landbeastnovel Chapter 327: Where Did This Ugly Bird Come From?
Chapter 327: Where Did This Ugly Bird Come From?
The tiger cub looked at the wing, half its feathers gone, and tilted her little head in curiosity.
"CHIRP, CHIRP CHIRP~~"
The molting wings fluttered, struggling to emerge from the tall grass.
"It hurts, Yaya hurts, waaaah..."
Once the creature was fully visible, the tiger cub wriggled, wanting Jin Ling to let her down.
Jin Ling held on. He wouldn’t let his cub get close until he was certain the creature posed no threat.
Mo Yan looked at the bird beast cub before him. Half her feathers were gone, revealing the skin underneath. He furrowed his sharp little brows.
"So ugly."
The bird beast cub froze, looking at Mo Yan in disbelief. "You... wha’ did you thay?"
Mo Yan was brutally honest. "I said you’re really ugly. You’re scaring An’an."
At these words, what little black fuzz was left on the bird beast cub’s body stood on end.
"You meanie! How dare you thay Yaya’s ugly! Yaya’s gonna hit you!" The bird beast cub flapped her wings, trying to stand, but cried out in pain and collapsed the moment she moved.
"Waaah, Yaya hurts..."
Jin Ling stepped forward and gave the bird beast cub a quick once-over. After confirming she was no threat, he relaxed his guard slightly.
The tiger cub wriggled out of Jin Ling’s arms and approached the bird beast cub. The fledgling wasn’t small; sitting there, she was about the same size as the tiger cub.
The tiger cub circled her twice. The bird beast cub, who had been crying her heart out, secretly peeked through her sparse feathers at the circling cub. She stared with wide, tear-filled eyes, her cries turning to hiccups.
"You thay... ith Yaya pwetty or not?"
The tiger cub seemed to understand. She stopped in front of the fledgling, tilting her little head and studying her seriously.
"N-not... pwetty. Awoo."
"Waaaah! You’re all meanies! Yaya is the pwettiest!"
The tiger cub seemed to find her amusing and reached out a chubby little paw to pat her.
But then she remembered what her Father Beast had said. ’I can’t pat too hard, or I’ll kill her. If she dies, I can’t play with her anymore.’
So, as the tiger cub’s paw descended, she made sure to lighten the force.
"Oof!"
But for the bird beast cub, the blow was still quite strong. The single swat sent her rolling across the ground.
"Hehe~"
The tiger cub thought this was great fun and turned to look at Jin Ling.
"Fah... Fah... Want!"
Jin Ling looked helpless. ’This bird beast really is hideous.’
"An’an, you want her as a beast pet?"
The tiger cub nodded. "Want!"
"You don’t want the Long-eared Rabbit Beast anymore?"
The tiger cub blinked, seeming to contemplate this. In the end, her paw still pointed at the bird beast cub.
Jin Ling didn’t want An’an to have a bird beastman as a pet. It was better if beast pets weren’t beastmen, and besides, this cub’s origins were a mystery.
He walked over to the bird beast cub and helped her up with one large hand.
Yaya was startled. She stared at Jin Ling with wide, accusing eyes.
"Bullying... you’re bullying Yaya!"
"Where are your Father Beast and Mother Beast? Why are you here by yourself?"
"Mother Beast..." Before she could finish, the bird beast cub’s eyes welled up and she began to cry. "I want my Mother Beast... Waaah, I want my Mother Beast..."
Jin Ling thought, ’This bird beast cub is a real handful. Her crying is giving me a headache.’
"Fah... Fah... Want!"
The tiger cub only added to the chaos. She walked over, grabbed the bird beast cub’s wing, and began dragging her toward the tribe.
"An’an."
Mo Yan didn’t particularly like the ugly little bird beast cub, but since An’an did, he had no objections.
"Let me help you carry her, An’an. She looks heavy."
"Hey! Let go of Yaya!"
"I want to find my Moth... Mother Beastie!"
Jin Ling watched the three cubs walk ahead, a helpless look on his face. ’Oh, well,’ he thought. ’I don’t smell anything unusual on her. I’ll just take her back to the tribe for now.’
Jin Ling quickened his pace, transformed into his beast form, and gently picked up all three cubs, placing them on his back.
"Father Beast will take you back."
It was the bird beast cub’s first time riding on a tiger beast. She found it so novel that she forgot to struggle.
Qiao Xixi had met with Gu Man today to ask about her health, and she had also taken the opportunity to check on the females who had been harmed by the Blue Fruit Powder.
By the time she finished her errands and returned to the inner city with Xijing, she was surprised to see a bird beast cub floundering in the courtyard.
"This... where did this bird beast cub come from?" ’And she’s so ugly...’
You couldn’t really blame Qiao Xixi. The cub looked like a featherless chicken with a few plumes stuck into it at random. Patches of gray fuzz dotted her exposed skin, scattered about haphazardly.
To make matters worse, her feathers were a dull, pitch-black.
There was no angle from which she looked good.
Yaya heard the commotion and turned her head. The moment she saw Qiao Xixi, her eyes lit up.
"Moth... er... Mother Beast, Yaya wants you~~"
Feiyan, who had just stepped into the courtyard, nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the childish voice.
"Who—whose voice is that?" He strode in, took one look, and sucked in a breath. "Where’d this ugly bird come from?"
Then he turned to Qiao Xixi. "Xixi, you... you didn’t..."
Xijing, standing to one side, also went rigid.
Hearing the commotion, Jin Ling walked out of the kitchen.
"She’s a bird beast cub An’an found outside the tribe."
Feiyan’s eyes went wide. "Jin Ling, you know it doesn’t matter who brought her back! What matters is why she’s calling Xixi ’Mother Beast’!"
"Fah... Father Beast?" Yaya tilted her head to look at Feiyan, her voice uncertain.
This time, Feiyan really did jump, leaping high into the air to land back at Qiao Xixi’s side.
"Xixi, I swear, I absolutely did not!"
Qiao Xixi: ...
Yaya shook her head, then looked at Xijing. "Fa... ther Beast!"
Xijing became even more rigid.
So she was just a little bird who went around randomly claiming parents.
"What’s all the fuss about? She’s just a bird beast cub. And so what if she was Xixi’s?"
Qiao Yi had returned with Qiao Ang and the others.
Feiyan wasn’t pleased. "Isn’t having us enough for Xixi? Besides, this cub is so ugly—how good-looking could her real father be?"
Hearing this, Feili couldn’t even be bothered to spare his foolish son a glance.
He patted Qiao Ang’s little head. "Qiao Ang, whatever you do, don’t grow up to be like your Father Beast."
Qiao Ang nodded in solemn agreement.
Qiao Xixi looked both helpless and curious. "This bird beast cub is definitely not mine."
She walked over to Yaya and noticed the injuries on her claws and wings. "Did you get separated from your Mother and Father Beast? Why were you outside the Black Panther Tribe’s territory?"
Yaya’s little eyes grew wide as she whimpered, "A bad beast tried to catch Yaya... Yaya was scared... Mother Beast, hold me..."
Qiao Xixi didn’t really want to hold her, but she felt the little one was pitiful, and injured at that. So, she reached out and gathered her into an embrace.
This time, it was the tiger cub who was displeased.
Huffing and puffing, she crawled over and tugged at Qiao Xixi’s animal-hide skirt.
"Moth... Mother... An... an’s!"