On the other hand, Su Qinglan was almost losing her mind from worry, her heart beating so wildly and painfully that even she couldnât understand why it refused to calm down.
"Where is he?!" she shouted again, "Where is Xuan Long?! Someone tell me!"
Han Jue reached for her shoulders, his voice trembling as much as her hands.
"Lan Lan... please, come inside first. Youâre getting drenched."
She yanked away angrily.
"I donât care about the rain! I want my husband back! Why hasnât anyone told me where he is?!"
Rong Ye stepped in front of her, blocking her path.
"Listen to us! Weâre not hiding anything. The men who went with himâthey said he just disappeared!"
"Disappeared?!" she repeated. "How can a giant snake disappear?! Was everyone blind?!"
Her three beast husbands were just as panicked because it was the very first time they had seen her this distressed, her hands trembling, her voice shaky, and the fear on her face was squeezing their hearts so tightly they couldnât even breathe properly as they kept trying again and again to calm her down.
Rain dripped down her cheeks, mixing with the tears she didnât want anyone to see.
Hu Yan tried to hold her arms gently.
"Qinglan... please calm down. Youâre shaking. You shouldnât be out here like this."
She shoved him weakly, crying harder.
"Donât tell me to calm down! Heâs out there somewhere! Something happened! I know it... my heart wonât stop beating!"
Su Qinglan refused every attempt, pushing them away, ignoring their words, and even trying to storm out of the tree shelter to interrogate the thirty beastmen who had gone with Xuan Long but returned without him.
Her father rushed toward them, his clothes soaked through, his hair dripping.
"Lan Lan!" he shouted. "Stop screaming like that! Come here!"
She turned toward him with red, swollen eyes.
"Father! Theyâre lying to me... Xuan Long would never leave like that!"
"No one is lying," he said firmly, grabbing her hands. "We will find him. Nothing will happen to him. He is stronger than all of us combined."
But she shook her head violently.
Because she was in no condition to listen to any comforting words, she was almost blinded by fear, and her voice cracked as she kept asking where he was, why no one had answers, what exactly happened.
And her eyes were so red that even the rain could not hide it completely, because even though the water washed her face clean, the redness in her eyes still made her husbandsâ hearts twist painfully.
"You donât understand! I feel something is wrong! Something terrible!"
Her father saw the trembling of her lips and the way she kept pressing a hand over her stomach to steady herself.
"Youâre pregnant," he reminded softly. "You cannot let panic harm the little ones."
Her chest heaved.
"I canât just sit and wait... not when heâs missing."
To them, seeing her like this made all three of them feel useless and guilty, thinking how incompetent they must be to not even keep her safe emotionally, let alone find the husband she was crying for.
And even worse, she was pregnant, and all of them knew stress was the last thing she should be experiencing, which made the guilt in their chests feel even heavier.
On the other hand, the thirty beastmen carried a different guilt, because they had actually lost the husband of the same woman who had helped them build their house, who taught them about different food, who cared for the other females, and they had repaid her kindness with pain.
And now with Su Qinglan crying like this, they felt so guilty they couldnât even lift their heads, their foreheads practically brushing the ground because they didnât dare meet her eyes or the tribe leaderâs eyes, afraid of the disgust or disappointment they would find there.
Around them, many females peeked out from tree houses and shelters, whispering among themselves because everyone in the tribe already knew what was happening.
That one of Su Qinglanâs husbands had gone missing in this heavy rainy season, around them, more and more females peeked from the tree houses.
Some covered their mouths in shock; others whispered sadly.
"Her beast husband disappeared in this weather... how terrible," one murmured.
"In the rainy season... how will they search?" another whispered.
"What if heâs swept away?" a third said quietly.
Their eyes were full of pity as they watched Su Qinglan sob like a wounded beast.
Because losing someone now, during the heavy rains, was the worst nightmare. The visibility was low, the land was slippery, and if a beastman got separated, they might be lost forever.
Inside one of the taller tree houses, Su Meiyan and her mother, Mu Lihua, were peeking through the leaves.
Su Meiyanâs eyes shone with ugly excitement.
"He really didnât come back... Mother, look! Sheâs crying like crazy!"
Her mother smirked.
"Good. Maybe the snake finally realized sheâs so ugly and left her behind."
Su Meiyan giggled, covering her mouth.
"This is the best day ever. If not for the rain, I would go down and mock her more."
"Stay here," her mother said, enjoying the drama. "Let her suffer."
Both watched happily as Su Qinglan stood soaked and broken below, tears hidden by the rain but agony clear on her face.
But before their twisted happiness could rise any further, the entire sky suddenly rumbled violently, the kind of deep, earth-shaking rumble that made the ground crumble for a moment, and everyone outside flinched hard as Su Qinglanâs father shouted urgently, "Everyone inside! Go inside the tree houses! It is not safe outside!"
Hu Yan was also shocked before he immediately scooped Su Qinglan into his arms because she refused to move on her own, and Han Jue and Rong Ye followed closely behind, practically shielding her from all sides, pulling her toward the safety of their tree shelter.
A heavy, roaring wave of water fell straight from the sky like a broken river, smashing into the ground and sending mud, leaves, stones, and branches flying.
The force shook the entire lower domain.
The tribe screamed.
Su Qinglanâs father yelled again,
"Hurry! Inside! Donât stop!"
Everyone scattered inside the tree houses as water rushed across the ground, rising ankle-deep in seconds, then knee-deep, threatening to drag anything weak away.
Su Qinglan clung to Hu Yanâs shoulders, tears mixing with the storm.
"Xuan Long..." she whispered, her voice breaking. "Please... come back..."
As the sky continued pouring fury, her fear only grew stronger.
The scene was terrifying... just like when a rain cloud bursts in real life, not just pouring rain but releasing a sudden flood, a violent wall of water that slammed into the earth and spilled everywhere, turning the ground into a dangerous, swirling current of mud and rushing water.
In a matter of seconds, the ground was drowning in a rising flood, rain crashing harder and faster with no sign of stopping, as if someone high above the sky was emptying their entire fury onto the land below.