Beauty and the Beasts

“Roar!” Parker dug into the icy ground and indicated for Bai Qingqing to come down.

Although Bai Qingqing understood that, she didn’t move. “Let’s go into the bamboo groves. Perhaps we might find winter bamboo shoots.”

She then swung her legs by Parker’s waist. Parker instantly howled: [Don’t kick my tummy.]

“What did you just say?”

Parker puffed out air from his nostrils and scolded with a smile in his heart. Stupid female. But that also meant that Bai Qingqing seldom sat on males—a fact that made Parker feel secretly pleased and made him run even faster.

In this withered world, only the bamboo groves—with their yellowish-green hues—showed some signs of vitality.

Bai Qingqing happily jumped down from Parker’s back. Underneath her feet were hard and solid ice blocks; the small ones were as big as a fist, while the larger ones were the size of a winter melon. Walking on them felt terrible on the feet.

Bai Qingqing cautiously walked two steps, then said, “Try digging here.”

Parker shook his fur and transformed into a human, then stood up and walked up behind Bai Qingqing and said in an astonished tone, “Are you going to eat bamboo?”

Only the bamboos were still green in the forests; there was indeed nothing else edible. Parker started reproaching himself for his lack of understanding of the ape tribe, for making Qingqing have to resort to eating those tough bamboo.

The plants that Qingqing ate also had to be cooked. How was this bamboo to be cooked? They had to be cooked to a softer texture, else she definitely wouldn’t be able to chew something so tough.

“Bamboo that has yet to grow out is very delicious.” Bai Qingqing looked up at him as she spoke and suddenly realized that Parker was now taller than the first time she met him. She recalled that back then, her head reached Parker’s neck. And now, it only reached Parker’s armpits.

Now that she looked closely, Parker’s chest had also become much more muscular. As her gaze continued trailing downwards, Bai Qingqing’s eyes widened into round circles.

Parker has really grown bigger!

She hurriedly turned her head away. Gazing ahead, Bai Qingqing tried to feign calmness as she said, “Are you cold? Do you need me to drape my scarf around your waist?”

“I’m not cold. Moreover, simply draping it around the waist doesn’t really keep one warm,” Parker said dismissively. “Anyway, there’s just the two of us here, there’s no need to hide my reproductive organ.”

Bai Qingqing’s face heated up as she stammered. “I… I’m just worried about your… that thing getting frozen. If you don’t want it, forget it!” She decided she would just try her best not to look at him.

“No way! I used to do this frequently in the past.” As Parker spoke, he suddenly recalled the fact that he was about to copulate with her very soon. What would he do if it got cold and became unusable at a crucial moment? Curtis would wake up after the cold season passed. When that time came, Curtis would definitely try to stop him from copulating with Qingqing.

After hesitating for a moment, Parker asked softly, “If you remove the scarf, will you feel cold?”

Bai Qingqing raised a brow and deliberately teased him. “Aren’t you unafraid of the cold?”

“I… I’m just concerned about you,” Parker said awkwardly, then pretended to look at the bamboos to conceal his embarrassment.

Seeing that Parker didn’t insist, Bai Qingqing hurriedly removed her fox tail scarf and draped it around his waist. She didn’t want to accidentally see a certain male’s reproductive organ.

“I already said I don’t need it.” Parker tried to act like he didn’t need it despite feeling glad that she put it on him, anyway. After Bai Qingqing was done draping it around his waist, he quickly lowered his head and pecked on her forehead. “You’re wonderful.”

Flushing, Bai Qingqing’s head felt dizzy and her mind turned foggy.

Was this the after-effect of the fruit wine?

She shook her head and stumbled for two steps, before pointing next to the roots of bamboo. “Try digging here.”

“Okay.” From Parker’s voice, it could be sensed that he was smiling. He obediently walked to the spot Bai Qingqing specified and squatted down, then started to shift the ice blocks.