"What are you looking at, stu—MMH!"
Qiao Xixi pinched Qiao Ang's little face before he could finish his sentence.
"Haven't I told you what you're supposed to call me?"
Qiao Ang's pinched face turned red, but he still glared stubbornly.
"But—but you! You told us not to call you Mother before, and now you want us to!"
Qiao Xixi paused.
'It's true, the original owner of this body was worried the cubs would get in the way of her finding a male, so she forbade them from calling her Mother.'
She sighed and let go.
"Qiao Lie, Qiao Ang, Qiao Qiao, Mother has something to say to you."
Three pairs of different eyes looked at her.
"The frozen plains are no longer a suitable place for us to live. We need to find a place where we can survive, but right now, Mother doesn't know where that is. So, on the journey ahead, our family must work together. Just like with the water earlier—I will make sure every one of you gets a drink, so there's no need to fight or snatch things from me."
The three little ones looked bewildered, and it was unclear if they understood.
Because in their minds, as Wandering Beasts, if you didn't fight and snatch, you would starve to death.
But Qiao Xixi just wanted to teach them the importance of family unity.
She divided her own share of the Deer Beast meat into three portions and offered it to them.
"Mother isn't eating. You can have this."
This time, none of the three little ones immediately reached for the Deer Beast meat. They just stared at Qiao Xixi in surprise.
Qiao Xixi didn't look at them anymore. All she wanted was to get some proper sleep. She closed her eyes and collapsed onto the animal hide.
The cubs looked at each other.
Finally, the three little heads huddled together, whispering and muttering about something.
...
When Qiao Xixi woke up, her world was falling apart.
Because her cubs were gone!
She sniffed the air in the cave but didn't smell any predators. 'A predator probably didn't come in and snatch them.' That realization made her expression soften a little, but her brow remained tightly furrowed.
She hurried outside the cave to look for her cubs.
What Qiao Xixi didn't know was that just as she left, her cubs came huffing and puffing back into the cave, carrying something.
After placing the beastman inside the cave, the cubs nodded in satisfaction.
Qiao Ang said, "The stupid female should be satisfied now."
Qiao Lie remained expressionless. "There's still food in the snow forest. We need to go get it quickly."
"Okay."
The three little ones left the cave again and headed for the snow forest.
Qiao Xixi followed the cubs' scent but couldn't find any trace of them. The rims of her eyes grew red with anxiety.
'Those cubs are total gluttons. I saw the Deer Beast leg was still there this morning. Maybe they got hungry and went back to eat it.'
Thinking of this, Qiao Xixi headed back.
She returned to the cave, and the moment she stepped inside, she froze.
Inside the cave, a handsome male beastman was lying completely naked on her animal hide! He had short golden hair, bone studs in his ears, a high-bridged nose, and deep-set brows. Below his neck, it was all long legs.
Two golden lines swept up from the corners of his eyes toward his temples, adding an air of noble mystery to his features.
The light in the cave was dim, with only a faint sliver of light hitting the side of the male beastman's face, making his features look even more defined.
Her gaze traveled down from the male beastman's eight-pack abs...
...past his perfect V-line to the forbidden behemoth below.
Qiao Xixi's heart leaped into her throat, and she slapped a hand over her eyes.
But she couldn't resist peeking through her fingers as she stepped forward and draped a piece of animal hide over his most... astonishing part.
With the forbidden area covered, Qiao Xixi finally dared to properly examine him. She noticed his body was covered in wounds. The most severe was on his leg—a gruesome injury with flesh torn open.
'Why is he in the cave? Is his presence related to my missing cubs?'
Before Qiao Xixi could figure it out, she heard the sound of footsteps behind her.
Qiao Xixi turned around and saw her little cubs huffing and puffing as they carried in more Deer Beast meat.
Seeing Qiao Xixi's shocked expression, Qiao Ang lifted his little chin proudly, the silver tips of his hair practically perking up.
"Well, stupid female? Are you satisfied?"
Qiao Xixi: ???
Qiao Qiao grinned and pointed at the male tiger beastman on the ground.
"He's a male we found for Mother! Do you like him, Mother? He's super strong! We found him in the snow forest after he killed a huge Black-haired Long-toothed Beast. If you become his mate, he can protect you and us."
Qiao Ang nodded in agreement, saying with the air of a wise old man, "That's right. You two should hurry up and mate. It'll be harder once he wakes up."
Qiao Xixi: ???
Qiao Xixi suddenly felt like her educational efforts over the past two days had been a complete failure.
'I haven't even corrected their habit of fighting for food, and now they've gone and snatched a mate for me?'
As Qiao Xixi was talking to the cubs, she didn't notice that the male beastman on the hide had already woken up.
Jin Ling listened to the conversation between the mother and her children. Watching Qiao Xixi's back, his golden eyes narrowed coldly.
'This female Wandering Beast and her cubs captured me while I was seriously injured, and now she wants me to be her mate?'
'How ridiculous.'
The slightest movement from Jin Ling pulled at his wounds, and he let out a muffled grunt of pain.
The faint noise immediately caught Qiao Lie's attention.
His crimson snake-like pupils darted toward Jin Ling.
Qiao Xixi also turned to look at the handsome male before her.
Jin Ling stared icily at Qiao Xixi, his golden eyes filled with oppressive power.
"Who are you?"
Even though Jin Ling was heavily injured, his aura was so powerful that Qiao Qiao scrambled to hide behind Qiao Xixi in fear.
Qiao Ang was also scared, all of his earlier proud arrogance gone.
But he was a male who was supposed to be strong and stand tall. 'How can I hide behind a female?'
He mustered his courage, stepped forward, and huffed, "Hey, big male! From now on, you're the stupid female's mate."
A frosty chill crossed Jin Ling's handsome face. "I will not be your mother's mate."
Qiao Xixi had no intention of mating with him either, but hearing his blatant disdain still annoyed her.
"I don't need you to be my mate, either! My cubs found you in the snow forest and brought you here, saving you from being eaten by other predators. You should be thanking my cubs, not standing there looking down on us!"
Jin Ling was stunned. He was surprised that even after he had deliberately released his powerful aura, this small, scrawny, and rather unclean-looking female dared to confront him directly.
'She certainly has more guts than the females in the tribe.'
Jin Ling's gaze shifted, landing on the partially eaten Deer Beast leg in the corner. That was the leg from the beast *he* had hunted, the one that had been stolen!
The look Jin Ling gave Qiao Xixi turned cold again.
'Wandering Beasts, as expected. Utterly uncivilized.'
"As thanks for bringing me to the cave, you can consider that Deer Beast's leg a gift."
Qiao Xixi followed his gaze. When she confirmed he was talking about the Deer Beast leg from yesterday, her expression changed.