Today was a cloudless, beautiful day. The Rabbit Tribe was as busy as ever. Some of them had gone out into their territory to gather food, while some of the tribe’s warriors had gone hunting for wild beasts.
That naturally left a portion of the tribe behind—the old, the weak, the sick, and the injured. The elderly were responsible for watching over the little cubs who had yet to take human form, while the cubs played and romped around in the open space in front of the cave.
A whole crowd of fluffy little rabbits looked like snowballs in the sunlight. The liveliness and adorableness of the cubs was enough to soothe anyone’s heart.
Smiles warmed the aged eyes of the elders watching them, though those smiles carried another, more complicated emotion as well.
The cubs who couldn’t yet transform were responsible for playing, while the elders watched over them. The cubs who could transform helped with whatever tasks they were capable of—for example, running errands for elders with limited mobility. They were at an age when they were full of energy, making them perfectly suited to such jobs.
One little cub was pushed by another and rolled toward the cave entrance like a rabbit-shaped ball. Its soft fur bumped against Bai Tu’s lower leg, and his heart melted on the spot.
He carefully scooped the cub up and gently patted the dirt and dried grass clinging to its fur.
The cub happily widened its round rabbit eyes. Being lifted off the ground didn’t frighten it at all. Instead, it gleefully waved all four little limbs in the air, as though Bai Tu were playing with it.
When the elder nearby saw the cub approach Bai Tu, his heart leapt into his throat. It wasn’t until he saw what Bai Tu was doing that he suddenly remembered: Bai Tu had unexpectedly gotten better three days ago.
At least he wouldn’t hurt the cubs.
The cub itself wasn’t thinking nearly so much. After Bai Tu set it down, it wrapped all four paws around his hand and refused to let go. Bai Tu was so gentle. If its mother or father had been the one to pick it up just now, they would have grabbed it, given it a rough shake, and tossed it back onto the ground.
The cub actually thought that was fun too, but it liked Bai Tu even more.
It didn’t realize it itself, but perhaps “gentleness” was simply too rare in the Beast World. It made people instinctively want to draw closer.
Bai Tu remembered this particular cub. Among the whole group of little snowballs, he was rather distinctive. A ring of black fur surrounded his eyes, making him look as though he had been born with eyeliner. It was especially adorable.
That was because his mother was a black rabbit, while his father was a white rabbit.
Thanks to that distinctive feature, even Bai Tu, an outsider with terrible facial recognition, could recognize him at a glance.
His name was Hei Feng.
His mother had wanted him to run as fast as the wind, so she’d given him that name.
But back to the matter at hand: Bai Tu was not a native beastman. He had transmigrated here three days ago. He had simply gone to sleep and, upon waking, found himself in the Beast World Continent as a rabbit tribe’s sub-beastman named Bai Tu.
The matter of sub-beastmen could be left for later. After arriving here, Bai Tu learned that this was the Beast World Continent, that the tribe he belonged to was the Rabbit Tribe, and that there were more than a hundred members in the tribe.
He also learned that his original body had been dull and foolish ever since birth. His father, Ya Mu, had traveled far and wide to find a priest, and that priest had told them that once the original Bai Tu reached adulthood, the Beast God would bring his soul back.
The reason he’d been so vacant and foolish was that his soul had gone to another world.
When Bai Tu heard the tribe members tell him this, he was deeply shaken. At the same time, he finally understood why no one had been surprised when he began behaving differently from the old Bai Tu.
They had only been delighted.
In his original world, Bai Tu hadn’t had much to tie him down. He’d even paid off his student loan after becoming a handicraft blogger. So, after the brief shock of discovering that he’d transmigrated, he slowly began adapting to his new life.
He had once used the surface of the water to examine his appearance. The reflection hadn’t been particularly clear, but he could tell one thing for certain: apart from his white hair, this face was exactly the same as his old one.
Combined with what the tribe had told him about the priest’s prophecy, Bai Tu couldn’t help wondering whether he had some connection to the original body after all.
He spent three days digesting everything.
Perhaps because the tribe members were accustomed to Bai Tu sitting around looking dazed, nobody found it strange when he spent his days staring blankly into space.
But today, Bai Tu had finally sorted everything out in his mind.
His father and Ya Mu had left with several warriors from the tribe to search for new hope for their people. He had heard that they left during the breeding season and had yet to return.
In the Beast World, everyone put the tribe first, and everyone looked after one another’s cubs. Bai Tu’s original condition had been no different from that of a cub. Since the tribe members could care for him, his father and Ya Mu had reluctantly left anyway.
Because of this, the tribe treated Bai Tu very kindly. Even cubs like Hei Feng were especially “attentive” toward him.
Of course, the cubs weren’t capable of taking care of anyone. They still needed plenty of care themselves. It was simply that whenever they were around Bai Tu, they became much quieter and more obedient.
Bai Tu thought it was because he’d been foolish for so many years.
He had no idea that the cubs simply thought he was “gentle.”
Anyway, Bai Tu felt that the tribe’s attentiveness toward him came from the fact that everyone had yet to realize that he could now live normally.
