CHAPTER 60: CHAPTER 55 PEST DISASTER_1

Just because of a few murmurs from Dongchi, Si Yan suffered from insomnia.

Her sleep was far from restful. She tossed and turned for a long time and had many muddled, chaotic dreams.

When she awoke, Si Yan had a bit of a headache, so she rubbed her head.

She keenly sensed that the big cats in Black Tiger City didn’t trust her as much as they appeared to. Before, Hu Que had been assigned to watch her. Now, it wasn’t Hu Que anymore. Hu Li had taken his place.

Hu Li was big and burly, an even rougher and more uncouth Beastman than Hu Que.

Hu Li’s gaze was so intense. It felt as if he wanted to stare her to death, to bore a hole right through her.

Truth be told, she didn’t have much of an issue with Hu Li.

The big cats were naturally proud and pure. Coupled with their burly Beastman physiques, it was understandable that Hu Li would have reservations about her suddenly joining their ranks. Moreover, his commotion yesterday had actually helped her integrate into Black Tiger City more quickly. She just didn’t understand why he was staring at her like that today, as if he were surveilling them.

Rubbing her temples, she felt an adorable gaze upon her and looked down.

In the cave, several cubs had lifted their tender little faces and were looking at her adorably, melting her maternal heart first thing in the morning.

Bei Ji sweetly called her, "Mother."

Si Yan couldn’t resist and touched Bei Ji’s little face.

Xi Qing came closer. "Mother."

Si Yan also couldn’t resist and patted Xi Qing’s head.

Seeing this, Dongchi also subtly approached. Si Yan was a bit surprised but patted Dongchi’s head as well.

The three cubs, stealthily vying for affection, looked at Si Yan with bright, shining eyes.

Si Yan’s eyes narrowed with pleasure.

Waking up to see three such adorable cubs, all her tension and unpleasant thoughts dissipated entirely. She was so happy!

Happy as she was, Si Yan began to ponder. Their goal was to seek refuge at Dark Sun Lake. Before that, they needed Black Tiger City. Black Tiger City possessed military strength, she had solutions, and they needed her too. The Flame Day was approaching, and disaster was imminent. If her group was too weak and incapable, those tigers would soon abandon them, just as the Yanxiang Tribe had. If she could further prove her capabilities, she believed she could earn Black Tiger City’s trust.

* * *

In Black Tiger City, Hu Yong was the one who least wanted to waste Si Yan’s calculative abilities.

He came over early in the morning and, full of excitement and eagerness, had Si Yan mount a White Tiger. Then, he took her on a tour of the entire Black Tiger City.

Even though Black Tiger City was already a fortress, it was unplanned and a bit of a mess.

However, Si Yan had no intention of helping them with the planning. After all, her knowledge wasn’t to be given away so freely.

In the end, Hu Yong still posed a question: they had obtained 100 prey animals, and he wanted to know how to distribute them among five hundred Beastmen.

He had calculated over and over, but either some Beastmen were left without, or there was excess meat.

This was a simple division problem that also involved decimals.

0.2 of a prey animal was not something the Black Tiger Beastmen could comprehend.

Si Yan told him to divide each prey animal into five parts. That way, each Beastman would receive a share.

Hu Yong hurriedly went to make the divisions. Later, he returned, triumphant, telling Si Yan that, indeed, everything had been distributed perfectly, just right, with nothing left over.

Si Yan frowned. A hundred prey animals, each varying in size and weight. Such a division was inherently unfair. To divide it with complete fairness, they would need scales to weigh everything precisely before distributing it. However, this world had neither scales nor weights. And it seemed these Beastmen didn’t care much about minor discrepancies anyway. These were matters for the future.

Just as Hu Yong, having solved one of his major problems, was even more excitedly showing Si Yan around Black Tiger City, a huge opportunity for her to prove herself arrived.

"Lord Hu Yong!"

A Tiger Beastman rushed over and knelt, panting. "Lord Hu Yong, an emergency! A dire emergency! The weather is getting hotter, locusts are swarming from the north, and they’ll soon reach Black Tiger City!"

"Locusts?" Hu Yong demanded, his voice laced with anxiety. "How much longer do we have?!"

"About seven days!"

The Flame Day was already making the weather increasingly hot. This heat provided the locusts with an opportunity to breed, and their swarms would only make the impending disaster worse.

Hu Yong was so agitated he paced in circles. Then, remembering Si Yan, he turned to her. "The locusts will devour all our stored supplies! They’ll also endanger our females and cubs. Many females and cubs die every time a locust plague strikes! What should we do, Teacher? What should we do?"