Taming the Beast World with a Frying Pan-Chapter 233: System Shop Made in China

For a long, tense moment, the forest remained perfectly still. The only sound was the heavy, bubbling of the fifty-gallon elk stew and the crackling of the fire.

Then, the bushes finally parted.

But it wasn’t the White Tiger Clan that emerged. The rogue strays were the first to come out. They were a ragtag, mismatched group of random beastmen and females of various species who had been surviving on the harsh outskirts of the forest. They crept into the clearing with their shoulders hunched, taking slow, terrified steps.

Their eyes weren’t fixed on the delicious stew, but rather, they were looking warily at the massive, towering White Tiger standing right next to the cauldron. Kael’s reputation as a strong and powerful beastman preceded him, even without his title.

Ren noticed their paralyzing fear. She gently nudged Kael with her elbow.

"Hey," Ren whispered, suggesting to the giant beastman. "Maybe you need to back up a bit. You’re terrifying the customers."

Kael frowned, his thick brows knitting together in displeasure, but he did as told. With a soft grumble, he took a few steps back, giving the strays some breathing room.

The White Tiger Clan, however, was still hiding away in the thick brush, daring not to take a single step forward into the clearing. The white tigers were incredibly proud beastmen. They were warriors. In their minds, they would absolutely not eat from the hands of the female and the fallen King that had caused their total ruin.

But biology is a cruel mistress.

Their stomachs growled so loudly it sounded like a chorus of dying bullfrogs echoing from the trees. Their mouths were salivating uncontrollably, the thick, heavy scent of savory elk meat breaking down all their mental walls. However, their sheer, stubborn pride caused them to plant their feet firmly to the ground, forcing them to remain hidden.

’Fine. Be stubborn,’ Ren thought, rolling her eyes. ’I need to feed the ones who actually came out first anyway.’

Ren opened her System interface. She couldn’t exactly serve piping hot stew into people’s bare hands. She navigated to the System Shop and quickly searched for tableware.

A massive grin broke across her face. She bought a ton of sturdy wooden bowls from the System Shop. They only cost 1 XP each! She really loved the economy that was the System Shop. It was literally like shopping in China. Everything was incredibly affordable, of decent quality, and the shipping was instantaneous.

The few strays that had gathered around the fire dared not meet Ren’s eyes as she looked at them. They kept their heads bowed in submission.

Ren felt a deep, twisting pang of pity for them. Up close, they looked terrible. Many of the male beastmen were sporting old, infected injuries and looked incredibly frail and sick. But what broke Ren’s heart the most were the females. A lot of the stray females were clearly pregnant, their bellies swollen, but the rest of their bodies were nothing but skin and bones. Their faces were hollow, their eyes sunken. They didn’t look nearly healthy enough to carry healthy cubs to term, let alone survive childbirth. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

It was right then and there that Ren made a firm decision.

Her first restaurant would be in this forest. Not just a food stall, but a proper, functional soup kitchen and restaurant to feed these starving people. Since she was going to be splitting her time, she would just have to teach Kael and Altair how to cook! They were both strong and capable. She could teach them the recipes so they could provide for these beastmen and run the franchise when she was away at the swamp with Syris.

"Alright," Ren said, snapping back to the present. "Time to eat."

Ren needed both of her hands to dish out the stew, and she definitely didn’t trust the squirming, ravenous tiger cub in her arms to stay away from the open fire.

She turned and was just about to hand the fuzzy little cub to Kael.

"NO!"

A blood-curdling scream ripped through the clearing. A female white tiger scrambled frantically out of the bushes, her clothes torn and her face twisted in absolute terror.

"Do not put my cub in those hands!" the mother screamed hysterically, lunging forward to snatch the baby from Ren. "His hands are bloodied with the blood of his own kin!"

Following the mother’s dramatic outburst, the rest of the White Tiger Clan slowly crept out from the shadows of the tree line. There were no friendly faces in the crowd. They all wore defiant, bitter, and angry looks on their dirt-smudged faces.

An elder beastman, leaning heavily on a carved wooden walking stick, led them forward. He had a deep, scar running across his chest from the feral rampage.

The elder struck his stick against the dirt, speaking next with a voice trembling with fury.

"You tempt us with food!" the elder angrily accused Kael, pointing a trembling, knobby finger at the deposed King. "You prepare this feast right in front of our noses, knowing full well that we are starving! But it is too late for you to make amends, Kael! It is too late to ask for forgiveness!"

Kael stood entirely still, his golden eyes wide and vulnerable.

"We do not see you as our King!" the elder spat venomously. "You are a tyrant! A tyrant that butchered his own kin in cold blood!"

The words slashed into Kael’s soul like a serrated blade. He flinched visibly, his broad shoulders slumping under the crushing, agonizing weight of his immense guilt.

Ren was immediately quick to his defense. She stepped directly in front of Kael, shielding his massive frame with her small body.

"Stop it!" Ren shouted, glaring at the elder. "I understand your anger, and I know you are hurting, but it is completely unfair of you to blame him for what he couldn’t control! He didn’t choose to go feral! It is a sickness!"

The elder scoffed, his eyes blazing with self-righteous fury. "A King’s mind should be sharp! A King should be stronger than the sickness! He failed us!"

"You are being impossible!" Ren argued passionately, throwing her hands in the air. "Behind that grand title of a King is just a regular beastman! With regular emotions and regular limits! He makes mistakes, just like any single one of you! Are you going to hold those mistakes against him for the rest of his life?!"

The elder didn’t back down an inch. He slammed his stick against the ground again, his voice echoing off the trees.

"Those ’mistakes’ cost us the lives of our brothers and sisters!" the elder roared back. "Those mistakes destroyed our home! And for what?!"

The elder turned his furious glare directly onto Ren, his eyes filled with absolute disgust.

"The White Tiger King abandoned his duties and abandoned us, just to chase after a female who abandoned him for a snake!" the elder shouted.

Ren gasped. Vara’s toxic lies about her had clearly been planted deep, taking dark root in their heads.

"We welcomed you into our village!" the elder continued, his voice cracking with bitter betrayal. "We laughed with you! We ate with you! And in return, you brought us nothing but ruin and death!"

He looked between the stunned human and the broken Tiger.

"Neither of you can ever be forgiven."