Chapter 44

“Wu Mu, what kind of eggs do you think these are?”

“…”

“Turtle eggs? Crocodile eggs? Lizard eggs? Snake eggs? Or some kind of bird eggs?”

The animals in this world were both familiar and strange compared to those in her world. The sizes of various animals weren’t absolute, so her guesses were quite broad. As she guessed, she started to get a bit off track, jokingly saying, “It couldn’t be squirrel eggs, right… hahaha, squirrels can’t lay eggs!”

“…Hiss.”

“But no matter what kind of eggs they are, they should be cooked by now. Let’s eat.” Song Xu used a stick to pull the eggs out of the fire. Although they were buried in the dirt, the fire was too hot and cracked the eggs, but it didn’t affect their edibility.

Since becoming a squirrel beastman, Song Xu has been eating less cooked food. This was both an adaptation to her body’s needs and a convenience for someone who didn’t like cooking.

Nowadays, Song Xu only makes fires occasionally, either for warmth or to boil water. If the water source she found on the road was too dirty, she couldn’t drink it without boiling it first. Squirrels might not need cooked food, but they definitely need boiled water!

Song Xu was interested in slowly roasting the eggs here because the visible greenery ahead was almost gone. The days of abundant food were likely coming to an end, so she wanted to cherish every meal she found.

Song Xu peeled the eggs and ate them slowly while the snake swallowed them whole. He wasn’t used to chewing and didn’t even peel the eggshells. His powerful digestive system could handle bones, let alone small eggshells.

“Well, eating the eggshells is probably good for calcium,” Song Xu muttered as she watched him tilt his head back and swallow three eggs while still peeling her first one.

After finishing their snack, Song Xu scattered the remaining fire and poured water over it to ensure it was completely out, even the smoke.
The weather was still sweltering. Song Xu looked at the exposed rocks in the distance, her drooping tail dragging on the ground, sweeping like the snake’s tail. She had transformed into her beast form to reduce the area exposed to the sun, and because running on four paws was easier than walking on two legs. However, it didn’t turn out as she had hoped. She felt even hotter and heavier in this form.

There weren’t any large trees nearby to provide shade. The plants growing by the roadside were sparse, with thick stems and thin leaves, and unsuitable for shade. Finding water sources here was really difficult.
The squirrel wobbled as if she might collapse at any moment—not because the situation was truly dire, but because the sun was too hot, and she didn’t want to walk anymore. As soon as she collapsed, Wu Mu noticed and used his tail to lift her off the ground and place her on his back.

The squirrel lay on the slippery snake like a fur stole. The snake’s body, which had been cool, had warmed up after being in the sun for a long time. Song Xu lifted her tail, dusted off the dirt, and covered her face with it for shade. But she quickly took it off again; the furry cover was too hot for her head.

With a squirrel passenger on his back, the snake continued to move forward at the same speed. Her weight was negligible to him, so he often didn’t notice when his passenger accidentally fell off. Fortunately, the squirrel managed to hold on this time and didn’t slide off.

They stopped to rest under a tree. Song Xu could grab a few leaves to chew on for hydration, but Wu Mu had to endure.

“How about we travel at night?” Song Xu suggested.

The advantage of traveling at night was that it wasn’t as hot as during the day, but the downside was that they couldn’t see the road.

Song Xu walked close to Wu Mu’s head or behind him, holding onto the tip of his tail.

Wu Mu’s body was pressed against the ground, able to sense vibrations from far away and detect water flow. Using this impressive skill, Wu Mu found a water source, and both he and the squirrel drank their fill by the riverside.

After the squirrel finished drinking, she saw that the snake was still drinking. His body was particularly long, requiring more water, so he needed to drink for a while longer. His head was submerged in the water, and his cheeks moved rhythmically. Song Xu couldn’t resist squeezing his puffing cheeks.

Disturbed while drinking, the snake shook his head slightly to shake off her hand, but Song Xu chased after him to squeeze again. No matter how often she watched, the snake drinking water was always adorable, especially when he was extremely thirsty, gulping down water with his cheeks moving and swallowing visibly.

The snake paused his drinking, probably contemplating whether it was harder to stop her from playing or to drink while being squeezed. After thinking it over, he decisively chose to ignore her playful hand.

After drinking their fill, they crossed the river to the other side. This side had many rocks and trees with particularly thick trunks, some of which were thorny. In the dark night, Song Xu felt her way to the tree to try some leaves, only to get pricked by the thorns.

The squirrel whimpered, licking the blood on her finger. This tree’s defense mechanism was too good.

The snake approached her hand, flicking his tongue to check, and found nothing serious. Too many thorny trees were around, so he chose another direction to bypass them. By the middle of the night, Song Xu, still not adjusted to the new schedule, felt sleepy and started yawning repeatedly. She changed her mind, “Let’s find a place to sleep and continue our journey in the morning.”

Wu Mu had no objections, as it made no difference to him. Many rock crevices and caves were nearby, providing shelter from the wind and rain, making them suitable as temporary nests. Seeing these caves reminded Song Xu of the snake’s cave, though the rocks and colors were different.

“How about we rest in this crevice? Do you prefer this one or the one next to it?” Song Xu fully respected the snake’s choice. When he moved his coiled tail towards one of them, she happily announced, “Then this one it is!”

