Chapter 6

After spending many days in this world, Song Xu tried to make fire, using the well-known method of drilling wood to create fire. However, theory and practice differed completely, and her numerous attempts failed. It might have been because the forest was too damp, and she lacked the necessary skills. She was about to give up when a surprise came unexpectedly.

The items appeared in the snake’s cave. They must have been his belongings from before, but for some reason, he had left them unused and discarded them as trash. Given that he was so good-natured that he didn’t bite her even when she used him as a blanket at night, he probably wouldn’t mind if she used some of his discarded items.

Boldly ignoring the cave owner’s wishes, Song Xu decided that the cave was the best place to start a fire. It was well-ventilated and wouldn’t get wet from sudden rain at night.

Excitedly, Song Xu scraped together some dry moss and, along with wood chips, used the flint to start a fire. The flint had a pungent smell, and when struck, it produced sparks that quickly ignited the dry moss and wood chips.

Carefully tending to the small, smoking fire, Song Xu slowly added thin branches until the flames stabilized. Only then did she sit down beside it.
Feeling the long-lost warmth of the fire, a sense of security welled up in her heart, making the darkness outside seem less frightening.

Night had fallen, and Wu Mu returned to the cave, noticing the flickering firelight at the entrance. In his eyes, the firelight gradually transformed into the figures of people dancing. He recalled a memory from his childhood. When he was young, he lived in a tribe. At night, the beastmen of the tribe would light bonfires to celebrate hunting “primitive beasts.” Every beastman would excitedly dance and howl around the fire. At that time, he was still very small, with a short tail and a chubby body, clumsily moving among the strong adult beastmen. His mother, sitting by the fire, called him over. He would weave through the beastmen, who were like small mountains, to reach his equally strong and tall mother. By her side, there was a fragrant piece of primitive beast meat. He tried to bite it but was gently pushed away by his mother. Time passed, and the adult beastmen who once seemed like mountains to him became beings he could look down upon. Their gazes towards him gradually turned to fear.

“Hei Sen hasn’t returned for a long time; she might not come back,” the beastmen in the tribe gossiped about his mother, Hei Sen.

“Hei Sen conceived her child outside, and Wu Mu’s father might be a primitive beast, not a beastman. That’s why Wu Mu is a half-beastman who can’t fully transform and possesses such terrifying strength.”

His mother left the tribe before he reached adulthood, saying she would find something that would allow him to fully transform into a beastman, but she never returned.

“Wu Mu, if you can’t fully transform into a beastman by adulthood, you’ll be expelled from the tribe. That’s the rule; we have no choice.”

The tribe members said this, so after reaching adulthood, he left the tribe. In the quiet forest, a long period of solitary life and increasing beastification dulled some of his senses. In the flames, someone was singing. The song was not the powerful and heroic tune of the beastmen in his memory but a gentle and sweet melody he had never heard before. Unconsciously, he extended his tongue as if trying to capture the sound in the air. It was the weak squirrel beastman sitting by the fire, happily swaying her head.

Song Xu noticed that the cave owner had returned. He stood at the entrance, his body raised, staring blankly at the fire. The firelight illuminated his body, and Song Xu clearly saw his abdomen for the first time. It had transitional scales and black patterns distributed around his waist and chest, like beautiful tattoos with a demonic beauty.

Song Xu felt a bit guilty, just a little. She smiled and waved at Wu Mu: “Come warm yourself by the fire! Don’t be shy, come sit.”

The big snake slithered into the cave, circling the fire once. Its tail coiled around the fire and Song Xu, who was beside it, three times. Finally, it sat diagonally on its own tail, like an innocent young boy sitting by the water, picking flowers from it, leaning forward to touch the flames.

Song Xu quickly grabbed his hand: “Don’t play with fire. Playing with fire will make you wet the bed!”

Wu Mu tilted his head to look at her, his hair slipping off his shoulder, almost getting singed by the flames. Song Xu hurriedly pulled his hair back.

Surrounded by the snake’s tail fortress, Song Xu boldly sat on Wu Mu’s tail as if it were a bench and handed it a long stick: “Here, if you want to play with fire, use the stick.”

Wu Mu held the stick and, for once, spoke up, uttering the word “fire.”

Hearing it speak, Song Xu got excited: “Yes, yes, it’s fire. The fire started with flint found in the cave. You don’t mind me making a fire in your cave, do you? Don’t you think having a fire at night is more convenient and comfortable in the pitch-black darkness?”

“A fire can remove dampness, warm the body, and you can boil water and barbecue. Half-beasts eat roasted meat, too, right?”

“I thought you didn’t like fire, but now it seems you don’t mind. So why didn’t you make a fire before? Too lazy to make a fire? Didn’t want to gather wood?”

Wu Mu said one word, and Song Xu rattled off many words. Wu Mu couldn’t keep up with her pace, so he turned his head to continue watching the fire.

Song Xu: “Why did you turn your head? Don’t you want to chat? Don’t be like that; you’re so introverted. I haven’t talked to anyone in a long time. Chat with me a bit more! Let’s talk about something simple.”

