Beauty and the Beasts

Bai Qingqing didn’t say a word.

How should they enter the water? If they set out towards the ocean on a wooden raft and Curtis was able to sense her from a short distance, would he wake up?

Sigh. If only they had a submarine or something.

“Qingqing, the cubs want to drink milk. Do you have any?”

Parker’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

Bai Qingqing turned around and took the cubs from him before skilfully feeding two of them. Parker carried her bridal-style and quickly walked towards a large tree, a mewling leopard cub trailing after him.

Bai Qingqing turned around. It was Third again. They’d left him behind even though they were only the slightest bit careless.

Luckily, Bai Qingqing normally had more than enough milk, so Third rarely went hungry.

The children were allowed to run about on the beach for a while after they had drunk their fill. On their way back, Parker suddenly stopped.

“What happened?” Bai Qingqing asked.

Parker looked at the surrounding plants in confusion. There wasn’t any water source around. “That’s strange. Why does this place smell of fish?”

“Where?”

Parker turned around and sniffed again. “It’s everywhere.”

Amused, Bai Qingqing grabbed a handful of the golden fur on Parker’s head and said, “I think you just want to eat fish, or maybe an animal caught some. We’ll eat fish today.”

All the doubt in Parker’s mind immediately vanished once he heard that. He excitedly replied, “Okay. I’ll go catch some fish later.” He then left quickly as if he was flying.

After some time, a fully nude man walked over.

The dryness of Bluepool’s body had long since made him dizzy and unable to think clearly.

Where’s this? Who am I? What am I doing?

After a series of deep philosophical questions popped into his head, a thought came to mind. Water! I have to find water.

Bluepool sobered up after he went back and wet his body in the river.

He smiled as a wisp of smoke rose from within the forest. He had found them.

After learning his lesson last time, Bluepool dug a hole in the bed of the river near the rising smoke and stood watch. That afternoon, he saw the leopard beastman going down the mountain.

Bluepool immediately crawled into the hole. When the leopard beastman had left, he immediately transformed into his human form and ran up the mountain.

Bai Qingqing was playing with the leopard cubs in a cave that had a blocked entrance. As it was dim inside the cave, she thought that Parker had returned.

“Parker?” Why was he back so quickly?

She was about to continue speaking when she felt that something was off.

With her back to the light, Bai Qingqing couldn’t see what was behind it, but the foreign gaze on her instantly set off alarm bells in her mind.

Not daring to make another sound, Bai Qingqing hugged the three cubs and quietly backed further into the cave.

“Jean?” Bluepool called out into the cave.

Before Bai Qingqing could figure out what he said, it suddenly became bright. The rock had been moved away.

A tall and thin man stood at the bright entrance. He then elegantly walked into the cave.

Bai Qingqing’s heart immediately leaped to her mouth.

She couldn’t see the man’s face as his back was to the light, causing her imagination to run wild.

Who was this? He didn’t have a tail. Was he a peacock beastman? Or was he a feral beast?

More importantly, what was he going to do?

As she kept her eyes on the man, she quickly looked around, trying to find something she could use to protect herself and the cubs.

The cubs could seemingly sense the tension in the air as well. There wasn’t any fear in their golden eyes as they stared at the man, as they hadn’t picked up the scent of a predator.

“Jean, quickly come with me!” Bluepool excitedly strode towards them before grabbing the female’s arm and pulling her outside.