Beauty and the Beasts

Parker took out ropes from the luggage and tied everything.

The water jars had been wrapped up with animal skin back at home. Even if they were to bump into each other, they wouldn’t have to fear that they would break.

Parker brought the bunch of luggage and walked toward the tiger beastmen, saying, “You guys drag these with you. It’ll be easier.”

Roar~ The tiger beastmen exchanged glances and then stood in a row.

Parker made loop-shaped knots with the ropes and hung them onto the tiger beastmen’s shoulders. Then, upon his order, the tiger beastmen ran in a row.

With their burdens lightened, the tiger beastmen’s speed became a lot faster. Parker and Curtis had been accommodating to their speed all along, but with this, they could proceed on at even greater speed.

However, the tigers looked like they were pulling a sled when they ran in a row while pulling the luggage.

Bai Qingqing took a look behind and felt speechless.

…

The moment the sun went down, the temperature took a spike down and the wind and sand became cold.

When the night completely fell, the temperature became even lower. After the light rays went through the darkest instant, a layer of faint light once again shone down.

There was no fog and no trailing smoke. The night sky in the desert was so clear that it made one feel as if they were floating amongst the stars.

The night sky was a clear deep blue, embedded with either densely-packed silver light or red starlight. The night sky was like a piece of fabric embedded with diamonds.

The moons became increasingly dazzling. It was in the midst of the hot season. The orange moon and the golden moon that represented the year and seasons were both half-moons. It was only the beginning of the month, so the silver moon only revealed a hint of waxing shyly.

The three moons illuminated the desert to the extent that it was bright as day. However, the temperature wasn’t high from the sunlight. Instead, a chill seemed to permeate.

Bai Qingqing was so cold that she curled her body up and buried her face into Parker’s soft fur.

Ssss~

Curtis checked the temperature and wrapped up An’an even tighter, stretching his body to the side and blocking the tiger beastmen’s path.

Roar~

The tiger beastmen quickly stopped in their tracks.

Parker tilted his body, allowing Bai Qingqing to slide down from his back.

The sand that had been so scorching that it was possible to roast meat on it a few hours ago, had now turned as cold as an ice popsicle that was just taken out from the freezer.

Bai Qingqing curled up her toes and said with a shivering voice, “Quickly give me that clothing. It’s cold~”

As Bai Qingqing spoke, she spurted out white air. This showed how low the temperature was.

Parker immediately ran over to the luggage where the clothes were stored, turning into his human form and rummaging through them.

Thankfully, Bai Qingqing knew that there was a vast temperature difference in the desert between the day and night, and thus had prepared thick clothing.

After putting on a coat, Bai Qingqing took An’an with him and wrapped her up in her clothing. She also avoided everyone’s gaze and secretly fed An’an milk inside.

Parker said to the tiger beastmen, “Qingqing needs some time. We also need to eat. Everyone come over.”

The tiger beastmen had been running for very long and were starving. They changed into their human forms, dug out their animal skin skirts, put them on, then quickly ran over.

Parker gave the tiger beastmen and Alva each a big piece of meat, then said, “Although this piece of meat looks small, it’s actually very big. It should be very filling.”

“It’s enough.” A tiger beastman took the meat from him without any complaints, taking a big bite of it. His eyes then gleamed. “What’s added inside? It tastes really good.”

Parker raised his brows and said, “I just added a few types of spices before smoking the meat. If you want to learn it, I can teach everyone after we return to the village.”

“It’s a deal, then.”

The tiger beastmen and Parker chatted happily. Curtis tightened Bai Qingqing’s clothing and said, “Stay next to them and don’t go running around. I’ll leave for a while.”

“Where are you going?” Bai Qingqing immediately asked.

“To familiarize with the desert environment,” Curtis said.