Gao Yue was carried by Moya along a deserted little path, back to his territory within the tribe. But arriving outside the cave, the first thing she saw was a scene of complete disarray.
The Giant Python that had been carrying the suitcase in its mouth had been beaten up, and now lay curled pitifully in a corner.
Gao Yue's suitcase had been forced open.
The clothes, shoes, cosmetics, snacks, and other items inside had been thrown all over the ground. Her tablet had also been carelessly discarded on the floor, and there was no telling whether the screen had cracked.
A few uninvited guests were gathered around her suitcase.
One woman, three men.
Earlier, because he needed to take Gao Yue to see the Medical Priest, Moya had the Giant Python carry Gao Yue's suitcase back to the cave first. He hadn't expected anyone to come rob it.
Though the Giant Python had tried to guard the suitcase, it was clearly outmatched, unable to fight off three male beastmen. Now it was forced to coil in the corner, its body covered in wounds, clearly having suffered for trying to protect the suitcase.
The three male beastmen fawned over the female, while that female examined her spoils as if no one else were around.
She was a woman with a square-round face and pronounced bone structure, somewhat masculine in features, but with a tall, sultry figure and long legs, dressed in a fiery red chest wrap and a very short Beast Skin Skirt.
At that moment, she was holding Gao Yue's exquisite, old-fashioned handheld bronze makeup mirror, stroking her own cheek with one hand, studying her face in the mirror with great novelty.
Seeing this scene, Gao Yue felt a surge of fury rush straight to her head.
This mirror was a keepsake from her mother — a souvenir they'd bought together at a tourist spot when she was little. She'd kept it carefully preserved all these years, and now someone else was holding it in their hands.
"What do you think you're doing!"
She struggled down from Moya's arms, her voice carrying barely suppressed fury as she snapped sharply.
The people outside the cave all turned to look at the sound.
Shihua's gaze lingered briefly on Gao Yue, carrying undisguised scrutiny and hostility, before turning furiously back to Moya.
She looked even angrier than Gao Yue, glaring at Moya with fire in her eyes, her tone accusatory. "Moya, when someone told me, I thought they were lying to me. You actually really did carry a female back here?"
She'd heard word earlier that Moya had come out of the Holy Lake carrying a strange female, and had specifically brought her three Beast Husbands over to see for herself.
Arriving at the cave, she hadn't found Moya, but had spotted the strange suitcase in the Giant Python's mouth. Guessing it might belong to that female, she had directly ordered her Companions to forcibly stop the Giant Python and pry open the suitcase, wanting to see what was inside.
The suitcase had a combination lock. Not knowing the code, they'd simply forced it open by brute strength.
Once opened, they found no shortage of strange and wonderful things inside, and also found a mirror that could reflect every fine detail of a person's face. Delighted, she'd clutched the mirror and refused to let go.
"Where did this female come from?"
Shihua's manner was aggressive, her eyes hostile as she sized up Gao Yue, then sneered coldly at Moya. "If you keep this up, watch out — Lin Xi might really give up on you and Mate with Shoupan instead!"
Moya ignored Shihua's clamoring.
His gaze dropped, landing on the suitcase that had been violently pried open, its contents scattered across the ground.
Gradually, the surrounding air seemed to be drained away in an instant, an invisible, oppressive pressure spreading outward with him at its center.
When he raised his eyes again, those emerald gemstone-like Vertical Pupils had lost all calm, roiling with a killing intent so cold it felt almost tangible, like the sea before a storm.
His gaze swept coolly past Shihua, landing on the three Male Beastmen behind her.
The three beastmen felt a chill shoot straight up their spines to the crowns of their heads. Warrior instinct made their muscles tense, and they instinctively took a step back in unison, the color draining from their faces.
Then, without warning, without any sign at all, Moya moved. All that remained in his original spot was an afterimage almost too fast to catch, his speed tearing through the air itself.
"Crack!"
A crisp, teeth-aching sound of bone shattering rang out.
The Second-tier Beastman on the far left didn't even have time to cry out in pain before his chest was struck as if by a heavy hammer, slamming hard into the jagged Rock of the cave wall, then sliding limply down, never to move again.
The Tier 3 Beastman in the middle reacted slightly faster and lunged to attack, but his right hand was caught as if in an iron clamp. Amid his agonized scream, his arm bone snapped, and he was sent flying by sheer force, crashing into the rock wall.
