'You've got to be kidding me. The handsome male tiger beastman in front of me is the same Golden Tiger Beast that hunted the Deer Beast yesterday?'
Qiao Xixi was speechless. She felt the embarrassment of being caught red-handed.
"Um, I left a piece of the hide back then."
Jin Ling let out a laugh. His voice was pleasant, but exceptionally cold.
"Did you have my permission?"
'No...'
Seeing Qiao Xixi and Jin Ling bantering back and forth, the three cubs thought they were getting along quite well. They felt even more pleased with themselves for having carried Jin Ling back.
Last night, they saw Qiao Xixi take one bite of the Deer Beast meat and immediately throw up. They all agreed that the stupid female urgently needed a capable male to take care of her, or she would probably die.
Although none of the cubs liked Qiao Xixi, they didn't want her to die either.
So, when they happened to run into Jin Ling in the snowy forest, they brought him back for Qiao Xixi.
Jin Ling saw the embarrassed look on Qiao Xixi's face and figured she wasn't completely rotten.
"Until my injuries heal, I will be staying in this cave."
"But we found this cave first."
'This male is a complete unknown. What if he means to harm me and the cubs?'
Jin Ling tossed her the piece of hide she had left behind.
"Consider the Deer Beast leg compensation."
Qiao Xixi glanced at the Deer Beast the cubs had carried back.
'This male looks heavily injured, but having him in the cave with them is still a huge risk. I'm not letting him stay for just one Deer Beast leg.'
'Just a moment ago, Qiao Qiao secretly told me there was also a huge Black-haired Long-toothed Beast in the snowy forest. If we could get half of that, we could eat for days.'
"That's not enough. I want half of all your prey."
Jin Ling's molten gold pupils slowly narrowed into vertical slits. A powerful, oppressive aura washed over Qiao Xixi.
Qiao Xixi found it difficult to breathe, but she straightened her back and met Jin Ling's gaze directly.
A moment later, Jin Ling suddenly retracted the aura he had been deliberately releasing.
'His affliction was acting up; he could barely move.'
'If these Wandering Beasts decided to take all the prey by force, I couldn't stop them. By agreeing, at least I'll have half left.'
"Fine."
Out on these vast, snowy plains, Qiao Xixi couldn't refuse the allure of food.
As if afraid Jin Ling would go back on his word, Qiao Xixi immediately led the cubs toward the snowy forest as soon as they reached an agreement.
Snow suddenly began to fall from the sky. Large flakes landed in her hair, dyeing her full head of silver locks an even purer white.
The path was even more difficult to traverse than yesterday. With each step, the snow came up past her knees.
Qiao Xixi followed Qiao Ang and the others to the snowy forest.
When she saw the Black-haired Long-toothed Beast half-buried in the snow, she couldn't hide the utter shock in her eyes.
'She'd never seen such a huge, tusked wild boar. It had to be the size of an elephant from back home.'
The Black-haired Long-toothed Beast didn't have many obvious wounds on its body, just a gory mess at the back of its neck.
Qiao Xixi suddenly recalled the image of the Golden Tiger Beast snapping the Deer Beast's neck with a single bite yesterday.
"Stupid female, what are you just standing there for? Hurry up and help carry the prey."
Qiao Xixi snapped out of it and stepped forward. "Wait, I'm going to skin it first."
'Jin Ling promised us half the food, but he never said anything about who gets the hide.'
'The Black-haired Long-toothed Beast's hide is so large and warm. With this, the children and I won't have to shiver through the night anymore.'
The Black-haired Long-toothed Beast was huge, and skinning it took a long time.
Qiao Xixi folded the skinned hide, then used an ice blade to cut the meat into smaller chunks.
"You all take this meat back first. Mother will stand guard here."
The three cubs headed back toward the cave, carrying the meat.
While standing guard, Qiao Xixi took the opportunity to gather firewood in the forest. 'I have to get a bite of hot, roasted meat tonight.'
The four of them made trips back and forth until nightfall, finally managing to haul all the butchered meat back to the cave.
