Digimon: I really didn't want to be the Digimon Emperor!

"Make your move!"

At Cheng Yuan's command, the entire jungle seemed to come alive. The ground suddenly collapsed, and the two wild beasts were caught off guard and fell into the trap carefully prepared by the pangolin.

"Boom!" The two pangolins, using their hardening skills to increase their weight, descended from the sky like two small tanks, landing precisely on the savage beast. Cheng Yuan even heard the "crack" of bones breaking.

"Holy crap..." His lips twitched, "Who did you learn this 'Mount Tai Press' move from?"

The vines of the Flower Beast coiled around the ankles of the third Wildman Beast like living snakes, while the thorns of the Baloo Beast bound the fourth one like a dumpling. The two unlucky creatures struggled desperately, but the entanglement only tightened.

"Click, click, click!" The Gear Beast's flying saw ripped through the air, accurately striking the fifth Savage Beast on the shoulder. The Candle Beast seized the opportunity to spray out sticky paraffin wax, firmly fixing the Savage Beast's legs to the ground.

"Ah-da!" The mineral beast, like a professional baseball pitcher, hurled the crystals condensed above its head at the last savage beast at a rate of three shots per second. The data sparks from the crystals exploding on the savage beasts illuminated the excited faces of the students.

"Ah~ Ah~ Ah~" The screams of the savage beasts rose and fell, like a group of cats whose tails had been stepped on.

Then comes the barrage of explosive skills...

Cheng Yuan shuddered, nearly collapsing from fright at the sight. He stared dumbfounded at his usually quiet classmates, who were now all incredibly excited, as if they had been injected with adrenaline.

"Are you guys on drugs? That's strong?" he muttered under his breath, suddenly feeling that his little dog was simply a gentle little angel.

"Little Dog Beast, let's go too!"

Meanwhile, in the clearing on the edge of the jungle.

Wang Lin lay leisurely on the grass, a wild fruit gathered by flying insects dangling from her mouth. Cao Jin, on the other hand, paced back and forth like an ant on a hot plate.

"Are you sure you don't need to come along? What if there's danger..." Cao Jin raised his concerns for the nth time.

Wang Lin lazily rolled over: "Don't worry, the savage beasts in this area have been mostly cleared out long ago."

She spat out a fruit pit, "Letting them get used to the wild environment is better than throwing them directly into Savage Valley."

"But......"

Wang Lin gave a mysterious smile: "But isn't this exactly the effect that Team Leader Xu wanted?"

"Relax, Mr. Cao. Sometimes, the digital world is the best university for a beast tamer..."

Chapter 41 Reinstatement and Scratching

After successfully killing the five savage beasts, only corpses surrounded by data streams remained on the battlefield.

Wenrou cautiously approached with the digital collector. A flash of blue light appeared, and the savage beast's corpse gradually turned into data and was sucked into the collector.

All that remained on the ground were a few rough wooden sticks, tattered animal hides, and five round digital cores that gleamed faintly.

“The material of these wooden sticks is quite unique.” A boy picked up the savage beast’s weapon and gently tapped the tree trunk, which produced a metallic sound. “They are very hard; they would definitely be valuable if used to make beads.”

"Don't just focus on picking up junk," Cheng Yuan reminded with a smile. "The digital cores are the key; the outpost buys them for 20,000 each."

Wenrou carefully collected the spoils. She put the five digital cores into her backpack, while the savage's wooden stick was tied to the pangolin's back.

The spoils brought smiles to everyone's faces, and the tension from before vanished completely.

"That was easy!" A boy wearing glasses pushed up his glasses. "Let's go deeper and try to complete as many tasks as possible."

“Exactly, this is much easier than training,” another girl chimed in, her eyes sparkling. “At this rate, we can earn a month’s worth of training fees today!”

Cheng Yuan did not respond immediately, but silently put the stone digital egg entrusted by the mischievous monkey into his backpack.

He noticed that although the students were in high spirits, the Digimon had already used up more than half of their energy.

The battle just now may have seemed easy, but it was actually because they used a perfect ambush tactic.

