Little Hong stood stunned. She had thought she’d have to talk herself blue in the face and still might not get the answer she wanted. She had even planned to act pitiful in front of her Mother if her Father disagreed, to wear her down and convince her to speak on her behalf. She never expected her Father to be so open-minded. ’He’s so much more likable than Xiao Cheng’s father.’

"Father," the Little Falcon cub chirped happily, then replied, conflicted, "I don’t know, Father. I can fly, so should I find a bird-type child husband, so we can fly wing to wing together?"

Yin Jiang said with an amused laugh, "Cub, since we have wings, there aren’t many places we can’t go, so your options are much wider.

Actually, land beasts aren’t bad either. They can carry you around everywhere, especially in dense forests where Flying Beasts are at a disadvantage."

Little Hong nodded, tilting her head. "Then what about a Tiger Beastman, the king of the forest? I like white ones. They’re so eye-catching and unique!"

Yin Jiang raised an eyebrow. "Sure. I think I’ve seen a few white Tiger Beastmen. We can go take a look tomorrow, too."

Little Hong nodded repeatedly in excitement. The three little female cubs huddled together and started chattering excitedly about tomorrow. Seeing their enthusiasm made veins throb on their respective fathers’ foreheads.

They hadn’t even picked out their future sons-in-law yet, but the fathers were already devising ways to train them to within an inch of their lives—methods comparable to torture.

’Without overwhelming strength, how could they possibly protect their precious female cubs?’

It was especially lively tonight. Si Shuo ran into some acquaintances: neighbors from the Luoni Tribe, and some females she’d met in places like Nanye City and Puchang City.

They weren’t close friends, but reuniting after more than a year made them all quite warm and friendly, giving them endless things to talk about.

Mostly, they asked questions about the Central Continent, and Si Shuo patiently and objectively answered each one.

Everyone grew even more eager to see the Central Continent, but the impact of the major and minor Beast Tides over the past year meant they could only look on with envy, forced to continue living their old routines.

As it grew late, the Beastmen gradually began taking their females and cubs home.

「The next morning.」

Si Shuo was slowly eating breakfast when she noticed the three female cubs’ strange, urgent expressions. She was a little confused, and when she asked what was wrong, they just looked at her with anticipation and shook their heads.

"You don’t have to pee, do you? Little cubs can’t just focus on eating and playing; you’ll hurt yourselves if you hold it in." Seeing them stomping their feet in agitation, it was the only explanation Si Shuo could come up with.

The cubs stiffened for a moment, then shook their heads vigorously. Of course not! Their fathers were afraid of interrupting their Mother’s meal and had told them to wait until she was finished eating to bring it up.

Si Shuo didn’t dwell on it for more than a few seconds before the delicious food recaptured her attention, and she went back to eating.

The moment she put down her chopsticks, the female cubs, who felt like they were about to burst from holding it in, scrambled to her side and started talking about how their fathers were taking them to look for child husbands.

Si Shuo sucked in a breath. "Cubs, how old even are you? You should be enjoying your childhood. It wouldn’t be too late to consider this when you’re, say, ten or so, right?"

"How is it not too late? Mother, all the good males are claimed early. Basically, as soon as male cubs awaken their superpowers, they get snatched up," Xiao Cheng said, speaking from experience.

She herself had several fiancés arranged for her by the tribe at a very young age.

Si Shuo was still conflicted. ’In my world, you weren’t even allowed to date before college! Isn’t this way too early for the cubs?’

Knowing what she was conflicted about, Ali said with a smile, "Mother, when we look for a child husband, we don’t have any of those complicated, romantic ideas like adults. We just want a childhood sweetheart who will always be there for us and think of us and only us. As for things like having children, that’s something to consider after we grow up."

Si Shuo smacked her forehead. ’I really was overthinking it.’ "Alright, let’s head to the plaza then. A person’s character is the most important thing. It’s like a tree—it has to grow straight to become useful timber!"

Knowing that Zhi Le and the others were going to choose child husbands for their female cubs, Yi Wan specially assigned a few talkative Flying Beasts to help gather information. The Flying Beasts frequently traveled between the various tribes and Beast City, so they knew many people and a lot of things. They could get a pretty clear picture of any given Beastman.

Si Shuo was still perched on Ji Liang’s head as they moved through Beast City. She had just woken up and eaten her fill, so she was full of energy and her mind was much clearer.

"Ji Liang, just look at my situation. My mother, Miao Juan, is a Female Saint, but instead of openly using her superpower, she created this ’Thousand-faced Saintess’ alias for herself."

"My fertility, Zhi Le’s superpower, and the abnormalities in others are all things she has stripped away and reassigned."

"She’s my Mother. Why does she keep using others to come after us, time and time again? First it was Ping Mei, and yesterday it was that White Mouse Beastman!"

Ji Liang narrowed his eyes slightly. "Everyone knows *who* the Female Saints are, but for the most part, their actual superpowers are unknown to the public..."

Si Shuo had thought of that too. ’Since Miao Juan is using the identity of the Thousand-faced Saintess, she must be afraid of being exposed. If people knew it was her, she couldn’t use her superpower to harm others for her own benefit. Is this just a veil to hide her shame?’

"She’s old enough to be a grandmother now, but she looks so young, like she just got mated and hasn’t had any cubs. Who knows how many young females’ life force she’s stolen. Meng Yun is just one of them."

"We need to figure out how her superpower is triggered and what its limitations are..."

Ji Liang nodded. "We returned Meng Yun’s blood and vigor. Miao Juan must have suffered a backlash from that. She’s probably been listless these past few days, or maybe she’s just hiding in her cave and not coming out."

"We need to find those other females, the ones whose health suddenly deteriorated like Meng Yun’s, as soon as possible!"

Si Shuo hummed in agreement. "Coincidentally, Father Yi Wan assigned us a couple of Flying Beasts. Should we have them go and investigate?" She hesitated. Flying Beasts were great at digging up gossip, but she was afraid her own business would become the subject of that gossip.

Ji Liang smiled. "Don’t worry. I’ll go ask around in a bit. We can have the cubs help check if their life force has been swapped."

With the Mind Reading Talisman, Si Shuo had already gotten the list of names. Now she just needed Ji Liang to confirm them one by one.

Si Shuo couldn’t help but hug his head. ’With my Big Snake Beast here, I can really tell him anything, and he always gets the job done perfectly.’

Gong You was walking beside them. Ji Liang’s Protective Shield was covering him as well.

Hearing this, Gong You narrowed his eyes. "Then let’s make her feel, little by little, what it’s like to have her life force stripped away, to feel her life draining away."

Si Shuo let out a cold laugh. ’If you don’t want people to know, you shouldn’t have done it. Since Miao Juan uses her superpower to sustain herself with others’ life force, she must be obsessed with her age and appearance. So, to have everything she’s gained taken back, bit by bit, to make her feel her life rapidly slipping away as she grows old... that would be a huge blow to her. A classic case of being hoist by her own petard.’

’Add in the superpower’s backlash, and that will be more than enough to make Miao Juan regret she was ever born.’