that she acquired them from the hunters who targetted her, and she stored them in this treasury.
Ashlyn was sure Zed was lying about money. She even understood he lied so that Red Tiger wouldn’t feel he was taking useless items.
But that understanding further amazed her.
She recalled Kiba and what he did in the auction. He was interested in Body Molding Ore so not only he stole the ore, but he robbed the entire auction house. Basically, he indirectly robbed hundreds of people who have auctioned their possessions.
For one item… Kiba carried out a robbery in broad daylight. No one knew how many people were killed and harmed due to his one act.
Now, she compared his actions with Zed.
Zed was OFFERED an entire treasury of precious items! There were materials which definitely interested him, and yet, he was refusing them!
The Red Tiger was basically begging him to take everything, but he was only grabbing useless items so that she doesn’t feel bad!
On the other hand, Dark Stars and auction house management did everything they could to stop Kiba from committing robbery, but he didn’t stop. Not only did he steal, he even created a riot-like situation.
The actions of the two brothers could not have been any different.
“Are they really brothers?”
Ashlyn started having doubts.
Otherwise, how else can a borderline villain with heavy sadistic tendencies have such a kind-hearted brother?