"Don't get too excited yet, everyone." Cheng Yuan cleared his throat. "Our teamwork still has a lot of room for improvement. That barrage of skills just now wasted too much energy. What if we encounter even more savage beasts?"

These words were like a bucket of cold water poured on the savage beast. Indeed, if the situation hadn't been controlled from the very beginning, leaving the savage beasts powerless to fight back, the battle would never have gone so smoothly.

"Woof!" The little beast suddenly perked up its ears and barked towards the depths of the jungle.

"Wang!"

Reminded by the little dog beast, Cheng Yuan remembered that there was a smashed naughty monkey beast in the grass in the distance, and he guessed that he could catch another one.

The core of the monstrous monkey is more valuable than that of the wild man because the monkey's activity area is farther away from the outpost, and the monkey is more agile and harder to catch.

So Cheng Yuan led everyone toward the mischievous monkey beast.

The sight where the ferocious monkey had fallen silenced everyone.

The Digimon was covered in wounds, its green fur was mostly burned off, and its body was covered in exposed data and flesh.

"Huh?" It's not dead yet.

No halo symbolizing the dissipation of data formed around the mischievous monkey.

“It…is to protect future generations…” Wenrou’s voice choked with emotion.

“We can’t just stand by and watch it die, can we?” A girl crouched down, gently stroking the wounds of the monkey beast, but then quickly withdrew her hand as if she’d been electrocuted. “But its injuries are too severe, and we don’t have any healing Digimon here…”

Cheng Yuan looked around, his brow furrowed. Splitting up to find rescue was too dangerous, but continuing with the severely injured monkey beast was also impractical. Finally, he had a flash of inspiration: "How about this, we'll secure it to the pangolin's back. If it can hold out until we get back to the outpost, we'll rescue it; if not... then we'll collect data."

This compromise, though cruel, is indeed the most practical option at the moment. Using vines, they carefully constructed a makeshift frame and secured the mischievous monkey to the pangolin's broad back.

After regrouping, they continued their journey along the valley. Sunlight filtered through the dense canopy, casting dappled shadows, and the sounds of the rushing river mingled with birdsong. If it weren't for the ever-present threat of encountering wild beasts, the scenery would have been truly delightful.

"There's a situation on the riverbank at two o'clock," Cheng Yuan said in a low voice, signaling everyone to take cover.

The little dog beast was already scouting ahead and could see two wild beasts sitting around a campfire. Chunks of meat from an unknown creature were roasting over the fire, and the grease dripping into the fire made a sizzling sound.

"Are they having a picnic?"

“The terrain is too open…” Cheng Yuan carefully observed the surrounding environment. The riverbank was completely exposed, leaving no room for an ambush. “Charging head-on is too dangerous; their fireballs are no joke.”

After a brief discussion, they decided to repeat their previous tactic, using a bait strategy—with the fastest puppy as bait. This time, the students learned from their mistake and instead of unleashing all their skills at once, they focused on teamwork and control.

The battle ended faster than expected. Once the two savage beasts were lured into the ambush, the vines of the Flower Beast immediately wrapped around their ankles, followed by a stone-throwing attack from the Mineral Beast that precisely struck their knees. As the savage beasts fell to the ground, the Pangolin's Earthclaw was already pressed against their throats.

"Beautiful!" Cheng Yuan couldn't help but exclaim. "That's what teamwork is all about!"

And so they ventured deeper into the jungle, using the same tactics to take down four more waves of savage beast squads. Their backpacks swelled with digital cores, and the smiles on their faces grew ever brighter. With a professional beast tamer providing support from behind, their courage grew, and they pressed deeper into the jungle.

However, when the little dog suddenly stopped and pricked up its ears warily, Cheng Yuan realized something was wrong. The air was filled with a burnt smell, mixed with some kind of pungent odor.

Pushing aside the last clump of bushes, the sight before them made everyone gasp—

This was a forest clearing stained red with blood, littered with the corpses of Wildman and Monkeymon. Some of the carcasses were still emitting wisps of smoke, indicating that the battle had just ended. A rough estimate suggested that at least thirty Digimon had perished here.

