Lin Weishan nodded once and continued, "Our tribe is not helpless. We have three-striped males. We have trained hunters. We have numbers, walls, and clear ground. One rogue beastman, even four-striped, cannot take what belongs to this tribe if every fool here remembers to use his head."

This time a few males nodded. The pride in that statement mattered. Fear could not be allowed to spread too far or the whole tribe would become weak before a real fight even came.

Still, questions kept coming.

A female with spotted cat ears asked, "Will the hunters still go out?"

"Yes," Lin Weishan said. "But not in the usual way. Hunting groups will go in larger numbers. No fewer than five males to a party, and each group will have at least one two-striped beastman. Three-striped males will rotate between the outer patrols, the forest boundary, and the tribe’s central guard."

At once several stronger males began calling out names and areas, and the open space shifted from panic into planning. That was the primitive tribe way. Fear first, then work.

The bear beastman on the platform began naming the outer hunting routes that would now be closed. The hawk beastman listed the river crossings that needed watching. The panther beastman pointed out the broken stone ridge to the north where a snake beastman might move unseen if no one was careful.

Two wolf beastmen argued in low fierce voices over who should take first watch at the eastern tree line. One of the elders snapped at them both and said if they had enough energy to argue, they had enough energy to dig fresh warning pits too.

Lin Huahua stood there in the middle of it all and listened, and for the first time since coming here, she really felt what it meant to live in a primitive beast world where the environment itself was part enemy, part home.

There were no walls of steel, no alarms from machines, no cool polished systems to lock down a district in one command. Here, if danger came, people met it with bodies, claws, ears, tails, instinct, and whether enough strong males were standing in the right place at the right time.

That was a little terrifying.

Also a little impressive.

Beside her, Tu Xiaotao had gone quieter than usual. Her rabbit ears were still up, but now they turned every few breaths at every sudden sound. Mao Qingyue looked outward toward the paths and roofs more than toward the platform, already assessing where danger would come from. Lang Yinzhi looked the least shaken, though the dark tail behind her moved in that slow dangerous pattern again, which meant she was not calm at all, only wolf-calm.

Lin Huahua leaned a little closer to Mu Qingyi and asked under her breath, "Can one four-striped snake beastman really do that much damage?"

Mu Qingyi’s jaw tightened slightly. "Yes."

That was all at first.

Then, because he saw the fear touch her eyes, he added more softly, "But he is one. We are many. And you will not be alone."

The words should have been simple, but the way he said them, along with the hand that had quietly moved to rest behind her waist, made them feel much heavier. Hu Baiyu also leaned closer at once when he heard the question, and though he did not speak, he touched her forearm and then his own chest once, firmly.

I am here.

Feng Yiren noticed both of them doing that and immediately stepped closer too, because the fox could not stand being the only one not touching her when the other two had already started. So now Lin Huahua had one hand on her waist, one huge lion hand brushing her arm, and one fox shoulder practically against her own.

She was beginning to understand that in this world, a female could not even be worried privately if bonded males were nearby. They took it as their personal business immediately.

That part was... not unpleasant.

A little overwhelming.

But not unpleasant.

The practical discussion went on for a long while. Which males would stay close to the water. Which ones would remain in the tribe during the hottest parts of the day when females often moved between cooking areas and shade. Which older warriors would guard the central path. Which younger males would be used as runners between patrol groups. Whether the herb caves should be temporarily locked. Whether all females should sleep closer to the inner ring of tribe shelters for the next few nights.

Even the females contributed. An older hare beastwoman suggested that the loudest mothers be placed near the center because their cubs were already noisy enough to wake the dead and would certainly raise alarm if anyone strange came near. That made half the crowd laugh, which helped break some of the fear.

Tu Xiaotao immediately pointed at one bird female and said her male should stop strutting and start guarding something useful. The bird female laughed and agreed. Someone else muttered that if the snake beastman really came into the tribe, he would probably turn around and leave just from hearing the old aunties scolding him first.

That made even the Rat King’s tail move once with restrained amusement.

Eventually Lin Weishan raised his hand again and the planning quieted.

"It is settled," he said. "Until the danger is cleared, no female moves without guard. No males wander uselessly. Warriors report by sundown. The rest of you keep your females close, your ears open, and your pride under control. We protect our own first."

That ended it.

Not the fear.

But the meeting.

People began breaking apart slowly, and as they did, the whole gathering ground shifted back toward ordinary life, though not fully. The tension stayed under everything now, like a second skin on the tribe. Males moved their females closer. More than one father lifted a cub up onto his shoulders instead of letting him run. Several young females were already being quietly herded toward the inner paths by older brothers who clearly did not intend to ask twice.