CHAPTER 239: CHAPTER 239: MORE CLUES

Zerra felt silent. Her emotions had been up and down ever since she weirdly possessed this fox cub’s body. She didn’t move, staring at Cassias stubbornly.

He glanced down at her briefly and walked away. Subconsciously, she followed.

He stopped, and she obediently also stopped.

"Don’t follow me." His eyebrows knitted together, signalling his displeasure. Zerra was a little stunned, but soon she controlled her own feelings.

Now, should she go on her own way or cling to him?

Just as she pondered deeply, he already started walking again. At the same time, she heard a loud explosion from behind her.

She turned around in shock, witnessing a few furry animal cubs jump from the door and windows. It was unknown what had happened inside.

When she glanced at Cassias’ back, she seemed to have an inkling. He must have been the one who had done it. She took a deep breath, watching as the building caught fire, just in time as the last spiritual beast cub jumped out of the window.

Pained screams echoed from within, which should have come from the humans trapped inside. Her heart jolted when she saw a man trying to jump out of the window. Unfortunately, the fire was faster.

Before he could even jump out, the fire burned ferociously around him. A tiny spark splashed onto him. In the blink of an eye, he was already reduced to ashes.

What kind of fire was so devastating? It was a controlled fire. She realized the fire sparks didn’t even hurt the spiritual beast cubs. As a small group of furry spiritual beast cubs passed by her, she snapped back to her senses.

"Run!" A few older cubs reminded her, wondering why this cub, who had been acting feral earlier, had become silent so suddenly.

She turned around and followed them. Cassias was like a leader as the group of furry cubs chased after him. Unfortunately, he disappeared into the forest soon after.

He must have noticed their intention and didn’t want to bother with the aftermath of releasing them. Zerra sighed. This lazy temperament was so like him, but it was indeed not his obligation to take care of others.

What he had done was already kind enough, even if he just did that in passing.

Zerra sighed, not knowing what she should do next. She jumped into a tree, intending to use the height to track Cassias down.

The spiritual beast cubs scattered around, and she waited until they were out of sight. She used her spiritual energy sparingly, landing herself on tree branches, and when she was about to slip, the spiritual energy would protect her.

Alas, she wasn’t a monkey. No matter how nimble she was, it was still nothing compared to them.

Oh? She stared at the flying Cassias and sighed. It will be hard to catch up with him and–

She paused her thoughts. This mountain seemed to be so familiar. Wasn’t this the one they had been living at? If that was the case, maybe she could try to find his house or the cave again...

With that thought in mind, she watched as Cassias’ figure disappeared in the distance into a small dot and jumped down from the tree, nearly scaring a rabbit to death.

"You, what a rude cub." The rabbit sighed.

Zerra was startled. She apologized before jumping away. The rabbit could only twitch its ears in annoyance and left the place.

However, half an hour later, the rabbit let out an angry screech. "It’s you again?!"

"Are you going to kill me so that you can roast and make a meal out of my tender flesh?" It raged at Zerra.

The rabbit’s size was enormous, around the size of a small deer. Compared to Zerra, who had the size of a half-grown kitten, it was like a giant. It even had to stare down at her when it was speaking.

Upon hearing the rabbit’s outrageous accusation, she was speechless.

"What kind of nonsense are you talking about?" She sighed. "We just happened to run into each other again."

The forest was vast, but she could already feel the traces of its previous state. Like where most berries would grow or certain plants. However, she was still confused.

How come there has been so much change with just a few years passed by?

The rabbit snorted in annoyance. It jumped away, but Zerra blocked it again, earning her a glare. She sent a sheepish smile. There wasn’t any of spiritual beast nearby she could talk to, so she had no choice.

"If you don’t mind. Can you tell me about this forest?" She asked. The traces of zombie beasts were gone. The spiritual beasts living here now had lower power compared to the last time.

It made her uneasy.

"No." It went around Zerra’s right side and jumped away.

