Chapter 642 - 639: Imminent Danger

Chapter 642: Chapter 639: Imminent Danger

On the plaza, the celebratory atmosphere reached a crescendo under the guidance of the Clan Witch.

Soon, Yun Duo and the male she was about to be mated with stood up. As was tradition, they prepared to receive the cheers and blessings of the entire clan of Beastmen.

However, Yun Duo kept staring fixedly in Jinying’s direction. Her eyes, which should have been shining with happiness, now only held grievance and a stubborn unwillingness, as if she wanted to burn a hole through him with her gaze.

The Elephant Clan Leader sat in the seat of honor, his expression already grim. After he reminded her several times with pointed glances and subtle coughs, Yun Duo finally seemed to snap out of it. Reluctantly, with reddened eyes, she forced herself to turn to the male beside her—the one who was about to become her mate, yet looked incredibly awkward at that moment.

This subtle scene, of course, did not escape Bai Wanwan’s notice in the crowd below.

She instinctively glanced at Jinying, who was seated not far away, wanting to see how he would react to being stared at so intensely.

To her surprise, Jinying wasn’t looking at Yun Duo on the platform at all. Instead, his calm, direct gaze was fixed in her direction.

His expression was complex, holding a depth she couldn’t quite decipher.

Bai Wanwan froze for a second. ’That’s strange,’ she thought. Just as she was about to look away, her peripheral vision keenly caught a male Beastman with his head lowered, walking past Jinying’s seat with slightly stiff movements.

His expression, completely different from the other joyous Beastmen, was abnormally wooden and vacant.

A familiar sense of alarm instantly seized Bai Wanwan.

She immediately issued a command in her mind. "Hua Sheng, quickly scan the Beastman next to Jinying. Focus on detecting whether he’s being controlled by Dark Energy!"

"Understood, Host. Commencing deep scan immediately," the system responded.

Before long, Hua Sheng completed the scan and gave an affirmative reply. "Host, your suspicion was correct. The energy signature is a match. That is indeed a Beastman controlled by Dark Energy; his consciousness is being suppressed."

Bai Wanwan’s heart sank, and her brows furrowed tightly.

’Are the forces behind Roger making a move again?’

’What are they planning?’

Her gaze sharpened as she quickly scanned the boisterous, happy crowd, searching for any other suspicious signs.

Meanwhile, when Jinying had first seen Bai Wanwan looking his way, an indescribable flutter of joy had passed through his heart.

But he soon realized that her attention had been completely captured by the strange male passing by.

This made his heart sink for some reason.

Seeing her stare at the other man for a good while with a focused, serious expression, Jinying also found himself sizing up the Beastman. But from what he could see, there was nothing special about him—just an Orange Rank Talent, with a very plain appearance.

He knew Wanwan had extremely high standards; one only had to look at Chou Rong, Jin Yi, and Yin Ze who surrounded her, not to mention her other Beast Husbands who hadn’t accompanied them on this trip.

Every single one of them was a top-tier male, one in a million in terms of strength, appearance, and ability.

’What about such an ordinary Beastman could possibly be worth her focused gaze?’

Just as he was puzzling over the possibilities, Bai Wanwan shifted her gaze.

Now extremely vigilant, her eyes began to move like a high-precision radar, quickly and discreetly sweeping over the other reveling male Beastmen, screening them.

With her familiarity of that dark energy and the aid of her system, Bai Wanwan soon identified more than ten other suspicious Beastmen in the dense crowd, all exhibiting slightly stiff movements and unfocused eyes.

She immediately had the system lock onto and scan these targets, marking their positions clearly on the virtual map in her field of vision. This would allow her to quickly locate them when it was time to act, ensuring she wouldn’t lose track of them.

Just then, the main part of the mating ceremony on the platform concluded. The Clan Witch, holding a Bone Needle and special dyes that symbolized the blessing and contract, was about to tattoo the couple’s totem onto the arms of the two Beastmen who had just exchanged vows.

But Bai Wanwan’s heart was in her throat.

She noticed that the marked puppet-Beastmen were beginning to move in a coordinated fashion.

She immediately lowered her voice, speaking in an urgent tone only those beside her could hear. "More than ten Beastmen controlled by Dark Energy have infiltrated the area," she told Chou Rong, Jin Yi, and Yin Ze. "And... they’re using the crowd for cover, slowly closing in on the Elephant Clan Leader’s position. Something is very wrong. Their target is most likely the Clan Leader!"

Upon hearing this, Chou Rong’s expression tightened. He quickly raised his head, his gaze darting like lightning in the direction Bai Wanwan had indicated.

Following Bai Wanwan’s lead, he immediately picked out the seemingly random, yet targeted, trajectories of several Beastmen. They were converging on the seat of honor from different directions, like a silent tide.

Clearly, these Beastmen had been given specific orders. An invisible hand was manipulating them, directing them to complete a dangerous mission.

It was likely an assassination attempt on the Elephant Clan Leader, who was at his most vulnerable, having just recovered from an illness!

He couldn’t leave Wanwan’s side while there was danger, either; he had to ensure her absolute safety.

But he also couldn’t just stand by and watch them carry out their plot, endanger the Elephant Clan Leader, and sabotage the stable alliance between their two clans.

In a split second, Chou Rong made his decision.

He immediately had Jin Yi and Yin Ze flank Wanwan, forming the tightest possible protective circle around her.

He then rose quickly and, in a few strides, approached Jinying, who had also sensed the strange shift in atmosphere and was now observing his surroundings with a grim expression.

Chou Rong leaned in close to Jinying and spoke quickly and clearly, in a voice only the two of them could hear. "This is an emergency! You’d better get to the Clan Leader’s side right now! There are controlled Beastmen using the crowd as cover to approach him. Their intentions are unclear, but they’re definitely hostile!"

Hearing Chou Rong’s sudden warning, Jinying’s pupils constricted. He whipped his head around to look closely toward the seat of honor and, sure enough, spotted several furtive figures.

Without a shred of hesitation, he gave Chou Rong a sharp nod. Then, his figure moved like a phantom. Using his familiarity with the terrain and his own superb stealth techniques, he weaved through the raucous crowd of Beastmen. He moved silently but with incredible speed toward the high platform where the Clan Leader was, preparing to intercept the threat.

The joyous atmosphere of the celebration continued unabated. Besides them, not a single Beastman had detected the approaching danger.

Relying on his familiarity with the terrain and his own agile movements, Jinying quickly cut through the noisy crowd and arrived beside the Elephant Clan Leader’s seat of honor.

His sudden appearance made the Elephant Clan Leader’s face, already dark with lingering anger over the broken engagement, turn even more sullen. The Clan Leader let out a cold snort and turned his head away, refusing to even spare Jinying a sideways glance.

But Jinying acted as if he didn’t notice the Clan Leader’s cold reception, ignoring the confused and displeased stares from the other core members of the Elephant Clan.

He stood like the most loyal sentinel, silent and firm, positioning himself beside the Clan Leader in a spot ideal for defense and counterattack. No matter how the Clan Leader tried to drive him away with glares, or even hissed "Get lost," he refused to move an inch.