Chapter 63: The Basket

Hamoyin was undoubtedly very hurt by Nagu regaining her memory. Duogaluo knew that suddenly being distanced by someone close would be very difficult for someone who had always been alone, but the tribe’s matters couldn’t be neglected.

Additionally, the disappearance of the former witch’s body had left them in a state of panic. After a witch dies, their body is supposed to return to the Mother Goddess. The Mother Goddess’s possessions cannot be moved at will, so the disappearance of the witch’s body had become the tribe’s top priority. If they didn’t find it soon, they might anger the Mother Goddess.

Duogaluo had thought of asking Hamoyin, whose sense of smell was far superior to theirs, for help. But he hadn’t expected to find the missing former witch alive under Hamoyin’s treehouse.

And wasn’t the former witch just talking intimately with Hamoyin in the tree, saying she had caught food for him?

What on earth was going on!?

Compared to the completely confused Duogaluo, Nagu calmed down more quickly. Although she wasn’t sure if she should reveal her identity to Duogaluo now, she definitely couldn’t let Hamoyin, who had medicine on his butt, rush down the tree in a panic!

“Can we talk about whatever you want to ask after we go up?” Nagu coughed twice and gestured to Duogaluo, who was standing not far away. “It’s not convenient down here.”

“Ah… ah, okay.” Seeing the witch suddenly speak to him, Duogaluo was so scared he took a step back, but then he thought it was rude, so he took a deep breath and stepped forward. “Let me carry this basket… of food up for you.”

At this moment, Hamoyin had already stood up, ready to come down. Nagu quickly waved at him: “We’re coming up! Don’t move!”

“Do you know Hamoyin well? Why?” Duogaluo couldn’t help but ask as he strapped on the basket. “Aren’t you…” Weren’t you already dead before Hamoyin came? Duogaluo thought it was disrespectful to say this to someone who was supposed to be dead, but was the witch considered dead now?

He was confused again.

Nagu didn’t answer directly, just urged Duogaluo to climb up first. Then she tied the rope around her waist and started to follow him up the tree slowly. During their climb, Hamoyin kept frowning at Duogaluo. This was actually his mistake; he should have anticipated that Duogaluo would come looking for him within these few days.

Not long after, Duogaluo climbed up to the small platform outside the treehouse with the basket on his back. He looked uncomfortably at Hamoyin’s smooth, scaly lower body. “Why aren’t you wearing anything today?”

Hamoyin ignored him and instead leaned out to look at Nagu, who was still struggling to climb up the tree trunk. “Hold on to the rope around your waist.”

“Huh? What are you doing?” Nagu looked up at Hamoyin, but out of habit, she obediently let go of the stone spike with one hand and grabbed the rope around her waist. She hadn’t held on for long when she felt a strong force pulling her upwards. Nagu hurriedly grabbed the rope with her other hand and even wrapped her feet around it for stability.

In less than two minutes, Hamoyin had pulled her back up to the platform. It felt more stable than an elevator. Nagu hurriedly untied the rope around her waist, glancing back and forth between Duogaluo and Hamoyin, unable to find anything to say.

“What are you doing here?” Hamoyin was the first to speak. “Is it about Gongduo or Azuran?”

“Both, I guess. And a bit about… her.” Duogaluo pointed to the ‘witch’ standing next to him. “Why is the former witch alive and here with you?”

“I don’t know,” Hamoyin replied expressionlessly. “I found her wandering around looking for food on the road and brought her back.”

Duogaluo swallowed. “You really don’t know anything? She should be…”

“Are you saying I’m dead?” Nagu scratched her head, deciding to go along with Hamoyin’s story. “Maybe. I dug myself out from under that big tree and started wandering aimlessly in the forest until Hamoyin took me in.”

“But the former witch and the past… I don’t seem to remember any of it.” Nagu played the amnesia card, deciding to cut off all troublesome matters. “I can’t recall anything.”

