Before Tu Xiaotao could even open her mouth to explain what the beast mating season was, panic suddenly burst through the tribe like a fire catching dry grass.

A male came running from the outer path so fast that dust flew around his ankles and his breathing sounded like he had outrun death itself.

His chest was bare and he wore only a rough hide beast skirt around his hips, and the moment people saw his wild eyes and the way his tail was tucked low behind him, the entire mood of the tribe changed.

The females stopped what they were doing, the males straightened, cubs were immediately pulled closer by their mothers, and even the old beastwomen who had been sorting roots and gossiping with slow lazy faces now looked up sharply.

"There is a wild snake beastman in the area!" the male shouted, and because he was already frightened, his words came out louder and worse than they should have.

"He is huge, terrifying, and he already ruined a nearby tribe. I heard he dragged males by the throat, smashed through their shelters, and nearly stole a female in broad daylight. He is looking for a mate before the season ends, and if he sees a female he likes, he will take her, I swear it!"

That one sentence was enough to make the whole tribe explode into anxious noise.

"What?"

"A snake beastman?"

"Here?"

"Did anyone actually see him?"

Some males were already reaching for spears. Others stepped toward their females without even thinking, hands going to shoulders, backs, wrists, waists, any part of them they could touch as if just feeling skin under their palms would prove their females were still here and safe.

One wolf beastman scooped his female’s cub straight into his arms and pushed the mother behind him with such speed that even she looked offended for a second before realizing he was shaking.

A wild boar beastman ran straight to his female with a water gourd in one hand and a skinning knife in the other as if both things might somehow help at once.

Two bird females immediately hissed at their males to stop panicking, but neither male listened, and one of them was already checking the trees with sharp eyes as if the snake might fall from the sky itself.

Lin Huahua stood in the middle of all that sudden panic and blinked, because on one hand, she could clearly see that this was serious, but on the other hand, the way the messenger had shouted everything made it sound like some monstrous husband-hunting snake demon was about to storm in and start collecting females like fruit.

Before she could even decide how worried she should be, her own males were by her side.

Actually by her side.

Mu Qingyi came first and stepped close enough that one arm could shield her without making it too obvious. Hu Baiyu moved in right after and stood on her other side, his huge body immediately angling toward the outer part of the tribe, his lion ears standing sharp and alert.

Feng Yiren had been a little farther off before, but the moment the words snake beastman and female came out, he crossed the distance so quickly that his fox tail was still lashing when he reached her.

Lin Huahua had no time to say anything before Mu Qingyi’s hand had already found her shoulder, warm and steady, while Hu Baiyu gently touched the small of her back as if to let her know he was there.

Feng Yiren, being Feng Yiren, did not even pretend to be subtle. He looked her over from head to toe at once, checking whether she was too far from the cave, too near the tree line, or standing stupidly exposed in some way.

Tu Xiaotao, who had been yapping a moment ago, now had both of her rabbit ears standing straight up and rigid with alarm. She grabbed Lin Huahua’s wrist at once and whispered,

"A wild snake beastman? Why would one come here?" Even while whispering, she had already moved closer to her own males without realizing it, and one of them had quietly stepped behind her while the other remained in front, both pretending not to hover while very clearly hovering.

Mao Qingyue’s gray civet ears turned toward the messenger and then toward the forest, and although her face remained calmer than the others, her tail had stopped moving completely, which was how one knew she was truly feeling something.

Lang Yinzhi reacted the most like a wolf. Her whole body sharpened, shoulders straightening, eyes narrowing, and her dark tail lowering into that slow tense line that meant she was ready to bite if needed.

The messenger, seeing that everyone was now fully focused on him, started speaking again, and the more he spoke, the worse it became, because frightened people really had a talent for making danger sound ten times bigger than it was.

"I did not see him myself," he admitted, which instantly made several people glare at him, but then he rushed to add, "but I heard it from the males near the lower crossing. They said a nearby tribe was attacked, and some males were badly injured. They said the snake beastman came out of nowhere and moved like a shadow in the grass. One moment there was nothing, the next moment he was there. They also said he has been searching around the forest edges and that he wants a female before the mating season is over. If he sees one alone, he will definitely snatch her."

That sent another wave of noise through the tribe.

Some of it was fear.

Some of it was anger. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Some of it was the kind of offended beastman pride that came whenever an outsider thought he could simply stroll in and steal from another tribe.

Lin Huahua’s brows knitted together. She tugged lightly at Mu Qingyi’s hand on her shoulder and asked in a smaller voice, "What is a wild snake beastman?"