BW TFHIBB 37

Chapter 37 — Seventeen Years Ago

Seeing how determined the little female in front of him was, A Ning’s eyes softened for a moment.

But his mouth remained unforgiving.
“How can you be sure he’s still alive? Females don’t have any sensing ability toward their beast husbands.”

“Alive, I want to see him. Dead, I want to see the body. Please tell me everything you know. I don’t know how many people that laboratory has harmed, and the authorities will soon come to handle it—but I can’t wait any longer.”

She added sincerely, “Of course, in return, I’m willing to sponsor Jiu Ning’s education.”
Earlier, in a corner of the living room, Hua Mian had noticed a stack of old but well-kept textbooks with Jiu Ning’s name on them.

The handwriting was childish, but the books were clean, their pages curled from too much use.

If she wanted help, she needed to show sincerity.

To be honest, A Ning was moved by Hua Mian’s offer. Among their brothers, he had the most talent for studying, but poverty forced him to quit school.

He knew better than anyone how much he loved learning—he had flipped through those textbooks countless times. If someone asked him for a page number, he could recite it from memory.

But on Ilika Planet, people discriminated against rat beastmen. They claimed that rat beastmen were the reason the mineral resources had been exhausted—that they dug the mines too aggressively.

Yet many years ago, Ilika had depended entirely on rat beastmen to mine, and miners had once been celebrated.

Times changed too quickly.

Once the mines disappeared, rat beastmen were no longer welcomed.

But who had benefited from the mines? Not only rat beastmen.

A Ning sighed. “You heard Eighth Brother earlier. Except for Jiu Ning, they were all children I picked up after their fathers died.”

Hua Mian nodded.

A Ning then started recounting the old events from seventeen years ago.

At that time, he had only been twelve. His father had been the manager of a small mine in District 7, and A Ning was a natural beastman.

“Natural beastman?” Hua Mian frowned in confusion.

A Ning led her to the small terrace behind the house. There, soft hay-stuffed fur cushions were laid out.

After they sat, A Ning let out a cold laugh.
“Going into the mines is dangerous. Every day, beastmen die without even realizing it. Eventually, everyone got used to it. If someone didn’t return for three days, they were considered dead.”

Hua Mian fell silent. Against nature, human strength was always fragile.

“When too many miners died, no one wanted to mine anymore. So they came up with a deranged plan.”

Hua Mian looked at him, urging him to continue.

“As long as you agreed to work as a miner, you could get your own cub.”

“What?” Hua Mian didn’t understand.

“They had the technology. As long as a beastman provided sperm, he could have his own child.”

“That’s impossible!” Hua Mian’s face was full of shock.

Had interstellar beast-world technology advanced to the point where producing a cub no longer required an egg?

If such technology existed, why were females still so precious?

How many people knew about this? Or—how many were using it?

“Does the Imperial Capital know?”

A Ning shook his head. “I don’t know. But this technology doesn’t appear anywhere on StarNet.”

Hua Mian asked, “Who provided this technology…?”

“Tengyue Mining. After the Great Collapse, the company declined and went bankrupt. Their current public identity is the Gem Auction House.”

Hua Mian sucked in a sharp breath.

“The cubs produced from the miners’ sperm were not natural-born.”
“At that time, they were called ‘Heaven-Sent Cubs.’”

At this, A Ning couldn’t help but let out a derisive laugh.

Hua Mian clenched her hands.

“Heaven-sent? What nonsense. The mortality rate for those cubs was extremely high. Tengyue Mining claimed publicly that miners failed to take good care of them. But the real cause of death? No one knew.”

His words made Hua Mian think of real-world shady breeders who sold overly fragile newborn animals that couldn’t survive a week.

“Except for Jiu Ning, all the others are ‘Heaven-Sent Cubs.’ Some of their fathers died in the Great Collapse; others simply couldn’t support a child due to the failing mining industry and abandoned them, leaving them to wander.”

“Twenty years ago, Ilika Planet was practically hell. The industrial collapse overnight left millions unable to survive.”

A Ning sighed deeply.

“Sorry, I digressed. The Gem Auction House—formerly Tengyue Mining—has continued operating their laboratory in District 7.”

“Jiu Ning’s mother escaped from that laboratory.”

Another shocking revelation.

“When I found her, she was nothing but skin and bones. After bringing her home, I discovered her arms were covered in needle marks and scars of all sizes. It was terrifying.”

“She could barely speak.”

“She was an experiment. She had never left the lab. Like a mouse on a surgery table—the researchers didn’t need her to talk, so they never taught her.”

“But a guard fell in love with her and wanted to take her out to marry her. He taught her bits and pieces of language over several years. Later, he helped her escape—but they were discovered. He blocked the pursuers so she could get away.”

A Ning sighed again.

“Eight months later, Jiu Ning was born. Her health was too poor, and she passed away.”

Hua Mian asked, “Were there any females among the ‘Heaven-Sent Cubs’?”

“No.” A Ning froze.

“No females. All cubs were beastmen…”
Then he murmured, “You’re saying they kept the females to use as experimental subjects?”

Hua Mian nodded with difficulty. “Or even… to harvest their eggs.”

A Ning wasn’t stupid. He understood immediately.
“Animals… They’re worse than animals…”

Hua Mian felt fury rise within her—and also chilling fear.

If the Gem Auction House hadn’t auctioned her off, she might have become an experiment herself.

Hua Mian asked, “Where exactly is the laboratory?”

A Ning: “Near Mine F3 in District 7.”

“Thank you.”

Hua Mian stood up immediately—she couldn’t wait any longer. If she went too late, Yu Jin might already be on an operating table.

“I’ll take you.”

Hua Mian shook her head. “No. Don’t get involved. I can’t guarantee your safety.”

“My mother was probably taken by them too.”
A Ning’s face went pale.

“She disappeared after the Great Collapse.”

That was twenty years ago. If his mother had really been captured, no one could guarantee she was still alive.

“I’ve been searching for her all this time… but I never thought to look there.”

Seeing his dazed expression, Hua Mian no longer tried to stop him.

“Alright.”

A Ning gave instructions to his eldest brother, then took Hua Mian to rent an expensive starship. Together, they headed toward District 7.

—

At the same time, in a residential area of District 9—

“Where could she possibly go?”
Nangong Zheng slammed an ashtray onto the table in rage.

The loud crash made the six beastmen around him swallow nervously.

“Your Highness, we’ll continue searching.”

Nangong Zheng’s face was dark. He truly hadn’t expected the little female to dare escape from the third floor.

He originally thought her willingness to accept the optical-brain device meant she had forgiven him.

He never imagined she had planned her escape long ago.

“Still no location signal?”
His gaze turned icy.