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1.68% Beauty and the Beasts / Chapter 28: The Cave by the Lake

Chapter 28: The Cave by the Lake

Editor: Atlas Studios

Bai Qingqing taught the females in the tribe to roast meat with ginger, garlic, and other seasonings, but there weren't many people who sought to learn how to cook the fish steamboat as it wasted a lot of salt. Hence, she only privately taught Eve how to make that.

There was now a sudden interest in the culinary arts in the tribe. The beastman used their imaginations and created many different kinds of… unknown substances.

Such as, there was this beastman who liked the fragrance of star anise and cinnamon, so he ground these two herbs into powder and mixed them together, dipping his meat in it just like how they dipped their food in salt.

According to an observer, that person had a subtle expression on his face as he ate it, claiming the taste was not bad.

In another instance, someone found some tree leaves outside his house, turned it into a gooey state, and used it to grill some dark green colored meat, which turned out so bitter it was a torture to swallow.

Beastmen didn't waste their food, so that beastman movingly and tragically swallowed all that bitter meat by himself.

There were countless such examples, making Bai Qingqing unsure whether to laugh or to cry at the sight of them. The next few days passed quickly and soon, her period finally ended.

Neither Parker nor Bai Qingqing was willing to give in, in the meantime. When Bai Qingqing was at home, she kept feeling Parker was going to make a move on her any time. So, for the sake of her own safety, she wisely chose to go out.

"I'm heading out to look for food. Eating meat every day is making me heaty."

After all, Bai Qingqing wasn't of the leopard species, and the differences between his species and hers were quickly evident. She urgently needed her intake of vitamins now.

Parker stared at Bai Qingqing with sorrowful eyes, but Bai Qingqing was unmoved by that. He suddenly ripped off his skirt.

Stunned, Bai Qingqing subconsciously retreated a step. She heard Parker say, "I'm going to hunt!"

Parker then transformed into his animal form and walked out of the house. Bai Qingqing heaved a sigh of relief as she smiled and waved at him. "Be careful."

Parker turned his head around and took a deep look at her with his golden eyes before sprinting off.

Hmph, I'm going to look for the Flos Eriocauli. Leopard beastmen get excited and stirred when they sniff that, greatly enhancing their mating rates. Qingqing who is of the ape species will probably react to that too.

Bai Qingqing also left the house after Parker left. She didn't go to look for Eve but merely went to the lake outside the village by herself. She recalled seeing quite a lot of edible moss there.

As the sun only shone into the valley at noon, the temperature was much lower than outside. As she walked out of the valley, Bai Qingqing started feeling hot, so she quickly walked towards the trees where she could seek the shade.

To her surprise, in the cooler areas, the moss was more luxuriant. Feeling jubilant, Bai Qingqing instantly broke a tender piece of moss and lifted the green-red tender skin and ate the refreshing and tasty moss within.

As she ate, Bai Qingqing continued bending over and continued looking. Accidentally, she lost her footing and fell.

"Ah—!"

Bai Qingqing fell into a black cave and instantly sniffed an intensely damp stench, like the smell in a fish basket, but darker and colder. The stench didn't smell rotten like dead fishes, but there was an earthy smell.

It was clearly a hot season out there, yet in here it was wet and cold like it was deep autumn, giving Bai Qingqing's bare and exposed skin goosebumps.

Raising her head, she saw speckles of sunlight shining in through the vines outside. Ah, she had thought those vines were grassland.

This place underneath was vast, and the only entrance was that hole of 2m of diameter from up there. No idea how it came to be that way. Outside the walls was the lake water—plenty of water had seeped in, and the water level was somewhere in the middle of Bai Qingqing's calves.

Bai Qingqing wanted to find something to climb up with, so she looked everywhere. Vaguely seeing a rock, she walked over to it.

The accumulated water made whooshing sounds and resounded throughout the nearly completely enclosed cave as she moved about.

