The amphibious beastmen longed for the Xia clan, who naturally came from the forest...

When Xia's orcs saw that the strange orcs not only wanted to kill Lan, but also wanted to slander Lan, their anger flared up instantly.

All the orcs looked at them with the same cold, icy gaze as Hati, as if they were looking at a corpse.

Jiang Yunlan took out the ice crystal from her pocket and looked at the strange orc who had suddenly started struggling and acting agitated. "Is this the 'natural' you're referring to?"

The ice crystals were still dormant, showing no reaction to their presence.

The hornless orcs had only one tail and walked on all fours like blue star salamanders. They growled threateningly from their throats, trying to bare their sharp teeth and claws.

Using the beastmen like Beast Rock and Rain to suppress them, and seeing their intense killing intent towards Lan, he was very displeased and used even more force to suppress the rioting beastmen.

Hati pressed his claws firmly against the orc beneath him, speaking irritably in their language, "Shut up, all of you! Answer my questions, and try saying another one wrong word? You don't care what happens to your companions, or what the natural world will be like, do you?"

Intimidation works really well; the blue-faced amphibious beastman immediately fell silent.

Hati was satisfied. After asking Lan what she wanted to ask, she looked up and replied to Lan, who was sitting in the car, "They said yes."

“But Ice Crystal Stone hasn’t woken up yet. You must have mistaken him for someone else.” Jiang Yunlan looked at the beastmen who were being held down on the ground with suspicion.

Even when asleep, elves retain a faint sense of their surroundings. There's only one reason the Ice Crystal hasn't awakened: it believes it doesn't need to. The orc before it couldn't even wake the Ice Crystal; how could it possibly be an orc the Ice Crystal recognizes?

Amphibious Orc: "Chirp, gurgle!"

Hati: "They say it must be because you made him weak that he couldn't wake up."

After translating the passage, he glanced at the amphibious beastman and let out a cold snort.

"It seems they've already decided that what disappeared was the Ice Crystal Stone. Hati, ask them how theirs disappeared?" Jiang Yunlan said.

They're too stubborn; you can't reason with them. If you let them go now, they might attack your group again. You should sort things out first before deciding when to release them. She thought to herself.

While Hati was questioning the blue hornless beastman, Jiang Yunlan rummaged through the car and found several bundles of hemp rope.

"They say it was naturally stolen. Since it appeared here, of course we stole it." Hati was speechless. The claws he was using to suppress the amphibious beastman were itchy, and he felt that it would be perfect to use a certain beastman to relieve the itch.

Before he could act, a bundle of hemp rope appeared in front of him.

"Let's tie them up first. It would be troublesome if any orcs escaped before we get to the bottom of things." Jiang Yunlan sighed helplessly and decided to stay in the vicinity for a while.

She felt no ill will towards the amphibious beastmen who had become irrational due to their excessive concern for nature. She had already witnessed the mountains losing their natural protection. The beastmen who stole nature were indeed hateful. They had reason to be angry, but they had mistaken the beastmen for the ones who should be angry.

The amphibious beastmen were tied up, with a beastman's claw still pressing down on their backs.

Jiang Yunlan put the ice crystal back into her pocket, then changed her tone and questioned them instead, trying to provoke them into revealing more information, "You say I stole nature? I'd like to ask you how you take care of nature, why was the ice crystal locked in the cave for so long when I met it?"

"Could it be that your own kind stole Nature and locked her up, and now that they see me bringing Nature out, they think I don't know your language, so they're deliberately slandering me?"

The amphibious beastman exclaimed excitedly, "Chirp chirp chirp!"

“They say that when Nature disappeared, all of their kind who were guarding Nature were killed. It’s absolutely impossible that their kind stole Nature. You’re lying to them.”

Hearing the newly gleaned information, Jiang Yunlan stroked her chin. While she was still pondering how to extract further information, Ice Crystal woke up.

"Leave this place, orc. Do not disturb the clan I protect."

Ice Crystal Stone's voice floated in the ears of all the orcs, cold and icy, yet unusually devoid of anger or irritability.

When the amphibious beastmen heard its voice, although it sounded a little unfamiliar, they softened their voices and stammered something.

“My dwelling place is the dwelling place of nature that you know, but I am not the nature that you know. The nature that you know has long since returned to the embrace of the sky and the sea,” said the ice crystal.

It is nature born from the anger and despair of the remnants of ice and snow.

It hated the orcs. It hated the orc who let the ice and snow die naturally, and it hated the orc who threw it into the cave and locked it up.

The amphibious beastmen never expected to hear the news of Ziran's death. They stood frozen in place for a long time, their expressions blank, unable even to cry.

How could Isidore have died?

They couldn't believe what they were hearing. But this news was from another nature, originating from the same source as their own, and they could only force themselves to accept it.

Unquenchable anger arose from the depths of their hearts, and they unconsciously let out roars intertwined with sorrow and rage.

"Who! Who killed Isidore! I want him dead—"

Xia's orcs silently raised their claws to hold them down, not stopping them from venting their emotions. Anyone would be furious at the murder of someone important.

Only after they calmed down did Ice Crystal speak, “I don’t know. From the moment I gained consciousness, I was in a pitch-black cave. All I know is that Istol died after all his natural power was plundered by the orcs and his energy was depleted.”

