Chapter 32

The fluffy squirrel bounced on his chest like a warm, lively heart. Song Xu finally regained her ability to speak normally and chattered non-stop.

“Wu Mu, why couldn’t you transform back before? Was it because you hibernated too long and forgot how to change?”

“Do you have to go through this every time you hibernate?”

“Do you remember why we left home? Yes, it was for traveling. I asked you before, but you couldn’t answer. Do you have any opinions on our travel destination?”

“Do you remember the tiger beastman named Wei Shan who visited you during hibernation? The tiger tooth necklace he gave you is still in the bag.”

“You haven’t had a full meal for months. Are you super hungry now? Do you want to eat something? Is that why shedding your skin seemed so difficult this time?”

“Now that you’ve transformed back, can you maintain this form?”

“This stone cave turns into a muddy hole when it rains. Are you planning to move here permanently or leave soon? Tell me your thoughts.”

“Why aren’t you talking again?”

She spoke so quickly that the half-mute snake couldn’t find a chance to interject. When Song Xu finally paused in confusion, Wu Mu began answering the first question: “Don’t… know.”

“… Don’t know.”

“Yes.”

“…Don’t… know.”

Hearing his echo-like responses, Song Xu was puzzled: “Which question are you answering?”

Wu Mu looked a bit troubled and hesitantly covered her mouth. Song Xu pulled his hand away: “Even if I die and am nailed in a coffin, I will shout loudly: I don’t want to live in this muddy hole!”

She hadn’t noticed earlier due to excitement, but now the cold wind made her shiver, and her speech trembled. A furry squirrel was much colder when wet compared to a hairless snake.

Fortunately, the heavy rain had stopped, preventing the situation from worsening. Wu Mu carried the squirrel into the forest, found a sheltered tree root, and had Song Xu start a fire. The half-wet leaves under the tree produced thick smoke, and the squirrel covered her nose with her tail while adding more wood.

In the dense forest, the roots at the bottom wouldn’t be completely soaked even after a heavy rain. After the thick smoke, the fire burned thoroughly, and the smoke wasn’t as irritating. Song Xu stopped shivering.
She had countless things to say, and even though Wu Mu’s responses were like copy-paste, it didn’t dampen her enthusiasm. However, after a busy night, with dawn approaching, the sleepless Song Xu felt drowsy and couldn’t hold on, falling asleep by the fire.

Wu Mu stayed by her side, reached into her animal skin bag, and took out a tiger tooth necklace. He lowered his head, extended his tongue, and sensed the familiar scent on it. The colorful stones and tiger teeth made a gentle clinking sound in his hand. He held the necklace and placed it around Song Xu’s neck.

Song Xu suddenly sprang up from the ground, squinting at the bright sunlight filtering through the forest, and immediately looked for Wu Mu.
Seeing that he was still in his half-beast form, she enthusiastically praised him: “Amazing, Wu Mu! I thought you’d change back after a night’s sleep! Wei Shan said that it’s hard to change back to half-beast form once you stay in beast form for a long time. You really did it; it’s a miracle!”

Feeling good, Song Xu couldn’t help but praise him more. Then she noticed the heavy feeling on her head and saw a tiger tooth necklace hanging on her chest. She weighed the necklace, wondering if she had put it on herself while sleepwalking or if Wu Mu had put it on her.

Wu Mu said, “This is — her ‘courage,’ ‘luck,’ for you– to wear.”

Using her excellent reading comprehension skills, Song Xu interpreted, “You mean this necklace represents your mother’s courage, or that wearing it will bring courage and luck, and you want to give it to me?”

Wu Mu: “Yes.”

Song Xu understood, “So this is an heirloom necklace!”

Wu Mu’s gesture was touching, but the necklace was too heavy, making her neck ache after a while. Song Xu took the necklace off and tied it around her waist for the sake of her neck. They continued walking, not staying there for long. Ahead was still a vast expanse of new green, leading to the unknown. Song Xu happily walked beside the half-beast Wu Mu with no intention of turning back.

Their path wasn’t straight, often winding and detouring. Sometimes, Song Xu led the way, and when she saw something interesting, she would deviate from the path to check it out. Wu Mu couldn’t stop her, so he had to follow. Wu Mu would take the lead when they deviated too much, guiding the wandering squirrel back on track. But sometimes, Wu Mu would also deviate from the path. Usually, when he sensed a scent, he avoided large animals he didn’t want to eat and actively sought large prey he did want to eat. During these times, Song Xu could only follow him. He finally started eating. The saying “so hungry you could eat a cow” was an exaggeration for most, but for Wu Mu, it was literal.

