Chapter 49
Mating
Elder Qing was so angry that his beard bristled and his eyes bulged, as if they were deliberately making things difficult for him. “You’ve gone too far! What more do you want?”
Li Yue no longer bothered to be polite with him. “If you wish to leave today, Elder, you might want to think carefully about the Northern Snowfields.”
“From now on, the beastmen of our Wolf Tribe will not set foot in the Northern Snowfields ever again. Is that satisfactory enough for you, Chief?”
Those who had originally been dissatisfied with Li Yue immediately broke into grins upon hearing about the Northern Snowfields.
“The Northern Snowfields are finally ours.”
“I knew it—our chief was retreating to advance!”
The Wolf Tribe’s camp, on the other hand, exploded into chaos.
“Elder Qing, you can’t do this!”
“The Northern Snowfields are the sacred land of our wolf clan. Handing them over like this—how can we live with such shame?”
“Elder, the Northern Snowfields are—”
Qi Shen stared at Elder Qing in disbelief. He had never imagined that this old hardliner would actually agree to such a deal.
Elder Qing glared at Qi Shen, grinding his teeth. If not for this wretched troublemaker, he wouldn’t have been threatened like this at his age.
“Elder Qing is indeed straightforward. Then we won’t see you off.”
With that, they prepared to leave, still carrying Wen Qing’s corpse.
Li Qingqing stepped forward to block them. “Wait. She stays.”
“On what grounds?”
“If you carry her out and rumors spread again that I killed her, how am I supposed to explain myself?”
The males carrying Wen Qing’s body didn’t loosen their grip until Elder Qing spoke. “Leave her to them.”
Wen Qing’s body was heavily thrown back onto the ground.
Li Qingqing stepped forward to take a look. When her fingertips touched Wen Qing’s cheek, a chill seeped through. Wen Qing had caused the deaths of many in the Silver Tiger Tribe—she deserved to die—but such a miserable end still made one sigh.
“Find a place and bury her,” she said to Chi Lin and Bai Yuan.
Bai Yuan dug a deep pit on a nearby mountain. The pit had been ready for some time, yet Wen Qing had not been buried.
They were waiting for Feng Hao. Chi Lin had gone to fetch him.
When Chi Lin and Feng Hao arrived one after the other, the exhaustion and grief in Feng Hao’s eyes were impossible to hide—his whole expression looked shattered.
“Say your final goodbye to her,” someone said.
Feng Hao looked at the gaping hole in Wen Qing’s chest where her heart should have been. His eyes reddened uncontrollably, as if he were suppressing something, the tears refusing to fall.
Li Qingqing felt uneasy. The wolf clan had a tradition of dying for one’s mate. Seeing him this heartbroken, she feared that he might follow Wen Qing in the next moment.
But the scene of martyrdom she imagined never came.
Feng Hao suddenly sighed. “The one who deserves to die the most is still my father.”
That left everyone confused. They all turned to look at him, faces full of curiosity.
Li Qingqing couldn’t help asking, “What does your father have to do with this?”
Feng Hao was silent for a while. “This is a disgrace of our tribe. It’s not good to tell you.”
Li Qingqing nodded. Every family had its own unspeakable troubles.
Besides, the person involved was already lying there.
Bai Yuan and Chi Lin worked together to place Wen Qing into the pit.
But Feng Hao’s next action surprised them.
He stared at Wen Qing for a few seconds, then suddenly closed his eyes and mocked himself. “What karma… three siblings killing each other.”
Li Qingqing nearly dropped her jaw. “Siblings?”
That meant he and Wen Qing were siblings too.
Chi Lin frowned. He and Feng Hao were on decent terms, and he had never heard of him having siblings. “Where did these siblings come from?”
Feng Hao began shoveling dirt onto Wen Qing. “Not born of the same mother—only half, I suppose.”
“Wait,” Li Qingqing said as she went to help, “isn’t the Wolf Tribe strictly monogamous, with mates dying together?”
Feng Hao paused. In the end, he took one last look at Wen Qing’s pale face, scooped up a handful of earth, and scattered it down.
“That’s why it’s a disgrace. After my mother died, my father got involved with another female in the tribe. By the time everyone found out, that female had already given birth to a pair of twins…”
At that point, Li Qingqing understood. Wen Qing and Qi Shen were those twins.
“Elder Qing secretly burned the two of them to death, leaving behind two crying infants. They were given to different beastmen to raise. Back then, I was only five years old…”
When he finished speaking, Wen Qing was fully buried.
Feng Hao dusted off his hands, stood up, and saw the three of them standing there in silence. “What’s with you all? No need to pity me.”
Bai Yuan lowered his head slightly, a wave of sadness welling up—not for Feng Hao, but because it stirred some of his own memories.
Chi Lin placed a hand on Feng Hao’s right shoulder. After a long pause, he said, “Everything will pass.”
Feng Hao shook his head lightly and brushed Chi Lin’s hand away. “It won’t.”
As he took a step to leave, he suddenly turned back. No one knew exactly who he was speaking to. “Wen Qing has received the punishment she deserved. As for Qi Shen—I won’t let him go.”
The wind blew his bangs over his eyes, obscuring his expression.
But Li Qingqing could tell—something about him had changed.
Night fell, and everyone returned to their caves.
The system, which had disappeared for several days, finally popped up again.
【Wow! Host, I thought I’d never see you again!】
Li Qingqing twitched her lips. This damned system had probably disappeared because it thought she wouldn’t make it back alive.
【Current prestige value: 40】
【Host, you need to be careful. There are other transmigrators in this world.】
Li Qingqing stopped in her tracks. In truth, she had already sensed it vaguely.
The system’s words confirmed her suspicion.
“So the mastermind behind the plague is that transmigrator?”
【Wow, Host, you’re too smart!】
“Looks like that person is hiding in the Wolf Tribe. Too bad the pawn they chose wasn’t very smart and exposed themselves.”
【How did you figure it out?】
By then, Li Qingqing had reached the cave entrance. “Common sense. The plague was brought by Wen Qing, yet she showed no signs of infection. She must have used some method. Do you really think technology this backward could manage that?”
【Let’s just drag them out directly!】
Li Qingqing thought for a moment, then shook her head. “Even if we know where they are, it’s still the enemy in the dark and us in the open. They clearly know me inside out. Otherwise, out of all the tribes in the beast world, why target ours?”
【Host, you’ve gotten smarter.】
Li Qingqing: “……” Wasn’t she always smart?
【Side quest activated: Complete mating with one of the five beast husbands. Reward: Rice Cultivation Gift Pack】
“M-mating?” Li Qingqing stammered in shock. Wasn’t this a bit too much? Her favorability hadn’t even increased much yet, and the quest had already jumped straight to mating.
She had long planned to grow rice, and this reward came at just the right time—but this quest… it was really playing big.
