Chapter 66

The journey back was not as rough as the way there. They didn’t encounter any mutated sea monsters blocking their path, nor did they face any sea storms or extreme weather. During the few days they drifted at sea, it was sunny, occasionally cloudy, and the two giant creatures on the wooden boat suppressed any small waves, preventing it from capsizing. However, as they approached the coastal waters, Song Xu saw a flock of primitive beasts circling in the sky. These winged primitive beasts were rarely seen in the coastal forest where the big tiger lived.
They looked very familiar. Song Xu remembered seeing many of them when she curiously watched Wu Mu’s uncle Wei Shan and others hunt primitive beasts. Later, one of these primitive beasts somehow crashed into the snake’s cave, causing an incident.

These skilled flying primitive beasts were probably here to find food, to have a full meal before starting their migration. They were attracted by the dazzling golden gradient giant tiger on the sea surface and tried to circle down to hunt. The giant tiger roared loudly, scaring the primitive beasts away. One bold primitive beast flew a bit lower and was caught by the big snake that suddenly shot up from the water, injecting venom and causing it to fall into the sea, becoming a floating bird corpse. After that, the flock of primitive beasts flew further away and did not bother them again.

Finally, they reached the shore safely. Seeing the familiar rocky beach and the green forest behind it, Song Xu almost cheered and wanted to run down. During this time, she had eaten so much seafood that she almost turned into seafood herself. A little squirrel has not eaten any green food for so long; is that reasonable?!

She tried to pounce on the land, but the boat hadn’t yet docked, and there was still a considerable distance. So the squirrel, whose eyes had turned green, was securely tied to the boat with a snake tail seatbelt. The driver wouldn’t let her get off until they reached their destination. The snake stopped the squirrel but couldn’t stop the giant tiger.

The agile big tiger leaped off the boat, splashing water, and ran to the shore in a few steps—then shook the sand off her feet and stretched her stiff limbs wildly.

Hei Sen had lived in this forest and beach for a long time. Even after losing her memory, she didn’t want to leave. Now that her concerns were resolved, she couldn’t wait to leave, not wanting to stay any longer. As a meat-loving big tiger, she had eaten unpalatable primitive beasts and seafood that hadn’t been on her menu for so long. She hadn’t eaten her favorite wild buffalo for years; is that reasonable?!

The giant tiger led the way, constantly looking back and roaring to urge the two cubs behind her to hurry up. Because there were many carnivorous primitive beasts nearby, she remained in her more combat-ready beast form.

Wu Mu was in his half-beastman form. Now, he could transform into a beastman and speak normally in his beast form, but he still found the half-beastman form most convenient. He could hold the squirrel in his chest with one hand and break off branches from the roadside to hand to the squirrel with the other. From the moment they entered the forest, Song Xu’s mouth didn’t stop, chewing flowers and tender leaves like a rabbit. The sound of her chewing was so vivid that one could imagine the crisp, tender leaves bursting with juice as they were chewed.

Wu Mu occasionally looked down and saw the squirrel holding a large, thick-petaled white flower with both paws, her head buried in the flower, eating with her hind legs kicking happily, and her tail sweeping joyfully against his abdomen.

His arm tightened a bit. Wu Mu would stop to pick some sweeter-smelling flowers and leaves for the squirrel. The runaway giant tiger ran far ahead, only to find that the others hadn’t followed. She had to run back, unhappily roaring twice. However, every time, the snake only looked at her, as if not understanding what she was saying, or perhaps too lazy to speak, with the same calmness as when he was a child. The squirrel looked innocent. Then, the next time the giant tiger found they hadn’t followed, she looked back to see the snake and squirrel busy collecting various mature plant seeds.

The giant tiger helplessly circled in place, lying down nearby to wait for them to finish picking while driving away carnivorous primitive beasts attracted by the noise. Only when encountering large groups of carnivorous primitive beasts did Hei Sen urge them to leave quickly and not linger. When the number of primitive beasts increased, even the big tiger couldn’t guarantee a safe retreat. They passed through the forest where the land-dwelling primitive beasts lived, and the trees suddenly parted, revealing a towering cliff ahead.

Song Xu and Wu Mu had climbed down this cliff for a long time. Looking up from below, it seemed even more majestic, towering into the clouds.

The leading giant tiger stopped by a creek, exhausted, her belly rising and falling, panting heavily, and drank water by the grassy creek. Wu Mu also swam over to drink water, placing Song Xu between them. The giant tiger boldly drank water, using her tongue to lap up the water like a large cat. While drinking, she also washed her head, shaking off water droplets in the sunlight, looking bold and handsome.

