45: Chapter 45 I want to find you...

"Hahahaha! Don't be afraid, I, your master, will not hurt you!" the Lion King said arrogantly.

Hu Mo saw the scene before him and was stunned.

This was not what he had imagined.

He thought the monsters would instantly tear them to shreds, and that he would perish with them to avenge his family.

But why had these monsters stopped moving?

Could the Lion Clan really be descendants of the Beast God?

Suddenly, the largest monster tentatively lunged forward.

Tang Ruan's belly immediately emitted a fan-shaped blue light, which shifted from blue to purple.

The monster slowly retreated.

But a moment later, the monster tested the waters again.

Tang Ruan's belly emitted the purple light once more.

Tang Ruan looked at her belly and fell into deep thought.

She remembered two puppies testing each other's strength.

If one side flinched at that moment or gave the other an opening, the other would immediately bite.

So... was the Baby making the monsters afraid to come near?

"Hahahaha! Don't be afraid.

Come to your master's side quickly."

The Lion King excitedly waved at the monsters.

Some monsters circled to the other side of Tang Ruan, aiming for the Lion Clan beastmen.

They probably felt that there was nothing over there that could threaten them.

Hu Mo seemed to understand as well.

He quietly moved behind Tang Ruan.

"Are they afraid of you?"

"I... I don't know..."

Lang Lie had originally been guarding not far from the cave.

Suddenly, he felt a very powerful Energy surging within the valley.

He had never felt such a unique Energy in the valley before.

Was it a new monster?

Lang Lie intended to get closer.

Suddenly, a loud noise came from inside the cave.

The Lion King jumped down from the cave entrance.

"Is the opening big enough now?

Hurry up and follow me!"

Tang Ruan saw fine golden specks of light falling along with the rubble.

This must be what Mother Potato called the "Beast God's Seal."

Monsters could not break the Seal, but an ignorant beastman could.

The next second, countless monsters crowded and rushed into the cave entrance.

They even killed each other to fight for the right to go in.

The five lion-beasts, along with Hu Mo, turned into blood and gore in the blink of an eye.

Hu Mo's head flew past Tang Ruan's eyes.

A smile still lingered on the corner of his lips.

Tang Ruan was knocked to the ground by the immense impact.

At that critical moment, a force caught her in mid-air.

"Lang Lie!"

Lang Lie's blue Supernatural Ability held her up.

The purple light on Tang Ruan's belly surged.

This time, even Lang Lie saw it.

His Baby actually possessed such powerful Energy.

The Baby forced the monsters back step by step.

Finally, the broken stones slowly rose, and sand and gravel swirled rapidly inside the cave.

Soon, this entrance would be completely sealed.

Tang Ruan's face was pale.

She felt waves of twisting pain in her belly, as if someone wanted to tear her apart from the inside.

Some powerful monsters were still struggling to crawl out.

Lang Lie held Tang Ruan tightly, giving her all his strength.

The moment the entrance was sealed...

A long, thin monster darted out.

Lang Lie had already transformed into his Beast Form.

Tang Ruan collapsed weakly against him.

"Go kill it quickly...

You must not... let it run to our tribespeople."

Lang Lie didn't move.

He lowered his head.

Tang Ruan could only force herself to climb onto his back.

Lang Lie was as swift as the wind.

He handed Tang Ruan to Mother Potato.

"Wait for me to return."

After saying these words, he disappeared before everyone like the wind.

"Tang Ruan, what's wrong with you?" Mother Potato's voice trembled.

Because she saw the red glow of the Baby on Tang Ruan's wrist becoming fainter and fainter...

Tang Ruan felt a warmth flowing down to her knees.

"Mother Potato, I think I'm bleeding..."

---

One week later.

Lang Lie still hadn't returned.

"According to the tracks, the boss must have fallen into the volcano with the monster," Lang Chi said with his head lowered.

Tang Ruan gazed at the hot spring lake in the middle of the dormant volcano.

"Have you gone down to look?"

"We have, but this lake is bottomless.

We took turns diving down, but none of us could see the bottom."

Tang Ruan still stared blankly at the lake.

Suddenly, she lifted her foot and walked toward the center of the lake.

"Tang Ruan!

Tang Ruan, calm down!"

Lang Chi carried her back.

Potato and other female beastmen of the Wolf Clan also scrambled to hold her down.

