On the way back, Weishan had been staring at that tiger-fang necklace.

It was Heisen’s necklace. There were four tiger fangs on it in total, all teeth that Heisen had shed, and they still carried her scent.

It had been rummaged out from the belly of a primitive beast. They guessed that perhaps Heisen had been eaten by a primitive beast, and only this necklace was left inside its stomach.

Holding the tiger-fang necklace in his hand, it seemed as if it was burning hot.

Weishan thought of Wumu. If Heisen had really died, then this only thing she left behind should be handed to Wumu.

After Heisen left, over these years Weishan had also thought about going to see Wumu, but he worried that the scent of a fierce beast would make him feel threatened, would stimulate his battle desire, and cause the unstable half-beastman to lose his reason even faster, so he could only give up this plan.

This time, Weishan thought of that squirrel beastman who had secretly come to see them. Or, he could hand this necklace to Wumu’s partner.

He made a decision and announced that they would take another route back. This route was shorter, and it would also pass closer to Wumu’s habitat. He could temporarily leave the team midway to deliver something.

Regarding his sudden change of route, no one raised any objections. After traveling for most of the day, Weishan announced a rest. A group of beastmen put down the weapons, ropes, and chunks of meat they were carrying, and all sat down on the spot.

Many of them were injured. They had to bring back chunks of primitive beast meat, and also a live primitive beast that had been bound. They were moving much slower than when they had come, and Shiyou felt dissatisfied.

“We’ve already rested twice. Shouldn’t we hurry up and rush back to the tribe?” After being lectured by Weishan before, Shiyou had held a grudge in his heart. No matter what decision Weishan made, he would complain a couple of sentences.

The companions already knew his prideful personality and did not take his grumbling to heart, urging him to hurry and rest.

Shiyou still paid attention to Weishan. Seeing him explain something to two beastmen before walking alone into the forest, he suspected Weishan was going to do something, and also stood up and followed after him.

Following the scent to near the stone cave, Weishan wandered around the surroundings. If he did not know that Wumu was hibernating, he would not have dared to come this close. But if he got any closer, his scent should attract Wumu’s attention.

How should he call that squirrel beastman out now?

It was also a coincidence. It had just snowed heavily, and Song Xu was sitting by the entrance watching the snow. She was still thinking about how this world actually had dinosaurs, holding a small branch and drawing dinosaurs on the ground.

Suddenly, the wind direction changed, and she smelled a faint trace of blood. Weishan’s scent was too pungent, and it directly lured Song Xu out.

She held her weapon and cautiously poked her head out by the stone cave, seeing a figure in the distance waving at her.

Song Xu recognized that this was the leader of that beastman team. After identifying his identity, she immediately looked around to see if there were other beastmen lying in ambush. Looking again and again, there was only him.

“Wumu’s partner, I am Weishan. I came to give you something.” Weishan directly threw the tiger-fang necklace to the entrance of the stone cave. “This is Wumu’s mother Heisen’s necklace. It was found in the stomach of a primitive beast.”

Song Xu did not move. She looked at him. “What is your relationship with Wumu?” For someone to come alone to deliver something—if there were no relationship, she did not believe it.

“I am Heisen’s brother.”

Song Xu understood now, thinking, so he’s the uncle. But in beastman society, there is no term like uncle. No matter what kind of relative, everyone just calls them by name.

She stepped forward two paces, picked up the necklace, and revealed a cute and obedient smile. “I’ll give it to Wumu. Is there anything else?”

Weishan had come this time not only to deliver the necklace, but also wanted to ask about Wumu’s current situation.

Song Xu said, “Wumu is quite good. His body is good, and his mood is also good.”

Between beastmen, most were straightforward and not good at small talk or polite exchanges. After getting this answer, Weishan was satisfied and simply waved his hand, preparing to leave.

Seeing that he was about to leave, Song Xu instead proactively stepped forward and asked a few more questions. “Weishan, you just said this necklace belonged to Wumu’s mother. Then how did it end up being found in a primitive beast’s stomach?”

Weishan stopped his departing steps. “Heisen left the tribe in order to search for an opportunity to let Wumu become a beastman. Before she left, she told me that she was going west to look for the fallen moon. I don’t know where she was going, but in the distant west live many powerful primitive beasts… She hasn’t returned for so long. She may have encountered some kind of accident.”

“The tiger-fang necklace is her favorite thing. Give it to Wumu, and tell him that Heisen probably won’t be able to come back.”

In the distant forest, Shiyou watched Weishan and Song Xu talking over there. He still remembered this squirrel beastman, a weak female beastman who had tricked him. He hadn’t expected that she not only hadn’t died, but was living well on Wumu that half-beastman’s territory.

Back then, he hadn’t been able to catch up to that sly female, and had even been threatened by Wumu to leave. He still kept this matter in his heart.

Shiyou was a few years younger than Wumu. When he was little, his hands had been itchy and he had attacked Wumu, but had been coiled by a snake tail and almost suffocated to death. He had been so frightened that he never dared to go over and provoke him again. This was also the reason he avoided Wumu after growing up.

The lion’s golden-brown eyes swept over Weishan and Song Xu, then turned toward the stone cave covered in white snow, suddenly revealing the fierce light of a hunter. It was winter. Snake-type beastmen had to hibernate. Right now was his most vulnerable period.

Shiyou returned to the temporary camp where his companions were resting and walked over to the still-living primitive beast.

