Chapter 240: Chapter 240: Giving You the Status You Deserve
The scene before her vanished with a WHOOSH. Then, with another WHOOSH, a handsome face appeared in front of Yu An.
She froze. Before Lan Ying could embrace her, a little fish cub squeezed in between them.
"Female Mother!"
Xiao Yu jumped for joy, stretching his arms out straight, trying to make sure Yu An saw him.
Although the Beast God was slumbering, Lu Lu was by her side, so Yu An didn’t immediately acknowledge them.
"Who are you, and what is this place?"
Yu An pulled away from Lan Ying and said in a low voice, "What was your purpose in bringing me here?"
Xiao Yu froze on the spot, saying in disbelief, "Fe-Female Mother, you don’t recognize me and Beast Father?"
"An’an," the father and son shared the same stunned expression. "It’s me, Lan Ying. What’s wrong?"
Yu An furrowed her brow slightly. "Lan Ying? Then you must be..."
She looked toward Xiao Yu, who was quick to state his name. "Female Mother, Female Mother, I’m Xiao Yu!"
"So it is you," Yu An’s expression softened slightly. "I have amnesia."
She briefly explained the situation, adding, "Feng Xuan mentioned you to me. Although I don’t remember you, since you are my Beast Husband and child, I will take responsibility for you."
Yu An’s tone was flat, as if she were handling official business. Lan Ying suddenly had a sinking feeling.
"An’an, so what you mean is..."
"I am the Hall Master of the Beast God Hall. Xiao Yu is my child, so he must return with me. If you are willing, you may also accompany me back to the Beast God Hall, and I will grant you the status you deserve."
Yu An forced herself not to look at Lan Ying and Xiao Yu, saying coldly, "If you are unwilling..."
"I’m willing!"
Lan Ying blurted it out without a second thought. He took a step forward and grabbed Yu An’s sleeve. "An’an, it’s just amnesia! It’s not a big deal. It doesn’t matter if you’ve forgotten me, because I haven’t forgotten you!"
"You just said Feng Xuan is at the Beast God Hall too? What’s his status there? I want the same. You can’t play favorites, even with amnesia, you know."
’Is that really the important part?’
The corner of Yu An’s mouth twitched. She feigned a casual nod. "Mm."
"Xiao Yu," Lan Ying said, perfectly content, "come on, let’s pack our things. We’re going home with Female Mother."
He didn’t care where they were going. To him, any place with his Female Master was home.
Xiao Yu quickly agreed, but he was far more reliable than his Beast Father and hadn’t forgotten the real reason they were here.
"Female Mother, come with me. There are some people who want to see you."
"I almost forgot," Lan Ying slapped his forehead. "An’an, let me tell you, after Xiao Yu and I inexplicably arrived here..."
Back then, the father and son’s first instinct was to find Yu An, but they discovered they couldn’t leave the area around Qi Yuan City. While they were trying to figure out how to get out, they met Zhou Liu.
Zhou Liu had nearly fallen into some water, and Lan Ying had saved her. After a brief chat, Lan Ying got a general understanding of the situation.
He was even more surprised to learn from Zhou Liu that the newly appointed Hall Master of the Beast God Hall was named Yu An.
Lan Ying was overjoyed but also troubled, not knowing how to leave Qi Yuan City to reunite with Yu An. However, Xiao Yu and Zhou Liu came up with a plan.
Their idea was to stage a mass disappearance. When the Qi Yuan City branch of the Beast God Hall couldn’t solve the case, they would naturally have to report it up the chain of command.
Of course, Zhou Liu came up with this idea partly to repay him for saving her life, and partly because she wanted to meet the Hall Master of the Beast God Hall herself.
Yu An was puzzled. "She wanted to see me?"
Lan Ying nodded. "An’an, come with me."
They were in a cave. Yu An followed the father and son deeper inside. After many twists and turns, they emerged into a large, open clearing.
A dense crowd of Beastmen were there, some resting and others playing around. Seeing Lan Ying arrive with someone, a young-looking girl ran over.
"Uncle Lan Ying, Xiao Yu, did you bring someone new?"
Lan Ying acknowledged her, then introduced her to Yu An. "An’an, this is Zhou Liu."
Zhou Liu was confused. "Wh-what’s going on?"
Xiao Yu then made the introduction. "Sister Xiao Liu, this is the Hall Master of the Beast God Hall. The person you wanted to meet."
With that one sentence, the once-lively clearing fell silent. Over a hundred pairs of eyes turned toward them in unison.
Yu An was bewildered. She could see excitement and grief in their eyes, but... ’Why are they looking at me like that?’
Zhou Liu’s eyes lit up. Suppressing her excitement, she spoke in a trembling voice, "H-Hall Master, please, you must bring us justice!"
The moment she spoke, the hundred-plus people behind her shouted in unison. Some even dropped to their knees, and Yu An hurriedly told them to rise.
"What are you all doing? You are all people of the Endless Land. If you have grievances, you need only tell me. I will see that you get justice."
"You may not know, Hall Master," Zhou Liu choked back a sob. "Before the hundred or so of us went ’missing,’ countless of our friends and relatives had already died in ’accidents.’ But they didn’t really die. They were taken away by the people from the Qi Yuan City branch hall!"
Yu An froze. She hadn’t expected this to be what Zhou Liu was talking about.
Thinking Yu An didn’t believe her, Zhou Liu quickly continued, "Hall Master, every word I’m saying is true! Back when my older brother, Zhou Yang, died in an accident, I saw with my own two eyes people from the branch hall dig his body out of the grave. Then they did something, I don’t know what, and he came back to life."
She was young at the time, but she wasn’t a fool. She knew that if she rashly revealed herself, the bad guys would capture her too. The Beast God Hall was not an organization ordinary people like them could oppose. The only force capable of challenging the branch hall was the main hall.
The young girl buried this matter deep in her heart for a whole year. It wasn’t until she unexpectedly met Lan Ying and Xiao Yu that she gained the means to "lure" Yu An here.
Zhou Liu twisted the hem of her clothes, her voice filled with anxiety. "Hall Master, every word I’ve said is true. I beg you..."
"I believe you," Yu An said gently, meeting her gaze. "I originally came here to investigate the case of the hundred missing people, but I ended up uncovering some of Zhu Chenghui’s deeds, including what you’ve just described. He has already been publicly beheaded before the people of Qi Yuan City."
Zhou Liu froze, then clenched her fists in agitation. "Really? He’s dead? He’s... so what if he’s dead? My brother is never coming back..."
Like her, the others in the crowd were both crying and laughing. They had all lost family or friends to supposed accidents, only for them to have been taken by the branch hall.
When they were first brought here, they thought they had been kidnapped. But after listening to Zhou Liu’s analysis, they began to recall clues and suspicious details from their own pasts.
That was why they had stayed here voluntarily, all to increase the number of "missing" people and attract the attention of the main hall.
Seeing them like this, Yu An felt a profound sense of unease.
The Beastman Continent was managed by the Imperial Family, and the Beast God Continent had its various City Lords, each governing their own territory. Only the Endless Land, which appeared to be a paradise, was in fact a place of systemic chaos. The Beast God Hall messengers stationed in its cities and villages didn’t govern at all.
It was only after Zhu Chenghui’s execution that Yu An learned the truth. Qi Yuan City... and indeed, all the cities in the Endless Land, were merely beautiful facades hiding a disgusting rottenness beneath.
These branch hall masters didn’t just exploit the common folk. They went straight to the root of the problem—by wiping people off the map entirely.
