Chapter 9

In the evening, Song Xu lit a fire as usual and boiled water by the fire. After drawing little figures all over the nearby stone walls out of boredom, she finally turned her attention to the quiet snake in the corner. She made a sound like the coin-operated rides at the supermarket entrance: “Hey handsome, come play!”

Unlike usual, when she could easily make some noise to attract him, today she called out several times and even sang a song, but he didn’t come over.

Could it be that the temperature had started to rise over the past few days, and he didn’t want to sit by the fire?

Song Xu went over and found that the big snake had completely transformed into his beast form, with his oval head, slightly pointed at the front, hidden in a pile of his tail, resting on the moss mat she had dried and placed there.

For the past few days, Song Xu had seen him mostly in his half-beast form, which was half-human, half-snake. He only transformed into his full beast form briefly when hunting. But now he wasn’t hunting, so why had he suddenly changed into his beast form?

She carefully climbed over his horizontally stretched tail and approached his head: “What’s wrong? Don’t you want to play? Or are you feeling unwell?”

He didn’t speak or hiss; only his tail moved slightly.

Song Xu stared at his big head for a while but couldn’t see clearly, so she brought over a torch and finally noticed something unusual.

The big snake’s dark red eyes seemed to be covered with a white film, making them look foggy like clear glass turned frosted.

Song Xu immediately realized: “Ah, are you about to shed your skin? Is that why your eyes are cloudy?”

Before shedding their skin, snakes experience a phase in which their eyes become cloudy. This is a signal that they are about to shed and is part of the process of replacing their protective eye covering. During this phase, the snake’s eyes turn white.

Song Xu had always been a virtual snakekeeper and never actually cared for a real snake. Now she had a real snake, but it was a half-beastman, which was different from the ordinary snakes she knew.

So, Song Xu was a bit nervous. She moved the torch away, afraid of stimulating the snake preparing to shed, and gently touched his snout.

“Be good, rest well. I won’t disturb you.”

Wu Mu watched her come over, talk to him, and then return to her spot, behaving unusually quietly. He was actually a bit puzzled.
This puzzlement had been there since he first saw this female squirrel beastman.

Even in the fierce beast tribe where he grew up, as he grew older, few beastmen dared to approach him apart from his mother. His tongue would always catch the scent of their fear in the air. But she, this female beastman, was clearly very weak, yet she wasn’t afraid of him. Her scent was always exciting, and whenever she had the chance, she would grab his tail and touch it non-stop. Even when he accidentally bit her, she wasn’t afraid. She seemed to believe they were playing.

In Wu Mu’s limited understanding, female and male beastmen who lived together were mates, but he hadn’t hunted for her or built a nest for her. Instead, she had been doing these things. She cleaned the cave, tidied the ground, laid moss and wood chips, and tried to share food with him every day. Although he didn’t like to eat it, it was indeed food she had found herself. Beastmen considered these actions to be those of a mate or someone pursuing a mate. So, did she want to be his mate?

Wu Mu thought about it slowly for a long time before he understood this point. But then he had more questions. Why would a female want to be with a half-beastman? Half-beastmen were incomplete. If they couldn’t fully transform into beastmen, they would eventually degenerate into mindless beasts and might even be hunted by their former tribe members. He rarely thought about other beastmen, and when he did, it took a lot of time. Most of the time, he didn’t think about anything.

Wu Mu wasn’t shedding his skin for the first time. Every time he shed, he would stay here alone, waiting for the pain to come. He hadn’t seen other snake beastmen and didn’t know if they also experienced such pain when shedding or if it was just him. But it was normal for half-beastmen to endure more suffering than beastmen.

Wu Mu was puzzled and thinking, while Song Xu was nervous, both anxious and expectant. It was her first time without experience. What if the snake had difficulty shedding? She decided to reduce her time playing outside and stay here more to watch over him.

From that day on, Wu Mu never returned to his half-beast form and remained in his beast form. Song Xu watched him go through the cloudy eye phase, then the clear eye phase, and finally, his beautiful snake body started to turn white, indicating he was about to shed.

The rough stone walls of the cave were covered with marks from him rubbing against them. He would use these stones to help open the shed skin at his snout. Song Xu squatted nearby, watching eagerly, gripping a protruding stone: “Come on, baby! You can do it!”

She watched the big snake’s slow movements with concern. Unlike the pet snakes she had seen shedding their skin effortlessly at her friends’ homes, this snake had a hard time.

