Chapter 49

Song Xu held the tip of Wu Mu’s tail, excitedly looking down the cliff. While many people might feel weak at the knees just looking at such a scene, she found it fascinating. Her precarious stance at the edge made the big snake nervous. He repeatedly used his tail to block her, fearing she might jump off impulsively.

Her new friend, Huhu, encouraged her from the side, “Don’t worry, if you fall, I’ll fly down and catch you! I can take you to my cave and show you all my stored fruits!”

Wu Mu thought that maybe it was because she was an eagle beastman that she seemed so unlikable.

Huhu’s wish was ultimately unfulfilled, as other tribe members noticed them on the cliff. It was a huge vulture beastman with black feathers and white stripes on his wings and a fluffy collar-like ring of feathers around his neck. He emerged from below the cliff as suddenly as a strict teacher appeared at the back window of a classroom, his face always seeming angry. He looked at Song Xu and Wu Mu, focusing on Wu Mu.

Huhu, who seemed like a tiny eagle in front of him, spoke softly, “These are my friends. I brought them to visit.”

The vulture sternly said, “If you want to play with them, go play farther away, not near the tribe.”

He extended a claw to push Huhu away, shooing her, “Shoo, shoo!”

Huhu protested with several calls, but her voice remained a bit soft even when she tried to sound angry. She reluctantly led Song Xu and Wumu along the edge.

She grumbled, “There’s no one raising young cubs in the tribe recently, so what’s there to be afraid of? Song Xu is so cute and wouldn’t do anything bad, and the snake is a good snake. Tu’an is too annoying.”

Song Xu was used to this kind of treatment. No matter which tribe they visited, they were never allowed near the tribe, mainly because Wu Mu looked quite intimidating, and people feared him.

She was more curious about the huge vulture beastman and asked, “Is that a vulture beastman?”

Huhu replied, “Yes, Tu’an is our tribe leader. He’s very powerful and has even killed primitive beasts that attacked the tribe. But he’s too cautious. When the tribe raised young cubs, he patrolled the area daily, driving away any living creatures that came close. Even now, after the breeding season, he’s still patrolling.”

He really did seem like a strict teacher. Song Xu was curious about another thing, “Do vulture beastmen have hair in their beastman form?”

Huhu said, “Yes, they have short hair that’s prickly to touch.”

Song Xu asked, “You’ve touched it? He looks so fierce.”

“I have. When I was little, he held me, and I often touched his head,” Huhu explained, scratching her head as she remembered their relationship. “Oh, he’s my father.”

Song Xu:?

Huhu continued, “It’s rare in our tribe, but my father raised me from an egg. I’ve never seen my mother.”

As they walked and chatted, Huhu was still upset about being unable to sneak the little squirrel back, “I should have checked if he was around first. I didn’t expect to get caught. How about I sneak you back? You can hide under my wings. If it’s just you, Tu’an wouldn’t say anything even if he found out!”

“That won’t work. Wu Mu would be lonely if I left him here alone. I need to stay with him,” Song Xu said seriously.

The quiet snake beside them seemed to hear nothing, looking cold and indifferent as if it didn’t need any company.

“And I want to find a less steep place to go down and take a look,” Song Xu said, her eyes falling on the dinosaur world below. She seemed to see the long neck of a giant herbivorous dinosaur emerging from the forest, a scene straight out of her imagination.

Even though Huhu repeatedly warned her about the higher temperatures below, it seemed like the snake couldn’t understand human speech anymore.

Song Xu knew he was just worried that if he hibernated, he might forget about her or forget that he was still a beastman, and he didn’t want to leave her alone, so he refused to sleep. In a warmer place, this wouldn’t be a problem. And then there was the tiger mother. Her necklace was taken from the stomach of a primitive beast, so she might also be down there. Besides, she really wanted to see the dinosaur world! It would be a waste not to go down and take a look!

Huhu couldn’t persuade her and could only sigh at the fluffy little squirrel, wondering why such a small creature had such big courage to see the primitive beasts.

“Alright, actually, I know a place where the slope is a bit gentler. Maybe you can go down from there, but it’s a bit far.”

The place Huhu mentioned had a slope that changed from a vertical ninety degrees to a seventy-five-degree angle. Song Xu lay on the edge and looked down briefly before decisively saying, “This is it. Let’s go down!”

Huhu dutifully accompanied them, saying she would take them to the bottom. For her, it was probably an interesting adventure, too. She didn’t even return to the tribe at night, bringing some firewood to the cliff edge to start a fire and listen to Song Xu’s stories.

The first part of the journey was difficult, with each step taken slowly. The big snake crawled down, using its tail to wrap around protruding rocks to stabilize itself. Song Xu, on the other hand, was much lighter. The fur on the little squirrel’s body was blown backward by the updraft from below, and if she were any lighter, she might have been blown away. The terrain became gentler in the middle, and it was getting late. They hung on the cliff to watch the sunset. They really were hanging because the place was too small. The snake hung like a rope, resting, while Song Xu sat on his body. Huhu stood awkwardly on another rock.

