Chapter 254: Chapter 254: The Cub is Missing

When Qiao Xixi returned to the front yard carrying the dried coral beast horns, she found the wooden cabin’s door wide open. Startled, she dropped everything and rushed inside.

The moment she saw the empty bed, Qiao Xixi’s world came crashing down!

Her tiger cub was gone!

Qiao Xixi couldn’t care about anything else. She ran outside, transformed into her beast form, and started sniffing for the cub’s scent. Fortunately, Jin Ling had been worried about the cub wandering off and had intentionally strengthened his own scent on her. Because of this, she quickly picked up the trail and identified the direction the cub had gone.

’She went into the forest.’

Qiao Xixi sped into the forest in pursuit.

The tiger cub had no idea that a moment of playful fun would lead to her getting lost.

Watching the butterfly that had zipped into the sky and vanished in the blink of an eye, the tiger cub stared with wide, unhappy eyes.

’Hmph!’

She snorted a puff of air from her little nose and patted her paws on the soft grass.

But the cub’s moods came and went quickly. In a flash, she had forgotten what made her unhappy and started chasing little bugs in the forest, completely oblivious to the fact that she was wandering farther and farther from the cabin.

Tired from playing, the cub flopped lazily onto the grass. The cool, damp blades felt wonderful against her fur.

The cub instinctively rolled over. Whenever she felt this comfortable, her mother and sisters would always come and rub her little tummy.

But just as the cub was about to expose her belly, her little paws froze in mid-air. Her nose twitched as she tried to identify a scent drifting on the breeze.

’I’ve never smelled this before. Something’s not right!’

Vigilance was a beastman’s instinct. Even a cub could quickly sense approaching danger.

Sure enough, just as the tiger cub had righted herself and gotten to her feet warily, two male Golden Tiger Beasts emerged from the woods.

They stared at the tiger cub before them in astonishment, a look of delighted surprise in their eyes.

"She has the scent of Jin Ling’s bloodline on her. Perfect! Grab her and take her back to Tiger Beast City."

Without a moment’s hesitation, the two males pounced on the tiger cub.

The tiger cub sensed the danger and turned to flee, but she was too small. She couldn’t possibly outrun two adult males. She had barely taken a step before they caught her.

"AWOO!"

The angry tiger cub flailed her paws, but the two males were clever. They knew the fatal weakness of a Golden Tiger Beast was its neck. As long as they held them by the scruff, they could hardly resist.

But the tiger cub was not one to surrender without a fight. She was furious, kicking her legs wildly and squirming with all her might. The male holding her almost lost his grip.

"Hmph, you little brat! Move again and I’ll hit you." The annoyed male slapped the tiger cub on the head.

A buzzing filled the tiger cub’s head.

Seeing the tiger cub had quieted down, the two males held her and turned to leave.

Being pinned under the male’s arm was uncomfortable and infuriating. ’Those two big bad beasts hit my head!’

’Mother said you can’t hit someone on the head, or they’ll turn into a dumb beast!’

The tiger cub was furious, and the consequences would be severe. A dark glint flashed in the depths of her gilded golden eyes. As the light quickly converged, she slowly raised a paw and, letting out an "AWOO!", slapped the male’s chest.

The male Golden Tiger Beast felt a heavy blow to his chest, and his hands, which were holding the cub, loosened instinctively.

The tiger cub seized the opportunity to leap to the ground and run.

The male walking in front heard the commotion behind him and quickly turned around. He was stunned to see the fleeing tiger cub.

"How are you so useless? You can’t even hold on to a cub."

The male who had been struck in the chest opened his mouth, and blood sprayed out.

"That cub... *cough cough*, is not ordinary... We must... catch her..."

The male turned and ran in the direction the tiger cub had fled.

The tiger cub used every ounce of her strength to charge forward. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"AWOO!"

"AWOO!"

As she ran, the cub called for her mother and father.

Down at the foot of the mountain, Jin Ling was cutting stone with Feiyan to make stone pots when his heart suddenly skipped a beat.

Jin Ling’s movements faltered, and he almost failed to catch the stone pot Feiyan was passing to him.

Feiyan noticed something was wrong with him and asked in confusion, "What’s the matter? Tired? If you can’t keep going, go take a rest. We can head back after this last one is done."

Jin Ling frowned and shook his head. Making a few stone pots was nothing to him.

But just now, he had felt a sudden, inexplicable panic.

"Only Xixi and An’an are in the cabin. I’m worried. I’m going to head back and check on them."

Feiyan had no objection. "Alright, you go on back. I’ll finish up here."

"Mm."

Jin Ling picked up a stone pot and hurried back.

Meanwhile, Qiao Xixi was heading deeper and deeper into the forest, but there was still no sign of the tiger cub.

"Little Demon, you said the cub was around here. Why can’t I find her?"

"Host, don’t panic. The cub is nearby. Just keep looking, you’ll find her soon."

The tiger cub had no idea her mother was going frantic looking for her. As she ran blindly, she suddenly crashed into a slender, white figure.

The powerful collision sent the tiger cub stumbling, and she fell over, her little belly exposed.

The white figure slowly lowered his gaze. His snow-white wings unfurled, scooping up the tiger cub and bringing her before him.

The tiger cub scrambled to her feet and bared her small, not-yet-fully-grown milk teeth at him.

He smiled faintly, his large, well-defined hand gently stroking the tiger cub’s head.

"You’ve been naughty. Why did you run out here all by yourself?"

His gentle, soft words quickly soothed the tiger cub’s wary heart. She rubbed her little head against the man’s palm.

"A Phoenix Beast? Hand that tiger cub over to me!"

The pursuing male glared coldly at the now-quiet tiger cub in the male Phoenix Beast’s arms.

"She. Is not. Yours."

The Golden Tiger Beast male couldn’t be bothered with nonsense. He charged forward to snatch her, but before he could even touch the male Phoenix Beast, his body was sent flying by a powerful force.

The male Golden Tiger Beast slammed heavily into a tree trunk, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

His snow-white wings spread wide. Cradling the tiger cub, he shot into the sky, flying toward the sea.

"This is bad, Host! The tiger cub seems to have left the forest. Oh, that’s weird. How is she moving so fast? Don’t tell me the cub can fly?"

Little Demon’s words made Qiao Xixi’s face pale. ’Flying? Could the cub have been captured by the Wing Clan?’

She was frantic with worry, but she hadn’t been able to set up a precise tracker for the cub before she was born.

"Is she still moving now?"

"Yes, heading toward the sea."

"Then to the sea it is!"

The tiger cub lay in the male’s arms, her big eyes looking around curiously. Just as the male was about to fly past the island, the cub suddenly began to squirm restlessly.

The male looked down. "What’s wrong? You don’t want to leave?"

The tiger cub’s struggles grew more intense, forcing the male to land on a massive reef.