The giant snake, who had not had many expressions in beast form, still maintained an indifferent look after recovering a human face. At first glance, he looked like an icy beauty, but as he moved his legs forward—plop, plop—he fell several times in a row.
Sitting on the ground, Wumu looked at his newly grown pair of legs. This body part that he had never had since birth looked so natural and flexible when it grew on others, but once it grew on himself, he discovered that legs were harder to control than a snake tail.
It must be because legs are shorter than a snake tail, so they’re harder to control. Wumu thought this way.
He brushed aside the hair hanging over his shoulders, propped himself up on the ground, climbed up from the ground, swayed as he stood steady, and tried to take another step forward. He managed one steady step. Who knew the next step would land on a small stone, and he fell again.
Because metamorphosis had shed his old shell, the injuries on his body had healed along with it. Originally a fresh new beauty, after walking a few steps, he became dirty and disheveled again.
Staring at his legs, a hint of irritability appeared on the cold beauty’s face. In an instant, the long-legged beauty disappeared, and a thick, dangerous giant snake appeared. Carrying bright red-and-black patterns, he smoothly and quickly swam out of the sinkhole, his speed worlds apart from the snail-like walking from before.
He was impatient to deal with these newly grown legs. He still had to hurry to find someone.
With his mind finally clear, Wumu realized that neither the squirrel nor the tiger was here. When he had been out of his mind, he had not sensed their scent on the island. Now that he was awake, he was unwilling to delay here even for a moment. He only wanted to hurry and find them.
The vast ocean outside was so immense and terrifying for his small partner. Perhaps she was still drifting in the seawater. Perhaps after leaving him she had already encountered danger, been snatched away by a big fish in the sea.
A thinking-state giant snake was even more irritable and anxious than a non-thinking-state giant snake.
When he had arrived on this island, aside from a trouble-seeking great white shark, most of the tribe’s beastmen had largely ignored him. Now that he was leaving, no one paid him any attention either. Only a few beastmen glanced at him, and muttered a couple of speculative remarks to their companions:
“Eh, did that beastman successfully metamorphose? How come I haven’t seen him use his legs?”
“He can’t use them. He didn’t grow legs from birth, he has to get used to them.”
“He definitely succeeded. I passed by the sinkhole earlier and even saw him falling inside. It was so funny!”
Several beastmen burst into laughter. Wumu glanced at them, spent a second thinking about whether to go over and start a fight, but in the end, worry for the squirrel gained the upper hand, and he chose to ignore that great white shark’s provocation.
Reaching the edge of the small island—this was a different direction from when he had entered—he saw that behind this island there was another island.
At this moment, the little squirrel whom Snake was worrying about had already, riding on the big killer whale, successfully landed on the second island Snake was gazing toward.
“Grandma, are you really going to go ashore with me? Didn’t you say you don’t like coming here? I can manage by myself.” Song Xu said.
When they had just approached the reef forest around the small path, Song Xu had expressed that she wanted to get off: “Sending me here is fine. I’ll swim over by myself from here. Thank you for taking me!”
However, the big killer whale did not listen to her at all. She did not stop, and directly delivered her onto the island, even transforming into beastman form and intending to go ashore with her. It had the flavor of a stubborn elder.
Since big killer whale grandma clearly showed that she wanted to back her up, Song Xu happily accepted it, and followed beside her, curiously sizing up this island.
This place was similar to the killer whale tribe’s third island. Likewise, there were no plants growing—only reefs. The difference was that many of the reefs here were submerged in water. Even after going ashore, many places were soaked by seawater, so beneath large stretches of reef were connected colorful coral reefs. There were also some seaweed and seagrass growing in clearly regular patterns, like they had been artificially planted, stretching out in the shallow water.
Some starfish and shellfish were scattered among them. The shells lay comfortably in the shallow-water seagrass fields, extending snow-white tender flesh from inside their shells.
Song Xu: Could it be that this island is doing aquaculture? I mean, seaweed aquaculture.
Those large shells were all beastmen. When Song Xu and the big killer whale passed by, they retracted whatever part it was—head, leg, or tongue—back into their shells.
Song Xu reached out and knocked on a big giant clam by the roadside that had just closed up. “Knock knock, hello, can I ask—have any beastmen from outside appeared on the island these past two days? A snake-type half-beastman, and a tiger beastman. Have you seen them?”
The giant clam shell was tightly closed and made no sound, creating an atmosphere of nobody living here.
Song Xu could only stand up regretfully, and sighed, “The atmosphere here is quite leisurely, but everyone is too shy. They don’t like talking.”
Unlike the killer whale tribe’s island, where all kinds of chirping and chattering sounds could often be heard, and where even across an entire island one could hear killer whales using their clan language to communicate, making the whole atmosphere as noisy as a marketplace, this island was so quiet that only the sound of waves could be heard.
“Roar!” Just as she finished marveling at the quiet here, an angry tiger roar sounded nearby, followed by continuous furious roaring.
“It’s Heisen! Heisen is here!” Song Xu instantly jumped up, overjoyed, and looked toward the direction of the sound.
Passing two steps beyond a stretch of reef, Song Xu saw from afar a majestic big tiger standing on a reef, roaring down toward the seawater below. This roar was much fiercer than when she used to roar at the two bear kids by the sea.
