Seven Cubs, Seven Fathers, Zero Days Off

Chapter 264: Chapter 262: Depraved Is Not an Overstatement

Life like this was pretty good.

As long as his sister was happy, he was even willing to toss those irredeemably evil beastmen who had offended him into the dense forest to feed her.

But then, he suddenly found his body wracked with an inexplicable, unbearable pain that grew worse each day.

It was only then, in a book his mother had brought back from the island, that he found the secret to the lifespan of a Nine-tailed Cat.

It turned out that while Nine-tailed Cats possessed the ability of longevity, they still aged and were susceptible to a congenital disease.

To remain ageless and avoid the torment of this affliction, they had to produce an heir, passing the illness in their body on to the next generation.

Furthermore, the birth of the next generation would halt their own aging process and allow their spiritual power to grow anew.

This was the defect and secret hidden within the genes of the Nine-tailed Cat Clan for generations.

Hearing this, Shen Yue, Huang Ziyue, and Bai Chaosi recalled the book about Hu Tu’s life they had seen in the secret room the night before.

The very book Hu Tu was talking about.

At the time, when Shen Yue had read the secrets of the Nine-tailed Cat Clan recorded in the book, she had been reminded of a cat from the modern world: the Scottish Fold.

This cat was born adorable, with downward-folding ears and a round head, making it extremely popular with people and a perennial top-ten favorite pet.

However, what many people didn’t know was that those folded ears, hidden beneath their cuteness, were the source of a Scottish Fold’s lifelong suffering.

They carried a genetic mutation. Those folded ears were caused by this mutation, which led to cartilage dysplasia, resulting in lifelong pain and various health problems.

Common ailments included fusion of the tail vertebrae, deformed limb joints, and bone spurs on the toes. Scottish Folds had a lifespan of three to five years at most, and almost all of them died from the pain.

So, when she read that the Nine-tailed Cats developed physical ailments as they aged, Shen Yue immediately made the connection.

The nine tails of a Nine-tailed Cat were likely the cause of their pathological condition. Though their race had gained longevity, it came with this inherent illness.

She looked at Hu Tu. ”So, you planned to sire a direct bloodline Nine-tailed Cat to alleviate your own suffering?”

Hu Tu leaned back on the bed, his expression showing little emotion as he continued:

”That’s right. But the Nine-tailed Cat Clan had already been wiped out by my sister back then. Where in this world was I to find a female Nine-tailed Cat? So, I followed the method in that book and found a closely related Beast Clan to the Nine-tailed Cats: the Raccoon Clan!”

Shen Yue’s eyes narrowed as she listened.

The book did indeed mention that there was another branch of the Beast Clan, the Raccoon Clan, that could also give birth to a Nine-tailed Cat bloodline, but the chances were incredibly slim.

You would be lucky if even one in ten pregnancies produced a Nine-tailed Cat.

Yet for this slim chance, he had reduced Ge Miao to a mere birthing tool.

Shen Yue stared at him.

”So, your first meeting with your wife was a complete sham from the start?”

Hearing her question, Hu Tu showed no trace of guilt on his face.

”Correct. Back then, when I discovered that the youngest and most fertile female in the Raccoon Clan was Ge Miao, I orchestrated a ’hero saves the damsel’ scenario just to meet her.”

”But after getting to know her, I found out she already had four Beast Husbands she was about to marry. In order to make her focus solely on bearing my children, I devised a plan, lured those four to the West City Forest, and fed every last one of them to my sister!”

Shen Yue’s expression darkened as she listened.

’So it really was Hu Tu!’

Last night, when she heard Ge Miao talk about how her four Beast Husbands had died one after another, she had her suspicions.

She felt it had to be connected to Hu Tu.

The auras of Huang Ziyue and Bai Chaosi also grew heavy. This Hu Tu was truly a meticulous schemer who had committed every evil imaginable!

Not only did he kill Ge Miao’s four betrothed Beast Husbands, but he also killed her family!

Calling him monstrous would be an understatement.

Shen Yue’s gaze turned cold as she asked directly:

”Killing her four Beast Husbands was to marry her and have her for yourself. But why did you have to kill her family too?”

Hu Tu faltered for a moment, surprised that Shen Yue knew about that.

But then he figured there was no point in hiding anything now. He said:

”They were asking for it! You can’t blame me!”

Hu Tu explained that after Ge Miao’s four Beast Husbands died, her brother and Father couldn’t let the matter go and were determined to find the truth.

They went to the West City Forest day after day, trying to find out how the four had died.

As a result, they stumbled upon him feeding the Purple Rabbit. Since they had seen him, he certainly wasn’t going to let them remain in this world.

So, he killed them all as well.

Before they died, Ge Miao’s family tried to send her a message, but he intercepted it.

Later, due to his own carelessness, Ge Miao found those letters, but he couldn’t have cared less.

All he wanted was for Ge Miao to give birth to a Nine-tailed Cat for him.

He said that when Ge Miao gave birth to their first children, he was genuinely happy. Even though the two children weren’t Nine-tailed Cats, he was still pleased.

However, the pain from his illness came on too quickly, far exceeding what an ordinary person could endure.

And as it happened, the man in the black robe showed up at his door that year and told him there was another way to temporarily alleviate his suffering before he managed to sire a Nine-tailed Cat.

He gave him a book that described an ancient Abnormal Skill—a skill that could maximize the power of his nine tails.

If he mastered this Abnormal Skill, he would have nine lives and could also split his nine tails into different versions of himself.

He could then distribute the pain in his body among the other eight, greatly reducing the suffering of his main self.

After hearing this, he didn’t hesitate. He spent a month mastering the Abnormal Skill, and from then on, his pain was indeed much more manageable.

Moreover, with the Abnormal Skill, he could split off different versions of himself at any time to run errands for him.

He thought he could just wait patiently for Ge Miao to give birth to a Nine-tailed Cat.

But to his surprise, two months later, the man in the black robe told him that while the Abnormal Skill could lessen his pain, his Nine-tailed Cat ability of longevity would disappear.

And he had less than ten years left to live.

Therefore, he had only one option: sire his own child to completely resolve the illness, and then have the Abnormal Skill undone.

The man in black promised him that as long as he successfully sired a Nine-tailed Cat, he would help him undo the Abnormal Skill.

Then, he could regain his long life.

So, in order to quickly determine whether the children Ge Miao bore him were Nine-tailed Cats, he had no choice but to use the Growth Acceleration Technique the man in the black robe had taught him, making the children grow to the age of seven in about a year.

He didn’t have time to wait for them to turn seven naturally. It was his only choice.

But for three consecutive pregnancies, the results were not what he had hoped for.

Hearing this, Shen Yue could guess what happened next.

A storm of conflicting emotions brewed within her.

’Is this the true nature of humanity in the Beast World?’

’In the end, they are just beastmen, not true humans. That’s why they can kill their own nine children with their own hands just to save themselves, just for so-called immortality!’

Nine of his own flesh and blood, yet he spoke of them so casually.

Every word was an excuse, claiming he had no choice, yet every word reeked of selfishness!