Building a Civilization and Raising Cubs in the Beast World – CH80

Chapter 80

Hu Bu, unable to speak, had to rely on sounds and gestures to attract the wolves’ attention. However, the wolf guards outside were unfazed. 

They were used to much louder commotions when their own kind played around, yet they could still sleep soundly. The faint racket Hu Bu caused didn’t even register—those who needed sleep slept, and those who wanted to eat ate.

Watching the wolf guards who treated him as invisible, Hu Bu racked his brains for another solution. He had to get out and relay information to the tribe, or all his plans would be for nothing.

But he waited the entire night, and it wasn’t until morning, when a shift change occurred, that the guards finally pushed open the stone door to drag out Shi Hong’s corpse.

Hu Bu, worried they might notice something unusual, put on a sorrowful expression, doing his best to appear like a heartbroken mate devastated by his partner’s death.

But the two younger wolves didn’t even glance at him, let alone inspect Shi Hong’s body. 

They couldn’t care less about how he died. They simply and crudely dragged the corpse out of the cave. With a heavy thud, they slammed the stone door shut again. Throughout the entire process, they didn’t speak a word to Hu Bu.

Hu Bu tried desperately to engage them, but with his mouth still gagged, he could only make muffled noises. Finally, at noon, when they brought him his daily water, the wolves temporarily removed the muzzle. The first thing he shouted was, “I need to see the leaders of the Blood Wolf and Snow Rabbit Tribes!”

“The leaders are busy,” one of the wolves snapped impatiently. “Who has time to deal with you?”

The wolves were swamped with tasks—preparing for winter, organizing supplies for the market trip, and keeping an eye on the captured Lion Tribe members. 

With all that, who would bother with Hu Bu? Besides, Bai Tu had already instructed them to starve Hu Bu for a while. They followed orders to the letter: Hu Bu got nothing to eat, only half a bowl of water a day. In truth, if they didn’t need him alive to extract information, they wouldn’t have given him even that much.

Hu Bu lowered his head, hiding the cunning glint in his eyes. He hadn’t expected Shi Hong’s death to cause so little reaction. With Shi Hong gone, his resources were dwindling. Thinking quickly, he put on a stubborn front: “Unless you let me see Bai Tu, I won’t drink!”

“Fine, don’t drink.” The wolf, already fed up, didn’t hesitate. 

He snapped the muzzle back onto Hu Bu and tossed the bowl of water aside.

Hu Bu struggled, anger bubbling inside him. 

Back in the Lion Tribe, he had been the leader’s favorite mate. Everyone deferred to him. He was respected as someone knowledgeable in herbs, his status far above the average beastman. When had he ever suffered such humiliation?

Especially the muzzle. Hu Bu knew what it was—a device for restraining beastmen who were a danger to others. He had never attacked anyone, yet they had the audacity to use it on him.

Hu Bu lunged at the wolf guard, trying to grab the key from his hand.

The teenage wolf guards were notorious for their fiery tempers. 

They could barely contain themselves around their leader, let alone someone like Hu Bu. Already disliking him, the young wolf was enraged by the audacity of Hu Bu’s actions. When Hu Bu’s hand accidentally brushed against the wolf’s stomach, he lashed out, kicking him hard.

“Disgusting beastman! Don’t touch me!”

Hu Bu froze. 

Since returning to the Red Fox Tribe, he had never heard such words directed at him. 

The fox tribe’s beauty was renowned across the Beast God Continent, and Hu Bu knew how to use his appearance to his advantage. He had approached the wolves with ulterior motives, yet he never expected to be met with such disdain.

His go-to methods, which had always worked since reaching maturity, suddenly failed. 

Hu Bu felt a pang of fear. What means did he have left to survive? 

He had always relied on his beauty, which had secured him countless resources over the years. Now, his usual tactics were useless against the wolves.

The beastmen he was familiar with were all locked away in other caves, closely monitored by the wolves. 

There was no chance for him to reach them. No matter how well the plan had been laid out, the Lion Tribe could not overturn both the wolves and the rabbits without communication.

For the first time, genuine fear crept into Hu Bu’s heart. 

Whether it was being surrounded by hostile lions or enduring the starvation of the rainy season, he had always had a way to bounce back because he had allies—many of them. But now, he was truly alone. 

