Star Rank Hunter

Translator's Notes: Bet you guys never saw THIS coming... except those who subscribed to Patreon and had early access or super early access to our private stash. :)

EDIT: Oh wait woops damn I guess my brain hasn't fully recovered yet: Thank you once again as always to R.V. for sponsoring THIS chapter! There goes my holiday next week though *cries*.

SRH Chapter 157: The Two Scourges: Dance Night ‘Wolf King’ VS Cyborg Cat [Part 1]

Unlike the dispirited person they had seen during the day at that stone house, the current Rikulab looked like he had changed into a bright new husk. His hair had been put in order, and although it wasn’t exactly tidy, there was a trace of wildness amidst his unkempt appearance. The tip of a few shoots of hair looked a bit mysterious under the lighting, and an infinite amount of confidence and vigor gushed out of him to the point where it was almost visible. Meanwhile, the atmosphere in ‘Dance Night’ had been pushed by Rikulab - the ‘Wolf King’ - to a new height.

As he strode and swayed his arms according to the music’s beat with wildness and unruliness, he felt just like a dangerous and lively wolf king striding across a grassland, ignorant to all of the heated gazes cast over by the many dancers around him.

When a tall, round platform slowly rose from the center from the dance floor, Rikulab instantly discharged an aggressive air that scattered his restlessness from before. He appeared extraordinarily dazzling on this stage that belonged to him alone.

Beneath the round platform, the people on the dance floor screamed, shouted and yelled as if they had gone mad. In the next moment, their cries were all buried by a new blast of music. He tossed down his jacket, and his shirt appeared disheveled as he danced. The top three buttons of his shirts had vanished before anyone realised it, and the open collar manifested masculine charm.

His dancing postures and movements were the only things that were fully visible. His eyes forever carried within them unexplored mysteries. His body twisting, his movements pandering and suggestive, and his moves were full of class despite seeming casual beneath the dazzling lights. Beneath his feet, beneath the round platform were fans who had been stirred up by music and alcohol to the point of insanity.

The women beneath the round platform screamed and shouted, well rounded bodies tossing seductive flying kisses from hot red lips. Their twisting waists, alluring curves, and sexy bodies swayed nimbly like a succubi. They all wore intoxicating smiles as dancing hair strands swept across other male dancers along with their moving bodies. But they did not care if the people beside them had been aroused by the hair cutting across their skin and stimulating their nerves. This was because their eyes never strayed from the man who had not looked anyone directly in the eyes on the tall platform.

The women could only feel a kind of vague impulse abruptly invading into their bodies. Rather than infatuated following, it was more like the product of fully unleashed hormones and atmosphere dyed hearts. In an instant, it put a lid on one’s reason and gave free rein for emotions go wild.

The hormones in this place were full to bursting.

Inside the private room slightly far away from the dance floor, Udoze was subconsciously swaying along with the music. Tang Qiuqiu was going to use the big headphones she was wearing to block off all of the noises from outside, but when her eyes swept across the tall platform that wasn’t there before, her eyes instantly turned round.

“I… is that uncle drunkard?”

Cillin gave her an affirmative glance.

“Why does it feel like he has worn a completely different skin after just a few hours? He does look handsome after tidying himself though. From this we can see just how important personal hygiene is!” Tang Qiuqiu commented with a straight face.

However, as Tang Qiuqiu watched on, she too felt an inclination to succumb into this pretty and flirtatious world. Her hands was still holding the big headphones Cillin had found for her, but she did not look like she was going to wear them..

This place was a dye pool. It would dye every newcomer just off the boat.

Hmm?

Cillin turned his head and looked at the gray cat that was crouched by the transparent window, currently watching and twisting its body along with the beat. He felt a little astonished.

This cat even knows how to dance?

As if wanting to prove Cillin’s thoughts, the gray cat felt very dissatisfied with the atmosphere inside this small private room and turned around to speak to Cillin, “I’m going out to have some fun!” once said, it scuttled right out of the door and vanished.

“Where is it going to have fun?” Tang Qiuqiu asked. She looked at the dance floor that looked like they were filled with dancing demons and confirmed that she did not like this place. However, she had to admit that there was a driving force behind this atmosphere.

