The aggressive stench of the lion alarmed the owner of this territory.
No matter why the lion had come, stepping into this forest meant that a battle of invasion and counterattack was about to erupt. However, once one side admitted defeat, the battle would dissipate into nothingness.
Coiled in the tree, the thick snake tail that Song Xu, who was fleeing for her life, had mistaken for a tree vine slowly began to move.
Song Xu hid behind a tree trunk in the distance, craning her neck to peek out. From afar, she saw the lion fleeing with its tail tucked between its legs, and also saw half of a snake tail coiled around a large tree.
The dim light in the forest could only sketch the outline of his long tail. Song Xu could not see clearly what the snake actually looked like, only feeling that it was very long.
Song Xu scratched at the tree trunk: Snake! A wild snake! Such a big snake!
After driving away the intruder, Wumu left the area, preparing to go look for food. He rarely left the cave where he lived; when he did come out, it was basically always for eating, and this time was no exception.
A powerful male beastman approaching could draw his attention and vigilance, but the other “guest” who had also slipped into his territory, Wumu did not go to drive away.
He had already caught the scent in the air that belonged to a female beastman. A squirrel beastman with a weak beast form was harmless to him, so he did not mind.
After quickly finding suitable prey and swallowing it, Wumu returned to his cave to rest, his tail coiled around with a bulging mass.
In the past two years, he would still patrol his territory after eating, amusing himself to pass the time, but in these two years, his beastification had grown more and more severe, already approaching becoming a complete beast, and his life had also become muddled and chaotic.
He was almost about to forget that he had once also been a beastman of a tribe.
In this world lived beastmen who could transform between human form and beast form, and also lived ordinary wild beasts. And half-beastmen were the “disabled” among beastmen.
Young little beastmen could not control their transformations, and often appeared half-human, half-beast, but as they grew up and the power in their bodies gradually strengthened, they could freely control the changes of their forms.
Those who, even after reaching adulthood, still for various reasons could not get rid of part of their beast state and completely become human-form beastmen were called half-beastmen; they would be expelled by tribes as defective products.
After being expelled, half-beastmen who left their relatives and companions wandered alone in the forest. Their strength would gradually be eroded and disappear, becoming closer and closer to wild beasts, and in the end completely losing rationality and turning into true wild beasts.
Wumu was precisely in this extremely dangerous period.
Song Xu, who had invisibly obtained the protection of the owner of this place, temporarily stayed in this forest.
Song Xu: Anyway, I don’t know where I can go, and the snake didn’t come chase me away.
Tender leaves and fresh flowers, mushrooms and wild fruits—Song Xu ate whatever she found, finally stuffing her stomach, which was about to shrivel into an A4 sheet of paper, avoiding the fate of starving to death.
Fortunately, the original body was a squirrel beastman, with a very broad diet, able to eat almost anything. If she had accidentally become a ferocious beast that could only eat meat, and still had to think about how to hunt, that would really be too much for an ordinary, unremarkable third-year high school student like her.
With the threat to her life resolved, Song Xu became curious about her surroundings. This was a primeval forest. She had only been to parks before; this was the first time she had seen this kind of forest.
Looking around, there were only straight, upright tree trunks, one after another, covered with green moss. The branches and leaves almost all grew more than ten meters high. Above, the sunlight was blocked by thick canopies, so even in broad daylight it was not very bright.
Farther away, the light was dim, and the tree trunks turned into looming ghostly shadows in gray mist.
Around her, besides herself, she could not see a single human figure, but there were all kinds of strange sounds. Insects and birds chirped and muttered, coming from above her head or beneath her feet, from all sorts of places she could not see or find, deeply heightening the eerie atmosphere of this environment.
The environment could be cool, but it could not be eerie. She was a little scared.
Song Xu: “…We are the successors of communism…” Her voice drifted faintly through the forest, trembling.
Song Xu closed her mouth. No, she needed to bask in the sun to dispel the chill.
Transforming into her squirrel original form, Song Xu climbed up into the high tree canopy to bask in the sun, and at the same time look for a path.
The upper canopy and beneath the trees were two different worlds. Up above, sunlight was abundant, refreshing to the senses. Green stretched as far as the eye could see. After climbing to the height of long branches, she discovered that many trees were in bloom, and there were also more bird figures around.
Song Xu clung tightly to the tree trunk with her claws to keep herself from falling. Watching the bird beside her use its long, pointed beak to sip nectar, she felt like it looked as if it were eating very deliciously, and followed suit to eat some as well.
The taste was sour and sweet, not bad.
Young people shift their attention quickly. In no time at all, she forgot that she had just been scared stiff down below, and tentatively moved about in the tree canopy.
Squirrel paws were really useful. This body was light and nimble, and no matter what movement she made, she wouldn’t twist her waist.
She didn’t know whether she could still go back. Thinking about it, she figured she should find a place to rest, preferably somewhere that could get sunlight.
In this kind of dense forest, places that could receive sunlight were extremely rare. Song Xu searched and searched, and with the blessing of good luck, discovered an area where the canopy was sparse.