The only person who might have helped him had been strangled to death by his own hands the previous night.

The wolf guard shook Hu Bu off and carried the bowl of water outside to pour it out. Feeling increasingly indignant, the young wolf decided to find someone to take over his shift so he could go complain to the leader.

“That disgusting beastman touched my stomach! How dare he!”

*

Meanwhile, Lang Ze was outside Bai Tu’s cave, pestering him for help. 

He had only just realized how many responsibilities came with leadership. In the past, his brother had always seemed so relaxed. Now that he was in charge, Lang Ze finally understood the weight of the position.

Lang Ze’s squad still needed Bai Tu’s help to manage their points. 

Now, faced with the task of matching names to identification numbers, Lang Ze was scratching his head. 

It had been simpler with the previous team structure, but now, just like here, the Blood Wolf Tribe had expanded into various divisions—construction teams, mining teams, blacksmithing teams, and so on. 

With so many people divided into so many groups, just sorting through it all was enough to make his head spin. 

After mulling over it for an entire night, Lang Ze finally came up with a good idea: ask Bai Tu for help. Sure, asking Bai Tu meant braving his brother’s death threats, but with Bai Tu around, he wasn’t afraid of anything!

When Bai Tu saw the wolf clansmen approach, Lang Ze shoved the bamboo scroll used for recording points toward him and said, “I’m off to take care of something!”

Bai Tu waved a hand nonchalantly. “Go on, go on.” 

Lang Ze was still just a child, at an age where playing and goofing off came naturally. 

If Lang Qi hadn’t suddenly gotten injured, Lang Ze would probably have run off to some remote corner to treasure hunt by now. 

Bai Tu had no intention of pressuring him too much all at once. Lang Ze did need to step up and shoulder more responsibility soon, but the burden shouldn’t rest on him alone.

In fact, aside from his disinterest in literacy, Lang Ze excelled in other areas, particularly in defense work. 

Having spent so much time playing in the territory, he was familiar with all the routes in and out of the tribe and could organize the defenses of both tribes so tightly that not even a drop of water could seep through.

Bai Tu glanced at Lang Qi, who looked like he was ready to smack Lang Ze for ditching his responsibilities again, and reassured him, “Don’t worry, it’s fine. I don’t have much to do right now anyway.”

During the formation of the various teams, Bai Tu had already laid out plans and delegated tasks. 

Each team had its own leader, and this structure was now paying off. 

He could simply coordinate directly with the team leaders to handle most issues, and because they had the autonomy to make independent decisions, even unexpected incidents in the tribe could be managed by the remaining orcs without much trouble.

In the past two or three days, Bai Tu had already arranged everything for their upcoming departure. Today, with fewer tasks on hand, helping Lang Ze was no problem at all.

Lang Qi shot a glance at the bamboo scrolls, which he was seeing for the first time yet found strangely familiar, then silently got up to feed the cubs.

For some reason—perhaps because they had gone hungry that one time—the two cubs’ appetites had surged recently. 

They used to eat about half a bowl per meal and only needed three meals a day, but now they had upped it to four meals, and each one required over half a bowl. 

Lang Qi’s attitude toward the cubs had also shifted. While he still wasn’t exactly warm, he no longer used them as a constant threat against others. 

Bai Tu let out a small sigh of relief. Even though Lang Qi didn’t physically act against him, those occasional threatening glances had been unnerving enough.

That said, Lang Qi still wouldn’t let Bai Tu get too close to the cubs—not always, at least. Occasionally, Bai Tu was allowed to hold them, but Lang Qi insisted on handling all their feeding himself. Bai Tu still couldn’t figure out why.

After a few days of observation, Bai Tu had gained a deeper understanding of Lang Qi’s condition. 

At the same time, he had begun to notice something strange about himself. Ever since inhaling that drug that day, both of them had been uncontrollably transforming into their beast forms every night, only reverting back to their human forms by morning.

Rubbing his temples, Bai Tu acknowledged this was a real problem. 

Staying in a cave for now was fine, but what about when they went out to trade for salt? He didn’t want to miss the biannual opportunity to discover new items, but not going wasn’t an option. 

The other beastmen wouldn’t recognize unfamiliar goods, and it was all too likely they’d trade for useless junk that wasted resources. Bai Tu pondered whether he could come up with a solution.

