Beauty and the Beasts

With that, she carried her children out of the tree hole.

Ford didn’t even manage to ask her to stay. He felt frustrated about not coming back earlier.

At dusk, after the family finished eating the prey that Ford sent over, Molly—who couldn’t wait any longer—showed up looking for her.

“Bai Qingqing, when are you going to help me meet Bluepool?” Molly didn’t bother beating around the bush. From the way her hands were gripping onto her animal skin skirt, it was obvious how anxious she felt.

“Qingqing is about to sleep. Come back tomorrow to ask her out,” Parker said, suppressing his displeasure only because she was a female.

Molly looked visibly disappointed.

Bai Qingqing hesitated for a moment, before saying, “I wanted to start tomorrow noon. Forget it, let’s just do it now. Although the effects won’t be as good as during the day, the risk is also smaller. In any case, Bluepool will probably come out once he senses that something is not right.”

Molly’s eyes lit up, and then she showed hesitance. “Is it better to do it at noon? In that case, let’s do it then.”

Bai Qingqing, however, didn’t want to change her plans again. The more she thought about it, the more she felt this was a great idea. She said to Parker, “Help me retrieve a jar of oil.”

To make it more convenient to retrieve the kitchen tools, Parker made a hole in the tree hole during the day. He stuck his hands inside and easily retrieved the jar.

“Where are you two going at this hour?” asked Parker with a frown as he handed the oil to her. “The skies are turning dark.”

“We’re going to the waterhole. We’ll be back shortly. You are not to follow us.”

With that, Bai Qingqing headed to the waterhole with Molly.

Parker, who was planning on tagging along, halted.

Curtis, whose head was leaning against the entrance, opened his transparent retinas. After they walked sufficiently far away, he slithered out of the tree hole and followed them.

Seeing this, Parker also transformed into a leopard and quietly followed.

“Why don’t we wait until tomorrow at noon?” Molly asked, refusing to give up. “You said the effect is the best when done at noon.”

At this time, the beastmen were preparing to turn in for the night, so they didn’t see many of them along the way.

Bai Qingqing said, “You want to spend time alone with Bluepool during the daytime? I’m afraid females will start to appear shortly after.”

Molly felt that that made sense, so she stopped objecting to it.

Once they reached the waterhole, Bai Qingqing glanced up at the darkening skies, before pouring the oil into the water.

The oil instantly started to spread out over the surface of the waterhole. As oil was better at refracting light rays, the lighting in the bottom of the river instantly dimmed by several magnitudes.

Bai Qingqing exhaled, then immediately hid behind the rock next to the waterhole.

With the sunlight blocked out, the breathing of the aquatic plants would be affected; over a prolonged period, all the living organisms in the water would be affected, and the biological chain would probably be destroyed.

But with the skies turning dark now, this effect was almost negligible. Bluepool, an intellectual creature, would definitely detect the abnormality quickly and come up to check.

“Are you done?” Molly asked in a distrustful tone as she stealthily walked up from behind.

“Wait here, perhaps Bluepool will come out later.”

“Alright,” replied the listless Molly. After all that had been done, she didn’t mind waiting a little longer. “You can go back first. I can wait by myself.”

Bai Qingqing teased her. “You don’t wish for me to intrude on the two of you, right?”

Embarrassed, Molly glared at her with a reddened face.

“Alright. I’ll go now.” Bai Qingqing walked away with very light footsteps after casting one last glance at the waterhole. Shortly after, she turned back to look, not feeling reassured.

The skies had turned completely dark, and the three moons now cast a soft glow over the waterhole.

With moonlight being less intense than sunlight, the effect of that layer of oil should be even more visible, right?

Bai Qingqing was deep in her thoughts when suddenly, she heard Curtis’s deep voice from behind.

“Still not heading back?”

“Ah! You startled me.” Then, she suddenly heard the sound of water splashing, causing her to hurriedly hide behind a tree trunk and look towards the waterhole.