Chapter 62

A snake that can swallow water buffaloes and wild boars certainly wouldn’t have trouble swallowing a stone, but being caught off guard differs from voluntarily eating it.

The irritable snake, now with a single-threaded mind, focused on his taunting opponent, didn’t notice the sneak attack from the blue shark behind him. By the time he did, it was too late to retaliate.

The stone began to take effect inside his body, just as it would lose its glow quickly outside the sinkhole. Once inside the half-beastman, the glow from the stone rapidly dispersed into the snake’s body, like the bubbles from an opened soda, quickly dissipating.

The snake’s thick body writhed by the river. The older blue shark watched for a moment, confirmed he was undergoing transformation, and left with her daughter, not forgetting to take the seemingly poisoned, dazed great white shark with them.

The snake was left alone at the bottom of the pit. His half-beastman form still had two eyes that were not fully covered by scales, but now the rapidly growing scales completely covered them, turning him into a snake.

The snake’s body was dark red with black patterns. During this journey and his gradual transformation, his colors became less vibrant, covered by a grayish haze. This haze quickly lifted from his body, wrinkled, dried, and cracked.

It was like a snake shedding its skin, but different. In this short time, the snake had shed three times. His body swelled and pulsed like a breathing heart, each pulse causing his skin to crack. Eating the stones here could trigger the transformation, which sounded simple, but for half-beastmen, the hardest part was after eating the stone.

Transforming from a half-beastman to a beastman was difficult, several times harder than a snake shedding its skin.

The snake scraped his shedding body on the rough stones, leaving countless blood marks, but this was nothing compared to the internal changes. Gradually, he lost strength and stopped moving, though the transformation continued.

Some beastmen from the shark tribe passed by and peeked in: “Hey, there’s a half-beastman transforming here?”

“It’s been going on for a while. I saw it earlier, and it’s still not done.”

“It’ll take until at least tomorrow morning.”

They chatted casually as they passed the sinkhole. At the bottom, outside sounds were hard to hear, making it especially quiet for the snake. He could even hear his body cracking and blood flowing, though he sometimes thought it might be the nearby lake water.

“Plop.” He slid into the water.

Blood spread quickly on the clear water’s surface.

Song Xu sat on the rocks at the edge of the small island, looking at the distant island, wondering if the snake and tiger were there.

Suddenly, a large orca surfaced, opening its mouth to reveal fish and seaweed.

Song Xu snapped out of her thoughts and smiled: “Wow, seaweed and kelp! I love eating seaweed! Thank you, Grandma, you’re amazing at catching fish!”

She had been hungry and wanted to get more information from Xini, so she shamelessly went to her for food. She thought she’d just eat whatever, even dried fish, as she didn’t eat much anyway. But after expressing this, the fierce-looking grandma silently took her outside the island.

Song Xu thought her intention to mooch food had angered the orca, who might kick her out. But at the water’s edge, the slow-walking Xini suddenly transformed into a large orca, saying, “I’ll catch some fresh fish,” and swam away quickly.

Touched by this hospitality, Song Xu obediently carried a large bundle of seaweed and kelp, following Xini back.

Large beastmen were generally tough, and even the elderly Xini, in her beastman form, carried hundreds of pounds of fish without breaking a sweat. Holding less than a hundred pounds of seaweed and kelp, the squirrel was still offered help: “If it’s too heavy, give it to me.”

“Freeloaders should do what they can. It’s the rule, I understand!”

They returned to Xini’s house.

It was Song Xu’s first time seeing a beastman’s house so closely. She used to live in a mixed small beastman tribe, where they lived in tree holes or birdcage-like houses. Wu Mu lived in a simple stone cave, and the larger beastman tribes they passed didn’t let them near because of Wu Mu. So, the orca tribe’s houses were the closest to what she recognized as “houses.”

The house was built entirely of stones, the most common type on the island. These stones, shaped by the sea into layered forms, were stacked neatly, leaving gaps for doors. The roof, Song Xu observed closely, was covered with shells, glued together with a gray substance.

