Chapter 297: Opening Champagne at Halftime
It wasn’t obvious at first. The limp only became pronounced after they had walked for some distance, and that’s when she noticed.
Yu An asked abruptly, "Is your front leg injured?"
The Wolf King froze for a moment. ’There’s no one else here,’ it thought. ’She must be talking to me.’
It stopped and nodded.
"How did you get hurt? Also, your pack is very small. That doesn’t seem right."
Based on her experience in the Beastman World, a full wolf pack should have thirty to forty wolves. But Yu An had only seen twenty-odd, and most of them were old or disabled. Other than the Wolf King, there wasn’t a single young, strong wolf among them.
The Wolf King’s eyes darkened, and its howl grew noticeably deeper. Since communication was difficult, Yu An called out the Red Fox.
After the Red Fox and the Wolf King communicated for a bit, the fox turned back to Yu An, gesturing and even using its claws to write on the ground. Yu An understood.
Oh. The Wolf King was saying that the young, strong wolves of the pack had all been captured. The ones who took them were another group of Tian Family members.
Yu An praised the Red Fox. She hadn’t expected it would learn to write after spending so much time in her space.
The Red Fox just smiled without a word, its foxy face full of world-weary experience.
’Who knew why the Zaizai had fallen in love with playing teacher?’ the fox thought. ’They dragged me in to be their student every day, teaching me how to read and write. I can almost speak human now.’
Thinking of its five little teachers in the space, the Red Fox refused to go back in, no matter what. It walked alongside the Wolf King, exchanging a few words with it from time to time.
Yu An asked Tian Shu, who was in her space, if he knew why the Tian Family was capturing wild beasts. Tian Shu was completely clueless.
"I have no idea. Maybe for sport? Or for meat?"
Tian Shu could only think of those two possibilities. "Lots of people raise wild beasts. They’re also a source of food for us."
’If that’s really the case, then it’s no big deal,’ Yu An thought. ’Survival of the fittest, after all.’
The Wolf King watched Yu An’s expression, then asked the Red Fox a few more things. It felt the hope of getting its pack back with her help was incredibly slim.
’Oh well,’ it thought. ’Our strength is lacking. We’ll have to accept our fate.’
They hadn’t gone much farther when the Wolf King stopped, signaling that the Tian Family members were up ahead.
It wouldn’t go any further. The trauma of losing its mate and pack members last time had terrified it. Now, it led the survivors, subsisting only on small prey.
For nearly a month, the pack had been living hand-to-mouth, so when Yu An had moved to save the Yu Family members earlier, the wolves had been so agitated.
"You should head back," Yu An said, stroking the Wolf King’s head. "We’ll take care of that group."
The Wolf King was overjoyed and quickly nuzzled her palm in gratitude.
’It’s better if they’re dead,’ the wolf thought. ’What if that group of humans goes crazy and comes after us again?’
Yu An thought for a moment, then dripped a drop of Divine Spring Water into the Wolf King’s mouth. The wolf felt the excruciating pain in its injured leg suddenly ease.
The old wound was from a snakebite. The venom had been cleared out, leaving only a minor side effect that didn’t really affect its ability to hunt.
But it had been injured again while trying to save its captured mate and pack, and that’s when it had become completely lame.
In the time it took for the wolf to register its surprise, the wound not only stopped hurting but also felt warm, as if it was healing.
Seeing it standing there stunned, the Red Fox patted it with a paw and whispered a quick explanation.
’You have to take credit for good deeds,’ the fox thought. ’What if this dopey-looking wolf can help An’an in the future?’
’That’s how all the novels in the space are written. The obscure side characters always end up being a huge help to the protagonist.’
In the Red Fox’s eyes, Yu An was the protagonist.
The Wolf King was beside itself with excitement. It used what little reason it had left to suppress its joy and keep from crying out, but it couldn’t stop its tail from wagging furiously.
It made a solemn gesture of thanks, one used between beasts, and Yu An stroked its head again.
