Beauty and the Beasts

When the sun was slightly in the west, the females began to head out of the city to hunt.

The food Parker had at noon was only a snack. When it was time for his main meal, he also headed out of the city. He returned to the City of Beastmen with a small lamb only to see Cortis.

Cortis had an animal skin skirt tied around his waist and carried an animal skin bag the size of a large mountain on his shoulders. He stood upright and didn’t feel an ounce of pressure.

This was Parker’s first time seeing a clothed homeless beast. He seemed no different from other beastmen, as he looked like a normal male bringing his prey back to his house. His long, fire-red hair was extremely eye-catching, and a few females were even checking him out. Having bright colors was one of the methods males used to attract females.

Since the snake beastman had the scent of a female on him, no one was worried that he would take away the females in the city, so no one was hostile to him upon his arrival.

Of course, Parker was the exception.

He strode up to Cortis and stood in front of him, asking curtly, “What are you doing here?”

Cortis didn’t look at Parker. Instead, he stepped around him and continued walking forward.

Parker rushed back home and slammed the door shut.

“You’re back!” Bai Qingqing was trying to weave a bamboo basket and wasn’t pleased that it was suddenly dim in the house. “Quickly open the door. I can’t see.”

“No.” Parker threw his prey on the ground and pressed his ear against the wooden door.

Bai Qingqing got a little angry as she wanted to continue weaving but couldn’t see a thing. “What are you doing? Quickly open the door. I’m getting to the important part.”

Parker continued to press himself up against the door like a shadow, acting as if he didn’t hear her.

Seeing that Parker was so serious, Bai Qingqing walked over to the door and placed her ear against it for a while. She then said generously, “Forget it. You can stay here. I’ll go to the bedroom.”

The bedroom had an open window, so there would at least be some light in there.

Parker finally moved when Bai Qingqing turned around. His large, warm hand tightly gripped her wrist.

“Don’t go. Stay here beside me,” Parker said as he bent down to hug her.

Bai Qingqing tried to push him away, but he didn’t budge. She guessed. “Did you see Cortis?”

Parker didn’t say a word.

Bai Qingqing then remained quiet and crouched at the door beside him.

After some time passed, small noises came from outside, and Parker opened the door.

There was no one at the door. There was only a huge animal skin bag—the one Cortis had been carrying.

“What’s this?” Bai Qingqing opened the bag. It was full of shiny, white rice. When she stood up, she could smell its faint aroma.

It was such a large bag that it had to contain at least 150 to 200 kilograms of rice. This was probably the harvest that the sheep tribe promised they would keep for Cortis. It was enough for her to eat for a long time.

Bai Qingqing ran outside to look, but there was no sign of him.

Parker’s expression was scarily dark as he looked at the bag of rice. It was as if he had been beaten up and had no place to run to.

He didn’t allow Qingqing to eat rice, while the snake beastman gave her such a huge bag of it. Even the mates of the four beast kings might not have seen so much rice before.

At least, his mother hadn’t eaten so much rice in her lifetime. But she chose to do that. She liked to eat rice, but one of her mates suffered serious injuries while out hunting as planting rice had drained him of his physical strength. He died from his injuries after he returned.

“Let’s get this rice inside first.” Bai Qingqing turned around and saw that Parker didn’t respond. She only realized that he was acting oddly when she looked up. “Parker?”

Parker picked up the bag and glumly walked into the bedroom.