Beauty and the Beasts

Parker had great culinary talent. Although he randomly added the seasonings, the meat he grilled didn’t seem inferior to that which Bai Qingqing grilled yesterday. Bai Qingqing also ate a little, while Parker ate up everything else.

After eating meat for several consecutive meals, Bai Qingqing was getting sick of it. Just then, she saw Eve walking out of the village, so she hurriedly said to Parker, “I’m going over to Eve.”

Glancing at Eve, Parker supposed Bai Qingqing wouldn’t dare run away anymore and felt that it would be good for her to follow Eve around and familiarize herself with the village. Hence, he consented. “Just don’t go too far away.”

As Eve’s males weren’t around, Parker felt embarrassed to tag alone.

“Got it.” Bai Qingqing still remembered about the homeless beasts and certainly didn’t have the guts to leave by herself. After waving goodbye, she walked towards Eve.

Eve, who was holding a small rattan basket under her arms, greeted Bai Qingqing cheerfully upon seeing her. “Qingqing.”

Bai Qingqing returned the smile. Seeing the three little kittens in the basket Eve was holding, she asked, “Eh? Are these the kittens you’re rearing?”

She had previously thought that Eve was carrying this basket to pick wild fruits and vegetables.

“Pff!” Eve sputtered with laughter. She raised her basket and teased the “little kittens” inside and said, “They’re not cats, they’re the cubs I gave birth to.”

Bai Qingqing’s expression turned stiff. Dumbfounded, her lips parted as she gazed towards the basket, and only then realized the light patterns on their bodies were leopard prints—they were of about the same size as a grown cat, but if one were to look carefully he would see that they were still very tender. Those little cubs were making growling sounds in soft and babyish tones.

Bai Qingqing kept away the shock on her face and said, “Hur hur… I’ve never seen leopard cubs. Sorry about that.”

“It’s alright. Leopard cubs look rather like cats in their infant days. It’s little wonder that you’re mistaken.” Eve couldn’t help smiling as she walked out of the valley. She said, “They’re two months old now. They have weaned off breastfeeding and are incredibly mischievous. There isn’t enough space in the village for them to run about, and it’s easy for them to run into the rivers. I had no choice but to bring them to the grassland outside the village while the sun isn’t too glaring for them to expend their energies.”

Although Bai Qingqing nodded her head in agreement, she was thinking “f*ck” inwardly.

Beastmen are indeed beasts! Two months and they’ve weaned off breastfeeding. I wonder what they’ll look like when they transform into humans? Will I get to see a bunch of babies running about maniacally?

Gosh, that image…

“Err… will they transform into humans?” Bai Qingqing asked curiously.

Eve gave Bai Qingqing a weird look. “Male beastmen only transform into humans when they come of age. How come you don’t even know this?”

Bai Qingqing’s heart tightened. Before she could think of an explanation though, she heard Eve say, “Your family protects you too well, don’t they? They don’t let you go out ever?”

As Bai Qingqing had fair skin, Eve had all along thought she was a cherished female raised in captivity by a large tribe. She had heard that those kinds of females didn’t get to leave the house easily, and it was normal for them to lack common knowledge.

Bai Qingqing nodded her head repeatedly and played along. “Mm, my family doesn’t allow me to interact with males and I don’t have any brothers either, so I didn’t know about this.”

“No wonder. Females are in their human form right from when they’re born. Since you’ve never seen a male cub, it’s normal for you to think this way.” Eve merely felt that Bai Qingqing was pure and innocent like a child. At the thought of the goofy things she said, she couldn’t resist laughing. “In the future, you can come and ask me if there’s anything you don’t understand.

Ah, so females are in their human form when they’re born. Bai Qingqing secretly made a mental note of this. She had never seen a female transform form, and Parker had never asked her to do that as well. That means females only have one form—the human form?

“Okay.” Bai Qingqing pondered a moment, then asked conservatively, “Are there fewer females than males in every tribe?”

Eve sighed helplessly. “Yeah. Exactly because there are too few females, that’s why the beastmen population isn’t able to grow. We can only try our best to not let our population shrink.”