novelnext Chapter 333: What Does the Father Beast Look Like?
Chapter 333: What Does the Father Beast Look Like?
Qiao Xixi reached out to grab her, but the little one was incredibly fast, darting ahead in the blink of an eye.
"Qiao An’an!"
Qiao Xixi was both anxious and annoyed. ’This little troublemaker is getting more and more mischievous.’
Although she knew there wasn’t much chance of An’an being in danger within the tribe, she was still so young, and Qiao Xixi worried something might go wrong.
Fortunately, Jin Ling surfaced, heard the commotion, and swam over to catch her.
"An’an, why did you run off like that? If you do it again, I’ll have to punish you."
"Papa, Papa, HAHAHAHA~~" The tiger cub wasn’t the least bit intimidated by her father. She happily kicked her feet, splashing water all over Jin Ling’s face.
Jin Ling had a helpless expression, but his eyes were filled with unconcealable affection.
"If you want to play that badly, I’ll take you to catch some fish-beasts."
Holding her, Jin Ling sank beneath the water.
Qiao Xixi was a little nervous, but she knew Jin Ling cared about the cub’s safety even more than she did. If he was doing this, it was most likely fine.
"Mother~"
Qiao Xixi snapped out of her thoughts and looked down. "What is it, Yaya? Do you want to play in the water, too?"
Yaya shook her head and beckoned for Qiao Xixi to crouch down.
Qiao Xixi complied and crouched down.
"A present for Mother."
Yaya pulled out several flowers from behind her back and tried to tuck them into Qiao Xixi’s hair. But she was a bit small and frail, and after several attempts, the flowers kept falling out. She started to get anxious.
Qiao Xixi picked up the fallen flowers, tucked them into her hair, and looked at Yaya with a smile. "Are they pretty?"
Yaya studied her face seriously for a moment. "Mother is pretty."
"Thank you."
As Qiao Xixi stood up, Yaya eagerly grabbed her hand.
"Yaya... likes Mother. Mother... likes... Yaya."
Qiao Xixi ruffled her little head. "Yaya, Auntie isn’t your mother."
Yaya grew anxious at these words, gripping her hand tightly and refusing to let go. "You are! You are Mother!"
In Yaya’s current state, not even Jin Ling and the others, let alone Qiao Xixi, could tell what her beast form was. Nor did they have any idea what had happened to her parents.
"Yaya, have you never seen your mother and father?"
Yaya thought for a moment, then nodded and shook her head. "Big bird... lots of father beasts... You are Mother."
"What did your father look like?"
"Black... black. Pretty, like Yaya."
"And your mother?"
Yaya looked at her insistently. "You are Mother!"
’I’m being silly,’ Qiao Xixi thought. ’Why am I arguing with a cub who can’t even speak in full sentences, let alone reason?’
"Okay, okay, okay, I am."
In the water, Jin Ling walked over, holding the happily playing tiger cub.
Seeing that he was empty-handed, Qiao Xixi asked curiously, "What’s wrong? You didn’t catch any?"
Jin Ling shook his head and casually wiped the water droplets from the tiger cub’s face.
"Compared to usual, the fish-beasts in the water today are pretty small, only about the size of my palm."
There wouldn’t be much meat on ones that small, so Jin Ling hadn’t bothered catching any.
Qiao Xixi was surprised. "They’re that small?"
’That can’t be right,’ she thought. ’The ones the cubs caught before were at least as long as my arm, and Feili Father Beast said those weren’t even considered big fish.’
"We can go take a look outside the tribe. There might be more upstream," Jin Ling suggested.
"Okay."
Jin Ling led them outside the tribe.
As soon as they reached the stream bank, they saw several large fish-beasts swim past quickly in the water.
Just as Jin Ling was about to get in the water, several beastmen burst out from the woods on both sides. Without a word, they jumped into the stream and lunged for the fleeing fish-beasts.
Being chased, the fish-beasts swam with incredible speed.
Qiao Xixi watched the beastmen struggling in the water. In the blink of an eye, the fish-beasts had swum far away.
"They got away! They got away."
"Don’t chase them. The current could easily sweep you away."
The beastmen returned to the bank, disappointed.
Qiao Xixi saw that they were all just half-grown youths: two male foxes and two female gray wolves.
’For females of this age to be out hunting with the males for survival, not just for play, is a rare sight in a normal tribe,’ she noted.
The four of them seemed to have only just noticed Qiao Xixi’s group, and they stared in surprise. The two young males became visibly wary, especially when they saw Jin Ling.
Seeing their unfamiliar faces, Qiao Xixi deliberately asked, "Are you from a nearby tribe?" She knew perfectly well that there were no other tribes nearby; the Black Panther Tribe had absorbed all the smaller surrounding ones as it grew.
Qiao Xixi had a gentle appearance, and when she smiled, her eyes curved into beautiful crescents. This made them relax their guard a little.
"We’re beastmen from the Mountain Wolf Tribe. Something happened to our home, so we couldn’t live there anymore. Our Clan Leader led us here to escape."
Qiao Xixi thought about what had happened to the Silver Tribe and couldn’t help but ask, "Can you tell me what happened to your tribe?"
The tallest of them, a male yellow fox beastman, was about to speak when the female gray wolf beside him pulled him back.
"We just... couldn’t catch enough prey around our tribe anymore. We were finding it hard to survive, so our Clan Leader had no choice but to lead us to a place with more food."
Qiao Xixi could tell they weren’t being truthful, so she changed the subject.
"So where are you staying for now? On the mountain?"
"Yes, we’ve settled on the mountainside just ahead."
"Brother, we should go catch some fish-beasts, or we’ll go hungry again today."
"Oh, right. We’ll be going then."
After they left, Jin Ling looked at Qiao Xixi. "When we get back, I’ll have the patrol team go up the mountain to check on them."
Even though they hadn’t entered the tribe, they were still camped on the outskirts, which introduced many uncertainties. It was crucial to understand the situation to prevent any trouble from brewing later.
"Alright."
Jin Ling played in the water with the tiger cub for a while longer and caught a few fish-beasts. Seeing that it was getting late, they prepared to head back.
Just as they were about to enter the tribe, Jin Ling’s gilt-gold tiger eyes shot a sharp glance behind them.
A figure hiding in the shadows quickly drew back.
He first escorted Qiao Xixi and the others back to the inner compound, then returned to the main gate to find Ma Qing. After Jin Ling briefly explained the situation, Ma Qing nodded in understanding.
"Alright, I’ll personally lead a patrol team up the mountain to check things out in a bit."
Jin Ling nodded and glanced at the tall grass outside the tribe. There was no one there anymore.
’He’d known a beastman was following them. He had recognized the scent—it belonged to one of the young male foxes they had met by the stream.’
’He hadn’t made a move because he wanted to see what the other party’s intentions were.’
Meanwhile, after leaving the Black Panther Tribe’s gate, one of the young male foxes ran quickly toward the mountain ahead.
After running for some time, he finally spotted a familiar figure on a relatively flat part of the mountainside.