The saber-toothed tiger struggled desperately, opening its massive, blood-filled jaws to bite him, but no matter how hard it tried, it couldn't reach him.
Before long, its eyes rolled back as it was strangled, breathing in more than it could breathe out — it was clearly near death.
Su Xiyue watched the scene from a distance, unable to help but gasp.
Mo Lin truly lived up to his reputation as a peak fifth-rank beastman. Even the saber-toothed tiger, the so-called king of the forest, was no match for him.
Soon, the saber-toothed tiger was strangled to death.
Mo Lin released the beast, hovering in mid-air. His black scales shimmered coldly in the sunlight, giving him an extremely intimidating appearance.
In the next moment, black light flickered around the giant python's body as it rapidly shrank in size. Finally, it transformed into a tall, strikingly handsome beastman.
His sharp and profound features resembled an ancient deity carved in stone — aloof, distant, cold, and unapproachable.
That was Mo Lin.
Su Xiyue dusted herself off and crawled out from the bushes. Looking down at the strangled saber-toothed tiger lying on the ground, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
That damn tiger was finally dead — it had almost bitten her to death and interrupted her bathroom break halfway through.
Her gaze shifted to Mo Lin, her expression tinged with gratitude. "Thank you for saving me."
If only he had arrived sooner, she wouldn't have had to roll down the hillside.
But no matter what, he had saved her. Expressing thanks was necessary.
Mo Lin's gaze landed on her. He noticed the grass skirt she was wearing and twitched the corner of his mouth.
What on earth was she wearing? A few leaves barely covering anything?
Layers of fat piled up all over her body, making her look unbearable to behold. She'd be better off wearing a beastskin skirt.
At least then it wouldn't be so obvious.
A flicker of disgust crossed his eyes as he muttered silently, Really ugly.
Still, her skin seemed a bit paler now, less rough and sloppy. The pimples on her face had all subsided, making her look somewhat more pleasant.
She finally had a hint of femininity — but still, she was ugly.
Especially that set of huge buck teeth. They were an eyesore, and he wanted nothing more than to pull them all out, one by one, and replace them.
Su Xiyue felt a little strange under his gaze, especially since the man kept staring at her mouth with a look of disdain, carrying a hint of danger.
That dog of a man — could it be he wanted to pull her teeth?
Though she knew her buck teeth were ugly, she certainly wouldn't let anyone yank them out casually.
Besides the question of how it would affect eating, she was sure speaking would become a disaster.
She instinctively stepped back two paces, covering her mouth and watching him warily. "What do you want?"
Seeing her on high alert, especially in her wary eyes, Mo Lin felt inexplicably annoyed.
His face darkened, a trace of displeasure in his tone. "I don't want anything. I'm just checking if your buck teeth can be fixed. If they can, better to fix them early — it's painful to look at."
That set of teeth really affected the overall impression.
Even though her skin had lightened and her acne cleared, those teeth still hurt the eyes.
And all that excess fat — he wanted to carve it off with a bone knife.
He didn't realize that his attention to Su Xiyue was growing. If it were before, he wouldn't have looked at her twice, let alone think about fixing her teeth.
Su Xiyue was surprised to hear this.
Did this dog of a man actually care about her teeth?
No — it was definitely disgust.
Still, her teeth were indeed ugly.
She had wanted to straighten those buck teeth, but this wasn't the apocalypse, nor was this Chu Youyou's modern world with dental orthodontics.
She could only hope her favorability rating would increase, so she might get system rewards and fix them.
She lowered her hand from her mouth, smiling faintly with a hint of teasing, "Of course they can be fixed. As long as you don't hate me and treat me a little better, my teeth can be fixed."
Mo Lin was briefly stunned, not quite understanding what she meant. If I don't hate her and treat her better, her teeth can be fixed? What nonsense was that?
He wasn't about to argue with her. His gaze returned to her, full of disdain as he coldly sneered, "Change that outfit quickly. It's really painful to look at. Or are you doing this on purpose to seduce me?"
Su Xiyue rolled her eyes in silent exasperation.
This dog of a man had such mysterious confidence. Who was trying to seduce him?
"My beastskin skirt was torn to shreds by the saber-toothed tiger. If I don't wear this grass skirt, do you want me to run around naked? If you find it painful to look at, then don't look," she said bluntly.
She was perfectly comfortable wearing it — and it was cool.
Besides, she covered all the places she needed to. She wasn't exposing anything inappropriate. What was there to hate?
Really, what a pain.
Mo Lin's face darkened further. Now he was even more convinced she was deliberately trying to seduce him.
With that thought, his eyes flickered with disdain again.
He ignored her and transformed back into his original form, tail coiling around the saber-toothed tiger's corpse as he left.
He didn't even say goodbye to Su Xiyue or care about her safety.
After all, the leader had only instructed Ye Ling to take care of her — not him. Saving her earlier was already more than expected.
Mo Lin walked quickly, afraid that if he slowed down, Su Xiyue would pester him endlessly.
Su Xiyue watched him leave without a word, her expression sour.
She snorted and muttered under her breath toward his departing figure, Dog of a man.
Then she turned and followed the path in her memory, heading back to where she had left the backpacks.
Under the chestnut tree, eight backpacks were lined up side by side, each packed full.
A small smile curved her lips.
Today's harvest was quite good. Once the tribe's beastmen hunters returned, they could finally head back.
With so many beastmen around, they would surely find a way to transport all these supplies back.
She moved all eight fully loaded backpacks to a spot separate from Ye Ling's.
She hadn't forgotten that dog of a man had told her to wait there.
Of the five beastmen hunters, except for Bai Qi who was somewhat better, the others were even worse dogs than him.
Especially Qing Zhu, who was too lazy to even talk to her.
The word "disdain" might as well have been written all over their faces.
Su Xiyue sighed softly, feeling the weight of the strategy mission pressing down on her. It wasn't going to be easy to complete.
She shook her head, tossing all those messy thoughts aside, and started hauling the supplies.
Each backpack was packed full and heavy. After several trips back and forth, she was drenched in sweat, gasping for breath.
But at least everything was moved over.
Su Xiyue took a short rest, eating two wild bananas and then a goat's milk fruit, sitting quietly under the tree as she waited.
It was still early; the hunters hadn't returned yet.
She wondered whether she should go look around nearby for anything else.
From a distance, she spotted a giant wolf covered in silvery-white fur approaching. Its eyes were fierce, bloodstained, and it carried a huge, bloody prey in its jaws.
It looked like a rhinoceros—but not quite. She didn't know the species, though it was massive and seemed to have plenty of meat.
Obviously, the hunters were back. If not Ye Ling, then who else?
Surprised, she stayed put under the tree, with no intention of approaching.
Ye Ling was even more insufferable than Mo Lin, and far more annoying to her. She didn't want to go looking for trouble.
Even though Ye Ling was one of her targets, she wasn't about to be the only one putting in effort.
Ye Ling noticed Su Xiyue sitting obediently, not running around, and felt a flicker of surprise.
When had Su Xiyue become so well-behaved?