Just when Cillin and Tang Qiuqiu made guesses as to where the gray cat went to steal some food, Cillin suddenly detected something and looked towards the tall platform. A gray figure had scuttled up the pole that was so smooth it was reflective and onto the platform. It even slipped in mid climb.

Cillin: “...”

Take it easy, sir cat!

For the longest time, Rikulab had always felt that he was born to fit the life in this place. He did not need too much alcohol, and he did not need too much supportive drugs. He was satisfied as long as he could step into this deafening venue and onto the platform that belonged to him and him alone!

He seemed to have turned numb, drunk, and muddleheaded. He was simply moving according to his wishes and shedding sweat wantonly. He seemed yearning to boil up the blood that had already cooled through this method.

This was his heaven where he had no need for words or speeches. Right now at this moment, no one would care about his background or his past. He needed to vent, to go crazy. He did not mind the strangers clinging and kissing beneath him, nor did he mind the the fervent gazes of the followers imitating him slavishly. He only wanted to make himself happy. It was a very simple wish.

Rikulab seemed incapable of tiring, and like a ferocious beast who had just awakened and struggled out of its cage; he sucked in fresh air madly and enjoyed his freedom with greed, unwilling to ever turn back.

Suddenly, Rikulab noticed something peculiar just like a king whose domain had just been invaded. His eyes immediately turned sharp, but when he noticed that the fellow who was twisting its body along with the beat and sharing his platform was a rather average-looking cat, the sharpness in his eyes was gradually withdrawn. He glanced once at the gray cat with a kind of interest, and the gray cat’s fur exploded when it saw that Rikulab was looking at it with the eyes of a man looking at a foolish animal.

Unlike before where it would use force to solve situations that made its fur stand, the gray cat stared without any show of weakness right back at Rikulab with obvious provocation. There were even some scorn and disdain in its eyes.

Yoho*, this cat is interesting!

*I don’t think I ever explained this properly, but it has the same context as ‘Oh’ in English.

A dance battle?

Alright, since you want it I’ll take you for a spin!

Rikulab raised a hand and snapped his finger once; his action changing the music indoors. The style of the music was extremely dazzling with clear, bright beats and an emphasis on intensity. The sweeping lights were changed, and the scene on the tall, round platform was displayed on the biggest projected screen in the venue.

The man and the cat battled each other through dancing without the slightest show of weakness at all.

Although it was a cat, the people who saw the gray cat actually thought that it was even more extraordinary than a human. The eyes, the trembling ears, the curving movements that could not be imitated by man; the teasing tail, the rhythmic footsteps that brought about a different kind of cadence; and finally the gaze that was cold and indifferent, but also both lazy and infinitely proud that it would look down upon everything and anything, knocked on the onlookers’ hearts beneath the tall, round platform bit by bit as the music beat and the gray cat danced.

Cillin put a hand to his forehead and rubbed the space between his eyebrows. He sighed amidst Tang Qiuqiu’s cries and cheers for the butt twisting cat that seemed to have completely forgotten itself above the platform: Sir cat, you truly are omnipotent! You truly are the monstrous product of a cyborg lifeform!

A music full of cadence and rhythm, skillful and nimble dancing bodies that were contracting and relaxing along to the rhythm, and inimitable dance steps and freedom to sway to one’s desires. The unique pair of dancers had drawn every attention in the entire ‘Dance Night’ to themselves.

The atmosphere on the scene soared along with their dances, and no one was dancing on the dance floor any longer. They were all looking at the tall platform and projection and erupting in claps and howls that were so loud it seemed capable of flipping the auditorium’s rooftop. The whistles, the screams, and the fiery atmosphere challenged every new limit it reached, and pushed the atmosphere in the entire ‘Dance Night’ over a peak again and again.

Escalate, escalate, and escalate some more.

Right now, Rikulab was no longer immersed in a proud and aloof dance with himself. In this circular domain, he could feel a contending power and a unique charm that was not inferior to any other dancer’s. Who could’ve possibly imagined before that a cat could display the glamour of dancing?

The man was like a king who led the crowd, occasionally tossing indifferent, lazy and composed glances beneath the platform. But somehow, his eyes contained a deadly charm that kept them chasing after him blindly, almost wanting to prostrate themselves in worship.

The cat’s flowing rhythm contained a trace of inseparable love. Intimacy and alienation that were like a paradox that battered at the crowd’s reason with unsurmountable intensity!