TFBAT -Chapter 54

There weren’t many beastmen standing before Chi Yuyang and Hu Jin — at most ten.

Chi Yuyang counted them one by one, and indeed stopped right at ten.

“Awoo! Awoo! Awoo!” The little fox let out a string of high-pitched, excited cries at the suddenly appearing fox-tribe beastmen.

Although Chi Yuyang and Hu Jin couldn’t understand the unique language of the fox tribe, they could read the general meaning from the fox beastmen’s faces.

At first, most of the fox tribe beastmen crowding around looked surprised and delighted.

But when the little fox spoke, their expressions quickly shifted into deep gratitude, as if thanking Hu Jin for being willing to help.

Their words also carried sincere thanks. The fox beastman in the lead said, “Thank you for saving our Chief, and thank you for being willing to help the fox tribe.”

After saying this, he bent down, scooped the little fox into his arms, and then walked back to stand with the other fox tribe beastmen.

His attitude toward the little fox was extremely respectful — similar to how the ape-tribe beastmen treated their chief.

This meant that before the little fox became a cub, he must have possessed the kind of ability that convinced the entire fox tribe.

Not only that — Chi Yuyang noticed a fleeting, complicated emotion flash through that fox beastman’s eyes before he spoke.

She had seen a similar expression on Yuan Wu’s face before.

Although her field of study was animals, in modern society she had always interacted more with people; her background as an orphan and her internship experiences had only honed her skill at reading expressions.

From what she had observed, beastmen were not good at controlling their emotions.

Even cunning fox beastmen, or ape beastmen who were very similar to humans in behavior, couldn’t perfectly mask their feelings.

The fox beastman believed he had hidden it well — but both Chi Yuyang and Hu Jin saw the subtle shift.

Hu Jin relied purely on the cautious nature of the tiger tribe. He had never trusted the little fox, and had only agreed to help because the fox tribe’s enemy was the lion tribe.

Thinking of the lion tribe, Hu Jin lowered his gaze and unconsciously licked his lips.

In the forest, it didn’t take much for tribes to become enemies, but they also wouldn’t fight for no reason.

The fox tribe and wolf tribe were natural enemies, but the fox tribe had little connection with the lion tribe.

For the lion tribe to intervene in matters between the foxes and wolves, they must have had an ulterior motive.

As for the tiger and lion tribes — both belonged to the feline family, both were strong forces in the forest, each occupying their own territory. The two tribes had been at peace for many years, and even Chief Huzhuo acknowledged the lion tribe as an ally.

But Hu Jin had always felt that the lion tribe wasn’t as friendly toward the tigers as they appeared — not just because of his three brothers, but also from instinct.

Chi Yuyang noticed Hu Jin suddenly staring at his right shoulder.

“Hu Jin?” She looked at the shoulder — a few strands of black hair rested against his pale skin, becoming more visible the more she stared.

Realizing where the hairs came from, Chi Yuyang blinked with embarrassment. She patted his shoulder lightly and blew on it, ensuring the hairs fell onto the ground.

Littering wasn’t good.

Chi Yuyang reflexively wanted to get down and pick them up.

But before she could leave Hu Jin’s arms, the muddy ground opened like a gaping mouth — in an instant, all the black strands vanished.

“…”

Chi Yuyang pointed at the ground, at a loss for words. When the little fox had knelt earlier, the mud had just looked like ordinary mud.

No — the little fox had even bled on that ground.

So the blood didn’t come from stones mixed in the soil, but…

Chi Yuyang didn’t dare think further.

Compared to Yuan Wu’s dramatics, the little fox was far scarier.

But what concerned her now was that Hu Jin still hadn’t responded to her after all her actions.

“Hu Jin, what are you staring at your shoulder for?” Chi Yuyang asked again.

Could his shoulder have been injured back on the snowy mountain?

She gently touched his ear in concern.

— Even if the injury was on his shoulder, she still subconsciously touched his round ears.

Touched in a sensitive spot, Hu Jin seemed to abruptly snap back to awareness, and the tips of his ears flushed faint red.

It was a natural reaction — instinctive.

And his instincts didn’t end there.

Chi Yuyang had guessed part of Hu Jin’s strange behavior, but not all.

“When I first transformed into humanoid form, coincidentally, some lion-tribe beastmen were visiting,” Hu Jin said quietly.

Chi Yuyang nodded with a smile, encouraging him to continue.

“My brothers transformed later than I did.” When he mentioned his brothers, the bright lake in Hu Jin’s eyes became stagnant like dead water. “They fought me the moment they transformed.”

Chi Yuyang’s smile stiffened.

Calling it a fight sounded nice — but Hu Jin’s brothers… weren’t there three of them?

Don’t tell her they ganged up on him…

No — they wouldn’t be able to beat Hu Jin anyway.

A rare mocking expression appeared on Hu Jin’s face.

At least other tiger beastmen challenged him one-on-one — but his brothers chose this moment to demonstrate their lion-tribe roots and attack him as a group.

“Even then, three tigers couldn’t beat just me.”

He smirked.

“So their lion-tribe relatives came to avenge them.”

That was the first battle of his life that didn’t end in victory.

— He ended in a draw with those lion-tribe beastmen. Or rather, a loss.

Because while they merely exhausted their strength, he had received a vicious wound across his right shoulder.

