Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Reduced to a Plaything?

Su Yan hadn’t eaten that well in ages.

When she thought the leopard wasn’t paying attention, she even bit off a few thick chunks and tucked them into system space for later. Survival made thieves of everyone.

Only when she was nearly stuffed did she crawl out of the fish’s belly.

And the moment she lifted her head, she met the leopard’s gaze.

Those golden slit pupils were almost too beautiful—rich and luminous, like coins minted by the sun.

“What’s your name?” the leopard asked.

It spoke with a low, deep voice threaded with a lazy, magnetic rasp.

It could talk.

Su Yan went rigid.

A beastman, then?

She’d assumed it might be a devil beast. But a devil beast couldn’t speak.

And a black leopard beastman should belong to a tribe in the East District.

Su Yan had been moving west to east since entering the Senyu Beast Forest, but she hadn’t felt like she’d traveled far at all. She still hadn’t reached the Heavenly Chasm—the border between the West District and the East District—so how had she run into an East District beastman first?

How had he crossed that chasm?

She’d heard the Heavenly Chasm belched magma and underground fire year-round. Unless you could fly, no beast could pass. Even the East District’s birds rarely appeared in the West District.

Compared to the East District’s prosperity, the West District was painfully barren.

Su Yan forced herself still and played stupid, doing her best impression of an ordinary little white mouse .

The leopard tilted its massive head, gaze narrowing as if it could smell lies.

The fur along Su Yan’s tail stood straight up.

When she still didn’t answer, the leopard rose, ate the remaining fish, then caught her in its mouth again and began walking—this time toward the West District side of the Beast Forest.

Su Yan’s mind raced.

What did it want with her?

She wasn’t even enough to fill the space between its teeth.

Unless…

Unless it wanted a female to breed with.

Her belly certainly fit the requirement.

Maybe the question earlier had been a test.

But she hadn’t admitted anything, and it still carried her. Was it going to keep her as a toy instead—like a cat playing with a mouse?

The thought made humiliation burn under her skin.

So this was her life now. Reduced to a plaything.

The leopard carried her all day. Only when night fell did it leap into a tree with effortless grace, landing as lightly as a shadow.

There was a hollow in the trunk.

Su Yan crawled inside without argument.

The leopard settled at the entrance, guarding it like a gate.

[So it’s afraid I’ll run.]

The night passed without incident.

Over the next three days, Su Yan was either carried in the leopard’s mouth or set on its back. She stayed in mouse form the whole time, stubbornly refusing to turn human.

The leopard didn’t speak again.

Not until they finally left the Beast Forest.

Su Yan spotted the towering tree where she’d waited for Lin Lang before.

Her body jerked, a sharp, involuntary struggle.

The leopard loosened its grip and set her down.

Su Yan wanted to climb—to see the direction of the Mouse Clan tribe, to find out what had happened.

But her belly was too heavy. She couldn’t even get a proper hold.

The leopard seemed to understand. It picked her up and sprang into the tree with ease, placing her near the hollow.

“Thank you,” Su Yan said without thinking.

The moment the words left her mouth, her mind went blank.

She’d exposed herself.

The leopard didn’t look surprised. “You’re welcome,” it said calmly. “How’s your belly? Are you about to give birth?”

“Oh.”

Su Yan lowered her head. She couldn’t see her feet at all anymore.

Then her belly bulged—hard, unmistakable.

Once.

Both of them saw it.

The leopard’s eyes flared bright.

Su Yan’s heart dropped. Did it want her child?

“Why are you staring at my belly?” she demanded, instinctively trying to shield it.

But a mouse’s front paws were too short.

In the leopard’s eyes, her attempt looked almost… funny.