Although there was only one person around, Song Xu was very lively.

Wu Mu felt this lively feeling was familiar, watching the flickering firelight on the stone cave, and slowly said two words: “Dance.”

The liveliest times in his memory always involved dancing.

Song Xu: “Dance? Do you want to watch dancing, or do you want to dance?”

Wu Mu didn’t mean anything else. After speaking, he moved his body, wanting to return to its familiar corner. Seeing he was about to leave, Song Xu quickly grabbed him, saying repeatedly: “Don’t go, don’t go, it’s just dancing, I’ll dance, I’ll dance!”

Song Xu instantly transformed into a beastly squirrel. The fluffy squirrel with reddish fur put one hand on its waist and the other on its ear, its bushy tail sweeping back and forth.

Standing on the snake’s tail stage, she twisted her waist, fully expressing her nature. She twists more and more energetically, deliberately making a funny and enchanting pose: “I, the squirrel, am the best dancer!”

She even started walking in a cross-step on the snake’s tail: “How is it? Isn’t it making you wild with excitement…”

Wu Mu’s beastly instincts kicked in—snakes have no resistance to food that keeps moving in front of them. With one snap of his jaws, he bit Song Xu.

His movement was too quick; Song Xu only saw him suddenly open his mouth and bite her. That beautiful face twisted into a grotesque shape due to the wide-open bloody mouth. When she realized what had happened, she was already in the dangerous snake’s mouth.

Song Xu flailed her limbs, crying out, “Help! I won’t be so mouthy anymore, ahhhhhh!”

Having bitten her, Wu Mu suddenly remembered that this was a fellow beastman and that he couldn’t eat him, so he opened his mouth again and spat out the squirrel.

Song Xu sat up, clutching her waist, and found that she wasn’t injured, nor did it hurt; she was just covered in saliva.

“My clothes are all covered in your saliva…” Song Xu wiped the drool off her clothes, “I don’t want this kind of drooling method.”

“Anyway, I, the squirrel, will never dance again.”

The culprit, who almost sent her away with one bite, suddenly spoke again: “Dance.”

Song Xu looked up, ready to get angry, but saw a smile on Wu Mu’s expressionless face. He smiled. And it was a pretty good-looking smile. Because there was a fire in the stone cave and water accumulated in the tree hole she had dug earlier, Song Xu didn’t go back to her tree hole to sleep. She slept in the stone cave, lying by the fire. As for Wu Mu, he returned to his corner silently.

The wood dragged back today was hardwood, which was very durable for burning. When Song Xu woke up in the morning, there was still fire in the fire pit. She buried the fire to preserve it and started her work for the day.

Young people often lack planning in their work, doing this today and that tomorrow, finishing something in one go if interested, and abandoning it if not. Song Xu was no exception to this bad habit. She left her nest to dry for two days and decided to check if the water inside had dried up. Surprisingly, the water had dried up, but her nest was occupied. It was occupied by an owl, with big round eyes and two ear tufts on its head, looking quite cute.

Song Xu reasoned with it: “This is my nest. Can you smell if it has my scent? It’s unethical to occupy someone else’s nest, you know?”

At this point, Song Xu remembered her behavior of sleeping and making a fire in the big snake’s stone cave and felt she had no right to say such things.

Song Xu: “…Alright, considering you’re cute, I won’t argue with you. You can stay.”

Anyway, this tree hole wasn’t well made. She needed to make another one that could keep out the rain and not accumulate water on rainy days. This time, she had to remember to make a door and lock it when she went out to avoid finding her nest gone when she returned. She had already planned it out. This time, she would dig the tree hole, excavating upwards from the side inside, so that rainwater wouldn’t enter the nest and it would be windproof. This was a big project that couldn’t be done in a day or two. During this time, she would live in the stone cave, where she could make a fire at night.

Such a cute little animal occupying the nest, the big snake would surely be as generous as she was and not mind!

Besides digging the tree hole, Song Xu spent the rest of her time developing recipes and looking for edible food. She tried roasting various things over the fire before eating them—low-key mushrooms, small fish caught in the water, and some forest mouse she painstakingly caught. Because she craved meat so much, she barbecued the not-so-cute forest mouse. Although it was only salty, Song Xu, who hadn’t eaten roasted meat for a long time, was so happy she shed tears.

Speaking of salty taste, it came from a large white crystal found in the animal skin bag. At first, she thought it was a stone. Curious, she licked it and found it salty, realizing it might be a seasoning like “salt.” So, she used a small animal tooth knife to scrape off some powder for seasoning.

Having made a big leap in food, Song Xu was full and satisfied. At night, she tried to communicate with her cohabiting roommate in her leisure time. Unfortunately, the big snake was really a cold beauty, not easily teased.

Song Xu used her old trick to lure him to the fire pit. She then turned into a squirrel beast and jumped around. As expected, she was caught in the snake’s mouth again.

Song Xu, who never learned her lesson, shouted in the snake’s mouth: “Second time’s the charm!”