His strong healing ability erased the scar, but he could still remember their arrogant, nose-in-the-air expressions.

Afterward, he occasionally ran into lion-tribe beastmen near tiger-tribe territory. Though he won every time, he always felt they harbored ill intent.

Hu Jin finally withdrew his gaze from his shoulder, regaining his usual fierce pride.

The first and last time, he thought.

“They all ganged up on you?” Chi Yuyang spat in disgust, wishing she could spit directly on those lion-tribe beastmen’s heads — they had no shame anyway.

“Seven or eight, maybe.” Hu Jin said casually. “I don’t remember.”

Chi Yuyang’s jaw dropped in shock and anger.

Her emotions reacted before her reason: “Those lion-tribe beastmen are disgusting! So shameless! And the other tigers? They just watched—”

Then she fell silent.

She had nearly forgotten Hu Jin’s past.

“The chief was teaching class, and the healer was treating my brothers,” Hu Jin said.

The only two males in the tribe who were kind to him were busy.

His peers hoped the lion-tribe beastmen would crush his spirit, and the older males simply assumed it was ordinary sparring among youths.

But Hu Jin didn’t dwell on it.

He caught the pity and anger in Chi Yuyang’s eyes, and his tiger ears twitched.

He didn’t need to pretend to be weak to regain his mate’s attention.

“Hu Jin, those lion-tribe beastmen… they’re truly awful.”

Since the lion tribe liked to fight in groups and put clan unity above all, she didn’t feel it was excessive to blame the whole tribe for it.

But she didn’t notice how quickly her focus shifted — from the little fox’s request to Hu Jin’s grudges against the lion tribe.

Chi Yuyang’s voice grew louder as she cursed the lion tribe, drawing the attention of the fox beastmen nearby.

The leader approached once again.

“Do the two of you have grievances with the lion tribe?”

Only now did Chi Yuyang take in his appearance. She couldn’t tell whether he was male or female — he had a pair of seductive peach-blossom eyes, but compared to Hu Jin’s eyes, even the most charming gaze seemed dull.

Judging by his voice, she still couldn’t guess his gender — it was soft, but not like a typical female’s.

No wonder the fox tribe could choose their gender.

Chi Yuyang thought — no matter whether they chose male or female when they matured, their looks matched either way.

“I’m Hu Yu,” the fox beastman introduced. “Thank you for saving our chief.”

He thanked them sincerely again.

Hu Jin glanced down at him, ignored the question about grudges, and simply replied, “Hu Jin.”

Hu Yu wasn’t tall, and needed to look up to see Hu Jin’s face clearly.

And the oppressive feeling didn’t come from Hu Jin’s height — in fact, holding a female in his arms should have made him look strange. But Hu Yu still felt overwhelmed.

“This is my mate,” Hu Jin said, pausing, “Chi.”

He only spoke the first syllable of Chi Yuyang’s name — and she immediately understood the fox beastman was male.

The moment Hu Yu’s gaze met the female in Hu Jin’s arms, the pressure intensified.

— From Hu Jin.

Hu Yu instantly bowed his head, recalling what his chief had told him.

Chi Yuyang noticed his reaction and whispered something into Hu Jin’s ear.

Hu Jin nodded.

Instantly, the oppressive aura vanished, and Hu Jin even offered Hu Yu a bright smile.

Hu Yu shivered instinctively.

…

The fox-tribe settlement had already become a wasteland.

Even if it hadn’t been destroyed, Chi Yuyang wouldn’t have been able to enter — the fox dens were designed for fox-shaped bodies, nowhere near large enough for an adult human.

Different tribes had different habits — snow tigers in the snowy mountains didn’t live in dens like forest tigers.

So Chi Yuyang understood why fox beastmen, even after becoming humanoid, still chose to squeeze into narrow fox dens.

Perhaps it was for concealment.

The fox beastmen led them to another area and into another den.

This one was large — no smaller than a tiger-tribe den.

Hu Yu didn’t explain its origin, but Hu Jin smelled the scent of bear-tribe beastmen.

Bears were also natural enemies of foxes — and the fact that the fox tribe dared live here meant the original owner of this den was likely already dead.

These fox beastmen were probably not as simple as they seemed. Especially since the honest bear tribe wouldn’t stand a chance against them.

Hu Jin looked at Hu Yu.

It was noon, and the spring sunlight filtering into the den was nothing compared to the gleam in the tiger’s vertical pupils.

Dangerous and deadly intent flickered within them.

Hu Yu instantly broke out in cold sweat, though he also felt a spark of admiration.

Tiger beastmen were truly strong…

Just a look was enough to trigger his survival instincts.

Yet Hu Jin’s eyes were different from wolves’ or lions’. Too pure — without the cruelty of those who delighted in violence.

“You’re a third-rank beastman?” Hu Jin narrowed his eyes.

He didn’t see any rank markings, but judging from Hu Yu’s reaction to the pressure, he determined the fox beastman couldn’t be above the third rank.

“Yes,” Hu Yu nodded, unconsciously feeling more and more reverence for Hu Jin.

Hu Jin looked at the others.

All except the little fox — curled tightly in a ball, making it hard to see its expression — were trembling.

They posed no threat to his mate.

After confirming this, Hu Jin finally asked about the fox tribe’s situation.

“What exactly happened between your fox tribe and the lion tribe?”