“But why did you come back to life? Is this the will of the Mother Goddess?” Duogaluo stepped forward and scrutinized her. Although she was a bit thin, she looked exactly like the witch he remembered from his childhood. This woman was definitely the witch who served under his father. “You need to come back to the tribe with me. We need the other witches to…”

Before Duogaluo could finish, Hamoyin interrupted by stepping in front of him. “She won’t let you take her back to the tribe.”

“Why not?” Duogaluo frowned. “She’s a witch, a dead witch, now resurrected! Don’t you understand the importance of this? It’s even more critical than that damned Azuran!”

“It may be important to you, but it has nothing to do with me or her.” Hamoyin pushed Duogaluo away from Nagu. “But I said she can’t go to the tribe. You can have the witches come here to check on her.”

“As long as it’s where I can see.”

Duogaluo looked thoughtfully at the pair in front of him, then seemed to understand something. He hadn’t expected Hamoyin to fall for someone else so quickly. Hamoyin had never shown interest in women before, but since meeting Nagu, it was like his mind had opened up. “If that’s what you mean, it would really break Nagu’s heart.”

I’m not heartbroken, Nagu thought silently.

Hamoyin glanced at Nagu, who was looking down, then turned back to Duogaluo. “Since she doesn’t remember me, this is the only way.”

“Hmph…” Duogaluo scratched his head in frustration. Since the witch’s ‘body’ had been found, there was no need to rush. Seeing the witch’s current state, it seemed her resurrection was the will of the Mother Goddess, so they could only go with the flow. “Fine, you and the witch stay in the treehouse… I think we shouldn’t let the villagers know about this too soon. Let’s deal with Gongduo first. Will you come to the market the day after tomorrow? It’s a good time.”

“Okay.”

Duogaluo repeatedly confirmed with Nagu what she knew, and after finding out she truly knew nothing, he sighed and left. Too many things had happened to him recently.

“Should we have told him the truth?” Nagu watched Duogaluo quickly descend the tree and felt a bit guilty. Duogaluo had helped them a lot. “At least let him know what’s going on.”

Hamoyin shook his head. “Let him think that Nagu is Nagu.”

“Is that really okay?”

“Yes.”

As they talked, Hamoyin lay back down on the grass mat on the platform. The sun was shining through the leaves, making it a perfect resting spot for him. Nagu sat beside him, using a bone shard to scrape the roots in the basket, occasionally glancing at the shiny scales on Hamoyin’s waist and hips. She wanted to touch them but held back when she saw the bloody wound. Hurting Hamoyin was something she would never do.

After spending some time processing the roots and basking in the sun with Hamoyin, she suddenly remembered the meat she had caught. “By the way! Hamoyin!”

Hamoyin lazily hummed to show he was listening.

“I caught a raccoon, but I don’t know how to skin it. Can you teach me?”

“I’ll do it.”

“Teach me!”

“Alright.”

Chapter 64
Grass Mat

The appearance of Duogaluo still made Nagu somewhat uneasy. To be honest, she was now afraid of being taken back to the tribe. Since being forcibly driven out by the real ‘Nagu,’ she no longer wanted to leave Hamoyin for a long time. If something went wrong again after leaving this time, how could she be lucky enough to find another body to accommodate her consciousness? These messy things were unclear, anyway, she didn’t want to go back to the village with Duogaluo alone, she wanted to stay with Hamoyin.

“What are you thinking about?”

Hamoyin’s voice brought Nagu, who was in a daze on the outside platform, back to her senses: “Were you thinking about what Duogaluo said yesterday?”

“Ah… yes, I was thinking a little.” Nagu took the pieces of fruit handed to her by Hamoyin. “I don’t want to go back to the tribe. Although this time it can be confirmed that the witch’s body is indeed a corpse, what if I get stimulated again and get squeezed out?”

Hamoyin was also troubled by this matter, but he hadn’t come up with a good solution: “You can’t remember anything about yourself?”

