"Bro, I'm not eating tonight."
Luna whispered to Mason Sutton.
After speaking, she bent down to pick up the three pieces of meat from the ground, planning to save them for breakfast tomorrow.
Mason watched her, frowned, also feeling embarrassed, and ordered, "Since you want to lose weight, then just throw the meat away."
She looked at him with a strange expression. "Bro, food is so precious. So many beastmen don't have enough to eat, how can you throw it away? Isn't that wasteful?"
Mason gave her a weird look—this younger sister who's always lazy and crude, she actually said something like that?
But considering her usual behavior, he figured she was just saying it on purpose.
She'd probably sneak off and eat the meat later anyway.
"If you know food is precious, then just eat less. Look how fat you've become."
Mason looked at her chubby body, full of disdain.
He threw down that line, then turned and walked away.
Luna: "..."
She looked down at her own fat, and to be honest, even she disliked it.
Lose weight, must lose weight.
Just wait till she slims down into a lightning bolt and blinds their stupid eyes—no, wolf eyes.
She couldn't care less about the mocking or contemptuous looks around her, and left with the meat in hand.
Luna had only walked a short distance when she sensed a chill. She turned her head and met Rhys Blackwood's icy snake eyes, scaring her a bit.
This guy walks without making a sound? And somehow he ended up right in front of her.
"Uh...do you need something?"
She stopped, looking at him, testing the waters as she spoke.
Rhys gave her a long look, his pitch-black pupils shining with an eerie cold light under the night, voice frosty. "The things you said by the riverside today, what did you mean?"
Luna blinked, looking bewildered. She'd said a lot by the river—what was this man referring to?
"What did I say? I really don't remember."
She wasn't pretending to be stupid; she genuinely had no clue.
Rhys stared at her, eyes narrowed, and spat out, "You said—is the riverbank your home? You can come, but I can't?"
Luna: "..."
She hadn't expected he meant that sentence.
At the time, she'd only blurted it out, just to refute Rhys's words.
Who told him to be such a jerk, even telling her to get lost—of course, she snapped back without thinking.
"Well...I just said that without thinking, didn't mean anything else. Seriously, don't take it to heart."
She laughed awkwardly and explained in a low voice.
Rhys looked at her deeply, who knows if he believed her or not.
After a moment.
He suddenly tossed out a line, "From now on, don't you dare try to seduce me like you did today."
With that cold remark, he turned and walked off.
Luna: "..."
Seduce him?
When did she ever try to seduce him?
She was clearly just taking a bath, okay? It was this man who suddenly barged in, get it?
She secretly curled her lip, muttering quietly: "Narcissistic jerk."
But this was fine too—saved her the trouble of trying to pursue him.
Thinking so, she left as well, heading straight back to the cave.
Corbin Crowley happened to pass by, just in time to hear her last line: "Narcissistic jerk."
His footsteps paused slightly, that pair of silver eyes gazing deeply at Luna, expression unreadable.
Luna felt the gaze behind her—it was so intense, impossible to ignore.
She turned her head and met those enigmatic silver eyes, startled once again.
Who knew how long this man had been standing there, or how much he'd overheard?
But since she was cussing out Rhys, not him, she felt instantly at ease.
Corbin glanced at her deeply, his thoughts a mystery.
Soon he withdrew his gaze and walked off.
Luna watched his departing figure and let out a quiet sigh of relief.
This man's aura was just too much—she could hardly handle it.
Thinking back to what just happened, she frowned tightly, feeling quite frustrated inside.
Five beast husbands—none of them are easy to deal with, all of them hate her. The difficulty level is off the charts.
Zeke Veridian and Malachi Arcanus are even worse; they basically treat her as air, can't even be bothered to glance her way.
She was about ready to give up.
But then she remembered the shower set in the cave, and the system's promised rewards—her spirits lifted again.
Even though she had powers now, this dangerous beast world was still too much for her.
If she could get the system rewards, not only would her life improve, she could also get stronger, and be able to survive way better.
Thinking that, she felt motivated.
It's just conquering men, right? She could do that.
Worst case, she'd just throw her pride away.
She walked towards the original host's cave, carrying her meat.
The original host lived alone, not with the five beast husbands.
They each had their own cave.
To avoid being bothered by the original host, they'd intentionally dug their caves far away.
The original host lived at the foot of the mountain.
Corbin, on the other hand, lived at the top. His plan: the original host was too fat to climb up easily.
Rhys was even sneakier—his cave was built into a cliff on the backside of the mountain.
Snakes like shade, and besides being dangerous, it's impossible for most people to get up there.
Zeke, Malachi, and Kian Sterling's places weren't that weird, but they still lived on the middle of the mountain, far away from the original host's cave.
Normally, once a female beastman gets a mate, she moves in with her beast husband.
The original host wanted to, but the guys had to be willing, right?
Luna actually thought this was better. If she'd had to live with all five beast husbands from the start—forget how much they despised her, even she'd have felt awkward.
There always needs to be an adjustment period.
She soon returned to the original host's cave. It was pitch black inside, just a few beams of moonlight slanting through the entrance, enough to see the interior.
She looked around: gnawed bones, rotten meat, leftover food scraps, unwashed stone bowls, and moldy beast skins—just a whole pile of mess stacked together.
Earlier today she'd been in and out in such a hurry, she hadn't looked closely.
Now that she did—could this truly be called a place for people to live? It was more like a garbage dump.
The air was filled with a stench of mildew, rot, and other indescribable odors, all mixed together—absolutely foul, enough to make someone want to puke.
The only "clean" spot was the stone bed, but even that wasn't great—black, dirty, smelly, with a hole in it.
As for the original host's life—she didn't even have the energy to roast her about it anymore.
She walked to the cave mouth, picked a few clean broad leaves, washed them at a nearby stream, then wrapped the meat and set it aside.
She planned to roast it tomorrow—hopefully a night out wouldn't make it spoil.
Luckily, it was cold at night.
The three raw meat pieces and the previously grilled fish were put together. She hadn't eaten the roasted meat Kian Sterling gave her, so she wrapped it with a clean leaf and placed it with the rest.
She made a mental note to collect some vines to weave a basket—otherwise, there'd be nowhere to put her things.
After that, she resigned herself to tidying up the cave.
What could be tossed was tossed, everything that needed washing was stacked at the cave entrance—she'd take it to the river the next morning.
The filthy, stinking beast skin on the stone bed—she tore it off and left it at the entrance too.
There was no way she could sleep on it unless it was cleaned thoroughly.
As for the moldy beast skins, she looked at them regretfully—they seemed fine, just hadn't been dried, left piled up for who knows how long, all damp and musty and moldy now.
Thankfully, after some work, if she washed and dried them, maybe they'd still be usable.
After a flurry of activity, she got rid of a whole lot of junk. The cave was now almost empty.
Aside from the stone bed, there were just two stone bowls in a corner, a bone knife, and nothing else.
All the beast skins were piled at the entrance—not a single good one among them.
The cave was finally clean, but the bad smell in the air just wouldn't go away.
Luna planned to pick some fruit and fresh flowers tomorrow to use as natural air fresheners.