Chapter 10

Half-awake, she opened one eye and didn’t see the snake shedding his skin in the corner. Instead, she saw pieces of tattered snake skin scattered around. Song Xu jolted awake and hurried out to find the snake.

At the entrance of the cave, she saw a tail hanging down, which made it easy to locate the snake. He had climbed back onto the pile of rocks, his usual spot for sunbathing.

The snake, having shed his skin, looked brand new. His dark red base color and black patterns were glossy and smooth, indicating a fine texture without any blemishes. Even his half-beastman upper body looked like polished porcelain, and his hair seemed to have undergone a conditioning treatment. It was shining brightly.

Seeing her, the snake seemed more approachable than usual. He slithered over, his upper body hanging down, lying at the cave entrance with his mouth and nose hidden behind his arms, only his eyes peeking out to look at her.

“Good morning, sunbathing?” Song Xu greeted with a traditional casual remark, stretching lazily.

The snake opened his mouth and said, “Song… Xu.”

Song Xu had introduced herself to the snake many times, almost brainwashing it, because her name couldn’t be accurately translated into their language. She used a phonetic translation, and now the snake mimicked her pronunciation.

Hearing the usually silent snake call her name, Song Xu covered her mouth, feeling as emotional as a mother hearing her baby say “mama” for the first time.

“Oh my… you can say my name!”

Seeing her overly excited reaction, the snake cautiously buried his face further behind his arms, but his tail tip was still twitching.

After calming down, Song Xu looked at the snake sweetly, “Baby, you called my name, but I still don’t know yours.”

Her “baby” didn’t respond, retreating to sunbathe. Song Xu didn’t mind, happily eating some stored food before cleaning the cave.

Over the past few days, the snake’s shedding had made a mess of his corner of the cave, with wet moss fragments everywhere. If left unattended, they would breed bacteria and mold, so they needed to be replaced with new ones.

Feeling like she was changing the snake’s bedding, Song Xu worked energetically, just like a pet owner making a nest for their pet. Of course, before cleaning, she first collected the snake’s shed skin. She had searched around before but hadn’t found any of the snake’s previous shed skins, possibly because he had cleaned them up himself. So, these fresh shed skins were rare souvenirs.

Freshly shed snake skin was still soft, mostly white with a faint yellow tint, and semi-transparent.

Using it to make clothes would result in see-through garments, which might not be suitable. Beastmen had their own fur as clothing, so they didn’t need other clothes, but the shed skin could be used as a raincoat, perfect for keeping dry.

Song Xu picked up a piece of shed skin and planned its use. This piece could be used to make a door for her new tree hole, creating a transparent window effect for better lighting. She naturally considered the shed skin her own property, collecting it all for future use. She briefly wondered if the snake would mind but concluded he wouldn’t care about his old skin.

Song Xu’s modern mindset, combined with her simple original memories as a “country squirrel,” didn’t understand that items like shed shells, teeth, and skin from beastmen were considered private and not easily given to others.

Some beastmen would give their children or partners part of their shed items, while others would destroy them. The snake belonged to the latter group, usually disposing of its shed skin.
However, this time, he didn’t have the chance to do so, and when he went to handle it, he found that Song Xu had already collected everything.

The snake thought: Does she really want it?

He watched Song Xu playing with his snake skin, slowly thinking, his tail unconsciously tightening, almost tying himself into a knot.

The next day was a rainy day. It rained outside, but there was no thunder. Song Xu happily put on the simple raincoat she had made and prepared to test its effectiveness.

Wu Mu quietly watched her wrap herself in his skin and run into the rain.

Song Xu found this snakeskin raincoat unexpectedly useful, much better than the ones she had previously made from various leaves. Usually, whenever it rained, she could only stay in the stone cave and not go out. As a small animal, getting wet in the rain was too uncomfortable. Now, with the raincoat, it was very convenient; as long as the rain wasn’t too heavy, she could go out.

The rain started in the latter half of the night, drizzling. At this moment, the forest was like a box filled with water and oxygen. Stepping on the moss could squeeze out water, and the thick moss was like a water-soaked blanket.

In the dark and damp tree roots, many mushrooms could be found. Song Xu boldly picked them, having recently discovered a new method to identify whether mushrooms were edible. As long as she brought them back and placed them in front of the snake, pretending to give them to him, if they were inedible, he would slap her leg with his tail, showing a repulsive expression. If they were edible but he didn’t want to eat them, he would turn his head away without moving his tail. It was so much fun!

Unknowingly, Song Xu walked farther and farther out of her usual activity range. Her usual activity range was centered around the stone cave, spreading towards the direction of marshes and rivers. But today, she walked in the direction she had fled in panic when chased by a lion for the first time.

