Chapter 195
Lang Chu’s eyes sparkled with excitement, while Lang Sui took a step forward, positioning himself protectively in front of his younger brother. Lang Ying, meanwhile, eyed the metal ring on the stranger’s wrist with great interest, eager to test it out. Lang Yao appeared deep in thought, and Bai Ye clutched his older brother’s sleeve.
With the continued growth of the various tribes, more and more people had been coming to the Hundred Beasts Tribe. However, regardless of their species, everyone entering had to wear a metal ring.
These rings didn’t affect movement, but since they were custom-fitted to the wrist, they prevented quick transformations. If someone wanted to shift into their beast form, they had to remove the ring first—but without a key, that was very difficult.
Some tribes disliked these restrictions, but the Hundred Beasts Tribe didn’t force anyone to comply. However, those who refused to wear the ring were limited to specific areas and couldn’t freely roam the residential district.
By the time they had reached eight years old, the cubs were no longer fragile like when they were younger. They weren’t afraid to fight human-formed beastmen and could even hold their own.
The once obedient little cubs, who acted sweet and docile in front of Bai Tu, became completely different when dealing with others.
Of course, Bai Tu still believed they needed protection.
The stranger had no idea what was going through the cubs’ minds. Seeing them momentarily stunned, he continued his attempt to tempt them.
“I can take you outside. You can play for as long as you want—just help me with one small thing.”
“What kind of thing?” Lang Chu asked curiously.
Seeing that he had piqued their interest, the stranger’s eyes lit up with excitement. He pulled out a long, carved statue from his robes and said,
“Just place this inside the Beast God Temple. That’s it. Once you do that, I’ll take you outside right away.”
He had been waiting here for so long, finally spotting some cubs.
He couldn’t risk asking older children—if they told an adult, his plan would be ruined.
But young cubs like these were perfect—easy to trick.
The stranger expected the cubs to immediately obey, but to his surprise, they bombarded him with questions instead.
“Why does it have to go in the Beast God Temple?”
“Can’t you just put it in the livestock area?”
“What even is this thing?”
Lang Chu’s endless stream of questions made it seem as if he would never run out of things to ask.
The stranger had never encountered such a talkative group of cubs before.
After a brief pause, he quickly came up with an explanation.
“This is a statue of the Beast God. Our tribe worships the Beast God and wants to offer our own version of the statue to the temple, so it can absorb the divine energy of the Hundred Beasts Tribe’s Beast God and bless our people.”
“Ohhh~” Lang Chu nodded, then glanced at the object in the stranger’s hands.
“But why is your Beast God statue so ugly?”
The stranger stiffened.
“Why would you offer something so ugly?”
“Your Beast God is really ugly!”
After finishing his blunt critique, Lang Chu turned to his siblings and asked, “Don’t you think it’s ugly?”
“Isn’t their Beast God really hideous?”
The other cubs examined the statue, then nodded in agreement—yes, it really was ugly.
The stranger’s expression darkened.
His eyes turned sharp and menacing, but just as he began to shift into his beast form, a sharp pain shot through his wrist.
The smooth-looking metal ring hid countless tiny barbs on the inside.
As long as he remained in human form, he wouldn’t notice—but the moment he tried to transform, the barbs dug into his flesh, sending waves of pain through his arm.
His face twisted in agony, and he immediately stopped transforming, forcing a smile instead.
“Our chief has never seen the Hundred Beasts Tribe’s Beast God statue before, so he didn’t get the details right. Just help me place it inside the temple, and after it absorbs the divine energy, it will start to look more like the real thing.”
“Oh, okay then.” Lang Chu seemed convinced by this reasoning.
The stranger quickly urged, “Hurry up! The temple is closing soon!”
He had to complete this task today.
“Oh, right!” Lang Chu nodded, then turned to his brothers.
“Should we go?”
“I’ll take you!” Lang Ying eagerly rubbed his hands together, clearly excited.
“Yeah, let’s all go together!”
The stranger nodded hurriedly.
The more cubs there were, the easier it would be to blend in.
No one would suspect that one of them was carrying a palm-sized stone statue.
Seeing their cooperation, the stranger handed the statue to Lang Sui, who was the closest to him.
“I’ll wait for you here.”
The temple was filled with beastmen from the Hundred Beasts Tribe.
If the stranger went inside, it would immediately raise suspicion.
But cubs?
