Chapter 2

The lion’s aggressive scent alerted the owner of this territory. Regardless of why the lion came, stepping into this forest meant a battle of invasion and counterattack was about to begin. However, if one side backed down, the battle would dissipate without a trace.

Perched in the tree, a thick snake tail, mistaken by the fleeing Song Xu for a vine, slowly moved.

Hiding behind a tree trunk in the distance, Song Xu peeked out and saw the lion running away with its tail between its legs. She also saw a half of a snake’s tail coiled around the tree. The dim light in the forest only outlined the long tail. Song Xu couldn’t see the snake’s appearance, only that it was very long.

Song Xu scratched the tree trunk: “A snake! A wild snake! A big snake!”

After driving away the intruder, Wu Mu left to hunt. He rarely left his cave; when he did, it was usually to eat. This time was no exception. The approach of a powerful male beastman could catch his attention and vigilance, but he didn’t drive away another “guest” who sneaked into his territory. He had already caught the scent of a female beastman in the air. The weak squirrel beastman was harmless to him, so he didn’t care. After quickly finding suitable prey and swallowing it, Wu Mu coiled his raised tail and returned to his cave to rest. In the past two years, he would patrol his territory after eating to pass the time. But his beastification had become more severe, almost completely beast-like, and his life had become muddled. He nearly forgot that he was once a beastman in a tribe.

In this world, some beastmen can change between human and beast forms, and there are ordinary wild animals. Half-beastmen are considered “disabled” among beastmen. Young beastmen cannot control their transformations and often appear half-human, half-beast. But as they grow up and their strength increases, they can freely control their transformations. If, for various reasons, they cannot entirely shed their beast form and become fully human by adulthood, they are called half-beastmen and are expelled from the tribe as defective. After being expelled, half-beastmen wander alone in the forest. Their strength gradually erodes, becoming more like wild animals and eventually losing their reason completely, turning into true wild beasts.

Wu Mu was in this dangerous period.

Unknowingly protected by the owner of this place, Song Xu temporarily stayed in this forest.

Song Xu: “Anyway, I don’t know where to go, and the snake didn’t drive me away.”

Tender leaves, fresh flowers, mushrooms, and wild fruits—Song Xu ate whatever she could find, finally filling her stomach, which was almost as flat as an A4 sheet, avoiding starvation.

Fortunately, the original body was a squirrel beastman with a varied diet, able to eat almost anything. If she had accidentally become a carnivorous beast, she would have had to consider how to hunt, which would have been too difficult for an ordinary high school student.

Having resolved the threat to her life, Song Xu became curious about her surroundings. This was an ancient forest; she had only been to parks before and was seeing such a forest for the first time.

Looking around, there were only straight tree trunks covered with green moss, with branches and leaves growing at a height of more than ten meters. The thick canopy blocked the sunlight, making it not very bright even in broad daylight. Further away, the dim light turned the tree trunks into ghostly shadows in the gray mist. Apart from herself, there was no one else in sight, but there were all kinds of eerie sounds. Insects and birds chirped and murmured from places she couldn’t see, either above her head or beneath her feet, deeply enhancing the sinister atmosphere of the environment. The environment could be calm, but it shouldn’t be gloomy. She felt a bit scared.

Song Xu: “…We are the successors of communism…” Her voice echoed faintly and trembled in the forest.

Song Xu closed her mouth. No, she needed to bask in the sun to dispel the chill.

Transforming into her squirrel form, Song Xu climbed up to the high canopy to bask in the sun and find her way.

The upper canopy and the forest floor were two different worlds. Up there, the sunlight was abundant and refreshing. The green expanse stretched endlessly, and upon reaching the height of the long branches, she discovered many trees were blooming, and there were more birds.

Song Xu clung tightly to the tree trunk with her claws to avoid falling. She watched the birds with long, pointed beaks sipping nectar. They seemed to be enjoying it, so she tried it, too.
The taste was sweet and sour, not bad at all.

Young people shift their attention quickly. She soon forgot about her fear below and moved cautiously in the canopy. Squirrel claws were really useful. Her body was light and agile, and she wouldn’t strain her back no matter what movements she made. She didn’t know if she could go back, so she thought she needed to find a place to rest, preferably one that had sunlight. In this dense forest, places that received sunlight were rare.

Song Xu searched and, with a bit of luck, found an area with a sparse canopy.