Song Xu: As expected of me, the one who can pull three golden legends in ten consecutive draws!
She hurried excitedly to the spot she had chosen, and discovered that the reason the canopy there was sparse was because there were several huge protruding rocks on the ground, preventing large trees from growing there, thus leaving behind such a “leaked” patch of land within the dense forest.
Not bad, this place was very good. If there were spots inside the rocks that could shelter from wind and rain, it would be even better.
Song Xu climbed down from the tree, preparing to go explore her chosen temporary residence. Her steps were light, and she suddenly had the feeling that she was playing an exploration survival game.
Circling around those huge rocks for half a round, Song Xu indeed discovered a cave entrance. It was a gap left by several giant rocks stacked and interlocked together, triangular in shape—a blunt triangle—with the highest point about a little over two meters.
Song Xu stood at the entrance and peered inside. After only two glances, she froze.
About one meter from the entrance, there was a snake tail tip. Sunlight happened to slant down onto that tip. Following that dark-red tail tip forward, one could see an endlessly long snake tail extending deep into the cave.
So this was the big snake’s home. Sure enough, all good places were already occupied!
Song Xu stood at the entrance, looking at the tail tip that was very close to her, and did not move.
Generally speaking, seeing a tail tip that represented a big snake and danger would make someone turn and run in fright, but… Song Xu was a reptile enthusiast, and especially liked snakes.
She relied on this special preference to stand out among her peers. When the classmates at the desks in front of and behind her were holding celebrity posters and chatting about novels, she would also hold up various snake-keeping videos trying to recommend them to others, earning countless screams and looks of disgust.
She had even once wanted to keep a snake at home, but met fierce opposition from her dad’s second wife, Aunt Qian. Her dad had been even more furious, stating that she was not allowed to mess with strange things. In the end, it came to nothing.
Still in school, unable to break away from her family and become independent, she could only become an online cloud snake-keeper, a cloud enthusiast.
This was not Song Xu’s first time seeing a snake, but it was her first time personally seeing such a big snake.
An enthusiast who often drooled over other people’s snakes through videos now looked at the snake tail tip within arm’s reach, feeling restless and eager to move.
Song Xu: Tsk, this tail tip is really so pretty. This color, this glossiness—its texture must be really good, right?
She slowly squatted down, approaching that section of tail tip. Snakes were probably the kind of creature that used “danger” to express beauty—the more dangerous, the more beautiful; the more beautiful, the more dangerous. Song Xu knew in her heart that it was dangerous, but still could not control herself from reaching out her hand.
Otherwise, how would there be a saying like “newborn calves are not afraid of tigers”—taking risks (seeking death) was simply in young people’s nature.
Song Xu’s hand touched that section of tail tip, lightly stroking it.
A very peculiar texture—smooth and soft, tougher than silk, softer than leather.
Snakes were ectothermic animals, their temperature changing along with the environment. This section of tail tip had been basking in the sun, and its feel was not cold at all. At this moment, Song Xu could understand the feelings of those literati who described a beauty’s skin as “ice-like flesh and jade-like bones,” “skin like congealed cream.” She also really wanted to praise this texture now.
Placing her hand on it made her not want to lift it away at all. She absentmindedly touched it again and again, and the tail tip beneath her hand suddenly moved. It didn’t move much, only shrinking inward a little, as if subconsciously shifting away after being disturbed.
Song Xu was getting carried away by the sensation. Without thinking, she took two steps forward to chase after it, continuing to reach out to touch it. After only touching it twice, that snake tail tip shrank inward again.
After chasing into the cave for more than ten steps, greeted by a burst of cool wind blowing against her face, Song Xu suddenly realized that she had unconsciously walked into the cave.
Thinking about what she had just done, Song Xu felt like some kind of pervert who sneaks up to touch someone’s foot while they’re sleeping and even makes clicking sounds of admiration.
No, how can something related to hobbies be called perverted! Do people who keep cats and pinch their cats’ balls count as perverts too? This is love!
The cave was not particularly dark. It was dry and cool, and the cave was ventilated. Standing here, she could see the exit on the other side, and there were also some rock crevices letting in light.
The inside of the entire cave also seemed to be triangular in shape. Most of the big snake’s body was in the darkest corner, indistinct and unclear, with only its tail still by her feet.
Like a thief, Song Xu gently lifted the tail tip and kneaded it. This action probably finally made the big snake feel a bit impatient. The tail tip slipped out of her hand and instantly retracted back into the darkness.
Oh no, is he annoyed and about to bite? Song Xu quickly withdrew her claws, clutching her pounding heart as she retreated out of the cave.
Song Xu supported herself against the rock wall: So thrilling!
When he sensed that a beastman had entered his cave, in the dim corner where nothing could be seen clearly, Wumu propped up his upper body and flicked out his tongue, capturing the scent information belonging to Song Xu.
The scent of this female beastman made him recall some things from when he had lived in a tribe as a child. In the end, he still did not move, and curled back up in place.
Mainly because the other party was too weak, there was truly no way to make a snake half-beastman who was in the middle of digesting food become alert.
