Song Xu had been in this world for more than ten days, and almost all of that time had been spent living in the giant snake’s stone cave. Aside from going out to bask when there was sunlight and to deal with personal hygiene, the giant snake almost never left the cave. Song Xu had never seen him eat.

That morning, Song Xu hugged her belly, which had started growling again, let out a deep sigh, and resigned herself to getting up to rush around for today’s food.

At the time when he would usually still be curled up in the corner, motionless like a fake snake, Wumu suddenly moved, and even left the cave before her.

Song Xu grew curious. At this hour, where was he going?

Today was an overcast day. The forest was shrouded in a layer of white mist. The damp forest would produce white fog in the early morning and at night, but today’s fog was especially thick. Song Xu followed behind the giant snake, wanting to see where he was going.

Wumu was very fast. His snake tail, as thick as an adult’s waist, slid over the damp moss, and could even do so without making the slightest sound. Song Xu merely chasing behind him and managing not to be thrown off already required her to exert all her strength.

The little squirrel was furious: So what if you have long legs!

The giant snake had over twenty meters of “legs.” This was a number Song Xu had measured inch by inch with her hands while he was sleeping during this period, the closest to the correct value, more accurate than her initial visual estimate.

When she measured, the giant snake did not move at all, which caused Song Xu’s courage to gradually increase. While measuring, she also did not forget to touch and cling to him. Occasionally, when the giant snake was annoyed by her touching, he would only move his body a bit and change to another position to avoid her. He would not even raise his head to hiss at her.

Only once, probably because he was truly fed up, he crawled into a small cave above the stone cave to hide. That was when Song Xu discovered for the first time that there was a small hiding spot up there.

The giant snake’s bulky body blocked that small cave completely, leaving only a short section of tail that really could not squeeze in, hanging down below like a long vine stuck to the stone wall.

Clearly he looked so fierce, yet he was so cute and gentle. The little squirrel became unprecedentedly bold, hands on her hips as she thought: What’s there to be afraid of? At worst he’ll pick me up in his mouth, and in the end he’ll still have to spit me out!

Not only did she complete the measuring work, she even measured twice for accuracy.

Song Xu ran wildly through the trees in pursuit, conveniently leaving behind a bit of scent as markers. The forest was so vast, and many places looked almost exactly the same. It was impossible to tell east from south from west from north. Without relying on the scent she left behind to recognize the way, it was very easy to get lost inside.

After running for a long time, under the giant snake’s lead, they arrived at an unfamiliar waterside.

This place looked like a stretch of a river, even larger than the marshland Song Xu had found last time. Fallen trees lined the shore. The soil around the roots of trees growing by the water had been mostly washed away, leaving behind complex root systems extending into the water like nets.

There were many kinds of water birds along the shore. On just one tree, Song Xu saw at least a hundred bird nests. This might be some kind of water bird clan’s gathering place.

By the time they reached here, Song Xu already understood what the giant snake had come to do. He was definitely here for a buffet.

Wumu’s arrival did not startle the animals drinking by the water. He coiled around a tree. Song Xu stayed on a tree branch not far away, watching the scene of the giant snake hunting with some nervousness.

From her position, she could not see the giant snake’s entire body. She could only see most of his tail hidden beneath branches and leaves.

So she instead looked toward the slightly larger animals by the water, guessing what the giant snake would eat today.

Would he eat the deer grazing on the other side of the river? Or the animal half-submerged in the water that looked like a wild ox?

Or perhaps the big wild boar with piglets by the riverbank?

Before Song Xu could finish counting the animals drinking in this area, Wumu had already begun his hunt. With such speed, he definitely did not have selection paralysis.

He chose a wild ox—the nearest one, and the largest.

That wild ox should have been the big brother of the herd. Its muscles bulged along its back, with distinct contours, clearly stronger than the companions beside it, and its strength should have been great as well. Unfortunately, what it encountered was a terrifying giant snake. The big wild ox’s outstanding strength could not be brought into proper play in front of this giant snake.

It was coiled up by the snake’s tail. All four hooves were lifted into the air, unable to find leverage. The horns on its head twisted desperately yet could not injure the predator. It could only be strangled by the slowly tightening tail, letting out fearful, pained cries.

Song Xu even felt as if she heard the sound of the wild ox’s ribs breaking under the immense pressure of the snake’s tail… Of course, that was an auditory hallucination.

But the wild ox’s bones had indeed broken. Its swollen body was clearly crushed in part.

Song Xu looked at the snake tail coiled around the wild ox, hugged her fluffy tail, and felt as if the bones in her own body were starting to ache as well.

She had witnessed just how terrifying the giant snake’s strength truly was. One had to know that when he coiled around the wild ox earlier, he had looked as if he had hardly used any strength at all.

This was the first time she had seen the giant snake hunt, and also the first time she had seen him turn into his complete beast form.

The beautiful face that could communicate before had now become an enormous snake head. That kind of ferocious predator aura gave people an intense sense of oppression, especially when he opened his snake mouth and slowly swallowed the wild ox that could no longer struggle… If what Song Xu had first seen had been such a fully realized giant snake, she probably would not have dared to approach again and again with foolish boldness to touch him.

However, after he finished eating, it became a bit funny. The wild ox could not be digested so quickly, so it propped up a bulge in his belly. Only that one spot was round and swollen, making the rest of his tail look thin by comparison.

