Chapter 109: Being the Boss

Being the Boss

Chaosheng slowly squatted down, her gaze level with the few little Beastmen, her tone softer than before, yet carrying an unavoidable seriousness: "Tuyi, Tu'er, Tusan, tell me honestly, was it you who snatched Xiaodu's fish?"

"I..." After Tuyi raised his eyes to look at Chaosheng, he looked away guiltily, his face instantly flushing bright red as if his secret had been poked, and he stiffened his neck to argue: "We didn't! That fish was picked up in the reef crevices; who knew it belonged to this little octopus?"

Tu'er nodded along, his voice timid: "Yes, we just saw the fish lying there, and we were very hungry at the time..."

"Mm-hmm," Tusan also chimed in, "And then he didn't say anything and just came to bite us."

"That's not true!" Xiaodu struggled anxiously in Guxian's arms, his intact tentacles pointing at the three little Beastmen, "That was hidden in the reef crevices by me! I saw it this morning, and it was taken away by you in the afternoon!"

Chaosheng lowered her head, pondered for a moment, looked at Xiaodu, and asked softly: "Are you sure that fish is yours? Is it possible it fell there by accident?"

Xiaodu was stunned for a moment, a flash of confusion crossing his ruby-like eyes, then he shook his tentacles affirmatively: "I don't know... I had originally put it there to hide it, and I thought it had fallen there myself. But I recognize the seaweed leaf that wrapped the fish; it has a mark I made on it!"

As he spoke, he even raised a tentacle to gesture: "I bit a small notch on the edge of the leaf, and the fish they took was wrapped in that very leaf!"

Hearing this, Tusan's sobbing suddenly stopped, and he secretly raised his eyes to look at his brother. Tuyi's expression also stiffened, the corners of his mouth moving, but he could not say a word of rebuttal—when they took the fish, they had indeed noticed a strange little notch on the edge of the seaweed leaf, thinking at the time it had just been torn by the reef.

Seeing their expressions, Chaosheng had a rough idea of the situation. She sighed, stopped questioning who was right or wrong, and just squatted down, looking at the three little Beastmen: "Have you not eaten for a long time?"

Tuyi pursed his lips and said nothing; Tu'er gave a soft "Mm," his voice as thin as a gnat: "After we ran away from the tribe, we didn't find much to eat..."

"But you still can't just take other people's things." Chaosheng's voice was very light, yet carried weight, "Xiaodu's fish was also something he caught with great difficulty; if you take it away, he will go hungry too."

Changye listened from the side, a trace of pity crossing his cold, jade-like face. He suddenly leaned over and handed the half-eaten grilled fish he had secretly saved to Tusan: "Here, eat this; don't do this next time."

Then he reached out and patted his short, yellow-brown curly hair; the mood of having just lost his grilled fish improved a little—how truly cute.

Looking at the offered grilled fish, Tusan looked at Changye, then at Chaosheng's gentle gaze, and tears suddenly fell again. This time it wasn't because of fear, but because his nose felt sore, and he whispered: "I know..."

Tuyi's shoulders also slumped, and he said in a muffled voice: "We didn't mean to... we were just too hungry."

They didn't want to be like this either.

They hadn't had a full meal in several days, and when they encountered something edible, they didn't think much else.

Hearing this, Xiaodu in Guxian's arms wasn't so angry anymore. His dark, shiny eyes moved with emotion, a trace of sympathy crossing them, and he stretched out a tentacle to scratch Guxian's arm: "Brother, if they are hungry, let them have that fish..."

"It's fine."

Anyway, he had his brother and wouldn't go without food.

On the contrary, they reminded him of the days before he met his brother, when he often didn't have enough to eat.

Watching this scene, the tension in Chaosheng's heart gradually loosened, and a faint smile curled the corners of her mouth.

She looked at these three little Beastmen, tenderness rippling in the depths of her eyes, "Next time you have nothing to eat, just come find me."

"Don't go doing those things anymore."

Tuyi looked up in surprise, looking at the beautiful and gentle female in front of him, and suddenly felt his eyes sting, wanting to cry.

"Mm!" He nodded vigorously; he would work hard to support himself and his brothers, and if it really didn't work out... he would go find her for help again.

Turning his head to look at Zhuche, "Since the misunderstanding is cleared up, stop being so fierce."

"Just for a bit of food?" Zhuche raised an eyebrow and gave a light huff: "If you want to live in the Polar Sea in the future, be well-behaved."

"You know that you can snatch some Beastmen's things, but you can't snatch others', right?"

"Though..." He lightly swept his gaze over the three little Beastmen's thin, small frames, implying something, "I see that even if you wanted to, you couldn't snatch anything from other Beastmen."

"So just be honest!"

"In the future, if you encounter anything, just coming to find me is enough, you know?"

In other words, once they found him, they weren't allowed to go bother Sheng.

"Mm-hmm."

The little ones shrank their necks in fear, keeping these words in their hearts.

Although they hadn't had much contact with Baini, it was like a fear carved into their genes; the moment he spoke, they were terrified.

"I'll go find you something to eat."

Yinxu's cold, exquisite face softened; it wouldn't do for them to be this hungry.

After saying this, he turned and went out to hunt for them.

"Tha... thank you."

Tuyi looked at Yinxu and said dryly.

"Brother, put me down."

Xiaodu looked at Guxian and requested, his little tentacles waving restlessly.

Guxian was stunned for a moment, his red eyes glancing at the three little Beastmen with a warning, his tone gentle, "Alright."

As soon as the little octopus landed, he ran *da-da-da* to the three little Beastmen, his tentacles on both sides waving incessantly, "This time, I won't hold it against you."

"But you hit me, so you have to apologize to me."

A blush appeared on Tuyi's face, and he said somewhat embarrassedly, "I'm sorry."

"Good."

"Then I accept."

The little octopus raised his short, chubby tentacles and nodded triumphantly.

Only then did he state the real purpose of his trip, "In the future, if any Beastmen in the Polar Sea bully you, as long as you acknowledge me as your boss, I will help you."

"How about it?"

"..." Tuyi was dazed for a moment, thinking of the way the little octopus had been pinned down and beaten by them; how could he help them? By accompanying them in getting beaten?

Tusan also recalled the little octopus's shockingly weak combat ability and pursed his lips in disdain, "I don't want to."

Tu'er also used silence to represent his resistance.

"Hey, hey! What do you mean by that?"

Not hearing what he wanted to hear, the little octopus turned red with anger in an instant. He glared at the three little Beastmen, puffed up with rage, "I'm kindly helping you, and you don't appreciate it?!"

In his fantasy, the three little Beastmen should have heard this and then happily crowded around him, calling him boss; how was it completely different from what he had imagined?

Holding his breath, he complained indignantly to his older brother, "Brother, look at them!"