CHAPTER 17: NOT THE TIME TO LOOK AT THAT, ROXANNA!

Roxanna was about to say something, but someone suddenly shouted, "Hey, I can’t find Skiv and Lilo!"

Honestly, most people hadn’t seen Skiv or his cat ever since the demon beasts broke into the settlement. Skiv had run off after taking his cat out of the basement, but no one knew where he went after that.

Roxanna was starting to worry too, especially since she knew teenagers often had intense emotions and tended to do impulsive, unreasonable things. However, she was even more afraid that Skiv might be injured somewhere and no one could find him.

"I will try to look for him," said Marlow.

Calen immediately replied, "No, let me do it." He grinned proudly and said, "Dog beastmen are the best at tracking someone!"

Within seconds, Calen transformed into a dog, shocking Roxanna for a moment. He looked somewhat like a black wolfdog, only much bigger and with extremely thick fur.

[Hmm... if all my husbands changed into their beast forms, Calen would definitely be the biggest one,] she thought.

That single innocent thought was enough to make the other husbands burn with jealousy again. Azul even let go of Zeir’s neck, only to look like he wanted to strangle Calen instead.

Once again, every single one of them thought the exact same thing: I’m better than him, and bigger than him.

Roxanna frowned as the system’s voice barged back into her mind. [What opportunity?]

[If Skiv and Lilo are badly injured or on the verge of death, you could use that situation for a heroic moment. Then BAM! Everyone will cry when they see you do it!]

Roxanna almost choked on air. [Why would you even SAY something like that?! I’m not going to hope a fifteen-year-old boy and his cat get injured just for a mission!]

[Host, the system is only pointing out possibilities. I’m not telling you to hurt them yourself.]

Then the system added, [Though, if it’s just you and him, maybe—]

[No!] Roxanna cut the system off. [How dare you tell me to hurt a boy and a cat?! If I ever did that, I’d deserve to go straight to hell!]

Besides, why did the system want her to complete the mission so badly? It wasn’t like it would gain anything even if Roxanna managed to prolong her life.

She shook her head, pushing those thoughts away before turning to Calen. "Let’s move. I’m afraid he might be stuck under rubble or hiding somewhere he can’t get out of."

"I’ll go with you," Azul said, walking over quickly after finishing his attempt to strangle Zeir. "People can’t be trusted these days."

After he found out that Zeir had used his sword to injure Roxanna, how could Azul possibly trust the other husband again?

Roxanna raised an eyebrow, confused by what Azul meant. But since Calen had already started walking on his four legs, she decided not to say anything and immediately followed the dog.

Calen had known Skiv well for the past year, so tracking the boy’s scent was easy for him.

But even though it was easy to follow, a fear spread in Calen’s heart when Skiv’s scent led them toward the path that the demon bears had taken earlier.

As they followed the river downstream, Roxanna felt her heart drop the moment she saw streaks of blood on the ground.

The trail looked like someone with severe injuries had been dragged across the dirt, smearing blood onto the large tree trunk right beside the river.

"Skiv!" Roxanna screamed the second she spotted him up in the tree. He must have tried to escape the demon bears, and in his panic, climbed all the way to the top.

He had severe injuries all over his body. His right arm and left leg were nearly torn apart, and the side of his stomach was ripped open so badly that Roxanna could see his intestines.

But shockingly, the fat cat was perfectly fine. Lilo stood on a branch right above Skiv, staring at his owner with wide, terrified eyes.

Roxanna swore she had never seen a cat look so worried before. It really seemed like he wanted to cry, and his tiny paws kept reaching toward Skiv’s head as if trying to comfort him.

"Skiv, can you hear me?!" Roxanna called out, her voice trembling.

She had grown up in an orphanage, so she was used to being around children. Because of that, she always had a soft spot for kids and teenagers.

For her, the most heartbreaking thing was seeing a child hurt, and that was exactly what she was looking at right now.

Her eyes filled with tears, and her hands turned cold. "Is... is he...?"

"He’s alive." Calen had shifted back into his human form, and even in the chaos, Roxanna still noticed that he didn’t have a single piece of clothing on him.

But whatever—this was not the time to think about that—[Holy shit, he’s huge!]

She quickly shook her head and slapped her own cheek lightly, trying to stop herself from accidentally looking at his big ding-dong again.

"He’s alive," Calen repeated firmly.

He was already climbing up the tree with ease, moving fast despite having absolutely no clothes on him. Roxanna tore her eyes away from him immediately, her face burning as she scolded herself in her mind.

This was not the time to be noticing things like that.

Calen reached Skiv in just a few seconds. "Hang on, kid," he said softly as he checked the boy’s breathing. "He’s still conscious, just barely."

Roxanna let out a sigh of relief. She then shouted to Calen, "Can you bring him down carefully?!"

Calen checked Skiv’s wounds closely, then yelled back, "No, I can’t!" His voice was tense. "His injuries are too serious, and moving him will only make it worse. We have to treat him up here first!"

"Shit, he’s barely breathing!" Calen added.

The blood Roxanna had given to the Vixeria Tribe people was most likely all used up, so the only way to heal him now was to take new blood from her body.

"It’s alright!" Roxanna shouted back. "I’ll climb up there!"