Chapter 4: Father Beast Seems to Be Dying
Food was scarce, and Witch Medicine was especially expensive.
Fox Qi feared his father was dying.
"COUGH, COUGH, COUGH..." Hu Bai couldn’t stop coughing.
"Dad, what’s wrong?"
"Aqi, don’t worry, your father is fine. I’m just a little tired." After speaking, Hu Bai weakly drifted off to sleep.
Fox Qi’s eyes reddened with anguish. He bit his lip, grabbed the last Beast Skin they owned, and ran as fast as he could toward the witch doctor’s home.
In the Beast World, witch doctors were extremely rare. Only large tribes had one.
As an ancient tribe, Stone Village had its own witch doctor.
The witch doctor was an elderly male Fox Beastman named Hu You.
When Fox Qi arrived, the witch doctor, Hu You, was spreading out medicinal herbs to dry in the sun.
The little White Fox cub was frantic. "Lord Witch Doctor, my father is much sicker! His head is burning up, I think he’s going to die! Please, help me save him, I can’t lose my father! We still have one Beast Skin!"
Fox Qi took out the last complete Beast Skin his family owned. "This Beast Skin is perfectly intact, thick and soft. It’s the last one we have. Please! I’m begging you, save my father!"
Hu You glanced down at him and said with a heavy heart, "Fox Qi, I already went with you to see him yesterday. Your father has had a high fever for five days now. I’m afraid he can’t be saved. Besides, even if I wanted to, I don’t have enough medicinal herbs on hand."
The herbs Hu You had were ones he’d gathered from the mountains bit by bit. The tribe consumed them quickly, and he couldn’t gather them fast enough.
"No medicine? There has to be medicine!" Fox Qi said desperately. "Please, don’t give up on my father! I really can’t lose him!"
"Little one." Hu You sighed. "It’s not that I don’t want to save him. It’s truly impossible."
Fox Qi sniffled back his tears and stood up resolutely. "Then can you tell me what kind of Witch Medicine it is? I’ll go to the mountains and pick it myself!"
Hu You stared at him in surprise. "Little cub, do you have any idea what it means for a young Beastman to enter the forest?"
Fox Qi was only five years old. A five-year-old child entering the forest was just food for the wild beasts within.
Fox Qi bit his lower lip, his eyes welling with tears. "I know, but my father is the only family I have left. I can’t let him die!"
In the end, Hu You was moved by the cub’s pure-hearted devotion. "Alright, I’ll tell you what kind of herbs you need. But you must understand, your father has always had a weak constitution, and he’s now had a high fever for five days. If you can’t find the herbs by tonight, your father will likely go to see the Beast God."
Fox Qi dropped to his knees and kowtowed. "No, that won’t happen! I’ll definitely find the medicine!"
Watching the little fox hurry away, Hu You couldn’t help but murmur, "How pitiful. To think that good-natured Hu Bai was ruined by a malicious female. For his life to become this miserable... and such a young cub has to run himself ragged for him. So pitiful..."
...
Meanwhile, Nan Zishi was still feeding the little Snake Beastman pieces of ham sausage.
The little water-blue snake poked its slick little head out, eating the small pieces of ham sausage she fed it.
’Wow, this is so yummy!’
He gobbled it up with gusto.
Nan Zishi’s face flushed as she watched.
’Wow! So cute!’
’Feeding this little cutie makes me so happy!’
After feeding him another small piece of ham sausage, Nan Zishi said, "Little Snake, it’s about to get dark. The forest is most dangerous at night. We need to find a tribe to stay with."
She Yang nodded. "HISS, HISS, HISS, HISS. HISS, HISS, HISS, HISS."
Nan Zishi ventured a guess, "Are you saying you know of a tribe nearby?"
The little blue snake nodded again.
Nan Zishi asked, "Can we make it there tonight?"
The little blue snake shook its head.
"HISS."
"Then let’s figure out a way to spend the night in the forest."
After all, Nan Zishi had plenty of experience in the wild with her system, so she was adapting very well.
She and the little blue snake searched for firewood together.
Although the little blue snake didn’t understand what Nan Zishi planned to do, he did whatever she asked.
Every time the little snake brought over a piece of wood, she would pat his head and praise him.
’Wow! This is bliss!’
Nan Zishi piled up the kindling, then lit it with a lighter.
Seeing the burning flames, She Yang quickly hid behind a nearby rock, too nervous to get close.
Nan Zishi couldn’t help but chuckle. "You’re such a scaredy-cat, Little Noodle. Look at you, all frightened."
"HISS, HISS, HISS..."
"It’s just a fire, what’s there to be afraid of?" Nan Zishi picked up the little snake and teased him. "Let big sister teach you how to use fire."
The closer he got to the fire, the more scared the little snake became. He slithered behind Nan Zishi to peek at the small flames.
Nan Zishi set an iron pot over the fire, took out seasonings from her storage space, and pulled out a frozen chicken to start making chicken soup.
Nan Zishi loved to eat, but before, she had been penniless in the Beast World. She didn’t even have any seasonings—salt itself was a rare commodity. Life had been bitter.
Now, with 200 cubic meters of supplies at her disposal, she could use whatever she wanted!
...
The sky turned completely dark.
The little White Fox Beastman ran in a blind panic, clutching several stalks of Witch Medicine.
Just moments ago, he had been following the scent of the Witch Medicine and had finally found it!
He had picked the Witch Medicine, but in doing so, had provoked a pack of wolves!
He had no choice but to transform into his little fox form and run for his life.
A pack of wolves, starved for several days, was chasing him.
’Help me, help me, help me!’
The little fox stumbled and fell, injuring his knee. He let out two small whimpers but still refused to let go of the medicinal herbs in his paws. He scrambled up and ran on, limping as he clutched the herbs.
Nan Zishi’s pot of chicken soup was finally ready. Just as she was about to ladle some out to eat, she heard the distant howls of wolves.
She Yang immediately raised his head. He listened intently to the wolves’ cries, and among them, he could also hear Fox Qi’s voice.
He sniffed the air carefully. ’It smells like Fox Qi. It’s definitely Fox Qi’s scent!’
’But isn’t Fox Qi a cub from Stone Village?’
’What’s he doing out here in the forest?’
’And it doesn’t seem like there are any adult Beastmen with him!’
She Yang was frantic. He flicked his tongue at Nan Zishi, hissing urgently.
’What do we do? The pretty sister is just a little female, and I’m just a little cub.’
’Fox Qi is just a cub, too.’
’What should I do?!’
He coiled around the hem of Nan Zishi’s dress and tugged it toward a tree.
’Pretty sister, wolves can’t climb trees! You hide in the tree first! Fox Qi is my friend, I have to save him!’
But to his surprise, Nan Zishi simply scooped up the little snake. Holding She Yang, she climbed a tree and looked down from her high vantage point.
The moonlight was bright. Nan Zishi could see a pack of wolves hunting a very small white fox. The little White Fox’s leg was injured, and it looked like he wasn’t going to last much longer.