Chapter 49: Encountering Wandering Beastmen
The tips of Nan Zishi’s ears flushed red.
She shrank back into her sleeping bag.
Hu Bai transformed into a large fox, wrapping his body around Nan Zishi and her entire sleeping bag. He whispered, "Female master, go to sleep. I will guard you all."
...
By the time Nan Zishi woke up, Little Fox Qi was already wide awake and playing with Little Snake Yang.
Nan Zishi had slept very comfortably and gave a great, big stretch.
Nan Zishi had just wriggled out of her sleeping bag and was about to put it away in her space when Fox Qi suddenly cried out in a panic, "Father, Mother, come look, quick! Little sister isn’t moving!"
Nan Zishi and Hu Bai rushed over to check on the Little Mermaid, and indeed, she was lying in the water bucket, utterly still.
Fox Qi asked anxiously, "Father, what’s wrong with little sister?"
Hu Bai observed her calmly for a good while before saying, "She’s probably asleep. I’ve seen fish in the river sleep just like this."
Fox Qi said in confusion, "But... her eyes are open."
Nan Zishi smiled at Fox Qi. "Aqi, this is probably how fish sleep. If you’re not convinced, should we try waking her up?"
Little Snake Yang hissed twice.
’Should we wake her up?’
Fox Qi nodded. "Let’s wake her up."
Fox Qi and Little Snake Yang carefully poked the little mermaid cub.
"Little sister, little sister, wake up," Fox Qi whispered, his eyes filled with love.
After a moment, the mermaid cub slowly rolled over in the bucket. "Pretty bwother, huggies~"
Little Aqi looked up at his father and mother, a wide smile breaking out on his face. "She really was just sleeping! Little sister’s alive! She didn’t drown!"
The little mermaid cub tilted her head.
’Fish can’t drown!’
After everyone had relaxed, Hu Bai looked toward the distance with hesitation.
Nan Zishi smiled. "Little White, go on and hunt."
Hu Bai abruptly looked down at her.
Nan Zishi said, "It’s like you said, we can’t just eat through our supplies. Someone has to hunt."
You don’t have to worry too much about us. Little Fox Qi and Little Snake Yang are very clever, and I’m not completely useless either.
I can use fire, and I’m strong. Ordinary beasts can’t do anything to me."
"Alright, I’ll go hunt." Hu Bai gazed at Nan Zishi, his look both worried and intense. "I’ll be back as soon as possible. If you run into any danger..."
"I’ll fire the signal flare!" Nan Zishi said. "The one you saw before."
"Good." Hu Bai’s worries were eased.
"Thank you, then."
Hu Bai replied, "It’s no trouble. I’ll be back soon. You all need to be careful too."
With that, he transformed into a fox and ran back into the mountain forest.
After watching Hu Bai leave, Nan Zishi turned to the little cubs. "Everyone, line up nice and straight. Time to brush our teeth! Only cubs with clean teeth get to drink goat’s milk."
The three cubs nodded in unison. "Okay~!"
Nan Zishi found a few toothbrushes and gave one to each cub. Little Snake Yang, having no hands, simply nudged his toothbrush with his mouth.
The Little Mermaid didn’t understand why she needed to wash her teeth with water when she spent all day soaking in it. A giant, invisible question mark seemed to hover over her tiny head, making her look incredibly cute.
Only Little Aqi was well-behaved, taking his toothbrush and copying Nan Zishi’s movements to start brushing.
Nan Zishi squeezed toothpaste onto their brushes, and soon the three little cubs had mouths full of foam, laughing and playing as they brushed.
After they had brushed their teeth and washed their faces, Nan Zishi played with the cubs to pass the time.
"’Hu Bai’s off hunting, so what should we do?’ Nan Zishi’s thoughts turned to the ultimate weapon in her dimensional space. ’I have an idea!’"
"TA-DA!" Nan Zishi took out a cell phone. "Let me take a picture of you!"
"A picture?" Little Fox Qi curiously eyed the object in Nan Zishi’s hand. "Mother, what’s ’taking a picture’?"
She held up the phone and explained, "Taking a picture is... like this."
Nan Zishi raised the phone, turned on the front-facing camera, and took a group photo of herself and the three cubs.
A beautiful human woman with three explosively cute—if a bit bewildered—cubs. The whole scene was absolutely perfect!
The moment the photo was taken, Little Snake Yang was the first to freak out, hissing wildly at the picture on the phone.
"SSSS, SSSS!!"
’Ahhh! Someone save Little Yang’er! My soul has been sucked into that little box!’
Little Fox Qi was also nervous. "Mother, what’s inside that? Are we trapped in that... phone?"
The Little Mermaid, on the other hand, stared wide-eyed at the photo on the phone, wriggling with delight.
Nan Zishi burst out laughing at the little ones’ reactions.
She began to explain to them with great patience.
"This is a photograph, an image captured by the phone. Look..." Nan Zishi took a picture of the surrounding scenery.
"It just stores the image inside the phone. It doesn’t suck out your souls."
Hearing this, Little Snake Yang quickly breathed a sigh of relief.
’Whew, good. Little Yang’er’s soul is still here.’
As if discovering a new toy, Fox Qi’s eyes sparkled. "Mother, can Aqi play with this... phone?"
"Of course, but it can be a little hard on your eyes, so don’t play for too long."
"Okay!"
The cubs huddled together to examine the phone, taking pictures of everything around them and of each other.
They were having the time of their lives.
In the midst of their fun, Nan Zishi heard a faint RUSTLE from the nearby grass.
’Someone’s there! A Beastman or a wild beast?’
Her expression unchanging, she whispered to the three cubs:
"Little Aqi, give me the phone, then all of you get behind me."
Fox Qi pretended to act casually as he handed the phone to Nan Zishi, but he was also very nervous. "Mother, what do we do? Should we fire the signal flare?"
"Fire it!" As she spoke, Nan Zishi activated a signal flare in her hand, which shot off with a loud WHOOSH!
At the same time, with a sudden lurch, a dark shadow leaped out.
Without even getting a clear look, Nan Zishi sent the shadow flying with a single punch!
The five-year-old fox Beastman stood in front, baring his fangs and fiercely protecting his younger brother and sister behind him!
Nan Zishi scooped up the little wolf cub from the ground and held it, standing together with her own three cubs.
Little Snake Yang quickly draped himself over Nan Zishi, flicking his tongue menacingly at their surroundings.
As for the Little Mermaid, Nan Zishi had tossed her back into the bucket and slammed the lid on!
Just then, more sounds emerged!
A sharp claw struck out. In an instant, Nan Zishi grabbed her attacker’s wrist, her Super Strength Ability activating as she violently threw them aside.
The attacker, a Male Beastman, crashed against a rock.
"Mother, it’s Wandering Beastmen!" Fox Qi yelled.
Wandering Beastmen have no tribes or families and are bound by no rules.
They delight in pillaging and plunder. What they love most is kidnapping females.
They are extremely dangerous!
"A lone female and her cubs..." The leader, a Wandering Lizard Beastman, let his long tongue dart out and lick his lips in a sleazy gesture.
"And such a pretty little female at that... along with the Little Mermaid Princess we’ve been looking for!"
"What a prize! Capture them alive!"