Song Xu: If he turned back into half-beast form at this time, would it look like being pregnant with a big belly… Damn, I’m actually a little tempted. Something is wrong with me!

The other animals by the water had already been frightened away by the commotion of the giant snake’s hunt just now. This area became very quiet. Taking advantage of that, the giant snake rested nearby for a while, placing his head on a nearby rock.

Song Xu thought he might be sleeping, but a giant snake in beast form did not blink like a human. Song Xu stared at his red eyes for quite a while and still could not tell whether he was asleep or not.

Patting her own cheeks and snapping herself out of the slaughter she had just witnessed, Song Xu decided to look for something to eat nearby. Coincidentally, even the water birds had been scared away for the moment, so she could go feel around for a few water bird eggs to take back. She had not eaten eggs for a long time and really wanted to.

Large beasts had the hunting methods of large beasts; small animals had the food-seeking skills of small animals. Song Xu was becoming more and more proficient at being a squirrel. She quickly felt around and gathered several water bird eggs, tucking them away.

The feeling of collecting water bird eggs was just like a person who raised chickens picking up chicken eggs. As long as you walked into the chicken coop, there were eggs everywhere, bringing a strong sense of harvest and joy.

Today she could eat boiled eggs, fried eggs, and egg drop soup. Oh right, she could also find some greens to cook into the soup.

Eggs were easy to crack and not easy to store. Wanting to transport them back safely required using the squirrel’s secret weapon—the cheek pouches. A squirrel’s cheek pouches had a very large capacity, like pockets that could store food. As a squirrel beastman who could change forms, her cheek pouches were even larger.

After washing the water bird eggs and putting them into her cheek pouches, Song Xu touched her big face. She could still hop and skip around to continue searching for food, such as rummaging under trees for plant seeds, which were also things squirrels could eat.

Most of the techniques for finding squirrel food were inherited from the original body “Song’s” memories. These precious skills prevented Song Xu from going hungry in the forest.

She was searching so earnestly that when Song Xu turned her head, she discovered that the giant snake, who had been resting there not long ago, was gone.

After returning to the stone cave, sure enough, the giant snake was again lying in his corner. Song Xu glanced at him, moved out the stone bowl she had found earlier, set it on the crude little stove she had stacked up herself, and began to light a fire to boil water. She took out the eggs and assigned tasks: two to make egg soup, two to roast and eat, and two to make boiled eggs to eat in the afternoon.

She bustled about. When the water in the stone bowl boiled, she cracked the eggs into it and stirred.

“Boiling water in a stone bowl heats up so slowly. If only I had an iron pot. If not an iron pot, then a clay pot would do.” As she spoke, she put the tender shoots, seeds, and flowers she had found into the egg soup, of course also adding the salty powder.

While rubbing her paws together waiting to drink the soup, she suddenly realized she did not have a spoon to drink it with.

Making a spoon was also simple. Take a branch, use the beast tooth knife and claws to shave and scrape hard, and one could roughly make the shape of a spoon. But in the end, Song Xu discovered that using the beast tooth knife and claws to make a spoon was not as convenient as directly gnawing one out with her teeth.

Recently, her teeth always felt itchy. Chewing on a wooden spoon now felt quite comfortable, so in one go she gnawed out two spoons with crunching sounds. Although they were not very good-looking, a spoon that could drink soup was a good spoon.

She could not wait to take a sip of soup. Song Xu’s eyes filled with hot tears as she murmured, “Could it be that I’m a culinary genius? How is it this delicious!”

Children nowadays rarely knew how to cook, and Song Xu was no exception. She seldom entered the kitchen. If she wanted to eat something, the auntie would always make it and bring it to the dining room or her room. Before this, she had never tried cooking.

She took sip after sip, and in the end was full. She looked at the remaining half pot of soup with difficulty—she had had no experience and put in too much water.

Or perhaps, would her roommate be willing to share some of her food? Song Xu carried the stone pot and walked over to the corner.

Wumu was resting as usual, his head pillowed on a large rock. He had already changed back into half-beast form. Song Xu regretfully discovered that his abdomen was only bulging a tiny bit.

Do beastmen really digest that fast?

“I made soup. It’s super delicious. Do you want some?” Having just watched him hunt, Song Xu’s attitude became a little more cautious. She softly asked toward the back of his head instead of directly tugging at him.

Wumu did not respond. Song Xu muttered toward his ear, “Dalang, get up and drink soup. Dalang, drink soup. Drink soup, Dalang.”

Turning his head to look at her, Wumu flicked out his tongue. Song Xu reacted swiftly and placed the stone pot under his chin. The tongue happened to poke right into the soup.

Wumu: “…Hiss.”

He opened his mouth, expressionless yet a little fierce, as if he wanted to hiss at her. Song Xu raised her hand and scooped up a spoonful of soup, stuffing it into his mouth. Seeing that Wumu’s mouth did not close for a long time, she manually supported his chin and closed it for him, then asked expectantly, “So, how is it? Is it good?”

Wumu quickly stuck out his tongue again through the gap between his lips. Song Xu felt that his expression looked like someone who had eaten a flavor they did not like and subconsciously stuck out their tongue.

Quickly moving his chin away from her hand, Wumu shifted up into the small stone cave above and hid his upper body.