Chapter 191: Chapter 191: Nan Feng, Save Me!

Upstream of the creek, deep in the grassland.

The stone pot was bubbling with the rich aroma of food. The young snake beast, placed by Chang Xia and Chen Rong beside the stove, was drawn in by the enticing smell and slowly opened its tightly shut eyes.

Hiss, hiss—

The little snake beast opened its mouth, flicking its tongue.

Hungry. So hungry!

“He’s awake,” Chang Xia whispered.

Chen Rong held his breath and nodded. “Should we pick him up?”

“Why don’t you scoop out some lamb soup and let it cool? We can try feeding him in a bit,” Chang Xia hesitated. The bird eggs weren’t steamed yet, and the snake cub was different from the tribe’s other young ones—she wasn’t sure what to do. Carefully, she reached out, intending to pick up the hissing little snake.

But as soon as her hand got close—

The little snake beast skillfully slithered onto her hand, up her arm, and straight onto her neck. The cold sensation instantly spread through Chang Xia’s whole body.

Chang Xia froze.

“Chen—Chen Rong—”

Chen Rong turned with the bowl of lamb soup, only to see Chang Xia standing stiffly, at a complete loss.

“Hurry, get him off me,” Chang Xia whispered through gritted teeth.

The cool, slippery feeling around her neck was unbearable. Chang Xia had always been helpless with soft-bodied creatures, let alone a snake cub now wrapped around her neck—she felt like she was suffocating.

Roar, roar—

Chen Rong was just about to help when—

Suddenly, five dark shadows appeared on the horizon.

At the same time, earth-shaking beastly roars echoed through the air.

“Chang Xia, are you alright?” Pu Kang called out loudly.

Chen Rong quickly set down the wooden bowl and rushed forward to stop Elder Pu Kang and the others from approaching in their beast forms.

After a few days of repairs, the camp was much better, though still no match for a proper cave dwelling. Still, it was rare to have such a clean, tidy space. Besides, there was lamb soup cooking on the stove—they couldn’t risk getting it dirty.

Thump, thump—

Chen Rong crouched and transformed, using his beast form to block Elder Pu Kang and the others.

“Hee hee—” Elder Pu Kang stopped and laughed heartily.

Nan Feng, the slowest, landed last. She steadied herself and quickly shifted back into human form, the beast pelt around her neck slipping down to cover her body. With practiced ease, she put her clothes back on in the blink of an eye.

“Chen Rong, where’s Chang Xia?” Nan Feng asked anxiously.

Chen Rong lifted a paw and replied, “Over there—”

As he spoke, Elder Pu Kang and the others shifted back into human form and followed Nan Feng toward the camp, leaving Chen Rong trailing behind.

“Chang Xia—” Nan Feng called out.

“Nan Feng, come save me!” Chang Xia shouted.

Hearing this, Nan Feng and the others’ expressions changed dramatically. They hurried over to Chang Xia.

“Chang Xia, what’s wrong?”

Arriving at the camp, Nan Feng looked around but didn’t see any danger. She gazed at Chang Xia in confusion, not understanding why she was calling for help.

“The snake cub—” Pu Kang was the first to sense the unfamiliar presence on Chang Xia. His sharp eyes quickly spotted the little snake around her neck. He reached out and deftly scooped the snake cub into his hand.

Phew!

Chang Xia looked as if she’d just survived a disaster.

“A snake cub?”

Nan Feng shrieked in surprise, staring at the little snake in Pu Kang’s hand. Yun Dong, Ge Lei, and the others all looked equally shocked.

What kind of magical place was this little river valley? First a giant python, now a snake cub—what next, a whole snake tribe?

“Chang Xia found him by the river,” Chen Rong explained, putting his beast pelt back on as he walked into the camp. “We were worried there might be more trouble, so we set off a signal flare to call you over and discuss what to do.”

Hiss, hiss—

The snake cub kept hissing, its soft little voice growing more urgent and hoarse, sounding truly pitiful.