Aside from the nightly transformations, there weren’t too many other inconveniences. After all, Lang Qi wasn’t prone to hurting people and had already learned to recognize who was part of the tribe. 

Bai Tu reviewed the list Lang Ze had brought over, made a few adjustments, then rolled up the bamboo scroll and began brainstorming ways to hide their condition. As he thought it over, a certain item suddenly came to mind. Tents.

Back in his previous life, tents were a must-have for outdoor trips. 

He hadn’t considered making them before—partly due to lack of time, and partly because it had been summer, when the only real concern was mosquitoes. But now, with temperatures dropping and the weather getting colder by the day, sleeping outside required layers of animal pelts. Some beastmen had already taken out their thickest, heaviest pelts from storage.

Bai Tu walked over to the wardrobe where he stored animal hides and pulled out a few slightly less supple ones. 

Originally, he had planned to use them as door curtains for the cave entrance, but now he decided to experiment with making a tent instead.

There were many methods for making tents, but Bai Tu planned to create one that was collapsible for easy transportation. It also needed to be large enough to accommodate at least two adults. 

After all, when Lang Qi transformed into his beast form, he required significantly more space than in his human form. Bai Tu didn’t want to risk being crushed in his sleep. 

It wasn’t that Lang Qi had bad sleeping habits, but the sheer difference in size was dangerous. Just like with the cubs, a large beastman could accidentally inflict fatal harm on someone smaller without even realizing it.

Bai Tu grabbed a blank wooden board and began sketching out the basic structure, making adjustments as he went. He then gathered the necessary materials based on his design.

To ensure the tent was sturdy, he used iron pipes to reinforce critical points, while less important areas were supported by straight, durable wooden poles.

Even with Lang Qi’s help, building such a large item took two days to complete. 

After finishing the tent, Bai Tu asked Bai Qi if they should mass-produce tents for the tribe, but there simply wasn’t enough time to make it happen this year. At best, they could prepare some for next winter.

Bai Qi, initially curious about the unfamiliar item, quickly waved his hands after hearing it was for keeping warm. “We can just transform into our beast forms.”

Beastmen in their human forms weren’t resistant to the cold, but their beast forms were a different story. 

Almost all furred beastmen grew thick, dense winter coats that provided excellent insulation. When huddled together, the combined warmth was even more effective. 

In fact, those sleeping in the middle of the group sometimes found it too hot and had to move to the outer edges for fresh air. However, this only worked during the early part of winter; by midwinter, anyone trying that would wake up frozen stiff.

Bai Tu: “…” He had almost forgotten. Last time, everyone had rested in their beast forms, but since his beast form wasn’t convenient for others to see, he would stick to using the tent.

As Bai Tu was inspecting the tent for any necessary adjustments, Lang You suddenly came running up. “Tu, there’s a lion tribe member here to see you. He says he’s seen Hu Bu talking to someone from the Bald Tribe!”

Bai Tu quickly packed up the tent and replied, “I’ll head down right away.”

The beastmen under Lang You’s watch were different from most others. Many of them were the mates of Shi Hong or other minor leaders. They shared a common, tragic trait: their children had been killed by Shi Hong or the minor leaders.

Ever since the beastmen from the Mad Lion Tribe had been captured, several frightened lions had provided honest answers to their questions. 

However, most of them had little knowledge of the tribe’s major decisions, as such matters were handled by the leader and the minor leaders. While the information they offered was of limited use, Bai Tu had managed to uncover quite a few personal details.

From the day he left the cave, Bai Tu had been piecing together the puzzle of the Mad Lion Tribe. 

He knew he couldn’t rely entirely on Hei Xiao, who had yet to receive any word from them. Even with the Hawk Tribe’s incredible speed, it would take them at least half a month to make the round trip. Bai Tu couldn’t afford to sit around and wait.

Many of the seemingly trivial personal details turned out to be interconnected. One particularly disturbing pattern emerged: the inexplicable deaths of lion cubs.

Since Hu Bu’s arrival at the Mad Lion Tribe, there had been over 40 to 50 lion cubs who died after being disowned by their biological fathers. This was an absolutely terrifying number. It was hard to believe that so many lion beastmen had betrayed their mates and willingly given birth to children fathered by their lovers.

Before Hu Bu’s arrival, similar incidents had occurred only once or twice a year.