Help! I transmigrated to a Beast World-Chapter 37: A Toddler and A King

The journey to the Black Water tribe was, in a word, exhausting.

Xin Yi had imagined a majestic trek through ancient forests, perhaps with a side of romantic tension with Qing Lin. Instead, she was currently knee-deep in a marsh that smelled like a wet basement, carrying a sack of soap supplies while a seven-year-old python prince tried to use her hair as a climbing rope.

"Xiao Long! For the love of everything holy, get your sticky fingers out of my ponytail!" Xin Yi shrieked, ducking as a low-hanging branch nearly swiped her face.

"But it’s so soft!" Xiao Long chirped, swinging from her shoulder with the agility of a spider monkey. "And it smells like the purple flowers! Uncle Qing, why don’t you have hair that smells like flowers? Yours just smells like rain."

Qing Lin, who was walking ahead didn’t even turn around. "Because, Xiao Long, I don’t spend three hours a day boiling fat and lavender. I have a kingdom to run."

"You have a kingdom to hide in," Xin Yi muttered under her breath, dodging a suspicious-looking puddle.

[DING! (๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ]

[System Note: Host, your ’Nanny’ skill is leveling up! Would you like to exchange 100 points for a ’Muzzle’ or perhaps a ’Noise-Canceling’ headset? No? Too bad! Enjoy the childcare!]

I’ll muzzle you first, System! Xin Yi thought viciously.

"Look! Look!" Xiao Long suddenly let go of her hair and pointed toward a cluster of bright red mushrooms. "The Booming Fungus! If you step on them, they go pop and cover you in itchy dust!"

Before Xin Yi could scream a warning, the boy shifted. In a blur of shimmering scales, he was a black python again, slithering at light-speed toward the mushrooms.

"XIAO LONG! NO!"

"Let him," Qing Lin said, finally stopping. He leaned against a tree, crossing his arms over his bare, pale chest. "He needs to learn. If he gets covered in itchy dust, he’ll be too busy scratching to pull your hair for at least an hour."

Xin Yi stared at him, her jaw dropping. "That is your childcare philosophy? Literal sabotage?"

"It is the beast world, Xin Yi," Qing Lin said, his emerald eyes twinkling with a hint of dark amusement. "We learn through pain, hunger, and......itchy mushrooms."

POP! POP! POP!

A cloud of red spores exploded twenty feet away. Xiao Long, now back in boy form, started dancing around, frantically scratching his arms and legs. "IT ITCHES! UNCLE QING, IT ITCHES LIKE Biting-Ants!"

Xin Yi groaned, dropping her bag. "I hate it here. I genuinely hate it here." She reached into her hidden subspace storage, fumbling around until she found a small tin of soothing salve she had crafted during her soap phase.

"Come here, you little menace," she sighed, kneeling in the mud.

Xiao Long scrambled over, sniffing and scratching. As Xin Yi began to rub the cool ointment into his skin, the boy’s frantic movements slowed. He looked at her with wide, watery black eyes, his lower lip trembling.

"You’re.....you’re not going to eat me because I’m itchy?" he whispered.

Xin Yi paused, her heart doing a traitorous little squeeze. "No, Xiao Long. I’m not going to eat you. In my world, we treat ’itchy’ with medicine, not dinner."

Qing Lin watched the scene from the shadows, his expression unreadable. He stepped closer, his hand coming to rest on top of Xin Yi’s head.

"You are a strange female," he murmured, his thumb brushing against her temple. "Most females would have left him to scratch."

Xin Yi looked up at him, her face flushed from the humidity and the proximity. "Maybe I just want a peaceful walk for once."

Qing Lin leaned down, his face inches from hers. "Or maybe.....you’re starting to care about the snakes as much as the cats."

"Don’t push your luck, King Noodle," she snapped, but she didn’t move away.

[DING! ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)]

[System Commentary: Tension! Tenderness! Itchy mushrooms! This is high-quality content! +20 Relationship points with ’Team Reptile’!] 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

~

By the time the sun began to dip below the horizon, the atmosphere changed. The lush, vibrant green of the Azure Scale swamp faded into a darker, more oppressive landscape. The water turned a murky, ink-black color, and the trees were draped in thick, grey moss that looked like tattered shrouds.

