Beast World: A Fragile Beauty Blessed with Many Children-Chapter 24 - 23: The Rogue Beasts Are Here

Ji Liang casually grabbed a Level 8 Crystal Stone from the bag, tossed it into his mouth, and after chewing twice, dominantly wrapped his arm around Si Shuo’s waist, transferring the converted energy to her bit by bit.

His lips, like his personality, were cool, yet held a lingering tenderness. Once the energy transfer was complete, he deepened the kiss.

Si Shuo clung to his arm, soft and pliant, like a delicate flower that made one want to devour her whole.

Ji Liang pressed his forehead against hers. "I must be crazy, letting you have your way, indulging you like this..."

After calming down, he lazily leaned against her, holding her as he continued, "Zhi Le is a reliable person. Since he dared to give you High level Crystal Stones, he must be certain you have a way to hide them."

"You keep these Crystal Stones. Absorb one whenever you feel unwell. If you run out, I’ll go hunt for more."

"There’s a bamboo tube in the bag. It’s filled with my venom. Be careful with it. Even a single drop can corrode flesh and bone into mush..."

He meticulously went over everything, telling her who in the tribe he had spoken to, who she could ask for help if she ran into trouble. He even recited the power dynamics of the nearby tribes, not caring whether she could remember it all, and then pressed a cool Bone Token into her hand.

"This came from the first Level 10 Wild Beast I killed after a long battle. I was injured at the time, and just about to break through to Level 6, so I used its Crystal Stone."

"I made several Level 10 Crystal Stones from that Wild Beast’s hide, flesh, and bones. I only kept this one Bone Token, polished from a bone near its heart. It can nourish your body and also release a bit of an intimidating aura, so ordinary low level Wild Beasts won’t dare to bother you..."

Si Shuo couldn’t help but wrap her arms around his lean waist, her eyes welling up. "Ji Liang, how can you be so good to me?"

Ji Liang chuckled. "If I wasn’t good to you, how could I have coaxed our Little Shushu into accepting me? Be good and wait for me here. I’ll be back very soon."

After saying his piece and giving her the items, Ji Liang still had to be shooed out of the cave, looking back with every step...

The Dark Crow Trading Team had arrived with great fanfare, but their departure was silent. As dawn broke, the Luoni Tribe returned to its usual, unexciting state.

Si Shuo now spent nearly every day in the gully, practicing her Catalyst Technique. From being able to catalyze only five seeds at the start, she could now roughly weave a sparse hemisphere of plants, just enough to cover her as she squatted!

With the help of the greenery, the leaves and flowers covered the gaps between the thorny vines. If she could just work on masking her scent and aura, disguising herself as an unremarkable shrub would soon be possible.

One day, as she was eating, she felt the Beast Mark on her wrist flare with heat.

She froze for a moment, then quickly stood up and went next door, calling out anxiously, "Yimei, Yimei..."

Yimei, who had never seen her like this, came running out in a panic. "What’s wrong, Si Shuo? Are you feeling unwell?"

Si Shuo held out her hand and pointed to the Beast Mark on her wrist. "It’s really hot!"

Kouba followed her out and asked, "Si Shuo, is it just hot, or do you feel any pain?"

Si Shuo shook her head. "It’s warm, but it doesn’t hurt. Did something happen to Zhi Le?"

Kouba smiled. "Don’t worry. Zhi Le is probably advancing in level. This means his old hidden injuries have healed. It’s only a matter of time before he regains his former Combat Power."

Hearing this, Si Shuo looked at Yimei and saw her smiling and nodding enthusiastically in confirmation. She let out a long sigh of relief, stroking the Beast Mark. Once Zhi Le advanced, he would be a Level 4 Beastman, giving him more of a solid footing during the Spring Hunt.

After they finished talking about that, Yimei’s cheeks flushed slightly, and her eyes grew exceptionally bright.

She pulled Si Shuo close, opened her mouth, and mouthed silently, "Si Shuo, I’m going to be a Mother!"

Si Shuo paused, glanced at Yimei’s still-flat stomach, and then smiled and congratulated her.

In the tribe, a female’s pregnancy and childbirth was a major event. Many females heard the news and came to congratulate Yimei, and while they were at it, ask for tips on how to conceive.

Yimei glanced secretly at Si Shuo and just said with a laugh that Kouba was very capable, making everyone roar with laughter and declare that they too needed to find a capable Beast Husband...

In just a few days, the animals in the gully had begun to enjoy a life of ease. Because Si Shuo handed over half of every long tusked pig, Curled Horned Sheep, Golden Headed Chicken, or Black beaked Duck that either Zhi Le or Ji Liang hunted for her, the tribe’s patrol guards now protected the animals in the gully and were also responsible for feeding them.

Every day, Si Shuo could drink sheep’s milk and eat fresh chicken eggs, duck eggs, and pork. Fortunately, for collecting the milk and eggs, the System also sporadically awarded her a few Beast Coins.

She bought some almonds to simmer with the sheep’s milk, adding a little sugar to make a fragrant and delicious treat.

With a pregnant woman living next door, and with her own storage space being too small to hold much, she found she couldn’t consume everything herself now that the weather was getting warmer. So, she shared her meals with Yimei.

Yimei was a Red Fox female, and her pregnancy only lasted two months. After the first week or so, her appetite increased, and she needed a great deal of energy.

The hunts of Rongxing alone were not enough to provide for her. Kouba also joined the daily hunting party, leaving early and returning late.

During these times, Yimei and Si Shuo would take their sewing baskets and sit on the platform in front of the cave, sunbathing while making things for the cubs in Yimei’s belly.

"I wonder if this litter will be fox cubs or Snake Cubs," Yimei said, her expression troubled as she brought it up.

Si Shuo was confused.

Yimei sighed. "Back then, I thought my fertility was low and that it would be hard for me to have cubs, so what difference did it make who I chose as a Beast Husband?"

"It wasn’t until I got pregnant that I remembered there are two types of Rogue Beasts. One type is those who made mistakes in the tribe and were kicked out. The other type is the naturally cold-blooded and emotionally distant ones, like snakes and lizards."

"If I give birth to Snake Eggs, Kouba will have to take them somewhere else to incubate..."

"We Beastmen all have our heritages. For some Beastmen, like snakes, the heritage comes from the Father."

"When they hatch, they will eat their brothers who emerge from the shell later. They’re born without any sense of familial affection, not even for their Father."

"If we don’t drive them away, when they grow up, they’ll... they’ll think their Mother is their own female, and they’ll kill their Father to take his place..."

Si Shuo was stunned. "Ji Liang is a Snake Beast!"

Yimei nodded. "It’s already difficult for a female to get pregnant, so we naturally cherish our cubs. But if your mated partner is a Rogue Beast, you have to accept this cruel reality."

Si Shuo couldn’t help but ask the System, ’System, if I mate with Ji Liang in the future, will our Snake Cubs have to be driven away too?’

System: [Host, please rest assured. The cubs will be born from you and will possess half the bloodline of a highly intelligent future human. Their capacity for familial affection will be very strong; there will be no such behavior as killing their father to possess their mother.]

Only then did she secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

But Yimei’s tone changed as she smiled. "But Kouba and I are very open-minded about it. Being able to bring our cubs into this world is the greatest gift we can give them. Whether they live or die after that is up to the Beast God."

"I just have to focus on a healthy pregnancy, give them as much energy and nutrition as I can, and provide them with a better chance to grow up!"

As the two were talking, a sharp, panicked voice suddenly cried out, "Trouble! The Rogue Beasts are here...!"