The mottled wounds on its body were no longer bleeding, but its wings were tightly bound, so it could only be dragged along the ground. Seeing him approach, the big fellow suddenly swung its head at him, baring a fierce look.

“Looks like you still have quite a bit of strength.” Shiyou sliced through the rope binding its wings in one motion.

“Yue yue!” The suddenly spread wings startled the resting beastmen awake. Someone shouted in alarm, “Not good, it broke free!”

“Grab it!”

“I’ll draw its attention!” Shiyou bravely rushed out from the corner, spear in hand, stabbing toward the injured primitive beast, angering it again and leading it to run toward the forest.

The enraged primitive beast flapped wildly through the forest. The group of beastmen didn’t even have time to take out the rope nets they had packed away, and saw that it had already flown low into the air, charging toward a certain direction.

Outside the stone cave, in the forest, Song Xu was asking Weishan about Heisen’s situation. She rarely had a local beastman she could communicate with smoothly, so she inevitably asked a few more questions. Just as they were almost done talking, Weishan suddenly raised his head and asked, “What is that noise?”

The wind and the forest were both roaring. The primitive beast’s ferocious head and saw-toothed mouth appeared before their eyes.

“How did it break free from the ropes and run here?!”

In the blink of an eye, that frenzied primitive beast had already rushed into this clearing and landed on the stone cave formed by piles of huge rocks. Amid its roars, one corner of the stones was crushed.

Seeing the cabinet she had made over a long time and the nuts she had collected for so long being trampled to pieces by the primitive beast, Song Xu’s scalp went numb. “Snake-snake!” Snake-snake’s sleeping corner was right next to it. Like this, he would definitely be woken up!

Weishan hadn’t brought any special weapons, and there were no other beastmen by his side to help. He could only first transform into his beast form to attack the primitive beast’s belly, trying to lure it away.

Just as he transformed into a tiger beast form and tried to bite the primitive beast’s most vulnerable belly, a snake tail coiled out from the damaged opening of the stone cave and wrapped around the primitive beast.

Song Xu also saw it. She had just taken two steps forward when she saw, in the blink of an eye, Snake-snake in beast form slither out from the stone cave and drill into the wound torn open on the primitive beast’s belly… drill into it?

Weishan retreated and landed beside Song Xu, watching the situation over there.

They only heard the primitive beast continuously screeching in pain, trying to struggle and fly up but unable to do so. Its belly heaved, and they could even see the outline of a snake tail stirring inside.

Very soon, the primitive beast stopped moving, its two wings drooping over the messy giant rocks. Only then did a group of beastmen rush over.

“This… what happened?”

“The primitive beast is dead? Drag it away.”

Weishan spoke, “Don’t go over. Wumu is inside its belly.”

No one moved. Song Xu was the first to run toward that ferocious, massive primitive beast. Without another word, she stepped on the crumbled stones and jumped up, flipped to find the tear in the primitive beast’s belly, and reached her hand inside.

A stench rushed at her face. She groped around for a moment, then dragged out a section of snake tail covered in blood from the opening.

All the beastmen stared blankly at her movements, until the big snake that had been dragged out suddenly raised its head and made an attacking motion toward Song Xu.

“Get away from him!” A big tiger pounced over, biting Song Xu and carrying her to the side.

The big snake coiled atop the primitive beast’s corpse had eyes crimson red, releasing attacking hissing sounds toward the chaotic scents around it.

“He’s been triggered into a feral state.” Weishan’s tone was heavy.

Song Xu said, “He was just awakened in the middle of hibernation. It’s a bit of a stress reaction.”

At this moment, Shiyou stepped out and said loudly, “I remember Wumu is a half-beastman, right? Is he already out of his mind like this?”

Half-beastmen who lost their reason had to be killed, but no one answered him.

Weishan avoided the rock and the primitive beast’s corpse where Wumu was coiled, and walked toward Shiyou. “How did this primitive beast break free from the ropes and run here? Weren’t you watching it?”

Shiyou was intimidated by his ferocious look, his back stiffening, but he stubbornly said, “I fell asleep. I don’t know how it broke free. The most important thing now is that we should deal with this half-beastman.”

Weishan smashed him with a punch into the crowd and lunged forward to hit him again, but several beastmen stopped him. Shiyou wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and stood up, provoking even more recklessly. “Are you trying to go against the tribe’s rules!”

They were in an uproar. No one paid attention to Song Xu. She had already carefully moved closer to the big snake whose eyes were so red they seemed to drip blood.

“Wumu…”

The big snake let out a terrifying hiss. She squatted down, waiting for him to become familiar with this distance.

“Wumu’s situation is special. After this winter passes, if in spring it’s confirmed that he has completely lost his reason, I will deal with it. This is not something you should interfere with.”

Weishan suppressed Shiyou’s protests with his fist. No matter how dissatisfied Shiyou was, within this team he had no way to challenge Weishan’s authority.

The group prepared to leave, not even intending to take that primitive beast with little meat left.

Weishan hesitated as he looked toward Song Xu. Although he said that Wumu had not yet lost his reason, deep down he was very worried that in this state Wumu would eat his own partner. Such things had happened before.

“Do you want to come with us? Go to the fierce beast tribe, and come back to look for Wumu in spring,” Weishan asked.

Song Xu waved her hand at him, her eyes fixed tightly on the big snake in front of her that had its head raised and was hissing.