“Yes… I can’t even remember my name, but I’m very sure that I’m not from here, that is, I’m not from this continent.” If she could remember a little about the past, she might be able to find clues about her own body, but for the current Nagu, this was impossible. She was like a building block being held by someone and stuffed around.

“Hamoyin, sometimes I wonder… is it because I have no memory that I can fill the originally unconscious body like this.”

Hamoyin didn’t speak, just quietly looked at Nagu’s profile.

“Will I be unable to stay here once I remember things about myself? Will I go back to where I should be, or am I originally dead, and when I remember, it will be time for me to truly embrace death? Now, moving between other people’s bodies like this is just despicably extending my life…”

“But I don’t want to die yet. I know that continuing to live like this may be meaningless, but I just don’t want to die…” Nagu became more and more panicked as she spoke, but when she realized it, she was already half-hugged by Hamoyin.

“It’s okay.” Hamoyin gently patted the trembling girl in his arms. “I will help you.”

“Help me?”

“Yes.” He nodded. “Whether you want to leave or stay, I will help you.”

Nagu felt her nose sour. She sniffled a few times and then started to burrow into Hamoyin’s arms: “You are so good to me.”

He silently smoothed Nagu’s hair at the back of her head. In fact, Hamoyin was not sure if he would really help if Nagu said she wanted to leave. If, as she said, she was originally dead, and remembering the past would mean returning to the depths of the earth.

Hamoyin would definitely not accept it. He would rather Nagu never remember, that would be better. Although this thought was very selfish, he just hoped that Nagu would be willing to stay by his side. The reason he wanted to become human was to stop others from seeing him as a monster. Nagu not only didn’t mind whether he was a monster, but also thought it was good for him to stay as he was. He didn’t think he could find another person like Nagu, so his desire to cherish her gradually became somewhat extreme. However, Hamoyin had already tried his best to restrain his instinctive possessiveness. He didn’t kill Duogaluo for getting too close, nor did he use other methods to lock Nagu in a corner.
Not wanting to make her sad, he always considered this, so in the current situation, Hamoyin only chose words that would comfort Nagu: “What are your plans if you can’t remember anything?”

“I don’t know.” Nagu raised her head a little and looked at Hamoyin’s chin. “Now I’m just waiting for your tail to heal and then deal with Azuran’s matter.”

“About Azrlan.” Hamoyin started to speak but then hesitated.

“What’s wrong with Azulan? Is he already dead?”

“No.”

Nagu responded with an “oh” and then let go of Hamoyin’s waist: “Then what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, you don’t need to think about these things anymore. When Duogaluo brings others to check on you again, I will hide you and say you have disappeared on your own.” Hamoyin shook his head and quickly made a decision. “You don’t need to get involved in these things anymore, it’s very dangerous.”

“But…” Nagu wanted to argue a little, but after thinking about it, she realized she was indeed useless now. Continuing to get entangled with the people in the tribe would only add to Hamoyin’s burden, so she swallowed her words and nodded. “I understand. Then tomorrow, will you go to the market as Duogaluo said… uh, to deal with Gongduo? Will he die tomorrow?”

“When he’s dead, Azuran will think I’m continuing the work, so I’ll definitely go tomorrow.”

“Does your tail still hurt? Will it affect your activities?” Nagu worriedly tried to look back, but Hamoyin blocked her.

Speaking of which, since this morning, Hamoyin had been intentionally or unintentionally preventing her from seeing his back. Now Nagu felt something was wrong: “Let me see, quickly, let me see what’s wrong.”

“I applied some medicine today, it’s much better, it doesn’t hurt as much as yesterday.” Hamoyin continued to avoid Nagu, dodging and walking into the house, “You don’t need to look.”

“You’re lying to me, if it’s much better, why won’t you let me see!”

“I…”

Hamoyin couldn’t hide from the persistent Nagu, so he stepped back and leaned against the wall, pressing his entire back against it: “It’s nothing.”

