Chapter 36: The World in the Dream (VI)
When Qi An woke up, most of the sub-females had also begun doing relatively lighter work. Although sub-females held high status, everyone was still assigned some tasks. Qi An often saw them sewing clothes and drying food ingredients, but none of this had much to do with him. Even if he wanted to help them with something, the sub-females would firmly refuse.
It was as if if Qi An really did something, their conscience would suffer intense self-reproach—their expressions rigid as boards.
Every time Qi An saw them, the sub-females were diligently working. But today was somewhat different; they were a bit carelessly going about their tasks. The reason was easy to guess—yesterday near evening, the clan chief had gathered everyone and publicly announced what was written in the letter.
The tone was naturally not as indignant as Cain's; it was quite objective instead. But even so, the beastmen's reactions were about the same as Cain's. They probably had no mood to work now, instead waiting wholeheartedly for Zhang Zhaoqi's arrival.
Even the Buna tribe, who had wanted to leave after the sparring session, had delayed their departure because of this matter, specially staying an extra night at the Typhoon tribe to catch a glimpse of these outsiders who called themselves gods.
Qi An stood outside for a while, and after confirming nothing unusual was happening, he frowned and, after telling Cain, headed toward the training grounds.
Something must have been wrong with what happened last night. But the sub-females had表现得平常—though their expressions were a bit unsightly, they showed no panic, indicating no special circumstances had occurred in the wooden houses. Qi An couldn't think of anything else for the moment, so he went to check on the gradually devolving beastmen.
He actually didn't want to stay in this world for too long.
This was his master's dream. If the dream lasted too long, his master's consciousness would become increasingly chaotic, and this dream would become harder to wake from.
But when Qi An truly arrived at the training grounds, his expression paused for a moment, his brow slightly knitting. In his imagination, these beastmen should have completely devolved into their beast forms. Only then would the scene he witnessed last night make sense.
But... the beastmen in the cages hadn't completely transformed into beast form!
Although a thin layer of fur had already grown on their bodies and their limbs were curling inward, they still retained some human-shaped features. At the very least, they were still standing rather than crawling like beasts. Even their eyes weren't the remembered green but a pale red tinged with bloodshot.
The wind stirred the leaves, drifting and falling onto the tops of the iron cages. Qi An listened to the beastmen's嘶吼, his expression unreadable.
When Evan walked in, the first thing he noticed was the other person biting his lip. Qi An's lips had always been a bit pale; his light bite made his thin lips appear moist and lustrous. Evan didn't know why, but his gaze instinctively drifted there, his expression slightly dazed.
*It seemed like he wanted to lick it too.*
*It must be smooth and soft.*
But before he could continue his thoughts, Qi An's gaze turned over. After seeing who was approaching, Qi An smiled at him, then quickly looked back at the cages. Yet the boy's cheeks were slightly flushed, his eyes clouded with a layer of gray mist—anyone with eyes could see his mind was elsewhere.
Evan's ears twitched, though he hadn't even noticed it himself.
[Why did he suddenly come over here?] the system asked, somewhat puzzled.
[Now everyone is waiting for Zhang Zhaoqi's arrival. Evan suddenly showing up here is indeed... somewhat strange.] Qi An didn't respond to it immediately, only staring at the scratch marks on the cages, then glancing at the beastmen's deformed paws. After a moment, the system finally heard its host's flat voice.
[Tongtong, do you feel like something isn't quite right here?]
[Hm?] the system said疑惑ly.
[The beastmen locked in here... have increased in number.]
[?!]
The system immediately checked the iron cages. The beastmen were locked up individually, and because there were quite a few locked away, the cages were arranged in rows. At the very last row, there were only seven cages.
The system began cross-referencing its database. [...Three more.]
[Yes. Three more, and three more cages as well.] Qi An's voice became somewhat strange.
He raised his eyes to glance at the cages again, calculated the time, and prepared to head to the reception hall. If he left now, he should arrive just in time to meet Zhang Zhaoqi.
The system's mind was still somewhat dazed, not quite understanding why Qi An would deliberately mention the increased number of cages, but it silently complied. Yet when it noticed its host left first and Evan followed right after, it was very confused. [Didn't he just arrive? How can he leave without doing anything? Could he really be here just to sightsee?]
