Chapter 535 - 532: What Sound?

Chapter 535: Chapter 532: What Sound?

Bai Wanwan shook her head, her brow furrowed tightly. "No! He’s badly hurt. If we go back and forth, it might be too late!"

She looked at Zhu Xiu and offered a compromise. "How about... how about you take Aunt Shuang and the cubs back first? Let Xin Feng and Yan Lie stay with me to look for Hua Han. After you drop off the cubs, you can come back and meet up with us?"

"Absolutely not!"

This time, Zhu Xiu’s refusal was even more blunt and final, leaving no room for negotiation. "Too many accidents and dangers have already happened when you weren’t under my watch. We either go back to the tribe and plan from there, or we all go together. No splitting up!" His tone was resolute. When it came to the safety of Bai Wanwan and the cubs, he would take no risks.

Bai Wanwan knew Zhu Xiu’s personality. Once he made a decision, especially about safety, he rarely changed his mind.

She looked at the Tracking Bird standing quietly in her palm, waiting for guidance. Then, she thought of the image of Hua Han, looking like he was on his last breath. She was torn.

Finally, she gritted her teeth and conceded. "F-fine! We’ll all go together! Yin Ze, please follow that little bird up ahead. It doesn’t fly high, so fly a bit lower and a little slower to follow it!"

"Okay," Yin Ze replied curtly, lowering his body again.

Everyone climbed back onto the Phoenix’s broad back.

The Tracking Bird flapped its wings and took off again. It flew low, almost skimming the treetops, and its speed wasn’t fast, as if it was accommodating them.

Yin Ze had no choice but to suppress his speed and maintain a low altitude. His massive body weaved nimbly above the dense forest, closely following the faint silver glow ahead.

Bai Wanwan kept her eyes glued to the Tracking Bird.

She realized the Tracking Bird wasn’t leading them back the way they came. Instead, it was flying toward the front-right of their return route, into a region of deeper, more primordial mountains they had never explored.

This pursuit went on for a full two days and two nights!

Yin Ze needed to land occasionally to rest and replenish his strength and water.

With every second that ticked by, the image of Hua Han on the brink of death made Bai Wanwan’s heart ache with anxiety. But she couldn’t show it, lest she worry her other Beast Husbands.

But as the males who had protected Bai Wanwan for years, Xin Feng was the first to notice something was wrong with her mood.

He walked over and squeezed her hand. "Don’t be scared. Hua Han is an Orange Rank male. Even if he runs into danger, he’s more than capable of surviving."

Bai Wanwan forced a weak smile. She could only hope that was true.

It wasn’t until dusk on the second day that the Tracking Bird finally began to circle above a seemingly unremarkable valley before slowly descending.

"We’re here! It’s right down there!" Bai Wanwan shouted to Yin Ze, pointing in the direction of the Tracking Bird.

Yin Ze immediately descended with it.

However, when everyone’s feet were on solid ground and they began to search frantically, their hearts sank.

The scene before them was nearly identical to the vision Bai Wanwan had received.

The same jagged rocks, the same thick moss, and even, beneath one of the rocks, a pool of blood that had turned dark brown but hadn’t completely dried!

The only difference—the most crucial one—was that Hua Han, who had been leaning against a rock, gravely injured and gasping for breath in the vision, was gone!

"Where’s Hua Han?"

Bai Wanwan asked Hua Sheng, but her feet carried her involuntarily to the pool of blood. Her fingers trembled as she touched the dark red stain.

’He’s gone...’

’It’s okay. Maybe he just left.’

Bai Wanwan comforted herself internally, then continued her conversation with Hua Sheng.

"Hua Sheng! Where’s the Tracking Bird? Make it keep searching! Quickly, tell it to find where Hua Han went!"

The System replied in a calm but helpless tone, "Host, the Tracking Bird is a single-use item. Its task is to lead the user to the target’s last known location and convey related information. Once the mission is complete, its energy is depleted, and it automatically dissipates. It cannot perform continuous tracking."

Bai Wanwan’s heart went cold. "But... but we didn’t find Hua Han! It just brought me to where he *was*!"

"The Tracking Bird can only guarantee finding the target’s location at the moment of its activation. As time passes and other factors interfere, the target itself may move. This is unavoidable," the System explained.

Bai Wanwan finally understood.

’It’s like a single-use GPS ping. It can only lock onto a position at a single point in time. After that, if the target moves, it’s useless.’

’Unless the person or thing I’m looking for stays put.’

She glanced at the meager number of Points on her system panel. She still had to keep some in reserve for emergencies, so she forced herself to resist the impulse to immediately exchange them for another Tracking Bird.

She forced herself to calm down and analyze the situation carefully. ’Hua Han was so badly injured, he couldn’t have gone far on his own. Unless... he was taken by something, he wouldn’t have gotten very far.’

She whirled around and said to Zhu Xiu, "Hua Han must have still been here two days ago. He’s badly hurt, so he shouldn’t have gone far. Zhu Xiu, you stay here and protect me and the cubs. Xin Feng, Yin Ze, Yan Lie, you three split up and search the vicinity for any sign of Hua Han. He might be nearby."

Zhu Xiu looked at the glaring bloodstain on the ground, then at Bai Wanwan’s anxious but determined eyes, and finally nodded. "Alright, I’ll stay. You three, go quickly and come back quickly. Your safety is the priority. If you find anything, let out a long howl to signal us!"

Xin Feng, Yin Ze, and Yan Lie nodded without hesitation.

They exchanged a look, instantly transformed into their beast forms, and shot off like arrows from a bow. They sped off in three different directions, plunging into the dense and perilous primeval forest. Their figures quickly vanished into the deepening twilight.

After they left, Bai Wanwan couldn’t sit still as she stared at the bloodstain.

She paced back and forth, her fists clenched.

Seeing this, Shuang Hua walked over, took her hand, and comforted her. "Wanwan, I know you’re very worried about Hua Han right now, but Xin Feng and the others are right. Hua Han is a powerful Orange Rank male. A few injuries won’t be life-threatening. Don’t worry too much."

"Okay, Aunt Shuang."

’That’s what they say, but if I had just given Hua Han a chance to explain, maybe none of this would have happened to him.’

Time ticked by, and twilight flooded the valley like a tide, dyeing the bizarrely shaped rocks and twisted trees a deep, inky black.

The surrounding silence felt particularly oppressive, broken only by the wail of the wind through the treetops and the low chirping of unknown insects.

Zhu Xiu had already pulled her back, his massive body forming a protective fortress around the two females and the cubs at the center.

In the dimming light, his eyes were as sharp as a falcon’s, constantly vigilant for any strange movements in their surroundings.

Suddenly, the piercing shriek of an animal echoed from the mountains.

Bai Wanwan shot to her feet, staring warily at the pitch-black mountain range. "Zhu Xiu, what was that sound?"