Chapter 24: Asking Her... Again?
Back in Stone Village, Hu Bai avoided the routes crowded with Beastmen, taking a side path back to the cave.
Returning to the familiar cave, Nan Zishi found that compared to the chilly one from last night, this damp and dark cave didn’t seem so bad after all.
Little Fox Qi puffed out his chest and smiled at the two adults. "Pretty sister, Father, can I take little brother Yang’er out to play?"
Hu Bai looked at Nan Zishi.
Nan Zishi was completely baffled.
’Is he... asking for my permission again?’
’Wait, what’s my relationship with them? This is a lot of pressure.’
But seeing the eager looks in the little ones’ eyes, Nan Zishi cleared her throat. "You can, but don’t go too far. Be safe."
"Okay!"
"HISS HISS!"
After making their solemn promises, the two little ones scampered off happily.
Once the cubs were gone, only Nan Zishi and Hu Bai were left in the cave, along with a newborn wild wolf cub in the corner.
Nan Zishi suddenly regretted letting the little ones go out to play. For some reason, things felt a little awkward.
She gave a slight cough to ease the tension, then said to Hu Bai, "You’ve been on an IV for three days, and you were caught in the rain yesterday. I should probably check on you today."
"Check on me?" Hu Bai looked puzzled for a moment, then asked, "Is that where you use that stethoscope thing on my chest?"
Nan Zishi blinked, and the tips of her ears suddenly turned red.
She knew Hu Bai wasn’t intentionally trying to flirt with her; he was just asking a question.
But...
’Nan Zishi, oh, Nan Zishi, you’re just doing a check-up. Don’t let yourself get flustered by him, alright?’
’He’s a taken man, a taken man!’
’He has a female master!’
"Yes. Ahem." Nan Zishi’s throat felt a little dry and raspy, so she coughed to clear it.
"I’m just auscultating. The stethoscope lets me listen to the sounds inside your body. It’s how I can determine if your condition has improved. Don’t overthink it."
"I’m not overthinking it." Hu Bai stared at her slightly flushed cheeks. "It seems you are, though."
"I—is that so?" Nan Zishi quickly tried to shake her waterlogged brain clear. "I’m not. I’m definitely not overthinking it."
Nan Zishi took out the stethoscope and gently pulled aside Hu Bai’s Beast Skin tunic. Hu Bai glanced down slightly and saw her place the head of the stethoscope against his chest.
The heart inside his chest beat powerfully.
THUMP, THUMP, THUMP.
Nan Zishi moved the stethoscope to listen to his lung sounds.
There were no more moist rales or rhonchi in his lungs; they sounded much better.
Once she was done, Nan Zishi quickly tried to pull her hand back, but just then, Hu Bai grabbed her wrist again.
This once gaunt male was surprisingly strong. Even with her Super Strength Ability, she found it difficult to pull free for a moment.
"Hu—Hu Bai!" Nan Zishi tugged again.
Hu Bai suddenly let go.
Nan Zishi hastily put away the stethoscope.
Hu Bai adjusted his Beast Skin Skirt.
As she put the stethoscope away, Nan Zishi thought to herself. ’I don’t know why he grabbed my hand, but theoretically, he was just rude to me. He should probably apologize now.’
However, she waited for a while but never got an apology from Hu Bai.
Feeling a bit awkward, Nan Zishi said, "Your fever has completely subsided, and your body has recovered a lot. But recovering from an illness is a slow process, so you’ll still need the IV drip for the next two days."
Hu Bai gave a slight nod and offered her the back of his hand—clean and slender, but now covered in several needle marks.
Nan Zishi switched to his other hand, disinfected the area, inserted the needle, and started the drip. Then she sat beside him to keep him company.
However, when the IV bag was about half empty, a young male suddenly rushed into Hu Bai’s cave.
The male was about sixteen years old. In Nan Zishi’s eyes, he was just a teenager.
The young man, Hu An, sauntered up to the mouth of Hu Bai’s cave and called out nonchalantly, "Hey, Hu Bai! Your cub is fighting with the other cubs in the village. You still alive? If you are, you wanna go do something about it?"
His attitude was incredibly disrespectful, as if he were there to watch a joke unfold.
Hearing this, Nan Zishi shot to her feet. She looked at Hu Bai, who was still hooked up to the IV. He ripped the needle out of his hand and stood up immediately.
Hu Bai looked at Nan Zishi, hesitating for a second.
After all, if he and Nan Zishi went over together, she would be exposed to all the Beastmen of Stone Village.
’Is she... willing?’
"Let’s go," Nan Zishi said without hesitation.
Hu Bai followed Nan Zishi out of the cave.
Outside the cave, the young Fox Beastman, Hu An, who had been lounging about nonchalantly, suddenly perked up.