No one would question a few young ones running around—they could go anywhere without drawing attention.
“Okay!” Lang Chu agreed enthusiastically.
“Wait here, I’ll be right back!”
There was something about the way he said it that made the stranger feel oddly happy, though he couldn’t quite figure out why.
Either way, he had to stay put and wait—he needed to see for himself whether the cubs had successfully placed the statue inside the temple.
As the stranger watched the cubs enter the Beast God Temple, a flash of triumph appeared in his eyes. However, his smug satisfaction didn’t last long—he was quickly stunned as beastmen suddenly rushed out from all directions.
Why are there so many people?! He was startled—had one of his companions been exposed?
Before he could think further, a group of beastmen charged straight at him. There was no time to escape.
“What do you want?!”
“Why are you arresting me?! I came to the Hundred Beasts Tribe for a cooperation deal! Where is your leader? Is this how you treat your guests?!”
The Hundred Beasts Tribe was well known for its hospitality, so the stranger couldn’t understand what had gone wrong. He desperately tried to hide his panic while questioning their behavior.
As he struggled, he saw the same cubs he had just tricked walking out of the Beast God Temple. One of them was holding the youngest cub’s hand and pointed at him, saying, “It’s him.”
The stranger sighed in relief.
It must be the cubs playing around—his own tribe had young ones like that too, who loved catching people. High-ranking beastmen’s children could order lower-ranked ones around.
Since it was just a game, there was nothing to fear.
He continued trying to bribe them, “I have a points card! I’ll buy you candy, okay?”
The cubs in his tribe loved sweets, and he had prepared various tricks to fool young ones before coming here.
However, the cubs ignored him completely.
They simply ordered the beastmen holding him to tie him up tighter, then spoke a phrase he didn’t understand, “One thousand points.”
The wolf beastman holding the stranger looked embarrassed and carefully negotiated with Lang Yao, “We don’t have that many points right now. Can we give them to you tomorrow?”
There was a tribal rule: anyone who captured an ill-intentioned intruder—whether they intended to harm the tribe or the cubs—would be rewarded with a thousand points.
Since this rule was implemented, only adult beastmen had ever received the reward.
But these were cubs.
The wolf beastman handling the capture had the points card, of course.
However, giving that many points to cubs all at once was risky—not because they might lose the card, but because they might spend it on things Bai Tu had forbidden…
The wolf beastman shuddered at the thought.
They weren’t Lang Ze—they didn’t want to test their leader’s fists every now and then.
Lang Yao simply nodded and added, “Dad will approve.”
The wolf beastman was caught off guard and scratched his head awkwardly.
But even though they’d been exposed, their stance remained firm—they had to report to Bai Tu first.
Lang Yao didn’t push further.
He turned around with Bai Ye, and the other cubs also started walking back.
After taking a few steps, Lang Ying suddenly snatched the object from Lang Sui’s hand and threw it at the stranger’s feet.
“Here’s your ugly Beast God!”
Did he really think he could trick them with that?
How stupid. The stranger instantly realized—the cubs weren’t playing.
He had been truly captured. But he still didn’t understand—where did his plan go wrong?
How had the cubs figured it out?!
The wolf beastmen, who had been somewhat restrained around the cubs, completely changed their attitude when facing the stranger.
One sneered, “Ha! What tribe would worship a Beast God that looks like that?”
Another chimed in, “Exactly! What an idiot.”
The stranger stared at the statue on the ground.
They had done their best to mimic the Beast God statues on the walls of the Hundred Beasts Tribe’s temple—yet they were still exposed?
One of the wolf beastmen saw his confused expression and laughed coldly.
No one was going to tell him the answer.
The Beast God statue inside the temple did resemble a snake, but it wasn’t actually a snake!
Only those who had been inside would know the difference.
As for the stranger—he must have only heard a rough description and carved it incorrectly.
More importantly, the real Beast God of the Hundred Beasts Tribe was drawn by Bai Tu himself.
Other tribes worshipped a different version.
Anyone who had talked to tribes familiar with the Hundred Beasts Tribe would know that the real Beast God was a rabbit!
Long ago, when Bai Tu led the tribe’s development and rebuilt the temple, other tribes had already started painting his beast form in their places of worship.
Eventually, more and more tribes followed suit.
Even the people of the Hundred Beasts Tribe put more faith in Bai Tu than the actual Beast God.
