Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Coming-of-Age Rite

The sight of the meat made Su Yan’s stomach lurch again. “Get away from me.”

The young man noticed her disgust and casually tossed the meat to a half-grown boy. Then his gaze swept Su Yan from head to toe, lingering with open appetite.

“Oro owes me two crystal coins,” he said lazily. “Why don’t you pay it off instead?”

“If he owes you, go ask him,” Su Yan snapped. “Why should I cover his debt?”

With the meat out of her face, she could finally look at him properly.

He was annoyingly good-looking—long, slightly upturned eyes with a flirtatious edge, a roguish swagger in the way he stood. Muscles built from real work. He wasn’t wearing leaves like some of the others; his coarse linen clothes made him look like someone with resources.

“Got a temper, huh.” He smacked his lips, eyes cutting over her thin frame. “Females are valuable, sure, but you’re so skinny you might not even manage to have a child. If someone’s willing to keep you, you should thank the Beast God.”

“What does my figure have to do with whether I can get pregnant?”

Besides, she had the childbearing System. She didn’t even get to choose.

Su Yan didn’t bother arguing. She turned and walked deeper into the tribe.

The young man followed, unhurried and confident.

It wasn’t only her face. It was her eyes—clear, steady, and cold in a way that didn’t belong here. The more he looked, the more he wanted.

“What do you want?” Su Yan asked, shoulders tightening.

“To collect the debt,” he said, as if it were obvious.

“Right,” she said flatly. “From Oro.”

His grin widened a fraction.

“Lin Lang.”

A middle-aged man with a heroic face and steady presence strode over. His aura was calm, but heavy, like a stone planted in the earth. “Two crystal coins, is it? I’ll pay you now.”

He tossed two pale-green crystal stones to the young man.

Lin Lang caught them, then looked back at Su Yan, desire sharpening into possessiveness. “Oro, name your price. I want her.”

Only then did Oro truly look at Su Yan’s face.

Recognition flickered—an old memory of an albino mouse female he’d once kept at Breeding Den, a female who had vanished without a trace.

Could this be the daughter she’d borne?

Females from Breeding Den usually had poor fertility, but pregnancy wasn’t impossible. There were precedents.

“In two days, it’ll be the coming-of-age rite,” Oro said bluntly. “The tribal shaman will rank the females’ fertility then. We’ll talk after that.”

Lin Lang snorted. “With how skinny she is, no one will want her. By then, forget two crystal coins—she might not even be worth two red coins.”

“She hasn’t been tested,” Oro snapped. “Why are you so impatient?”

Then, to Su Yan: “Come with me.”

Su Yan gave Lin Lang one last look—enough to read the hunger in his eyes—then followed Oro.

Behind her, Lin Lang stared after her, gaze narrowed with certainty.

Oro led her to a cave. A flat patch of ground lay in front of the entrance, and on it a slim, handsome youth—five parts similar to Oro—was hanging strips of jerky to dry.

When he saw Oro bring someone back, he called out, “Dad, do we have a guest?”

“Little Luo,” Oro said, “this is your sister.”

Little Luo froze. “Sister?”

“Put her in the empty cave room next to yours,” Oro continued. “I’m going to the tribal shaman.”

He snatched a strip of dried jerky from the rack and left in a hurry.

Su Yan’s gaze caught on the fruit sitting nearby. The sharp, sweet scent hit her, and hunger lunged at it like something feral.

She grabbed one and bit down.

Two bites in, her stomach rebelled. She doubled over and vomited.

Her body couldn’t take fruit.

Little Luo rushed closer, alarmed. “How long have you been starving?”

“I don’t know,” Su Yan said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, breath shallow.

Her eyes drifted to the half-dried meat.

Raw, dripping meat made her sick—but the jerky, darkened and firm, didn’t.

Worse, it sparked a sudden craving so sharp it startled her.

Little Luo darted inside and returned with a bowl of white liquid. “This is goat milk. Only Dad usually drinks it, but you look weak. Have some.”

“Thank you.”

Su Yan took the bowl and drank quickly.

The smell was strong and wild, but it stayed down. Warmth spread through her, thin comfort against the ache in her belly.

She exhaled slowly. “What’s the coming-of-age rite? And what is a tribal shaman?”

Little Luo’s expression softened. He answered without hesitation.

The coming-of-age rite was the day the Mouse Clan tested the fertility of unmarried adult females—and chose beast husbands. It happened three or four times a year, depending on how many females came of age.

In Beast World, females were born weak. Their only role was to reproduce. Hunting and raising children depended entirely on males.

A female survived by attaching herself to males. That was simply how it was.

The male-to-female ratio was close to twenty to one, so only very powerful males could keep a female all to themselves.

Most females lived with multiple beast husbands.

One female with many males wasn’t strange here. It was survival.

Even so, some males still ended up alone.

That was why Breeding Den existed.

Beastmen without a daughter-in-law could go there to satisfy their needs, as long as they paid a small amount of supplies.

A female’s fertility was judged by Fertility Stone.

A female dripped blood onto Fertility Stone. The stronger her fertility, the more clearly it reacted.

If not, it barely responded—or didn’t at all.

Females judged to have low fertility were treated like discarded offspring and sent to Breeding Den.

At most they lasted two years. Sometimes only a few months. Naturally fragile females died quickly when wave after wave of males used them until their bodies broke.

By the time Little Luo finished, Su Yan’s fingers had tightened around the empty bowl.

Oro returned.

When he heard she’d drunk goat milk, he didn’t comment. He only said, “I’ve registered you with the tribal shaman. Pearl Mi Lu Te—that’s your name. At the coming-of-age rite, you’d better perform well. Otherwise you’ll be sent to Breeding Den.”

“Isn’t Lin Lang the backup?” Su Yan asked.

She’d seen the way Lin Lang looked at her, like she was property. And his clothing marked him as better off than most.

Oro’s brows lifted slightly. Most females didn’t notice anything beyond food and fear. It surprised him that she had. “Fine. Two crystal coins as the minimum.”

Su Yan hesitated, then asked, “Why didn’t you suspect I might not be your child?”

Oro answered without hesitation. “I can smell my bloodline on you. A male can recognize his offspring by instinct. Otherwise, when multiple beast husbands share one female wife, how would they know which child belongs to whom?”

“So that’s how it is.” Su Yan steadied herself. “And I don’t want to be called Pearl. My name is Su Yan.”

Oro studied her for a moment, then grunted. “Fine.”

“I want to rest.”

Oro turned toward the cave. “Little Luo, take your sister to her room. If she wants to eat, give her whatever she asks for.”

Two days later, the coming-of-age rite arrived.

Oro tossed Su Yan a set of coarse linen clothes—his wife’s. They were worn and ill-fitting, but better than leaves.

Only after asking Little Luo did Su Yan learn Oro’s wife had only middle-grade fertility. Pregnancy had been difficult enough to nearly kill her. She’d finally given birth to Little Luo… and died not long after.

Oro had also suffered a serious injury on a hunt. He’d recovered, but his strength had fallen sharply.

He could only catch small prey now—wild chickens, rabbits. Large beasts were too hard. And with Little Luo grown, needing supplies to find a female of his own, Oro hadn’t remarried. He only visited Breeding Den occasionally to relieve his urges.

Su Yan understood what that implied.

Crescent—this body’s birth mother—was very likely a female from Breeding Den.

With Little Luo beside her, Su Yan walked toward the tribe’s most sacred place.

The Beast God Temple.