All eight beastmen husbands said one thing each, leaving Yunyang utterly baffled.
She wasn’t the kind of person who abandoned the old for the new. Otherwise, she would have already been doting exclusively on the little fox and the Little Black Leopard who had just joined the family.
What Yunyang didn’t know was that, to her eight beastmen husbands, compared with Cang Zhuonian, Leonardo and Chen Yueli didn’t pose much of a threat.
Among males, the higher one’s supernatural ability rank, the greater one’s say.
Leonardo’s healing ability was rare, but it was only S-rank, while Chen Yueli’s cloning ability was merely SS-rank.
Cang Zhuonian, however, was one of the Federation’s few SSS-rank ability users.
After all, He Youchuan had been appointed as Her Majesty the Empress’s primary husband precisely because he possessed an SSS-rank ability and knew how to please her with his words.
The eight beastmen husbands were afraid that, after Yunyang took Cang Zhuonian in, she would favor him exclusively because he had the highest ability rank.
Qin Mo had once looked down somewhat on his father. His father had clearly been just one step away from becoming the commander of the Twenty-Third Army, yet he had willingly given up the position and spent every day revolving around Qin Mo’s mother.
But now that he was in the same position himself, Qin Mo finally understood his father’s choice.
Nothing was more important than one’s female mate.
If his female mate stopped loving him—or simply forgot about him—he might very well become a resentful husband too.
That was why he had no choice but to plead with her.
The other beastmen husbands felt more or less the same. They were all worried that Yunyang would stop favoring them after taking Cang Zhuonian in.
Yunyang truly hadn’t expected such a strong reaction from her husbands. She didn’t really want to make any promises. Everyone had their own selfishness, and she couldn’t guarantee that she would always be perfectly fair.
But when she saw the dejected looks in the eyes of her eight husbands, she eventually said, “I won’t abandon the old for the new. Don’t worry.”
Whether those words were true or not, as long as they came from Yunyang, the eight beastmen husbands believed them completely.
Rong Jin let out a sigh of relief and did his best to squeeze in front of Yunyang. “Female lord, are you hungry? I’ll carry you to the lounge to eat.”
Yunyang had only eaten a little that morning. After that, she had been busy nonstop and hadn’t even had time to drink any water.
Going back to cook would only waste more time, so Rong Jin suggested eating directly in the lounge of the Purification Tower. He had happened to stock plenty of food in his preservation-space bracelet over the past few days.
After all that commotion, Yunyang was indeed hungry. She reached out to Rong Jin of her own accord.
The Little Panda immediately picked her up. After giving a smug glance at Cang Zhuonian, who was still tied up, he hurried out of the holding room.
The other seven beastmen husbands followed close behind.
Because of their little schemes, the eight husbands were unusually united and none of them reminded Yunyang that Cang Zhuonian was still bound by the restraint bands.
Yunyang had originally remembered, but the moment she sat down in the lounge, all her attention was captured by the food Rong Jin brought out.
In an instant, she tossed everything else out of her mind.
Yunyang accepted the chopsticks Rong Jin handed her and began wolfing down the food.
She only managed to pick up a bite herself. After that, the eight beastmen husbands took over the task completely.
While the family ate and drank in the lounge, Cang Zhuonian lay on the floor, utterly devoid of hope.
He didn’t blame his female lord at all for forgetting him. It was certainly those rivals of his deliberately competing for her favor, leaving her no time to notice him.
How annoying!
Why couldn’t his female lord have only one husband—him?
Cang Zhuonian secretly cursed his rivals, wishing for them to grow old and lose their looks before being abandoned by their female lord.
He was different. He was only twenty-seven. The qilin race could live for as long as three hundred years—one hundred years longer than the average beastman. He was still very young.
At that moment, Cang Zhuonian had no idea how old his rivals actually were.
Not even Yunyang herself always remembered her husbands’ ages. After all, male beastmen didn’t show their age easily, but neither did they look particularly young—except for Rong Jin, who really was young.
But Cang Zhuonian had no way of knowing any of that right now.
Lying on the floor, he no longer hoped that Yunyang would remember him. He only wished that his adjutant would come and check on him.
Bound by the restraint bands, he could neither move nor access his photobrain. This was part of the Federation’s protection for females.
·
Even after Yunyang finished eating, she still didn’t remember that Cang Zhuonian was tied up.
There were robots in the Purification Tower as well, but the eight beastmen husbands insisted on cleaning up themselves, scrambling to take care of the aftermath.
Yunyang sat on the sofa and contacted You Lu again to ask about Chu Zhiwei’s condition.
[You Lu: Sister Zhiwei seemed to have been infected by the insectoids before, which was why she suddenly developed a fever. But her fever has gone down now.]
[You Lu: Yangyang, how are things on your end? Wen Xu said those two pilots seemed suspicious.]
[Yunyang: It’s been dealt with. I’ll go to the treatment center to find you shortly.]
[You Lu: All right. The people here said Sister Zhiwei should wake up soon.]
Only after learning that Chu Zhiwei’s condition had improved did Yunyang finally relax.
Thank goodness she was all right.
But there was definitely something strange about what had happened today.
Just as Wen Xu had said, the route from the Second Army’s base back to the Federation didn’t pass anywhere near Desolate Star, and it was also a considerable distance from the Insect Star.
How had those insectoids appeared?
Yunyang remembered that when the insectoid parasitizing the chief pilot’s body had sensed that its life was in danger, its first reaction had been to attack her.
But the insectoids knew how precious females were to the Federation. Attacking her would only bring down an even more ferocious assault.
Even setting that aside, a female’s mental power was the bane of the insectoids.
Yunyang really couldn’t understand it. Insectoids of the eighth level possessed intelligence. It didn’t make sense for one to seek death so recklessly.
This was too complicated.
Forget it. She should go check on Sister Zhiwei first.
After taking a brief rest, Yunyang sent Jenkins a message on her photobrain.
[Mr. Jenkins, if there’s nothing else here, I’ll take my beastmen husbands and leave first.]
Jenkins had been waiting for Yunyang’s message for quite some time. He hurriedly replied:
[Of course. You’ve worked very hard today.]
[By the way, is that boy Zhuonian leaving with you as well?]
If that little rascal left with Lord Yunyang, then the commander could finally rest easy.
Yunyang: “…”
If Jenkins hadn’t mentioned him, she would have forgotten about her new husband completely.
Cang Zhuonian was still tied up, wasn’t he…?
Yunyang rubbed the tip of her nose. She had been so hungry earlier that the thought had completely slipped her mind.
[He’s still in the holding room. Please help him remove the restraint bands.]
[As for whether he wants to leave with me, that’s up to him.]
