Chapter 225
Hei Xiao wanted to explain everything to his brother, but he didn’t even know where to begin.
For years, the Beast God Continent had spread the belief that sub-beastmen brought misfortune to their tribes. Because of this, many sub-beastmen were ostracized by others.
Their father, Bai Luo, had left his original tribe in search of the source of this rumor. He traveled all the way to the Southern Continent and later brought them back to the Eastern Continent. Before leaving, their father had entrusted Bai Tu to Hei Xiao, promising he would return soon.
That was the last time they ever saw him.
Hei Xiao had no idea where their father had gone, only that the world outside was incredibly dangerous. Ever since then, he had never left Bai Tu’s side, doing everything in his power to ensure his younger brother could grow up safely.
Before they arrived, the Snow Rabbit Tribe had never had any sub-beastmen. Since it was a small tribe, the so-called “curse” of sub-beastmen wasn’t a common topic of discussion. While some of the older beastmen, like Bai An, knew that Bai Tu and Hei Xiao were different from other children, they were still willing to take them in—because Bai Luo had once saved many members of the tribe.
Hei Xiao and Bai Tu had lived in the Snow Rabbit Tribe for a long time, but the topic of sub-beastmen was something everyone, whether consciously or not, avoided discussing. Because of this, Hei Xiao had never told Bai Tu about the differences between sub-beastmen and male beastmen.
If their tribe had other older sub-beastmen, Bai Tu might have learned something over the years. But in the Snow Rabbit Tribe, it was just the two of them. All the cubs had been born to female beastmen.
Apart from being slightly more delicate, sub-beastmen weren’t very different from ordinary male beastmen. And since rabbit beastmen were naturally lean, even that minor difference wasn’t noticeable.
Looking at Bai Tu’s utterly confused and worried expression, Hei Xiao immediately realized—Bai Tu had no idea he was pregnant.
Internally, Hei Xiao cursed Lang Qi in every way imaginable.
Bai Tu might not understand, but how could Lang Qi not know?
Hei Xiao was now certain—Lang Qi not only knew but had done this on purpose.
But regardless of how much he wanted to yell at Lang Qi, he had a much bigger problem in front of him. Looking at his innocent, clueless little brother, Hei Xiao had no idea how to even begin explaining.
Bai Tu, meanwhile, was growing increasingly anxious as he watched his brother’s expression change.
His worry escalated to the point where he seriously started wondering if he had some kind of rare, life-threatening illness.
Then, all of a sudden, he saw Hei Xiao’s face shift—like he had made up his mind about something.
Hei Xiao slowly forced out a few words: “Tu, go ask Lang Qi.”
Something like this should really be explained by Lang Qi himself. Hei Xiao decided to push this difficult task onto him.
“Ask Qi?” Bai Tu was a beat slow to react. His mind hadn’t been functioning well lately, and Hei Xiao’s cryptic attitude left him even more confused. He was on the verge of demanding a straight answer—he could handle whatever it was.
However, Hei Xiao shook his head again. “Let Lang Qi tell you.”
Although Hei Xiao disliked how Lang Qi had taken advantage of his brother, something like this—having a child—was something a mate should be the one to say. No matter how Bai Tu felt about it, whether he would be happy or not, it was ultimately a matter between him and his mate.
But… thinking back to how delighted Bai Tu had been when they first found Lang Qi, and how carefully he had cared for the young cubs all this time, Hei Xiao could already guess how this would turn out.
There was no way Bai Tu wouldn’t like it.
Bai Tu saw that Hei Xiao refused to explain, so he had no choice but to return to the cave to find Lang Qi. Stepping outside, he felt like something was off, as if he had forgotten something.
He rubbed his temples. Something really wasn’t right—he had been feeling drowsy a lot lately and kept forgetting things. Could it be lingering effects from an old injury? But if that were the case, the symptoms were showing up rather late. If it were just an aftereffect, Hei Xiao wouldn’t have been so secretive about it.
Bai Tu muttered to himself. What could be so hard to say? As long as it wasn’t life-threatening, it couldn’t be that big of a deal.
Yet, when he returned to the cave and asked Lang Qi directly, Bai Tu realized—just because it wasn’t life-threatening didn’t mean it wasn’t a big deal.
What do you mean I’m pregnant?
What do you mean I’M pregnant?!