Song Xu: “As expected of me, who can get three golden legends in ten draws!”

She excitedly rushed to her chosen spot and found that the canopy was sparse due to several protruding boulders on the ground. These boulders prevented large trees from growing and left this “netted” area in the dense forest.

Not bad, this place was great. It would be even better if the boulders had a place to shelter from the wind and rain.

Song Xu climbed down the tree, preparing to explore her chosen temporary residence. Her steps were light, and she suddenly felt like she was playing an exploration survival game.

After walking halfway around the boulders, Song Xu indeed found an entrance—a gap left by the overlapping and interlocking boulders, forming a triangular shape, an obtuse triangle, with the highest point being over two meters.

Standing at the entrance, Song Xu peered inside and was stunned after just a glance. A meter from the entrance, there was a snake’s tail tip. The sunlight slanted just right onto the tail tip, and following the dark red tail tip forward, she could see the long, long, long snake tail extending deep into the cave.

So, this was the big snake’s house. As expected, good places were already taken!

Song Xu stood at the entrance, looking at the tail tip close to her, without moving.

Generally, seeing this dangerous snake tail tip would scare people into running away, but… Song Xu was a reptile pet enthusiast, especially fond of snakes. She stood out among her peers with her unique hobby. While her classmates talked passionately about celebrity posters and novels, she held up various snake-raising videos, trying to promote them, receiving countless screams and disdain. She once wanted to raise a snake at home but faced fierce opposition from her father’s second wife, Aunt Qian. Her father was even furrier, forbidding her from doing such strange things, and in the end, it came to nothing.

As a student still in school, unable to live independently from her family, Song Xu could only become an online snake-raising enthusiast. Although she had seen snakes before, this was the first time she had seen such a big snake in person.

Often drooling over videos of snakes, the enthusiast looked at the snake’s tail tip within reach, feeling an urge.

Song Xu: “Hiss, this tail tip is so beautiful.”

The color and the gloss; it must feel pleasant to the touch. She slowly squatted down, approaching the tail tip. Snakes are probably the kind of creatures that express beauty through danger—the more dangerous, the more beautiful; the more beautiful, the more dangerous. Song Xu knew the danger but couldn’t help reaching out.

There’s a reason for the saying “a newborn calf is not afraid of a tiger”; taking risks seems to be a young person’s nature.

Song Xu’s hand touched the tail tip, gently stroking it. It had a unique texture: smooth and soft, more resilient than silk, and softer than leather.

Snakes are ectothermic animals, and their body temperature changes with the environment. This tail tip, basking in the sun, didn’t feel cold. At this moment, Song Xu understood the poets’ descriptions of beautiful skin as “jade bones” and “skin like congealed fat.”

She wanted to praise this texture. Her hand didn’t want to leave, so she kept stroking it. Suddenly, the tail tip moved. It didn’t move much; it just retracted a bit, as if it were disturbed, and instinctively moved away.

Engrossed, Song Xu instinctively took two steps forward, continuing to touch it. After a few strokes, the tail tip retracted again. She followed it into the cave for over ten steps until a cool breeze blew on her face, and she realized she had unknowingly entered the cave.

Thinking about her actions, Song Xu felt like someone sneaking in to touch someone’s feet while they slept and then exclaiming in admiration.

No, how could a hobby be called perverted? Are people who squeeze their cats’ paws perverted? This is love!

The cave wasn’t particularly dark; it was dry and cool, with ventilation. Standing there, she could see the other side’s exit, with some light filtering through the cracks.

The entire cave seemed triangular inside, with most of the snake’s body in the darkest corner, vague, only the tail still at her feet.

Like a thief, Song Xu gently lifted the tail tip, squeezing it. This action finally annoyed the snake, and the tail tip slipped from her hand, retracting into the darkness.

Oh no, is it annoyed and going to bite? Song Xu quickly withdrew her hand, covering her pounding heart as she exited the cave.

Song Xu leaned against the stone wall: So thrilling!

When Wu Mu sensed a beastman entering his cave, he raised his upper body in the dark corner, flicking his tongue to capture Song Xu’s scent. The scent of this female beastman reminded him of his childhood in the tribe. In the end, he didn’t move and curled back into his spot mainly because the other party was too weak to make the snake half-beastman, who was digesting food, vigilant.