Chapter 82: Sui Sui, Be Strong
In response, the Beast God met her with a long silence.
Nan Zishi laughed in anger.
"Trying to interfere with someone’s freedom. How are you any different from the Childbirth System?"
[I’m sorry.]
[My allegiance is to the Beast World, so... I apologize.]
"Are you the one who brought me back to the Beast World this time?" Nan Zishi asked.
[I apologize.]
"Stop apologizing and just tell me what happened."
[Indeed, I was the one who brought you back to this world.]
For some reason, Nan Zishi felt like she had known it all along.
She had her suspicions before. After she had completed the childbirth tasks and left the Beast World, she wondered why the System would summon her again without assigning any new missions. That’s why she always felt it wasn’t the System that brought her back.
After communicating with the Beast God a couple of times, her suspicions grew.
She began to think that her current predicament wasn’t caused by the Childbirth System, but by the Beast God.
She had never considered the Childbirth System to be a benevolent entity. Therefore, from her very first interaction with the Beast God, she hadn’t fully trusted him or seen him as one of the "good guys" either.
[However, I am very weak right now. I no longer have the power to bring someone from another world to the Beast World on my own. Bringing you back was actually made possible with the help of your Beast Husbands.]
"...What?"
[Resentment, anger, longing, love... all the emotions that the Beast Husbands you are mated to feel for you became the power I needed to bring you back. I borrowed this power to do it.]
[Nan Zishi, you have ties here. Everyone wanted you to come back.]
"So I only have ties here? What about my ties on Earth? My parents, my little brother, my life, my career—are you saying none of that is important?!"
Nan Zishi was getting angry. "I could have been on Earth, living with my mom and dad. I could have been scolding my annoying little brother every day."
"I’m a Beast Doctor. I could have continued treating cats, dogs, and all sorts of other small animals."
"Why would I want to come to this godforsaken Beast World that has no computers, no phones, no parents, no brother, and none of my friends?!"
The Beast God fell silent.
Nan Zishi roared in frustration, "You kidnapped me and brought me to the Beast World, and you even put a wisp of your divine sense inside my body to monitor me?! And you have the nerve to call yourself a god?!"
The Beast God was clearly embarrassed. He stammered out an apology, [I’m sorry...]
[But... but I wasn’t monitoring you. I swear.]
"Then why did you do it?"
[Because you’re special.]
"I’m special?"
[Yes... You’re the only girl who has ever completely broken free from the Childbirth System and returned to Earth alive. You were also a participant in all of these events. So...]
The Beast God cleared his throat twice. Perhaps trying to soothe her, his voice became gentle. [Only you can save this world. And only you can save the poor girls who will be bound by future Childbirth Systems—008, 009, 010, and so on.]
[Nan Zishi, I know that forcing you to return to this world was wrong. That’s why I didn’t tell you about the Childbirth System right away.]
[I was hoping you would discover the truth for yourself, realize what was happening, and then make your own choice.]
"Choose what?" Nan Zishi asked.
[Choose whether to appease the resentment of your Beast Husbands and cubs, and whether to make an enemy of the Childbirth System.]
"..."
Nan Zishi gave up all pretense and just let herself slump.
"I’m just an ordinary human Beast Doctor, and you’re giving me two enormous tasks? Are you insane?"
[Do you know what the System that controlled you for so long really is?] the Beast God coaxed.
"...?"
[The System is just a system.]
Nan Zishi started to calm down. "What are you talking about?"
The Beast God said, [You must have realized something was off, right? About the rewards the System gave you: the Super Strength Ability, the 200-cubic-meter spatial storage, and the 30 million RMB.]
[The 30 million RMB is the easiest to explain. The System just has to trade interstellar resources with scientists on Earth. Of course, there are many other methods as well.]
Nan Zishi suddenly became very calm. "What do you mean?"
[Once the veil of mystery is lifted, it’s not so mysterious anymore. Just look at me—a Beast God who can only communicate with you through a weak wisp of divine sense. So, shall we try lifting the System’s veil first?]
At that moment, Nan Zishi became completely calm.
She asked, "How do you explain the Super Strength Ability?"
[Your Super Strength Ability is fading, Nan Zishi.]
Nan Zishi: "..."
