Chapter 415: Chapter 369: Squeezing Those Two Foxes

’When he was very young, he learned that females of the Heavenly Beast Clan were terrifyingly rare.’

’In an environment like this, some of her behaviors toward males were clearly irrational. The notion that she should naturally have only one male was even more baffling to him. She had even voiced the worldview-shattering idea that a male could have a change of heart.’

’Once a male chose a female, her scent would be etched into his genes for a lifetime.’

’Even... without the influence of hormones, he couldn’t imagine what a male having a change of heart would even be like.’

’There were plenty of males, but a female wouldn’t choose a partner who had already been selected by another female.’

’He himself was a case in point.’

’He had degenerated before coming of age and had never gone into heat, so he couldn’t comprehend the feeling of his body being controlled by it.’

’Without a heat cycle, he couldn’t imagine—and had never even considered—what it meant to have a change of heart.’

’If Xiao Ning’s way of thinking isn’t challenged, she’ll never be able to properly integrate into Beastman Society.’

’For a fleeting moment, he’d had the audacious thought of being her only partner, but he dismissed it just as quickly.’

’Putting aside the fact that he was now a Mixed Breed, even if he were a normal Beastman, it would still be an impossibility.’

"Let’s go, let’s go."

Gu Ning covered the little fox’s mouth and urged him on.

The figure behind her was putting a lot of pressure on her, and the guilty little tail in her heart was wagging so hard it was about to catch fire.

Ever since she had been honest with Barto, she felt like her old moral compass had taken a massive hit.

Even though she knew this was how Beastman Society worked and had mentally prepared for it, now that it was actually happening, she felt as if a dry piece of bread was stuck in her throat—impossible to spit out and impossible to swallow.

That was why, even though Barto was the only one with her these past two days, she hadn’t let him get too close. Psychologically, she was in a daze, feeling restless and agitated.

Caught in the conflict between the values and perceptions of two different worlds, she couldn’t quite process or digest it all. Plus, with a pile of things to deal with, she had been avoiding the issue.

Thankfully, Alex had been busy for the last two days and wasn’t around much, which gave her some time to adjust.

Barto also seemed to sense something was off. He didn’t cling to her or press for more intimacy, instead directing her attention to her studies.

Right now, Gu Ning just wanted to separate the two Beastmen so she could sit down and talk to Alex about this.

"I’m off, you little heartless thing." Barto gently pinched Gu Ning’s nose, then stood up and left.

’I’ll let Xiao Ning digest this on her own time,’ he thought. ’This is a good chance to go deal with the Deviant partnership.’

’Making that old fox wait for two or three days should be enough. Any longer and he’ll get really antsy.’

’It’s not an urgent matter, and the video is enough publicity for a while, but I need to strike while the iron is hot and get those two foxes under my thumb to prevent them from causing trouble later.’

As soon as Barto left, Gu Ning secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The psychological pressure lessened.

"Sit."

Alex, who hadn’t spoken until now, guided Gu Ning back to the desk. He then flipped through a few language books on her desk, pulled one out, and began to look through it.

"Alex..."

Gu Ning stood still, looking up at him, wanting to speak but hesitating. She mustered the courage to talk to him, but Alex didn’t give her the chance. He tapped the desk with a bent finger. "Sit properly. Class is starting."

His familiar, long-unheard teaching tone made her swallow her words, and she sheepishly sat back down in her seat.

Alex stood behind her chair without a word. Gu Ning heard the sound of him flipping through the book and held her breath, gripping her pen and doodling a turtle in her workbook.

’Why isn’t Alex talking or sitting down?’

As she drew the turtle, Gu Ning remembered how Alex used to do this back in Zone 19 when he taught her. He always liked to stand behind her, which put immense pressure on her. She wouldn’t dare think about anything else and would just stare at the book, forcing herself to study.

In this regard, he lost his usual gentleness and warmth, replaced by a coldness that carried the rigorous air of a teacher.

After Gu Ning finished drawing one turtle and then a cute, chibi-style wolf head, the tall, dark figure behind her leaned down, placed a hand on her shoulder, and picked up her workbook.

"Where are we starting?" Gu Ning felt the guilt of a student caught slacking off in class, but she kept a calm and composed expression, looking for all the world like a diligent student eager to learn.

She was, in fact, a good student. Even if she wasn’t that studious, she didn’t like overly strict teachers, and she especially disliked teachers like Barto, who were on a completely different wavelength.

Still, when it was time to learn, she would take it seriously. It didn’t matter if the teacher was bad or if she was a slow learner; the principle that a slow bird has to start flying early was always right.

"Here."

Alex had made several pages of brief notes in the language book he was holding. He pulled over a chair and sat down next to Gu Ning.

Gu Ning looked at the book in front of her and said hesitantly, "Wait, didn’t you just say that the content of these books is too advanced and not suitable for me right now?"

’These books were the equivalent of making an elementary school student read college-level textbooks.’

’It was like trying to read gibberish.’

Alex used his pen to mark some simple sentence structures on the open page. "Barto might not be a great teacher, but he has a point. You can already communicate with us, so we can switch to a faster, simpler teaching method instead of following the traditional approach."

Hearing the accepting and tolerant tone he used when speaking about Barto, one of the taut strings inside Gu Ning loosened.

At that moment, Gu Ning realized why Alex was the alpha wolf. It wasn’t just about his personal abilities, but more importantly, his magnanimity toward others.

He possessed a capacity for tolerance, understanding, and empathy that ordinary Beastmen lacked.

For a Beastman—a being naturally prone to irritability and dominated by their bestial genes—this was an almost unbelievable ability.

This was one of the reasons she had chosen him. No matter what happened with Cook and Barto in the future, she knew he would treat them well.

After about two hours of studying, Alex placed a handwritten test in front of Gu Ning. As he set a timer on his terminal, he said to her, "You have one hour for the exam."

Gu Ning: "?"

’Wait, I’ve only been studying for two hours and now there’s an exam?!’

She met Alex’s gaze for a few seconds. He then took her translation earpiece and the two terminals from her hands before standing up and walking over to the window.

"..."

Gu Ning resigned herself to her fate and started on the test paper.

After carefully reading through the questions, her brow slowly relaxed.

The questions weren’t that difficult. The test seemed more like a diagnostic exam to gauge her current level of understanding.

"CHIRP..."

Outside the window, Ah Mo peeked in at Little Gu Ning, who was hunched over her desk, writing intently. He chirped to the young bird who was perched motionlessly on a nearby pole, staring straight ahead, "Look, look! Little Gu Ning is studying so seriously. When she’s free later, you should go teach her the language of our Bird Clan."

Philinos’s eyes slowly scanned the distance as he sniffed the air, not missing a single unfamiliar, suspicious scent or the silhouette of any Beastman. "It’s enough for Ning to learn the common tongue. She doesn’t have the extra energy to learn anything else."

Ah Mo chirped, "Sigh... you... can’t you just talk to her normally?"

Philinos said, "She wouldn’t understand if I spoke the Bird Clan’s language."

Ah Mo wanted nothing more than to smack this dense, stubborn brat away with one of his wings.

KNOCK KNOCK— Two light taps came from the window.

Ah Mo and Philinos turned their heads at the same time and saw Alex standing by the window. He was looking in their direction and made a "shushing" gesture.

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