"Is...is there a war?" Wenrou's voice trembled slightly.

Cheng Yuan crouched down to examine the most recent corpses. The wounds on the savage beasts were mostly from bullets, while the wounds on the macaque beasts were mostly from blunt force trauma.

The corpses of the two Digimon were intertwined, clearly indicating that they had been through a fierce battle.

"Digital data acquisition equipment... is there still room for it?" A boy swallowed, his eyes gleaming. This was an astonishing fortune.

"Hurry up!" A tall boy impatiently drew his dagger. "Take out the data core before the data dissipates!"

Cheng Yuan frowned, but still followed his classmates. Wen Rou's data collector emitted a buzzing sound, constantly absorbing the data energy scattered on the battlefield.

Several daring boys squatted down next to the corpse, used daggers to cut open the Digimon's chest, and groped for the Digicore.

"Found it!" A bespectacled boy excitedly held up a green-glowing digital core, still covered with some data residue. His movements became more and more skilled, and he quickly collected five or six cores.

Some of the bolder students even took a knife and stabbed themselves into the chest of a Digimon, directly removing the Digicore.

"Cheng Yuan, look at this!" Wen Rou suddenly exclaimed, her voice filled with panic.

Cheng Yuan looked in the direction she was pointing. Behind the bushes at the edge of the battlefield, several rough wooden arches were faintly visible; inside, dozens of trembling baby Digimon were curled up, including Baby 1 Blackballmon and Baby 2 Woofmon. Anyone who had read the strategy guide knew that these were baby Digimon of Mamemon.

"This is... a baby Monkeymon?" Cheng Yuan gasped. According to the textbook, Blackballmon evolves into Woofmon, and then into Monkeymon. These cubs were clearly captured by Wildmanmon.

“Oh my god, they’re so small…” Wenrou’s voice trembled slightly. She crouched down, trying to get closer to the Digimon, and the Digimon on the other side immediately let out a terrified squeak.

A burly young man shrugged dismissively: "Why bother with them? We're not here to be conservationists." He brandished a dagger covered in data in his hand. "The important thing is to collect all the valuable data cores."

"But they're cubs!" Wenrou exclaimed, her eyes reddening with worry. "And they look starving..."

Cheng Yuan carefully observed the wooden roundworms. These roundworms, each about the thickness of a wrist, were tightly bound with vines coated with a pungent, sticky substance, presumably to prevent the arrival of a wild monkey beast.

"Woof!" The little beast suddenly perked up its ears alertly and turned to disappear into the depths of the jungle. Cheng Yuan immediately understood and whispered, "There's movement! Everyone, hide!"

Chapter 42 Save the Children

Cheng Yuan stared at the trembling black ball beast and the dog-cat beast, and felt as if something had gripped his chest tightly.

The cubs' fur was covered in mud and dried blood, their round eyes were filled with terror, and their tiny claws clung tightly to the earthworm, making faint "squeak" sounds.

“We have to save them,” Wenrou said softly, her eyes slightly red.

"Save it? How?" The boy with glasses pushed up his glasses, his tone indifferent. "Our mission is to collect data, not to play the saint. Besides, what would we do with it if we took it back? Are you going to raise it?"

“But…” Wenrou wanted to argue, but Cheng Yuan raised his hand to interrupt her.

"Don't make a sound." Cheng Yuan squatted down and carefully observed the roundworm-like creature.

The Digimon's armor, though simple, was indestructible to a young Digimon. He tried to push the armor, only to find it firmly held in place by some kind of tough plant fiber.

"Can the little beast bite through it?" Cheng Yuan asked in a low voice.

The little dog approached the vine and tried to tear at it with its teeth, but the vine didn't budge. "Woof! This vine has been specially treated; it's incredibly strong!"

Cheng Yuan squatted down and ran his fingertips across the surface of the vines—tiny metal particles were embedded in the rough fibers, gleaming coldly in the sunlight.