Bai Tu thought he must have misheard. “Say that again.”
Thinking Bai Tu hadn’t heard him clearly, Lang Qi repeated calmly, “You’re pregnant.” As he spoke, he reached out cautiously, wanting to touch Bai Tu’s stomach.
Bai Tu slapped his hand away and firmly declared, “Impossible!”
How could a man be pregnant?!
Lang Qi was momentarily stunned.
He knew just how much Bai Tu loved children—whether it was the cubs he had taken care of or the ones affected by the medicine. Yet now, Bai Tu was refusing to acknowledge his own pregnancy.
That made this a serious problem.
Only a beastman who disliked the other father of the cub would refuse to acknowledge their own child.
With that in mind, Lang Qi subtly shifted his stance, blocking the exit, and asked in a low voice, “Why is it impossible?”
“Because I’m a man. Men don’t get pregnant.” Bai Tu stated with certainty.
He knew his own gender, didn’t he?
“Have you ever seen a single man in the tribe get pregnant? Even those with male partners don’t!” Bai Tu was starting to suspect that Lang Qi had lost his mind—maybe he had been so worried about Bai Tu’s health that he was making up nonsense.
There were a few same-sex male couples in the tribe. Bai Tu had even spoken with them before. Only one of those couples had a child, and that was because they had adopted an abandoned cub from another tribe during a market trip.
“It’s different,” Lang Qi gently encircled Bai Tu in his arms and explained, “You’re a sub-beastman, so of course, you can bear children. They aren’t, so they naturally can’t.”
Most sub-beastmen had disappeared over the years, and the ones left were incredibly rare. In the Snow Rabbit Tribe, Bai Tu and Hei Xiao were the only two sub-beastmen. It was completely understandable that Bai Tu wouldn’t know about this.
Thinking of Hei Xiao, Lang Qi suddenly came up with an idea. He added, “It’s not just you. Your brother will also have children in the future… or maybe even eggs.”
After all, Hei Yan was from the Eagle Tribe, so Hei Xiao might give birth to either rabbit cubs or eagle chicks.
Hearing Lang Qi’s words, Bai Tu completely froze.
His brother… might lay eggs.
Might lay eggs.
Suddenly, Bai Tu remembered what he had forgotten earlier. He had never asked about the origin of those eggs.
No one in the tribe from the Eagle Tribe was pregnant, so the eagle eggs definitely weren’t given to Hei Xiao by someone else. That meant Hei Xiao had secretly acquired them from somewhere.
Before, Bai Tu hadn’t known where they had come from. But now, combined with Lang Qi’s explanation, the answer was obvious.
His brother had laid those eggs.
This realization was even more shocking than his own possible pregnancy. After all, his own situation was still uncertain. But Hei Xiao… Hei Xiao had most likely already given birth!
Bai Tu pushed Lang Qi aside and headed straight for the exit.
Lang Qi, confused by Bai Tu’s sudden anger, grabbed his hand to calm him down. “What’s wrong? Why are you upset?”
“I need to ask my brother something.” Bai Tu said firmly. He needed answers.
Hearing that Bai Tu wasn’t planning to run away but just wanted to find Hei Xiao, Lang Qi subtly let out a breath of relief. However, he still didn’t let go of Bai Tu’s hand. “I’ll go with you.”
Bai Tu thought about it for a moment. Bringing Lang Qi along wouldn’t make a difference. If anything, he could even help answer questions Bai Tu didn’t understand. “Alright.”
With Lang Qi in tow, Bai Tu stormed back to find his brother. The moment he entered the cave, he got straight to the point: “Brother, those eggs—did you lay them?”
Hei Xiao: “……”
As expected, it had been the right decision not to tell his brother about sub-beastmen pregnancies earlier. Judging by Bai Tu’s reaction, he would have been even angrier if he had learned the truth earlier.
Bai Tu knew his brother very well. If the eggs weren’t his, he would have explained it by now. But today, Hei Xiao remained uncharacteristically silent, and that silence was enough to confirm the truth.
At first, Bai Tu had thought this was an impossible thing to accept.
But strangely enough, at this moment, he felt an odd sense of balance.
If his brother could give birth, then there was nothing wrong with it happening to him too.
It was like the relief of meeting a classmate on the way after realizing you were late for school.