Aside from the cubs, everyone was busy. Now that Bai Tu had finally recovered enough to get his bearings, how could he bring himself to do nothing? Even if nobody minded, he needed to contribute something if he wanted to integrate into the tribe as quickly as possible.
The problem was that Bai Tu didn’t have many options.
Because he was a sub-beastman.
That brought up the division of sexes in the Beast World. Here, people weren’t divided into men and women based on appearance. They were divided into beastmen and sub-beastmen.
When beastmen transformed into human form, they were tall and powerfully built, while sub-beastmen were much more slender.
There was another difference, too.
The day before, Bai Tu had seen a beastman’s animal form, and he had been utterly stunned.
Heavens knew how shocked he’d been the first time he saw a rabbit larger than an adult German shepherd. Its claws were incredibly sharp, its teeth were hard enough to gnaw directly through stone, and its hind legs were so powerful that it could leap an astonishing distance in a single bound!
At the time, Bai Tu hadn’t known about the difference between beastmen and sub-beastmen. Seeing that enormous rabbit, he’d been so fascinated that he couldn’t help wondering if he could transform into a beast form too.
And then…
His field of vision suddenly dropped.
There were several cubs nearby for comparison, and Bai Tu discovered that he was barely any bigger than they were!
Horrified, he went to ask an elder named Hui Hua.
Hui Hua was the oldest member of the tribe. Something seemed to be wrong with his legs, and he was always curled up at the cave entrance, doing nothing but basking in the sun.
When a palm-sized, puffed-up rabbit came at him with a barrage of questions, Hui Hua wasn’t surprised at all that Bai Tu didn’t understand such basic knowledge. Instead, he patiently explained the difference between beastmen and sub-beastmen.
In short, the enormous rabbit Bai Tu had seen was the beast form of a beastman.
Even after reaching adulthood, a sub-beastman’s beast form was only slightly larger than a cub.
Bai Tu, upon learning that he was a sub-beastman capable of bearing cubs:
His heart died.
Having cubs was absolutely impossible.
It took Bai Tu an entire day to accept this fact.
Beastmen and sub-beastmen had clearly defined roles. Once they reached adulthood, beastmen joined the hunting teams, while sub-beastmen joined the gathering teams.
At present, there were three hunting teams, each with more than a dozen beastmen. There were four gathering teams, each with more than a dozen sub-beastmen. Every team had its own leader.
As a sub-beastman, if Bai Tu wanted to participate in the tribe’s work, he naturally had to join a gathering team. He needed to find one of the gathering-team leaders, and as long as the leader agreed, he could go out gathering with them.
The tribe strictly forbade anyone from hunting or gathering alone. Even within their own territory, it was dangerous.
It was still broad daylight, but judging from Bai Tu’s observations, the gathering teams would probably return once the sun climbed past the tree standing outside the cave.
The sun was already nearing the top of the tree. It wouldn’t be long before it crossed to the other side, and the gathering teams would head out again that afternoon.
Bai Tu decided that once they returned, he would find one of the gathering-team leaders.
“Bai Tu, come play with us!”
Hei Feng bumped his head against Bai Tu’s leg. The impact wasn’t strong at all, more like a little act of affection.
Bai Tu’s face heated at his words.
He was an adult already. Playing with cubs—was that really appropriate?
Although, to be fair, he’d completely lost control of his urge to pet fluffy things the day before and ended up rolling around with the cubs in a great big pile…
Hei Feng clearly wanted Bai Tu to play with them the way he had yesterday.
Bai Tu simply couldn’t resist those big, sparkling eyes with their natural eyeliner. But he didn’t agree right away. Instead, he asked Hei Feng, “I want to join a gathering team. Hei Feng, do you know who I should talk to?”
In this regard, Bai Tu might actually have known less than a cub. He’d only been here three days and had barely managed to learn everyone’s names. Matching faces to names was already difficult enough, let alone knowing which one was a gathering-team leader.
As expected, Hei Feng did not disappoint him.
“Then go find my father!”
“Your father?”
Bai Tu repeated the words, and after asking Hei Feng a few questions, he learned that Hei Feng’s father, Bai Shui, was the leader of a gathering team.
Thanks to Hei Feng, the person Bai Tu was most familiar with here—apart from Hui Hua and Hei Feng—was Bai Shui.
And Bai Shui was just like his name suggested: a sub-beastman with an exceptionally good temperament.
Decision made. He’d talk to Bai Shui.
With that major matter settled, Bai Tu felt much more relaxed. Then he saw Hei Feng’s eager expression and finally couldn’t resist nodding.
“I’ll play with you!”
While they were talking, a whole crowd of differently colored fluffballs had already gathered around him.
With a soft poof, a palm-sized white rabbit appeared in the middle of the cubs. Its fur was long and fluffy, with just a slight curl at the tips of its tail.
In an instant, the cubs surrounded him.
One adorable little creature pressed against another until Bai Tu was squeezed right into the middle of the pile. His fur was thoroughly mussed, but he was still blissfully reaching out his paws to ruffle the other fluffy creatures.
