Chapter 45

Song Xu scrubbed herself so hard that she almost peeled off a layer of skin before successfully washing away the remaining spider webs on her body. Looking at the water’s surface, besides the fur carried away by the current, there was a layer of floating fur, making Song Xu heartbroken.

How much fur did she lose this time!

Wu Mu was soaking in the water, with even more spider webs on him, which he had not cleaned up yet. He bent his snake tail, holding it before him to wipe off the spider webs. Under the moonlight, the scales shimmered faintly, looking somewhat like a mythical mermaid.

Swimming to his side, Song Xu also grabbed a section of his tail to help wipe off the spider silk. His scales were smooth, making it easier to scrub, but his body was too long, and the sticky area was too large.

Wu Mu was too careless in his own cleaning, only removing the large areas of spider silk and ignoring the small ones. Song Xu had to take over for a second round of cleaning. How could such a beautiful snake not be well-maintained!

While scrubbing, she touched a spot lower on the snake’s tail where the scales were not very smooth. The tail in her hand suddenly twitched and moved away.

Song Xu realized where she had just scrubbed: “Sorry, I didn’t notice!”

Unfortunately, she didn’t pay attention.

Seeing Wu Mu handling that part of his tail himself, the squirrel muttered to herself.

A snake’s organs are usually wrapped in scales, unlike many animals that have them exposed. It’s like they are naturally wearing clothes. Since they are wearing clothes, what’s there to be embarrassed about? Besides, she had touched it many times before.

Since she was not allowed to help anymore, Song Xu sat beside him. Many parts of her body were now red and swollen, including her hands, which burned at the slightest touch. She became quiet instead of noisy at this time, staying quietly by Wu Mu’s side. He was now almost entirely covered in scales. The venomous spider webs were blocked by the scales, unable to harm him, so after washing, he was still a smooth snake without any redness or swelling.

It had been a long time since she had seen him like this. Even with swollen eyes, Song Xu wanted to take a few more glances. She held her now chubby face and asked, “Can you still talk like this?”

The scales had spread to his chin, and it seemed like his mouth was about to be covered.

Wu Mu looked over: “Talking, good.”

“Alright.” Song Xu chuckled softly, teasing, “Still using inverted sentences.”

Finally, everything was resolved. The snake’s tail was taken out of the water and laid on the shore. They didn’t plan to find a cave nearby to stay in; this open riverside was just fine. They leaned against a rock, and Song Xu got up and sat on the soft snake’s body, roughly in Wu Mu’s embrace.

With eager curiosity, she pressed Wu Mu’s face, carefully observing his chin and mouth area and studying the connection between the scales and skin. Although there was moonlight, it was not as good as a lamp, and she couldn’t see clearly without getting close.

Wu Mu uncooperatively moved his face away. Song Xu grabbed his ear and said, “Wu Mu, open your mouth.”

Wu Mu opened his mouth: “Hiss!”

Song Xu: “Hey, that’s right! Let me see, it’s still a human mouth, not a snake’s, just a few sharp teeth. Stick out your forked tongue and let me see.”

Wu Mu grabbed her hand, looking a bit fierce: “No look. Sleep!”

Song Xu pinched his eyebrows: “No, don’t frown!”

Wu Mu hid in the shadow cast by the big rock, a shallow layer of darkness covering most of his still-intact face. The scales below looked like expanding shadows, spreading upwards. Song Xu explored the scales at his neck, following the thin scales to the back of his ears. Her hands crossed behind his head through his hair, using this position to hug Wu Mu’s neck suddenly.

“If you appear like this next time, will the scales spread to your eyes? What will happen to your mouth and nose?”

“Will you still have hair then? I’ve been curious for a long time. Is your hair made of scales? Why do snakes have no hair, but when you turn into a human, you have such beautiful long hair instead of being bald?”

Wu Mu’s face, as cold as ice, leaned on Song Xu’s shoulder and made a “gurgle” sound from his throat.

He could even make such a sound. What did it mean? Song Xu chuckled and asked, “Can you transform whenever you want or only when you’re anxious?”

Wu Mu didn’t speak.

Song Xu continued, “I guess you can freely transform into a half-beastman form now, but you don’t want to, right?”

Wu Mu replied, “This is, not, half-beastman form.”

Song Xu understood, “You think this form doesn’t look like a proper half-beastman, you don’t like it, so even if you can transform, you don’t want to and prefer to stay in your beast form?”

She thought the snake didn’t understand these things, but it turned out he did care about his appearance. She hadn’t noticed this subtle concern before.

The snake indeed didn’t understand at first, but thanks to a certain squirrel who loved to compliment his beauty three times a day, the snake started to care.

“Oh my, wake up! You look super cool like this!” Song Xu vigorously shook Wu Mu’s neck.

“Never had, this, transformation.” Wu Mu’s language skills were as erratic as his transformation skills. When calm, he spoke word by word, which, combined with his appearance, was a bit intimidating. When anxious, his words were jumbled, leaving only cuteness.

“No, not good, maintain! No…” As the third “no” came out of Wu Mu’s mouth, Song Xu suddenly kissed him, blocking his carefully organized words.

