It is reported that recently, tracking and tailing incidents have been occurring frequently on the Gobi, and the vast majority of victims are lizard beastmen.
According to the recollection of a lizard beastman who did not wish to disclose his name, he encountered the two suspects on a moonlit night: one small female beastman, and one large snake-type half-beastman.
They followed him across two rocky flats without leaving. In the end, when it was almost dawn, the female beastman shook her head, and only then did the two depart in another direction.
Regarding this head-shaking, the victim believed that the female beastman was evaluating whether he was good to eat. Fortunately, because he was old and had rough skin and thick flesh, he narrowly escaped disaster.
Another unfortunate victim who was also tailed stated that he even got into a fight with the two suspects, but did not win. He only remembered that after rushing forward, he was flung away by the snake-type half-beastman. When he woke up again, he was in a crack between rocks, and there was even a stone placed above the crack to give him shade.
At present, no casualties have been discovered. However, the tracking incidents have caused widespread panic among the lizard people. In recent days, they have been traveling in groups, calling companions to go together, to avoid being targeted.
As for how the incident will develop, the reporter on the scene will continue to follow and report.
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“That’s strange, are the lizards here all group-living animals? Why are all the lizard beastmen I’ve seen recently in groups?” From afar, Song Xu saw more than ten lizard people, aggressive-looking, slipping over a sand dune on the Gobi. She had a visual illusion of an early triad movie, where the boss leads a group of suit-wearing lackeys roaming the streets and alleys.
She told the big snake beside her her guess: “They wouldn’t happen to have agreed to go fight, right? That’s quite a large-scale brawl. This place really has a high per-capita number of irritable big bros.”
These past two days, Song Xu had already stopped observing the lizard people.
There were not many types of lizard people in this place. She had already seen them all. They were basically all dusty, wild-looking big men, causing her to gradually lose interest… On the other hand, Snake-snake easily got into conflicts with others, like two drunk big brothers on a northeastern street—once they lock eyes, they start swinging fists. Song Xu was already tired of breaking up fights.
After this bout of interest passed, they began to avoid those irritable beastmen.
There was little water in this place. Song Xu had no choice but to use her past knowledge to find water from some plants.
Because of different environments, each place would have some special living habits. They passed by a big tree with smooth bark, but there were many cut marks with scabs on the trunk, layer upon layer, in a position slightly lower on the tree. When Song Xu saw this kind of tree here, she knew it was a public water-taking spot.
Using a beast-tooth knife to cut a slash on the trunk, transparent tree sap would seep out from inside, and they used leaves rolled up to catch the water.
The tree sap, carrying a green bark flavor, moistened dry lips and throat. If tasted carefully, it even seemed to have a slight sweet aftertaste.
Song Xu took a sip herself and then gave Snake-snake a sip. After quickly quenching her thirst, she began to focus on collecting tree sap for Wumu. Wumu also learned her manner and collected tree sap.
He had never known that there were such barren places where water sources could not be found, and this was also his first time trying to quench thirst in this way.
When he had been anxiously unable to find water before, the squirrel saw the tree beside them and asserted that there must definitely be drinkable tree sap inside. This point had made him feel surprised.
Song Xu would occasionally also cut down thorny plants, peel off the thick skin and outer spines, and eat the flesh inside. She ate it herself and also let him eat.
That kind of astringent green flesh was likewise something Wumu had never tasted. He did not really like the flavor, but when water sources could not be found, he still had to eat it. At this time, the squirrel would hug a piece of flesh, gnawing while grinning, watching him swallow with difficulty. She was truly quite bad.
“I wonder if we can find an oasis. If we could run into a beastman and ask, that would be great. Locals should know, right?” Song Xu again explained to Wumu what an oasis was.
For some reason, a while ago they could see lizard people appearing in clusters, but recently they could not see a single beastman.
After muttering about it for a long time, the next day Song Xu and the two of them really did encounter a team of beastmen. That group of tall animals carrying loads walked over the sand mounds. It was simply the most common kind of desert landscape photograph.
“Wild camels!” Song Xu cheered.
“Beastmen.” Wumu said. He had never seen camels. Toward this kind of creature that had once appeared in Song Xu’s words, he also took a couple more looks.
In order to avoid frightening the camel beastmen and making them run away, causing the attempt to ask for directions to fail, Wumu stopped at a distance, and Song Xu went over alone to inquire. That group of camel beastmen noticed the large snake half-beastman in the distance, but did not seem particularly panicked.
The leading old beastman, Yuan Qiu, had once led her team through many places and was relatively well-traveled. She carefully observed Song Xu and discovered that she was a squirrel beastman.
That was rare. There were no squirrel beastmen living here, and no squirrel beastmen would run to this place either.
“Oasis? We’re heading there right now. You can follow us.” Yuan Qiu said gently.
Her eyes were large, her eyelashes long, and on the back of her beast form she carried many things—animal hides, stones, and the like. Song Xu did not look closely, only noticing that they also had many large water containers hanging on their bodies, made from hard fruit shells.
Song Xu called Snake-snake to follow, while she herself walked beside Yuan Qiu’s hooves and chatted with her.
“We just returned from trading goods with other tribes. Our place is relatively barren, and many things are lacking, so I often take part of the tribe out to trade with other tribes. What about you? You shouldn’t be living nearby, right? How did you come so far? Where are you heading?”