Moreover, the roof only covered half of the house, leaving the other half open to rain and sunlight. Inside, the house was bright. The covered part of the roof sheltered various simple yet ocean-themed furniture. After entering, Xini opened a large shell to take out a firestone, then went to the uncovered part of the roof to light a pile of grayish-white stones.
After starting the fire, Xini stood up, and Song Xu squatted down to observe closely. These burning stones didn’t look like coal. What were they?

Xini brought over a chair, placing it behind Song Xu, and explained, “That’s dried guano from white-headed seabirds. We use it to start fires.”

There were no trees on the island. The coastal areas with trees were inhabited by primitive beasts adept at flying and fishing, who liked to eat marine beastmen, so they rarely approached the coast. On the barren rocky island, materials for making fire were scarce, and even collecting seabirds took a lot of work.

Song Xu’s attention was then drawn to the chair Xini brought over. It was a coral chair, uniquely and adorably designed. She tried sitting on it, finding the smooth branches naturally massaging her, fitting her perfectly.

Seeing her seated, Xini went to prepare fish, intending to cook a meal for her. In beastman tribes, cooking for a guest was the highest form of hospitality, and Song Xu didn’t quite understand why she was receiving such good treatment. She squeezed beside Xini to help wash the seaweed, eating a few pieces out of hunger.

“My mother was also a half-beastman. She came from the land and was a small beast type. However, she didn’t live here long because there were no plants, making it unsuitable for her and my sister. Eventually, she took my sister back to the land, and I never saw her again,” the elderly woman said calmly. “I can sense a similar scent in you.”

Song Xu was stunned for a moment, realizing that Xini was suggesting they might be related by blood!

What a magical world, where the ability to transform into beastmen eliminated reproductive isolation, allowing even an orca and a squirrel to be related!

“Seeing you, I know they must have lived well after returning to the land and left descendants there,” Xini said, looking at the squirrel, who was so shocked she was mechanically chewing seaweed, with a gentle expression.

“Eat some fish, it’s good.”

The squirrel mechanically gnawed on the fish, digesting the food and the news. Soon, she brightened up, as she was good at making the best of situations.

“Grandma!” the squirrel’s voice was enthusiastic and sweet. “Actually, I came here with my partner. He’s a half-beastman and might be on another island now. I want to find him. Can you take me to the other island?”

“The neighboring island? It’s a mixed tribe, mainly inhabited by jellyfish beastmen who are poisonous and some octopus and squid beastmen who like to pollute the waters. We don’t go there often,” the orca grandma said with some disdain. As for the shellfish and starfish beastmen on the island, they were too weak to be worth mentioning.

“Grandma doesn’t need to go ashore. Just take me nearby. I can use an empty shell as a boat to row over!”

Xini neither agreed nor refused, only saying, “The beastmen on that island are not very friendly. They are difficult to communicate with. Compared to them, the sharks on the first island are easier to talk to.”

Song Xu finally realized something was off: “The first island… How many islands are there?” Wasn’t there only the two islands she saw?

“There are three islands. We are on the third one,” Xini replied.

Song Xu: “…”

Song Xu decided to check the second island first. If she couldn’t find the snake and tiger there, she would go to the first island.

Early the following day, the orca took her out to sea. Unlike the young orcas who liked to play with balls and dive into the water, she was a steady grandma. Grandma carefully kept the squirrel on the surface to avoid getting her fur wet.

When she was a young orca, she used to carry her mother on the water like this, but she was a bit naughty then, so after a round, her mother’s fur would be completely wet.

The orca swam with the squirrel on her back. In the sinkhole on the first island, a person emerged from the shallow lake. Wet black hair clung to his body, outlining his slender, smooth figure and long legs. He sat in the water for a while, looked up at the sky, and then tried to stand up. After taking a step, he fell to the ground with a thud.