TFBAT – Chapter 37

The next second, Chi Yuyang was pulled into Hu Jin’s embrace.

She leaned against his chest, able to hear his heartbeat clearly.

Chi Yuyang had long been accustomed to this intimate closeness and had tacitly accepted the normal partner behavior between her and Hu Jin. But here and now, there were more pressing matters at hand.

So she could only touch Hu Jin’s face gently and soothe him: “Hu Jin, hold on, wait until we find your father…”

“I’ll make Yuan Wu die!” Hu Jin ground his teeth, his voice full of rage.

Chi Yuyang froze.

Then she realized what Hu Jin meant.

He knew this wasn’t the right moment either, only that Yuan Wu was still not far from them.

So he forced his desires into anger.

Even the pace at which he ate became faster.

But this time, Hu Jin made sure no blood stains fell on him.

Watching Hu Jin eat, Chi Yuyang couldn’t help but smile.

“Next time, I won’t touch you randomly.”

After smiling, seeing that Hu Jin had finished eating, she took his hand, and they walked out of the forest together.

At the edge of the woods, Hu Jin suddenly said softly, “Wife, I don’t mind.”

“What?” Chi Yuyang didn’t catch it clearly.

Hu Jin shook his head.

Chi Yuyang stared at him for a few seconds, and once she confirmed nothing was wrong, she continued walking forward.

Although the desire in Hu Jin’s eyes had subsided, she still felt that this tiger had something on his mind.

At that moment, Hu Jin was thinking to himself that he couldn’t always let his wife take the initiative; as a male, he should be more proactive in the future.

—

Chi Yuyang and Hu Jin hadn’t stayed long in the forest. When they returned to where Yuan Wu was, he was sitting on the ground, twirling a few green leaves in his hands.

Chi Yuyang looked closely and noticed that the leaves were very similar to the items displayed at the ape tribe’s stalls.

It was unclear where Yuan Wu had picked the leaves from, but he was now putting them into his mouth one by one, as if eating raw vegetables.

Chi Yuyang, unaccustomed to green food for a long time, couldn’t help swallowing.

But she vaguely saw gray-brown spots on the leaves and immediately lost her appetite.

It was uncertain whether Yuan Wu had washed the leaves before eating them.

He might get a stomach ache.

When this thought crossed her mind, Chi Yuyang felt her own thoughts were too malicious.

But then she reminded herself that Yuan Wu had poisoned Hu Jin before and had even nearly killed the tiger cubs.

When Yuan Wu sat quietly on the ground, he looked harmless.

But deep inside him, it was as if a venomous snake was coiled, and he let it bite freely.

At that moment, Yuan Wu finished chewing the last leaf in his hand.

He ate in a manner similar to Hu Jin’s—slowly, deliberately, swallowing each bite with care.

After finishing, Yuan Wu patted himself to remove imaginary dust and, ensuring he was unharmed, slowly leaned on his cane to stand.

The moment he stood, his starry eyes looked at Chi Yuyang and Hu Jin, and his thin lips parted.

“You took longer than I expected.”

The teasing tone in his words made Chi Yuyang frown.

That strange feeling of being watched returned.

But Hu Jin said that the ape tribe’s senses were far less developed than the tiger tribe’s, so Yuan Wu couldn’t possibly have seen their actions in the forest.

Could it have been a lucky coincidence?

Chi Yuyang avoided Yuan Wu’s gaze, suppressed the strange feeling in her heart, and followed his steps.

—

Chi Yuyang referred to the mountain where the ape tribe camped as Ape Mountain, and the one inhabited by chickens as Chicken Mountain.

On the third day, standing at the foot of a third mountain, she couldn’t help but wonder what unique features this mountain might have.

She didn’t ask Yuan Wu.

So far, Yuan Wu had shown no abnormal behavior.

In fact, Hu Jin, whose mind Yuan Wu couldn’t control, could converse with him as usual.

But along the way, Hu Jin rarely spoke.

At first, Chi Yuyang thought it was because Hu Jin didn’t want to talk to Yuan Wu.

Later, she gradually realized that Hu Jin was simply a man of few words.

Or rather, he didn’t know how to express his emotions.

Back in the tiger tribe, events had come in rapid succession, so she hadn’t had time to consider the reasons behind Hu Jin’s personality.

Now, walking hand in hand with him, memories inevitably surfaced in Chi Yuyang’s mind.

The closer they got to the snow mountain, the more she thought.

Though she was an orphan, she considered herself optimistic, and she had never lacked people who could get along with her, whether at school or during internships.

She rarely encountered obvious malice.

But Hu Jin was different.

Chi Yuyang still remembered why Yuan Wu had targeted Hu Jin: because he was the strongest tiger in the tribe.

He had experienced too much malice, and being strong didn’t protect him; it gave others more reason to harm him.

If his own father bore him no goodwill…

Thinking of this, Chi Yuyang turned her head slightly to look at Hu Jin.

Catching her gaze, Hu Jin’s eyelashes fluttered for a moment before he lifted his face into a pure, gentle smile.

His slightly visible little tiger fangs and shallow dimples all betrayed his current good mood.

Chi Yuyang seemed to sense what he was about to say.

“Wife, don’t be afraid.”

…This silly old tiger.

Chi Yuyang took a deep breath.

No matter what Yuan Wu intended, she would not let him succeed.

