TFBAT – Chapter 23

Hearing that voice, Chi Yuyang instinctively turned her head toward the direction it came from.

Since it was already dark, she could only vaguely make out a silhouette.

The newcomer was draped in a thick animal pelt, yet each step he took was astonishingly light.

Yuyang faintly noticed that he leaned on a wooden cane, his body swaying slightly as he walked.

Thinking back to how his voice didn’t sound old at all—on the contrary, it even carried a hint of youthful tone—Yuyang guessed that the cane must be due to poor health.

As if to confirm her suspicion, the very next second she heard a sudden fit of coughing carried to her ears by the wind.

“Cough, cough, cough—”

It came from the beastman standing before her.

Even before seeing his face, the image of a frail invalid had already formed in Yuyang’s mind.

At once, a ripple of surprise and doubt flashed through her heart.

What startled her was that the words he’d spoken just now had been extremely arrogant, even carrying a trace of provocation.

And what puzzled her was his identity.

Was this beastman really the Ape Tribe’s chieftain?

“Wife, there’s something wrong with this beastman.” Hu Jin gently set Yuyang down from his arms and shielded her behind him.

Even so, the beastman’s gaze still lingered on Yuyang, assessing her.

“I am Yuan Wu, chieftain of the Ape Tribe,” he introduced himself with a seemingly polite tone, but the arrogance underlying his voice was unmistakable.

After speaking, this beastman named Yuan Wu stepped closer, allowing Yuyang to see his features clearly.

At a glance, she noticed that his appearance carried a faint trace of mixed blood—thin lips, a high nose bridge, the delicate features of a handsome youth.

But his hair was black.

So young, yet already a chieftain—this man was certainly not simple.

Yuyang thought to herself.

“You’re this Tiger Tribe beastman’s mate.” Yuan Wu looked at Yuyang as he spoke.

His tone was full of certainty.

No sooner had Yuan Wu finished the sentence than another fit of coughing overtook him, making his already pale face look even more fragile and ethereal.

Yuyang noticed the glimmer hidden within his black eyes—it seemed out of place against the sickly pallor of his face.

When he spoke, there was a certain airy quality in his voice, compelling others to focus on him without realizing it.

She had to admit, his eyes were striking.

The moment this thought crossed her mind, Yuyang was startled.

How could that be? What on earth was she thinking?

After seeing Hu Jin’s mismatched eyes, how could she possibly find another beastman’s eyes beautiful?

There was definitely something wrong with this Yuan Wu!

“Wife, don’t look into his eyes!” Hu Jin shook Yuyang’s shoulder, trying to pull her free from Yuan Wu’s gaze.

But Yuyang’s eyes were vacant, as if her very soul had been hooked away.

“Wife…”

“Hu Jin.” Yuyang suddenly spoke.

At the same time, the haze clouding her eyes vanished.

“You really like her, don’t you?” Yuan Wu’s gaze locked with Hu Jin’s once again.

Hu Jin neither answered nor looked directly at Yuan Wu’s face.

He lowered his head, checking on Yuyang’s condition instead.

“Wife, are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” Yuyang rubbed her temples.

She didn’t feel anything wrong with her body.

But those eyes of Yuan Wu’s seemed to have etched themselves into her mind, refusing to fade.

It left her feeling distinctly unsettled.

She lifted her gaze toward Hu Jin’s eyes, as if to wash away Yuan Wu’s lingering star-like gaze imprinted in her mind.

In Hu Jin’s clear mismatched eyes, she saw not only her blue and green reflections, but also…

“Interesting.” Yuan Wu suddenly laughed. “The willpower of a fourth-rank beastman truly is extraordinary. But for an unranked beastman to break free of my mental control—that’s unexpected.”

“Mental control?” Yuyang stopped trying to decipher the meaning in Hu Jin’s gaze and instead mulled over the words Yuan Wu had just spoken.

So beastmen could control minds!

Hu Zhuo had once said that the higher-ranked the Ape Tribe beastmen became, the greater their intelligence grew with each rank.

So when intelligence evolved to a certain level, it turned into mental control?

And how exactly had Yuan Wu just managed to control her?

“Awoo—” From behind came several roars. Yuyang turned her head and saw a tiger surrounded by a group of Ape Tribe beastmen, unable to break free.

His pale yellow fur seemed to be streaked with blood.

It was impossible to tell whether it was his blood or that of the ape-tribe beastmen.

Chi Yuyang and Hu Jin both knew that the time left to them was running out.

“Why are you targeting the Tiger Tribe?” Hu Jin asked, his voice tinged with obvious anger.