Smaller, healthier snakes shed their skin completely, but larger snakes usually shed in pieces. If they are not healthy, the shedding process is even more difficult. Without proper preparation and an appropriate environment, they might end up with patches of unshed skin. This was the case with the big snake in front of her.

Song Xu watched, feeling as anxious as if she were witnessing a difficult childbirth. She couldn’t even chew on the tender, juicy grass stems she had been eating, her eyes fixed on the snake. The snake seemed to be in pain, moving restlessly in the stone cave. Even his previously motionless tail had started to twitch.

Song Xu initially thought of letting him handle the shedding on his own, but after seeing him struggle like a snake that had drunk Realgar wine, she quickly decided to help.

No snake owner could bear to see their beloved pet suffer through such a difficult shedding process without help. When the snake is able to, it can handle shedding on its own, but when there are difficulties, it needs help.

Using a large fruit shell to collect water, she mixed it with hot water from a stone bowl heated over the fire, turning it into warm water. She then took a handful of clean moss, soaked it, and approached the writhing snake, soothing him with her words, “Don’t be nervous, don’t be nervous, I’m here to help you.”

The snake’s difficulty in shedding might have been due to the dryness of the stone cave. Song Xu cautiously approached, using the warm water and wet moss to moisten the areas where the snake couldn’t shed his skin.

The snake’s body was so thick that Song Xu had to make many trips to wet it, constantly bringing water and wet moss.

“Almost there, just a little more effort.”

The snake had already shed the scales around his eyes, revealing his clean, large eyes that watched her every move.

Although most snakes are nearly blind, beastmen are different; they can see.

Song Xu kept approaching, continuously wetting the snake’s body. Despite his restless and painful movements, she didn’t mind, dodging while helping him remove the stuck skin.

The snake didn’t pay much attention to her muttering, but he clearly received the emotions conveyed in her tone. This stunned the snake; even his mother, who cared for him, had never shown him such gentle emotions.

Seeing the snake staring at her and flicking his tongue, Song Xu asked, “Do you want some water?”

She was used to the snake’s dazed look and got up to fetch water for him. She had long wanted to see the snake drink water with her own eyes! Not in his half-beast form, but in his full-beast form because it was just too cute! It would immerse his snout in the water, adorably drinking with his head down!

Song Xu could watch videos of snakes drinking water all day. Now, she finally saw it live.

As the snake drank, she made strange laughing sounds beside him. After a couple of sips, the snake lifted his head to look at her, and Song Xu urged, “Drink more, drink more, hehe!”

The snake was confused by her actions, not knowing where this confusion came from. Capturing and understanding such subtle emotions was too complex. By midnight, the snake had only shed half of his skin. Song Xu, who usually slept by this time, stayed by his side, waiting.

The snake moved around her, tearing off the skin caught on the protruding rocks, occasionally stopping to rest. Song Xu immediately patted his head and neck, encouraging him.

“You’re amazing, almost done. Look how beautiful your scales are after shedding!” By this time, Song Xu had almost completely forgotten that the snake under her hands was not her pet snake but a half-beastman.

The snake occasionally listened to what she was saying, deepening his confusion—why was she talking to him like this?

He had only ever heard words like “scary,” “ugly,” and “huge,” but she was calling him “good boy” and “baby”?

Because the beastmen’s language was simple, the terms Song Xu translated sounded even more affectionate to the snake.

Song Xu didn’t know why, but despite her gentle attitude, the snake squeezed himself into a corner, seemingly afraid to approach her.

Song Xu: Am I that scary?

Looking at her normal hands and feet, small and cute, and then turning into a squirrel with fluffy fur, she thought she was super cute no matter what, so the snake wasn’t afraid of her, just uncomfortable because of the shedding!

At dawn, Song Xu finally fell asleep. By sunrise, the snake had finished shedding. In the past, after shedding, he would go to the nearby river to roll and soak, removing the stuck skin. This time, with Song Xu’s help, his body was clean, and he didn’t need to go to the river. The snake silently approached the sleeping Song Xu, his rising head stopping before her. She was now in her squirrel form, her three-lobed mouth slightly open, her furry cheeks twitching with each breath. The snake watched her for a while, then nudged her soft, furry belly with his snout. The squirrel sleepily rubbed her belly, turned over, and didn’t wake up.

T/N: I refer to Wu Mu as he/him, as the translator did.