After all, no one had ever seen the Beast God before.
And while the Beast God had never changed their lives, Bai Tu had granted them one miracle after another.
If it weren’t for the fact that Bai Tu didn’t like going to the large Beast God Temple, they might have added his beast form inside it already.
But Bai Tu preferred the smaller shrine within the tribe.
And besides, the Beast God Continent had never replaced the Beast God with a living tribal member before.
Lang Qi’s personality also wouldn’t allow them to closely examine Bai Tu’s beast form.
Because of all these factors, the idea had never come to fruition.
Thinking about this, the wolf beastmen sighed in regret—what a shame.
The stranger heard their sighs and felt a surge of anger.
He was the one being captured—why were they sighing?!
But no one was going to answer his questions anymore.
His final destination would be the prison built specifically for beastmen who committed crimes.
And the only thing left for him to do was explain the real reason he had tried to place a fake Beast God statue in the temple.
The cubs were in high spirits on their way home, excited because they would be receiving 1,000 points tomorrow! Although they usually had some pocket money, more points were always better.
However, as they reached the door and were about to enter, they all stopped at the same time. They nudged each other, but no one wanted to be the first to go in. Even though they had caught a bad person, they had been too close to a stranger—outside the safe range their father had set. In the end, Lang Yao led Bai Ye inside first.
Bai Tu was in the room checking the cubs’ homework. Even though the teacher had already graded it, he was in the habit of reviewing it himself to check for mistakes and keep track of their progress.
Seeing that Bai Tu was holding Lang Chu’s homework, Lang Yao, who had just entered, took a step back.
Now, Bai Ye was at the front.
Bai Ye turned to look at his older brothers.
His older brothers averted their gaze—it was time to make use of their little brother! They had raised him for years; now it was his turn to be useful!
Noticing Bai Tu’s frown deepening, Bai Ye took a deep breath and softly called out, “Dad.”
Even though the homework wasn’t done well, the cubs were still adorable. Bai Tu’s anger dissipated immediately—even when faced with Lang Chu’s messy scribbles.
How could a little wolf cub be at fault? Clearly, he hadn’t taught them well enough.
Bai Tu looked up and smiled at the cubs. “You’re back?”
Bai Ye nodded obediently. “Mm-hmm!”
After responding, Bai Ye slowly walked to Bai Tu’s side. “Dad.”
“Hm?” Bai Tu, guessing that Bai Ye had something to say, set the frustrating homework aside and ruffled Bai Ye’s hair. “What is it?”
“We ran into a bad person today,” Bai Ye said, lowering his head and twiddling his fingers. “A really bad person.”
Bai Tu panicked and immediately began checking the cub for injuries. “Are you hurt?”
Bai Ye shook his head. “No, we told Uncle Lang Yang, and he caught him.”
“Good job.” Since the cubs weren’t hurt, Bai Tu was relieved. As for the man they encountered, Lang Yang, having been in the tribe for so long, would know where to take him.
After praising the cubs, Bai Tu asked for details. “How did you catch him?”
“He wanted to place an ugly Beast God statue in the Beast God Hall. We realized it was fake, so we told Uncle Lang Yang.” Bai Ye lowered his head and said softly, “Uncle Lang Yang had someone arrest him, but the guards said they couldn’t give us the points card today.”
Bai Tu understood now—the reason for their honesty was the points card.
No one in the tribe dared to give a 1,000-point card to a cub. An adult beastman typically earned only ten points a day, meaning 1,000 points was equivalent to three months’ salary—an enormous purchasing power within the tribe.
Since cubs lacked self-control, they might waste the points recklessly or misplace the card. And since points cards weren’t archived, losing one would be a real pity. Lang Yang would surely check with him before handing over the card.
“It’s fine. You’ll get it tomorrow,” Bai Tu said, ruffling Bai Ye’s hair.
The cubs collectively let out a sigh of relief. They would still get their points!
“Now that the points issue is settled, let’s talk about something else,” Bai Tu said, eyeing the cubs, who were acting suspiciously. “Did any of you get too close to the bad guy?”
All the cubs except Lang Cui were shocked: “!!!”
How did Dad know? They hadn’t even said anything yet! Had the guards already reported them?
Bai Tu: “……”
He had only been bluffing, but sure enough, cubs could never stay out of trouble.
Lang Yao silently looked away. His brother was so stupid, and his brother was also so stupid.
