Help! I transmigrated to a Beast World-Chapter 80: The Return

Three days.

It had been three days since Qing Lin had watched Xin Yi walk back toward wolf territory.

Three days of traveling back to Azure Scale with an emptiness in his chest that felt like it was eating him alive.

Kuan Tie walked beside him. Silent. Somber. His usual cheerful energy gone.

Huo Gen was in his tiger form, carrying supplies. Also silent.

Yue Ling brought up the rear. Her purple eyes sad. Guilty.

They were all quiet.

Because what was there to say?

They had failed.

They had gone to wolf territory for medicine. For a cure. For Xin Yi’s survival.

And they were returning without her.

Qing Lin’s hands clenched into fists. His claws extended slightly, cutting into his palms, but he did not care.

The wolves had taken her.

TAKEN her.

His female. His mate. His Xin Yi. And he had been powerless to stop it.

The rage that had been simmering in his chest for three days was reaching a boiling point. He wanted to destroy something. Burn something. Kill something.

But he kept walking.

Because Xin Yi had asked him to. Had begged him to trust her. To go back to Azure Scale. To wait.

So he would wait.

But not for long.

They reached the border of Azure Scale territory as the sun was setting. The familiar scent of the swamp. The sound of water. The sight of the trees.

Home.

But it did not feel like home without her.

"We are back," Kuan Tie said quietly. Unnecessarily.

"I can see that," Qing Lin muttered.

They walked through the forest. Toward the settlement. Toward the buildings Xin Yi had designed. Had planned. Had poured her heart into.

The buildings she would never see completed.

No.

He shook his head violently.

She WOULD see them completed. Because he would bring her back. No matter what it took.

They emerged into the clearing.

And immediately, snakes started appearing.

"The King returns!"

"King Qing Lin is back!"

"Where is—"

The excitement died quickly.

Because they noticed....noticed the absence...noticed the grim expressions.....noticed that Xin Yi was not with them.

One of the elder females stepped forward. Her eyes scanning the group. "Where is the goddess? Where is Pink Skin? Where is Xin Yi?"

Qing Lin said nothing in response, while Yue Ling looked down ashamed.

"Where IS she?" another snake demanded. "Did something happen? Is she—"

"PINK SKINNNNN!"

A high-pitched voice filled with excitement and happiness, completely oblivious to what was happening.

Xiao Long came RUNNING out of one of the completed houses, his little face bright with joy.

"Pink Skin is back! Pink Skin is—" He stopped, looked around. His smile was faltering. "Where.....where is Pink Skin?"

He looked at Qing Lin. At Kuan Tie. At Huo Gen.

Back to Qing Lin.

"Uncle Qing?" His voice was small now. "Did you get the cure? Is Pink Skin better? Where is she?"

Qing Lin’s heart shattered. He slowly crouched down, and held out his arms.

Xiao Long ran to him, climbed into his arms, but he was still looking around. Still searching.

"Uncle Qing, where is she? I made her a gift! Look!" He held up a crudely woven bracelet made of dried grass. "I made it myself! Kuan Tie’s mate helped me! Is Pink Skin going to like it?"

Qing Lin pulled the child against his chest, holding him tight.

"Xiao Long," he said. His voice was rough and breaking. "They took her."

Silence.

Complete, utter silence.

Xiao Long pulled back. Looked up at him with wide, confused eyes. "What?"

"The wolves. They took Pink Skin. They.....they will not let her go."

The little boy’s face crumpled.

"But......but she promised," he whispered. "She promised she would come back. She said we would build more things. She said she would make me soup. She PROMISED."

"I know, little one. I know."

"Then WHY IS SHE NOT HERE?!" Xiao Long’s voice rose to a wail. "WHY DID THEY TAKE HER?! SHE IS OURS! SHE IS MY PINK SKIN!"

He started crying, loud, heartbroken sobs.

Qing Lin held him. Let him cry. Let him scream. Because he wanted to do the same.

The other snakes were murmuring now. Shocked. Angry. Confused.

Then....

"THEY WHAT?!"

A roar.

Feng Huang appeared from the tree line in his tiger form. Massive. Orange and black stripes rippling. Golden eyes blazing.

He shifted to human form mid-stride, still radiating rage.

"The wolves took Xin Yi?! The WOLVES?!" He looked at Qing Lin. "And you just LEFT her there?!"

"I had no choice!" Qing Lin stood, still holding Xiao Long. "The wolf Alpha, Sha Chen, he threatened to kill us all if she did not stay! She sacrificed herself to save us!"

