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Chapter 43
The world is so vast, and Song Xu just wanted to take the snake out to see it. She didn’t expect to encounter someone who might know Wu Mu’s mother. This low-probability event was full of drama, giving Song Xu a very peculiar feeling. It was as if she heard a phantom sound above her head, like the sound effect in a game when a main quest is triggered.
She couldn’t help but look up, then instantly smiled and asked with great interest, “Really? You know the original owner of this necklace? When did you see them?”
The tortoise beastman, fitting the common perception of tortoises, took a long time to slowly say, “It seems like it was several years ago.”
“Tell us more in detail, please. Come, sit down,” Song Xu warmly invited.
“You, what is your relationship with that tiger beastman?” the tortoise beastman asked, sitting down with a puzzled look.
“To be honest, she might be his mother, so we want to know more about her,” Song Xu explained.
The tortoise beastman nodded in understanding and said, “She looked like she came from far away. At that time, she ran to the nearby water to drink. She was so hungry that she saw me sleeping by the water and pounced on me to bite.”
Song Xu and Wu Mu: “…”
The snake moved his tail, and Song Xu quietly stepped back.
The tortoise beastman recalled and showed a scar on his shell, saying, “This scar was left by her.”
Song Xu laughed dryly, regretting revealing their identity too soon, “I see, but it shouldn’t affect her family.”
The tortoise beastman laughed and shook his head, “She was so hungry that she didn’t recognize I was a beastman. Later, she stopped when I woke up and told her I wasn’t tasty.”
Song Xu: … Are you sure she stopped because she recognized you as a beastman and not because you said you weren’t tasty?
“Due to my nature, my scent is quite faint, and I’m often mistaken for a rock by the river, so it’s hard to recognize me,” the tortoise beastman said, speaking like an old man. “She later hunted a wild ox elsewhere and gave me a hind leg. She stayed here for two or three days and then left.”
Hearing this, Song Xu quickly asked, “Which direction did she go?”
The tortoise beastman thought for a long time before pointing in a direction, “That way.”
Song Xu was a bit skeptical because he pointed south, but the original beast who brought the necklace came from the west. She wondered what Wu Mu’s tiger mother had experienced.
The tortoise beastman didn’t know more and slowly walked away after speaking.
Song Xu fiddled with the necklace on her waist and found another big rock by the river to rest with the snake. This time, she carefully checked if the rock was another tortoise. If it transformed in the middle of the night, she would be scared to tears.
Since arriving in this area, Song Xu’s food variety has decreased significantly. The water plants were not lush, and the wild grass was not tender. She made do with the monotonous food. Holding a plant stem dug from the soil, she didn’t bother to wash it, thinking it hadn’t been sprayed with pesticides so she could peel and eat the white flesh inside.
With her legs resting on a section of the snake’s body and her head on another section, Song Xu nibbled on her snack, occasionally discussing with Wu Mu the whereabouts of his tiger mother and whether they should change their travel destination.
They didn’t have a specific direction initially, and with the news brought by her uncle, they decided to head west. Encountering someone who had seen Wu Mu’s mother was a rare occurrence. Optimistically, if she were still alive, finding her would lessen Wu Mu’s regrets.
Also, she wanted to pet a tiger. Big, fluffy tigers were so cute, and her love for the snake didn’t conflict with her desire to pet a tiger. Traveling around was her wish; if she could fulfill the snake’s wish along the way, that would be perfect.
If she hadn’t heard the news about Wu Mu’s mother, Song Xu might have stayed here for a few more days, chatting with the beastmen in the tribe or playing with the young elephant. But since there was news, she couldn’t stay put and decided to leave the next day.
Early in the morning, Song Xu groggily went to the river to wash her face. This river was the only water source nearby, and even though it wasn’t very clear, it had to do. In the wild, finding clean water sources wasn’t always possible. If it were drinking water, Song Xu would take the time to filter it with gravel and moss, but for washing her face, she couldn’t be bothered. Just as she splashed a handful of water on her face, she heard a splash, and something emerged from the water, drenching her.
Splash—
“Are you the strange beastman who came to our tribe yesterday?”
“What kind of beastman are you, so small?”
“I’ve never seen such a small female beastman; quite interesting.”
Three crocodiles emerged from the water with eyes on their heads, scales the color of riverbank mud, and large mouths full of sharp teeth, making it clear they weren’t to be trifled with.
Without a word, Song Xu backed away from the river. The fact that they could speak in beast form indicated they were beastmen. Although she knew they wouldn’t bite her to death immediately, it was still frightening to have three crocodiles suddenly appear by the water.
