Seven Cubs, Seven Fathers, Zero Days Off

Chapter 267: Chapter 265: The Truth 2

It was all so incredibly fake. Even she couldn’t distinguish truth from falsehood, let alone Xiao Ya, who had been abandoned since childhood, repeatedly sold, and forced to endure the coldest, darkest facets of human nature. Now, having witnessed the very moment a pillar crashed toward her—while the brother who claimed to love her rushed in the opposite direction—how could she possibly tell what was real? Perhaps she didn’t even know who truly cared for her or who had genuinely cherished her.

But Shen Yue was certain of one thing: even after Xiao Ya transformed into a bloodthirsty, murderous purple rabbit, she had never hurt her fake brother. Even when she slaughtered all the Nine-tailed Cats on that island, even when she drained people’s life essence in her sleep at night, she had never harmed or fed upon the mother and father who raised her.

Perhaps in a monster’s world, affection was simply that—uncomplicated and straightforward. It could devour everyone else, but it wouldn’t eat you. Though bloodthirsty, murderous, and detestable, it would never kill the one it loved. A monster’s heart was perhaps just that pure; it could care nothing for the rest of the world, yet love only one person.

Hearing her words, dark currents of regret and a trace of shame surfaced on Hu Tu’s face. He revealed an even more heartbreaking truth. He said that when he rushed toward the two children, it was merely to conceal the Lock Breath Technique on their bodies the moment they stopped breathing.

Xiao Ya hadn’t known he was the one who killed them. She thought the attack was just a tragic accident that claimed the lives of Hu Tu’s children. Therefore, she believed he had rushed over out of concern for them. After all, they were his own flesh and blood. Choosing them over her was excusable, something she could understand.

But it wasn’t until Xiao Ya discovered that Hu Tu had intentionally killed the two children that she lost control of her emotions that night, transforming into the purple rabbit and dashing toward the dense forest in the west of the city. In the woods that night, she went berserk, draining the life essence of countless fierce beasts and living creatures. When one of Hu Tu’s clones tried to stop her and explain, she even clawed him. That was the first time in all those years that the purple rabbit had ever hurt Hu Tu.

Listening to this, Shen Yue, Huang Ziyue, and Bai Chaosi felt a suffocating weight in their chests, as if something was blocking their hearts. Detestable as Xiao Ya was, she was equally pitiable. But Hu Tu was simply pure evil.

To save his own life, all his so-called affection and brotherly love for his sister had been entirely fake. He had rushed to the two children for his own selfish sake, terrified his secret would be exposed, completely abandoning Xiao Ya. It would have been fine if she had never known, but once she found out, how could she ever forgive him?

No wonder Xiao Ya clung so desperately to the lie Bai Chaosi had given her. It was simply because she had never experienced what genuine kindness was.

The night Hu Tu mentioned was actually the same night Shen Yue and Huang Ziyue consummated their marriage. That was the night Bai Chaosi stood in their courtyard until dawn. Little did they know, Xiao Ya had also transformed into the purple rabbit and gone on a rampage in the western forest.

No wonder the subordinate from the Mystic Mechanism Building had reported that Hu Tu was injured when he emerged from that forest. It turned out he had been clawed by the purple rabbit. And the two-horned rhinoceros they had seen when they went to investigate had also been killed by Xiao Ya during her rampage that night! Everything lined up perfectly.

Hearing this, Shen Yue immediately made another connection. ”So, the people of Luoxi Town were also slaughtered by Xiao Ya that night?”

Hu Tu did not mince words. ”Exactly. In truth, the people of Luoxi Town more than deserved to die. The filthy deeds they committed behind closed doors warranted their extermination long ago. If you call me cruel, I’m not even half as bad as them. They constantly abducted females from other Beast Clans. They kept some in the town to breed, and if any dared to run, they would break their legs without hesitation. Others they sold to even more remote Refugee Tribes, turning them into sex slaves just to vent those males’ bestial lusts. And the rest, they sacrificed to the river—tying stones to their bodies and drowning them to appease the Beast God.”

Shen Yue listened in shock. To think such atrocities occurred in Luoxi Town! Was this the true face of the Beast World? A place overflowing with crime, human trafficking, gore, violence, dark superstitions, and endless strife—a cycle of the most horrific things imaginable.

Just as her mind reeled from the implications, Hu Tu revealed there was more. ”That’s not even the worst of it. The most savage thing they do is eat the flesh of their own children. None of the deceased cubs or children were ever buried. As soon as a child in the town died, they would immediately eat them instead of burying them!”

Shen Yue’s spine stiffened. It felt as though a bolt of lightning had struck her soul, leaving her spirit trembling in horror. Beside her, Huang Ziyue and Bai Chaosi also went rigid, storms brewing in their eyes.

Eating children?

A sudden wave of nausea washed over Shen Yue. She felt utterly powerless, suffocated by the sheer weight of this depraved world. If they were even eating their own children, humanity had already been pushed past the point of no return. Who could possibly save the people of this world?

As Hu Tu spoke, his eyes were filled with desolate mockery. ”So, did a town like that deserve to be slaughtered or not? A century ago, someone from the Fire Fox Clan of Ye Country’s royal family went and exterminated that cancer in Luoxi Town. But he was too soft-hearted and spared a few children. Those children had almost been eaten by the townsfolk before that Fire Fox saved them. Yet, all they remembered was the Fire Fox massacring their town; they never knew he was their savior. They carved the incident into the stone walls and passed the tale down to their children for generations. To this day, the people of Luoxi Town harbor a deep-seated hatred for the Fox Clan!”

So that was why they so vehemently claimed to hate the Fox Clan! That was the reason Bai Chaosi had suffered that inexplicable, brutal beating!

If one spoke of sin, who in this Beast World was truly innocent? Even if they harbored no sinful intent, they were all stained by the sins of their existence. This world was a living hell—a hell where people ate each other! They believed Xiao Ya was guilty of slaughtering the townsfolk. But to those who had been eaten, sold, sacrificed to the river, or beaten to death by the people of Luoxi Town—had they not believed Luoxi Town deserved to die?

The room fell into a heavy silence. None of them had expected the price of the truth to be so cruel and bloody. Shen Yue’s chest felt so tight she couldn’t speak. After a long while, she steadied her emotions, intending to uncover everything before leaving this filthy place for good.

”But yesterday, after Xiao Ya returned to the City Lord Mansion, she scratched her arm on some wood splinters in our courtyard early in the morning. You clearly took her to see a doctor. She should have been resting in the City Lord Mansion. Why is it that when we went to investigate the western forest, the purple rabbit appeared there at the exact same time?”