Chapter 246: Private Action

She said nothing the whole way.

After returning home, Yun Li finally looked at Leng Xiu and asked him, "Was there anything wrong with what I just said in front of the Priest?"

Leng Xiu let out a sigh in his heart, "No, it's just that the Priest hopes you don't place too much importance on the matter of those three cubs."

The death of beastmen is something everyone is accustomed to; you care too much about those cubs' lives, and the Priest worries you won't be able to bear it if you encounter this again.

"But those are a few cubs that can't protect themselves yet."

Yun Li frowned and said, "If the Tribe could save them, why couldn't we rescue them right away?"

"The Priest didn't say we shouldn't save them."

Leng Xiu placed his hand on the female's shoulder, "But A Li, you must understand, even if the cubs are important, we cannot let the already grown Patrol Team beastmen die innocently for them."

One is a cub that hasn't matured yet and whose contribution to the Tribe is unseen; the other is a grown adult beastman who can protect the Tribe and has already made considerable contributions.

If we let the latter sacrifice himself to save the former, not only would the adult beastman's family face unforeseen difficulties, but the Tribe would also lose a fairly strong beastman, and there would be no quick replacement.

Then the rescued cub would bear this heavy debt, and whatever they do in the future would always remind people of the beastman who died for them.

Yun Li was taken aback by his words; she furrowed her brows slightly, "I never meant for the Patrol Team beastmen to disregard their own lives just to save the cubs."

"I only thought that if they followed my instructions at that moment, not only could we capture the humans, but we could also rescue the cubs."

However, she still felt uneasy about the Priest's earlier statement that even if we found them again, we wouldn't choose to rescue the cubs first; defending the Tribe does require using force to deter enemies, but can't we rescue the cubs first and then chase the enemies?

Yun Li hadn't yet realized how brutal beastmen are when they slaughter each other, because after arriving in this world she had only witnessed their danger when hunting ferocious beasts; the conflicts between beastmen were limited to open duels or private grudges, and she had never seen the carnage between Tribes or between Tribes and roaming beastmen.

Based solely on the snippets of speech from surrounding beastmen, Yun Li could hardly imagine that scene as hell.

"That's why your thinking differs from ours; you think that no matter what, the most important thing is to preserve those cubs' lives."

【9】 "But our immediate concern is those beastmen who dare to sneak cubs out of the Tribe," Leng Xiu patiently explained to Yun Li, "We must first make them realize the seriousness of this, otherwise we would be restrained by the cubs from the start; they would feel emboldened by holding the cubs and act fearlessly against us."

"But the first thing we thought of was those beastmen daring to sneak away cubs from the Tribe," Leng Xiu explained patiently to Yun Li, "We must first make them understand the seriousness of this, otherwise we'll be tied up from the start because of the cubs; they, relying on having the cubs in their hands, will become even more brazen toward us."

Only by letting them sense our anger will they become afraid, and the Tribe's cubs will be safer thereafter.

"So, is it sacrificing three cubs to secure the safety of the Tribe's other cubs?"

Yun Li, not being a beastman who can't understand human speech, does understand and can grasp their reasoning, but she still finds some aspects hard to accept.

"You can interpret it that way if you wish."

A look of helplessness flashed across Leng Xiu's face, "But the Tribe will try to avoid such incidents; Axuan is still leading people to keep searching for them, and perhaps those three cubs will eventually be rescued."

But that possibility is slim, Yun Li knows.

However, after being lectured, she no longer says the cubs are crucial to the Tribe; she thinks that if such a situation arises again, they must rescue the cubs first.

Because she knows she can't influence their decisions now, and just as before, the beastmen's decades‑long way of thinking won't change easily from a few words; only actions will.

The next day Yun Li began her own operation; although she could command all of the Tribe's Patrol Teams with Ji Xuan's support, the only ones who would obey her orders unconditionally were the two Patrol Teams she interacted with most at the Market, then Gong Mei's team, and after that the three Hunting Squads tasked with confiscating for the Tribe.

Those three Hunting Squads had been dealt with by Yun Li for three years; although the chieftain and the Priest also met and spoke with them, none matched her three‑year control over them.

There were previously many beastmen who only listened to the chieftain and the Priest, but she managed to design a way to transfer them out.

Thus, even the chieftain and the Priest are unaware now; she has secretly amassed so much support.

Oh no, perhaps they noticed, but seeing Ji Xuan by her side they thought they would never do anything harmful to the Tribe, so they let her proceed.

"You mean, have us scout the surrounding terrain? Actually we could do without scouting; we already know what's around the Tribe."

Hearing Yun Li's words, Gong Mei answered on the spot without even thinking.

"It's better to scout a bit; preferably you can help me draw maps of the area around the Tribe. I have a use for them, even though I don't know if they'll be needed later, I still want to be prepared."

Yun Li spoke while sketching on the ground the places she had previously visited, "In case you don't understand, let me explain first. I want to understand this terrain because we might set up some tricks in certain spots, which would let us know if any foreign beastmen are approaching the Tribe."

For example, in places the Tribe's beastmen rarely go, we could dig a shallow hidden trench in a corner; it doesn't need to be deep, just enough for a beastman to step into a void unknowingly.

Or create a small mechanism that makes a subtle noise when triggered; the device should be cleverly designed to attract beastmen to manually touch it, while minimizing accidental activation by ferocious beasts or wild animals.

Actually Yun Li had once thought of placing powerful traps near the Tribe to snare ill‑intentioned beastmen, but she realized that hunting beastmen are common around the Tribe; if her warning fell short and a tribe member got injured, it would be disastrous, so she abandoned the idea.

Actually Yun Li had even considered setting up some powerful traps near the Tribe to snare malicious beastmen, but she realized that beastmen often hunt around the Tribe, and if she fails to warn properly and a tribe member gets injured, that would be disastrous.

Gong Mei was skeptical of Yun Li's arrangements, but the three Hunting Squad captains supported her, "We'll find out if they work by trying them; if they're useless, the Patrol Team beastmen will just have to watch the surroundings more closely."

"Not bad, we'll try first. Yun Li Adult once taught us to set traps around us when we rested outside; we didn't think much of it at first, but later it saved a life."

"Yun Li Adult's ideas sometimes seem impractical, but after using them we find they make our work much easier."

"Right, let's try it first and see. In the past Yun Li Adult even taught us to set traps around when we rested outside. At first we didn't take it seriously, but later it ended up saving a life."

"Yun Li Adult's ideas sometimes don't seem very practical, but after using them we find they make our tasks much easier."