In an instant, Yuyang felt his unique sense of pressure spread through the air.

“Why?” Yuan Wu chuckled. “Perhaps because, in the end, strength must bow before wisdom.”

Even though he had used the word perhaps, his tone carried no room for doubt.

“The tiger beastmen may be powerful, but you’re far too stupid.”

“Just a few simple words, and your tribesmen spilled important secrets about your clan.” Yuan Wu’s lips curved with mockery. “Otherwise, how do you think I knew you were the strongest among the Tiger Tribe?”

“Silver hair and heterochromatic eyes—that’s a very obvious trait.”

“Hu Jin, isn’t that your name?”

Yuyang guessed that the tribesmen Yuan Wu mentioned were Hu Jin’s brothers—he must have exploited their hatred toward Hu Jin.

But that didn’t mean every tiger beastman was that foolish.

The Tiger Tribe’s chieftain, Hu Zhuo, gave lessons to the cubs, teaching them knowledge, and she had seen Hu Jin’s extraordinary learning ability with her own eyes.

Even among beastmen who revered strength above all, changes were happening.

As a human, Yuyang admitted that if she had to choose, she would favor wisdom over raw power. But that didn’t mean strength was worthless.

And looking at Yuan Wu now…

“What’s the use of just being clever? From the looks of you, you probably won’t live much longer, right?” Yuyang sneered. “But my Hu Jin will live a long, healthy life!”

As expected, Yuan Wu reacted as though she had stomped on a sore spot, coughing again.

“That’s why you poisoned the Tiger Tribe, isn’t it? Because you couldn’t stand that beastmen who rely on strength could outlive you.” Yuyang pressed on.

From what Chief Hu Zhuo had said, the former ape-tribe leaders also sought to conquer the continent—

But their methods began with winning over herbivorous beastmen, while maintaining a “live and let live” balance with carnivorous tribes.

Who could have imagined that once the new ape-tribe chieftain rose to power, he would come up with such a venomous scheme?

After seeing Yuan Wu in person, Yuyang understood why.

For some people, the more unattainable something was, the more they burned to destroy it.

Such was human nature, and the ape beastmen’s “human” nature was no exception.

Yuyang finally understood the dividing line in this continent between wisdom and strength.

Races that worshipped strength leaned more toward bestiality.

Races that revered wisdom leaned more toward humanity.

“So what if that’s true?” As though tearing away his mask, Yuan Wu let out a sinister laugh. “But I am curious—what race are you, female? You seem much smarter than the tiger beastmen.”

He didn’t believe the female before him belonged to the Tiger Tribe, yet she bore no obvious animal traits either.

“If you’re so smart, why don’t you guess yourself?” Yuyang stuck her tongue out. “Aren’t your ape beastmen supposed to be clever beyond compare?”

“You’re not an ape,” Yuan Wu replied abruptly.

His words carried a trace of regret.

“Of course I’m not an ape.” With that, Yuyang leaned close and whispered something quickly into Hu Jin’s ear.

Their goal here was to find the poison used against the Tiger Tribe, so she didn’t want to waste more time on Yuan Wu.

Since his mental control was useless now, Hu Jin no longer needed to hold back.

“Alright.” Hu Jin nodded.

As soon as he finished speaking, he shifted back into his beast form and lunged straight at Yuan Wu.

As expected, several ape beastmen suddenly appeared to block his way.

But Hu Jin’s tiger form was lightning fast—they couldn’t keep up with him at all.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Yuyang dashed toward the house behind Yuan Wu.

The poison was most likely hidden there.

Strangely, Yuan Wu didn’t stop her.

He simply sat down on the ground and calmly watched her every move.

Yuyang felt uneasy, but she didn’t slow her pace.

What unsettled her more was the feeling that Yuan Wu’s gaze clung to her the entire time.

Silently, she slipped a hand into her cloth bag, searching for something she could use to defend herself.

Even if Yuan Wu wasn’t moving now, she couldn’t guarantee he wouldn’t follow.

At that moment, her fingers brushed against—

Hu Jin’s milk tooth.

What?

Yuyang frowned as she held the object.

She weighed it in her palm.

Something was wrong—the weight felt off.

She had just touched Hu Jin’s milk tooth earlier today, and the feel of it now was completely different.

A realization struck her, and she turned toward the white tiger.

“Tuan Tuan?” she called tentatively.

At the sound of her voice, the white tiger didn’t turn his head.

Yuyang froze.

He was still under Yuan Wu’s mental control!

Even knowing this, she didn’t stop running—but just as she was about to reach the stone house, she suddenly turned and flung the tooth straight at Yuan Wu.

