Beast World: A Fragile Beauty Blessed with Many Children-Chapter 224 - 223: Brothers, You’re in a Competition
But the latter’s lips curved into a smile, with no trace of the innocent and harmless boy from before. His brown eyes were filled with a cold, murderous intent as he enunciated each word. "The witnesses are gone. The hunt begins..."
Watching with bated breath, Si Shuo couldn’t help but clap. ’Ah, Xu Chi is so cool! By clearing out the witnesses, whether these two live or die, no one can trace it back to him.’
Hearing this, the Short-nosed Crocodile Beastman even dug a finger in his ear. "Am I hallucinating," he couldn’t help but ask, "or is this kid really that cooperative? Giving his own death such... um, a sense of ceremony?"
The Marsupial Lion Beastman laughed loudly. "He’s probably scared stupid. What are we waiting for? If he could pull out two Level 15 Crystal Stones, he might have more!"
The two exchanged a look and both transformed into their Beast Forms. With a low roar, they pounced at Xu Chi.
Xu Chi neither dodged nor flinched. The moment they were upon him, he instantly unleashed eighty percent of his Wind Spiritual Power, condensing it into two sharp blades in his hands. He deftly sidestepped their assault, simultaneously thrusting his blades toward their hearts from a viciously clever angle!
His apparent Beast Form was a Deer, which was prey for many other beastmen and had no means of fighting back besides fleeing. On top of that, he had a gentle and harmless demeanor, was supposedly a mere Level 10 Beast Soldier, and was outnumbered two to one.
In short, Xu Chi had lowered their guard completely, leaving their defenses wide open. They were at least not strong enough to withstand a full-powered strike from a Level 12 Beastman using forty percent of his Spiritual Power.
Si Shuo was so frightened she squeezed her eyes shut and clutched Ji Liang’s clothes. She silently counted to five before daring to look again. When she did, Xu Chi was calmly wiping a bead of blood from his face, his expression detached. His eyes showed no flicker of emotion, reminding her of when they first met—as if nothing in the world could enter his heart.
He used his Wind Ability to gouge a pit in the ground. He then tossed in the Short-nosed Crocodile and Marsupial Lion—now forever unable to return to their human forms, their eyes still wide with terrified disbelief—and buried them.
Xu Chi hadn’t destroyed the marks on their chests, so the two could only become fertilizer for the Training Ground.
He snatched the pouch of Crystal Stones from their bodies and stored it in his spatial inventory. Hearing the angry roars of baboons, he started running in that direction, and his figure vanished on the spot!
Si Shuo let out a heavy sigh of relief. Xu Chi’s image as a doting caretaker had become so ingrained in her mind lately that she’d almost forgotten what he used to be like. The unique plight of the Horned Deer meant they were destined to fight for their lives.
She couldn’t help but nervously look over at Gong You. Gong You was a Big Fish Beast, and on land, his only advantage was the Time Rule.
But when she looked over now, she burst out laughing with a "PFFT!"
Ji Liang patted her head. "Little Shushu, if something’s funny, you have to share it."
"Haha, Gong You... he..." She leaned close to Ji Liang’s ear and mumbled, "He used that... you-know-what rule. Now they’re all moving in slow motion..."
Zhi Qi also leaned in to hear their whispers, able to picture the scene.
Everyone in Gong You’s party was moving in slow motion, like actors in a play, except for Gong You himself, who was lingering at the back of the group at a normal pace. The sight made Si Shuo chuckle, chasing away all her earlier tension and worry.
His teammates, noticing how slowly the surrounding trees were passing, realized how slow they were moving. They suspected they had triggered one of the Training Ground’s Arrays.
But all they perceived was a flash of white light that stung their eyes. In that same instant, the marks on their chests were pierced, and they were eliminated, utterly baffled!
Si Shuo curiously wrote a letter to Gong You. "Gong You, how did you eliminate all of them?"
Gong You sensed a disturbance in his spatial inventory. He picked up the letter, read it, and squinted, scanning his surroundings. He’d never heard that people on the outside could see what was happening inside the Training Ground.