She walked a step ahead of the snake, and this one-step difference led her into a spider web.

This huge spider web was in the middle of the crevice, almost sealing it off. The web was invisible in the dark, as if camouflaged, causing Song Xu to walk right into it before realizing it was there.

Previously, when Song Xu passed through mountain streams, there were spiders in the green tunnels where many snakes roamed—thumb-sized spiders with hair-thin legs perched on the water surface, eating mosquitoes and small insects. Or black and gray spiders weaving meter-wide webs on branches and long-stemmed wild grasses by the water. The delicate silk adorned with morning dew or raindrops became shiny, hanging with countless water diamonds, beautiful and fun. But now, this spider web. Song Xu felt the sticky liquid on the web, feeling complicated. Other webs were woven with fine silk, but this web was like it was woven with yarn. How could it be so thick?

Moreover, the “yarn” was coated with “glue,” sticking all over her head and body and being impossible to tear off.

Pulling hard, she even tore off some of her hair. Anyone with some life experience knows that removing foam glue from hands is difficult, and Song Xu now remembered the feeling of having her hands covered in foam glue from past crafts, so similar.

Seeing her covered in the web, Wu Mu wanted to help, but Song Xu stopped him, “No! Stay there, or I’ll have to tear it off you after I’m done with myself!”

While Song Xu was busy dealing with the web, Wu Mu noticed an unusual movement first. A large, pregnant spider emerged from the darkness, crawling down the web. A spider capable of weaving such a thick web was undoubtedly not small; this one was over a meter long, with exaggeratedly long legs.

This was a spider beastman—a female spider beastman in urgent need of nutrition after mating. Her mating partner, who was also her food reserve, had surprisingly survived and escaped, leaving her undernourished. Generally, beastmen wouldn’t eat their kind, but there were exceptions, and this spider beastman was one of them. In nature, many creatures have a natural tendency for cannibalism, which doesn’t change even when they become beastmen.

A meal was delivered to the door, and even with a seemingly tough half-beastman nearby, the hungry giant spider did not easily give up. The spider beastman tried to bind the trapped squirrel with silk and quickly escape once it was in hand. After she showed this intention, the big snake suddenly rushed to the web, tangling it into a ball. Ignoring the web strands sticking to her, it blocked her path forward and bound her. This spider was venomous. Because of this venom, she had lived here for many years without encountering any opponents. Prey, caught in her web, would quickly be paralyzed by the venom and lose the ability to resist.

At this moment, she was suddenly thrown to the ground. Instinctively, she tried to bite the snake to save herself with her venom. Unfortunately, her slender legs and body were crushed before she could pierce the tough snake skin. This life-and-death battle ended very quickly. From the moment Song Xu saw the giant spider appear to the moment it exited, he only had time to exclaim, “What a big spider.”

“Why does my body feel itchy?” Song Xu noticed something was wrong, scratching her arms and face. Soon, she began to feel dizzy. Before fainting, she realized the reason and said in despair, “How can even the spider web mucus be poisonous? I’ve never heard of such a spider before!”

Dizziness, nausea, and the places where her body touched the mucus were red and swollen with stinging pain. Song Xu didn’t stay unconscious for long before the pain woke her up again. Her body swayed as if someone was carrying her on the road.

Song Xu squinted and saw it was Wu Mu in his half-beastman form, whom she hadn’t seen in a long time. He looked different from the last time Song Xu saw him in his half-beastman form. Although his upper body still retained a human shape, his torso was now covered with snake scales. The chest Song Xu leaned against felt like a thin layer of cold snake scales. The dark red scales with black patterns extended to his chin and mouth, making it look like he was wearing a black mask or a high-neck sweater.

Like a failed transformation monster, some might find this form terrifying, but Song Xu thought it was particularly cool. Because her head had hit the spider web first, causing her face to swell, Song Xu could only squint through a narrow slit and whistle.

Wu Mu looked down at her, possibly unable to see if her swollen eyelids were open, and shook her again.

“I’m awake, stop shaking me. Where are we going?” Song Xu saw that most of the spider web on her body had been torn off, but some were still stuck and couldn’t be removed. This annoying, unremovable foam glue!

“Water… wash,” Wu Mu said.

“Going to the water to wash this off?” Even though she felt unwell, Song Xu spoke more fluently than the snake. She was still upset about this matter. “Why is the spider web also poisonous?”

Wu Mu couldn’t give her an answer because it was the first time he had encountered such a beastman.

Song Xu often had minor issues, like swollen lips, numb hands, or a hoarse voice, usually from accidentally eating poisonous plants, but she would recover quickly. Wu Mu had never seen her suddenly faint before, which really scared him.

Scared enough to grow hands.

The arm covered with a layer of scales looked like it was wearing tight clothes. After washing off the sticky spider silk in the water, he rubbed it on Song Xu’s body. His slightly anxious movements made the squirrel feel touched, and she felt like her heart was about to be pressed out by him. His strength was really great.

“I-I’ll do it myself!” Song Xu struggled to sit up from the water and urged Wu Mu, “Don’t just stand there; quickly tear off the spider silk on your tail, too.”

The spider silk on his body was no less than hers, sticking to him and forming crack-like marks.