The last Tier 3 Beastman met the same fate as his companions, sent flying and knocked unconscious on the ground, breath barely leaving his body with none coming in, his back a mangled mess of flesh and blood.
From start to finish, it had taken no more than a couple of breaths.
Moya was a Tier 5 Beastman. These three — one Second-tier, two Tier 3 — never stood a chance; it was a pure, one-sided massacre.
The accusatory expression on Shihua's face instantly froze, twisting into terror and disbelief.
She hadn't imagined Moya would strike her Companions so brutally without a single word!
In the past, because of her status as Lin Xi's friend, Moya — who never bothered with any female — would grudgingly exchange a few words with her. So she'd always thought herself different from other females, believing she held some small measure of standing in front of Moya.
Of course, she'd never dared speak to Moya like this before.
Her earlier aggressive questioning had mostly been to cover the guilt of being caught red-handed rifling through someone's things, an attempt to change the subject.
Who would have thought Moya would attack without a word of warning.
And he'd struck so hard!
After all, even when he'd been pestered repeatedly by females before, looking thoroughly annoyed, at most he'd coldly avoided them — he'd never been this savage.
"You — how could you!" Shihua trembled with fury, blood rushing to her head, and shrieked, "Lin Xi and I are best friends! Aren't you afraid she'll never speak to you again?"
Moya paid her no mind, his eyes fixed on Shihua with a chilling killing intent, his voice flat yet bone-chilling:
"Lin Xi? I already told you — I'm no longer her guardian. Next time, if you dare set foot on my territory again, or touch what's mine —"
He paused, every word carrying a cold, bloody edge. "I'll kill every one of your Companions myself."
Shihua took a step back under his gaze, stunned by this merciless declaration, disbelieving and panicked.
It couldn't be — had Moya's love turned to hatred because of what happened at the Autumn Moon Festival?
But — but she knew the truth. Lin Xi hadn't really wanted Shoupan as her First Beast Husband; she'd only wanted to teach him a lesson.
What was she supposed to do now?
Flustered for a moment, she suddenly whipped her gaze toward Gao Yue standing off to the side, as if she'd found an outlet at last, redirecting all her fury there.
"Did you seduce Moya! Lin Xi is a Superior Talent Female, and you, you Little Brat, think you can—"
"Shut your mouth, you thief!"
Gao Yue roared, her voice louder than Shihua's own!
She had no interest in getting tangled up in their romantic drama, but touching this mirror was absolutely unforgivable. She shouted fiercely, "I don't care who seduced who — this is my suitcase! What gives you the right to pry it open and paw through my things! You're the thief here, and you have the nerve to yell at me!"
She saw that Shihua was still clutching her makeup mirror tightly in hand, and stormed over in a blaze of fury, reaching out with her uninjured left arm, snapping, "Give it back!"
Startled by Gao Yue's fury, Shihua instinctively tucked the mirror behind her back.
That single motion completely lit Gao Yue's temper on fire.
Unbelievable. In all her years, she'd run into plenty of bad people, but never one so brazen about robbery!
She lunged forward on impulse to snatch it back, but a large hand gently caught her.
Moya's faintly exasperated voice sounded above her head: "What are you doing? You're no match for even one of her fingers."
"...!"
Gao Yue snapped back to her senses instantly.
Right — this was the Youpython Tribe. This female in front of her could very likely turn into a Giant Python too. Thinking of what the Giant Python looked like, a chill ran through Gao Yue's heart, and her impulse vanished — though her eyes remained fixed unwaveringly on the mirror.
This handheld mirror was one she and her mother had bought at a tourist spot. Back then, the little stalls at the attraction had been full of mirrors just like it, priced at over a hundred each, when the wholesale price online was really only twenty or thirty yuan, free shipping included — buying it at that price had been a total ripoff.
But she'd been young then, utterly captivated by the mirror's flashy design, and had pestered her mother relentlessly to buy it. Worn down, her mother had reluctantly bought it, wincing at the price.
Not long after that, her mother and father had been in an accident together on the highway.
After that, whenever she felt wronged, she would take out this mirror and look at it. Seeing it would remind her of the time when her mother was still around — that stretch of time when she'd been indulged and loved.
And so, no matter how many hardships life threw at her, she'd fought through them one by one.
There was no way she was letting anyone take this mirror from her!
Moya patted the back of Gao Yue's head reassuringly, then released her, walking over to stand before Shihua. He held out his hand, saying coldly, "Hand it over. Or would you rather lose a Companion right now?"
✦✦✦