A sharp cry sounded in the night. It was the long-haired sheep kept outside, which usually made no sound and only screamed when startled.
Immediately, a series of crackling and crashing sounds came from the living room, followed by the sound of a door slamming. Lu Xuan felt relieved, and his eyes had also adjusted to the darkness. Through the firelight of the fireplace, he could see his surroundings clearly.
He quickly ran to the living room, only to see a mess everywhere.
On the platform of the split-level room, on the shelves next to the fireplace, all the medicinal herbs and powders were scattered all over the ground.
“Lu Xuan, I heard the long-haired sheep cry.”
Xiong Yue ran out of the bedroom barefoot. Just as he reached the doorway, he tripped over the three cubs and stumbled.
“Oh dear, the three of you, why did you run out? Lu Xuan? What are you doing crouching on the ground?”
He walked over to the bench before he could see the mess on the floor. Lu Xuan was sitting on the ground, knocked over by the three cubs rushing at him.
“Oh my, how did all the medicinal materials get scattered?”
Lu Xuan’s face showed a pained expression: “The medicinal powder I ground by hand has all been scattered.”
A roar sounded outside, followed by earth-shaking sounds of fighting. Lu Xuan’s face was full of panic: “Have those rat beastmen come again?”
Lu Xuan hugged the frightened and uneasy cubs, his brows tightly furrowed: “It doesn’t sound like them.”
The voices of those black rats were sharp and piercing, but what was outside were basically roars and growls. The ground shook from the intensity of the fighting.
Xiong Yue crouched on the ground, hugging his legs tightly. For a moment, he didn’t know whether to feel relieved or even more afraid.
In the dim firelight, the ground was a mess. His slow mind finally processed what was happening. He widened his eyes and looked at Lu Xuan: “Could these medicines on the ground have been caused by those beastmen? Did they come inside?”
Lu Xuan nodded: “Yes, but I only saw a shadow on the wall. When the fighting started outside, he went out.”
Xiong Yue said fearfully: “That’s really terrifying.”
As soon as he finished speaking, with a loud bang, something crashed against the wooden house, and the whole house shook. Then came another crash. The wooden wall was smashed through, and a dark mass burst out through the hole. Lu Xuan immediately threw himself forward to protect the three cubs beneath him.
“Lu… Xuan…” A voice as faint as a thread.
Upon turning his head, Lu Xuan saw Xiong Yue pinned underneath a panda bear, no, that’s not right, it was a giant-sized red panda. One of its front paws was pressing down on Xiong Yue’s throat. A red panda of this size really couldn’t be called small. It was emaciated as dry as firewood, its eyes bloodshot, clearly extremely hungry.
Xiong Yue’s face was turning purple-red from suffocation. A mixture of worry and anger pressed down on Lu Xuan. His body naturally shifted into a sub-beastman form, his two cat ears standing straight up.
Just as the red panda was about to open its mouth to bite Xiong Yue’s neck, Lu Xuan jumped onto its back and plunged a bone knife deep into the red panda’s neck.
Lu Xuan was a professional veterinarian, he knew which spot could kill with one strike.
Warm blood sprayed onto his face. Only when the red panda fell motionless to the ground did Lu Xuan breathe a sigh of relief.
As his mind relaxed, the characteristics of his beastman shift disappeared.
“Are you okay?”
Lu Xuan helped Xiong Yue up and comforted him: “It’s alright now.”
There was a purple bruise mark on Xiong Yue’s neck. His throat was too painful, and under the shock, he couldn’t even speak. His face covered with tears, he looked at Lu Xuan, his eyes full of gratitude.
The red panda then changed into human form. The bleeding hole in his neck was still bleeding, but the person already had no breath.
Lu Xuan turned his face away. His palms were covered in cold sweat. After a beastman completely loses breath, he reverts to human form.
So…
He now had a life on his hands. Xiong Yue’s situation had been critical, his mind had heated up, and by the time he reacted, the bone knife was already in the red panda’s neck.