They had been searching here day and night for seven days.

Who didn't want to find Lang Lie?

He was their patriarch!

He was the hero of the entire Dongdong Valley!

He was the brother they had grown up with!

But he just wasn't there...

How could he not be?

Lang Feng regretfully beat his own head.

Lang Yu used his wind-type Supernatural Ability to dive down again and again.

They all regretted it deeply.

If they hadn't listened to their boss that day and had insisted on following him, this wouldn't have happened.

They had trusted him too much!

Because Lang Lie had never let them down before.

"I wish it were me who died," Lang Mo said, looking into the distance.

Lang Yue was startled.

He smiled at her, "I'm telling the truth, not for your sake."

Lang Yue was terrified that Tang Ruan would tell everyone about what happened that day.

But Tang Ruan seemed so overcome with grief that she was almost insane.

She had no mood to pursue the matter of that day at all.

Besides, if she hadn't locked Tang Ruan there that day, and the monsters hadn't been sealed back by Tang Ruan's Baby, they all would have died!

Thinking about it this way, she could consider herself to have saved everyone.

Lang Yue had already prepared her excuses.

But Tang Ruan never said anything.

She seemed not to care about anything anymore.

Mother Potato walked up to Tang Ruan and placed a blue-purple crystal in front of her.

"This is the Baby."

Tang Ruan's eyes lit up.

Since confirming that something had happened to Lang Lie, this was the first time in these past few days that her eyes had any spark.

But soon, that light dimmed again.

"He is dead..."

Mother Potato sat down beside her and hung the crystal, which was tied with a string, around her neck.

"I heard my mother say before that after a High-level Beastman dies, a crystal is produced.

It is his soul, unwilling to leave his family, trapping itself in the crystal.

When there is a chance, he will return to be your family again."

Tang Ruan stroked the crystal on her neck.

"It won't have a chance."

Mother Potato waved her hand, telling the others to walk away.

She suddenly lowered her voice and said mysteriously to her: "Tang Ruan, I will tell you a secret."

Tang Ruan turned her head.

She saw two Beast Husband Marks behind Mother Potato's ear.

One was brown, and one was black.

Tang Ruan didn't understand what she meant.

"Tang Ruan, you know I had two Beast Husbands who died many years ago, right!

Now, I only have one Beast Husband."

Tang Ruan's eyes widened suddenly, as if she understood what she meant.

"You mean, one of your Beast Husbands didn't die?"

"Yes," Mother Potato smiled, "I think he didn't die.

When a beastman dies, the Beast Husband Mark disappears.

He must have lost his memory, or for some reason went to a world we don't know about.

That's why he hasn't returned."

While Mother Potato was speaking, Tang Ruan was already looking at her wrist.

That cinnabar mole-like little red wolf tooth—it was still there!

In that case, Lang Lie was still alive!

She saw hope again.

Mother Potato watched her happy expression.

She didn't have the heart to tell her that, actually, just because the Beast Husband Mark was present didn't mean the Beast Husband was still alive.

It might just be that his last bit of obsession in this world hadn't disappeared yet.

---

Tang Ruan searched for another three months.

She still couldn't find him.

She began to accept the reality that Lang Lie was dead.

"I feel like living is quite meaningless."

Her fingers stroked the sharp stone knife.

She would kill Lang Yue first, then she would go to accompany Lang Lie...

Potato was scared and quickly gathered up all the sharp things in the cave.

"Don't let your imagination run wild!"

She called Mother Potato over.

Mother Potato rushed over and hugged Tang Ruan tightly.

"Child! Just pretend he is living in another world, and you must live well too!"

Another world?

Tang Ruan's eyes lit up.

That's right, for her, this place was another world.

She had traveled here from near the volcano.

Did that mean the volcano crater was the entrance to her original world?

Lang Lie had disappeared after falling in.

Perhaps he had traveled to her original world.

It must be!

He was in her world!

He just didn't know how to come back!

Tang Ruan couldn't suppress the excitement in her heart.

She wanted to tell everyone her thoughts, but she was afraid they wouldn't believe her.

In the end, she told no one.

When it got dark and everyone was asleep, she snuck to the lakeside alone.

Under the moonlight, the lake water looked like a dreamy piece of obsidian.

"Lang Lie, you told me to wait for you.

But I don't want to wait anymore.

I want to go find you..."