As she retreated, she bumped into the silently approaching big snake, who coiled around her and raised his body, staring at the three crocodile beastmen as he did whenever there was a threat.
The three crocodile brothers loved playing and hunting in this river, rolling in the muddy shallows. They had just reached adulthood and were looking for mates. After seeing the tall females in the tribe, they were intrigued by the unfamiliar female beastman. The youngest crocodile beastman couldn’t help but scrutinize Song Xu, ignoring Wu Mu, and shouted, “What’s the use of being with a half-beastman? Stay in our tribe and be my mate.”
As soon as he said this, a snake’s tail wrapped around him like a rope, pulling him out of the water onto the shore. The enraged snake was extremely powerful and agile, immediately signaling a fight. The other two crocodile beastmen quickly joined in, attacking the big snake.
Crocodile beastmen, with their formidable abilities and few natural enemies, had feared no one except the elephant beastmen in their tribe. They didn’t take an outsider snake beastman, even a large one, seriously.
When the crocodile pulled onto the shore, it opened its mouth to show its powerful bite, but the snake’s tail wrapped around it, forcing it to keep its mouth shut throughout the fight. The crocodiles couldn’t bite the snake, and their strong tails couldn’t hit it either. When it came to tail length, no one could match the big snake.
In an instant, the big snake and the three crocodiles were fighting fiercely by the riverbank, their bodies rolling and kicking up sand, moving from the shore into the water.
The crocodile beastmen, who were being tossed around on the shore, thought they would have the upper hand in the water, but they were wrong. In the water, the big snake stirred them like sticks in a whirlpool.
In this situation, the crocodile beastmen still tried to bite the snake. At times, the water surface showed the crocodiles’ scales and flailing short claws, and at other times, the coiled snake body.
Song Xu had anticipated this, standing on a large rock by the river to keep watch for the big snake. After all, they were fighting on someone else’s territory, and if anyone came, she could quickly signal the snake to stop and leave.
The fight finally ended, and the big snake swam to the shore, followed by the three crocodiles. They were quite frustrated, transforming into their beastman forms, revealing three burly men, some holding their mouths, others their waists, shouting, “Don’t think you’re tough just because you beat us!”
Isn’t this just bullying a half-beastman who can’t speak in beast form?
Song Xu jumped in to handle the trash-talking, “Yeah, yeah, you guys are so weak. Of course, Wu Mu isn’t that tough for beating you!”
The crocodile beastmen were so angry they almost spat water, baring their teeth, “Just wait, the elephant beastmen in our tribe can crush you!”
Song Xu shouted loudly, “Oh my, are you still immature beastmen? Three of you couldn’t beat one, and now you’ll cry and call your moms for help? That’s so embarrassing. Are you going to cry and call your moms for help if you lose to a female during courtship in the future?”
This successfully discouraged the three from calling for reinforcements, but the youngest crocodile beastman started crying on the spot. For the first time in his life, he liked a female beastman, but not only did he lose the fight in front of her, but he was also mocked.
Hearing the sobbing, Song Xu was speechless. How could a two-meter-tall man cry so easily, showing his sharp teeth while crying?
This place was no longer safe, so Song Xu pulled the big snake away, saying, “We need to leave quickly before they come back with reinforcements!”
She also complained, “These guys are just like my old classmates—childish! Mean! Petty!”
As she spoke, she walked around the snake’s long body, checking for injuries. She didn’t walk properly, jumping around behind his tail and occasionally lifting suspected injured areas to check. Wu Mu couldn’t focus on moving, and his tail, lifted by her, tried to coil around her. Perhaps the intense fight had excited him, and he hadn’t calmed down, his long body coiling.
Song Xu, unable to move because of the coiled tail, tried to straighten it, saying, “I realize, darling, you really enjoy fighting.”
Look at the previous times: seeing a giant eagle from afar, he immediately went to fight; encountering a wolf pack, he angrily declared death; and now, charging at three crocodiles without hesitation.
Just looking at the snake’s beautiful face and his usual demeanor, you wouldn’t guess he was so combative.
After walking for half a day without being pursued, Song Xu relaxed again and started digging holes by the roadside. She was mainly looking for a type of crunchy plant root. Ahead was a sandy area with little greenery, but more vitality lay beneath the yellow soil and gravel. The plants that had bloomed had withered, storing water and nutrients in their roots, waiting to bloom again next year.
Since digging up roots once, the yellow sandy soil had become a food treasure trove for the squirrel, and her favorite activity became digging.
“Huh, what are these eggs?” This time, instead of roots, Song Xu dug up a nest of eggs. She gathered them all and said to the snake, “There are six in total, three for you and three for me.”
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