When Qiao Xixi woke up, she was dumbstruck—Yaya was gone!

She had let Yaya sleep in the same room last night so she could monitor her condition, but when she woke up, the girl had vanished.

Qiao Xixi got up, and just as she finished getting dressed, Jin Ling pushed open the door and came inside.

"Xixi, you’re awake."

Qiao Xixi nodded. "Jin Ling, have you seen Yaya? Did she wake up and go out by herself this morning?"

Jin Ling saw the panic in her eyes. He led her to a stool, sat her down, and picked up the wooden comb from the table to brush her hair.

"Xixi, Yaya went out last night. She’s with her father and mother now. You’ll never guess who her mother is."

Hearing the tone of Jin Ling’s voice, Qiao Xixi thought, ’Could her parents be people we know?’

With deft hands, Jin Ling braided her hair and pinned the little flower he had given her at the end.

"Her mother is Huang Ying."

Jin Ling told Qiao Xixi everything that happened last night: how Yaya left the tribe, what happened after she met Huang Ying, and all the rest.

When Jin Ling told her that Yaya had wandered out completely unconsciously, her expression turned grim.

’I can’t even imagine what would have happened if Xijing had drunk that bowl of flower juice!’

’I really should have trusted my sixth sense!’

"When did I start to feel something was off? That’s right. Fox Ji’s grandfather was gravely ill, yet they clearly had medicine and didn’t use it. It’s highly likely he knew that packet of dried herbs wasn’t meant for them."

During breakfast, Jin Ling recounted the previous night’s events to everyone, not even shielding the cubs from the details.

After he finished, Jin Ling gave the little tiger cub a pointed look.

The little tiger cub was finishing the last piece of meat in her bowl. Sensing her father’s gaze, she looked up in confusion.

"Mrow?"

’Papa, more meat!’

"An’an, I was also at fault this time. I shouldn’t have let you casually bring home a beastman of unknown origin. We’ve all learned our lesson. It can’t happen again."

The little tiger cub tilted her head, confused.

’Is Papa going to give me more meat or not!’

The beastman of unknown origin, Mo Yan, kept his head down and quietly ate his breakfast, trying to make himself as unnoticeable as possible.

The air grew heavy around Qiao Yi as he listened.

"What is that female’s objective?"

Qiao Xixi knew what Huang Ying’s objective was. ’She just wants the plot to follow its original script.’

’As if I’d let her have her way.’

"Probably to kidnap me and the cubs and twist them into psychologically warped monsters."

This made Qiao Yi’s expression darken even further.

"Langqi, do you know Black Phoenix Qunlin? He’s Yaya’s father," Jin Ling asked.

Qiao Yi’s brow furrowed. "Black Phoenix Qunlin... Does he have a black line between his eyebrows?"

"Yes."

"Hmph. He’s the son of the captain of the guard of Wing Guardian City. Which means... Yaya’s mother is the daughter of Wing Beast City’s City Lord."

Years ago, the City Lord of Wing Beast City decreed that Kunlin would be his daughter’s first husband.

"But I don’t care who she is. If she dares to harm you or the cubs, I won’t show any mercy!"

"Xixi, is something worrying you?"

Qiao Xixi looked up at Jin Ling and nodded. "I’m thinking that if I kill Huang Ying, Wing Beast City will never let the matter rest."

They’re already mortal enemies with Tiger Beast City. If they make a bitter enemy of Wing Beast City as well, the two cities will likely join forces against them.

The tribe would struggle to withstand such powerful adversaries.

Feiyan said, annoyed, "What’s there to be afraid of? If worst comes to worst, we’ll just have it out with them!"

"Xixi, if things get too bad, we can just return to the sea."

Qiao Xixi gave them a reassuring glance, but her eyes shone with grim resolve.

"Huang Ying must die! But her situation is... special. We can’t kill her just once. She can be resurrected six times. Therefore, we have to kill her six times to make her vanish from this world for good."

This revelation shocked Jin Ling and the others.

"She has six lives?"

Qiao Xixi nodded. "She does."

’This time, when I make my move, I won’t give Huang Ying any more chances to come back.’

’So, I have to come up with a meticulous plan. Ideally, one that makes her suffer the consequences of her own actions!’

"For now, continue to reinforce the tribe’s defenses. The cubs are not to run off. Since Huang Ying failed once, she’ll definitely try something else. Until we have a foolproof plan, we lay low."

"Right."

After the family meeting, everyone went off to handle their assigned tasks.

"I wonder when Sunxiao and Sangze will be back."

Qiao Xixi opened her positioning map and saw that Sunxiao’s party had already covered at least two-thirds of the distance. They should be back in the tribe within a few days.

"Jin Ling, have someone keep an eye on Fox Ji and his family, but don’t alert them yet."

’They’re probably a pawn Huang Ying planted in our tribe. They might be useful later, so it’s best to leave them be for now.’

"Alright."

"Sprite, Sprite, are you done upgrading?"

Qiao Xixi called out several times, but there was no response in her mind.

’I’m not sure what Huang Ying’s system is capable of. With her own cheat active while mine is offline, I’m worried that her system will make her incredibly difficult to kill.’

’After all, the first time she dies, she could just use her system to create a barrier, escape, and resurrect.’

’The next time, killing her won’t be so easy.’

Qiao Xixi opened the system’s shop interface, looking for any equipment that could sever a system connection, but a thorough search turned up nothing.

’Looks like I’ll have to rely on myself.’

While Qiao Xixi was struggling to come up with a good idea, Huang Ying’s mood had also hit rock bottom.

"If nothing else works, I’ll just kill Qiao Xixi. Her cubs are bound to become corrupted then, right?!"

"If you kill Qiao Xixi, her cubs will indeed become corrupted. But let me ask you, as their mother’s killer, how are you going to make them fall for the heroine? Don’t forget, Yaya is this world’s heroine! And you’re her mother! Of course, that’s not even the most important thing."

"What is?"

"Hmph. Most importantly, my investigation shows that the male lead is already with Qiao Xixi."

"What did you say? The male lead is with Qiao Xixi right now?"

"That’s right. Not only is he with her, he’s also getting along great with all the villains, including Qiao Xixi. You... have no chance. Go home."

"Impossible!" ’I’ve already wasted so much time in this world. How could I be willing to leave just like that!’

"There has to be another way. There just has to be..."

The system said coolly, "You’d better focus on placating the heroine first. If she defects to the villains’ side, you’ll lose your entire reason for being here."

Huang Ying snapped back to reality at the sound of Yaya crying in the adjacent treehouse.

She had been fussing since last night, insisting that she wanted to find Qiao Xixi, and had only fallen asleep near dawn after crying herself out.

Now that she was awake, she had started crying all over again. ’It’s driving me insane!’

’And this was all Qiao Xixi’s fault!’

The moment Yaya saw Huang Ying, she immediately stopped crying, but the sudden halt left her still hiccuping with sobs. She buried herself in Kunlin’s arms and refused to look at her.

Huang Ying forced a stiff smile and held out her hand to the girl.

"Yaya, how about I take you to pick pretty little flowers? You love flowers, don’t you?"