82: Let's go, no matter the cost.

"You mean, you want me to send a message to Hain? Are you talking about Hain Montoya from Sea Soul Star? Montoya's eldest son?"

McCoy confirmed again, was it that S-Rank Male Beast who just made a quick stop at Sand Star and then left?

"Yes, Father. Just give him my communication number." Tu Nan's tone barely changed, as if she didn't think it was that important.

"The situation was too chaotic last time, and the military tag he gave me helped me a lot, but I didn't even get a chance to thank him."

McCoy almost choked.

What? Is something like a military tag given out so casually? He tried to get to the bottom of the matter from Tu Nan, but Tu Nan herself wasn't too clear.

"I do have his number," after all, Hain and Jiamu had stayed in Sand City for a long time before. "But you're looking for him...?"

"Ah, he mentioned last time that there's a type of seaweed extract on Sea Soul Star that's good for improving a Children's Rank. I recently asked around, and that item isn't sold externally."

Spirit-Touching Grass, a specialty of Sea Soul Star, a tribute. Only members of the royal family could obtain it.

McCoy frowned: "You want to ask Hain for it?" What was she dreaming of?

"For the Two Children, there's no harm in trying. My last communicator broke, and I lost the saved numbers, and now it's inconvenient to ask Li to help me contact him..."

McCoy always felt like he had grasped some unusual information.

His fingers tapped on the table.

Hain... he had met him a few times. That Male Beast was aloof and noble, and didn't seem like someone who would get entangled with someone else's wife.

But... who knows. There are too many nobles, especially great nobles, who are not what they seem. He raised an eyebrow.

Tu Nan was his goddaughter now. If Hain was really interested in Tu Nan, he wouldn't be at a disadvantage. If Hain didn't even remember who Tu Nan was, his message helping someone wouldn't be a problem either.

"Alright, I'll send it for you. For Ao Ao and Miao Miao, I understand."

Tu Nan ended the communication, and the obediently sweet expression faded from her face. Her complexion gradually turned cold and dark.

She needed to arrange her retreat first, or rather, her next direction.

She couldn't just wait.

She still had many things to prepare. Tu Nan mused internally.

First, the ironclad evidence on the back of her neck.

Tu Nan knocked on Gaia's door again.

"Gaia, I've never asked, do you know if there's any way to remove a Foster Mother's number?"

"Huh?" Gaia had thought Tu Nan was too heartbroken to leave her room today, but she came out again to ask such a strange question.

But he immediately realized what Tu Nan wanted to do.

"You want to remove it? Impossible!" He said decisively: "It uses a special biological dye that permeates layer by layer into the skin, very deep."

"What about digging it out?" Tu Nan asked, she had thought of digging it out before.

Gaia shook his head. "No, it's too deep, and at that location, digging that deep would cause unstoppable bleeding. Moreover, that dye has another characteristic: it resists anesthetics."

He looked at Tu Nan sympathetically.

"A Foster Mother's number is for life; no one can remove it."

Tu Nan didn't think so.

"I want to try," she said. "I have a method, but it requires someone with very steady hands."

And a very steady heart. Tu Nan thought.

Li's hand holding the knife was the steadiest she had ever seen, but she would not ask him anymore.

Hadn't Li made it clear enough? In his eyes, the identity of a Foster Mother was precisely the chain that bound Tu Nan. Since Tu Nan had the thought of leaving, all her preparations would avoid Li.

That would be safer for her.

"I've thought of a way," Tu Nan said.

As she spoke, Gaia's dog-like eyes widened, and cold sweat seeped from his forehead, gradually dripping down.

He couldn't refuse Tu Nan. In other words, he actually wanted to help Tu Nan; he admired Tu Nan from the bottom of his heart.

Li thinking Tu Nan was weak was truly foolish!

Gaia had never seen a Female Beast more resolute or ruthless than Tu Nan.

"Come on." The two of them prepared everything, and Tu Nan sat backward on a chair with a backrest.

Her hair was tied high, revealing her clean, slender neck. Her hands reached forward, holding a pillar under the veranda through a cushion, and a prepared towel was clenched between her teeth.

In Gaia's eyes, Tu Nan sat with her back to him, tightly bound to the heavy chair. Her body, her legs, and her hands were all tightly wrapped with ropes, leaving no room to move.

Tu Nan tapped the pillar with her fingernail, signaling Gaia to begin.

Gaia held a small, sterilized curved dagger, lowering his head. His fan-like palm pressed firmly against Tu Nan's neck, and he shaved a thin, quick layer from the back of Tu Nan's neck.

Tu Nan's body tensed, her struggles and pain clearly visible in Gaia's eyes.

Gaia quickly threw the shaved piece of flesh into a basin nearby, then immediately sprayed hemostatic spray on the wound.

Tu Nan struggled continuously. Gaia watched until the wound stopped bleeding before removing the towel from Tu Nan's mouth.

"...Can you still bear it?"

He didn't ask Tu Nan if she was alright; that was pointless.

No anesthetic, scraping layer by layer, each treatment done separately.

This tested both Tu Nan... and him.

The towel was pulled away, and Tu Nan panted heavily. This was just the first cut, and her vision was already blacking out in waves.

The pain in the back of her neck, combined with the mental pressure from enduring it, made her head feel like it was about to explode.

It took her a long time to recover, and she asked faintly, "What about you... can you hold on?"

Gaia didn't know what to say; was he the key here?

"Tow...el," Tu Nan struggled to express, "stuff it in, I'm afraid of waking the Children."

Gaia's eyes welled up. He said no more, put the towel back, and let Tu Nan continue biting it.

He stared intently at the gruesome wound, thinking incongruously: If it were Li... his knife would be faster, and Tu Nan would suffer much less.

But he immediately realized something.

Li's words today were likely the reason Tu Nan made this decision.

Other things gradually faded from his eyes, leaving only the black dye attached to the flesh. His breathing gradually calmed, and his hand became steadier.

He pressed down on Tu Nan. This time, lightly, another cut fell.

The passage of time gradually lost its meaning. Both of them entered an unspeakable Realm; at the peak of pain, the mind was completely blank.

Tu Nan only remembered one thing.

She didn't want to be a Foster Mother; she wanted to live.

And she had changed. Just living was no longer enough for her; she also had to live... with dignity.

Layer after layer of treatment liquid, enduring it again and again.

Finally, Gaia released her. He patted her cheek to call back her utterly dazed consciousness.

"Tu Nan, wake up." Gaia called her. "Li will be back soon."

Tu Nan suddenly opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was—

"Mommy!" Miao Miao had transformed into a small furball, opened the window, and was squatting on the windowsill, seeing Tu Nan covered in blood and looking half-dead.

"How dare you hurt my mommy!"

Miao Miao's eyes instantly burned with fury, and her beast form suddenly expanded.

A majestic White Tiger, treading on golden flames, glared at Gaia.

"Go to hell!"