Chapter 507: Damned Thing, Daring to Control Me
"Sunxiao, we have to go after him! He’s delirious—he could easily get into trouble."
Sunxiao’s serpentine eyes darkened. Carrying Qiao Xixi, he gave chase in the direction Sangze had fled.
The moment they left, a figure emerged from the dim mountain forest. Gazing after them, a smug, cold sneer touched the corner of their lips.
Sangze was incredibly fast, running farther and farther away from the tribe.
’Where on earth is he trying to go?’
Qiao Xixi watched Sangze’s position on her map. She had a feeling he wasn’t just running aimlessly. But outside the tribe, there was nothing but mountain forests. If they kept this up, even Sunxiao would eventually become exhausted.
"Sunxiao, can we get ahead of him and cut him off? Put me down. I’ll ride the wind and catch up."
Sunxiao stopped at her words.
"Try not to land."
"Mm."
Qiao Xixi formed a hand seal, and a powerful gust of wind lifted her into the air, swiftly propelling her toward Sangze’s location.
No longer needing to protect Qiao Xixi, Sunxiao moved even faster.
Meanwhile, Sangze, who had been darting through the forest, came to a sudden halt.
The dark red in his mismatched eyes warred with their original color, and his muscles instantly tensed.
"You damned thing... how dare you control me... ARGH!"
Sangze let out a furious roar, and the dark red in his pupils was completely suppressed by their natural color.
He collapsed limply to the ground, his limbs seemingly no longer under his control.
When Qiao Xixi caught up, she found Sangze lying on the ground.
"Sangze."
Sangze’s pupils twitched, and he stiffly raised his head to look at Qiao Xixi.
The moment their eyes met, she saw a defiant coldness in his dark irises.
’He’s back to normal!’
Qiao Xixi landed in front of Sangze. "Sangze, are you all right?"
"My female..."
Sangze’s voice was deep and hoarse as he spoke.
Her heart ached for him. She quickly took out a waterskin and held it to his lips. "Don’t talk yet. You’ve been unconscious for so long, you must feel awful. Drink some water first."
Sangze did feel awful. What Qiao Xixi didn’t know was that he was still fighting the force within him, unable to properly control his own body.
He obediently opened his mouth and drank the water.
Perhaps the water from the Spiritual Spring had a suppressive effect on the dark power. After finishing the entire waterskin, Sangze tried to move his body again.
This time, he managed to get to his feet.
"How are you feeling? Do you remember what just happened?"
Sangze shifted back into his human form, his roguishly handsome features shadowed and grim.
He only vaguely remembered losing control of his body. The rest was a blur, though he had a faint memory of attacking Sunxiao and Qiao Xixi.
At this realization, Sangze’s expression turned grim.
Sangze’s expression faltered, a look of self-reproach and anguish on his face as he looked miserably at Qiao Xixi.
"Xixi, did I hurt you?"
Seeing he was back to normal, Qiao Xixi let out a faint sigh. "You were being controlled by the dark power. It wasn’t your fault, and I’m not hurt."
But regardless of what Qiao Xixi said, Sangze was still beside himself with guilt.
"I... I think I heard a voice in my head just now. It told me to kill you, Xixi... I... how could I..."
As he spoke, a sound rustled through the woods. Sunxiao had arrived.
When Sunxiao arrived and saw how close Qiao Xixi was to Sangze, his eyes turned cold.
"Xixi, come here."
Qiao Xixi knew he was afraid Sangze would lose control and hurt her. "Sunxiao, Sangze is back to normal now."
Sangze looked up in anguish. "Xixi, go to Sunxiao. I’m worried I might lose control again."
Qiao Xixi frowned, unwilling to move, so Sunxiao stepped forward and pulled her into his embrace before looking down at Sangze.
"How are you now?"
Sangze frowned. "I seem to be back to normal."
"Then let’s head back to the tribe."
"No, I can’t go back with you. If I lost control once, it could happen again. What if I return to the tribe, lose control, and hurt someone?"
Sunxiao frowned. That was a very real possibility.
"You don’t need to worry about me. Once I’ve resolved this issue with my body, I’ll come back to the tribe."
How could Qiao Xixi possibly agree to that? "No, I can’t rest easy with that. Even if you don’t live inside the tribe, we need to be able to see you. There’s a cave just outside the tribe. You can stay there for now, and we’ll have some Wing Clan males guard the entrance. That way, if anything happens, we’ll know right away."
Deeply touched, Sangze looked up. He clenched his fists, hating himself for almost hurting Qiao Xixi.
"Xixi..."
Qiao Xixi slipped out of Sunxiao’s embrace, walked over to Sangze, and took his hand. "We’re a family. We can’t just leave you on your own."
Sangze pressed his lips together, fighting back the tears welling in his eyes.
"Mm."
On the way back, to prevent Sangze from losing control and launching another surprise attack, Sunxiao had him walk in front.
Fortunately, Sangze showed no other signs of trouble on the journey back.
After returning to the tribe, Sunxiao found the Wing Clan patrol and instructed them to accompany Sangze to the cave on the mountain behind the tribe and stand guard.
Qiao Xixi held Sangze’s hand worriedly. "You stay in the cave for now. Come back when your condition is stable. And don’t wander off."
Sangze squeezed her hand back and nodded. "Mm, Xixi, don’t worry. I’ll be fine. You should hurry back and check on Sangqi. I’m worried the same thing happened to him."
She’d had the same thought on the way back and had been worried about Sangqi the entire time.
"Okay, I’ll go check on him now."
"Mm."
After parting ways with Sangze, Qiao Xixi and Sunxiao returned to the inner city.
Feili had rushed back as soon as he got the news. When they arrived back in the inner city, Feili was just getting the cubs ready to eat.
"Feili Father Beast."
"Mother is back."
"Father."
Qiao Lie and the other cubs immediately dropped their bowls and chopsticks and ran to them.
They didn’t know what had happened with Qiao Xixi and Yuanyuan, but the changes in Sangqi and Sangze had left them deeply unsettled. Right now, they desperately needed their mother’s comfort.
Qiao Xixi gently stroked their little faces. "What’s wrong?"
Qiao Ang said, his little face tense, "Mother, Father Sangze and Brother Sangqi suddenly woke up, and they became really strange."
"But then Brother Sangqi suddenly fell unconscious again. One of the guards carried him back to his room, but we don’t know where Father Sangze went." Xiya’s small face was etched with worry.
Qiao Xixi listened as the cubs described in detail what had happened.
Feili walked over as well. "I already had the witch doctor check on Sangqi. He said Sangqi isn’t injured, he’s just fallen unconscious again."
"We encountered Sangze in the forest; he had lost control," Qiao Xixi explained. "He’s back to normal now, but for everyone’s safety, he doesn’t want to return to the tribe yet. He’s staying on the mountain behind the tribe for the time being."
Feili sighed. "This is all just too strange."
"Don’t worry, Feili Father Beast. It’ll be all right. I’m going to go check on Sangqi."
"Okay."
Qiao Xixi turned and went upstairs. When she pushed open the door to Sangqi’s room, she froze in stunned surprise.