Beauty and the Beasts

“Ssss—” Curtis’s red tongue flashed by his lips and shrank back into his mouth. His countenance turned a little darker. “Scorpion tribe.”

Bai Qingqing bit her lips and nodded. The leopard cubs had grown a lot bigger, and her stomach couldn’t accommodate having three of them on it, so they bit at each other to fight for this piece of “treasured land.”

Parker casually slapped away the winning First. He said sheepishly, “That’s right. We encountered a scorpion beastman, but I’ve already killed him.”

Curtis’s countenance didn’t improve at all. He took a stone bowl, walked up to Bai Qingqing’s side, and sat down, then helped her up.

Bai Qingqing immediately understood what Curtis was going to do. Her face heated up a little. “Are we really going to squeeze it out like this in the future?”

“En.” Seeing how she was unable to budge, Curtis’s heart couldn’t help but turn a little softer. He softened his tone. “Didn’t you want to let the leopard cubs have milk for a few more days? They won’t hurt you if we squeeze it out.”

Bai Qingqing replied with an “En,” wearing an awkward expression. She was really unlucky. Of all times, she had to get hit with a stupid scorpion poison. When would the poison wear off?

Parker looked at Curtis’s action and snorted.

The leopard cubs had another full meal, but Bai Qingqing still lay there like a corpse.

“Ssss—” Curtis flicked out his tongue again, looking toward the dusty animal skin bag. “What’s inside? You guys roasted meat?”

“No, those are just prickly fruits,” Bai Qingqing said. She then recalled that Curtis’s tongue would check out temperature. She asked, “Roast meat? You’re saying that it’s hot inside?”

“Mm.”

“Ahh!” Bai Qingqing let out a loud cry. As her body was weak, her voice was also very soft.

Vegetables and fruits could breathe as well. Contrary to plants, they breathed out carbon dioxide and would produce heat.

“Parker, quickly take out and separate the chestnuts. Otherwise, they’ll spoil.”

Parker lifted the animal skin bag and poured out all of the chestnuts. A wave of heat gushed over, and Parker said in surprise, “They really are hot.”

A red fruit rolled over to Curtis’s leg. He picked it up to take a look, slapping Parker out of the tree hole with a swing of his tail.

Hearing a crashing sound outside, Bai Qingqing’s heart skipped a beat as well. She bit her lower lip and asked, “Why did you hit him again?”

Curtis brought the red fruit to Bai Qingqing, saying, “He let you eat this?”

Bai Qingqing was stumped and said weakly, “No… Isn’t it poisonous?”

“I didn’t expect that he’s actually not that stupid.”

As Curtis said that, Parker had climbed back up. He glared at Curtis, and the latter threw a fruit toward him. “Dig a hole and bury this.”

Parker caught it. He was the one who had brought the fruit back, so he naturally had to be the one to deal with it. He took it and went down.

“This is a type of carnivorous plant. Its fruit has corrosive abilities and can digest its prey directly. A female is sure to die after eating it.”

Curtis threw Bai Qingqing a reproachful glance, his eyes emitting some disbelief. “You want to try everything. How did you grow so old?”

Bai Qingqing felt frightened. If the fruit had corrosive abilities, then wouldn’t her stomach rot if she were to eat it? It was too terrifying.

“I grew up eating poisonous food, and my body has grown accustomed to it. Maybe I would be fine after eating it, hehe…” Bai Qingqing said half-jokingly, receiving a harsher glare from Curtis in exchange. She shut up sheepishly.

Curtis was a beastman and naturally couldn’t understand Bai Qingqing’s sarcastic joke. When he heard her saying “I grew up eating poisonous food” in a joking tone, his heart ached so much that he had a strong urge to conduct a massacre.

He hugged gently, asking, “Didn’t you have better food?”