Pei Chiyao looked at everything with a calm expression, his face showing no hint of emotion.
Until...
He suddenly turned around and saw Zhi Yao behind him.
"Yao?" he called out in a trembling voice.
The remaining four members of the Ling family were also startled, hastily looking over, "Yao!"
Ling Si reacted the fastest, taking a stride to block Shen Yilian's lifeless body.
Zhi Yao stared blankly at them, her face turning pale.
"What should we do! Sister must have seen it!" Ling San panicked. "Sister is so young, how could she have witnessed such a scene! It's all Second Brother's fault, his methods are always so cruel!"
Pei Chiyao's face darkened as he quickly approached and pulled Zhi Yao into his arms, asking, "Yao, why are you here?"
He had personally soothed Zhi Yao to sleep, so how did she wake up so quickly and find this place so precisely?
This was truly beyond Pei Chiyao's expectations.
Zhi Yao herself hadn't expected to witness such a scene right after arriving. She raised her hand, pointing to a spot nearby, and said, "It was... the iron pillar that woke me up."
It couldn't be called 'woke me up' exactly.
In her half-awake state, she had sensed that there seemed to be fellow clansmen nearby.
When she fully regained consciousness, she found herself here, witnessing that previous scene.
"Were you... killing someone just now?"
The already tense atmosphere grew even chillier after Zhi Yao's words.
Ling San was the first to jump out, racking his brain for an excuse, however idiotic it was, "No, no, Yao, we were just acting!"
Acting?
Zhi Yao was confused.
Ling Si's thought process was similar to Ling San's, and upon hearing this, he immediately chimed in, "Yes, yes, we were acting! That's why we even called Pei Chiyao here to give us guidance!"
Zhi Yao: "..."
The young girl pointed toward Shen Yilian's location and said, "But I saw Second Brother kill Shen Yilian with my own eyes!"
Did these people think she was stupid?
Zhi Yao felt speechless.
She started walking toward Shen Yilian's body.
Ling San and Ling Si immediately blocked her way, circling around her like hawks around a chick, "No, no, that was special effects, props, it was fake!"
"Really?" Zhi Yao frowned.
"Really, really!" they nodded repeatedly.
"Okay then."
Just as they thought the young girl believed them and were about to breathe a sigh of relief and coax Zhi Yao back, who would have thought that the young girl suddenly transformed into a fox, swiftly slipping through the gap between them.
Pei Chiyao was the first to react, "Yao! Come back!"
But it was too late.
Zhi Yao had already discovered the truth.
Everyone was stunned speechless.
"Why did you lie to me?"
Under the moonlight, the white little fox stood motionless beside a corpse, the scene appearing eerie no matter how one looked at it.
Everyone stared in disbelief, temporarily at a loss for how to explain.
"Yao..." Pei Chiyao was about to speak, but the next second, he forgot what he wanted to say, stunned by Zhi Yao's actions.
Because... Zhi Yao was digging a grave.
"Yao, what are you doing?!" Pei Chiyao hurried over in a panic.
The little fox's pristine paws were now stained with dirty soil, which disturbed Pei Chiyao, who had just bathed her.
"You killed someone, so I'm burying the body!"
If it were someone else, Zhi Yao would have advised them to turn themselves in.
But... there was no choice! There were too many people involved, persuading them would be futile, so she decided to join in.
As soon as the words left her mouth, the little fox dove back into the nearby pile of soil, her two paws frantically digging and shoveling.
Her fervor was like that of an emotionless excavator.
Everyone: "..."
"I'm exhausted."
After digging for a while, the hole Zhi Yao made was still tiny.
She puffed out her cheeks in frustration, glaring at the tall, motionless figures, the little fox nearly burst with exasperation, "Why aren't you helping me?!"
At this moment, the originally snow-white little white fox had turned into a... dirty little fox, covered in muddy spots, with some fur even tangled together in clumps.
Pei Chiyao's heart ached even more at the sight, and he immediately stepped forward, grabbing Zhi Yao by the scruff of her neck and lifting her up.
The remaining members of the Ling family finally reacted as well.
Ling Si looked at Zhi Yao with pride in his eyes, "Truly worthy of being one of us from the Ling family, truly worthy of having the blood of the Wolf Tribe!"
They had thought that upon witnessing such a horrific scene, Zhi Yao would be terrified, but they never expected the little one to actually offer to bury the body for them!
Ling Si excitedly rushed to Zhi Yao's side, intending to help bury the body, but then he looked at his pristine hands and realized it might not be convenient for him to dig soil at the moment.
In the next second, he too transformed back into his original form - a majestic wolf.
Immediately after, his grave-digging speed left Zhi Yao gaping in awe!
In less than five seconds, he had dug a large, round pit.
Zhi Yao, still being held up by Pei Chiyao, forgot to struggle as she stared blankly at Ling Si and said, "Fourth Brother, you... you're amazing!"
The wolf then smiled radiantly, even running up to Zhi Yao and excitedly nuzzling her legs that were dangling in the air with his head.
The little fox tilted her head, feeling rather puzzled.
Why did she feel... Fourth Brother didn't seem like a wolf, but more like a husky?!
However, in his single-minded pursuit of gaining merit and earning his sister's favor, Ling Si paid no attention to the others' strange gazes.
After nuzzling Zhi Yao, he charged ahead like an unbridled wild horse, rushing over to Shen Yilian's body.
If Shen Yilian could see this scene, she would probably be so frightened that she'd fake her own death.
She would never have imagined that not only was Zhi Yao not human, but everyone present was not human either.
Ling San's lips twitched, "I say, Fourth Brother, if an outsider saw you like this, you would ruin our family's reputation."
Ling Yi, who had remained silent, finally spoke up, "Indeed, it's too disgraceful."
Ling Si didn't bother with them! To him, reputation was nothing compared to his sister's affection!
Hmph, these people, what use was having a reputation but no sister!
From this day forth, he would be Yao's most reliable brother! He would be Yao's favorite brother!
With these thoughts, Ling Si's movements became even more vigorous.
He was about to open his mouth and bite into Shen Yilian's arm, dragging her into that pit, but in the next second, Ling Si's movement froze.
"What's this?"
In Shen Yilian's palm, a highly transparent thread was hidden.