His eyes were fixed squarely on Nan Zishi.
’Since when did Stone Village have a female this beautiful?’
The Male Fox Beastman’s cold gaze swept lightly over Hu An.
...
Beside a small creek in Stone Village, a crowd of Fox Beastmen had gathered.
In the middle of the Fox Beastmen, Fox Qi held the little Snake Beastman in his arms, covered in injuries.
Four Fox Beastman cubs were ganging up on the little white fox, Fox Qi.
"You’re a Fox Beastman, yet you brought an outsider, a Wandering Beastman, back to Stone Village!"
"All Wandering Beastmen deserve to die!" a Fox Beastman cub roared.
"Fox Qi, you really are a motherless child! Hasn’t anyone ever taught you not to associate with a Wandering Snake Beastman?!"
The adult Beastmen watching from the side had indifferent expressions.
"Beat him! Beat that Wandering Snake Beastman to death!"
"Fox Qi is protecting a Wandering Beastman, so he’s no good either! Beat him to death!"
In the Beast World, Beastmen abandoned by females, cast out by their tribes, or those with no home were all collectively known as Wandering Beastmen.
Wandering Beastmen were like rootless duckweed, with no place to belong.
Over time, Wandering Beastmen would become irritable and violent, resorting to robbery and pillaging.
Wandering Beastmen had a terrible reputation, and their position was naturally antagonistic to that of the tribal Beastmen.
Beast World villages had always had very low tolerance for Wandering Beastmen, let alone an unwelcome Wandering Snake Beastman.
And She Yang had been abandoned by his father and mother since birth. He had no tribe and no home—a pitiful, Wandering Snake Beastman.
No tribal Beastman would believe that a Wandering Snake Beastman could possibly be a good person.
"All Wandering Beastmen deserve to die!" a female Fox Beastman roared. "So many Wandering Beastmen barge into tribes to snatch females, just to force them to bear their cubs!"
"Fox Qi, why did you bring a Wandering Snake Beastman back to the village! He’s so dangerous. And you’re still protecting him?!"
Little She Yang’s heart ached as he watched Brother Fox Qi get beaten. He struggled and cried, "HISS, HISS, HISSSS." ’I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I was wrong! I’ll leave Stone Village right now, just don’t hit Brother Aqi.’
’These past few days with the pretty sister, Brother Aqi, and Uncle Hu Bai have been as wonderful as a dream.’
’I had enough to eat, I could laugh whenever I wanted, and I was even praised for helping out.’
’I was so, so happy.’
’But... I’m just an unlucky existence. No matter who I’m with, I bring disaster upon them.’
’I don’t want to see Brother Fox Qi getting beaten just to protect me...’
’It’s best if I... just leave...’
Tears of reluctance welled up in Little She Yang’s eyes.
Fox Qi shielded Little She Yang in his arms and shouted, "It’s not like that! She Yang saved my life! He’s not a bad Beastman! He’s my savior! Father taught me that a life-saving debt must be repaid tenfold! Fox Beastmen can’t be ungrateful!"
"He saved you? You’re saying a Wandering, Cold-blooded Snake Beastman saved you?! Ha! A Wandering Beastman saving someone? Do you guys believe that?"
"We don’t believe it!"
"Exactly! He’s a Wandering Snake Beastman! He probably had an ulterior motive for saving you!"
"Like, sneaking into the village to cause trouble!"
"HISS, HISS..." ’No, Little Yang’er didn’t!’
Fox Qi bit his lower lip. "You can’t be so prejudiced! He’s only five years old, and he hasn’t done anything wrong!"
"Why are we still talking to Fox Qi? He’s in league with this Wandering Snake Beastman! Get ’em!"
With that, the fox cubs swarmed Fox Qi and Little She Yang, beating them up.
"Stop!" By the time Nan Zishi and Hu Bai arrived, Little She Yang had been twisted up like a pretzel again, many of his beautiful blue Snake Scales having fallen off.
Little Fox Qi held onto She Yang tightly, fiercely protecting him. He was covered in injuries.
The rims of Fox Qi’s eyes were bright red, and his expression was ferocious.
But the moment he saw Nan Zishi and Hu Bai, he was like a child who’d been caught doing something wrong, and his demeanor immediately became docile.
Hearing the commotion from Nan Zishi and her companion, the crowd turned to look.
The sight silenced the entire scene.
They had long grown tired of looking at Stone Village’s most beautiful Male Beastman, Hu Bai.
Their eyes were drawn to a female wearing a modern, loose-fitting hoodie. The female had red lips and white teeth, bright eyes, a delicate, upturned nose, and skin as fair as snow.
The eyes of the male Fox Beastmen lit up.
’What a beautiful little female.’
’Where did this little female come from?!’