Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Did he still not understand? He was not the previous nonexistent Elvis who would not get any pressing questions from Gu Mengmeng when he appeared while lugging an injured leg.
She cares for him now.
He could never hide any small abnormality from her eyes.
When Gu Mengmeng knew that Elvis’s life was not in danger, she finally put her heart at ease.
Looking back, she caught Auretin scooping as much meat from the pot as possible.
1Auretin met eyes with Gu Mengmeng, creating a moment of awkwardness.
He shifted his gaze in stiffness but his hand was still in the position of scooping meat from the pot. He had no expression on his face but it gave off an awkward atmosphere.
Gu Mengmeng could not help but chuckle as she asked, “Auretin, what about you? Is your injury serious?”
Auretin cleared his throat and kept his chopsticks. He sat in all seriousness while looking at Gu Mengmeng, maintaining his usual face-paralysis and calm expression. “To me, battling with stray beasts is a daily routine. There’s a limit to how much they can hurt me. So, as compared to Lea, my injuries are lighter, they aren’t that serious.”
Gu Mengmeng shifted her gaze to stare intently at her own knees. After hesitating for some time, she slowly opened her mouth and asked, “What about the others…are they….fine?”
Lea knew that some matters could never be avoided, Gu Mengmeng definitely could see that quite a lot of people were missing from the crowd when they set off two days later.
Pulling Gu Mengmeng into his arms, Lea placed his chin gently on the top of her head and comforted her, “No tribe will dare to say they didn’t suffer a single casualty when battling with stray beasts. Even the previous messenger of the Beast Deity experienced both wins and losses, she didn’t have a straight ‘all-win’ before. So….”
Gu Mengmeng clenched her fists tightly and frowned. The tightness in her throat caused her voice to become dry and hoarse as she probed, “How many people died in the hands of the stray beasts? And how many…..died because of me?”
Lea wanted to say that all of them died in the hands of the stray beasts, but…..how could he successfully trick Gu Mengmeng into believing his lies?
Lea held Gu Mengmeng’s shoulders and said, “You couldn’t control your own emotions because you saw me being in danger, so they died because of me and not you. I’ll become stronger to protect myself and my tribesmen and I won’t let you lose control because of me again. So, don’t push all the responsibilities to yourself, do you hear me?”
Gu Mengmeng was still frowning as she looked up into Lea’s eyes and demanded, “Tell me, how many.”
Lea hugged Gu Mengmeng in his arms, his heart aching for her. Sighing, he confessed, “72 of them died in the battle and….90 died during the beast pressure.”
Gu Mengmeng’s body grew weak as she lied in Lea’s arms.
A majority of the tribesmen applied to join Saint Nazaire during the beauty pageant in Sauder back then. She clearly promised them that she would lead them to live good days but those good days had not yet arrived when they already died in her hands.
Lea patted Gu Mengmeng’s back and said, “Mengmeng, hear me out. In the Beast World, the death of males is an extremely normal matter, this is the result of survival of the fittest that can’t be avoided. The males are useless for not being able to protect their own lives, this is not your fault.”
Gu Mengmeng breathed in deeply and assured him, “Don’t worry, I’m fine. I won’t avoid my responsibilities but I won’t let myself sink in sorrow and self-blame. The most pressing matter is to get hold of the method to control Snake’s abilities as soon as possible so that this tragedy will not happen a second time.”