Watching the sunset from this place was truly beautiful. Beams of light leaked through the pink and purple clouds, filling every corner of the view with soft, natural gradients. In this beautiful scene, a giant vulture flew by, glanced at the little eagle on the rock, and flew away. The vulture returned with a piece of dried meat shortly after, signaling Huhu to catch it.

Huhu said, “I don’t want it! If I’m hungry, I’ll catch my own prey. I’m grown up now, and my friends are watching!”

The vulture silently pushed the dried meat into her face. Reluctantly, Huhu took it, and the vulture flew away.

Song Xu watched this rebellious girl and her father’s feeding activity with a smile. Huhu seemed embarrassed, stepping on the dried meat and pecking at it gloomily. She suddenly remembered, “When you go down, don’t eat the meat of the primitive beasts.”

Song Xu asked, “Why not eat primitive beasts? In the place I came from, people said eating primitive beasts would enhance strength.”

Huhu replied, “Eating a little does make you stronger, but if you eat too much, you’ll turn into a real beast.”

Song Xu suddenly had a guess. She turned to rub the motionless big snake and then looked at the tiger tooth necklace around her waist.

She had asked Huhu early on if she had seen a beastman wearing a tiger tooth necklace and had her inquire if anyone in the tribe had seen a tiger beastman nearby. Unfortunately, she didn’t get the answer she wanted. No one had any impression of a tiger beastman, so perhaps Hei Sen hadn’t passed through here.

They hung on the cliff for a night and continued climbing down the next day. The further they went, the gentler the slope became. The temperature gradually increased, the air became humid, and plants began to appear on the cliff. Further down, the slope at sixty degrees was no longer rocky but covered with soil, making it possible to stand and walk or even roll down directly. Green grass covered the slope, with patches of purple flowers blooming. The sunlight divided everything into shades of green and purple. There was a stream and trees at the foot of the mountain, their destination was right below.

“We’re here!” Huhu cheered, “Where do we go next?”

“Next, you should go back. We still have to go further in. I’ll come find you to play when we return and tell you more stories then.” Song Xu looked up at the sky.

The giant vulture was still flying overhead. If Huhu didn’t go back soon, he might come down and grab her.

“No, I want to see the primitive beasts too. I’ve wanted to see them for a long time. If you dare to go, why can’t I?” Huhu protested.

After protesting, she was disciplined. Song Xu watched from a distance as the giant vulture chased the little eagle away. She told the snake, “This is what it’s like to have parents controlling you. Look at us. We’re so free. We can go on adventures and do whatever we want without anyone stopping us.”

Because of the rising temperature, Wu Mu slowly thawed and regained his ability to think, although he didn’t quite catch what Song Xu had just said. They crossed the stream, and in the reflection of the water, Wu Mu saw that most of his face was now covered in snake scales, looking very strange. He could sense the vulture beastman’s wariness and Song Xu’s friends’ avoidance of him, but Song Xu still talked to him normally, as if she couldn’t see his changes. His hands… the scales on his hands were incredibly thick, almost turning into strange claws. How could a snake have such weird claws?

Suddenly, a hand appeared in his strange, immobile palm. Song Xu placed her hand in his, tightly holding his hand and leading him across the stream. “Come on, let’s go see the dinosaurs. So many people would envy us for seeing so many living dinosaurs in this lifetime!”

They didn’t enter the nearest forest but continued walking along the stream for a long time.

“Although we haven’t seen the snow-capped mountains or the sea, I’m already very satisfied. If we can only go this far, I have no regrets.” Song Xu held his hand the whole time. “I hope Wu Mu has no regrets either.”

Wu Mu opened his mouth, realizing that it would look strange when he opened it now. He couldn’t think of anything to say, so he closed his mouth again.

Song Xu found a place to rest and was about to invite Wu Mu to lie down and feel the long-lost grass carpet when a group of small dinosaurs ran out of the distant forest. They were over a meter tall, with green skin and no wings, and looked more like the dinosaurs in Song Xu’s memory. They ran out like a flock of sheep being chased, panicking and running in all directions. Strange calls, roars, and thumping sounds came from the forest behind them.

“Are there big dinosaurs fighting? Let’s go… Wu Mu? Why aren’t you moving?” Song Xu saw the snake looking towards the forest and couldn’t pull him away. She wondered if he was in a bad mood and wanted to join the fight.

Wu Mu turned his head back and pointed at her tiger tooth necklace.

Song Xu reacted, looking surprised. “…No way?”

Listening carefully, it seemed a roar sounded like a tiger among the chaotic noises. But was it possible? Although she had said she wanted to find traces of the mother tiger, she hadn’t expected to find a living one so quickly.

According to the story’s development, shouldn’t they meet after a few more chapters, with a dramatic reunion?