Chapter 264: New Plan For Salt Well

After leaving the cliff, Sora returned to the Salt Well Cave with her Beast Husbands.

By the time they arrived, Martin had already led several Wolf Tribe members in cleaning up the cave. The corpses that had previously littered the ground had been removed, and the traces of the fierce battle had been carefully cleared away. The cave that had once been filled with the sounds of fighting and the stench of blood now looked almost as though nothing terrible had happened there.

The Wolf Tribe members had worked quickly and efficiently. They understood how dangerous it would be if other Tribes discovered the full extent of what had happened at the Salt Well Cave.

When Martin noticed Sora approaching, his eyes immediately fell on her swollen belly.

His brows drew together.

"You’re already heavily pregnant, yet you still insist on running around and joining these dangerous affairs!" he scolded. "Next time, leave this kind of thing to the others. Why must you always involve yourself in everything?"

Although his voice sounded stern, the concern in his eyes was unmistakable.

As the Chief of the Wolf Tribe and Sora’s father, Martin had enough matters to worry about already. Now that his daughter was carrying several little cubs, he couldn’t help becoming even more anxious whenever she went somewhere dangerous.

Sora placed one hand on her belly and smiled innocently.

"Father, you can’t blame me for this."

Martin stared at her.

"What do you mean I can’t blame you?"

Sora’s eyes curved mischievously.

"It’s not that I wanted to watch the excitement. Your little grandson in my belly wanted to see it, so I had no choice but to bring him along!"

Martin’s eyes widened.

"What do you mean, the little cub wanted to watch?"

He looked at her belly as though he expected the cubs to answer him.

"They’re still so small! Can they even understand anything?"

Sora raised an eyebrow, her expression becoming even more playful.

"How does Father know that the little cubs don’t want to watch? They’re growing inside my belly, not yours. How would you know what they’re thinking?"

"You little brat!"

Martin raised his hand as though he wanted to knock some sense into her.

"Is that even what I’m talking about?"

Sora immediately slipped behind Lukan, using her Beast Husband as a shield.

"How is it not the same thing?" she asked, peeking out from behind him. "Could it be that Father can hear the little cubs talking? If you can, then tell me what they’re saying!"

For a moment, Martin could only stare at her.

He had raised this daughter long enough to know that arguing with her was rarely a good idea. No matter what he said, she always found a way to twist his words and turn the conversation around.

The Beast Husbands standing nearby couldn’t help laughing.

Sora was simply too clever with her words. She could turn even a serious scolding into a ridiculous argument, leaving the other person with no idea how to respond.

Martin finally lowered his hand and waved dismissively.

"Forget it. I can’t win an argument with you."

He took a breath before returning to the matter that concerned him.

"What happened to Henry and Serena?"

At the mention of their names, the playful atmosphere gradually faded.

Lukan stepped forward and explained gently, "Henry fell to his death from the cliff while trying to save Serena. As for Serena, she’s pregnant with a little cub and appears to have lost her memory. We decided not to bring her back."

He glanced briefly at Sora before continuing.

"Kaelira said we should leave her fate to the will of the Great God. If she survives, then she survives. If not, we won’t interfere. That way, we can consider it accumulating blessings for the little cubs in Kaelira’s belly."

Martin fell silent for a moment.

Then he frowned.

"That cliff isn’t particularly high. I remember Henry was a Fifth-Rank Beastman. How could he have fallen to his death from such a place?"

He had known Henry’s strength. Although Henry had not been among the strongest Beastmen in the region, he was certainly not weak enough to die simply from falling off an ordinary cliff.

There had to be another reason.

Damien answered from the side.

"He forcibly broke through to the Sixth Rank and entered the Sixth-Rank Beast Transformation. He also used the Bone-Shrinking Technique to save Serena."

Damien’s expression remained calm as he explained the circumstances.

"His heart meridians had already been severed. Under those conditions, jumping off the cliff while carrying her was already the limit of what his body could endure. He had practically exhausted his life to save her."

Martin let out a long sigh.

"So that’s what happened."

He shook his head with regret.

"Henry was indeed a man who valued sentiment and loyalty. It’s a pity he died like that."

Although Henry had stood on the opposite side of the conflict, Martin couldn’t deny that the Beastman had shown a certain degree of devotion to Serena.

Unfortunately, loyalty alone could not change the consequences of his choices.

Nearby, Mark, who had been listening quietly, suddenly looked up in surprise.

"Serena has lost her memory?"

He frowned.

"Is that true? Could she be pretending?"

Sora turned toward him, her expression briefly surprised.

She had expected Mark to rush forward and accuse her of being heartless for leaving Serena behind. After all, he had previously defended her more than once.

Yet this time, Mark was actually questioning Serena’s story.

It seemed that even he had begun to suspect that the Female might be capable of deception.

Martin also appeared somewhat doubtful. However, when he glanced at Sora’s pregnant belly, his thoughts shifted.

Since Serena was carrying a little cub, leaving her alive was not necessarily a bad decision.

Perhaps this could be considered accumulating good fortune for Sora’s children.

Who knew? Perhaps the little cubs would even be born with exceptional talents or powerful Supernatural Abilities because of this good deed.

Besides, Serena’s injuries were severe. Her limbs were broken, and she had been abandoned in the wilderness. Without help, she might not survive the night.

If wild beasts found her first, her fate would be even worse.

Nick Wilde shook his head and added, "We suspected that she might be pretending at first, too. That’s why we took turns observing her. However, none of us found any obvious flaws. From what we could tell, she really might have lost her memory when she fell from the cliff."

Mark’s brows remained knitted together.

"But you still left her there?"

He looked from Nick Wilde to Sora.

"What happens if she recovers her memories later? If she remembers everything about the Salt Well Cave, then its location won’t remain a secret anymore!"

Mark wasn’t wrong to worry.

The Salt Well Cave was one of the Wolf Tribe’s most valuable resources. Its existence could attract countless enemies, especially now that the secret of purifying salt had begun spreading among the surrounding Tribes.

If Serena recovered her memory and revealed what she knew, the Wolf Tribe could face another crisis.

However, Sora didn’t appear worried.

Instead, she turned toward Martin.

"Father, I have some new ideas concerning the Salt Well Cave that I’d like to discuss with you."

Martin immediately became attentive.

He glanced around at the Beastmen gathered nearby. They were all trusted members of the Wolf Tribe, people who had proven their loyalty and could be relied upon to keep important secrets.

"Go ahead," he said. "Everyone here is one of our own. There’s no need to hide anything."

Sora nodded.

"In my opinion, instead of spending so much energy guarding the Salt Well Cave, it would be better to cooperate with other forces and make its existence an open secret."

The moment she said this, several Beastmen exchanged surprised looks.

Mark was the first to react.

"What?"

He stared at Sora as though he had misheard her.

"Make the Salt Well Cave an open secret? Are you serious?"