In the middle of the night.
Bai Xiaolang's eyes shot open, and he sat up in bed.
He glanced at the other cubs, who were still sleeping, then tiptoed out of the room.
His frail figure headed down the mountain.
「The next day.」
It was only five or six in the morning, but the foot of the mountain was already buzzing with activity.
"Oh for god's sake! Who the hell took a dump in my yard?!"
"My chickens! Who let my chickens out?"
"Damn it all! Who cut my power lines?! No wonder it was so hot last night—the AC went out!"
"Where did my clothes that were drying in the yard go?!"
The morning was utter chaos. The ones making all the noise were the very same people who, during yesterday's commotion, had been gossiping and calling Bai Su a hussy who seduced men.
At that moment, Bai Su was in the kitchen, yawning as she washed rice.
Sleep comes in short supply during the summer.
The moment the four little ones heard her get up, they knew she was about to make something delicious. They were sitting in a neat row at the dining table, eagerly waiting to be fed.
As Bai Su washed the rice, she craned her neck to look outside. "Why is it so noisy down the mountain? Is it market day today?"
Bai Xiaolang replied without a change in expression, "I don't know."
Little Tiger asked curiously, "Why did Pipi steal the rice from his house?"
Pipi is Xiao Mi's son.
The little kitten cub whispered from the side, "I think it's because his mom has gambling debts."
Bai Xiaolang frowned. "I heard about that too. It's strange."
"The owner of the rice shop said she never sold her child, but Wang Biao's men clearly showed up at her door with signed and fingerprinted documents to claim the kid."
Little Tiger shook his head. "I don't get it."
Bai Su cheerfully washed the rice and started cooking. Only after the porridge was simmering on the stove did she have a free moment to gently pull back Bai Xiaolang's eyelid. "Let me see. How's your left eye? Can you see anything?"
Bai Xiaolang obediently tilted his head up. "I think I can see a little."
The scars over his eye had sealed it shut, making it impossible to open.
But after days of Bai Su's relentless feeding, his eye had gradually healed. New flesh had grown, and the skin around it had completely recovered.
He had a pair of exceptionally beautiful eyes, their shape fluid and delicate. You could already tell he would grow up to be a handsome man.
However, his eyeball was still regenerating, so his vision was blurry. It wasn't fully healed yet.
Bai Su nodded in satisfaction. "What about your tail?"
Bai Xiaolang turned and stuck his tail out for her to inspect.
The severed part of his tail had fully reattached, but the fur hadn't completely grown back yet. The upper half was covered in thick, soft, snow-white wolf fur, while the lower half was still sparse and patchy.
Bai Xiaolang said, "It's almost better. The connection to my spiritual power has been restored."
He was a Level 5 Snow Wolf. Lately, he'd been feeling a strange, inexplicable restlessness, and he didn't know where to channel the power building in his tail.
Bai Su nodded in satisfaction. "Very good."
Bai Xiaolang's injuries were very similar to Lu Tingyan's.
But Lu Tingyan was an adult, so he probably wasn't healing as quickly as Bai Xiaolang. Still, he must be much better by now.
Bai Su wondered when she should go ask him. She couldn't let him keep freeloading off her.
'But the man is so tight-lipped. The moment I mention his past, he puts on a deathly grimace and walks away, acting like I owe him a million bucks.'
Suddenly, another wave of shouting erupted from outside.
The corner of Bai Su's mouth twitched.
'These people really have too much time on their hands, and so early in the morning.'
She walked outside, only to see the villagers crowding around several police officers, marching toward her with menacing, triumphant expressions.
Nearly all the females from the foot of the mountain had come.
Bai Su recalled the strange events from yesterday. It seemed someone was hiding among the females, maliciously stirring up their emotions.
'This is so weird. I never had this much interaction with the females from down the mountain before, did I?'
'Why does every single one of them look at me like I killed their father?'
She quickly made the connection to Bai Xue, who had come to her door to provoke her a couple of days ago.
She was certain, without a shred of doubt, that Bai Xue was behind this.
'That woman is like a rabid dog, sinking her teeth into me whenever she gets the chance. It's not surprising she'd pull something like this to frame me.'
The investigator, followed by the villagers and guards, swarmed into the orphanage courtyard. More guards surrounded the perimeter, as if afraid she would try to escape.
The lead investigator showed his credentials. "Hello, I'm the investigator for this district. We received an anonymous tip that your mountaintop orphanage is suspected of child trafficking. I have a few questions I need to verify with you in person."
As soon as he said this, Bai Su's heart sank. 'This is bad,' she thought.
She had never sold a child, but the original owner of this body had!
She'd sold three of them, in fact—all future arch-villains.
That day at the port, she had asked a crewman about finding the children, but he'd said it would be very difficult.
Black market and gray-area transactions are almost never registered. Where the children ended up was purely a matter of luck.
The little cubs behind Bai Su tensed up, terrified that she would be taken away.
The investigator stared at her, his gaze heavy with pressure. "Miss Bai Su, please answer my question. Have you ever been involved in the buying and selling of Beastman cubs? This is extremely important for your residency application. If you have a history of such behavior, I'm afraid your period of exile will be extended."
During their exile, banished female Beastmen are forbidden from marrying males within the territory, engaging in any commercial or daily activities, and are even barred from logging into the network with their online IDs.
Bai Su gritted her teeth. She had only just obtained her residency application by saving the Little Beastmen of the orphanage. She couldn't let it all be for nothing!
But the past couldn't be changed, and a flat denial would only arouse more suspicion.
She looked at the investigator. "I have never been involved in child trafficking, but children from my orphanage have been trafficked by others."
"Trafficked?" The investigator eyed her with clear distrust.
The females beside him immediately chimed in, refuting her claim. "Trafficked? She sold them herself!"
"That's right! She sells children whenever she's out of money from her gambling debts!"
"She can just say she didn't do it and that's that? What about those poor children? What will happen to them?"
"You deserve to die, Bai Su! Someone like you running an orphanage? You should've been executed long ago!"
"Pah! You trafficker! Shameless monster!"
Faced with so many accusations, Bai Su actually grew calmer. "Like I said, children from our orphanage have indeed been trafficked, but I was not involved in trafficking them!"
The investigator held up a piece of evidence. "Wang Biao confessed in prison that you engaged in child-selling transactions with him. This is the proof of your deal. That's your signature and thumbprint on it, isn't it?"
Just then, Bai Xue and Lu Tingyan appeared.
Bai Xue pushed through the crowd, feigning confusion. "What's going on here?"
The investigator respectfully tipped his hat. "Miss Bai, we received an anonymous tip and are investigating a case involving the trafficking of Beastman cubs."
"What? Trafficking cubs?" Bai Xue cried out dramatically. "Who would do such a monstrous thing? A person like that exists within the Federation's borders? They should be taken out and shot!"
She turned to Lu Tingyan beside her. "Don't you agree, Major General Lu? I absolutely adore children; I can't bear to see them suffer. Who could be so cruel as to sell innocent little kids?"
Lu Tingyan frowned slightly, his sharp gaze falling on the document in the investigator's hand.
At that moment, Bai Su was absolutely certain that the mastermind behind the past two days' farce was Bai Xue.
Trafficking Beastman cubs was no minor crime.
If she couldn't clear her name today, all the goodwill she had built up with Lu Tingyan would be for nothing, and she could forget about ever escaping her status as an exile!