…

“Chief! Chief!”

Yuan Wu’s eyes snapped open. He glanced at the tribesmen anxiously waiting at his side.

“Chief, how did it go?” one of them asked impatiently.

“That tiger beastman—he’s the one I’ve been looking for.” Yuan Wu’s eyes gleamed. “As expected of the Tiger Tribe’s strongest. And his mate… she’s quite interesting too.”

He recalled the spirited look in that unknown female’s eyes as she sparred words with him, and a mad thought flashed through his mind.

“She and I are a good match. Once he’s dead, she’ll be mine.”

—

When Yuyang woke up, she saw Hu Jin staring at her worriedly.

“Wife, you’ve finally come back to yourself!”

The moment Yuyang opened her eyes, Hu Jin’s heterochromatic gaze shone brighter than ever, and the tail behind him stood tall again.

“Hu Jin!” Yuyang didn’t hesitate—she threw herself into his arms, asking anxiously, “You weren’t controlled by Yuan Wu, were you?”

“I… wasn’t.” Hu Jin hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. “He and I are both fourth-tier beastmen, so he can’t control my mind.”

Hearing this, Yuyang finally let out a breath of relief.

“When exactly did he start controlling me?”

“When we first saw him. I noticed something was off about him, but by then you had already lost consciousness.” Hu Jin paused, his face filled with regret, as though he deeply blamed himself for failing to protect his wife.

Then he continued with the main point of their trip. “Also, the others said they found something suspicious, so I brought you away immediately.”

Only then did Chi Yuyang realize they were already back inside Hu Jin’s stone house.

“My cloth bag!” She suddenly remembered.

“It’s here.” Hu Jin handed her the bundle.

She quickly rummaged through it.

“Good, nothing’s missing.” Seeing the milk tooth still inside, Chi Yuyang let out a sigh of relief.

“All thanks to this thing…” She met Hu Jin’s puzzled gaze, then corrected herself. “No, I should say it’s all thanks to your ears.”

As she spoke, Chi Yuyang couldn’t help but reach up and touch Hu Jin’s round ears.

She had always been especially fond of them. Because she was so often distracted by those ears, she’d noticed that whenever Hu Jin transformed, he would give a slight twitch of them.

So, when she was under Yuan Wu’s control and didn’t see his usual subconscious gesture, she immediately felt something was wrong.

Besides, Yuan Wu would never know the pet name she used for him.

That was how she had realized the Hu Jin she saw then wasn’t the real him.

Just then, Hu Jin suddenly turned his head away as her hand touched his ears.

“Wife, go roast the meat first. I just came back from hunting and need to wash up.”

“Alright.” Chi Yuyang’s stomach rumbled too. She got up and went to the firepit to roast the meat.

Hu Jin had already cut it into chunks, so all she needed to do was cook it through.

Back inside their stone house, with rice and salt at hand, Chi Yuyang suddenly felt all the frustration she’d suffered from Yuan Wu completely vanish.

Moreover, Yuan Wu’s words had confirmed one thing for her: the ape beastmen were not human.

Actually, apart from feeling a bit defeated about being controlled, she didn’t feel especially aggrieved.

After all—

She was the only human on this foreign continent.

The one who should be truly frustrated was Yuan Wu.

Because of this, she didn’t even bother to think too much about why Yuan Wu had wanted to control her.

But Hu Jin had said it himself—Yuan Wu couldn’t control his mind. So instead, he had chosen the next best target: her.

After this incident, Chi Yuyang resolved that she would need to think twice before acting in the future.

If not for Hu Jin, she really would have remained trapped in Yuan Wu’s control, unable to break free.

Speaking of Hu Jin, Chi Yuyang glanced toward the door.

Lately, Hu Jin had been bathing far too frequently…

He had already bathed once before they left for the ape tribe today, and now he was bathing again.

But she clearly remembered him saying that tiger beastmen almost never needed to bathe during the entire winter.

Maybe it was just because he’d come back from hunting?

Chi Yuyang shook her head and continued tending the meat.

She would ask him about it once he came back.

…

Hu Jin let the icy water of the stream wash over his body, trying to suppress the fire burning within.

Although Yuan Wu couldn’t completely control his mind, he had still been affected.

Especially because what Yuan Wu had said while trying to control him was related to Chi Yuyang.

And now, he was right in the middle of his mating season—today being the exact peak of it.

When Chi Yuyang had just touched his most sensitive ears, the desire within him had instantly been provoked again.

Staring at his reflection in the water, Hu Jin clenched his fists tightly.

Just a few more days… and it would pass.