Qi An's answering voice was as flat as ever. [...How do you know he only just arrived?]
Cages couldn't appear out of thin air, and beastmen couldn't lock themselves up, so someone must have been involved in this.
According to the priest's description, beastmen who had fully transformed into beast form would kill each other. Qi An didn't think the priest was lying, because it would be very easy to verify whether such a thing was true. But the beasts he witnessed last night were quite harmonious. There could only be two reasons for this—either they were completely different species, or there was... someone who had intimidated them.
And this person could also control their transformation between human and beast forms.
Qi An leaned toward the second possibility. After all, though the beastmen weren't in beast form right now, there were claw marks on the cage bars.
But from what he knew now, the only one who seemed capable of such power was... the evil god.
When Qi An arrived at the reception hall, Zhang Zhaoqi and the others had indeed just arrived. The beastmen of the Typhoon tribe looked unkindly at them, while the people from the other tribe wore expressions of disdain. But when they saw Qi An walk in, their arrogant expressions immediately softened. The two tribes achieved surprising harmony at this moment, and the atmosphere around them instantly became harmonious.
Both clan chiefs' expressions remained relatively unchanged. After exchanging greetings, they amiably arranged for Zhang Zhaoqi and company to sit, and the two leaders moved to the higher seats to discuss matters.
It was at this time that Zhang Zhaoqi gave Qi An a slight nod. He had no expression throughout, just sitting there. But even without emitting the slightest hint of danger, he was surrounded by an aura of inviolable resistance that others couldn't refuse.
But when he made this gesture, that feeling dissipated like a gentle breeze. The two girls who thought they had become somewhat familiar with him couldn't help but stare at him in surprise.
Qi An smiled at Zhang Zhaoqi and walked toward Cain, who was waving at him.
*Hmph.*
A disgruntled cold snort sounded, and it definitely wasn't just one or two.
This smile that Qi An often showed was like a spark igniting explosives. The beastmen's gazes toward Zhang Zhaoqi and the others grew even more unfriendly. The tails that had been乖巧垂着 since the young man entered suddenly stood straight up. The sleek fur on them seemed to explode, and not only that—these tails with惊人的战斗力 began to tremble slightly, as if entering battle mode and ready to spring into action.
If they had been barely restraining themselves before, now they were completely unable to hold back.
The hidden tails secretly gathered toward the same direction, each one stretched taut, as if they would whip toward that direction the next second.
*狠狠抽过去！啪嗒一下抽过去！猝不及防地抽过去！*
The tails moved, and the beastmen's unfriendly gazes followed. Then they all嫌弃地撇嘴, their faces practically screaming "so ugly."
Same black hair and black eyes, same lack of beast form features—how could the comparison be so vastly different? Thinking this in their minds, their gazes unconsciously and covertly drifted toward the young man sitting composedly on the other side.
This gaze came from all directions, but all stealthily. The young man being watched seemed unaware of these gazes, just sitting there in a daze.
And the beastmen watching him followed along,发呆 together.
*真的真的好可爱。*
*而且，好乖。*
Only after settling into his specially arranged seat did Qi An formally examine his teammates. Unlike the beastmen world clothing, they were all wearing clothes from the real world—presumably taken out from the system space to demonstrate their difference.
Besides Zhang Zhaoqi, there were two girls. One wore a large wide-brimmed hat, covering most of her features. Qi An could only see her slightly raised chin. But from her straight posture and slightly pressed lips, it wasn't hard to tell this girl had a steady character.
The other was delicate-looking, with two cute ponytails, her eyes bright and sparkling as she curiously打量着 the surroundings.
"Is he our other teammate?" The ponytail girl squinted, sizing up Qi An, and asked Zhang Zhaoqi in a playful, low voice.
Zhang Zhaoqi didn't speak, nor did he turn to look at her. He simply gave a cold nod.
"What's his name?" The girl didn't care about Zhang Zhaoqi's lack of response, just pressed on.
"Qi An." It was only at this point that Zhang Zhaoqi gave her a cold glance.
"Qi An?" The girl repeated the two characters, her brows and eyes gradually curving up. "This name sounds very familiar."