Song Xu thought that maybe Tiger Mom’s seawater aversion syndrome had flared up again and she was venting at the sea. But after taking a closer look, she realized that in the seawater below, there was actually a large, semi-transparent thing floating.
It was a jellyfish beastman, looking like jelly—still the kind of jelly mixed with fruit pulp.
Such a magical semi-transparent head. Could it be that when they turn into beastman, their heads are also semi-transparent… Song Xu stopped her terrifying imagination in time and focused on the big tiger jumping around on the reef pillars, feeling somewhat puzzled. “What is she doing, jumping plum blossom posts?”
The area where the big tiger was staying was also soaked by seawater. To get over there, one could only step from one reef pillar to another, looking exactly like jumping plum blossom posts.
Big killer whale grandma said, “Ask the beastmen here.”
Song Xu: “But they don’t like to talk…”
The big killer whale directly dragged out a giant clam over a meter long from the shallow water nearby, clenched a fist as big as a sandbag, and smashed the shell once, saying fiercely, “Talk. If you don’t talk, I’ll smash your shell to pieces!”
Song Xu watched in distress as the beautiful frilled edge of the giant clam shell was smashed into a wavy broken edge. For a moment, Song Xu felt like she was part of a bandit gang.
The shell was quickly pushed open, revealing the soft, smiling face of an elderly beastman. “Ai, it’s you, Xi Ni. Why have you come? I was just asleep earlier, I wasn’t deliberately keeping silent, haha. Ah, you’re asking about that tiger beastman—she was found over by the small reef. Isn’t it that in the tribe, both Lanhuang and Baixiang want to become her partner? But she’s unwilling, so they’ve been quarreling for two days.”
Song Xu: “…………” What kind of novel-protagonist script is this—stranded on a deserted island and being fought over and forced into marriage?
No, Song Xu hurriedly asked, “Then what about a half-beastman giant snake? Is he here?”
Old giant clam: “Snake-type half-beastman? Haven’t seen him.”
Song Xu felt a sense of mission. The trapped, forcibly pursued Tiger Mom would be rescued by her!
She solemnly said to killer whale grandma, “We have to help Heisen. She doesn’t want to, and the beastmen here can’t force marriage!” Look at that big jellyfish, he’s driven Tiger Mom to hide on a reef and roar wildly.
“That tiger beastman doesn’t need rescuing, right? The one who really needs rescuing is Baixiang.” The giant clam beastman couldn’t help saying, looking sympathetically at the big jellyfish hiding in the seawater and not daring to go ashore. “That tiger beastman can’t leave because her wooden raft broke and can’t be used anymore. When she got angry, she bit Baixiang to pieces whenever he got close. Now the tiger bites Baixiang whenever she sees him. As soon as he comes ashore, she bites him. Baixiang still isn’t willing to give up. If this keeps up, he’s going to be bitten to death.”
Is that so? Song Xu fell silent. When she looked again at the tiger standing on the reef, her feelings became a bit different.
“Didn’t you say just now there’s also a beastman called Lanhuang who wants to take Heisen as his partner? Where is he… Don’t tell me he’s already been bitten to death by Heisen?” Song Xu guessed.
“That’s not the case. Lanhuang is more poisonous. The tiger bit him once and got poisoned unconscious. After that she doesn’t really like biting him anymore—she just smacks his head flat. Lanhuang also doesn’t dare go ashore, and hides in the water. But he isn’t as persistent as Baixiang. After getting beaten twice, he’s almost given up.”
Looks like the big tiger doesn’t really need rescuing.
“Heisen!” Song Xu moved a little closer, shouted loudly, and waved at the big tiger.
Hearing her voice, the tiger who was standing on the reef, glaring at the jellyfish as if ready to jump into the water and bite him again at any moment, pricked up her ears and looked this way.
In an instant, she leapt over like lightning from among the reef clusters, her tiger face brimming with joy. When she was about to reach them, the place where she landed was an extremely narrow small reef, looking completely unable to support the massive body of a giant tiger.
Song Xu thought she had been too anxious and hadn’t judged her footing properly. Just as her heart lifted in worry that she would fall into the water, she saw the big tiger suddenly shrink as she neared the reef, turning into a long-legged, tall female beastman. She happened to place one foot on the top of that narrow reef, using it as a foothold, and leapt powerfully to Song Xu’s front.
A fierce tiger descending the mountain!
Song Xu was shocked. Song Xu was envious.
Wumu, your mom has such a cool hairstyle!
Black fluffy long hair, layered with streaks of blonde highlights, the same tiger-fur-turned “sweater,” plus wheat-colored skin and golden eyes. Her nails were hooked like a fierce beast’s, paired with beautiful muscles—truly a wild beauty.
Seeing Tiger Mom’s beastman form for the first time, Song Xu could understand why she had ended up with a forced-marriage script. A mommy this good-looking, who wouldn’t want to be her partner!
That big jellyfish who had been persistently and stubbornly pursuing her poked his head out of the water, and in this touching scene of mother and daughter reuniting, gloomily said one sentence:
“Heisen, if you don’t agree to be my partner, I won’t let you leave this island.”
Song Xu had just opened her mouth to say “Mom—” when her attention was drawn away. That tattered jellyfish skirt-edge was really eye-catching. So do jellyfish naturally have such irregular lower bodies? It looked like a plastic bag shredded into strips by a cat.
In response to his domineering declaration, Song Xu was about to curse, when Heisen had already impatiently kicked out, sending his head flying away.