[In a technologically advanced interstellar civilization, there’s a type of serum that can modify the human body and increase a person’s strength. However, this serum has a time limit. Once its effective period is over, it gets metabolized by the body, and the Super Strength Ability gradually disappears.]
Nan Zishi’s hands trembled.
Everything she had learned today, from the words left by Qi Yingmei to what the Beast God was telling her, sent a chill down her spine.
"What about the spatial storage?"
[Check your body. See if you can find anything unusual.]
"It tampered with my body?!"
’That makes sense,’ she thought. ’It already injected me with a strength-enhancing serum. What’s a little more tampering with my body?’
Nan Zishi patted down her arms, legs, stomach, and back. Finally, on her left forearm, she felt a small, hard lump.
"..."
Nan Zishi was stunned.
She immediately opened her spatial storage and took out some alcohol and a dagger. After cleaning her arm, she sliced it open with the blade. Though she was normally afraid of pain, she didn’t even care right now as she dug the hard lump out.
[Spatial folding technology. It’s a bit expensive, but commonly available in the interstellar market. On a high-tech planet, it’s really just a little toy,] the Beast God said.
"Damn it!!!"
Once the veil of mystery is lifted, it’s not so mysterious anymore.
’That damned System 007.’
’Just a system!!!’
[The Childbirth System uses technology that’s just slightly more advanced than Earth’s to trick human girls like you. That’s all there is to it.]
Nan Zishi’s mind was reeling. She closed her eyes, trying to process her emotions.
Just then, Xuan Jin, who had been playing a little game of cat and mouse with her, suddenly caught the strong, coppery scent of blood in the air.
The little female’s scent!
’She’s hurt!’
The Cold-blooded Snake Beastman panicked uncontrollably.
He rushed to her side with all the speed he could muster!
The tall male steadied her by her slender shoulders. As his black eyes fell upon the blood on her arm, they instantly darkened.
"Who hurt you?" Xuan Jin asked in a low voice, an irrepressible, possessive madness simmering beneath the surface.
His little female, whom he cherished so carefully. The little female he had tried so hard to protect.
She had angered him, hit him, cursed him, bitten him, and misunderstood him time and again.
Yet he could never bring himself to hurt her in the slightest.
Who dared to hurt her?!
’No matter who it was, I will make them pay!’
Nan Zishi was in no mood to talk to him, having even forgotten about her failed escape attempt.
She clenched the small, round metal ball she had dug out of her arm, holding it tight as she closed her eyes.
’Sui Sui, be strong. Sui Sui, you have to be strong.’
The Beast God’s voice came again, gentle now. [Nan Zishi, you’ve taken in too much information today. You’re tired. Rest for now. I’ll tell you the rest later.]
...
"If you ever have the chance to return to our home country, I hope you can tell my family that I have died in this world."
"I was born on May 6, 1956. I am a natural science teacher from a county in a province of Hua Country. My name is Qi Yingmei."
"I could still complete the childbirth tasks through natural conception and birth, though my pregnancies lasted two months. But without taking the Fertility Pill, I only ever had one child at a time. This is the normal number for a human pregnancy."
"And all my children were perfectly healthy! My own physical condition also began to improve drastically."
"Nan Zishi, the Childbirth System uses technology that’s just slightly more advanced than Earth’s to trick human girls like you. That’s all there is to it."
"I was hoping you would discover the truth for yourself, realize what was happening, and then make your own choice."
"Choose whether to appease the resentment of your Beast Husbands, and whether to make an enemy of the Childbirth System."
"Only you can save this world. And only you can save the poor girls who will be bound by future Childbirth Systems—008, 009, 010, and so on."
’I want to go home.’
’I don’t want to keep having children forever.’
’I don’t want to treat them like tools, and I certainly don’t want to just abandon them and the cubs.’
’I don’t want to be so immoral.’
’I don’t want to be a heartbreaker.’
’I’m the most pitiful one here.’
’Why doesn’t anyone take pity on me...’
...
"Nan Zishi! Little female, little female..."
After Xuan Jin brought her back to the cave, he realized she was running a fever.
The Cold-blooded Snake Beastman’s eyes were dark. He flicked his forked tongue with a HISS, trying to use his saliva to disinfect her wound and prevent the infection from worsening.
The worry and fear in the eyes of the tall, powerful Cold-blooded Beastman, Xuan Jin, were even more intense than they had been five years ago.
"Fight it, little female. Everything will be all right."