Chapter 215: A letter From Your Mother

The survival experience Sora had gained during the Apocalypse had taught her one very important lesson.

Never reveal your trump card until the very last moment.

Therefore, although Sora’s heart skipped a beat when Damien suddenly mentioned a letter from her Mother, she quickly suppressed the panic rising inside her.

On the surface, she remained perfectly calm.

"Is... is that so?"

Sora looked at him carefully.

"When did Mother send a letter? Why didn’t she write to me?"

She wasn’t convinced.

Damien had always been full of tricks. It wouldn’t be surprising if he was simply bluffing to get her to agree to the contract totem.

Hearing her question, Damien’s beautiful eyes shimmered.

He leaned closer to her.

His fingers casually played with hers, as though he had all the time in the world.

"It happened within the last few days."

His tone was relaxed.

"You were busy dealing with the plague toxin, so you probably didn’t notice."

Sora’s heart pounded harder.

"Then what did she say?"

She tried to make her voice sound casual, but she couldn’t help feeling nervous.

Damien looked at her for a moment.

Then he slowly said,

"She said you don’t seem like..."

He deliberately stopped.

Sora’s eyes widened.

Damien lowered his gaze toward her, the corners of his crescent-shaped eyes carrying an indescribable smile.

"Like what?"

Sora’s heart tightened.

It felt as though her heart had suddenly risen into her throat.

This man was doing it on purpose!

Damien’s habit of speaking in half-finished sentences was incredibly irritating. Every time he stopped at the most important moment, it made her entire body tense with suspense.

Why couldn’t he simply say what he wanted to say?

"Why don’t you guess what she would say?"

Damien’s eyes glistened mischievously as he suddenly changed the subject.

At that moment, Sora almost wanted to curse the eighteenth generation of his ancestors.

Could this damned Kaelira just speak plainly for once?

Why did he always have to drag things out like this?

It was a genuine test of her mental endurance.

Unfortunately, she still had something to hide, so she couldn’t afford to lose her composure.

She took a breath and followed his lead.

"Was she asking about my situation?"

After asking, Sora suddenly remembered something else.

She looked at Damien with concern.

"How is the plague toxin over at Mother’s side? Is she alright?"

The moment she finished speaking, Sora suddenly felt that something was strange.

How exactly had Damien received this letter?

The current situation with the plague toxin was terrible.

Even the birds in the sky were struggling to survive.

Under such circumstances, how could anyone possibly have the time to deliver letters?

Sora immediately became suspicious.

"Who delivered this letter?"

She narrowed her eyes.

"Are there still birds delivering messages?"

Damien nodded calmly.

"Of course someone delivered it."

He looked completely unconcerned.

"Bats aren’t affected."

Sora was stunned.

Right.

She had completely overlooked that.

Bats!

This particular plague toxin seemed to have little effect on them.

No wonder Damien had managed to receive a letter.

This virus king really seemed to fear nothing.

"Then how is Mother?"

Sora’s voice softened slightly.

"She’s doing well."

Damien smiled.

"She also asked about our situation."

He paused.

"But I haven’t replied yet."

Hearing this, Sora finally felt a little more at ease.

"Then we’ll be fine too."

She nodded.

"Tell her not to worry."

"Mhm."

Damien’s smile deepened.

"She probably isn’t worried about that."

He looked at Sora meaningfully.

"She’s likely more worried about you."

"Me?"

Sora pointed at herself.

"What’s wrong with me? Am I not perfectly fine?"

She carefully studied his expression.

Damien raised his eyelids and looked at her with a half-smile.

"She said you seem a little different."

His voice became slower.

"Not quite like before."

Sora’s heart skipped again.

But she maintained her composure.

"Well, it’s normal for someone to change after not seeing each other for so long."

She shrugged.

"Did Mother only say those things?"

"Of course not."

Damien released her hand.

Then, almost casually, his hand slid upward toward her neck.

His fingers lightly stroked her skin from time to time.

His voice became strangely seductive.

"Mother also said she wants you to form a contract totem with me soon."

Sora’s expression stiffened.

Damien smiled.

"So that we can give birth to more little Black Bear cubs."

Sora stared at him.

For a moment, she was completely speechless.

Before this, she had still been half-doubting whether Damien was telling the truth.

But after hearing those words, she suddenly stopped believing him completely.

Regardless of everything else, that sounded far too much like something Damien himself would say.

He was always talking about forming a contract totem.

Always trying to persuade her.

She immediately brushed away his wandering hand.

"You’re making this up yourself, aren’t you?"

Sora narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"You’ve talked for so long. Where’s the letter?"

She held out her hand.

"Take it out and let me see it!"

Damien looked heartbroken.

"Kaelira, how could you think of me like that?"

His expression was almost pitiful.

