He obediently sat in front of him and extended his injured leg.
Although Si Bai had already cleaned the wound and torn some fabric to bandage it, the moment Tiye unwrapped the bandage again, his heart suddenly ached sharply.
It felt as if something had stabbed straight into his chest.
He already had some injuries on his body, and because they had not been treated in time, the wounds had become infected and showed signs of worsening.
Tiye had thought he was mentally prepared for it.
But the moment he truly saw the wound, he still felt it was especially glaring and unpleasant to look at.
The little sub-beastman’s skin was fair and delicate, while those torn, bleeding, and even slightly festering wounds looked especially harsh and ugly in contrast.
For some reason, when the injury was on the little sub-beastman’s body, his heart tightened painfully again and again.
Tiye’s movements were very skilled.
He quickly pounded and ground the herbs into a paste.
After that, he carefully applied the green medicinal mud onto the wound.
Once it was cleaned again, he rebandaged it for a second time.
Throughout the bandaging process, Tiye remained silent, his handsome face unusually dark and serious.
“Gurgle gurgle~”
An untimely sound broke the silence.
Only then did Tiye’s expression lighten.
He blinked his eyes and looked toward Si Bai’s stomach.
Si Bai also followed his gaze downward and only then realized belatedly that it was his own stomach growling.
Si Bai felt a little embarrassed.
Tiye felt a bit frustrated with himself and quickly tried to make up for it.
“Are you hungry?
What do you want to eat?
I’ll go catch it for you!”
He really was careless.
He had not even noticed that the little sub-beastman was hungry.
No wonder he had rejected him earlier.
Si Bai was still somewhat reserved toward someone he was not familiar with.
“…Thank you, but it’s already very late,” he said.
“It’s fine, just tell me what you want to eat!”
“I…”
“You don’t need to be restrained.
sub-beastman are so precious and cute.
Taking care of sub-beastman is our duty as beastman.
Even if you don’t want to become my mate, it’s still okay.”
“…Then, can I have roasted chicken?” Si Bai asked softly.
Tiye immediately smiled brightly.
“Alright!
Wait for me just a little while!”
“I will first go find a cave.
Just stay inside and wait for me obediently.”
Under Si Bai’s suggestion, Tiye carried him and went to a nearby cave.
At first glance, the cave looked abandoned for a very long time.
The moment they stepped inside, an extremely pungent stench of decay and rot assaulted them, making one feel nauseated.
Tiye pinched his nose and walked further in with obvious disgust.
With the last bit of dim evening light, Si Bai lay on Tiye’s shoulder and stretched his gaze inward.
Only then did he clearly see what was inside the cave.
In that instant, his eyes widened in shock.
Inside the cave, rows upon rows of beast corpses were stacked like a mountain.
Countless scattered white bones lay everywhere beside them.
Judging from their shapes, there were bones of beastmen and wild beasts, of all kinds, too many to count.
Those corpses seemed to have been rotting for a very long time.
Beneath the loosened fur and decaying flesh, countless black writhing insects crawled over them, biting, feeding, and churning through the remains.
Rustle~ Rustle~
The black insects seemed to have sensed the presence of living beings and immediately became active.
One, two, three… countless adult insects, along with larvae that had gnawed through the rotting corpses, either jumped or crawled out in swarms.
On the muddy, foul-smelling ground, they rapidly gathered together, dragging their bloated, soft bodies as they surged toward the two intruders at alarming speed.
Si Bai could only see a dense, overwhelming mass of black rapidly flooding toward them.
“Damn it, why did we run into these things here?!” Tiye’s expression turned extremely ugly.
“What are these?” Si Bai asked.
He only felt his body suddenly lift again.
In the next moment, he was once more carried in Tiye’s arms as they leapt out of the terrifying cave in a few swift bounds.
“These are Vilarve.
A very dangerous kind of insect.
They don’t just like eating the bodies of dead beasts or beastmen.
They also devour living beastmen.
Their sharp teeth can directly pierce through the hard skin of beastmen, starting from the internal organs while the victim is still alive.
They feed, multiply, grow, and develop inside the body… and then burst out from within.
After that, only skin and bones are left of the dead beastman…”
As he spoke, Tiye bared his teeth slightly, feeling as if goosebumps were rising all over his body.
He secretly rubbed the back of his hand.
This kind of insect was extremely rare.
He had not expected to encounter such a huge swarm in this cave.
They had practically walked straight into Vilarve nest!
It was fortunate that he had discovered it in time and those Vilarve were probably too full to move fast enough to catch up to them.
Otherwise, the consequences would be too terrifying to even think about.
“Baibai, Let’s find another cave.
Please wait a little longer.
After we find a suitable one, I will go hunt something for you to eat.
Okay?”
Tiye was still shaken, his orange brows furrowed deeply.
He was a Tier 5 Totem Warrior and also a very rare mutated stone tiger beastman.
These insects would not be able to bite through his hard skin, so he was not afraid for himself.
But Si Bai was only a powerless sub-beastman.
He did not dare to take him into any risk.
Even if the risk was only a little, he still could not bear it.
“…Okay.”
Si Bai nodded.
He felt a slight sense of guilt in his heart.
After all, it had been his idea to choose this cave and he had not expected to run into something like this.