Chapter 42: Leng Xiu's Father

That night, aside from Leng Xiao fuming and tossing and turning, wanting to pick a fight with his brother Leng Xiu, and being forced to stand watch, the other two actually slept quite well.

However, 200 li away from the three, the tribe beastmen fell into dispute over whether to leave or stay, and as night was about to fall they discovered a huge crocodile had already crawled over; wanting to flee, it was already too late.

Thus the beastmen who had come out could only hurriedly hide in the cave.

But tonight, who knows if they sensed the beastmen's presence, the aquatic creatures that had been peacefully moving about actually started fighting fiercely — a rare occurrence.

Though the noise was slight, it acted like a signal, and the famished aquatic creatures all wanted to rip a chunk of meat from each other.

The tribe beastmen still hoped to go out the next day, just as they had the day before, to assess the situation and decide whether to leave; but who would have thought, the scouts sent out that morning hadn't even waited for the stone slab to shut before a miserable cry rang out.

"Close the stone slab! What are you all standing around for — do you really want to go out to your deaths?"

The chieftain wanted to lead a rescue party, but a middle-aged beastman of the tribe didn't want to waste manpower saving a dying person; seeing the beastman guarding the entrance being called out by the chieftain, he didn't know whether to close the stone slab.

He immediately raised his voice and said, "Chieftain, you can't endanger our whole tribe over just one beastman. Now Leng Xiu and Leng Xiao have already left, and you still want to risk a few Green-rank beastmen just to save Gong?"

"Then are we just going to watch Gong go to his death and do nothing?"

Going out today is inherently a risky venture. If the chieftain had listened to me earlier and arranged for the beastmen to send the females and young away, we wouldn't have fallen into this predicament.

When the middle-aged beastman blamed the chieftain, he also forgot that back then he himself had been hesitant about whether to abandon this good place and lead the tribe to find a place to settle.

He wanted the tribe's provisions, yet he didn't want to expend effort protecting the weak beastmen during the tribe's great migration.

Without his support, the chieftain and the Witch Doctor were also hesitating; only that old Qing-rank beastman insisted they could no longer stay in place, but how many beastmen at that time would actually listen to him, leave their homeland, and live elsewhere?

The chieftain, made to feel ashamed by the middle-aged beastman's words, at this point Gong said something to divert everyone's attention: "If Leng Xiu and Leng Xiao were still here......"

These words quickly aroused the anger and dissatisfaction of many beastmen, each as if they had found an outlet for their negative emotions.

"I never expected that at the critical moment, it would be Leng Xiu and his group who fled with their own females; it's a shame we used to trust them so much."

"The beastmen who betrayed the tribe — once we make it out alive, we will certainly tell their deeds to other tribes."

"Their father was once such a formidable beastman, leading our tribe to seek and seize salt, building stone houses and crafting weapons — yet it's unexpected that Leng Xiu and Leng Xiao are nothing like him; instead they're a soft crawfish! A weak wolf!"

When mentioning Leng Xiu's father, some old beastmen who had been silent actually spoke up, but they weren't joining the discussion about Leng Xiu; instead they stopped those who were condemning him, saying:

"Alright, Leng Xiu and his group didn't intentionally abandon the tribe; our tribe is originally small, and with their strength they would eventually leave anyway."

"Yeah, given the situation, Leng Xiu and his brother have their own females to care for; they can't possibly worry about so much more. If you had Leng Xiu's strength, would you really stupidly stay and wait for the tribe to leave together?"

The middle-aged beastman recognized that the few beastmen speaking were those whom Leng Xiu's father had, before his death, instructed to look after Leng Xiu and his group; he just couldn't understand how, at this point, there would still be beastmen speaking up for Leng Xiu.

Thinking of the rumors about Leng Xiu's father in the tribe, the middle-aged beastman couldn't help but feel a doubt arise: could the rumors be true?

Leng Xiu's father was indeed a beastman from a large tribe, merely forced to shrink into their small tribe due to being hunted by enemies.

Perhaps it was those old beastmen's words that also reminded the chieftain of something; he suddenly straightened up and said, "Alright, enough talk — Leng Xiu and his group won't abandon us."

"They're just scouting the road for us; after a while, someone will come to pick us up."

Whether or not those words were true, at least they gave everyone hope.

All the beastmen finally quieted down, while the middle-aged beastman stared at the few old beastmen who had just spoken, wondering what he was thinking, and at this point he also didn't go against the chieftain again.

Regardless of whether others believed it or not, he himself definitely didn't believe that Leng Xiu and his group would return.

If their father truly was a beastman from a large tribe, he wouldn't believe they could resist this temptation; having finally gotten a chance to break free from this burdensome little tribe, how could they come back?

Meanwhile, as the tribe beastmen continued to endure their days in this cave, waiting for Leng Xiu and his group to have a change of heart and come pick them up, Leng Xiu and his group went east another few dozen kilometers and finally found a suitable place to stay temporarily.

Yes, temporarily.

After all, Leng Xiu and his group's ultimate plan is still to join a tribe and settle permanently, but for now, finding a hidden and safe resting place is not easy.

Until they are certain the beast tide has completely ended, Leng Xiu and his group will not easily move their location.

Especially since Yun Li seems to be showing signs of pregnancy, Leng Xiu and his group are being extra cautious.

"Ah"

Yun Li also didn't know if she'd been mentally tense for too long; after finding a place to take a refreshing bath, her whole beastly self relaxed.

Even before Leng Xiu and his group found this cave, they had been constantly rushing around; clearly she should have stayed alert alongside them the whole way.

As a result, she was listless and couldn't muster any spirit; after finding this cave, it was even worse.

Regardless of day or night, she just wanted to sleep; a few times she saw Leng Xiu and his group calling her to wake up and go for a walk, but Yun Li's eyes were open while her body felt boneless, just wanting to lie on them and bask in the sun, then unknowingly fall asleep again.

Leng Xiao seeing Yun Li like this was simply frantic: "Brother, what are you still waiting for? Is A Li sick like this? Should I go back once to rescue the Witch Doctor so he can examine what illness A Li has?"

Wanting to sleep day and night, A Li isn't a snake beastman; it's currently the wet season, not the cold season.

How could a beastman sleep so much?

Leng Xiu frowned at his brother, "Stay calm, the Witch Doctor definitely needs to be rescued. But the precondition is that we must arrange everything A Li needs."

Leng Xiao replied, full of incomprehension: "Besides clothing, we don't know how to make; what else are we lacking in this cave?"

Beast-skin blankets also can't be made in a day or two, so for now they're using dry grass as padding on the stone bed.

Other things — stone pots, stone basins, stone vats, and stone bowls — they've spent these days, day and night, polishing them all.

To make it convenient for A Li to bathe, they also specially opened a small cave deep in the sleeping cave.

Now they even have food; what else does their household lack?

Leng Xiu gave him a look that said, "You can't be saved."