"Then we go BACK!" Feng Huang snarled. "We gather warriors! We burn their territory to the—"

"It is not that simple," Kuan Tie interrupted. His voice was heavy. "The wolves are......they are far more advanced than we thought."

Everyone turned to stare at him.

"What do you mean?" one of the snake warriors asked.

Huo Gen shifted to human form, his scarred face grim. "The wolves have civilization. Real civilization. Like the goddess people, like Xin Yi."

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

"Buildings made of stone," Yue Ling added quietly. "’Glass windows’. ’Metal tools’. Schools. ’Libraries’. They have everything."

"So Pink Skin left us for THEM?!" An angry female snake hissed. "She chose their fancy buildings over—" 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"NO!" Qing Lin’s voice cracked like thunder, hiis eyes flashing green. "She had NO choice! The Alpha, Sha Chen, he forced her! He threatened to kill me! To kill all of us! She stayed to SAVE us!"

His whole body was shaking now. With rage. With grief. With helplessness.

"She did not want to stay," he continued. Voice breaking. "She.....she cried. She begged me to leave. To be safe. She chose OUR lives over her freedom."

Xiao Long was still crying against his chest.

The settlement was silent.

Qing Lin looked down at the grass bracelet clutched in Xiao Long’s small, shaking hand.

Then slowly, he looked up. The grief in his eyes had been replaced by a cold light that made even the seasoned warriors step back.

"She saved us," Qing Lin said, his voice dropping. "But she is not theirs to keep."

He turned to Feng Huang. The Tiger Alpha was still angry, his claws extended and digging into the dirt. For the first time, the rivalry between Snake and Tiger didn’t matter. They were two predators with a single purpose.

"You said we go back," Qing Lin stated, his gaze locking onto Feng Huang’s golden eyes. "And we will. But we do not go back as a small party of travelers. We go as an army."

Feng Huang bared his teeth in a dark grin. "Tell me when."

Qing Lin set Xiao Long down gently, but his hand lingered on the boy’s shoulder for a moment. Then, he turned to the entire gathering, his voice rising until it filled the clearing like a command from the gods.

"Sha Chen thinks his stone walls and metal tools make him a god. He thinks because he has ’civilization,’ he can steal what belongs to the Azure Scale."

He shifted his form slightly, his skin shimmering with scales, his pupils narrowing into slits.

"He is wrong. We will show him that no wall is high enough to keep out the shadow of the serpent. No metal is strong enough to withstand the claws of the tiger."

Qing Lin raised his hand, his voice turning into a vow that felt written in blood.

"Sharpen your spears. Prepare your poisons. We do not rest. We do not falter."

"In five days, we bring our female home. And if Sha Chen stands in our way......we will turn his ’civilized’ city into a graveyard."

The crowd roared, but Kuan Tie stepped forward, grabbing Qing Lin’s shoulder with a firm grip.

"Stop! My King, did you already forget what she whispered to us before the gates closed?" Kuan Tie’s voice was sharp, cutting through Qing Lin’s blind rage. "She didn’t stay there just to save our skins today. She made a deal with the Wolf Alpha."

Qing Lin turned on him, his hiss dangerous. "A deal to be his mate! I will not—"

"No!" Kuan Tie shouted back. "She convinced him to send ’instructors’ here. She told him that if he wants her to be happy, he has to help ’civilize’ her friends. Sha Chen is sending wolves here to teach us how to build with stone, how to forge metal, and how to use their tools."

Huo Gen narrowed his eyes, the gears turning in his head. "She is bringing the enemy’s secrets directly to our doorstep."

"Exactly," Kuan Tie said, looking at the restless warriors. "If we march in five days, we are just animals running into a slaughterhouse. But if we wait......if we let these wolves come and ’teach’ us......we learn their weaknesses. We take their tools. We learn to fight like they do."

Qing Lin’s hands were still shaking, his claws digging into his palms. The thought of her in that land for one more night was agonizing, but the logic was undeniable.

He gritted his teeth in anger, his eyes fixed on the distant northern peaks.

"Fine," Qing Lin rasped, the word tasting like ash. "We wait. We let them come. We let them ’teach’ us. And the moment we have what we need......"

He looked back at his people, his voice dropping to a deadly low.

"We march in ten days. We learn their ways today so we can kill them tomorrow."

He clutched the grass bracelet Xiao Long had made, his heart heavy but his mind finally clear.

"I am coming, Xin Yi. I will let you play your game for ten more days. But after that......I’m burning that city to the ground to get you back."