“This is called nothing? You’re hiding like this!” Nagu anxiously reached out to pull Hamoyin, trying to make him show a bit of his back, “Let me see!”

In the end, Nagu managed to turn Hamoyin around and saw a small pinkish-white bump on his butt.

“It’s growing, growing out?” Nagu stared in shock at the bump, which was only half the height of a little finger, “It’s growing out??”

Since he was seen, Hamoyin gave up struggling and turned his back to let Nagu see clearly: “Yes…”

Nagu’s mouth was half open. She knew the medicine begged from the Mother Goddess was very effective, but this recovery speed was still quite frightening!

At this moment, the wound that was still festering yesterday had already grown pink tender flesh. The newly grown tip of the tail looked like a peeled bamboo shoot, while the new skin at the base of the tail was still wrinkled like a newborn’s skin.

“Do you… do you feel anything else?” Nagu swallowed, suppressing her urge to poke the little thing with her fingertip. “Does it still hurt?”

“It itches.”

“Just itches?”

Hamoyin nodded, and Nagu also noticed that his neck had turned red. He was still embarrassed to show her these places. No wonder he had been hiding since this morning.

“Speaking of which, some of the scales on your back have a white shell.”

Ignoring Hamoyin’s shyness, Nagu continued to diligently check his condition. “No, it’s not a shell… it’s a membrane. Are you shedding?”

“Yes…” Maybe because of the tail growth, Hamoyin’s shedding time had changed. According to his original schedule, he should start shedding after the rainy season ended.

“Just wait for them to fall off by themselves? Does it hurt?” Nagu looked at Hamoyin’s back. The scales covered with the shed skin looked like they had a matte effect, making her want to rub them with her fingers. “Can I gently touch it?”

“It doesn’t hurt, it just itches a bit. You can touch it.” At this moment, Hamoyin had somewhat relaxed, but he still felt Nagu’s reaction was too strange. She really didn’t mind his differences from others at all.

With permission, Nagu carefully placed a finger on Hamoyin’s scales and rubbed them. They still felt smooth, not as dry as they looked. The sensation was so amazing that she couldn’t help but touch them a few more times.

“Uh,” Hamoyin shivered from Nagu’s touch, “it itches…”

“I’m sorry.” She hurriedly withdrew her fingers, “Is the tail itching too, do you want to scratch it?”

“The tail is fine.” As he spoke, Hamoyin felt the place Nagu had just touched become itchier, and he couldn’t help but reach out to scratch it.
This scratching caused a problem, as Nagu’s eyes lit up while watching him: “Let me scratch it for you!”

“No need…”

“Lie down, come on, lie down on the grass mat outside.” Nagu excitedly took Hamoyin’s hand and led him outside, “This way you can sunbathe, and I can help you scratch the itchy spots.”

In the end, Hamoyin was pressed onto the grass mat, and Nagu squatted beside him, gently scratching his back.

“Speaking of which, don’t you only have scales near your spine?” Nagu said while scratching, “But I noticed that on your back, right here, below your shoulders, some small white scales are starting to appear.”

“Yes… maybe it’s the effect of the medicine.” Hamoyin buried his face in his crossed arms, not daring to tell Nagu that the more she touched him, the itchier he felt, and his throat was getting very dry. “I’m not that itchy now.”

“Really?” The back-scratcher stopped her hooves, “Then tell me when you itch again, and I’ll scratch for you!”

“Yes.”

After stopping, Nagu stared at the small pinkish-white tail again: “Hamoyin, how long was your tail originally?”

“I forgot.”

“Eh—can’t you remember at all?”

Hamoyin squinted his eyes and thought for a moment: “When I stand up, it can hang down to the ground and drag a bit.”

That’s very long. Hamoyin is already tall, so the tail must be over a meter long. Nagu propped her chin: “This time, you can’t let anyone cut it off again, it must be very painful.”

“Yes, it won’t happen again.”

Nagu smiled and lay down on the grass mat to sunbathe with Hamoyin.