Did he regret it?
He did not regret it.
If he could do it over again, he would still make the same choice.
Lu Xuan turned around, his hands trembling as he rummaged through the pile of scattered medicinal powder to find a packet of medicine. He took a deep breath, turned back to Xiong Yue, and said: “Let me put medicine on you first.”
The three cubs pressed tightly against Xiong Yue, watching Lu Xuan apply medicine to Xiong Yue. Their father was busy with something now, they wouldn’t disturb him.
The wounds had just been bandaged when an angry elephant trumpet made the two sub-beastmen and the three cubs all change their expressions at once.
“An e-elephant?”
Based on the rule in this world that beast forms are all giant-sized, how big would this elephant be? Lu Xuan’s heart couldn’t stop sinking.
Just as this thought arose in his mind, a sharp ivory tusk had already reached in through the broken hole in the wooden wall, but was immediately knocked away by an external force.
The sound of it hitting the ground shook Lu Xuan’s heart with tremors. From the intense sounds of fighting outside, he could tell that the situation on their side was very bad.
Lu Xuan’s eyes turned red. He grabbed the garlic powder and rushed out through the broken hole.
After shifting, the sub-beastman’s eyes could see well enough in the dark. Outside was indeed a mess. The vegetable garden was destroyed. A black bear and an elephant were locked in combat.
In front of beast forms, sub-beastmen were small, thin, and fragile. The invading beastmen didn’t even regard the sub-beastmen as worth a glance. As long as they killed the beastmen here, the sub-beastmen would be theirs to deal with as they pleased.
Ignoring the black bear’s warning gaze, Lu Xuan took the opportunity to jump onto the black bear’s back and sprinkled garlic powder into the elephant’s eyes, then quickly jumped back down to the ground and hid in an out-of-the-way place.
The elephant screamed in a shrill, furious, painful voice. The pain kept him from opening his eyes. His inability to see made him panicked and fearful.
He could only charge around frantically to make himself seem more imposing. Taking advantage of the elephant’s panic and disorder, the black bear punched him to the ground and stabbed the bone knife into his thick neck again and again.
Blood soaked the black bear’s coarse black fur. Only when the elephant was completely motionless did the black bear stop his movements.
“Are you injured?” Lu Xuan walked over to the black bear and asked with concern.
Tian Xuan changed back to human form. From his face to his upper body, he was covered in dark red bloodstains. He took a deep breath and handed the bone knife back to Lu Xuan.
“Your knife.”
Lu Xuan asked nervously: “No need to return it to me. If you can still keep fighting, go help the others.”
After speaking, he shoved all the remaining garlic powder into Tian Xuan’s arms.
“This will irritate the eyes. Take it.”
The elephant on the ground then changed into human form. His lips were purple, and his neck was a mess of blood and flesh.
The death of the strongest beastman caused the other beastmen to immediately fall into disarray, their disadvantage becoming evident. This greatly boosted the morale of the Black Howl Tribe’s beastmen.
Seeing that some beastmen were about to flee, Tian Xuan instantly transformed into a black bear and chased after them.
“Leave none alive, let none escape.”
But in the end, the other side still had too many beast forms, and the Black Howl Tribe side began to be overwhelmed. Just then, a shadow loomed over them.
“My tribesmen, it’s my tribesmen!”
Ying Fei shouted excitedly: “People of the Black Howl Tribe, don’t be afraid. They are my tribesmen, here to help us!”
Lu Xuan’s raised heart sank back down again. With the addition of the Eagle tribe, the tide of battle quickly turned.
When the sky began to lighten, not a single invader beastman survived.
What was once a beautiful home was now a ruin. Only a few wooden houses stood there, damaged and broken.
The air was thick with the smell of blood. Lu Xuan’s face was pale. The only thing worth celebrating was that no one on their side had died.
“Lu Xuan, Lu Xuan, my tribesmen are injured!” Ying Fei called out frantically.