Chapter 245: Crisis Awareness

In the Silver Eagle Tribe, Yun Li and the Priest were sitting in the courtyard, neither speaking, both waiting for good news from Ji Xuan and Leng Xiu.

The few Beastmen's costume changes were quite successful; while wandering the tribe, no one suspected they weren't tribe Beastmen.

But after the missing younglings were reported, the Patrol Team searched the entire tribe several times, and still failed to realize that a few unfamiliar Beastmen had infiltrated the tribe—truly treating them like fools.

Yet locating those unfamiliar Beastmen among a tribe of over a thousand was extremely difficult, not to mention that during the rainy season small‑tribe Beastmen often come to the tribe's Market, and some of the well‑off among them copy whatever attire the Silver Eagle Tribe Beastmen wear.

Consequently, it became even harder for the Patrol Team to identify the people.

But despite the difficulty, Ji Xuan and Leng Xiu stayed up for several nights, and with Mu Qing's assistance, they finally pinpointed where those Beastmen last appeared in the tribe.

Then they realized the people had long left the tribe; after all, they could hide without eating or drinking, but they couldn't, like a transparent Beastman, live in the tribe leaving no trace at all.

However, if they were to leave the tribe, they would have to go down the mountain, and the few paths to the foothills were all tightly guarded by the Patrol Team to prevent newly‑learned flying younglings from leaving the tribe on their own.

So they didn't go down the mountain; the people were still missing in the tribe, and Yun Li couldn't possibly believe they vanished into thin air, leaving only two possibilities: either there were avian Beastmen among them who could carry several Beastmen out at once, or they tunneled out from underground.

The first possibility sounds unlikely, because the eagle Beastmen in the Patrol Team have keen eyes; if a large‑sized avian Beastman appeared over the tribe, they wouldn't miss it unless they were blind.

Therefore either they left in batches, each time getting unbelievably lucky to avoid detection by the Patrol Team's Beastmen, or there were many avian Beastmen among them while the others were small‑bodied, allowing a single sortie to exit the tribe.

If so, Yun Li and her group truly have no way to continue the investigation.

Yet there is also the second possibility; regarding the first, they don't know what the Beastmen's bodies look like, and even guessing from one or two sightings can't be perfectly accurate.

Investigating the second, though it sounds far‑fetched, Yun Li spoke up; Ji Xuan and Leng Xiu agreed to support the inquiry, and the other Beastmen could think of no better way to find the people. Adopting a "desperate cure" mindset, several Patrol Teams searched the tribe again and finally uncovered a tunnel leading outside.

However, the tunnel only allowed under‑age young Beastmen and the tribe‑dwelling Snake Beastmen to pass, which caused further delay; otherwise they wouldn't have only rushed to the tunnel's exit at midnight to find the people.

Some Patrol Team Beastmen even blocked the way without saying a word to the tribe, directly confronting them.

Yun Li and the Priest waited here, expecting news of finding the people, only to have the people be found and then run away.

"What's going on? Where are the younglings?"

Yun Li glanced at the few Beastmen behind Leng Xiu, bruised and battered, and sensed something was terribly wrong.

Leng Xiu looked at those Beastmen behind him and said, "The younglings weren't saved; those Beastmen ran off with them. As soon as they saw the people, they signaled and rushed out, not only failing to stop them but almost letting those Beastmen kill the younglings."

Though they ultimately didn't kill them, no one knows whether, once out of the Patrol Team's pursuit, they might have treated the younglings as burdens and killed them outright.

Yun Li's fist clenched, "Didn't I say, after finding the people, send Axuan and the other two Blue Rank Beastmen to rescue the younglings? What are you actually doing?"

"Are you trying to save the younglings or…?"

She was so angry she couldn't finish her sentence, because those Beastmen kept their heads down yet showed no remorse, glancing intermittently toward the Priest.

Even a blind person could see they disagreed with her, but was she wrong? The main purpose of finding those Beastmen was to rescue the younglings; even if there were other motives, they needed to investigate why they came to the tribe and which tribe backed them.

Can't they at least consider the younglings first? As if none of their families have younglings, they'd even sacrifice the younglings' lives for glory?

"A Li, they were at fault, but given the situation, they only wanted to stop the people first; otherwise, once they fled, we couldn't rescue the younglings either."

The Priest actually had more to say: compared to the whole tribe, the loss of three younglings isn't a particularly great sacrifice.

Whether it's the Patrol Team or their families, they've long accepted this; if they can save them, they do, and if not, it's just bad luck.

They can't keep the Patrol Team's Beastmen on night‑long rotations just because of three younglings; the Patrol Team's Beastmen will get tired, and they've already done everything they can.

Yun Li said calmly, "I just think that if they had waited a moment and let Axuan and the other two Blue Rank Beastmen go, the chance of intercepting them would have been greater, increasing the odds of rescuing the three younglings."

The Priest looked at Yun Li with added helplessness, "Now that it's come to this, no amount of words will help them. I know you have your own younglings, so hearing about others' younglings in trouble naturally makes you anxious."

But A Li, the Patrol Team's Beastmen exist to protect the tribe, not to save a particular Beastman.

You need to understand that; whether those three younglings live or die in the future depends on their own luck. If the Patrol Team's Beastmen encounter them again, they'll first kill any invader threatening the tribe, not rescue the younglings.

Hearing that, Yun Li's face instantly filled with astonishment—what was the Priest saying?

Leng Xiu had always known the female's thoughts differed from theirs; seeing her display an incredulous expression, his gaze darkened slightly, and he reached out to pull the female tightly into his arms.

"Priest, that's all for tonight; there are still younglings at home, so A Li and I will head back first."

The Priest nodded, "Go back and have a good talk with your female."

Being overly naive isn't a good thing.

This world is dangerous; all sorts of things often cause Beastmen to lose their lives.

Yun Li, merely being in the Silver Eagle Tribe and having a few powerful Beast Husbands, therefore lacked much crisis awareness.

In the past, the tribe could protect her, so she would have gone with them, but now that's not possible; the tribe is about to face unknown dangers, and if she still can't recognize that Beastmen dying is commonplace, how will she ever accept such events when they occur around her?