“I don’t know either, just walking forward like this.” Seeing that the other party’s attitude was good, Song Xu’s tone also became especially obedient and lively. “Oh right, we might be going to look for a tiger beastman.”
“Tiger beastman? Oh… I seem to have seen a tiger beastman around here a few years ago. There are no tigers in our area. Many tribe members saw a tiger for the first time. I remember it quite clearly.” Yuan Qiu recalled.
A tiger? No way, such a coincidence? Could it be Wumu’s mother again? Song Xu immediately lifted the tiger-tooth necklace buried in the fur at her waist. “Please take a look at this. Was that tiger beastman called Heisen, and did she wear this tiger-tooth necklace?”
Yuan Qiu thought about it for a moment and couldn’t quite remember. “Seems like she wore one, but also seems like she didn’t. I can’t really recall. I’m old.”
From the silent camel beastman team behind them came a dull male voice: “Her name was Heisen. She wore a string of tiger-tooth necklaces.”
Yuan Qiu glanced back and suddenly smiled. “That’s right. Bai Sha definitely remembers more clearly than I do. You go ask him. He was the one who picked her up. He even asked her if she could be his partner, but got rejected.”
Song Xu: ?
The squirrel instantly became excited, pricked up her ears, and craned her neck to look back: Which one? Which one? Which one is Bai Sha, let me see!
In the camel beastman team, a tall camel was squeezed out by his companions. Two high humps, carrying even more things than Yuan Qiu, yet still looking relaxed. Brownish-yellow fur covered his whole body. His face looked a bit like a sheep’s, oddly gentle and honest.
He reproachfully glanced at the companions who had squeezed him out, then helplessly lowered his head and said to the squirrel who had jogged over, “That was several years ago.”
“Just tell me as much as you remember. Thank you very much!” Song Xu was filled with the joy of listening to a story.
Bai Sha said, “I found her under bare rock nearby. She had fainted from thirst and hunger. I fed her some water and she woke up. As soon as she woke up, she bit me. Probably because she was too hungry and mistook me for an ordinary camel.”
As he spoke, he showed a shallow mark on his leg.
Song Xu: Why is it that every time news about Tiger Mom comes from other beastmen, she’s eating beastmen? Even if it didn’t succeed.
Wumu’s mother really eats wherever she goes. When Wumu encounters beastmen, he wants to fight. When she sees beastmen, she wants to bite people. Truly worthy of being a tiger.
“Many beastmen from other places who come here don’t adapt, so this isn’t the first time we’ve picked up fainted beastmen. It happens often.” Bai Sha said.
Because they often picked up unfamiliar beastmen, the camel beastmen were so calm when seeing strangers. Sure enough, once you’ve seen enough, nothing surprises you.
“She got lost, and after waking up she followed us for a period of time. She was very capable. She even helped us drive away a group of beastmen who wanted to come steal our things.” At this point, the big camel’s tone fluctuated slightly, showing that the incident had left a deep impression on him, and also that Tiger Mom back then was impressive enough.
That group that often came to steal things belonged to a mixed-living tribe. The camels were not good at fighting. In the past, they would run away to avoid them, entering deeper into the desert to shake off the pursuing beastmen. But that time, the imposing big cat charged forward and, by herself, took care of more than twenty beastmen.
Sent flying into the air by the massive tiger, trampled into the sand, bitten open at the belly… Only a few of the beastmen who came to rob made it back. For a long time afterward, they never dared come nearby to steal again.
Bai Sha still remembered the tiger with orange-yellow fur and black stripes, blood at the corners of her mouth, teeth cold and sharp, swishing her tail as she walked back step by step. Her paw pads left a string of flower-like footprints in the sand.
“She liked to climb up onto bare rock to sleep. So high up, yet she could get up easily.” The big camel opened up, “She also liked running in the sand. She liked these sand dunes.”
So he thought that if she liked this place, she would be willing to stay here, but he was rejected without hesitation.
“I have things I need to do. I’m leaving.” She said this, and later, after learning how to recognize the roads, she quickly left this place.
Song Xu: “Wow—”
The big camel quickly finished telling the beginning and end of their acquaintance, then plunged back into the team, using his companions’ bodies to block himself, looking very embarrassed. Song Xu also heard the laughter of several camels. It seemed everyone knew about this past incident.
After hearing the story, Song Xu of course ran toward the big snake who had already been waiting impatiently, to share Tiger Mom’s story with him.
The simple description from the big camel, after passing through Song Xu’s retelling, turned into the squirrel’s adapted version. The tiger heroine drifted into a small desert tribe, was saved when starving and thirsty, escorted a merchant caravan to repay the kindness, bravely beat back robbers along the way, captured the heart of a young man from the caravan, and after everything was done, left dashing away, leaving behind only one infatuated person.
“At sunset, with the remaining glow of dusk, she was covered in the enemies’ blood, her gaze cold, walking toward Bai Sha, and asking: ‘Are you okay?’ Between heaven and earth, all things fell silent, and Bai Sha clearly heard the sound of his own heart pounding……” Song Xu spoke with growing excitement, gesturing as she talked, even adding sound effects.
As Wumu listened, he felt something was off. Why did what Song Xu said sound like she had been there watching at the time, and even knew what Heisen had said?