The air grew cold. Real cold.

"We are here," Qing Lin said, his voice losing its playful edge. He moved to the front, his posture shifting into that of a high-ranking Alpha.

Xiao Long stayed close to Xin Yi’s side, grabbing her hand. He wasn’t bouncing anymore, he looked uncharacteristically subdued. "The guards are grumpy today," he whispered.

Suddenly, a dozen shapes detached themselves from the dark trees. These weren’t the colorful, inquisitive pythons of Qing Lin’s tribe. These were massive, black-scaled warriors with yellow eyes and scarred faces. They held spears made of blackened bone, and their hisses sounded like steam escaping a pipe.

"King Qing Lin," one of the guards rasped, his eyes darting to the human female. "You bring an outsider. And the runaway prince."

"Move aside," Qing Lin commanded, his voice vibrating with a power that made the very ground tremble. "I am here to return the cub to his father. Unless you wish to explain to Mo Yan why his guest was delayed?"

The guards hesitated, their slitted pupils narrowing as they looked at Xin Yi. One of them flicked his tongue out, tasting the air. "She smells.....like flowers and warm blood. Is she a tribute?"

"She is my guest," Qing Lin hissed, his hand going to the hilt of his bone-knife. "Touch her, and I will decorate this marsh with your scales."

The guards recoiled, bowing low as they opened a path.

They led the group into the heart of the Black Water village. It was a fortress of stone and sunken wood, lit by glowing blue moss that gave everything a ghostly, underwater glow. In the center of the village stood a massive throne carved from the skull of some prehistoric beast.

Sitting on that throne was a man who made Qing Lin look like a choir boy.

He was massive. His long, silky black hair fell over his shoulders like a river of ink, contrasting sharply with his bronzed, bare chest. He was covered in dark tattoos that seemed to writhe whenever he moved. His face was set in a permanent, lethal scowl.

This was Mo Yan. The Serpent King of the Black Water.

He looked up as they approached, his yellow eyes fixing on his son. He let out a long, weary sigh that sounded like shifting gravel.

"Xiao Long," he rumbled, his voice deep enough to vibrate in Xin Yi’s chest. "You are grounded. For the next three molting cycles."

"Aw, Dad!" the boy groaned, hiding behind Xin Yi’s leg.

Mo Yan’s gaze shifted then. It moved from his son, to Qing Lin, and finally settled on Xin Yi. He didn’t blink. He didn’t move. He simply stared at her, like a predator that had found a new prey.

When he did not say anything for a long while, Xin Yi felt like a bug under a microscope.

Finally, Mo Yan stood up. He was a head taller than Qing Lin. He walked down the steps of his throne, his movement so smooth it was unsettling. He stopped three feet away from Xin Yi, his shadow completely engulfing her.

He leaned forward, sniffing the air around her neck, making her hair stand on end.

"Qing Lin," Mo Yan rumbled, his eyes never leaving Xin Yi’s face. He reached out a large, calloused hand, his fingers hovering just inches from Xin Yi’s cheek.

"Thank you for returning my son," he said, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous register. "But now... tell me. Who... is this?"

[DING! ((((;゜Д゜)))]

[System Note: EMERGENCY! New Alpha Detected! He’s big, he’s broody, and he’s definitely not interested in soap! Host, say something smart! Or run! Actually, running probably won’t help!]

Xin Yi swallowed hard, as she thought of how to respond. She looked up at the towering Serpent King, then at the smirking Qing Lin, and then at the itchy toddler still clinging to her leg.

"I’m the one who’s going to teach your tribe how to cook something that isn’t raw frog," she squeaked, trying to find her courage. "And if you touch me without permission, I have a Tiger claw in my pocket that says you’ll regret it!"

Mo Yan froze. Then, slowly, his scowl twitched.

"She has spirit," Mo Yan murmured, a dark, predatory light dancing in his yellow eyes. "I like spirit. It makes the taming.....more interesting."

Xin Yi’s jaw dropped. Taming?! Oh, for the love of—

"Qing Lin," she hissed, "take me back to the cat. I want the cat back!"