Chapter 31

Trees like honey fruit trees and yellow flower trees were rare in Wu Mu’s territory. Song Xu almost didn’t want to leave after eating here. A day later, she reluctantly bid farewell to this treasure land, only to find that such trees were abundant ahead. It turned out that these trees were rare only in Wu Mu’s territory. Although Wu Mu’s territory was vast, it wasn’t a particularly good place.

So the question arises: good places are usually occupied by others, and large areas of yellow flower trees already have owners.

While having lunch on a certain flower tree, Song Xu was unfortunately attacked. A long stick flew past her head, and if she hadn’t dodged quickly, she would have been knocked off the tree. Song Xu thought it was the Fierce Beast tribe chasing her, but when she looked back, she saw a dozen baboons glaring at her from nearby trees. A big snake quietly climbed up the tree, his tail coiled around the trunk, his head raised above Song Xu’s head, hissing toward the baboons, ready to strike.

The leading baboon suddenly transformed into a beastman, squatting on a branch and shouting at them, “Leave here! Leave our territory!”

Song Xu slapped her forehead, realizing that, unlike home, the outside world was divided into territories, and eating from someone else’s territory would get you expelled.

“Alright, let’s find another place to eat,” Song Xu said nonchalantly to the snake.

The snake suddenly leaped from this tree to another, his wide-open mouth almost biting the leader who threw the stick, scaring the dozen baboon beastmen into howling and fleeing, running to trees far away.

In the beastman world, the rule is that the stronger one owns the territory. Those dozen baboon beastmen seemed no match for Wu Mu, so they could only flee to a distance, making sharp intimidating cries.

Song Xu deftly picked flowers and asked the snake, slowly climbing from another tree, “Wu Mu, are they calling for reinforcements? If more come, can you handle them?”

The snake flicked his tongue, making a long-lost hissing sound. Hearing this familiar hiss, Song Xu immediately discarded her worries and hissed back.

This group of baboon beastmen seemed to be a small tribe. Unlike large tribes with mixed members, they were mostly family members living together in beast form, meaning their numbers wouldn’t be as large as those of a big tribe.

Estimating that they posed no threat to Wu Mu, Song Xu, encouraged by the snake, picked a large bunch of flowers and swaggered out of the forest. The baboon beastmen followed at a distance, making various strange noises but not daring to approach.

Song Xu looked back at them hanging from tree branches with their tails and suddenly suggested to Wu Mu, “Why don’t we form a team?”

“The Malevolent Duo, one demon king squirrel, one big black and red snake.” Song Xu shook her tail and patted the dark red and black patterns on Wu Mu, “The Malevolent Duo, feared by all! Wherever we go, not a blade of grass grows! Hahaha!”

The baboons didn’t follow for long because Song Xu and Wu Mu soon left the yellow flower forest. Perhaps to save face, the baboons stood at the edge, beating their chests and shouting as if announcing to the surroundings that they had driven away the intruders.

Song Xu placed a flower that was too big to hold on her head. Listening to the noises behind her, she turned to the snake and said, “Their territory is so small. Is this all they have?”

She remembered that the pine forest where she used to live was large. Perhaps land in remote areas wasn’t valuable. In the beastman world, the land is vast and sparsely populated, and the chances of encountering other beastmen were much lower than Song Xu had imagined. Since meeting those baboon beastmen, they hadn’t encountered other beastmen for a long time.

As they walked, the feeling of spring became more apparent each day. The nights were no longer so cold in the warm and humid weather.

Song Xu couldn’t find yellow flower trees on the road again and had to look for new food. At night, she leaned against the snake, talking a lot of nonsense. Only her voice could be heard around while Wu Mu lay quietly. She suddenly stopped talking for a long time.

Wu Mu turned around, raising his head in confusion to look at her.

“Although I like snakes,” Song Xu said, pulling grass on the ground while lying on him, “I wish you could talk to me.”

When she first met Wu Mu, she secretly thought it would be better if he stayed in snake form. Later, she couldn’t remember when she started finding the half-human, half-snake form cuter, contradicting her long-held aesthetic standards. She went from “humans aren’t as cute as snakes” to “snakes aren’t as cute as snake people.”

“Since you started hibernating, you haven’t spoken to me. I feel…” a bit lonely.

Although she didn’t finish her sentence, the squirrel was overwhelmed by her sudden sadness, rolling and kicking on the snake. Of course, she forgot about it the following day.

