Song Xu had been feeling that her teeth were itchy these past few days, and she had to gnaw on something to feel comfortable. The original “Song” used her teeth to gnaw nuts every day, but there were very few nut-type foods in the forest where she now lived. She used her teeth much less than before. A squirrel beastman might need to grind their teeth regularly.

She tried gnawing on tree trunks, and found that gnawing wood worked better than other things, and that way her teeth no longer itched. Song Xu gradually got used to using her teeth as tools to gnaw tree holes.

At the beginning, while gnawing, she would still subconsciously look around to see if anyone was watching, feeling a bit embarrassed. Later, she began to feel that the sensation of wood chips rustling down was extremely joyful. Once she got into it, she gnawed trees every day like a little electric motor.

Gnaw a tree for a while, then go look for food, then go play in the woods or, rather, explore, and along the way dig up big chunks of moss to take back and lay them outside the giant stone cave of Snake-Snake to dry.

These dried mosses had many uses. They could be used as fire-starting material, or as bedding. Song Xu’s little nest inside the stone cave was already padded with several layers of dried moss, pressed down in the middle from her sleeping, looking just like a bird’s nest.

She also dried a lot of moss and padded the big snake’s corner as well. If Snake-Snake had bedding, he would sleep more comfortably—clean and hygienic!

And wet moss could even be used as toilet paper, much more useful than other things.

Moss was everywhere in the forest, inexhaustible and endlessly available. Song Xu had once disliked it for being inedible, but now she finally understood that moss had many uses.

While exploring the forest, Song Xu would bring back to the stone cave anything interesting or unfamiliar she saw. As the days passed, one corner of Snake-Snake’s stone cave had already been piled full of the assorted junk she had brought back.

Fortunately, Snake-Snake was a generous landlord and didn’t mind her dragging back some clutter. There was only one thing—whenever Song Xu brought back large dead tree branches, if he passed by and saw them, he would use his tail to coil around those dead trees and twist them into four pieces.

At first, Song Xu really did drag dead trees back because she wanted to make a Fengrong device¹Fengrong device: A simple enrichment or furnishing structure made from branches or wood, used to add interest or comfort to an animal’s living environment. for Snake-Snake, but later on, she was purely collecting firewood, letting Snake-Snake “chop wood.” Convenient and fast! No more worrying about having no firewood to burn!

And she gradually discovered that coiling dead branches might be Snake-Snake’s hobby.

When he went out hunting and encountered fallen dead trees along the way, he would even slightly alter his route, twist the dead tree into chunks, and only then leave.

It was simply like a little boy being attracted by puddles on the roadside. Said Song Xu, who was truly someone who played in puddles every day in the forest.

The second time Song Xu saw the big snake go out to hunt for food, unlike last time, he left in the evening. As the sun set behind the western mountains and tired birds returned to their nests, Song Xu was also heading back to the stone cave. Halfway there, she saw him wandering outside, turned on her heel, and followed him. After following for a stretch, she realized he was going to eat.

It seemed that his mealtimes were not fixed, and he didn’t distinguish between breakfast, lunch, or dinner. And about half a month had passed since his last meal.

Song Xu kept track of the days by carving marks on the stone wall of the big snake’s cave. Every night before sleeping she carved one line, and she also filled in several from the beginning that she hadn’t had time to record. Now when she counted, there were already thirty-three lines.

In the thirty-three days since she came to this world, the one she saw almost every day was Snake-Snake. From a one-sided perspective, they were now so familiar that they couldn’t be any more familiar.

They would sleep together—whenever there was thunder and rain, Song Xu would definitely dash under Wumu’s tail and lie there for the night. One of the reasons she padded Wumu’s corner with moss was also for this. She really didn’t want to become a mouse covered head to toe in dust and mud every time.

They would eat together—Song Xu was a person who loved sharing, and she was not stingy about letting her roommate taste her food. Her enthusiasm often left Wumu unable to cope. Apart from hunting, Wumu was usually slow to react, and every time he spoke, he couldn’t keep up with her speaking speed. Her cooking skills had also made Wumu countless times hug his own tail and hide in that narrow hiding spot inside the stone cave, unwilling to see anyone.

They would also go hunting together—Song Xu followed behind the big snake in high spirits, wanting to watch a live version of Animal World. She was not familiar with this vast forest yet. A local snake could take her to broaden her horizons and check in at more scenic spots.

This time, Wumu did not go to the same river as last time, but the environment was similar. Song Xu guessed it might be the upstream or downstream of the same river.

There were also quite a few animals drinking water here, just not as many as last time. This was easy to understand—after all, the forest at night was truly not safe. There were many ferocious predators, and everyone had gone home.

If the big snake were not nearby, Song Xu would not dare to wander around the forest at night either.

Song Xu stayed on a nearby tree branch, watching the big snake. This time, he had his eye on a large wild boar—a plump male boar, rooting around by the riverbank, not knowing what it was digging for, sending dirt flying everywhere.

Watching from the sidelines, Song Xu saw the big snake transform into beast form, open his huge mouth, and swallow the wild boar that was gradually stopping its struggle. She thought to herself: It’s covered in mud, won’t you wash it before eating? Using your tail to coil it and dunk it in the river to rinse it would be pretty convenient too, right?