"Everything I said is true."

The more Sora listened, the more convinced she became that he was lying.

She grew bolder.

How could a letter from the Black Bear Tribe simply arrive under the current circumstances?

And besides, Damien had been talking for so long without making any effort to show her the letter.

Clearly, he was bluffing.

Sora waved her hand.

"Alright, go sleep on the flo—"

Before she could finish speaking, Damien smiled.

Then he reached inside his robe.

A piece of animal skin appeared in his hand.

"This is the letter Mother wrote."

Sora froze.

Damn it!

There really was a letter!

She had genuinely thought Damien was deliberately bluffing.

The rest of her sentence immediately became stuck in her throat.

Sora silently swallowed it.

She took the animal skin from Damien’s hand.

After unfolding it, she stared at the strange writing covering its surface.

The characters appeared to have been made from a special kind of sticky grass.

She had no idea how the leaves had been processed, but they had somehow maintained their vibrant green color.

However...

Who could understand these things?

The writing looked like a mass of earthworms crawling across the animal skin.

Sora stared at it helplessly.

At this moment, she could only think of one unreliable source of help.

"System."

She called silently.

"Are these words?"

The system responded.

"Host, this is Black Bear script, the exclusive writing system of the Black Bear Tribe."

Sora’s eyes widened.

Even the Black Bears had their own writing system now?

She was genuinely surprised.

How sophisticated!

Primitive society really had more secrets than she had expected.

"Then what does this sophisticated writing say?"

Sora stared at the letter.

"And Damien isn’t tricking me, right?"

The system remained silent for a moment.

Then its mechanical voice sounded.

"Host, please wait. Scanning for you."

Fortunately, the broken system hadn’t simply told her that it couldn’t recognize the writing.

A moment later, the system responded.

"Host, the Black Bear script says that you and Damien should form a contract totem soon and give birth to several little Black Bear cubs."

Sora’s eyes widened.

So it really was what Damien had said?

This guy actually hadn’t lied?

She stared at the letter again.

"Are you sure you didn’t misread it?"

The system had done plenty of unreliable things before, so Sora couldn’t help asking again.

"Host, I am certain."

The system’s response was unusually confident.

"We use machine scanning. There is absolutely no problem with the translation of this Black Bear script."

Sora frowned.

"Could the original Host understand Black Bear script?"

If the original Host couldn’t read it, then she could still pretend not to understand.

After all, if she couldn’t read the letter herself, there was no way Damien could force her to admit that it was genuine.

The system quickly responded.

"According to system information, the original Host lived in the Black Bear Tribe for eight years. Therefore, she should understand Black Bear script."

Sora was speechless.

Fine.

She had no excuse anymore.

She folded the letter slightly and glanced at Damien.

She had observed this man for a long time.

She hadn’t noticed anything obviously wrong with him.

But if someone asked whether Damien was completely normal...

Sora definitely wouldn’t agree with that either.

This man was far too cunning.

And yet, from beginning to end, the system hadn’t given her any warning.

No prompt.

No danger notification.

Nothing.

Sora couldn’t help asking,

"System, what would happen if I really stayed with Damien today?"

She asked almost on a whim.

The system immediately became uncertain.

"This..."

There was a pause.

"Host, I don’t know."

Sora’s mouth twitched.

Of course.

She knew she couldn’t count on this system.

"I haven’t encountered this situation before."

The system continued.

"If the Host is lucky, there might be unexpected gains."

Sora’s expression became serious.

"But if your luck is bad, your conquest mission might end right here."

The system added,

"The system still hopes the Host will think twice before acting."

Sora’s expression darkened.

She knew it.

She absolutely couldn’t depend on this unreliable system when it mattered most.

Forget it.

She wasn’t going to take such a risk.

Sora folded the animal skin letter carefully and handed it back to Damien.

"I understand what Mother said."

She paused.

"But I’m currently carrying a little cub."

She looked at him seriously.

"So I probably can’t give birth to more cubs right now."

Damien accepted the letter.

His expression remained calm.

"It’s okay, Kaelira."

He smiled.

"I can wait for you."

Sora looked at him suspiciously.

Damien continued in an almost reasonable tone,

"Besides, we can form the contract totem first."

Sora’s lips twitched.

If she hadn’t already discovered that Damien was far from simple, she might really have been fooled by his innocent-looking expression.

She pursed her lips.

Her mind quickly began searching for another way to respond.

But before she could say anything—

A loud voice suddenly rang out from outside the door.

"Kaelira!"

Sora immediately looked toward the entrance.

The voice continued urgently.

"There’s a new development with that wolf!"

Sora’s expression changed.

The wolf she had brought back for testing!

Had something happened?

Her attention was instantly pulled away from Damien and the strange letter.

The results of the experiment had arrived.