Like a deflated balloon, Yan Chen’s supernatural ability suddenly vanished, leaving him stunned and rooted to the spot. “What’s going on?”
“Yan Chen, at least you know your limits!” Xiao Shuo seized the opportunity and lunged forward, swiftly binding Yan Chen, who now had little ability to fight back.
“Yan Chen stopped in time, so it doesn’t count as opposing the Tiger Clan, right?” Tang Hongluan trotted over anxiously, her eyes pleading as she looked at Jiang Mao. “The tribal chief won’t kill Yan Chen, will he?”
“Well done!” Jiang Mao patted Xiao Shuo’s shoulder and exhaled in relief. If a real fight had broken out, the loss of such a talented young beastman would have severely weakened the Tiger Clan’s strength.
“Yan Chen, since you stopped in time, the Tiger Clan won’t kill you. But… if you remain obstinate, I’ll have no choice but to lock you in the dungeon.”
Still going to the dungeon? Tang Hongluan frowned. Would she have to beg her other beast husbands to break him out?
Yan Chen was utterly baffled. His supernatural ability had been inexplicably suppressed by some mysterious force, how was that possible?
How could such a mysterious power exist in the world? And someone must be controlling it. The thought that such a dangerous person might exist filled him with indignation.
Who had made him lose face at this critical moment?
Who had humiliated him in front of so many beastmen, especially Xiao Shuo? That smug look on Xiao Shuo’s face, did he really think Yan Chen was afraid of him?
“Xiao Shuo, today was just an accident!” He glared at Xiao Shuo, refusing to back down.
Tang Hongluan massaged her temples, her head throbbing with frustration.
“I know you’re just trying to save face!” Xiao Shuo leaned in and whispered mockingly into Yan Chen’s ear. “Don’t worry, I won’t expose you.”
Yan Chen gritted his teeth in anger, but then he suddenly felt a gentle grip on his arm. He snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Tang Hongluan, and the hand she had placed on him.
What was this woman doing, meddling at a time like this?
“Get off!” Yan Chen scowled. What business did a woman have interfering in this?
She stood on her tiptoes, straining to reach his shoulder, and whispered something into his ear.
Yan Chen froze.
How did she know? The resentment of being misunderstood finally eased slightly. But then he recalled yesterday’s events, and suspicion crept into his heart. When Tang Hongluan had told him to check the disturbance, had she really not known it was Jiang Xin and Mo Xuan there?
His brow furrowed slightly, and his gaze at Tang Hongluan became more inscrutable. He couldn’t understand how things had come to this.
Tang Hongluan smiled. “Don’t worry, I’ll rescue you.”
Her words stunned not just Yan Chen, but everyone present.
Had Tang Hongluan gone mad?
“Tang Hongluan!” Jiang Xin was the first to lose his composure, eager to mock her. “You don’t actually think that just because you’ve awakened a supernatural ability, you can take on the entire Tiger Clan and rescue Yan Chen, do you?”
“Hahaha…” Her words sent the crowd into laughter. Did Tang Hongluan really believe her second-tier ability could break Yan Chen out of the dungeon?
“Stop embarrassing yourself!” Even Yan Chen felt secondhand embarrassment. What was wrong with this woman? She was becoming more and more unpredictable, spouting such outrageous claims…
The frustration of being wronged dissipated somewhat in that moment. Calming down, he realized his earlier actions had indeed been too reckless. Fortunately, a fight hadn’t broken out, otherwise, how would he have handled it? Would he really have had to kill Xiao Shuo and the tribal chief? Or would he have ended up being killed by Xiao Shuo instead?
However, though Tang Hongluan’s words were unreliable, they inexplicably made him feel less isolated and alone. At least someone was on his side.
He glanced at Tang Hongluan. Though she was still annoying, something about her seemed different. But what exactly had changed? Her face? Her hands? Her brain? He couldn’t quite put his finger on it…
Yan Chen followed the beastmen to the dungeon, and the crowd in the square gradually dispersed.
Jiang Xin glared at Tang Hongluan. Today, she could have taken Yan Chen for herself, but somehow, it had all gone wrong. What a waste, letting that good-for-nothing Tang Hongluan benefit instead.
