Chapter 18

After a certain period, some people who keep cats or dogs will suddenly start trying to communicate with them using meows or barks.

Song Xu was no exception.

After the day they caught fish, whenever she heard Wu Mu hiss, she would hiss back. Sometimes, even when Wu Mu didn’t make a sound, she would suddenly hiss twice when she was near him, leaving Wu Mu puzzled.

Snakes, including snake beastmen, produce hissing sounds by vibrating air through their mouths, but they don’t rely on these sounds to communicate. These hisses are more like the meaningless sounds humans make in daily life.

Song Xu’s earnest attempt to communicate by hissing was strange, but she had always been a bit odd. One day, while Wu Mu was resting, Song Xu suddenly came over and started hissing seriously. Wu Mu couldn’t understand what she meant from the sound, so he stared at her in confusion.

As Song Xu’s hissing became more urgent and her expression more anxious, Wu Mu couldn’t help but feel affected.

If it was urgent, why couldn’t she just speak?
Could it be that she couldn’t speak normally?

Worried, Wu Mu reached out to touch Song Xu’s throat, concerned that something might be stuck. He then tried to open her mouth to check. Like his tail, his fingers were cool to the touch, which was comfortable in the summer. As he examined her neck and face, Song Xu almost broke her character, quickly pulling his hand away but continuing to hiss with a frown.

Wu Mu didn’t understand the silly things modern humans did when bored. He genuinely thought Song Xu was in trouble and, seeing that she wouldn’t speak, was forced to ask, “What?”

“What’s wrong with your voice?”
“Stuck, can’t speak?”

The half-mute snake managed to say ten words in a row. Song Xu couldn’t hold back her excitement, “You said ten words at once! Amazing, you’ve made a breakthrough!”

Wu Mu: “…” Her distressed expression vanished, and her voice was as clear as ever, with no apparent problem. After a while, Wu Mu realized he had been tricked again. He turned away, lying down, not wanting to deal with the annoying squirrel. He was so angry he almost hissed, but remembering Song Xu’s strange imitation, he held back.

Song Xu could tell Wu Mu was angry, but she was never afraid of his anger because he was a cute snake who never stayed mad at her for long and didn’t like to bite her.

Most of the time, Wu Mu did not react to whatever she did. Only when he was annoyed did his expression become slightly more animated, and she liked seeing his different reactions. Song Xu playfully leaned her head towards Wu Mu, continuing to hiss.

Wu Mu pushed her face away with his large hand.

Song Xu, struggling, shouted, “My dear, are you angry? Are you angry?”

Wu Mu: “Angry.”

Song Xu giggled, “You look so cute when you’re angry.”

Poor Wu MU, who had never encountered such a sweet-talking squirrel, was confused by her words, which seemed both annoying and complimentary.

Beastmen’s likes and dislikes were straightforward: they liked what they liked, hated what they hated, were angry when angry, and happy when happy. But Song Xu always managed to make him feel mixed emotions.

Song Xu cheerfully grabbed his shoulders, gently shaking him. Leaning on his back to look at his expression, she said, “I just want to play with you. I can’t sleep, and you ignored me earlier.”

Did he really ignore his partner? Wu Mu looked at Song Xu’s pitiful expression and quickly forgot his anger, wondering if he had neglected her and made her sad. So he sat up, waiting for Song Xu to develop a new idea. Would it be a walk outside, catching glowing bugs, or swimming? He watched her, waiting for her request.

Sure enough, Song Xu clapped her hands, “Since we can’t sleep, let’s go outside and watch the stars!”

The big snake was pulled out of the dark corner to watch the stars. In the dense forest, there were few gaps to see the stars, and only a small patch of sky was visible from the stone cave. To get a good view, they needed an open space. Too lazy to walk far, Song Xu transformed into a squirrel and climbed a tree.

Climbing trees was easy for them, whether snake or squirrel. Soon, they were sitting at the top of a tall tree near the stone cave.
This tree was taller and had thicker branches than the surrounding trees. Sitting near the top, they could overlook the vast forest.

The moonlight was bright tonight, making the stars seem dim, but Song Xu didn’t mind. “The stars aren’t clear, but the moon is nice and bright. Wu Mu, doesn’t it look like a sea of clouds?”

