51: Sincerity brings about collapse

"Li!"

It was Gaia.

He shielded Tu Nan behind him, glaring almost furiously at the Male Beast lying on the ground.

"You! How could you doubt Tu Nan like this?"

Incomprehension and disappointment intertwined, attacking the passionate Big Dog.

To him, Li was like a guidepost or an idol; he came from humble roots yet was so strong, appearing omnipotent when hunting in the sands.

"The whole way here, I was so afraid of failing your entrustment..."

He had once felt that it wasn't worth it for Li, thinking Tu Nan wasn't good enough for him. He had doubted Tu Nan, and even... hit her.

But in Gray's tent, and in the endless desert afterward, he had seen everything clearly and understood Tu Nan's persistence.

Tu Nan had taken down a strong team leader all by herself. If he hadn't happened to go back, what would Tu Nan have faced?

Could Li really erase Tu Nan's sacrifices with such a flippant sentence?

"Li, do you know? I feel now that you don't deserve to have Tu Nan."

"She deserves someone better!"

Every word Gaia spoke stimulated Li's nerves, causing the veins on his forehead to throb.

If the army's healing fluid hadn't contained a powerful anesthetic component, he might have jumped up by now to make Gaia shut up.

"Someone better. You?"

He squeezed these words through his teeth, his mind uncontrollably recalling that previous elegant and noble Male Beast.

"You! You're talking nonsense!"

Gaia hopped around in frustration, but he had no more words to defend himself.

What was there to say? Tu Nan and he had already said everything that needed to be said, but Li wouldn't listen to anything.

His brain was probably waterlogged and broken. Gaia shifted slightly, almost stepping forward to help shake the water out of his head.

He was stopped.

Tu Nan reached out and blocked Gaia.

Li's expression grew even colder.

Look at how obedient Gaia was, almost as if he had been tamed by Tu Nan. In his memory, the relationship between Gaia and Tu Nan had never been this close.

Tu Nan's hand stroked her lower abdomen, her entire being radiating a gentle yet firm maternal aura.

"I have a child; don't you know what that means?" Tu Nan said to Li, then gave a slight, reassuring smile to Ji Yu, who was anxiously hovering nearby, not knowing what to do.

"They, the Male Beasts, will never understand our feelings. That's why they can say such cold words."

In Li's impression, Tu Nan had always been timid and weak. But at this moment, the words she spoke were resolute.

"A mother will never harm her own child, even if it hasn't been born yet."

"I will never do it, so give up. I am definitely going to give birth to him."

"I know what you're thinking—that you just don't have the strength right now and can't do anything to me. And... as soon as you recover, you can naturally make me lose this child."

"I'm telling you, it's impossible."

"I will only be with the child. If you want to kill him, there's only one way..."

Tu Nan tilted her head slightly, refusing to let her tears fall.

"Kill me along with him," she said.

"Only by killing me can you kill him!"

Li was stunned by Tu Nan. His lips moved slightly, and his heart twitched with pain.

He hadn't intended for Tu Nan to die just now; why would she say such a thing?

"Is this child... really more important than me?"

Li asked a question that even he didn't understand.

That's right, wasn't his purpose for buying Tu Nan just to get his own child? Then why did he care about the ranking in Tu Nan's heart now?

His gaze wavered, feeling as if he had discovered something important.

"Yes, he is the most important."

Tu Nan answered.

Li instantly felt as if his heart were being squeezed, a throbbing pain.

"More important than me..." he murmured unconsciously.

"Because I've always thought that this is the only thing I can do for Lord Li."

Tu Nan's smile looked worse than crying.

"Only this child can prove that I am useful; only he can let me know that I am unique in this world. Lord Li will have countless Female Beasts, but our child will only have one mother."

She began to laugh wistfully.

"With him, it's impossible for you to forget me. When you see that child, you will remember that there was once such a Foster Mother named Tu Nan."

"She once stayed by your side, and that child is the proof."

She straightened her expression and said seriously to Li.

"You doubt that this child isn't yours? I have no way to prove it. But I have one method."

"And that is—let me give birth to him."

"You will naturally be able to tell from his Beast Form characteristics... and if he is not your child."

"Then please, at that time, kill him, and kill me along with him."

Tu Nan smiled and asked Li.

"It won't take too long, will it? In any case, a disloyal Tu Nan doesn't deserve to be by your side."

Li's throat felt blocked.

He was driven to a dead end by Tu Nan's resolve, yet in that very desperation, fireworks of happiness suddenly exploded in his heart.

Tu Nan daring to say such things meant that the child was absolutely his. She must never have been touched by any other Male Beast.

Tu Nan still belonged to him completely!

He felt a dizzying sensation like drunkenness; this was better than any outcome he had imagined during his wild thoughts along the way.

But immediately, he was struck with horror.

A shiver ran through his body as he realized—if that was the case, it meant that after Tu Nan had gone through thousands of hardships while carrying his child to see him... he had personally dealt her a fatal blow.

He hadn't comforted her, and now he was lying there relying on her care, and yet... he was still hurting her.

No wonder Tu Nan's attitude was becoming increasingly distant.

Li's lips moved, but he didn't know what he could say to save the situation.

Ji Yu had been lingering in a corner of the tent like a ghost. After listening to the argument between the three, she very quickly observed the seemingly resolute Tu Nan and the speechless Li.

She encouraged herself internally and finally spoke up.

"Tu Nan... it's said that before being rescued by the caravan, she had only drunk a little blood. If she had encountered us just one day later, she... she would have starved to death in the desert."

"She had no suitable food in the desert, and despite that... she... she was always running."

"Among us Foster Mothers, no one is like her, only wanting to be with a specific person. Tu Nan is special... so she will suffer more."

Li closed his eyes in pain.

Yes, what Ji Yu said was exactly what he was thinking.

No one required a Foster Mother to maintain her loyalty when her provider went missing; it was almost inconceivable.

Everyone knew that Foster Mothers only adhered to 'reproductive ethics' during the specific period they were owned by a provider.

"Ji Yu... don't say anymore."

Tu Nan lowered her eyelashes and shook her head at Ji Yu, as if she didn't want her deepest feelings to be exposed so nakedly, though her fingertips unconsciously twisted her clothes.

But Ji Yu didn't give up; she spitefully added one last sentence.

"You all think Foster Mothers have no hearts. But we just never meet anyone who treats us with sincerity."

Li looked at Tu Nan... and in that moment, he suddenly understood.

Tu Nan's previous trusting smiles, her gradually relaxing attitude, and her busy behavior in managing their little nest—they were all traces of her sincere devotion.

And he himself.

He wanted Tu Nan to wear the softest clothes and eat the most suitable food. He wanted Tu Nan to smile. The stubborn breath that kept him from closing his eyes even in desperate straits was also sincerity.

It was precisely sincerity that made him unable to control his jealousy.

And it was also this sincerity that had made Tu Nan choose to wait for him during the most difficult times.

But did all of this still exist now? What was Tu Nan thinking now?

He didn't know.

Li's inner world collapsed with a roar.