Three days later…
Life around the cave settled into a strange routine.
A very strange routine.
Xue Linyuan stayed “far away” by building a temporary camp only a few hundred meters from the cave.
Lin Huan’s definition of distance was even worse.
He somehow appeared every morning with food.
Nobody knew where he came from.
Or when.
Or how.
Wu Ye simply appeared whenever he wanted.
Like an annoying ghost.
According to him:
> “You can’t measure distance with ravens.”
Nobody understood what that meant.
This morning, however, things were different.
Xueyin was washing berries near a stream while the cubs played nearby.
The twins practiced hunting.
Bai Qingluo gathered herbs.
Wu Yin flew between trees.
Bai Shuyi chased butterflies.
Bai Xingyuan attempted to convince everyone that snakes were superior to foxes.
Nobody listened.
Then suddenly—
Voices echoed from the forest.
Xueyin immediately became alert.
Not long after—
Several beastmen emerged from between the trees.
The group stopped when they noticed her.
And Xueyin froze.
Because this was the first time she had met ordinary tribe members since transmigrating.
There were six of them.
Three females.
Three males.
All carrying baskets and hunting tools.
The oldest female stepped forward first.
She was a rabbit beastwoman with gentle eyes.
The moment she saw Xueyin—
Her expression changed dramatically.
“Snow Goddess!”
Xueyin nearly dropped her basket.
“…What?”
The rabbit woman looked ready to cry.
“It’s really Snow Goddess!”
The others immediately became excited.
“She’s alive!”
“I told you she wasn’t dead!”
“The healer was right!”
Xueyin blinked repeatedly.
Snow Goddess?
Who?
Surely not her.
The rabbit woman rushed forward.
Then stopped halfway.
As if remembering something.
Her expression became nervous.
“…Do you remember me?”
The woman immediately understood.
“…Ah.”
The excitement faded slightly.
“Your memories really disappeared.”
The atmosphere became awkward.
Then the rabbit woman smiled gently.
“My name is Tu Lan.”
She pointed toward the others.
“We belong to the nearby White River Tribe.”
Xueyin nodded politely.
The beastfolk seemed friendly.
Very friendly.
Perhaps too friendly.
Because they kept looking at her like she was a celebrity.
Finally—
Xueyin couldn’t help asking.
“Why are you calling me Snow Goddess?”
The group exchanged glances.
Then all six looked confused.
“…You don’t know?”
Xueyin’s heart sank.
Another original Bai Xueyin mystery.
Of course.
Tu Lan laughed softly.
“Several years ago, our tribe suffered a terrible winter.”
Food shortages.
Disease.
Starvation.
The White River Tribe had nearly collapsed.
Then—
A snow fox woman appeared.
She treated the sick.
Found food.
Protected the children.
Stayed for nearly two months.
Then left.
The rabbit woman’s eyes became emotional.
“That woman was you.”
Xueyin froze.
“…Me?”
Tu Lan nodded.
“Without you, many of us would have died.”
The other tribe members immediately agreed.
One young wolf beastman scratched his head awkwardly.
“My little sister survived because of you.”
A deer beastwoman smiled.
Another nodded.
“You even repaired our water system.”
Xueyin stared.
The image sounded completely different from the side character described in the novel.
The novel’s Bai Xueyin barely existed.
Yet here—
She had changed entire tribes.
How many places had she visited?
How many people had she helped?
And why?
Then suddenly—
A small rabbit boy peeked from behind Tu Lan.
The child looked around five years old.
The moment he saw Xueyin—
His eyes lit up.
“Big Sister Snow Fox!”
Before anyone could stop him—
The rabbit cub ran forward and hugged her leg.
Xueyin blinked.
The little rabbit grinned happily.
“You came back!”
The simple words hit unexpectedly hard.
Because lately—
Everyone kept saying the same thing.
You came back.
As if the original Bai Xueyin had left pieces of herself everywhere.
Pieces that had waited years for her return.
Then Tu Lan hesitated.
“There is actually another reason we came.”
The atmosphere shifted slightly.
Xueyin looked up.
“What reason?”
The rabbit woman exchanged nervous glances with the others.
Then spoke carefully.
“Three nights ago…”
Her voice lowered.
“A strange beast attacked one of our patrol teams.”
Immediately—
The nearby cubs stopped playing.
And hidden in the forest—
Three powerful males became alert.
Because the fear in Tu Lan’s eyes was real.
Very real.
The rabbit woman swallowed.
Then said the words that made everyone tense.
“The beast kept asking for a woman named Bai Xueyin.”
The forest suddenly became silent.