Chapter 292: Chapter 292: Little Cub, Where Are You Going?

When Qiao Xixi and the others arrived at the square, Bulin and his men were already selling their goods.

Many beastmen who needed things had come early, afraid the caravan might leave ahead of schedule.

Xiya looked at all the beastmen, then suddenly clutched her stomach and said to Qiao Xixi, "Mother, I have to go poop."

"Then Mother will take you."

Jin Ling had no intention of letting Qiao Xixi and Xiya go alone, and he followed right behind them.

Xiya went into the latrine in the small woods, one that Qiao Xixi had ordered to be built.

"Xiya, call for Mother when you’re done."

"Okay."

Just as Xiya went inside, Qiao Xixi turned and saw several beastmen walking their way.

Qiao Xixi recognized them as the males from the trade caravan.

The males didn’t seem to expect Qiao Xixi’s group to be there either. After glancing at Jin Ling, who was already releasing an intimidating aura, they all stopped in their tracks.

Bulin emerged from behind the males. "No need to be so tense, Clan Leader. We’re just here to take care of some personal business."

"There’s another place up ahead. You can go there."

Bulin chuckled and shook his head. "Too lazy to walk any farther. We’ll just wait here." As he spoke, he walked toward Qiao Xixi.

Jin Ling silently moved to block Qiao Xixi. Bulin stopped three paces away from them.

"You seem quite wary of me, Clan Leader. May I ask why? Or rather, what I’d really like to know is, the leader of the Black Panther Tribe was always from the Black Panther Clan. How did the position suddenly go to a female Silver Frost White Wolf?"

"That’s because you haven’t been here in a long time. I’ve been the Clan Leader of the Black Panther Tribe for a while now. I see you have a lot of coastal goods among your wares. You haven’t just come from the sea, have you?"

Bulin smiled and shook his head. "Too far. I haven’t been there recently. But I can tell you where I got my coastal goods, Clan Leader. I found them on my way to the Black Panther Tribe."

Qiao Xixi was slightly taken aback. "Found them?"

"That’s right. Besides the goods scattered on the ground, there were also some... merfolk corpses."

"What did you say!"

Qiao Xixi’s expression immediately darkened, but she soon felt a warmth in her hand. Jin Ling had taken it.

Qiao Xixi snapped back to her senses and forced herself to calm down.

Jin Ling looked at Bulin. "Where did you find the bodies of those merfolk?"

"Not far. Just behind a mountain outside the tribe. If you don’t believe me, Clan Leader, you can send some beastmen to have a look."

After speaking, Bulin glanced toward the latrine.

"This is taking too long. We’re not waiting anymore. Let’s go somewhere else." With that, he nodded to Qiao Xixi and left with his beastmen.

"Jin Ling."

"I know. As soon as Xiya is done, we’ll get some beastmen to check on the situation."

"Okay."

Qiao Xixi turned and looked back toward the latrine.

"Xiya, are you done?"

There was no sound from the latrine.

"Xiya? Xiya?"

After calling several times with no response, Qiao Xixi’s expression changed drastically. She ran over and pushed the door open to find it empty, save for a few faint footprints on the wooden planks.

’Oh no, Xiya must have figured something out and run off on her own!’

Seeing this, Jin Ling blew a whistle to summon the patrol.

Qiao Xixi shifted into her beast form and began searching for Xiya’s scent.

’That little fool! She used a powder on herself to hide her scent!’

Qiao Xixi’s face went deathly pale.

"Mother, Sister definitely went to find her father."

Qiao Xixi thought this was highly likely. When the patrol team arrived, she immediately ordered them to guard every exit of the tribe. Xiya absolutely could not be allowed to leave.

"This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have let her come out today."

"Don’t overthink it. Xiya probably hasn’t gone far. If we look for her now, we can still find her."

"Mm."

The little tiger cub in his arms, An’an, seemed to realize something was wrong. He lay quietly against Jin Ling, his little nose twitching as if he was smelling something.

In reality, when Bulin and his men had arrived, Xiya had used the sound of their footsteps to cover her own movements and sneak away.

She knew what she was doing was wrong, but she didn’t want Qiao Xixi to risk her life going back to the sea with her.

’Mother, from now on... you... you must never forget Xiya.’

Tears streamed uncontrollably from the corners of her eyes, turning into pearls as they fell to the ground.

In the past few days, while waiting for her father with Qiao Qiao, Xiya had discovered a small, hidden hole. Although her mother had the beastmen reinforce the fence, this spot was too small and had gone unnoticed. She could squeeze through it.

Xiya ran as fast as she could. Just as she was about to reach the hole, a tall figure suddenly appeared before her.

Xiya looked up in shock and met Bulin’s eyes, which were brimming with a smile.

But for some reason, even though he was smiling, Xiya felt terrified.

"Little cub, where are you off to?"

"None of your business!"

Xiya turned to run, but a hand suddenly clamped around her neck and lifted her up.

As Bulin raised his hand, eight stars on the inside of his arm were revealed.

"Let go... let go..." Xiya barely managed a muffled cry before Bulin choked her unconscious.

Bulin looked at her and scoffed. He stuffed her into the animal-hide bag he was carrying, slung it over his shoulder, and returned to the stone house where they were staying.

Meanwhile, nearly every patrol in the tribe had been deployed to find Xiya.

"Imp, are you sure Xiya is still in the tribe?"

"Host, I’m sure. The cub Xiya is still in the tribe."

"I need to bind a locator to Xiya immediately. Hurry up."

"Yes, Host. I’ll process the exchange for you right away."

Once the binding was successful, Qiao Xixi opened the locator map and could clearly see that Xiya’s position was indeed inside the tribe.

"Her location is moving! She’s getting close to the main gate. Let’s go, now!"

Jin Ling shifted into his beast form and raced toward the main gate.

Qiao Xixi kept her eyes glued to the locator. ’Damn it, Xiya is about to leave the tribe!’

As Jin Ling sprinted toward the main gate, she caught a glimpse of the trade caravan walking their way.

Qiao Xixi frowned. ’Why are Bulin and his men leaving already?’

When the caravan’s beastmen saw them, they walked over, conveniently blocking their path.

"Clan Leader, we were just about to look for you to tell you we’re leaving today."

Qiao Xixi frowned. "Didn’t you say you were staying for two days?"

"Apologies, Clan Leader. Too few beastmen came to buy our goods today, so we felt there was no need to stay. We’ve decided to leave."

Qiao Xixi glanced at the locator. Xiya was already out of the tribe. She couldn’t be bothered to talk to them anymore.

"Move. You’re blocking my path."

The caravan’s beastmen exchanged a look. They verbally agreed but showed no intention of moving aside.