The dense tree branches and leaves stretched far, the glossy green leaves turning frosty under the moonlight, swaying like rolling clouds.

Song Xu sat on the branch, lost in the beautiful moonlight, unusually quiet. Suddenly, something cool touched her cheek—it was Wu Mu. He seemed to want to say something but ended up hissing.

Song Xu immediately laughed and responded, “Hiss hiss hiss.”

She couldn’t stay quiet for long and started shaking the branch. The branch at the top couldn’t withstand her antics and snapped with a crack, causing Song Xu to fall. She was used to slipping while climbing trees and had initially been scared, but now she could skillfully grab other branches and vines while falling.

This time, she didn’t get to use her agility because Wu Mu’s tail wrapped around her as soon as she fell and pulled her up. The snake’s tail coiled around her waist, lifting her to a branch beside him. Song Xu tugged at the tight tail around her waist, which slowly loosened but didn’t leave, still resting on her lower back.

Seeing the experience just now, Song Xu suddenly leaned back again, causing the tree crown to become sparser. After playing enough, she dragged the broken branches back to dry them for firewood.

Song Xu often ran to Wu Mu, stared into his eyes, and hissed twice. If Wu Mu hissed back, she would run away satisfied. If he didn’t respond, she would keep hissing until he did. After a while, Wu Mu developed a conditioned reflex. Whenever he saw her approaching, he would hiss first.

Song Xu laughed, “Congratulations, you can answer quickly now.”

But the squirrel’s antics didn’t stop there. She loved sharing interesting things with Wu Mu, including food. Whether it was the food she liked or disliked, she would share it with him. After digging up delicious wild yams, they became her staple food. She often dug around in various places, hoping to find more tasty things. Wherever there were wild boar tracks, there were her pits. She would also redig land turned over by other animals and dig up plants with strange leaves to check their roots. If she dug enough, she would find one or two edible things.

Song Xu dug up yellow rhizomes that looked like ginger in the weeds. She took a bite from the other side to avoid the parts bitten by insects. After silence, she suddenly rushed to the coiled snake nearby.

“Wu Mu, come and try this. I found something delicious.”

Before Wu Mu could react, something was stuffed into his mouth.

Song Xu had become skilled at this, and after stuffing it in, she held her breath and waited.

After a moment, Wu Mu flipped over and spat out the thing, but the taste lingered. When he looked up, Song Xu jumped into the grass, laughing arrogantly, “Hahaha!”

The strong taste in his mouth woke the snake up completely. He darted into the tall grass, and the squirrel couldn’t escape. Soon, his tail dragged her into the shade. She failed to transform into a small squirrel to escape the tail’s grip. With her head and front paws on the coiled tail and her tail and hind legs hanging down, the squirrel, seeing the serious snake, made a pleading gesture, “Oww, Wu Mu, loosen your tail. It’s too tight. I’m going to throw up.”

Wu Mu, with a stern face, looked angry, but his tail honestly loosened. The slippery squirrel took the chance to escape and ran into the grass again, laughing, “Catch me if you can!”

Wu Mu: “…”

The second time she was caught, Song Xu tried the same trick, “Too tight, too tight, loosen up!”

Wu Mu didn’t move.

Seeing this didn’t work, Song Xu changed her strategy. Looking at him with big eyes, she said, “I’m sorry. I won’t give you bad food on purpose next time. Please let me go.”

Wu Mu slowly but firmly said, “You lied to me.”

Having been tricked many times, the snake finally saw through the squirrel’s incorrigible nature.

Song Xu: “…” It seemed the snake had become smarter and could see through her lies.

“Okay, I’m sorry. How about you bite me to vent your anger?” The little squirrel leaned her head on the snake’s tail, her eyes round and innocent, suggesting mischievously.

Wu Mu coiled her closer, thinking momentarily, and seemed to find her suggestion reasonable. He brought her to his mouth, ready to bite.

Song Xu didn’t expect him to actually bite and, thinking she had given him too much bad food recently, screamed, “No, don’t bite my head. Bite my arm!”

Wu Mu closed his frightening mouth and rubbed his lips against the furry head of the squirrel, or rather, kissed it.