The big snake drank water with a gulping sound, like a pipe drawing water or a bucket storing water—only the little squirrel, gentle and slow. She had quenched her thirst by nibbling on flowers and grass along the way, so now she took a few sips of water and tried the tender grass tips nearby, very distracted.

After drinking, the giant tiger identified the surroundings and started walking in one direction.

“Mom? Hei Sen? You’re going the wrong way!” Song Xu remembered they had come down from a gentle slope on the other side.

But Hei Sen had come from the opposite direction, preferring to follow her own remembered path. They were at a stalemate for a moment, and Song Xu jumped over to grab the giant tiger’s paw and drag her in her direction, “I need to go over there to say hi to a friend and tell her I’m back safely. Let’s go this way first, then follow your path later. Please, Mommy!”

The giant tiger looked reluctant but was easily dragged by the little squirrel’s small paws. They walked along the green slope under the cliff, with Song Xu looking up for flying figures in the sky.

The eagle beastman she knew, Hu Hu, had said she often flew above this sky. It had been several months, and Song Xu wondered if she was still practicing flying here.

Suddenly, a black shadow swept across the cliff above. It was the eagle beastman Song Xu had been thinking about, but when she stopped nearby, Song Xu hesitated to recognize her because the previously black-and-white eagle now had all black feathers, with larger wings shining with a glossy sheen.

“Hu Hu?”

“It’s me, it’s me! Song Xu, you’re back!” The eagle beastman ran to the ground with her two claws.

Eagles look sharp and handsome in the sky, but on the ground, they look clumsy. After a few steps, Hu Hu remembered she could transform into a beastman, and in a blink, a familiar lively girl pounced over.

“I fly around here every day, and I finally saw you! I thought you wouldn’t come back, haha, it’s great! Look at me; all my feathers have changed; I can fly very steadily now; I’m amazing! What about you? What did you encounter? How’s the forest over there?”

Hu Hu chatted while curiously looking at the half-beastman snake, who looked different from before, and the newly appeared big tiger.

“Did you find the person you were looking for? What a beautiful tiger beastman!” Hu Hu stared enviously and longingly at the furry tiger. Her love for fluffy things hadn’t changed.

Song Xu talked with her for a while, telling her about the sea, then took out a seashell strung with a thin string from the worn beast skin pouch. “I found this seashell on the island; it’s for you.”

She picked it up when she and Wu Mu went to catch jellyfish that night. Along with some pretty shells and small corals, she prepared them as souvenirs for the beastmen she knew if she met them again.

Hu Hu was delighted to receive the gift. Living on the edge of the primitive beast forest, she had never been to the sea at the forest’s edge and had never seen such a seashell. She looked at the rare little thing with great interest.

“Hu Hu, I have to go now, goodbye.”

Hearing that her long-lost friend was leaving just after the meeting, Hu Hu was reluctant and immediately said, “Then I’ll see you off! You said you would tell me stories!”

Song Xu: “Sure.”

With an additional chattering eagle, it didn’t affect the tiger’s journey. She led the way to find the path they had come down. They hadn’t reached it by nightfall, so they had to stop and rest temporarily.

Song Xu started a fire, roasting tubers dug from the forest. Once cooked, the sharing-loving squirrel gave everyone a portion. The tiger and snake ate a little out of courtesy. Hu Hu flew away after eating, returning with two rabbits in her beak, probably caught on the plateau above. She gave one to Song Xu and carefully placed the other in front of the giant tiger.

The giant tiger lay alone on the other side of the fire. She was actually hungry, but this was still an area where primitive beasts roamed, and there was no suitable food for her, so she had to endure. The sudden appearance of the rabbit made her look at Hu Hu a bit more.

Before coming here, Hei Sen only hunted large prey and never bothered with small things like rabbits. But on this journey, many places had no food she could eat, so she had eaten rabbits, mice, and even smaller prey when there was no food. A small rabbit was just like a biscuit, better than nothing.

Song Xu went to prepare the rabbit. When she looked back, she found Hu Hu had moved next to the giant tiger, happily stroking the tiger’s tail with the lazy tiger’s permission, looking as happy as a modern person petting a cat.

Song Xu was sure: Hei Sen, the tiger that everyone loves!

She fed the prepared rabbit to Wu Mu, and they rested there for the night. The next evening, they reached the place Hei Sen mentioned, which seemed like a large basin’s outlet. The slope was gentler than the one Song Xu and Wu Mu had come down. This area was far from Hu Hu’s tribe’s activity range; no wonder they hadn’t seen tiger beastmen.

Climbing up this slope was tiring but much easier than climbing a cliff. They spent two more days climbing to the top of the cliff. The exhausted squirrel looked at the plateau above and was stunned. Was this still the barren plateau of yellow soil and flying sand she had come from? It was now lush with green grass and wildflowers, completely different from her memory.