Still, he wrote her back. "They all have the Fire Ability."
It wouldn’t be strange to have someone with the Fire Ability on the team. But for everyone *except* him to have the Fire Ability... well, he had to strike first to get the upper hand!
Whoever was plotting to kill him probably didn’t think much of him, stooping to a method that was both sloppy and insulting. Or perhaps the real assassin was merely using the other Fire Ability beastmen as a cover for their own identity.
Si Shuo sighed softly and told him about what had happened with Zhi Le and Xu Chi, adding that she had been the one to ask the Beast God to let her watch.
"My good cub, don’t worry. We’ll all be fine. Wei Ce’s job is to cause a commotion, and we’re going to rendezvous with him to eliminate the other beastmen together."
Si Shuo stared at the note and fell silent for a moment. ’Now this is the art of language,’ she thought. ’Why say "other beastmen" and not "Beast Soldiers from the Fifth Camp"?’
By contrast, the teams Yin Jiang and Xiao Cheng were on seemed perfectly normal. They encountered a few enemy groups along the way, fought them conventionally, and barely managed to eliminate their opponents, taking care not to reveal their true strength.
Gradually, however, their teammates were eliminated one by one in battles with enemies, until Yin Jiang and Xiao Cheng became the sole survivors of their wiped-out squads.
Meanwhile, Wei Ce spent his time specifically picking fights with the baboon beastmen of the Fifth Camp. He employed a hit-and-run tactic: he’d smack them a couple of times and then bolt. The moment they gave up the chase, he’d go back and provoke them again.
The baboons were notoriously bad-tempered, and he soon had them howling in fury. Their cries became the rallying horn for his family of Couple Brothers.
The corner of Si Shuo’s mouth twitched. ’What a troll!’ she thought to herself.
Soon, her six males had gathered. They found a hidden spot and began... to have a picnic??!!
She looked up at Zhi Zhan beside her. "You guys are in a competition! How can you be so relaxed?"
Zhi Zhan smiled and pinched her cheek. "Does my little kitten want to go inside and play?"
Si Shuo froze. "I can?"
"Mhm. As long as you hold one of our hands, you’ll be considered part of our unit and won’t be ejected by the Training Ground." Seeing her eagerness, Zhi Zhan smiled and shifted into his Beast Form. He wrapped her in his embrace and held up a large Beast Skin, ostensibly to shield her from the sun, but actually to hide the sight of their little female being teleported into the Training Ground.
Zhi Le instantly grabbed the hand of the little female as she materialized out of thin air.
Si Shuo looked around nervously. If she could transform into her Beast Form, her fur would definitely be standing on end.
Yin Jiang chuckled, a low cough mixed in. "Shuo’er, we’ve set up a Protective Shield. You don’t have to worry about being seen."
Only then did Si Shuo relax, sitting down with a smile. Laid out on the Beast Skin mat before her were all kinds of roasted meat, flatbread wraps, cold salads, fruit, and tea. It was a picture of pure, leisurely enjoyment.
"Do you guys have a plan?" She had been watching from the outside for over an hour, which meant three Beast Hours had already passed inside the Training Ground.
With so many of her Beast Husbands around, she felt completely safe. She took the shredded squid jerky Gong You offered and began to chew on it idly.
"Sister, what plan could we have?" Xiao Cheng said with a smile. "First, we fill our stomachs. In the initial phase, we’ll just get the lay of the land, let the other two Beast Camps tear each other apart, and do our best to protect the members of the Iron-eating Beast clan from being eliminated.
"Then, tomorrow afternoon, we’ll go and eliminate the Beast Soldiers from the Fifth Camp." Because his little female had arrived, his tail had joyfully popped out and was now wagging nonstop behind him.
Wei Ce nodded vigorously and added, "Shuo, we don’t know how many people in our Third Beast Camp have been bought off to try and kill us. The best solution is to let the Fifth Beast Camp wear them down for us..."