"If you don’t tell me, I will make a meal out of you." She narrowed her eyes, trying to make herself look as threatening as possible. Well, she learned this pose from Nias...

The stupid rabbit abruptly stopped with widened eyes. "I knew it! You are really a bad guy!"

Trembling, the rabbit asked her. "If I tell you, will you let me go?"

"Of course." Her mouth twitched. Even if the rabbit ran away, she wasn’t sure she could chase after it, yet it still stayed despite her threat. "I promise I will let you go. Now tell me."

The rabbit reluctantly walked back and stood in front of her. "You remind me of someone. She always threatened to stew me too, but she never did."

Zerra raised her eyebrows. "I have a few questions."

"Go ahead and ask..."

She took a deep breath. "Why does this mountain not have zombie beasts?"

The rabbit jumped at the mention of a zombie beast. "Are you crazy? Who would want such a creature here? None of us would survive!"

"Oh, why? Don’t you have capable spiritual beasts that can handle them here?" She tilted her head.

"If it was a long time ago, probably, but now they all had left." The rabbit trembled a little.

She had a thoughtful expression on her face and asked further. "Why did they leave?"

"They are afraid that zombie beasts will appear again here... but that was a long time ago. Hundreds of zombie beasts suddenly appeared overnight and killed a lot of spiritual beasts here. Now, they all have migrated."

"A few spiritual beasts with fire abilities made an array that burned the entire forest for a month, killing all the zombie beasts here." The rabbit clicked its tongue. "Since then, no one dared to come here anymore."

"But... the spiritual energy here is abundant, so some tried their luck and came here to cultivate. So far, no zombie beast has reappeared."

Zerra hummed in response. If that was the case, then it made sense why she hadn’t found Cassias’ old residence so far. The fire must have burned it down.

"Are you a newcomer here?" The rabbit asked curiously.

"Why do you think so?" Zerra pressed her lips together. She wasn’t exactly a newcomer...

"All the spiritual beasts here know this story. If you don’t know..." the rabbit suddenly took a few steps back. "Hiss, are you being kidnapped, little cub?"

The way it addressed her changed so fast.

She nodded. "Yes, the humans kidnapped me."

"Then how did you escape?" The rabbit’s eyes flitted around in alert. "Are they still chasing after you? What if they find me with you and roast me? Those humans love to roast spiritual beasts!"

Zerra thought about it and decided to tell the rabbit. "Don’t worry, the spiritual beast traffickers are now all dead."

The rabbit stopped looking around anxiously and stared at her in surprise. "Huh? They are dead?"

"How can they die? Those bastards always steal our cubs so that we don’t dare to let them out. They have extended their claws to other places nearby lately." The rabbit sounded troubled, talking to itself. Its tone brightened. "But it’s good if they are dead."

"Little cub. Tell me, who killed them all? Has that majestic tiger returned here?" The rabbit asked her.

Zerra’s pupils constricted. "Tiger?"

"Yeah, a tiger always visited this mountain. She is very strong. I heard she even participated in this mountain’s zombie beasts extermination."

Her breath became a little irregular. "Where is she now?"

The rabbit rolled its eyes at her. "How would I know? She sometimes visits this place, but lately, there has been no news of her. She seemed to be looking for something. If she stopped, she must have found what she was looking for."

Looking for something? Her heart palpitated. Was her mother looking for her?

No, she immediately rejected the idea. She must be looking for the pink fox. But... wasn’t the fox with Cassias now?

"By the way, little cub, who killed the traffickers?" The rabbit stared at her, realizing it wasn’t a tiger.

"A little boy..."

"Oh."

"You don’t sound surprised." She frowned.

"Why should I?"

Zerra raised her eyebrows. "Do you know if the tiger will visit again? When was the last time she visited?"

"Twenty years ago."

"Twenty years ago?!" She could no longer hide her shock.

The rabbit looked at her strangely. "Of course. The zombie beasts incident had happened over a hundred years ago, after all. Isn’t such a short time nothing for us spiritual beasts?"