“Chang Xia, the snake cub is hungry. Feed him something—he’s probably been starving for a while,” Pu Kang said.

Chang Xia replied, “Nan Feng, you feed him.”

The lingering chill from before still made Chang Xia uneasy—she was genuinely scared.

Nan Feng took the snake cub, but it kept hissing, its cries growing more desperate and hoarse, tugging at everyone’s heartstrings.

“Chang Xia, he wants you to feed him,” Nan Feng said, trying not to laugh.

Chang Xia: “…”

“You hold him, I’ll feed him,” Chang Xia finally said, giving in. She let Nan Feng hold the snake cub while she took the bowl of lamb soup Chen Rong had prepared. Hesitantly, she asked, “Elder Pu Kang, can you tell how old he is? Is it safe for him to eat lamb soup?”

“Beast cubs can eat meat and drink soup after three days,” Elder Pu Kang replied with a hearty laugh. “Cubs should eat lots of meat! You were always a picky eater as a child, Chang Xia—that’s why you grew up so small and got sick all the time.”

Yun Dong and Ge Lei stood silently to the side.

Shan Kun stepped forward, carefully examining the snake cub in Nan Feng’s hands.

“He’s a bit bigger than my own cub—probably two or three months old. He can drink lamb soup and eat roasted meat,” Shan Kun said.

Beastfolk were both careful and careless with their young—careful in that they valued every cub, careless in that their methods were rough.

Meanwhile, Chen Rong brought over the steamed bird eggs.

Chang Xia picked up a pair of wooden chopsticks, grabbed a piece of tender lamb, and held it to the snake cub’s mouth, speaking gently, “Come on, little one, have some meat.”

“Hiss hiss!” The snake cub wrapped its tail around Nan Feng’s wrist, opened its mouth, and swallowed the lamb in one gulp.

Apparently finding the meat delicious, the snake cub’s big round eyes narrowed into happy crescents.

“He really seems to like it,” Nan Feng said.

“He’s actually pretty cute!” Yun Dong whispered, crowding closer with Ge Lei to watch the snake cub in Nan Feng’s hands. Unlike the tribe’s other young ones, the snake cub was tiny—so small that if he fell into the grass, you’d have a hard time finding him.

Gele said, “So small, and much quieter and better-behaved than the tribe’s little ones.”

“You dare call the mad snakes of the Moonwatch Mountains quiet and well-behaved—” Elder Pukang, sitting by the stove and fishing out pieces of mutton to eat, overheard Gele and Yundong’s conversation and immediately chimed in with a mocking tone.

Mad snakes—well, their cubs might be quiet.

But once grown, who in the Twilight Forest doesn’t know the Snake Clan from Snake Peak is not to be trifled with?

At these words, images of those mad snakes from Snake Peak flashed through Gele Yundong’s mind. He looked up at the little snake cub in Nanfeng’s hands and couldn’t help but show a complicated expression.

Sigh—

Turns out, his feelings were misplaced after all.

The snake cub was very cooperative, letting Changxia feed him a bowl of mutton soup and a bowl of steamed egg.

Seeing the cub’s belly bulge, Changxia stopped feeding him.

At this point, the snake cub’s belly was so round it was almost twice as thick as his own body, which looked a bit alarming.

“Shankun, is he… okay like this?” Changxia reached out and gently rubbed the cub’s belly. The snake cub, enjoying the warmth of her fingertips, rolled over to expose his belly and let out a soft, gentle hiss. He unwound his tail from Nanfeng’s wrist and lightly patted Changxia’s palm, as if acting cute.

Shankun said, “He’s fine.”

Gele added, “Snakes can swallow prey twice their own size. The cubs are much the same, so don’t worry, Changxia.”

Relieved that the snake cub was all right, Changxia let out a breath.

She was about to put the cub back in his little nest to rest.

But before she could move, the snake cub crawled onto her arm, gently coiling around it and staying put. It seemed he knew he’d scared Changxia earlier, so this time he obediently avoided her neck and just wrapped around her arm.