TFBAT -Chapter 55

Upon hearing Hu Yu’s reply, the little fox lifted its head from the arms of the fox clansman holding it and looked toward them.

Sensing the little fox’s signal, Hu Yu slowly spoke. “Our fox clan and the lion clan have never had any grievances.”

When he mentioned the words “lion clan,” he deliberately emphasized them.

Hu Jin and Chi Yuyang did not interrupt; they waited for him to continue.

“But they want to incorporate our territory into their tribe,” Hu Yu said.

“I heard the chief mention it.” Hu Jin lowered his head and whispered into his wife’s ear, “In these past years, the lion tribe has been expanding very fast.”

So… the lion clan wants to swallow the fox clan?

Chi Yuyang had this guess, and Hu Yu’s next words confirmed it.

“They had their eyes on the area where our fox tribe is located.” Hu Yu sighed.

Chi Yuyang felt that the fox clansman’s face suddenly looked much more haggard.

She looked past him at the group of fox clansmen behind him. Their faces were all tinged with frustration, as if lamenting their own powerlessness.

For a moment, Chi Yuyang was also affected by the mood. She instinctively sniffed.

She wasn’t sure whether she felt sad for the fox clan’s fate, or emotional over the fact that ever since she transmigrated, she had never truly worried about survival.

Hu Jin blinked. He saw a complex, indistinct emotion in his wife’s gaze.

His tiger brain could not parse her feelings, but he knew this strange mood had been stirred by the fox clansman’s words.

He frowned slightly.

“So the wolf clan and the lion clan joined forces to take your tribe?”

Upon hearing this, Hu Yu’s previously flustered expression instantly turned into shock.

“No, no, no — that’s not it! The wolf clan came to help us!”

Hu Jin raised his eyebrows. That was unexpected.

But if he had listened properly during the chief’s lessons, or bothered to ask before coming, he would’ve known this information.

Though to him, it was trivial anyway.

Chi Yuyang was also stunned.

Wolves going against nature to help foxes?

At this moment Hu Yu quickly added, “Many of our fox clansmen married wolf clansmen.”

Chi Yuyang suddenly understood — beasts and beastmen were not the same.

Hu Jin didn’t care about the relationship between wolves and foxes, but from Hu Yu’s words, he reached one conclusion:

“Even with the wolves’ help, you still couldn’t beat the lions.”

“…The lion clan is too strong.” Even as unwilling as Hu Yu was, he could only admit defeat.

“Have the lion beastmen left already?” Hu Jin’s focus was different.

“After driving us out of our tribe, they left.” Hu Yu recalled the scene and sighed again.

“There were already more females than males in our tribe. Most of the males with combat ability died on the spot. The remaining…”

Hu Jin didn’t continue listening. He was thinking: if the lion beastmen had already left, was there still any reason for him to stay here?

Chi Yuyang also didn’t catch Hu Yu’s words clearly — his voice was blurred by sobs.

Just then, a fox clansman muttered something under his breath.

The mutter was so soft Chi Yuyang didn’t hear it at all.

Nor did Hu Yu notice.

But no sound, no matter how soft, could escape Hu Jin’s ears.

When he glanced over, the beastman who had spoken still had a trace of resentment on his face.

The little fox reacted quickly and barked.

The fox clansman looked up — right into Hu Jin’s gaze.

Hu Jin tilted his head and gave a faint smile. “Repeat what you just said.”

Chi Yuyang looked at him in confusion.

Hu Jin’s expression was normal, but she could hear the coldness and… disgust in his tone toward the outsider.

When was the last time she heard him speak like this?

Ah — when talking about his brothers.

“I… I said…” The fox clansman shrank back against the cave wall and swallowed nervously. “I said the lion beastmen should die miserably…”

Are you kidding me?

Hu Jin’s smile instantly faded.

He had not heard that.

“In that case, forget it.” He picked Chi Yuyang up and turned toward the exit.

Talking to beastmen who half-lie and half-truth is exhausting.

He only believed half — or even less — of what Hu Yu said.

And someone blatantly lying to his face? Laughable.

Now that the little fox was returned, he and his wife needed to head to the snake clan.

Hu Yu sensed something wrong and hurried to block his path.

Hu Jin glanced at him from the corner of his eye.

Hu Yu instinctively stepped back, and Hu Jin prepared to walk around him.

“Sorry!” someone suddenly apologized.

Because Hu Jin was carrying her princess-style, Chi Yuyang rested her chin on his shoulder.

From her angle, she saw the fox clansman who had spoken kneeling toward them.

…The gesture lacked dignity, but to Chi Yuyang, who came from modern society, it was still shocking.