“You saved him?” Xiao Shuo lingered, staring at Tang Hongluan with disdain for a long time. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t fathom why Tang Hongluan would shamelessly say such a thing.
Did she really think that just because she’d awakened some special ability, she could do whatever she wanted?
“Tang Hongluan!” Jiang Mao looked at her sternly and seriously. “Anyone who dares to break someone out of the dungeon will be hunted down by the Tiger Clan to the ends of the earth!”
Tang Hongluan smiled. “Understood, tribal chief.”
Jiang Mao nodded. He knew Tang Hongluan didn’t have the capability to pull off such a feat anyway. Still, her behavior was baffling. But since Tang Hongluan had always been a bit mad and foolish, he didn’t dwell on it too much.
Watching the tribal chief leave, Tang Hongluan casually glanced at Xiao Shuo and let out an absent-minded “Hmm.”
The real question was, how was she going to rescue him? A prison break was definitely out of the question. She needed to come up with another way to force the tribal chief to release Yan Chen.
Back at home, Tang Hongluan bit her lip. “System, this mission doesn’t have a time limit, right?”
[The maximum duration is one month.]
One month… Tang Hongluan sucked in a sharp breath. This whole mess was essentially her fault, her blunder had landed Yan Chen in the dungeon…
But then she rolled her eyes. Who asked those beastmen to always bully her? Consider this a lesson for them!
She’d just have to take her time figuring out how to get him out…
Since this wasn’t something she could rush, she turned her attention to other pressing matters.
She was pitifully poor, with only a few pieces of animal hide left, most of which had been repurposed as bedding. And honestly, wearing animal hides was far from comfortable. She picked up the castor stalks she’d gathered earlier, intending to try her hand at weaving fabric.
Weaving was a major undertaking. But since she now had extra pots to spare, she filled one with water and soaked the castor stalks to separate the fibers from the woody parts.
However, yesterday’s gathering had been rushed, and she hadn’t specifically sought out castor plants. Since she was at a loss about how to handle Yan Chen’s situation, she might as well head to the back mountain to collect more castor stalks. She could soak the stems and maybe even extract some castor oil from the seeds.
No time like the present. Soon, Tang Hongluan’s figure reappeared on the nearby mountain slopes.
But last time, she’d already stripped the lower branches of castor plants bare. Now, she stared longingly at the out-of-reach branches, feeling frustrated.
Climb the tree?
Gritting her teeth, she decided, fine, she’d climb the damn tree!
Perched on a tree branch, wholly focused on snapping off more stalks, Tang Hongluan didn’t notice the leopard tribesmen quietly approaching.
“Hey, hey, hey…” One of the beastmen, peering cautiously, tugged at another. “There’s a female over there!”
“This is tiger territory. We’re here to find snake-type beastmen, so don’t provoke the tiger clan unnecessarily,” Tu Ba glanced at Tang Hongluan perched on the tree without any change in expression.
“Why not grab her and ask if she’s seen any reptilian beastmen wandering nearby?” Hei San looked at Tang Hongluan, feeling an inexplicable itch in his heart.
“Yeah, we’ve searched this far without spotting a single trace of that kind of beastman. This is tiger territory, there shouldn’t be any strangler-type beastmen here…” Tu Ba was also getting frustrated with the search.
Two days ago, the young master of the leopard clan had led a group out, saying they were going to capture a bloodline-awakened beastman!
A bloodline-awakened beastman! How could anyone possibly capture that?
Though legends said consuming such a beastman could rapidly enhance one’s abilities, it was just a myth, wasn’t it? First of all, bloodline awakenings were extremely rare, maybe one in ten thousand, so encountering one was nearly impossible. And even if you did… you probably couldn’t defeat them anyway… It was hard to say who’d end up as whose appetizer in the end.
But the young master, brainwashed by some villain, became obsessed with capturing one, calling it a rare opportunity. In the end, they didn’t catch anyone, and he lost his life instead. His body showed no wounds except for fatal strangulation marks, clearly killed by a reptilian-type beastman.
“Then let’s try our luck and ask this female!” Tu Ba agreed with Hei San’s suggestion.