One big pig made the big snake’s neck bulge into a round ball. That ball slowly wriggled downward. Song Xu inexplicably felt that it was funny and cute, like a skewer of candied hawthorn, or like swallowing a big dumpling. She laughed so hard on the tree that she rocked back and forth.

Suddenly, she discovered that the big snake spat out the meat that had already reached his mouth.

Song Xu: “Eh? Why did you spit it out again? Doesn’t it taste good?”

She was still in a daze when, almost in an instant, the big snake’s head from the riverbank not far away had already reached the tree branch where she was perched.

Staring at the suddenly enlarged giant snake head in front of her, Song Xu’s entire little mouse self went dumb. The fully beast-form big snake let out a threatening hiss from his mouth, and dark red snake scales with black patterns brushed past the upright ears on top of her head.

From behind Song Xu came a sharp, hurried screech of a feline. She turned her head to look and saw the big snake biting a black panther, while at the same time wrapping his long tail around it. The entire tree was instantly piled full of his tail.

Leaning against the tree trunk and watching this kill at close range, Song Xu saw that within a few seconds the black panther stopped moving, and realized that the big snake seemed to be a highly venomous snake.

Only after the big snake swallowed the black panther did Song Xu realize what had just happened.

Earlier, when the big snake was hunting the wild boar, there had been a black panther lurking on the tree branch above her, watching intently, and she herself might also have been that black panther’s prey.

A wave of delayed fear suddenly surged up. Song Xu weakly stepped along the branches to the big snake’s side, clutching at his tail and wailing.

“I was so scared, I was so scared, I was so scared!!”

“Waaah woo woo why is there a leopard!”

“I almost got eaten—if I got eaten, tomorrow morning I would turn into a lump of fresh fertilizer!”

Wumu had just swallowed the black panther and was almost scared by her wailing into spitting it back out again.

This tree stubbornly bore his more-than-twenty-meter-long body. Wumu coiled around the tree, his snake head stuck on a branch, following his usual habit of digesting the food he had just eaten.

It was just that there was someone beside him continuously wailing and venting her belated fear, and he couldn’t help but be drawn by the noise. She was lively and hopping, no different from usual.

Every night she was like this—calling out and jumping around. Sometimes she even ran along the stone cave walls.

After years of battles with her dad, Song Xu was used to crying with dry wails and no tears. She leaned against the thick snake body and wailed for a while, when she suddenly felt a bulge on the snake’s body—it was the black panther, which had already wriggled inside the snake’s belly to the spot where her hand was resting.

She stopped crying in one second and stared curiously at that big lump, carefully touching it.

She could even feel this large piece of food being wrapped up and digested in gastric fluids, because the bulging lump was slowly getting smaller at a speed visible to the naked eye. Beastmen’s digestive ability was really strong.

After satisfying her curiosity, she wanted to continue crying, but couldn’t quite cry anymore, so she could only stroke her chest and gloomily repeat, “I was so scared.”

In the original body’s memories, small beastmen did not have great strength, and living alone made it easy to be attacked by fierce beasts. In the small tribe she used to live in, they were often attacked by giant eagles.

But in this forest, the places where Song Xu usually moved around were all near the giant stone cave, surrounded by the big snake’s scent. Large animals did not dare approach. She hadn’t encountered danger, and gradually relaxed.

“Snake-Snake, you just came to save me. You’re really good.” Song Xu was so moved that she flopped onto the snake’s tail, feeling that she truly hadn’t been cleaning the cave, laying moss, chatting, dancing, and sharing food with him for nothing. Although he didn’t like to talk, he was a warm-hearted person… a warm-hearted snake.

The “warm-hearted” Snake-Snake digested for a while, preparing to head back. He climbed down from the tree and discovered his tail was being pulled. The squirrel was gripping his tail tightly, looking at the lump of wild boar not far away.

“That wild boar… aren’t you taking it? That’s such a waste.”

Wumu naturally had no intention of eating again something he had already spit out, but Song Xu hadn’t eaten pork for a long time. She ran over, tore off a big chunk, wrapped it in leaves, and prepared to take it back to taste.

She worked fast, afraid that the big snake would leave without waiting for her like last time. But who knew that this time he actually waited in place. Song Xu movedly flopped onto the snake’s back, wanting him to carry her back.

Since the big snake was being so nice today, she might as well not miss any chance to push her luck.

By the time they went back, it was completely dark. This was Song Xu’s first time wandering outside at night together with the big snake.

When she was alone, she felt the forest at night was terrifying—afraid of wild beasts and afraid of ghosts. But on the big snake’s back, the forest was no longer that frightening. Song Xu even had the mood to look at the stars in the sky.

Dense tree canopies blocked the sky, and only when they occasionally passed small open marsh clearings could she briefly see the sky.

“The stars are so bright…” Song Xu suddenly jolted and fell off the snake’s tail, while the big snake was like a careless parent who drove the car away without realizing the child hadn’t gotten on, continuing to slither forward.

The latter half of the road was run back by Song Xu herself. She chased behind Wumu, panting as she returned to the stone cave entrance, and saw that the snake who had arrived home first had transformed back into his half-beast form. He even turned his head in slight confusion and curled his tail, as if wondering why he didn’t see a squirrel on top.

The squirrel had nearly run herself to death chasing the car from behind.

Footnotes

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  Fengrong device: A simple enrichment or furnishing structure made from branches or wood, used to add interest or comfort to an animal’s living environment.