Especially since, for the fox clan who had lost both tribe and lives, dignity meant nothing now.

Hu Jin didn’t look and didn’t stop.

“In the lion beastmen who attacked us… there were tiger beastmen among them.” The voice continued from behind.

“Tiger beastmen?” Chi Yuyang nudged Hu Jin’s tail lightly, telling him to stop.

“Could they be your brothers?”

“Possibly.”

Hu Jin spoke quietly; the fox clansman only heard Chi Yuyang’s question and misunderstood.

He thought she was asking how he knew the attackers were tiger beastmen.

“We have natural barriers outside our tribe! You can’t dodge the poisonous fruits in human form! They rushed in using beast form!” He blurted it all out, still kneeling.

Hu Jin believed that. He had seen the “poison fruit rain” before arriving.

While he could dodge it in human form, his useless brothers definitely could not.

“How many tigers?” Hu Jin turned back and raised an eyebrow.

“Three! There were three! And their human forms looked very similar — they might be triplets!” Hu Yu answered quickly.

Hu Jin fell into thought.

Seeing that Hu Jin was willing to talk, Hu Yu made a signal with his eyes.

The fox clansman who had knelt earlier knocked his forehead on the ground and returned to his seat.

“Don’t kneel to me again,” Hu Jin said as he set his wife down. “You’ll shorten your lifespan.”

“…” Chi Yuyang flicked his cheek.

As expected of a tiger raised on collagen — his skin was even softer than hers.

She couldn’t tell his exact age, but he sounded oddly mature saying that.

Seeing her strange expression, Hu Jin leaned in and whispered, “Back then, our juniors had to kneel to elders. When the chief abolished that rule, he told us exactly this.”

The chief was brilliant.

Chi Yuyang cheered silently.

But the topic was drifting too far, so she cleared her throat.

“So you don’t want to intervene because your brothers are involved?”

Since Hu Jin’s grudge with the lions was personal, and his feud with his brothers was also personal, Chi Yuyang thought maybe he cared more about tiger clan interests when dealing with outsiders.

But decades ago, the tiger clan was still scattered and had no unified tribe.

What Hu Jin cared about was the tiger tribe the chief cherished — not his brothers or the lions.

“No.” Hu Jin shook his head. “They have nothing to do with this.”

He could accept that his three brothers appeared with the lions — perhaps they were visiting relatives.

But as tigers, how could they help another tribe seize territory?

A tiger’s strong territorial instinct would never allow that.

Unless… they believed they belonged to the lion tribe.

And come to think of it, the way those three always stuck together wasn’t very tiger-like either.

“Wife, I think the fox clan’s situation is more complicated than I thought.” Hu Jin said solemnly — a rare sight.

Chi Yuyang nodded.

“So I think we should go to the snake clan first, find the soothing fruit, then return and discuss with the chief.”

…This tiger.

Besides that fruit, does he ever think about anything else?!

Chi Yuyang held her forehead.

“You’re going to the snake clan?” Hu Yu caught the word “snake.” “The snake clan won’t help.”

He thought Hu Jin wanted reinforcements.

Even if the chief said this was the strongest tiger beastman, it was impossible for him to defeat an entire lion tribe.

And the cold-blooded snake clan was more indifferent than most beastmen.

“You’ll have to pass through lion territory to reach the snake clan,” Hu Yu warned. When he said “lion clan,” he paused. “There are only two of you…”

“So what?” Hu Jin lifted his eyelids, perfectly calm.

“In the lion tribe, it’s written law that all fights must be one-on-one. And the lion and tiger clans still maintain surface-level relations.”

Then he whispered in Chi Yuyang’s ear, “This rule is better than our chief’s. The lions allow one-on-one duels regardless of species, and they don’t care if someone dies. Our chief forbids crippling outsiders.”

“Because outsiders don’t heal as fast as tigers.”

Chi Yuyang’s gaze drifted.

…Somehow that rule really sounded like it was made specifically to restrain him.

Definitely just her imagination.

Seeing they had made up their minds, Hu Yu could only look at them with hope.

“We’ll be waiting here for your good news.”

As he spoke, the little fox suddenly rushed forward.

“Chief?”

“Arf arf arf arf!”

After listening, Hu Yu scratched his pointed ear awkwardly.

“The chief says it wants to go with you.”

“No!”

“Absolutely not.”

Hu Jin and Chi Yuyang rejected in unison.

“Arf arf arf arf!” the little fox cried.

Hu Yu blinked, then continued translating:

“The chief says it knows that the thing you want to find… the soothing fru—”