Jin Ling watched as Qiao Xixi's face grew red from the cold, yet she never uttered a single complaint. The cold austerity in his eyes softened slightly.
'The females in the tribe never do anything proactively. They just wait for the males to take care of them. A female like Qiao Xixi, who does everything herself, is extremely rare.'
Qiao Xixi knew Jin Ling was sizing her up, but she couldn't be bothered to care.
After catching her breath, Qiao Xixi stood up and piled half of the prey next to Jin Ling.
"This half is yours."
Jin Ling saw that she had divided the meat fairly, even giving him a little extra. His gaze toward her softened even more.
"Alright."
The cave wasn't large, so Qiao Xixi found a spot as far from Jin Ling as possible to sit down. She then stacked up the few stones she had gathered.
Qiao Ang and the others were already so hungry they were practically starving. He grabbed a piece of the Deer Beast meat piled to the side and was about to eat it.
But before the meat could reach his mouth, Qiao Xixi stopped him.
"Wait."
Qiao Ang's light brown eyes widened in an instant as he glared furiously at Qiao Xixi.
"Stupid female, there's so much food here, and you still want to steal mine!"
Seeing his misunderstanding, Qiao Xixi explained, "Mother isn't stealing it. I'm going to cook it for you."
Confusion replaced the anger in Qiao Ang's wide eyes.
"What do you mean, 'cook it'? We've always eaten it like this."
'I guess it's normal that they don't understand what cooked food is,' Qiao Xixi thought. 'They've eaten raw food their whole lives and have probably never even seen fire.'
"You'll see once Mother is finished."
Qiao Xixi took the meat from his hand and began slicing it into thin pieces, completely oblivious to the change in Jin Ling's golden eyes.
Jin Ling was indeed astonished. He was amazed that Qiao Xixi actually knew to cook food.
'That's something only beastmen from medium or large tribes do. Many smaller tribes still eat their food raw.'
'How would a lone female Wandering Beast know about this?'
Qiao Xixi placed the branches she had gathered inside the stack of stones, then took out a lighter and ignited them.
"AH! Stupid female, what are you doing?!"
The moment sparks flew, the three little ones were so frightened they turned and bolted to the cave entrance, staring at her in terror.
Beastmen are afraid of fire, especially three little ones encountering it for the very first time.
The instant Qiao Xixi lit the branches, Jin Ling also sat bolt upright, his eyes filled with shock.
"You have a fire-starter?"
Qiao Xixi knew that having fire would surprise them, but she hadn't expected such an extreme reaction.
She said without batting an eye, "It was a gift from the Beast God."
'All beastmen believe in the Beast God. Whether they buy it or not, I'm sticking to this story.'
Jin Ling furrowed his brow. He knew Qiao Xixi wasn't telling the truth.
But he also couldn't imagine where a female Wandering Beast could have obtained a fire-starter.
Qiao Xixi then turned to look at the three cubs.
"Don't be afraid. As long as we control it properly, the fire won't hurt us."
To prove her point, once the fire was going, Qiao Xixi skewered the sliced Deer Beast meat with small branches and began roasting it over the flames.
She had sliced the meat very thin, and soon the fragrant aroma of roasting meat began to fill the air.
Smelling the fragrant meat, Jin Ling swallowed subconsciously.
Qiao Qiao twitched her delicate little nose, staring intently at the roasted meat in Qiao Xixi's hands.
Hunger won out over her fear of the fire. She carefully crept up behind Qiao Xixi and spoke in a small, sweet voice.
"Mother, it smells so good."
Qiao Xixi blew on a skewer of roasted Deer Beast meat to cool it, then handed it to her.
"Here, try it and see if you like it."
The aroma made Qiao Qiao's mouth water, and she eagerly took a big bite of the meat.
Qiao Xixi had roasted the meat until it was crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. It burst with juices in her mouth, and the savory flavor completely conquered Qiao Qiao's taste buds.
"It's so yummy!"
Seeing his little sister eating so happily, Qiao Ang couldn't resist rushing over to snatch the roasted meat from her hand.
But just as he reached out, his little hand froze in midair.