Just as she was about to return, Song Xu saw a shadow moving in the distant woods and sensed a strange smell. The smell instantly made her realize it was a strange beastman.

For beastmen, the smell of beastmen and ordinary animals is completely different. Any beastman has an innate sense of this.

Song Xu immediately jumped onto a high branch to spy on the newcomer. There were no other beastmen in this forest that the big snake had taken over. Song Xu was shocked to find that the figure was a beastman. She wasn’t nervous. The big snake hadn’t come to defend his territory, which meant the newcomer was a beastman as weak as her, not very dangerous.

Song Xu proudly thought: Although squirrels are not good at fighting fierce beasts, they are excellent at climbing trees and escaping!

The beastman approached. Song Xu saw the two long horns on her head and the four agile hooves, unable to tell if she was a long-horned sheep or a long-horned antelope. She had never seen such a beastman before.

The long-horned beastman noticed her in the tree, looked up, and soon transformed into a humanoid form. She was an older female beastman, not very tall, slightly thin. The two observed each other, one in the tree and one on the ground.

“Are you the female that Shi Yu said ran into Wu Mu’s forest? You’re still alive?” the long-horned beastman asked first.

Song Xu squatted in the tree, interpreting her words.

The beastman below knew the lion beastman from the fierce beast tribe, so she might also be from the fierce beast tribe.

Second, she said, “Wu Mu’s forest.” Would the snake be called Wu Mu?

Finally, she found it strange that she was still alive, indicating that in her mind, Wu Mu would kill her. Since Wu Mu was so dangerous in her mind, she dared to enter this forest without showing particular fear, suggesting she not only knew Wu Mu but might also be quite familiar with him.

“Hi!” Song Xu waved with a smile, “My name is Song Xu. My beast form is a squirrel, and I’m living quite well in Wu Mus forest. What about you? What’s your name? Where are you from, and what are you doing here?”

Hearing her enthusiastic greeting, the long-horned beastman was stunned for a moment.

Beastmen were generally straightforward, so when Song Xu introduced herself, she also said, “I am Xuan Jiao from the Fierce Beast Tribe, here to check if Wu Mu has fully beastified.”

She noticed the snakeskin draped over Song Xu, which was obviously Wu Mu’s and still fresh, filled with his scent. She was very curious and surprised, “Have you become Wu Mu’s mate so he didn’t kill you?”

“Why do you think Wu Mu would kill me?” Song Xu didn’t care about her guess but was more interested in this question. Why did this Xuan Jiao seem to think the snake was very ferocious?

Xuan Jiao’s tone was matter-of-fact, “Wu Mu has never communicated with the people in the tribe since he was young and would attack other beastmen. Now he is a half-beastman close to fully beastifying, making any beastman near him very dangerous.”

Song Xu: Didn’t feel any danger?

When half-beastmen are fully beastified and lose their sanity, they will become a threat to the tribe, more dangerous than ordinary beasts. Therefore, the beastmen in the tribe would kill such fully beastified half-beastmen. This is something all beastmen agree on and have always done. This forest is close to the Fierce Beast tribe. Since Wu Mu came to this forest, people from the tribe would come periodically to check on him.

Xuan Jiao was previously helped by Wu Mu’s mother, Hei Shen, and was familiar with them. Being an herbivore, she posed no threat to Wu Mu, so he wouldn’t drive her away or pay attention to her. Therefore, she was the one who came to check on Wu Mu from a distance each time.

Song Xu’s eyes turned, “Oh… I see. You can go back now. Wu Mu is fine and far from fully beastifying.”

Xuan Jiao didn’t quite believe it. Wu Mu’s gaze had become unfamiliar the last time she came, and he almost lost his sanity.

“I need to see for myself.”

Seeing her disbelief, she transformed into her beast form and ran towards the stone cave. Song Xu grabbed a vine and followed.

Near the stone cave, Xuan Jiao stopped and looked towards the cave. She hesitated and looked up at Song Xu, “Can you get Wu Mu to come out?”

Song Xu tilted her head, “Are you sure you want me to call him out?”

Xuan Jiao: “If you can call him out, it means he hasn’t lost his sanity yet, and I’ll believe you.”

“Alright.” Song Xu suddenly screamed without warning, “Ahhh, help!!”

The snake resting in the cave heard the familiar squirrel scream and immediately raised his head. As the aggressive snake appeared in view and got closer, Xuan Jiao turned and ran in fear.

Watching her run away, Song Xu shrugged, “You asked me to call him.”

She didn’t like the Fierce Beast Tribe or this “supervisor.”

“Our snake isn’t a bad snake.”

Wu Mu looked at the disappearing Xuan Jiao in the forest, didn’t chase after her, and looked at Song Xu in confusion.

Song Xu cupped her face and gave him a big smile, “Honey, why did you really come out when I called you?”