Song Xu looked at the snake’s body stretched out before her, touched the bulge on his belly after eating, and looked at Wu Mu’s beast-form snake head while he was eating. She pondered, “Can you still change back to half-beast form?”

The snake didn’t respond. After he digested for a while, they could continue their journey. Wu Mu was still in snake form, and Song Xu understood. She wasn’t disappointed, hugging the snake’s head and comforting him, “I guessed it. Your half-beast form isn’t stable, but you’re already amazing. I thought you couldn’t change back, but you did, and it scared me. Don’t worry. I believe you’ll have more chances to change in the future.”

“It doesn’t matter if you can’t change back, as long as you remember not to eat me!”

“We need to stay happy; emotions affect the body!” Song Xu rubbed the snake’s cheeks with her hands and shared the tasty wild grass stems she found with him.

Although she said this, Wu Mu seemed to think otherwise. While resting, he lay aside at night, gathering strength to try changing forms. Song Xu watched Wu Mu’s struggle. Last time, she discovered him already in half-beast form. This time, she saw the whole process. The scene reminded her of the transformations in “Journey to the West” or “The Legend of the White Snake,” the kind that would scare children to tears and frighten Xu Xian to death. But little Song Xu was fearless, even cheering the snake on from the side.

Wu Mu’s transformations were always quick in the past, but this was the first time she had seen the process so closely, and it was fascinating. The scales would stretch into a body, the dark red color would fade to white skin, and the hair, which transformed from scales, was overall shiny and long, making it hard to tangle or frizz, unlike her own hair, which was frizzy and static-prone in the sun.

If Wu Mu hadn’t seemed in so much pain, Song Xu would have liked to have watched longer. Despite the difficulty, Wu Mu ultimately did not succeed. The big snake lay quietly as if he had exhausted all his strength, not even moving the tip of his tail. The ground around him bore the marks of his struggle.

Song Xu lay down beside him, covering the snake with her tail, “Alright, today’s effort has exceeded the limit.”

Spring nightingales sang in the forest, a sound Wu Mu had never heard before, as they didn’t exist in his forest. He curled his body, wrapping the squirrel in the middle. After several chapters of the squirrel and the snake traveling together, the Fierce Beast tribe finally arrives near Wu Mu’s stone cave in the forest.

As urged by Shi You, some beastmen in the tribe who didn’t get along with Wei Shan came to watch the excitement. However, upon arrival, they found the scent had faded, indicating no one had lived there for some time, and even the discarded skin of the original beast was almost completely rotten.

“They ran away!” Shi You were furious, “Wei Shan, you must have warned them to escape!”

Seeing no trace of Wu Mu, Wei Shan relaxed completely. He opened his mouth wide in a rough smile, “What do you want to do?”

Shi You had hoped to hunt a berserk half-beastman today, but the person was gone. He had considered secretly bringing people over, but Wei Shan had kept a close watch, preventing him from doing so. “Have you forgotten the tribe’s rules?”

Hearing Shi You clinging to the rules, someone snorted, “The rule is to kill if there’s a threat. If the person is gone, there’s no threat.”

“Yeah, they’re gone, let’s go back!”

“No, maybe he hasn’t gone far. Let’s check around.” Shi You suspected Wei Shan had hidden the person.

The group noisily searched the forest, with the two factions arguing as they went. In the end, Shi You had to admit the person was really gone and likely far away, as even the faintest scent couldn’t be tracked. In this situation, even his own people didn’t want to waste time tracking a departed half-beastman. His plan was doomed to fail. Reluctantly, Shi You followed the group back to the tribe, cursing all the way.

Wei Shan walked at the back, looking back at the collapsed stone cave covered by trees. He could still see many crooked snake drawings on one of the cave walls. Wu Mu had lived here since being expelled from the tribe upon reaching adulthood. This forest was close to the tribe’s forest, and some had suggested driving him further away, but Wu Mu refused to leave. If someone returned from the west and wanted to go back to the tribe, they would pass through here. He knew the child must have wanted to wait for Hei Sen to return. In winter, he had wanted to tell the squirrel beastman to make Wu Mu leave, fearing he wouldn’t want to, but in the end, he didn’t say it. Unexpectedly, Wu Mu really left.