“There are various animals living in this mountain,” Yuan Wu happened to speak up at that moment, as if performing his role as a tour guide, introducing each mountain they arrived at.

“Some of the Snow Tiger Clan’s beastmen will come to this mountain to hunt.”

“If we’re lucky enough to encounter one, it can lead us to the location of the Snow Tiger Clan’s settlement.”

“Wait.” Chi Yuyang sensed something amiss. “You mean you don’t even know where the entrance is?”

Yuan Wu smiled and nodded.

“You…” Chi Yuyang widened her eyes, ready to accuse him of being shameless.

But halfway through, she stopped herself.

“I only said the entrance is hard to find, and that I have the token,” Yuan Wu said.

“Your token?” Chi Yuyang sneered coldly. “You don’t even know where the entrance is—maybe the token is made up too.”

She paused. “Unless you show it to us.”

Yuan Wu raised an eyebrow.

He wasn’t falling for it.

Chi Yuyang spat in her heart.

So cunning.

…

As the sky gradually darkened, Chi Yuyang, hidden in Hu Jin’s embrace, bit into the last fruit she had brought.

Perhaps because they were close to the snow mountains, the night temperature here was much lower than on Ape Mountain or Chicken Mountain.

“Tigers prefer to be active at night.”

Maybe due to the dim light, Yuan Wu’s expression was unclear at the moment.

“I know tigers better than you,” Chi Yuyang rolled her eyes.

“That’s not necessarily true,” Yuan Wu sneered.

Chi Yuyang didn’t respond.

She shifted slightly closer to Hu Jin’s side.

Considering what happened yesterday, she intended to keep a safe distance from his chest.

But Hu Jin placed her on his lap, circled her waist with his arms, and pressed his head against her cheek.

“Wife, are you cold?”

He used his body to warm her.

Chi Yuyang felt deep shame for her earlier thoughts.

“I’m not cold,” she said, rubbing against his remarkably soft silver hair.

Since coming to this other world, Chi Yuyang’s hair had grown from short hair at first to now shoulder-length.

Strangely, Hu Jin’s neat short hair grew extremely slowly—so slowly that it was easy to overlook without careful observation.

She then ran her hand along his hair, touching Hu Jin’s ears hidden within, as if they were mere decorations.

Hu Jin, touched at his most sensitive spot, showed no visible reaction—he just held Chi Yuyang even tighter.

The warmth between Chi Yuyang and Hu Jin sharply contrasted with the desolation around Yuan Wu.

Hu Jin casually glanced at Yuan Wu, but the satisfaction and gentleness in his eyes made Yuan Wu’s cold, sinister gaze appear even deeper.

“Beastmen are approaching.”

“The Snow Tiger is here.”

Suddenly, Hu Jin and Yuan Wu spoke at the same time.

Though their words differed, their voices were equally low.

Hu Jin transformed back into his beast form.

“Roarrr!”

Chi Yuyang vaguely saw a pair of glowing vertical pupils approaching them from a distance.

Accompanied by a “roar,” she finally saw the visitor clearly.

It was a white tiger.

Before she could even count the black stripes on its back, Hu Jin blocked her view.

At the same moment, the white tiger transformed into a tall, handsome beastman.

“You’re a Snow Tiger? Why does your roar sound different from a Snow Tiger’s?”

After transforming into human form, Hu Jin didn’t answer immediately.

He first quickly took a piece of animal hide from his bag and handed it to the stranger beastman to cover his important parts, then stepped away from Chi Yuyang.

Chi Yuyang could then see the white tiger’s human form. His hair was dark gray, his features leaned toward a European style as she knew it, and his eyes were pitch black.

He looked slightly older than Hu Jin, roughly equivalent to a 24–25-year-old human.

“You…” The beastman frowned upon seeing Hu Jin’s human form.

“My father is a Snow Tiger,” Hu Jin said, his eyes full of unwavering determination, “but I am a tiger from the forest.”

He was not a Snow Tiger.

Chi Yuyang understood what Hu Jin meant.

“Cough, cough…” Yuan Wu’s sudden cough interrupted the conversation between Hu Jin and the other Snow Tiger beastman.

Yuan Wu staggered forward, then took something out from his chest.

Chi Yuyang didn’t realize Yuan Wu was overstepping; she was more curious about the token he held.

Under the moonlight and close distance, she recognized what Yuan Wu held.

It was a milk tooth.

A tiger’s milk tooth.

Chi Yuyang also had a similar one.

But why, as an ape-clan beastman, was Yuan Wu’s token a tiger’s milk tooth?

Seeing the milk tooth, the Snow Tiger beastman twitched his nose and furrowed his brows even deeper.

Then he said something that stunned both Chi Yuyang and Hu Jin.

He asked Yuan Wu: “You’re also a Snow Tiger?”

Yuan Wu answered in a voice very similar to Hu Jin’s: “My father is a Snow Tiger, but I am an ape living at the foot of the mountain.”

“…Chi Yuyang’s mind collapsed.

Even being clever as she was, she couldn’t have guessed that Yuan Wu’s father was a Snow Tiger—he showed no tiger traits at all.

Yet even if his father was a Snow Tiger, it still couldn’t…

“You two…” The Snow Tiger pointed at Hu Jin and Yuan Wu but couldn’t get the words out.

Suddenly, Yuan Wu turned to Chi Yuyang and Hu Jin and grinned.

His eyes seemed to sparkle with stars.

“Hu Jin and I are half-brothers.”