Beauty and the Beasts

Cortis’ head was wet and glistening. He took deep breaths through two flat holes above his mouth.

Bai Qingqing suddenly found that Cortis’ head looked lovely. She couldn’t help but reach out to poke it.

It was so smooth!

“Ssss—” Cortis wrapped his tongue around Bai Qingqing’s pale and slender finger. He swam towards her hand and gradually wrapped himself around her body.

“What are you doing?” Bai Qingqing giggled and twisted her body to avoid him as her waist was tickled.

Cortis wrapped the midsection of his body around Bai Qingqing, then quickly moved through the water.

This was the first time Bai Qingqing was moving through water so quickly. Although she was being carried, the sensation of the currents brushing past her body was real. She enjoyed herself to her heart’s content.

The two of them only reluctantly returned to the shore when the rice and dishes were ready.

From that day forward, whenever Bai Qingqing had to eat, Cortis would choose to stop at a water source that would be convenient for him to swim in, then take the opportunity to play with her in the water.

Days passed and Bai Qingqing’s period never came, possibly because subjecting herself to the cold had worked.

The forest had been bustling with noise and excitement lately. One could often see groups of animals running about as if they were being pursued by their natural enemies.

“Cortis, are they migrating?” Bai Qingqing sat on Cortis’ arm and asked him in a bored voice.

Cortis flicked out his tongue and frowned. “No. I feel the ground vibrating, and the vibrations are very strong. I think there’s a beast tide approaching us.”

“Beast tide?” Bai Qingqing raised a beautiful eyebrow. She asked out of curiosity, “What’s a beast tide?”

She had watched a lot of Animal World 1. Why hadn’t she heard of this term before?

Cortis explained, “A beast tide is formed when giant beasts gather together. Giant beasts are enormous in size and extremely strong. The energy crystal I gave to the sheep tribe as payment was taken from the body of a giant beast.”

“So, that means you’ve defeated them before, right? We have nothing to fear, then! So, that was an energy crystal.” Bai Qingqing then thought, The energy crystal was taken from the body of a beast? Was it a stone?

“I almost forgot. The sheep tribe still owes you rice. If we leave now, we won’t be able to get it from them.”

Cortis had a solemn expression on his face. He wasn’t scared in the past, but now, he had to protect a female. He had to be extremely careful.

Beast tides brought with them destructive catastrophes wherever they went. The giant beasts would eat any animals they could. Entire villages were often wiped out after coming face to face with a beast tide.

“We’ll wait for the beast tide to pass over the next few days before carrying on with our journey.” Cortis glanced at the sack of rice, which was almost empty. Thinking that Bai Qingqing was worried about food, he added, “There should still be some herbivorous beastmen on the beach. I’ll trade with them for some more rice. But before that, you might not be able to eat rice for a few days.”

Bai Qingqing then realized how serious a beast tide was and nodded. “Okay. I’ll eat whatever I can eat.”

“You’re such a good girl.” Cortis stroked Bai Qingqing’s head lovingly. Then, the expression in his eyes suddenly changed and he looked up at the sky with a sharp gaze.

Bai Qingqing looked up at the sky in confusion. She could only see specks of light as layers of tree branches blocked her line of sight.

“What’s wrong?”

Cortis warily withdrew his gaze, then shook his head and replied, “It’s nothing. Maybe I was mistaken.”

A giant black eagle pressed itself against a thick tree trunk, standing completely still and not making a sound. It was as if it had become a part of the tree.

He noticed the beast tide so quickly. As expected of a beastman with four animal stripes, thought Moore as he pressed himself against the tree trunk.

Footnotes:

Ch 58 Footnote 1

Animal World is a famous CCTV program about wild animals.