Wumu’s mother is a tiger beastman. A tiger giving birth to a snake sounds unbelievable, but in the beastman world it is a common phenomenon. Beastmen of different races can all pair together, and the children born will generally inherit the stronger genes of one of the parents; some will even inherit genes from a previous generation.

It is even possible to have a leopard beastman and a sika deer beastman give birth to a rabbit beastman.

As for having different beast forms, whether a child is their own or not, beastmen have special ways of identifying it. They can rely on scent to judge.

This string of tiger fang necklace—Song Xu could also smell a kind of scent from it. She couldn’t describe it clearly; it seemed not only detected by the nose, but also distinguished through certain smells by other organs. In short, it was a somewhat frightening scent. From this scent, one could tell it was probably a very ferocious tiger.

Snake Snake had become stupid. Song Xu climbed up and down for this household, tidying up the broken stone cave, and sometimes she was so busy she couldn’t pay attention to him.

She thought that with Snake Snake’s current winter-limited-idiot condition, he would obediently stay curled up in the corner of the stone cave. Who would have thought that in the short time she went out to fetch some water and came back, Snake Snake was gone.

Outside, although there was no howling cold wind, and a bit of sun had even come out, the snow had not melted and it was still very cold. Where could Snake Snake have run off to?

“Wumu?!” Song Xu circled the huge rock pile twice, turned into a small squirrel, and drilled into the gaps between the stones, wanting to see whether the big snake had crawled out and gotten stuck in a crevice. Some stupid snakes really do end up getting stuck like that.

“Wumu!”

Song Xu backed out from the crevice, forked her hands on her waist, and shouted loudly. Suddenly, a primitive beast corpse at the side that had not yet been cleaned up moved. It looked like a corpse coming back to life.

A primitive beast that had been dead for so long, with even its wings cut off, obviously could not come back to life. Song Xu ran over to take a look and, at the torn opening of the primitive beast’s belly, saw a section of snake tail exposed outside.

“What are you doing? You’re not eating this meat, are you?!” Song Xu couldn’t help but tug at the two ears standing upright on top of her head. “A hibernating snake doesn’t eat, does it? And can this thing even be eaten? This is completely frozen solid and you’re just eating it like that?!”

She released her abused ears and grabbed the snake tail, trying to drag him out.

Maybe he had already finished eating. Snake Snake did not resist and was dragged out by her. She had finally wiped the blood off him with water earlier, and now he had rolled himself all bloody again.

This is probably the fate of a pooper-scooper… partner.

Song Xu resigned herself to dragging Snake Snake back to the nest. Seeing him wriggle twice, struggle free from her arms, and fall onto the snow, he rolled once, rolled twice, rubbing off the bloodstains and shreds of meat stuck to his body.

“Alright, alright, let’s go back and I’ll boil some water to wipe you down. Don’t freeze into a popsicle outside.” Song Xu lazily hugged the big snake’s waist, trying to hoist him onto her shoulder and drag him back. The big snake looped around her once, then slid down by himself and returned to the cave.

Song Xu dipped a piece of animal hide into warm water and wiped from the big snake’s head downward. Fortunately, his scales were smooth, and even if there was a bit of dirt, it could be wiped clean easily. It wasn’t too difficult a job.

While wiping the snake, Song Xu talked to him: “So you woke up early and just don’t want to sleep anymore, right? That’s fine, but spring hasn’t arrived yet. It’s still not the season for you to go wandering around casually. If you really turn into a frozen snake outside, I won’t be able to carry you back. You know your own weight.”

Her tone was relaxed, and she didn’t expect Snake Snake in this state to understand anyway. She was just a born chatterbox who liked to talk.

“Look at your belly. It’s a little bulging here. Did you really eat something? What did you eat? The organs inside that primitive beast? Don’t tell me you’re hungry?” Realizing this, Song Xu suddenly lifted the snake head resting on the necklace and faced his red eyes. “The only living thing here is me. You know you can’t eat me, which means you’re not completely stupid yet.”

After scrubbing the big snake clean from head to tail, Song Xu pointed at his rostral scales and emphasized repeatedly, “Baby, you absolutely cannot go eat that primitive beast again, understand?”

Whether Wumu understood or not, she didn’t know. Right now, he only knew how to stick out his tongue.

Song Xu packed up her things, took her homemade tools, and climbed out of the cave. Standing at the entrance, she turned back and warned the big snake: “You stay there. Don’t come out. Otherwise, when I get back, I’ll tie you into kelp knots!”

Speaking of kelp knots, she suddenly really wanted to eat kelp knots, the kind boiled in hotpot.

Song Xu rummaged a few nuts out of her animal-hide pouch and crunched them in her mouth. She went out with snacks and came back carrying two rabbits.

She rarely hunted small animals, but when she used to play in the forest meadow, she had caught quite a few of those little guys. She was like a bear kid who never grew up—no other reason, just mischievous hands.

Compared to beastmen, ordinary small animals really aren’t much to look at. It’s just that in the past she would catch them and then release them; now she catches them, kills them first, and then skins them.

A bloody smell made the resting big snake slightly lift his head. Song Xu, who had returned with bits of snow all over her body, held a skinned rabbit up to his mouth. Only at this moment did Song Xu feel like she was actually raising a snake.

“Here, aren’t you hungry? Come eat a rabbit.”

“Hm? Why aren’t you eating?”

The rabbit chased after the big snake’s swaying head. The big snake swayed left and right, but showed no intention of opening his mouth to eat.

“Do you think this meat is too small, or that it smells too bad?” Song Xu didn’t give up on feeding him. “You can’t be picky, Snake Snake. You used to swallow an unbathed wild boar whole. I even skinned the wild rabbit for you… or do you want to eat the skin?”