"Alright, alright. Go on back now."
’Just consider it my good deed for the day.’
After the Wolf King left, Han Li said plaintively, "An’an, is that wolf better to pet than me?"
"Of course not," Yu An said. She knew he was jealous and expertly soothed his ruffled feathers. "Come here. Let me pat your head. There, there. After we take care of those people, we can go sit in a tree and watch the stars."
Han Li immediately brightened up. He rolled up his sleeves, ready to take out the Tian Family members in three seconds flat!
They didn’t bother to hide their approach, yet the group of Tian Family members didn’t notice them. As they got closer, Yu An saw they were celebrating with roasted meat and wine.
’Interesting. Are they celebrating at halftime?’
Yu Yao and the others weren’t even dead yet, but here they were, celebrating. With no one even standing guard, they wouldn’t even know what hit them.
From what she could tell, their spiritual power levels weren’t very high. Yu An and Han Li exchanged a look; they wouldn’t need to play dirty.
They would take their revenge out in the open!
The atmosphere inside the cave was lively. They were gathered around a distinguished-looking young man, showering him with compliments.
"Our Fourth Young Master is truly brilliant! What a move! This way, the Yu Family members will have died in the jaws of wild beasts, and it will have nothing to do with our Tian Family."
"Exactly! No matter how furious that old geezer from the Yu Family gets, he can’t pin the blame on us. When we get back, the Family Head will surely reward you, Fourth Young Master."
"I hear that old geezer is seriously ill. The whole purpose of Young Master Yu’s trip was to pick the herb that could save him. And now look—his daughter and the herb are both lost along the way... HAHAHAHA! Maybe the old geezer will get so angry he’ll go straight to see King Yan."
The man they called the Fourth Young Master smiled, then sighed. "Speaking of which, that Snow Flower was incredibly rare. A shame to just hand it over to that pack of beasts."
It was a pity that Yu Yao had the Yu Family Master’s spiritual power imprint on her. They couldn’t attack the Yu Family members directly, otherwise the Tian Family would have been in the wrong.
Still, this was fine too. They were originally just here for training; getting rid of Yu Yao was an unexpected bonus.
If Yu Yao hadn’t already been seriously injured, and the others hadn’t been wounded to varying degrees, this group of low-level Tian Family disciples would have had a hard time just protecting themselves, let alone eliminating her.
At this thought, his mood improved greatly. "Come, drink up!"
Yu An shook her head privately. "A truly vile bunch."
Han Li deeply agreed. "An’an is right."
They hadn’t lowered their voices, and their two sentences instantly silenced the boisterous cave.
The Fourth Young Master was startled. "Who’s there?!"
Yu An emerged from the shadows, unhurried. "Me."
The Fourth Young Master had never seen Yu An before. He wasn’t the sharpest tool in his family’s shed, but he was no fool, either.
For just two people to dare appear before his entire group, they were either arrogant and ignorant, or they had real power.
Clearly, this man and woman were the latter.
He couldn’t sense any spiritual power from the woman, but the pressure emanating from the man was something he had only ever felt from his father and a few of the elders.
The Fourth Young Master tested the waters. "Are you two friends here for training? If you can’t find a place to spend the night, you’re welcome to make do here in the cave."
As he spoke, he had his men clear a space for Yu An and her companion.
Seeing how polite their Fourth Young Master was being, the others didn’t dare act out of line and quickly cleared a large area.
Yu An chuckled. "That won’t be necessary. We’re just here to take care of one thing."
The Fourth Young Master was perplexed. "And what might that be?"
’I haven’t offended anyone recently,’ he thought. ’They can’t be here for revenge... Wait!’
The thought of the Yu Family made alarm bells go off in his head. ’Could these two be...?’
Yu An said politely, "Allow me to introduce myself. My surname is Yu..."
"Yu?!"
The Fourth Young Master’s face went pale with terror. "You’re here to avenge Yu Yao and the others!"