Chapter 237: Chapter 237: Don’t Tell Me She’s Back Again?

The sea was filled with merfolk!

One by one, the beastmen who had gone into the sea to cool off were dragged under by the merfolk. No matter how powerful they were on land, it was difficult to use their strength in the water.

Jin Che held his breath, his hand forming a sharp claw that he stabbed toward a merman’s arm.

The merman cried out in pain and was forced to let go. Once free, Jin Che quickly swam toward the surface.

"Nobody else come in the water! Get back to the shore! Get back to the shore right now!"

The strange situation in the water also alerted the beastmen on the shore. They had no choice but to endure their bodies’ sweltering heat and retreat.

Jin Che scrambled ashore, looking disheveled. He glared furiously at the merfolk in the sea. In that moment, he realized they had once again fallen into an ambush set by Sunxiao and his people!

The beastmen didn’t dare enter the sea again, and the merfolk began to surface one after another.

Suddenly, a melodious song drifted through the air, calming the restless and overheated beastmen. Even Jin Che found himself momentarily mesmerized.

The song carried an enchanting magic, and some beastmen began to slowly walk toward the sea.

But just as the water reached one’s waist, a sudden force from below dragged him under.

Jin Che’s vision blurred. When he came to his senses, the water was already up to his neck. He snapped his eyes open to see a merman staring coldly at him.

Jin Che realized he had been lured in. He formed his hand into a claw to strike at the merman, but this time, the merman didn’t let him succeed. It swiftly circled behind Jin Che in the water, and a sharp fin slit his throat.

Fenglin and Huang Ying stood on a reef, their expressions grim as they watched the tragic scene unfold with Jin Che and the others.

"System, what’s going on? What were those things that exploded on the beach?"

"Hiss... This doesn’t seem to be a product of the Beast World. Could it be... that other transmigrator is back?"

The system’s speculation made Huang Ying’s expression turn utterly foul.

"That meddling idiot is back again! Didn’t you say you attacked her system, causing it to become corrupted and irreparable?! How is she back?!"

Huang Ying was furious. The reason her mission had taken so long to complete was precisely because it had been sabotaged by that other transmigrator who had suddenly appeared.

"Don’t panic. It’s just a guess. Logically speaking, after her system’s main core was attacked, it’s highly unlikely it could have been repaired."

"It had better be that way. To avoid any more complications, I need to find them immediately and figure this out."

Huang Ying shifted into her beast form and flew into the sky. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

The sky began to show the pale light of dawn, and golden rays pierced through the clouds, slowly illuminating the island.

From mid-air, Huang Ying saw Sangze directing the Golden Eagle Beast to land. Not long after, she spotted two males emerge from the forest. They were all following Sangze in a specific direction.

"Follow them. See where they’re going."

"My lady, shouldn’t we do something about those beastmen?" Fenglin could clearly see they had all been bewitched by the merfolk. If they did nothing, the entire group would be annihilated.

Huang Ying didn’t even spare them a glance. "Leave them. A weakened Tiger Beast City is only to our advantage."

With no beastmen to block their path, Jin Ling and the others reached the outside of the reef cave smoothly. But just as he arrived at the entrance, Jin Ling stopped and glanced back up at the sky.

Huang Ying and Fenglin weren’t flying particularly high, but Jin Ling still couldn’t make out their expressions when he looked up. Even so, he could feel it: those two phoenixes were watching them.

"Let’s go. Don’t let those two from the Wing Clan follow us."

"Right."

After the three of them entered the reef cave, Jin Ling and the others punched at the rock wall, using the dislodged reef stones to block the entrance before continuing deeper inside.

"Jin Ling? Father?"

Jin Ling removed the plugs from his ears.

"It’s us."

Hearing the sound, Qiao Xixi stood up as well. When she saw that Jin Ling and the others had returned unharmed, she let out a huge sigh of relief.

"Are you all okay?"

Jin Ling shook his head. "We’re fine. Everything went smoothly."

"That’s good. Now we just have to wait—"

Before Qiao Xixi could finish, Xiya shot out of the water. "Matriarch, they’re here."

Just as Xiya finished speaking, a merman with long, purple hair appeared in the water.

"Everyone, we’ve arrived. Please come with us."

Qiao Xixi nodded.

Jin Ling and the others had already stepped forward to pick up their respective cubs.

The sleeping cubs were startled awake. Worried they would be nervous, Qiao Xixi gently soothed them, "We’re about to go down into the sea. We’re going to see what the deep ocean where Sister Xiya lives is like."

The cubs were both nervous and excited. As Land Beasts, they felt a little uneasy about going into the ocean for the first time.

"Don’t be scared, little brothers and sisters. I’ll protect you."

"BANG!"

A loud crash came from the cave entrance. Sunxiao said, "We need to hurry."

"Right."

Xiya stepped forward and took Qiao Xixi’s hand. With a touch of her fingertip, she created a barrier that separated the seawater from Qiao Xixi’s body.

Jin Ling and the others all entered the water, and the merfolk did the same for them, creating barriers against the sea.

They were all Land Beasts, and while they weren’t exactly afraid, going into the sea for the first time was a novel experience for them.

The adult merfolk illuminated their surroundings, and a soft halo of light dispelled the darkness of the deep sea.

Qiao Qiao looked around curiously, occasionally reaching out to playfully poke at the small fish that swam toward them.

"The sea is so big."

"It is! And we only live in a very, very small part of it."

"Sister, are there lots and lots of sea beasts in the ocean, too?"

"Mhm, a lot of them. Many of them are good friends with the merfolk. I’ll introduce you to them later."

"Okay!"

Amidst the cubs’ innocent chatter, the tension in Qiao Xixi and the others began to ease slightly.

Meanwhile, when Huang Ying and her companion smashed through the reef blocking the cave entrance and got inside, there was no sign of Qiao Xixi’s group.

Huang Ying sniffed the air inside the cave, and her expression changed.

"She really is back!"

The system’s voice was also filled with astonishment. "How is that possible...? Host, what is the basis for your judgment?"

"You told me that in the book, the villain’s biological mother didn’t have any beastman mates at all. But now she’s surrounded by all these males, and those males are the villains’ biological fathers! If that doesn’t mean she’s back, what does?!"

The system fell silent for a moment.

"If she has returned, it’s highly likely that the host’s mission will be sabotaged again."

"Do you think I need you to state the obvious? Do you have any idea how much effort I put in just to get her pregnant with those villains? No, I absolutely will not let her ruin my plans! Figure out a way to make her go back to where she came from, now!"

"I’ll investigate what happened on her end first. I clearly attacked that system with a virus..."

"Since you can’t track her system now, does that also mean you can’t give me her precise location?"

"Correct."

"Useless piece of trash!"

System: "If you were so useful, you wouldn’t have had your plans ruined by her time and time again. If you can’t complete the mission, I’ll send you back right now and bring in someone more competent."