Chapter 244: Pursuit

A low-lying pool not far from the Silver Eagle Tribe, which in the rainy season has always been a watering place for small wild beasts and passing ferocious beasts, but no one noticed that in the past month this pool has seen very few beasts or feral beasts stopping to drink.

Screech!

Accompanied by a sharp, lingering eagle cry in the sky, the sunset's afterglow quietly spread, and at that moment the pool suddenly stirred.

A plump black mouse suddenly burst out of the water, then turned back and began frantic digging; soon the soggy, sticky mud of the pool loosened.

A huge hand suddenly emerged from the ground, and the black mouse, caught off guard, was seized tightly and instinctively struggled.

Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!

It's so noisy; who told you to be so slow?

The female, covered in earth, emerged half out of the newly broken pit; she gave a cold glance at the black mouse that had almost just been choked by her—oh no, now it had become a human, lying on the ground with a face full of resentment, staring at the female.

The beastman's tone was full of anger, "Do you know I almost died at your hands?"

After finally evading those relentless eagle-beastmen, only to almost die at the hands of one's own, who wouldn't be angry?

But the female merely flicked her eyelid, didn't look him in the eye, and jumped out of the pit, "So you're not dead yet? We'll talk again when you die."

You...

The beastman, impatient, was about to say something else, but the female's pupils suddenly became vertical; he was instantly frightened and recoiled.

Although the female usually treats these male beastmen rather casually, he had forgotten that this female is a madwoman, and even Lord Prison is only slightly stronger than her; otherwise they might have followed someone else in this operation.

The beastman grew increasingly frightened, his already lowered head now seemed as if he wanted to bury it in his knees.

But the female, looking at the big pit beside her, furrowed her brows, "What are you still standing there for? Keep digging in beast form, do you really think I won't act?"

The beastman, hearing her words, twitched reflexively, and in the female's eyes he turned back into the black mouse he had been.

The female looked at the black mouse with utter disgust, "Ugly to death."

Not only weak, but also this ugly.

How can there be such disgusting beastmen in this world.

As if hearing the female's words, the black mouse lowered its head, then suddenly lifted it, but halfway it dropped back down again.

Thus the female didn't notice how sinister the beastman's gaze had been at that instant.

As the black mouse widened the passage at the exit, several beastmen trapped in the narrow tunnel, along with their offspring, crawled out.

This harvest is far too meager—only three Beast Slaves. If they weren't avian beastmen, they'd be worth more Crystal Core than those land beastmen; what's the point of this trip if it's just a wasted run?

Fine, at least we learned a lot about this tribe; next time we bring people to occupy here we can save some effort.

But what happened to them? Weren't they supposed to meet us outside the tribe? Where are they?

A few male beastmen came up, first complaining, then quickly getting to the matter at hand.

Why didn't the rendezvous beastmen appear here as planned? Could they have run into trouble?

At that thought, all the beastmen couldn't help but look at the female.

The female said coldly, "What do you expect me to do? Do you want me to go find those worthless ones?"

"Besides you, who else has the strength to move freely here? It can't be me going to find them."

Even after just emerging from the filthy tunnel, the male still tried his best to stay clean.

But his gaze toward the female was uncomfortable; after hearing him, the female's previously cold expression softened a bit, "You did say something truthful: aside from me, those few really lack the ability to go looking for anyone."

"Exactly, so what do you think?"

A smug, patronizing smile appeared on the male's face, "Jia Sha, you should go quickly and return quickly."

The female Jia Sha looked at the male as if at a fool, "So when did I say I was going to find them?"

The male's smile froze instantly, his complexion darkened, and the other beastmen, seeing the scene, began to glare angrily at Jia Sha.

"Jia Sha, don't forget you could come out this time because Lord Prison spoke well for you then; otherwise, what right does a female have to accompany us here?"

"Exactly, you're just a tool for males to bear offspring; do you really think you can rebel against the tribe?"

Lord Prison's tone grew even more sinister, "Jia Sha, if you don't obey me now, think about what kind of male your sister in the tribe will encounter in the future."

Jia Sha's eyes flashed with coldness, "If you dare touch her, I will dare kill you!"

Lord Prison laughed at her, "Want to kill me? Come try it."

Did she really think that following them out meant she was free?

Beastmen in the tribe are born with hierarchical ranks; she, though female, happened to be born from a female slave's womb, while he, a male, was luckily born from the clan elder's womb.

Thus between them, he is always above and she below; she can and must obey him, otherwise her only fate is death or watching herself live a life worse than death.

Jia Sha stared fiercely at the male for a long while; just as the other beastmen could no longer resist attempting a sneak attack, she withdrew her gaze and said coldly:

"I will go to them, but if they kill themselves, that's none of my business."

Lord Prison gave a faint smile, "As you wish."

Originally those dozen or so beastmen were meant as trail markers; even if they survive now, when the tribe sends people to occupy this mountain range later, they will eventually be discarded.

The reason they insisted Jia Sha make this trip was only to see whether they had lost control, having acted against nearby small-tribe beastmen, which led to this disaster.

If their exposure caused trouble for their group, Lord Prison thought, he would want to kill them.

That night, the beastmen, to avoid being spotted by the constantly patrolling eagle-beastmen, didn't even light a fire and slept on the ground.

Jia Sha also clasped her hands to her chest and fell asleep sitting there.

However, the night was not pleasant; the Silver Eagle Tribe's beastmen had increased patrols outside the tribe at some point, and as night deepened, a few sharp eagle cries startled the half-asleep few.

"Run, they're coming!"

No one knows how the Silver Eagle Tribe found them.

Clearly, after they entered the Silver Eagle Tribe, they never showed up at the foot of the mountain; they should keep searching within the tribe.