It wasn't quite sure how long it had been in that cave. It only remembered that after a long period of darkness came a sudden light, which it assumed was an orc protected by Izdor who had found it and was going to take it away.

However, it was not them who appeared before it.

An orc with deer antlers moved the large rock at the cave entrance, said something excitedly to the icy cave, put the plant in his hand into the cave, and closed the large rock again.

It really does hate orcs.

It doesn't want to summon those pesky orcs.

Hearing this conversation, Jiang Yunlan sighed and told her people to untie the amphibious beastmen who had calmed down.

“We’re sorry we saved nature’s cub. We atone for our rudeness,” they gathered below the storm, bowing their heads. “We’ll do as you please, we won’t fight back. But please spare our lives, we want to find the real killer of Isidore and kill him with our own hands!”

Looking at the docile beastmen, Jiang Yunlan said without hesitation, "I have forgiven you. I will not hit you or kill you. I am more curious about how you will find the real culprit. All you know is that the beastman plundered the power of ice and snow and has the ability to wield ice and snow."

“Lan, I know someone who has the means to plunder the power of nature.” The humanoid Feng Twelve walked from the group to Lan’s side and said.

Because the bear-beastmen used to force them into beast forms and make them roam around. This made them, who originally enjoyed running in their beast forms, dislike using them.

Jiang Yunlan was surprised and turned to look at Feng Twelve, who said, "It's a bear-beastman."

"The natural power they possess comes from plundering nature. But I have never seen the bear-beastmen use the power of ice and snow, so I cannot be sure whether the beastman who killed Istol was a bear-beastman."

In the very beginning, Feng Shier thought that the bear-beastman who possessed fire was a beastman blessed by the fire of nature.

Until the day they captured a certain nature, a bear-beastman who possessed fire, along with several other bear-beastmen, drew something on the ground and placed the nature on it.

At that time, Feng Yi and the others were summoned by the bear-like beastmen, and he secretly followed them out of concern for Feng Yi. Feng Yi discovered him and hid the still-growing boy in the bushes before leading the other beastmen out…

Feng Yi and the others are dead.

There was a bear-beastman who inexplicably possessed the blessing of nature, the very natural force that emitted the painful cries.

From that moment on, Feng Twelve gradually lost his ability to hear the sounds around him. He didn't tell his clansmen about it. It was too painful. He couldn't bring himself to tell them that Feng Yi and the others hadn't died outside, but had been sacrificed by the bear-beastmen.

“Bear-beastman? I’ll remember that.” The amphibious beastmen let out a sinister laugh upon hearing the news Hati had told them.

Even if they didn't plunder Isdor's life, it was still—

Kill! Kill! Kill!

Orcs who dare to plunder the life of nature, die!

The amphibious beastmen once again exuded a strong killing intent. They had been wandering for a long time in search of Istol, and they didn't mind killing all the bear beastmen first before finding the real culprit who killed Istol.

"Where are those bear-beastmen?" they asked.

“They escaped from the grasslands, but we don’t know where they went,” Hati replied.

The amphibious orc looked dejected and carefully inquired about the appearance of the bear-orcs from Hati. Bear-orcs were different from each other, and they didn't want to have mistaken the orcs for the wrong ones this time.

When they finished asking their questions and came to their senses, they realized that night was approaching.

"Would you like to stay with us for the night? Our people also want to see nature," they asked.

Even if what they found was a natural counterpart, they had been searching for Isdor for far too long. It had become an obsession for their entire tribe.

Jiang Yunlan didn't immediately agree. She lowered her head and asked the ice crystal in her pocket, "Do you want to go?"

Ice Crystal Stone agreed.

It and they all needed a formal farewell. It had long since given up on them, but it wanted to go and see them on Isdor's behalf.

The orcs, who had been lingering in the same spot for a long time, set off again, with a hornless amphibious orc at the very front of the procession.

A temporary habitat for amphibious beastmen.

Their chieftain, Linshui, was stunned and bewildered when he saw his people suddenly bring back so many orcs. Soon after, the amphibious orcs in their temporary habitat all heard the news of Isidor's death.

Lin Shui, the hornless amphibious beastman, looked sadly at the ice crystal stone, hesitating for a long time before finally not uttering the request that was on the tip of his tongue. The ice crystal stone already had a clan it wanted to protect and didn't want to leave with them.

“Of course, may I know your name?” Lin Shui Wu Jiao asked.

The Ice Crystal Stone can glean many things from the remnants left by Isdor, but it has no memories of Isdor himself. It has no feelings for this clan, and it will not show them any mercy.

“I hate orcs. Even if you are orcs protected by Izdor, it doesn’t mean I will like you. I won’t tell you.”

It wouldn't tell its name to those pesky orcs.

Ice Crystal hummed inwardly, then turned her head and secretly sent a telepathic message to Jiang Yunlan, a beastman, in a gentle voice, "Lan, my name is Freya."

All orcs are hated by nature, except for Lan.

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Author's Note: After finishing today's update, I'll have completed six days' worth of updates. Tomorrow is my day off, and I'm going to celebrate my birthday and go out with my friends! I've been thinking about the new map lately, and the plot is a bit stuck, so I'm writing quite slowly. It's gotten so slow that it takes me six hours to finish 3,000 words. I'll slowly make up for the remaining 500-plus words.