Beauty and the Beasts

Recalling the taste of raw fish back then, Parker’s mouth watered. “Okay.”

He went down the tree. A gust of wind blew over, taking away the hot air upon her body.

Bai Qingqing looked left and right. Seeing that Winston was nowhere in sight, she asked, “Hasn’t Winston come back?”

Upon hearing this, Parker regretted he wasn’t the one who went to follow those wolf beastmen. Otherwise, it would be him Qingqing was missing right now.

“Not so fast. There’s a bit of distance between two villages.” As Parker spoke, something suddenly occurred to him, making him sneer. “Seems like those beastmen followed us here. They were either planning to wipe us out all at once, or they had the same objective as us—to find out about our location.”

Bai Qingqing nodded in agreement.

“Let’s stop talking about this. Go to the waterhole to wash your face while I whip up something for you to eat,” said Parker.

“Mm.”

After breakfast, or should we say lunch, Bai Qingqing felt that her tummy had become rounder. She strolled on the empty plot of land to digest the food.

A tall and muscular male walked towards her. He was holding a branch with several red fruits hanging from it, which he handed to Bai Qingqing.

Thinking he was pursuing her, Bai Qingqing was about to refuse, when she heard the male say, “Molly is crying. Can you help me hand these fruits to her? I’ll also give you a few.”

“She’s crying?” Bai Qingqing took the fruits from him without another word. “You don’t have to give me any. I’ll go visit her now.”

The male heaved a sigh of relief and said with gratitude. “Thanks.”

After replying politely, Bai Qingqing walked towards the tribal head’s house.

Before she even got near, she heard the sobs of a female, making her quicken her pace.

As a female, Bai Qingqing didn’t have an acute sense of smell and couldn’t at all sense the territorial markings of the males. But the males were very tolerant of females and wouldn’t take offense with them.

Completely unaware, Bai Qingqing walked to the tribal head’s tree and raised her head to shout, “Molly!”

A vine was tossed down from the second story, and Molly came gliding down, glaring at her with reddened eyes.

“What’s the matter?” At the thought of that tiger beastman, Bai Qingqing asked nervously, “Did that tiger threaten you?”

Molly shook her head. “No, but I heard that many males despise me for my inability to go into heat.”

Bai Qingqing waved a hand and said, “That’s no reason to get upset. Those who would despise you because of this aren’t genuinely fond of you. This is actually a good opportunity for you to see their true colors.

“But…” Bai Qingqing looked towards Molly. “Who was the one who told you this?”

“Carl.” Molly wiped her tears. “It doesn’t matter who said it. The important thing is that there are males who despise me for it!”

Molly was so mad that she stomped on the ground. “I must go into heat!” Raising the bag in her hands, Molly took in a deep breath and said, “Now that all the males have come back, I will eat one now!”

“Err… but it’s been so long. Haven’t they rotted or something?”

Molly said, “Horned melons grow in the deserts and aren’t much different from rocks. So long as their skins are not damaged, they will never spoil.”

She looked around and found two rocks, then smashed the horned melon open.

Bang! The resilient shell of the horned melon split into two, and out fell a fruit white and lustrous as jade. It was a tad like a lychee, but it didn’t have as high water content, and its color was finer and glossy.

With a hand on her tummy, Bai Qingqing sat down on the floor and sniffed it. “Smells so nice. I bet it tastes delicious.”

“Do you want to try one?” offered Molly.

Bai Qingqing shook her head like a rattle. “You go ahead and eat it yourself. Have you thought over this carefully?”

“There’s nothing much to think about.” Molly inhaled a deep breath, then summoned her courage and picked up the fruit. “Eating it now!”

With that, she stuffed the fruit into her mouth.