Song Xu wasn’t very clear about Snake Snake’s preferences either, because he hadn’t been picky before. She brought the rabbit skin over to try as well. This time, the big snake directly twisted his body and covered his own head. His head was hidden under layers of snake belly, and for a moment she couldn’t even find where his head was.

Confirming that he really didn’t want to eat, Song Xu regretfully took the rabbit away.

“If no one eats it after dying, bunny will cry.” So she decided to chop it up, add salt, and cook it herself.

After eating her fill, Song Xu went over and measured Snake Snake’s girth, saying gloomily, “Wumu, you’ve gotten thinner.”

Snake Snake still expends energy while sleeping in winter. He had already slept for two and a half months, almost three months, without eating or drinking, and his whole body had slimmed down a circle. Since he had no intention of continuing to sleep through the remaining half month or so, he would definitely need to eat next.

Song Xu saw hoofprints left by some kind of animal in the woods, and her heart stirred. Maybe Snake Snake thought rabbits were too small and not enough for one bite, so he didn’t eat them. She would catch a bigger one and take it back to try.

Before dark, Song Xu returned joyfully, tree vines in her hands tightly binding a two-horned antelope. This little cutie, who had gotten lost and unlucky enough to be caught, was chewing on a handful of dark green old leaves that Song Xu had picked from a tree, and was forcibly dragged back to the stone cave by Song Xu.

After going through great hardship to stuff a living, bleating antelope into the stone cave and drag it in front of Snake Snake—

“Wake up, food’s here. Hurry and take a bite. Fresh!” Song Xu called out.

Wumu hadn’t reacted yet, but the antelope was frightened by the big snake inside the cave. Song Xu couldn’t even hold it back; in a panic, the antelope jumped onto the bearskin mat and stepped across the big snake.

Song Xu: “……” Snake Snake got his face stepped on by his meal.

But even like this, Snake Snake still had no intention of opening his mouth to eat the little guy. He even shifted a bit to give it space, so it wouldn’t step on him again.

“Bang!” The hopping antelope knocked over the small cabinet inside the stone cave.

“Clatter!” Its hooves stepped onto Song Xu’s wooden basins, knocking an entire stack over.

Song Xu hurried forward to pounce on the crazed antelope, then with effort got it out of the stone cave.

The antelope that had escaped the snake’s mouth ran off. Song Xu sat on the mat and pounded her waist. The prey she had worked so hard to catch, Snake Snake still refused to eat. What was she supposed to do?

After worrying about Snake Snake’s feeding problem for several days, Song Xu had basically patched up the broken holes in the stone cave. Only the largest hole was still blocked with the primitive beast’s wing. Winter wood was really hard. Her claws didn’t work well, and even her teeth didn’t work well anymore.

While outside picking up wood, Song Xu ran into Uncle Weishan, who had hurried over covered in dust and travel weariness.

His leather clothes emitted a strong smell. The brownish-yellow fur on his head was all knotted with tiny ice crystals and little snowflakes. His face was flushed red, and he looked like he had walked a very long distance.

The last time Weishan left, he had been uneasy, but he had matters to attend to and couldn’t stay here all the time. After he and his companions sent the primitive beast meat back to the tribe, he didn’t rest and directly set out to rush back again.

On the way back, he was afraid that when he arrived here, he would find that Wumu, in his muddled state of mind, had eaten his partner. Fortunately, seeing Song Xu still lively and well, his heart finally relaxed a little.

He thought that perhaps the situation really wasn’t that bad, and with a bit of hope asked Song Xu, “Has Wumu turned into a half-beastman during these days?”

Song Xu had just greeted him. Hearing his question, she answered, “No, he’s been in beast form the whole time.”

Weishan let out a heavy sigh. Even though a thick beard covered half his face, his deep worry could still be seen. “That’s not good. If he can’t transform into half-beastman form, then when spring comes and the snow melts, and the people from the tribe come over, they’ll probably beat him to death.”

Seeing how serious his attitude was, Song Xu also frowned. “Why is it that Wumu can’t turn into a half-beastman?”

“I’m not sure either.” Weishan looked toward the stone cave not far away. “It might be that his time has already come. From the moment he was expelled from the tribe, he should have long since lost his rationality. This time, he was also attacked by a primitive beast during hibernation. The intense battle that erupted could also have affected a half-beastman’s sanity.”

“The longer the time his beast form remains fixed, the smaller the chance of turning back into a half-beastman.”

Song Xu thought for a moment. “Could it be because he ate the primitive beast’s blood and meat that his condition became more severe?”

Weishan answered without thinking, “Impossible. Primitive beast meat contains powerful energy. It makes beastmen stronger.”

Song Xu said, “Last time I heard you say that Heisen never let Wumu eat primitive beasts. Is it possible— I mean, is it possible that eating primitive beast meat makes Wumu’s condition more severe?”

Weishan was stunned. He stared with eyes wide open. “…But primitive beast meat is very precious. How could it make his condition worse!”

This time, he had even secretly brought some of the primitive beast meat he was allotted, wanting Wumu to eat it and see if he could recover. It was inside his clothes.

In the end, this primitive beast meat was, of course, not given out.

On this trip, Weishan was both relieved that Wumu had not eaten his partner, and distressed that Wumu’s condition had worsened.

Before leaving, he instructed Song Xu that if, by the time winter ended, Wumu still had not turned back into half-beastman form, she must stay far away from him.

Song Xu agreed readily, then turned around and went back into the stone cave, lifted the big snake’s head, and said to him, “Idiot, if you’re still this stupid when spring comes, I’ll take you away.”

“Do you like traveling? I quite like it.”