Feeling the little cub's dependence and longing, Qiao Xixi's heart melted.
She hugged the cub in her arms tightly and kissed his cold little cheek. "Mother is here. It's okay now."
At the sound of her gentle voice, Qiao Ang completely let down his guard and passed out.
When Qiao Xixi saw Qiao Ang faint, she grew anxious. She wanted to carry him back to the cave first but was also worried about Qiao Lie, so she could only wrap Qiao Ang up tightly in her animal-hide coat and continue searching for him.
"Qiao Lie, Qiao Lie, where are you?"
Qiao Xixi didn't have to walk far before she saw Qiao Lie lying in a snowdrift. The snow had almost completely buried him; if not for his tail sticking out, she wouldn't have seen him at all.
She walked over, pulled Qiao Lie out of the snowdrift, and saw that his foot was injured and his consciousness was hazy from the cold.
"Mother, Mother..." His crimson eyes were shut tight, but he was muttering something.
"Don't be scared, don't be scared. Mother's here."
DING-DONG
"Congratulations, Host, on completing the second mission. The cubs have all successfully called you 'Mother.' Please accept the reward dispatched by the system."
Qiao Xixi saw a box appear in the void.
"What is this?"
"Host, this is a great item."
"This is a Cure-All Pill. It can rapidly cure any illness, no matter what it is."
The box opened, revealing a single golden pill.
"Can it bring the dead back to life?"
"Yes."
'That really is a great item.'
Qiao Xixi placed the pill in the system's void space.
"Can you make this space a little bigger for me?"
"Host, this void space can store inanimate objects. Although it's only a few square meters, it's already a special reward I went out of my way to get for you. However, after you complete more missions, you can apply to expand the space."
'It can store inanimate objects. That means I can store the food I get in there.'
"Do you have any rewards that allow for teleportation?"
'Something that would let me get the cubs out of this godforsaken world of ice and snow.'
"Sorry, Host, we don't have that right now."
"Then how did these villain cubs survive in such an extreme environment in the original story?"
"The original work doesn't describe that in detail, Host. But rest assured, you'll be able to watch the villain cubs grow up."
Qiao Xixi wanted to curse. 'So much for the process being important! I can't just lie around in a cave and expect the cubs to grow up safely, can I?'
The moment Qiao Xixi returned to the cave, Qiao Qiao saw Qiao Lie's blood-stained leg and her face turned pale with fright. She stopped eating her meat and ran over frantically, hugging Qiao Xixi's leg and pleading pitifully.
"Mother, please, please don't throw my brothers away!"
Qiao Xixi froze, rendered speechless by a flash of memory.
It was no wonder Qiao Qiao thought that.
In the past, whenever the three cubs were injured or sick, the original owner of this body would threaten to throw them out. She wouldn't let them rest in the ice cave, afraid that them dying inside would be bad luck.
This was why the three cubs would immediately hide whenever they were sick or injured, trying not to be discovered by Qiao Xixi, terrified she would abandon them.
Qiao Xixi carefully placed Qiao Lie and Qiao Ang onto the animal hide, not forgetting to comfort Qiao Qiao.
"I won't. Mother has said it: I will not leave any of you behind."
Qiao Ang was suffering from hypothermia. Qiao Xixi glanced over at Jin Ling and saw him leaning against the stone wall, resting with his eyes closed. She then turned her back to him and began to untie her animal-hide top.
What Qiao Xixi didn't know was that the moment she turned around, Jin Ling opened his eyes.
He was actually a little confused. Judging from the conversations between the cubs and Qiao Xixi, their relationship didn't seem to be good. Qiao Xixi seemed more like an irresponsible mother.
But from Qiao Xixi's actions, that didn't seem to be the case at all.
Just as Jin Ling was pondering this, he saw Qiao Xixi take off her animal-hide clothing.
Beneath the filth-stained animal hide was skin as white and radiant as snow. Even though she was a bit thin, her shoulders looked soft and lovely.
Jin Ling felt a pang in his chest, so painful that he sucked in a sharp breath. He frantically shut his eyes.
With her back turned, Qiao Xixi had no idea what had just happened.
After untying her hide top, she picked up Qiao Ang and used strips of hide to strap him to her body, intending to use her own body heat to slowly warm him up.
Once Qiao Ang was secured, she went to Qiao Lie's side to check the injury on his foot.
Qiao Xixi was an old hand at wilderness survival and knew some basic first aid. She felt Qiao Lie's foot and, after confirming he hadn't broken any bones and it was just a flesh wound, she carefully bandaged the injury with a hide strip.
Just as the wound was bandaged, Qiao Lie woke up.
After a moment of dazed confusion, the little one's beautiful red eyes instantly became vigilant. He quickly tried to scramble up, but the movement pulled at his injured foot, making him whimper in pain.
Qiao Xixi quickly steadied him.
"Don't move so recklessly. Mother just finished bandaging your foot."
Qiao Lie tensed his little face and tried to push her away, but he couldn't summon any strength in his arms.
He was a snake beastman, and their stamina drops rapidly in extreme cold. This condition would completely improve after a snake beastman reached adulthood, but he was still a cub with a relatively weak body. This was also why he had fainted after his foot was injured.
"It's just a small wound, I'm fine!"
Qiao Lie's small face was cold, but due to his agitation, the fang-like markings under his eyes became even more vivid.
He would never show weakness in front of Qiao Xixi and give her a reason to abandon him.
"Alright, alright, our Qiao Lie is the strongest. A little scrape is nothing at all."
Qiao Lie pressed his lips together, turned his little face away from her, and, puffing out his small chest, limped to the side to sit down.
Seeing that he was indeed not seriously hurt, Qiao Xixi put the meat that had cooled down back over the fire to reheat it.
As the aroma of roasted meat wafted through the air, Qiao Ang's delicate little nose twitched, and his light brown, fox-like eyes slowly fluttered open.
Realizing he was in Qiao Xixi's arms, Qiao Ang froze.
When he came to his senses, he began to struggle frantically.
"Stupid... stupid female, what are you doing tying me up? Let me down."
Qiao Xixi was roasting the meat, and when Qiao Ang moved, the piece in her hand fell into the fire.
"Don't move yet. Mother will let you down in a moment."
Qiao Ang felt uncomfortable all over. This was the first time he had ever truly felt Qiao Xixi's embrace.
It was very warm, and a little soft, just like he had always imagined a mother's embrace would be.
When he was little, driven by longing, he had once thrown himself into Qiao Xixi's arms, but she had pushed him away the very next second, saying viciously, "Only food gets to be held in my arms!"
He did not want to become her food.
Qiao Xixi just assumed Qiao Ang was hungry, so she quickly untied the hide strips and let him down.
Once free, Qiao Ang ran over to Qiao Qiao's side, putting a good distance between himself and Qiao Xixi.
Qiao Xixi felt a little helpless but not discouraged. 'Rome wasn't built in a day. I'll just have to take it slow.'
"The meat is all cooked. Go ahead and eat."
Qiao Xixi once again divided the remaining meat in half and brought one half over to Jin Ling.