"Try Shadowball."

The dark energy on the puppy's chest rapidly condensed, and a purplish-black energy ball shot out.

The moment the vines made contact with the shadow orb, a teeth-grinding sizzling sound was emitted, and acrid white smoke rose up. The originally tough vines decayed and softened at a visible speed, and finally snapped with a "crack".

"It's a success!" Wenrou was about to cheer when a faint groan came from behind her.

Cheng Yuan whirled around and saw the mischievous monkey on the pangolin's back struggling to raise its head. Half of its face was sunken and deformed, broken ribs piercing its fur, yet it still stared intently at the roundworm with its only remaining intact eye.

It opened its mouth as if trying to speak, but its voice was so weak that no one could hear it. At this moment, the pangolin carrying it mumbled a translation: "It said... please save the child..."

Those murky eyes churned with too many emotions: despair, pleading, and a sliver of hope on the verge of being extinguished.

The little dog also looked at Cheng Yuan with innocent eyes.

Cheng Yuan took a deep breath and turned to his classmates, saying, "The cubs of Cyclops Y are defenseless, so saving them won't affect our mission. Besides, if we don't take care of them, they'll become food for the Savage Beasts sooner or later."

"But we have no obligation to—"

“Don’t forget,” Cheng Yuan interrupted, “we are animal trainers, not hunters. Can you bear to watch these little guys get eaten by wild beasts?”

A silence fell over the group, broken only by the pangolin's heavy breathing echoing through the forest. Wenrou was the first to step forward, gently taking the black ball beast from her: "I'm joining."

Her gear-beast cooperated by extending its mechanical arm and carefully lifting up the other cub.

“Count me in.” Short-haired girl Li Yue kicked away the savage beast stick at her feet. Her Baloo beast had already begun weaving a mount with its vine cubs so that the pangolins could carry them.

Zhang Ming, who wore glasses, adjusted his glasses, his gaze behind the lenses flickering uncertainly. Finally, he sighed, "...Whatever you want." But Cheng Yuan noticed that he quietly adjusted his backpack, making more comfortable space for the dog and cat beast in his arms.

Cheng Yuan crouched down in front of the wretched monkey beast, its shattered chest heaving violently. "Hold on, we'll take them home soon." He asked softly, "Do you remember the direction of the nest?"

The monkey's pupils had already dilated, but it still struggled to raise its front paws, trying to point somewhere. In the end, its arm fell limply, and it fell into a coma again.

"Alright, let's go back to the outpost first! Let's collect the spoils and get moving!" Cheng Yuan quickly assigned tasks. "Li Yue will be in charge of guarding, Wen Rou will take care of the cubs, and Zhang Ming will use the Tyrannosaurus Rex to plan the shortest route." He glanced at the setting sun, the shadows in the forest were growing longer.

"We must reach the outpost before nightfall."

Cheng Yuan once again directed everyone to pack up the spoils.

Meanwhile, on the edge of the jungle, Wang Lin's flying insects swooped down from the sky, their compound eyes flashing with anxious data streams.

"Still no signal." She stroked the cool screen of the Digimon, where all the location signals were displayed as glaring red crosses.

"Should we notify Captain Xu?" Physical education teacher Cao Jin's long ears twitched anxiously.

Wang Lin looked at the calm jungle, bit her lower lip, and said, "You contact the team leader, I'll go in and find it. Flying Insect Beast, let's go!"

The main reason was that he didn't want to be scolded by Captain Xu... Although Captain Xu was young, he was not polite to the old folks like him at all.

Cao Jin: "Well... okay!"

The picnic team made their way back, but the return journey was far less easy than the start.

There were more than a dozen baby Digimon, one in each person's hand, and nearly 10 more on the back of the pangolin.

Cheng Yuan distributed the growth data packets to the Digimon cubs, completely forgetting Xu Xin's instruction not to feed the Digimon.

“I’m telling you, class representative,” Zhang Ming pushed up his glasses, with four round, black Digimon perched on his back, “don’t we look like habitual Digimon traffickers?”