A few days later, Wu Mu suddenly stopped at the edge of a forest, refusing to go further. Usually, Song Xu decided their route, but this was the first time Wu Mu stopped on his own. At the edge of the forest was a large area of grass growing by the water, the low-lying terrain soaking the grass in a thin layer of water. At the junction of the forest and the grassland was a stone cave, less spacious and clean than their previous one. The entrance was small, sloping downwards, dark and damp inside. Wu Mu swam into the cave and didn’t come out.

“Wu Mu?” Song Xu squatted at the cave entrance, peering inside, unsure if Wu Mu intended to rest here for a few days or settle down long-term. In the dim light, Wu Mu’s eyes glowed. Seeing that he didn’t respond to her calls, Song Xu had no choice but to enter the cave. She looked around the cave and thought that if they were to stay long-term, they would need to improve their living conditions.

Wu Mu stayed there for two days, and Song Xu discovered that he was about to shed his skin. The shedding after hibernation was delayed, and she guessed that once he finished shedding, he could eat, so she no longer had to worry about him starving.

However, this time, Wu Mu’s shedding seemed particularly difficult. He rolled around in the damp cave with a thin layer of white skin sticking to him that wouldn’t come off. Song Xu wanted to help, but his rare agitation, even more severe than the first time she saw him shed his skin, made it impossible for her to get close.

Song Xu couldn’t stay in the narrow cave and had to squat at the entrance, watching the black and red patterned snake thrash around inside. Unfortunately, it started raining and thundering after dark. At the sound of thunder, Song Xu shrank back.

She got half-soaked by the rain, shivering as she looked at the gradually calming Wu Mu in the cave and then at the relentless thunder. She decided the thunder was scarier and darted back into the cave.

Wu Mu’s white shed skin was torn and tattered, not coming off in one piece, looking like it had been violently ripped off. He was resting, and when he saw Song Xu slip in, he raised himself and dragged the bits of shed skin outside.

Outside, lightning flashed, and thunder roared, illuminating the outside much brighter than the inside of the cave. Song Xu clutched her head and ears, watching the snake crawl out, wanting to follow. After a few steps, the thunder scared her into squatting down. By the time she calmed down, Wu Mu had completely left the cave. He swam into the grassy area, his whole body soaking in the shallow water. The newly grown green grass was crushed under his body as he rolled. His long tail gripped the grass tightly, using the stems and leaves to rub off the shed skin.

That night, the thunder was too loud, and the rain turned the shallow water deeper. The snake struggled and rolled in the flooded grassland in the thunder and rain. If Song Xu could see, she would notice that Wu Mu’s upper body occasionally transformed during the shedding. The fierce snake face turned into a human face, black scales into black hair, shoulders bulging below the neck, and the dark red snake body turned into a waist covered with black patterns, with only the tail remaining a snake tail.

However, this transformation was unstable. It appeared briefly under the sudden flashes of lightning before reverting to snake form. As he rolled in the grassland, sometimes a pair of pale hands would appear, gripping the grass stems tightly. The arched shoulders would turn back into a scaled snake body after a roll.

After a long time, the thunder subsided, and the rain stopped. Dirty and wet, Song Xu emerged from the cave and saw a snake tail lying motionless in the grass, with some shed skin still attached. She was startled and ran over. Before she got close, she saw an arm reach out from the grass, grabbing the shed skin on the snake’s tail and tearing it off. The wet shed skin fell aside. The hand continued tearing off the remaining shed skin. How could a snake use his hands to shed his skin? Oh, it’s the snake himself doing it, never mind.

Song Xu jumped into the water, excitedly parting the grass, and saw the snake’s tail coiled in many arcs on the grass. It was the long-lost half-beast form of Wu Mu. His body was soaking in the water, his hair like countless little snakes sticking to his chest, soaking in the water. His face and body were so pale that the new snake patterns on his neck stood out sharply. Song Xu was stunned when he appeared in the grass in this form.

The thunder rumbled softly in the sky, and although it was faint, it still scared the squirrel into reflexively jumping onto the snake.

Wu Mu caught her, his hands cold and wet, his large palms wrapping her and pressing her against his chest.

“Song… Xu.” It was the snake’s voice. The squirrel’s tail squeezed out from his fingers, swinging excitedly in the air.

“Ahhh! Ahhh! Hiss hiss hiss!”

Wu Mu lifted her up and looked at her. Why was she making strange noises when he could speak?

“Song Xu… talk,” Wu Mu urged.

Song Xu grabbed Wu Mu’s hair, deeply moved, “Oh my god, you still remember me!”

Wu Mu indeed had a period when he forgot who she was. He even forgot who he was, only remembering the familiar surroundings. Later, with her talking around him every day, he gradually remembered. He also remembered that she would gnaw on his tail if he didn’t talk to her for a long time.