*
「The next day.」
Bai Su had a full night's sleep. She pulled open the bed curtains and took a breath of fresh air.
She had made her plans last night. Her main task now was to take care of herself and the little cubs.
This body of hers was too fat, and it was infertile.
This was what she found strangest.
In the original owner's memories, she had been fertile.
But after arriving here, her fertility had suddenly vanished.
The original owner stayed here, surrounded by a few children, and so she ended up opening a mountaintop orphanage...
There seemed to be a few months of memory missing in the middle of it all.
She would never believe there wasn't something fishy going on.
The system told her that her Healing Ability could cure her infertility, but it would take a certain amount of time.
Coincidentally, the little wolf cub needed food to recover his health as well.
So, she decided to go down the mountain first thing in the morning to buy fresh food.
In the Interstellar Beast World, fresh, unprocessed food was very cheap.
In contrast, various types of canned food and nutritional supplements were more expensive.
The price difference was like that between a rough gemstone and a finished piece of jewelry.
This worked out perfectly for her.
The original owner had little money, only receiving a 3,000-credit subsidy from the Federation each month to get by.
This was also the reason the original owner had sold off several children before.
What Bai Su didn't expect was that no sooner had she left the mountaintop orphanage to buy supplies in the city, than trouble came knocking.
A rowdy group of people came up another mountain path, just missing Bai Su.
With a loud BANG, the gate to the mountaintop orphanage was kicked open.
Several ferocious-looking Beastmen stormed in, clubs in hand. "Bai Su! Get your damn ass out here!"
The Beastmen all appeared to be of an ape or monkey type. They were nearly two meters tall, their bodies rippling with muscle. The hair on their heads stood on end, and their arms were covered in fine, dense fur.
One of the Beastmen swung his club lightly, and with a casual smash, he cracked the stone dining table nearby.
Hearing the commotion, the little wolf cub calmly ran downstairs, his eyes exceptionally cool. "Who are you looking for?"
"Who're we looking for?" The lead Beastman sneered, grabbing him by the collar. "Get that bitch Bai Su out here! She still owes me gambling money. Where does she think she can run?"
The little wolf cub frowned. "She left first thing this morning. If you want to find her, come back later."
To the Beastmen, his composed and calm expression was undoubtedly a provocation.
The Beastman immediately hoisted him high and slammed him onto the ground like a sandbag.
The little wolf cub let out a muffled grunt. He felt as if his insides had been smashed to a pulp, and the suffocating pain made his vision go black.
The lead Beastman swept a hostile gaze over the surroundings. "Search the place! Take anything valuable, and smash what's not! Let that bitch know who she's messing with!"
Hearing this, the other Beastmen grew even more excited. "Alright!"
Like bandits, they kicked aside the little wolf cub who was curled up in a ball and began to ransack the orphanage.
Upstairs, a few of the little ones wanted to rush down, but a single look from the little wolf cub stopped them.
But they were just children, after all. Their thinking was too simple.
After they finished looting and smashing the first floor, the vicious Beastmen quickly went up to the second.
The little tiger cub and the two little cat cubs didn't escape. They were dragged downstairs, dangling by the collars of their shirts.
The little wolf cub's face was deathly pale as he staggered and struggled to stand up.
The Beastmen came down from upstairs, looking smug. "These Little Beastmen aren't bad. Clean, fair-skinned, and able-bodied. They should fetch a good price."
The little wolf cub gritted his teeth and lunged forward. "What you're doing is illegal... COUGH, COUGH..."
"Illegal?" The lead Beastman laughed. "In this part of the suburbs, I, Wang Biao, am the law. You dare talk back to me, you little cripple?"
He kicked the little wolf cub away in disgust.
The little wolf cub's frail body rolled several times before slamming hard into a corner of the wall. Blood gushed from his mouth and nose, a truly miserable sight.
The little cubs started crying in terror. "Brother Doggy!"
"Brother Doggy, don't worry about us!"
"WAHHHH... Bad guys, let us go!"
Wang Biao sneered, prodding the little cubs' stomachs with his club. "Since your director owes me money, and she can't pay up, of course I have to take you as collateral! It's not like she hasn't done this before!"
"Let's go, brothers! After we sell these little cubs, we'll have a feast tonight!"
The little wolf cub struggled to get up, fresh blood pouring from his mouth and pooling on the floor.
He stared intently at the little cubs struggling in the Beastmen's grasp, his gaze dark and terrifying.
But he was simply too weak. So weak that he couldn't fight back at all, even with all his strength.
'So weak that I'm actually hoping that woman will hurry back and save us...'
「An hour passed.」
「Two hours passed.」
The little wolf cub could no longer hold on and collapsed, unconscious.
*
Bai Su rushed back around lunchtime, only to find the place in shambles and the little wolf cub lying in a pool of his own blood.
Her vision swam. 'This is bad,' she thought, a sense of dread washing over her.
The little wolf cub was barely breathing, looking like he was on death's door.
Ignoring the filth, she personally boiled some water, mixed it with lukewarm mineral water, and fed it to the little wolf cub.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the wounds on his body beginning to heal.
'Thank goodness. The water I boil myself has the Healing Ability, too.'
The little wolf cub slowly opened his eyes and saw her right in front of him.
He shoved her away violently. "So you decided to come back?"
Bai Su frowned. "What happened?"
The little wolf cub replied, "Little Tiger and the others were taken to pay off your debt. Are you satisfied now?"
Bai Su quickly understood, her expression turning serious. "Who did this? Do you know them?"
The little wolf cub stared at her grimly, looking as if he might lunge and tear her to pieces at any moment.
Bai Su grabbed him by the collar and said coldly, "If I were you, I wouldn't be wasting time assigning blame right now. We need to save them first!"
The little wolf cub was so angry he wanted to kill her, but he knew she was right.
So he suppressed his rage and recounted the morning's events. "I don't know who they were, only that one of them was called Wang Biao."
Bai Su searched her memories and realized she probably knew who it was.
She raised her right hand and used the smart bracelet on her wrist to report the incident to the police first.
In the Interstellar Beast World, Beastmen communicated using smart-brain bracelets. These devices were a combination of a phone and a computer, operated very simply by brainwaves—in other words, by thought.
Furthermore, the bracelets for males and females were different. Although she was an exiled female, the Federation would still prioritize her emergency call.
A profound look flashed in Bai Su's eyes. She pulled the little wolf cub up from the floor. "Come with me. It'll take a while for the Federation to dispatch someone. We'll go first to stall for time and intercept them."
The little wolf cub was stunned. "You're really going to save them?"
Bai Su was already at the door. "Once Wang Biao gets them to the port that leads to the outer sea, it'll be too late to save them."
Hearing this, the little wolf cub quickly followed her.