"Grandma, are you hungry? While this piece of at isn’t big, it can fill your stomach. If you don’t mind, please go ahead and eat."
A young Golden Dragon Beastman, around ten years old, spoke gently.
He kindly handed over the little food he had left to the old female in front of him, who was wrapped up tightly, her skin wrinkled.
The old female extended her wrinkled hand, swiftly grabbed the food, and stuffed it into her mouth.
The kind-hearted young Golden Dragon Beastman sized up the two odd Beastn in front of him. He didn’t know when they had arrived. One was a hunchbacked female, wrapped in an animal skin skirt that left only her eyes visible, though one could see her skin was sallow and wrinkled. The other, a male who looked like he hadn’t bathed in days and reeked of a foul odor, was sitting up straight with his eyes closed, his face also covered with animal skin.
They were indeed two very strange Beastn.
The Golden Dragon Tribe has a little over four hundred mbers, most of whom I recognize, but I feel like I’ve never seen these two before, the young Beastman couldn’t help thinking.
Next to the young Beastman was a younger cub, who harbored a vague dislike for the two strangers. He whispered to his older brother, "Bro, we don’t have much food ourselves, and you can barely bring yourself to eat that piece of at. Why give it to people we don’t know?"
Since the hurricane, they had been unable to go out hunting and were surviving on the ager food they carried.
The young Golden Dragon Beastman quietly admonished his younger brother, "Although she’s old, she’s still a female. How can we let an old female go hungry?"
The younger cub’s mouth twitched as he turned to look at the strange female. Her gaze showed not the slightest hint of gratitude. She ate their food without any qualms and even resentfully glared at the brothers because of his "old female" comnt.
The younger cub felt very uneasy and shuffled to the side.
His stomach rumbled. He was so hungry.
He pinched the last piece of at at his waist, muttering to himself. Why did Brother have to ddle? Since the storm, we haven’t been able to find food. The food we carried is almost gone. All the at Brother had went to that old female, and now he has none left for himself. I can’t let my brother starve, so I’ll have to be more careful with the little at I have left.
He was a bit angry at his brother’s current display of kindness.
Thinking this, the younger cub looked up at the new Dragon Princess and the Clan Leader. They seed to be arguing, and the tribe mbers looked anxious. He was sowhat anxious as well, but there was nothing much he, a re cub, could do to help.
Just then, the old female beside him stared at him intently. Her intense gaze felt almost tangible, sending shivers down his spine.
The younger cub felt a bit intimidated and, to muster courage, glared back fiercely. "What do you want?!"
The old female was eyeing his belt. "at," she croaked.
A piece of at was attached to the younger cub’s waist—it was their last piece of food.
The younger cub beca angry and exclaid, "You’re insatiable! My brother gave you his last piece of food, and you’re still not satisfied? You want mine too? Do you want us brothers to starve to death?"
The old female stared at him nacingly, her eyes bulging. "at!" she demanded.
The younger cub quickly got to his feet.
The older Beastman brother also realized what was happening and quickly stood protectively in front of his younger brother. "I gave you my at. Don’t try to take my brother’s."
The old female, as if emboldened by her gain, twisted her covered, frightening face into an even more terrifying smile.
Even though he couldn’t see her face, the younger cub backed away several steps in fear.
It was then that the older Beastman brother finally demanded sternly, "Since when does the Golden Dragon Tribe have an old female like you? Who exactly are you?"
"I’m the Dragon Princess," the old female’s smile grew more terrifying. "I’m the Dragon Princess, so your at is mine."
The younger cub guarded the scarce food attached to his waist and growled lowly, "The Dragon Princess is the gentlest female of the Golden Dragon Tribe. She’s over there; you are not the Dragon Princess!"
The whites of the old female’s eyes had turned a sickly yellow and were webbed with terrifying bloodshot streaks. "Si Yan is not the Dragon Princess! I am! I am!!!"
The old female stretched out her wrinkled hand. "Give the at. Good boy, give the at to the Dragon Princess."
The younger cub hid behind his older brother, swallowing nervously. "Brother, what do we do?"
However, at this mont, Si Yan spoke.
"You want to see Jin Yao, don’t you?" she asked. "As it happens, she is also here."
The old female, who had been staring at the two brothers, abruptly turned her gaze toward Si Yan. Her expression was terrifying, her body trembled slightly, and a look of fear unexpectedly surfaced in her horrifying eyes.
At that very mont, Si Yan’s clear, black-and-white eyes also t hers.
The old female stumbled back several steps.
Si Yan seed to have seen right through her. "Jin Yao, your mother has co."
"No, no, no!" Jin Yao cried.
Jin Yao retreated fearfully, moving to the side of another strange Golden Dragon Beastman. This Beastman was none other than Shi Bo, who had already beco a corpse soldier.
After Shi Bo had taken Jin Yao away, she tried to leave him. But she found that no matter where she fled, he could always find her. She couldn’t escape.
Later, Jin Yao asked Shi Bo to take her to the Earth Dragon Clan. However, upon arriving, the earthworm Beastn, who had previously bowed and scraped before her, now treated her with utter disdain once they learned she was no longer the Dragon Princess.
She was driven out. No place would accept her.
While she was in this daze, Shi Bo suddenly went berserk again. Perhaps because Shi Bo had been a Golden Dragon in life, he still clung to that obsession even in death. He flew her everywhere and finally, heading straight into a hurricane, brought her to the Golden Dragon Clan.
When Jin Yao returned to the Golden Dragon Clan, the realization that she was no longer the Dragon Princess was so heartbreaking that she wanted to leave imdiately. But Shi Bo wouldn’t let her; she couldn’t leave.
Thus, she could only cover herself and Shi Bo up very tightly. Hiding furtively in a corner, she hoped no one would notice her.
She watched the beautiful Si Yan enter the tree hollow, watched as all the Beastn’s gazes were drawn to her. She saw Si Yan save countless Golden Dragon Beastn and witnessed how she was adored by the mbers of the Golden Dragon Clan.
She was consud by jealousy! So jealous her heart felt as if it were tearing apart. Damn it! If only Si Yan didn’t exist! If Si Yan weren’t here, *I* would be the one they adore! It was Si Yan! Si Yan stole everything that was mine!
Yet, such thoughts were all she could harbor; she didn’t dare act against Si Yan.
Moreover, besides Si Yan, there was soone else she hated even more.
Han Shuang looked at Jin Yao, her expression filled with pain. "Child, Yao Yao, what has beco of you?"
She didn’t care how bedraggled her Yao Yao looked. Step by step, she approached Jin Yao.
Jin Yao trembled all over, the hatred in her eyes growing even more intense.
Han Shuang embraced her tightly, tears of heartache streaming down her face.
"Yao Yao, Mother is sorry. Mother hasn’t taken good care of you."
Jin Yao lifted her head, looking up at the ceiling of the Divine Tree’s hollow.
Dragon Princess Han Shuang, she thought. Such crocodile tears.
Her heart was desolate, filled with nothing but resentnt.
The beast-tooth weapon in her hand pressed stealthily against Han Shuang’s abdon.
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