“Ahahaha, so cute!” Song Xu shook him and rubbed his cheeks excitedly.

Wu Mu:?

Why this reaction? Wu Mu didn’t understand.

After her excitement, Song Xu said, “What were you saying? Continue.”

Wu Mu forgot. His mind was now full of thoughts about whether the spider poisoned his partner and if she was delirious. In the past, people in the tribe had gone mad after being bitten by poisonous insects.

Wu Mu turned around and held Song Xu’s swollen cheeks, inspecting her, lifting her hand and then her foot. Song Xu was pulled and stumbled to the side, “Ouch!”

She wasn’t bitten by the spider. After confirming, Wu Mu brought her back and rested his head on her shoulder again. He recalled what he wanted to say and continued, “Not good, will look, worse.”

Song Xu immediately forgot to question his previous actions and rubbed the back of his head, using sweet words to charm the snake, “Don’t be unhappy. You look really cool like this. Even if you lose your eyes, you’ll still be super cool! You’re a fierce and brave big snake who fights without hesitation. Be confident! Have you heard the story of Nuwa creating humans? No? Okay, let me tell you. Nuwa was a snake with a human head. She molded humans from clay, making them in her own image, the most beautiful. You’re made in her image!”

Although he didn’t fully understand, Wu Mu felt her emotions.

In this world, no one passionately loves another person. Even if they pursue the opposite sex for reproduction, the passion fades after the breeding season. After a season, many partners separate. But the squirrel wasn’t like that. Even though he couldn’t reproduce with her, she still wanted to be with him, always by his side, season after season. They left the settlement to distant places, doing things many beastmen would never do in their lifetime. The squirrel was small, but she was very strong and very good.

Song Xu: “I mean, I can hardly breathe. Wu Mu, can you loosen your tail a bit?”

The snake couldn’t express his feelings verbally, but his actions spoke volumes. When he wrapped around someone, it was truly suffocating. After that night’s counseling, the snake didn’t transform back into his beast form but continued in this strange half-beastman form. To keep his confidence up, Song Xu had to compliment him from time to time. Fortunately, she had read a lot of extracurricular books and could use all the compliments she knew, adding explanations to stretch her words.

Song Xu was a bit worried. If she used up all her compliments now, what would she do in the long run? But then again, the snake might not understand human language in the future. Thinking this way, she decided to compliment him more while she could.

Song Xu held a long stick in her hand to probe the way. Day or night, she would poke around, especially under trees and in narrow crevices, showing how much the spider webs had left her with lingering fears.
As the saying goes, if there’s one spider beastman in this place, there won’t be just one. They don’t live in groups but prefer to live close to each other, each in their own house, not communicating much but living very close.

Song Xu and Wu Mu encountered several spider webs. In the daytime, they could clearly see that these webs, woven by spider beastmen, appeared in all sorts of unexpected places and had different shapes. For example, the web in front of them was shaped like a Bagua diagram. The most amazing part was that this Bagua diagram was formed naturally, with two birds stuck at the yin and yang points, struggling and unintentionally creating this magical shape. Song Xu exclaimed in wonder.

A male spider, awakened by the vibrations on the web and ready for a snack, didn’t expect to see two beastmen observing his web. He was a lazy spider, weaving his web carelessly with large gaps. Tapping his long legs on the web, he hung above and asked, “Where did you come from, and what are you doing by my web?”

As soon as he spoke, Wu Mu swung his tail, and Song Xu raised her stick. Seeing the situation was not in his favor, the spider beastman climbed higher, his legs trembling, “What are you doing? I’m telling you, I’m poisonous!”

The male spider was at the bottom of the hierarchy in this area, always in danger. Recently, it was mating season, and he needed to find a mate. However, some female spiders of his species would eat the male after mating. Unfortunately, the females he fancied were all of this type, so he spent the entire mating season busy mating and escaping, becoming quite adept at it.

While Song Xu and Wu Mu were still considering whether to fight, the male spider had already turned and fled after his threat. Judging by the environment, this place could be called a desolate and dangerous land, with poisonous spiders and scorpions.

Song Xu lost count of how many times she found scorpions after moving stones or digging for food. If it were an ordinary scorpion, it would raise its stinger as soon as it appeared. If it were a scorpion beastman, it would brandish its weapon and shout, “Who the hell is digging up my house? Want a sting?”

It had to be said that without some green mountains and clear waters to improve the environment, the beastmen living here had quite a temper.
The snake adapted well here, being a hot-tempered individual himself. When the scorpion beastman waved his stinger and cursed, Song Xu still promised to fill the hole back in, but the snake’s tail had already swung out. The scorpion beastman, realizing he couldn’t defeat the equally poisonous big snake, turned and left, abandoning his house.

The snake’s attitude was: no one could show aggression in front of him. Otherwise, he would react instinctively.

Besides these, Song Xu also encountered a gigantic lizard. Song Xu mainly liked snakes as a reptile enthusiast, but lizards were also popular pets. Although not as pretty as a domesticated gecko, the gigantic lizard in front of her had a cute, slow-walking demeanor.

The lizard beastman couldn’t stand it anymore. He looked at the two unfamiliar beastmen beside him and asked, “Why are you following me? If you want to fight, just say so!”