That was indeed a rock. Bai Qingqing was about to lift it away when she noticed something lying on top of it.

"Hm? Why is there a piece of cloth here?"


Chapter 29: Strange Fabric

Editor: Atlas Studios

Reaching out to feel it, the fabric felt cold and soft to the touch, like silk. The surface was uneven as if there were prints on it. Bai Qingqing rubbed it with two fingers and found that the fabric was quite resilient—she had a feeling this fabric wasn't silk as it didn't snag as easily.

"I wonder who left this behind. I'll bring it back and ask Parker. Perhaps someone from the tribe lost it and an animal brought it here."

Bai Qingqing carried the stack of cloth and found to her surprise that, although it felt soft to the touch, it had quite a substantial weight—like it was laden with lead.

With great effort, Bai Qingqing finally managed to crawl out of the cave, but she ended up with mud all over her body, and now she also had that weird and damp stench from the hole on her.

It was only then that she got a proper look at the cloth in her hands—it was white like snow and flawless, covered with dense scale-like prints all over, which explained the uneven texture she had felt earlier.

What a strange cloth. She had never seen such fabric in the modern ages. She found it unbelievable that the beastmen had such advanced fabric-weaving techniques.

Bai Qingqing didn't mull over this for too long, simply running back with the cloth.

When she got back to Parker's wooden house, Bai Qingqing saw that the entire house was decorated with little white flowers—Baby's breath perhaps—everywhere as if this was a greenhouse.

A leopard was rolling around the floor like a lunatic, oblivious of oneself.

Bai Qingqing, who thought she walked into the wrong house, hurriedly apologized. "Sorry, I walked into the wrong house."

After retreating several steps though, Bai Qingqing glanced left and right and realized that nope, this was indeed Parker's house!

Walking in once more, Bai Qingqing saw her canvas bag hanging on the wall, which now had several sprigs stuck into it. She was now certain this was Parker's house.

With his all fours up in the air, the leopard purred when it caught sight of the inverted Bai Qingqing. His eyes lit up instantly and with a roll, he got up on his limbs.

"What are you up to?" Bai Qingqing's mouth twitched. She shook her sore arms and said, "Look what I found."

Parker's eyes swept over that fabric, then towards Bai Qingqing's face. As if he suddenly discovered something, his vision instantly returned to the fabric. The leopard's pupils visibly shrunk and he grew quiet as if he was injected with a tranquilizer.

He transformed back into human form and slapped away the fabric in Bai Qingqing's hands. Grabbing her hands, he asked anxiously, "Where did you get this from?"

Bai Qingqing was startled. Her wrist that was being gripped forcefully felt a sharp pain, making her sense Parker's intense nervousness.

"By the lake. What's wrong?" Bai Qingqing asked urgently. Seeing Parker so anxious, it must be something very dangerous. Even though she couldn't fathom the link between a piece of fabric and danger.

Parker's brows knitted together tightly as he murmured softly, "How is it possible…"

"What exactly is this?"

Noticing Bai Qingqing was frightened, Parker hurriedly composed himself and answered calmly, "A feral beast has come to our tribe."

Bai Qingqing felt her blood turn cold all over as if she had fallen into an ice cellar.

Thank god she wasn't captured.

"Didn't you say feral beasts don't appear around here?" Bai Qingqing felt like her hands were stained by the fabric she had held, unable to tolerate the smell. "What fabric is this? And what has it got to do with a feral beast?"

"This is the skin a snake beastman sheds when he comes of age. They use this to please their mates, so they will try to shed as completely as possible."

Parker kicked the white snakeskin on the ground and sneered after taking a glance at it. "Seems like this snake beastman's skin-shedding technique isn't too bad. What a pity."

The more Bai Qingqing listened, the more frightened she felt. It was then that she saw that the snakeskin was in a cylindrical form. At the thought of how she had carried that thing back with her own arms, she felt a numbness in her palms.


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