Si Yan's stomach was already growling.
Having decided to wait for the cubs to return before eating, Si Yan tried to think of something to distract herself.
In her last life, the flames roared fiercely as she held a knife to his throat, the firelight reflecting off her, making her look like a demon. Her own brother wanted her dead, so she'd drag him and his entire base to hell with her!
At that thought, Si Yan let out a short laugh.
Forget it, it's all in the past. Why bother thinking about it?
She leaned against the wall and began to recall the plot of this world.
According to the original story, the real Si Yan had done many outrageous things, and her four cubs could almost be said to have intensely hated her. Especially after she had sold the eldest and second eldest for two beast skins, the third and fourth had never given her a kind look since.
So, the cold treatment she received from the two cubs earlier was understandable.
Si Yan felt a bit of a headache coming on. She told herself she needed to be more patient.
But as she waited and waited, the moon rose, yet the cubs still hadn't returned. Si Yan grew anxious.
She stood up and hurriedly left the cave, searching everywhere for Xi Qing and Bei Ji.
Could something have happened? After all, as villains, they shouldn't be running into trouble this early, right? No, that's not necessarily true... Villains often face many trials in their youth. What if something really has happened to them!
The more she thought, the more anxious she became, and Si Yan started loudly calling out the two cubs' names.
Not too long after, both cubs crawled out from behind the trees.
Truth be told, Si Yan, who feared neither heaven nor earth, was actually afraid of snakes.
Right now, the two little cubs looked like five-year-old human children. If she didn't associate them with their snake forms, Si Yan felt she wouldn't be afraid of them.
Xi Qing, with long hair covering half of his face, said impatiently, "Bad female, what are you yelling for?"
Si Yan was both angry and helpless. Relieved that they were safe, she exclaimed angrily, "You little brats, where did you run off to? I've cooked dinner and have been waiting for you for ages!"
Bei Ji said, "We are not little rabbit brats, we are little snake cubs! Bad female, we know you don't like us; you don't have to say it every day!"
Xi Qing turned his head and asked, "What's a bunny?"
Bei Ji replied, "I don't know."
Si Yan, using her knowledge from the original story, explained, "A bunny is a Long-eared Beast."
"Oh," Xi Qing said, looking down, his voice cold. "We just saw a Long-eared Beast in the forest that had crashed into a tree trunk and died."
Si Yan's eyes lit up slightly. "Where's the Long-eared Beast?"
Xi Qing spread his hands. "We didn't bring it back."
After speaking, Xi Qing looked up at her. "Do you want it? If you do, we can take you to get it."
Si Yan immediately said, "Of course! Long-eared Beasts are delicious! Their fur is also quite useful!"
Xi Qing said, "Then follow us."
Si Yan looked at the sky. The sun had completely set, and the moon had risen. Fortunately, the moonlight was bright, making the ground visible.
"Alright."
Xi Qing and Bei Ji led the way. Bei Ji whispered to Xi Qing, "Third Brother, where is this dead Long-eared Beast?"
Xi Qing whispered, "Quiet. I'm going to teach this Bad female a lesson."
As Si Yan walked through the forest, she grew increasingly uneasy. It felt as if they were going deeper into the woods. Crucially, she wasn't very familiar with this area. She feared she wouldn't be able to find her way back if they continued.
Without any navigation, she was completely directionless. And this world, quite unfortunately, had no such thing.
"Xi Qing, Bei Ji, maybe we should head back," Si Yan said.
Just then, Xi Qing suddenly turned around. His green, reptilian eyes narrowed into vertical slits, and he flicked his small, forked tongue out. "Alright. Bad female, we're heading back first."
Si Yan... she was terrified of snakes!
The instant Xi Qing revealed his snake eyes and tongue, Si Yan felt her blood run cold. She was so frightened she couldn't move!
Snake! A snake! Damn it, it's a snake!
WHOOSH! By the time Si Yan snapped back to her senses, Xi Qing and Bei Ji had vanished.
She stood shivering in the wind, her body rigid. How could I have believed that story about waiting for a rabbit to kill itself? Actually trusting that a rabbit would just run into a tree and die?! I was clearly, clearly abandoned in the forest by those two little snake brats! I've been tricked and bullied!
「 」
Xi Qing and Bei Ji transformed into small green and white Sen Ran. Their serpentine forms moved with incredible speed, and they quickly returned to the cave.
Back in the cave, Xi Qing couldn't help but burst into loud laughter. "That female, that stupid female! She's in for a rough night! I bet that directionless idiot won't be able to find her way back!"
Bei Ji tugged at Xi Qing. After Xi Qing had laughed until tears streamed down his face, Bei Ji pulled at him again. "Third Brother, look. Did we come back to the wrong home?"
It was then that Xi Qing managed to stifle his laughter. He looked up. The cave was clean and fresh. The foul odor was completely gone. There was even a beautiful wildflower placed in a small stone trough.
They had lived here for many years; it was impossible for them to mistake their own home. But how had it become so clean today?
Bei Ji saw a large rock in the cave with a stone slab and a large pot placed on it. A small fire still burned beneath the pot, which contained soup. Three wooden bowls, shaped like halved coconut shells, were placed on the stone slab, looking as if someone was waiting for them to return and share a meal.
Bei Ji remembered the ugly female's previous words, "I've cooked dinner and have been waiting for you for ages!" He looked at Xi Qing. "Third Brother, could this really be the cooking of that ugly female?"
Xi Qing's expression turned cold. "What is she trying to do? She must have ill intentions!"
Bei Ji sat next to the stone slab, picked up a piece of potato, and started eating it. Then his eyes lit up. "Third Brother, try it, it's really delicious!"
Xi Qing's stomach gurgled. They were cold-blooded snake Beastmen, and as young males, they could survive perfectly well on raw meat alone. But unexpectedly, this lazy and nasty female had actually prepared a proper meal.
Xi Qing, filled with doubts, began to eat with Bei Ji. Despite some discomfort from scalding his Beastman mouth on the hot soup at first, the two young cubs were quickly conquered by the delicious taste.
Xi Qing still felt something was amiss. "Bei Ji, that Bad female even cleaned and cooked? What on earth is she up to?"
Bei Ji shook his head. "I don't know. Who cares? Let's just eat this delicious food first."
All of a sudden, Xi Qing put down his small round bowl angrily. "Is she trying to sell us too?!"
Bei Ji looked up at Xi Qing.
Snakes were very fertile. The Sen Ran tribe, due to their great size, tended to have fewer offspring. In the Beast World, it was quite normal to have many offspring in one birth. The four brothers were from the same clutch of eggs, hatching around the same time, so they were all about the same age.
Dongchi and Nan Mo, the same age as them, had already been sold off by Si Yan.
Xi Qing said, "She must want to sell us as well! She never liked me, and it's not like she hasn't sold me before. If it weren't... if it weren't for the fact that my face was too ruined to fetch a good price, I would have been sold by her long ago!"
Xi Qing's expression was fierce. Under his long green hair, one half of his face bore horrific burn scars.
Cold-blooded snake Beastmen were unwelcome everywhere. Even their own birth mothers didn't care for them.