Luna sighed, deciding she might as well just wash up and sleep. As for seducing her targets, she'd have to take it slow.
She was about to climb onto the stone bed for some shut-eye.
Suddenly, the system's voice sounded in her head, "Ding! Host, the favorability of your capture targets has changed. Do you want to check it now?"
Hearing the system, she froze for a moment, then quickly snapped to attention, hurriedly replying, "Check."
She also wanted to see exactly what had changed.
The next second, a virtual panel popped up in front of her.
Host: Luna Sutton
Age: 16
Charm: 10 (Started at 0, max 100)
Appearance: 20 (Started at 10, max 100. A little bit of progress, but still ugly as hell.)
Health: 60 (Full score 100)
Weight: Severely overweight, movement affected.
Ability: Wood Element (Level 1)
Capture Targets & Favorability:
Corbin Crowley: -90 (Disgusted)
Rhys Blackwood: -80 (Disgusted)
Zeke Veridian: -85 (Disgusted)
Kian Sterling: -75 (Disgusted)
Malachi Arcanus: -80 (Disgusted)
Looking at the numbers up there, Luna's eyes were full of surprise.
She remembered that her charm used to be 0, but now it had become 10.
10 points of charm were still garbage, but at least it wasn't a big fat zero anymore.
She had no idea how it had risen, but she figured it must be related to her own behavior.
Her appearance had also gone up 10 points, from 10 to 20. Probably thanks to detoxing in the bath.
The favorability of all five Beast Husbands had also changed.
She remembered Corbin's favorability used to be -100, maxed out at 'utter disgust', but now it was -90.
Luna found it weird—first the aphrodisiac fruit, then the kicking—yet the favorability still increased?
Could it be that Corbin the mutt has a masochist kink?
Then there was Malachi. His favorability used to be -90, now it was up to -80.
Who'd have thought that her running off would actually make him like her more?
She shook her head—all she could say was, men are just a damn riddle sometimes.
Rhys and Kian's favorability also rose by 10 points each.
Zeke's increased the least, only 5 points, but hey, at least it went up.
She didn't really know how the favorability went up, but it definitely had to do with her actions.
Even though they were all still negative, it was still a decent start, right?
She glanced at the system panel, then closed it.
She went to lie on the stone bed — it was so hard it hurt all over, she had nothing to cover with, and was shivering from the cold, unable to sleep no matter what.
Might as well go back to the fireside and lean against the stone wall to sleep.
She'd just have to tough it out for one night and look for some dry grass tomorrow to make the bed more comfortable.
The night was peaceful, but the whole tribe was getting more and more lively—the endless cacophony of sex sounds rang through the air like some sort of chorus.
The noises were so loud it was impossible to ignore, even if you wanted to.
Luna's lips twitched, silently thinking, "Damn, tribal nights here are really passionate and wild—these sounds are literally everywhere, all day, every day."
Even someone like her, who came from the apocalypse, couldn't really handle it.
She didn't know how much time passed before she finally drifted off, half-awake.
Meanwhile, Malachi was about to return to his own cave, but partway there, he noticed a faint firelight coming from Luna Sutton's cave.
He didn't know why—but his feet turned and he headed over that way.
As soon as he got there, he saw a giant pile of Beast Hides thrown at the entrance to the cave—all sorts of animal skins, dirty and stinky, some even moldy.
Clearly, they hadn't been washed or aired out at all.
Malachi frowned deeply. Those pelts were things the five of them had worked so hard to hunt, only to have Luna Sutton ruin them.
What a waste of good stuff.
His eyes flashed with a bit of icy coldness, and he lifted his foot to head inside the cave.
Obviously, he was ready to give Luna Sutton a piece of his mind.
But when he stepped inside, the scene stopped him in his tracks.
The whole cave was empty except for a few slabs of meat and some grilled fish wrapped in big leaves, plus eight bird eggs.
Other than that, nothing.
The cave was super clean and tidy, no longer looking like some garbage dump.
Clearly, someone had cleaned up.
There was a fire burning brightly in the middle of the cave.
Luna was sitting by the fire, hugging her knees, curled up with her head leaned against the stone wall, already fast asleep that way.
She actually looked kinda pitiful like that.
Malachi snickered to himself, "Pitiful, but she totally asked for it. A perfectly good pile of beast skins, ruined by her. Serves her right if she freezes."
He was planning to leave, but when his eyes fell on Luna's ugly mug, his steps paused.
For some reason, she seemed… a little different somehow.
He couldn't quite put his finger on it.
It just felt… that face didn't seem so ugly anymore.
Malachi was startled by this thought—did he go nuts? Actually thinking this ugly freak wasn't ugly?
He must've lost his mind.
Well, at least she looked clean for once.
Luna was usually lazy and greedy, always eating or sleeping, and gross as hell.
And now, she actually knew how to take care of herself? Was the sun rising in the west?
Malachi shifted his gaze to the meat and grilled fish wrapped in big leaves next to her.
One piece was already grilled; the other three were still raw.
The grilled one was from Kian Sterling; the remaining three were tossed over by him, Rhys, and Zeke.
He'd figured Luna Sutton would have wolfed it all down by now.
But apparently she hadn't touched it, it was all still there.
"Is she really trying to lose weight? Can she actually hold out?"
Malachi raised an eyebrow, not quite convinced.
How long could she really last?
He bet those slabs of meat would be gone by morning.
In a daze, Luna vaguely sensed someone in front of her.
She opened her eyes to see Malachi, no idea when he'd shown up in her cave, staring at her weirdly.
The fire flickered, casting shadows on his face and making it look even more striking and handsome.
His deep eyes glinted mysteriously, with a hint of curiosity, as if pondering something.
Luna nearly freaked out, thinking this guy had come to beat her up.
Any trace of sleepiness instantly vanished.
She sat up straight and scooted her butt back, trying to put more distance between them.
Her gaze landed on his face as she awkwardly explained, "Uh…well, I swear I didn't mean to watch you bathe! I was just washing my face at the river, how could I know you were bathing there…"
Even though she really hadn't done it on purpose, even she couldn't buy that excuse herself.
Who told the original Luna to do all that shady shit before?
Watching Malachi's face grow darker and cloudier, her voice just got softer and softer, until it faded to nothing.
He gave her a deep look, unreadable, no idea whether he believed her or not.
Luckily, he didn't beat her up. He just dropped a cold line, "It'd better be as you say."
That said, he turned and left the cave.
Watching the guy's back as he left, Luna let out a secret sigh of relief.
Under her breath, she cursed, "Jerk."
Then she shifted her gaze away, yawned, leaned back against the rock wall, and tried to sleep again.
This time, though, she just couldn't fall asleep—her head was a mess; one minute it was how she died in the apocalypse, the next it was all the ways the original Luna screwed herself over in the book.
The two sets of memories flashed back and forth like a damn movie, looping in her brain, impossible to suppress.
All night, Luna slept restlessly.
The tribe was wild and uninhibited; sex sounds echoed on and on, so loud she couldn't sleep at all.
Especially after midnight.
The noises got even louder, with all kinds of weird sounds thrown in.
She got so red in the face she was burning up, tossing and turning next to the fire unable to sleep.
She couldn't help but admire these beastmen, their stamina was just insane.
She was also really curious—don't these beastmen ever sleep?
Back in the apocalypse before she transmigrated, she'd run around all day just to survive—killing zombies, hunting for supplies—never had the energy to think about this stuff.
At night, she'd crash early just to recharge.
No way was it anything like here, where these beastmen were full of energy twenty-four seven—either hunting or screwing nonstop.