Chapter 37: Orthodontics

She looked at Mo Lin and said after a moment of thought, "Mo Lin, if you find it inconvenient, you don't have to go."

Mo Lin's brows furrowed slightly, and a flash of displeasure crossed his cold, stern face. Although his true form was a snake, that did not mean he was incapable of doing such things. Was this ugly female looking down on him?

"No need, I can do it."

He spat out the words coldly and turned to leave first. Qing Zhu and Xuan Ming exchanged glances, said nothing, and followed him.

Ye Ling watched the three of them depart, a flicker of conflict crossing his silver eyes. Su Xiyue watched his conflicted expression and sneered internally. She had deliberately not asked Ye Ling to go, wanting to see if this bastard would take the initiative to ask her himself. You despise me, don't you? You look down on pig offal and the delicious food I make? Then don't eat it. If you want to eat, you'll have to beg me.

Ye Ling looked at her face—which wore a mocking smile and the words "beg me" written plainly across it—and his expression turned dark with intense annoyance. This dead fat woman was ugly and petty; she was becoming more and more irritating. Begging her was absolutely out of the question. He snorted coldly and walked away with a gloomy face.

Su Xiyue didn't care that he had left; she wasn't keen on cooking for him anyway. If he had the guts to hold out, she would see how long this bastard could endure.

"Ding! Host, warning, warning: Ye Ling's aversion level is rising sharply and has reached the maximum level."

Suddenly, a series of alarm sounds from the system echoed in her mind, making her eardrums ache. She was completely stunned. Ignoring the females and beastmen at the entrance of the cave who looked as though they wanted to say something, she hurried back inside.

The onlookers outside the cave stared at each other. With no delicious food to be had and Su Xiyue clearly not in the mood to engage with them, they had no choice but to leave in disappointment.

Inside the cave, Su Xiyue asked the system with a grim expression, "System, what is the maximum level for aversion?"

"-100. Currently, Ye Ling's aversion is at its maximum. Host, your efforts over the past few days have been in vain." The system's voice carried a hint of gloating.

Su Xiyue's face darkened further. "System, I remember that last night, Ye Ling's favorability was at -60, right?"

The system hummed in agreement, adding insult to injury: "However, when you were preparing the pig intestines today, it was at -50."

Su Xiyue was speechless. This damn system actually had the heart to make a joke of her. But she had no energy to bicker with the system right now. Thinking that Ye Ling's favorability had plummeted from -50 to -100 just because of a meal, she wondered if this man was being a bit too petty.

Ye Ling was, after all, a peak fifth-rank beastman, half a step into the sixth rank, and the strongest of the younger generation in the tribe. Aside from her father, no one in the Wolf Tribe was stronger than this man. He was also devastatingly handsome, enough to make one's knees weak. It was a pity his temper was so poor, his personality so abrasive, and his tongue so sharp.

His sharp tongue was on par with Qing Zhu's. Su Xiyue took a deep breath to calm her inner agitation. Fine, if the aversion level was maxed out, so be it. She would just have to grind it back up. It was just about enjoying food, wasn't it? That was simple enough. She would just keep coming up with new, delicious dishes. She didn't believe she couldn't lower that aversion level.

With that thought, she stopped being angry. "System, show me my data and favorability levels," she said internally.

"Certainly."

A transparent blue light screen materialized before her, recording her information:

Host: Su Xiyue
Age: 16
Charm: 35
Appearance: 30
Health: 70
Weight: 263 jin (severely overweight)
Skills: Wood Element Ability (Level 1)

Target Favorability:
Ye Ling: -100 (Maximum Aversion)
Mo Lin: -30 (Aversion)
Qing Zhu: -50 (Aversion)
Bai Qi: 0 (Indifferent)
Xuan Ming: -20 (Aversion)

Seeing the glaring -100 next to Ye Ling's name, her mouth twitched violently. This bastard! She ground her teeth, a flash of annoyance in her eyes. The favorability of the targets was determined by their feelings toward the host. -100 aversion represented extreme hatred, to the point of being unbearable. It was the same value it had been when she first transmigrated.

She took a deep breath, chanting to herself not to get angry, as anger made one age faster. Besides, he wasn't worth it. She looked further down the list and saw that Mo Lin's favorability had risen by 25 points, and Qing Zhu's by 20. Bai Qi was at 0, indicating he was now indifferent and no longer hated her. Xuan Ming's favorability had also risen by 20 points.

Aside from that bastard Ye Ling, everyone else's had gone up quite a bit. Her mood improved significantly. She looked up and saw her charm had risen from 20 to 35, and her appearance had increased by 5 points to 30. This must be related to her weight loss, which had also improved her health.

However, seeing the number 263 jin on the scale, her mouth twitched so hard it almost went crooked. It hadn't shown the exact number before, only a warning that she was severely overweight. Seeing it now was still a harsh blow. This was the result after losing 37 jin; she couldn't even imagine what she looked like before. It was no wonder she was despised by her five beast-husbands and the entire tribe. At this weight, even walking must have been exhausting. Recalling how she had climbed a tree to knock down chestnuts in the Tagar Forest, her mouth twitched again. She wondered how she had managed to climb up there at the time? She had to admire herself.

She needed to reach a healthy weight as soon as possible. Even if she couldn't become a beauty, she at least needed to look normal. She closed the system panel.

Thinking of her reward, she quickly said, "System, perform the dental correction. Don't make it obvious all at once; let it happen gradually over seven to fifteen days." If she lost weight, people would be suspicious, but if her buckteeth suddenly disappeared, they might burn her as a monster. A gradual correction was best.

"Understood." The system responded and began the process.

Su Xiyue felt a gentle force surrounding her mouth, adjusting her teeth. It was a strange, subtle sensation—neither painful nor itchy, just a slight tingling, as if countless tiny hands were gently touching her teeth. She knew it was the system at work.

She still needed a plausible excuse. Losing weight could be explained, but how to explain the sudden disappearance of her buckteeth? This was the beast world, not a modern society with orthodontics. Suddenly, a spark of inspiration hit her: she could use her wood element ability as an excuse. Wood element healing abilities could potentially fix teeth. After all, no one knew the specifics of her power.

She worried the tribal witch doctor might be suspicious, as the witch doctor also possessed wood-type healing abilities. But that didn't matter much; the witch doctor's abilities weren't very strong and could only treat simple wounds. She estimated the witch doctor was only a level or two higher than herself, at most Level 3.

Thinking about how she was only Level 1, she sighed. She had been too busy finding supplies and changing her living environment to train her abilities. She realized she needed to raise her ability level as soon as possible—at least to be higher than the witch doctor.