Beauty and the Beasts

Second finally got to eat and let out a moan in satisfaction. However, he quickly discovered that there wasn’t enough food and let go, pushing against First, who was at the side.

First refused to let go. He raised his paw and slapped Second back.

Second quickly grabbed onto his mother with his claws, let out a sob, and then accepted fate and went back to eating. He would occasionally knock against his mother’s chest.

Their strength wasn’t weak, so Bai Qingqing’s body would shake as she was bumped. It caused her to occasionally bump against Curtis, making her feeling extremely awkward.

Second’s claws were sharp as well. Bai Qingqing felt pain and touched the spot where he had clawed at. She lowered his head and saw a scratch.

Curtis gently touched the red marks on her chest, and his gaze immediately turned cold. The leopard cubs seemed to sense something and immediately became gentler.

“It’s fine. There’s less milk today. They usually aren’t like this.” Bai Qingqing spoke up for the children.

Curtis let out a cold snort.

Bluepool had his fill of water and was leaning against the shore on the other side, looking at Curtis from afar.

“Hey, snake beastman, are you alive… or dead?”

Bai Qingqing hid in Curtis’s embrace and replied in a displeased tone, “Why are you talking like that? You’re the one who’s dead.”

“I saw him at the graveyard previously. He had turned into stone,” said Bluepool, unconvinced. After saying that, he moved back a little, wary of the snake beastman attacking.

Bai Qingqing fell silent and turned to look at Curtis, baffled.

Curtis said, “That group of eagle beastmen wanted to kill you. I killed them all. After the battle ended, I had the feeling that I was going to reach a breakthrough. The mountain was on fire, so I hid in tree resin. When it dried up, it became a stone.”

It was normal for fires to break out in the mountain. The snake beastmen who were feral beasts naturally had quite a few life-saving methods from their legacy.

It was just that the breakthroughs that snake beastmen went through took a lot of time. Besides, Curtis was also being targeted by the eagle beastmen. Therefore, he encased himself in a Big-Headed Tree’s resin and hid from the eagle beastmen.

The Big-Headed Tree’s resin couldn’t burn and could fend off high temperatures. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have become a life-saving method. It was just that snakes were afraid of heat. Thus, it would still feel uncomfortable.

Bai Qingqing immediately thought of the charred bush forest, and her heart wrenched up. She raised her hand and grabbed Curtis’s big hand wrapped around her waist.

“I know. Muir was the one who set the fire…” Bai Qingqing couldn’t bear to ask too much into the details and skipped that part. “What happened after that?”

“Things had been going on smoothly, and I had already achieved success in my breakthrough and was resting. I didn’t expect to suddenly arrive in a cold environment and accidentally go into slumber.”

The first half was spoken without emotions, but the latter part was filled with pity. He rubbed his chin against the top of Bai Qingqing’s head.

“I didn’t think through things and wasn’t able to find you in time. This won’t happen again.”

Bai Qingqing tried to imagine that scene, and her throat felt very uncomfortable as if a ball of cotton was stuck there. She grabbed tightly onto Curtis’s hand, using so much force that her joints turned pale.

Bluepool was also stunned. Snakes were afraid of the heat, right? Even if he hid in a rock, it would still feel very scorching, right?

As expected of a four-striped or higher beastman. What was terrifying about him wasn’t just his battle prowess, but more his tenacity and tolerance.

“Thankfully, you’re alright. I’m sorry…” Bai Qingqing’s voice was hoarse. If it wasn’t for her, Curtis wouldn’t have been through such hardship.

The cold environment that Curtis was talking about should be the bottom of the deep sea. It was really very cold down there. The depths that Curtis landed in was definitely deeper than where she had been for it to result in him going into hibernation.

Curtis flipped his hand and grabbed onto her hand, flicking out his tongue and licking her face.

“Don’t cry. It wasn’t painful. It was very hot in the beginning, but a cool feeling encased me later on and the discomfort went away.”

He rubbed Bai Qingqing’s hand with his fingers, his bright red lips curling up into a smile.