Chapter 4: They Were Abandoned

He didn't trust Qiao Xixi, but he couldn't break free.

However, he was full today. Once the stupid female handed him over to the stupid white bear later, he would find another chance to escape.

Seeing that he had stopped moving, Qiao Xixi turned toward the white bear family.

"How about I have Qiao Lie apologize to you, and then compensate you with another fish beast?"

The white bear family looked at each other, wondering why Qiao Xixi had suddenly had a change of heart.

But they were willing to accept this condition; after all, on this ice plain, even for them, finding food was not that easy.

"Deal."

Seeing them agree, Qiao Xixi lightly patted Qiao Lie's shoulder.

"Qiao Lie, apologize to them."

Qiao Lie's small face was tense as he said coldly, "He also snatched my food before, and he didn't apologize to me."

The white bear cub became unhappy upon hearing this.

"You were clearly the one who snatched mine first!"

Looking at the cub's tightly clenched little fists, Qiao Xixi guessed he wasn't lying.

She looked at the white bear cub.

"Tell me, did you snatch Qiao Lie's food before?"

The white bear cub huffed, "That was because he snatched mine first!"

Qiao Xixi's expression darkened as she looked at the white bear female beastman.

"You heard him. Your cub also snatched my cub's food. We can apologize to you, but you must also apologize to my cub."

The white bear male beastman let out a cold snort.

"Qiao Lie almost strangled our cub, and yet he wants us to apologize? In your dreams. Hand Qiao Lie over to us, otherwise, this matter isn't over."

As soon as the white bear male finished speaking, a palm larger than her head lunged toward Qiao Lie to grab him.

Qiao Xixi's heart jolted in alarm. She hugged Qiao Lie and quickly retreated.

"You, an adult male, are actually bullying a cub and a female? Aren't you afraid of being punished by the Beast God?"

Even among rogue beasts, females were far more precious than males and could not be bullied at will.

Qiao Lie was astonished to see Qiao Xixi actually defending him this time.

Upon hearing Qiao Xixi's words, the white bear male hesitated for a moment; he was indeed afraid of the Beast God's punishment.

Seeing his hesitation, Qiao Xixi continued, "I said, we are willing to apologize for today's matter, but your cub must also apologize to Qiao Lie for what he did previously."

The white bear male turned to look at the female beastman to let her make the decision.

Compared to beating Qiao Lie, the white bear female was more interested in obtaining food. After all, it was going to get colder and colder, and they had to prepare sufficient food.

"Fine." She grabbed the white bear cub and said, "Apologize to that snake brat."

The white bear cub was unwilling, but he still spoke obediently, "I'm sorry."

Qiao Xixi also looked at Qiao Lie.

Qiao Lie's heroic little brows were almost twisted into a permanent frown.

Qiao Xixi patted Qiao Lie, "Qiao Lie, he has realized his mistake. Now it's your turn."

Qiao Lie glared at Qiao Xixi and said stiffly, "I'm sorry."

One apology to avoid a beating—Qiao Lie didn't feel he was losing out.

*Ding-dong!*

"Congratulations to the host for completing the task of making the cub Qiao Lie apologize. The system will grant the host a task reward: Fire Seed. Host, please check your inventory."

Qiao Xixi saw a lighter appear in the void space.

A Fire Seed—she needed it, but right now, what she wanted more was food, okay!

Still, having something was better than nothing. She used her willpower to temporarily store the Fire Seed in the system's void space.

After Qiao Xixi gave a fish beast to the white bear family, they departed.

When Qiao Xixi returned to the ice cave, Qiao Ang gave her a glare.

"Stupid female, actually giving a fish beast away for free. Don't you know how hard it is to find food now? Just wait to go hungry tomorrow."

Qiao Qiao twitched her two furry ears and flashed Qiao Xixi a very fake smile. Clearly, her thoughts were the same as Qiao Ang's.

Qiao Xixi felt it was necessary to make things clear to them.

"If you do something wrong, you must apologize and bear the consequences of your mistakes. Mother will continue to look for food tomorrow; I won't let you go hungry."

Standing to the side, Qiao Lie watched Qiao Xixi without saying a word, then walked over to lie down beside Qiao Ang and the others.

The three full cubs squeezed together on the ground and closed their eyes, clearly not taking Qiao Xixi's words to heart.

Qiao Xixi wiped her face, telling herself that unruly children were not that easy to teach.

Slowly, slowly!

She looked at the single remaining fish beast on the ground and swallowed hard. She picked up an ice knife from the side and sliced off a small piece of meat.

She didn't like eating raw food, but there was no firewood in this godforsaken place, so even having a Fire Seed was useless. To avoid starving to death, she had to make do.

Fortunately, she didn't have an aversion to sashimi. After eating a palm-sized piece of fish beast meat, she put the rest away. She would have to catch more tomorrow.

She glanced at the three cubs huddled together on the ground, took a beast skin from the bed, and went over to cover them.

Qiao Xixi looked at the darkening sky outside, lay down on the ice bed, and slowly closed her eyes.

In her sleep, Qiao Xixi felt a violent shaking that startled her awake.

It wasn't light outside yet, but the ice plain was all ice and snow, so visibility wasn't low even at night.

She got out of bed, and feeling the tremors beneath her feet, she quickly ran out of the cave to check the situation.

Once she saw clearly, her face turned pale. It was misty outside, but she could clearly see that the white mist before her was swaying.

It turned out that the section of ice where the cave was located had cracked; the floating ice was breaking away from the mountain.

If they didn't leave quickly, they would be trapped on the floating ice, and then no one knew where they would drift to.

There were many predatory wild beasts in the water!

Qiao Xixi had no time to think; she turned and ran back into the ice cave to wake the cubs.

"Qiao Lie, wake up quickly! The ice surface the cave is on has separated from the mountain. We have to leave here fast!"

The cubs woke up in a fright, with Qiao Ang being the first to realize what was happening.

He scrambled up immediately and rushed toward the remaining fish beast, clutching it in his arms.

Qiao Xixi didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

She quickly rolled up the beast skins in the cave; this was the entirety of their family of four's possessions.

"Quick, follow Mother."

The little cubs transformed into their beast forms: Qiao Lie was a crimson python, while Qiao Ang and Qiao Qiao were two snow-white snow foxes.

Qiao Xixi also transformed into a silver-frost white wolf, leading the cubs as they ran rapidly toward the direction of the mountain.

But the giant ice block had already separated from the mountain, and they were already at a certain distance from it.

The cubs were still small; they couldn't jump this distance at all.

Qiao Qiao leaned toward her brother in fear. In the end, she was still too young; when faced with danger, she still felt like crying.

Qiao Xixi retreated quickly, then charged forward with speed, leaping across to the other side in one bound.

Seeing Qiao Xixi leave so decisively, even though the three cubs knew she had never liked them, their eyes reddened with despair.

They had been abandoned.

(End of Chapter)