Sniff, sniff, sniff. I’m going to absorb all this fluff.
One major reason Bai Tu had adapted to his transmigration so quickly was that he’d been seduced by adorable creatures!
Just as Bai Tu and the cubs were having the time of their lives, a sudden commotion arose outside.
Then a soft laugh drifted over.
“Only Bai Tu doesn’t mind how noisy they are.”
The next moment, Hei Feng, who had been squeezed up beside Bai Tu, suddenly found himself floating in midair. Then he was tossed onto the open ground nearby, where he rolled several times, dizzy and disoriented.
Bai Tu looked up.
It was Bai Shui.
And Bai Tu was once again stunned by Bai Shui’s rough, casual treatment of the cub.
Though, to be fair, it wasn’t the first time he’d seen it.
Beastmen cubs weren’t fragile.
Remembering that he had something to discuss with Bai Shui, Bai Tu immediately transformed back into human form. Several cubs ended up perched against his shoulders. He gently set them down on the ground.
Bai Shui was smiling.
Ever since Bai Tu recovered, he seemed to have developed an especial fondness for cubs.
“If you like them so much, why don’t you have one of your own to play with?” Bai Shui suggested earnestly.
Remembering that he was a sub-beastman who could actually bear cubs, Bai Tu’s eyes went wide. He hurriedly shook his head.
Beastmen really did speak with startling directness.
Bai Shui found Bai Tu rather strange. He clearly liked cubs, yet whenever the subject of having one himself came up, he looked… terrified.
Before Bai Shui could say anything more, Bai Tu hurriedly told him that he wanted to join the gathering team.
Bai Shui hadn’t even had a chance to respond when Hei Feng—who had somehow climbed onto Bai Shui’s head and was currently tugging at his hair—shouted loudly,
“Father, say yes to Bai Tu!”
Bai Shui gave his head a sharp shake.
Hei Feng was flung off, tracing an arc through the air.
He wasn’t frightened in the slightest. Instead, he burst into delighted laughter.
And then…
“Father! I want to play more!”
Apparently, this was a game father and son played all the time.
Bai Tu broke into a nervous sweat.
Once again, he gained a whole new appreciation for just how tough the cubs were.
He forced himself not to reach out and catch Hei Feng.
Bai Tu had thought he’d need to explain himself further, or prove that he would be obedient, before being allowed to join the gathering team.
Instead, Bai Shui simply tossed out, “Come find me before we leave,” and walked away with Hei Feng perched on top of his head.
The gathering team seemed to be busy as well. Bai Shui needed to take everything they had gathered that morning and sort it with the other gathering teams in the cave where their supplies were stored. Half of the supplies would be kept for the tribe, while the other half would be distributed among everyone that evening.
For these three days, Bai Tu had been living in the tribe’s communal cave. Cubs without parents to care for them, as well as elderly members who needed looking after, all lived there.
But Bai Tu actually had a cave of his own.
His father and Ya Mu had previously lived there with him. After they left, however, they were worried about leaving him alone in a separate cave, so they asked the tribe members to let him live in the communal cave instead.
Bai Tu decided that after returning from gathering that afternoon, he would go take a look at his old home.
Before long, Bai Shui called him over and handed him a thick bag.
Bai Tu took it and realized that it was a leather bag.
Most of the elders in the tribe were busy repairing these things. They used finely ground stone needles to punch holes along the edges of animal hides, then threaded a particularly Tough-grass called Tough-grass through the holes, sewing the hide together into a bag.
Because stone needles couldn’t be ground too thin without becoming prone to breaking, the holes they made were somewhat large. That did make it easier to thread the Tough-grass through them, but it also meant these leather bags couldn’t hold very small objects. Anything small would simply fall through the holes.
“If you’re collecting small things, give them to me,” Bai Shui specifically reminded Bai Tu.
Only then did Bai Tu learn that Bai Shui had something called a “water bladder.” It was an extremely elastic bag made in one piece, so nothing could leak through.
Seeing Bai Tu’s interest, Bai Shui explained, “It’s the water bladder of a curved-horn beast. They’re very valuable. Each gathering team only has one.”
The water bladder was as large as an adult beastman’s body.
Bai Shui even allowed Bai Tu to touch it, and Bai Tu realized that it was probably the bladder of a large herbivore.
Before transmigrating, Bai no attempt to hide their curiosity. One after another, they openly looked him over Tu had indeed learned about traditional practices that used animal bladders to make waterskins, tobacco pouches, and things like that.
But a gathering team had ten people. Even though the bladder looked huge, it couldn’t hold all that much.
So what did they do with the small things that couldn’t fit?
Before Bai Tu could ask, members of the gathering team began arriving one after another.
Everyone noticed that there was a new sub-beastman among them, and naturally, they were more or less curious.
The beastmen were straightforward by nature and made no attempt to hide their curiosity. One after another, they openly looked him over.
Their gazes were friendly, though, and some even took the initiative to say a few words to him.
Bai Tu felt a little uncomfortable, but he still responded with a smile.
A young male sub-beastman with large eyes and black hair took the initiative to speak to him.
“Bai Tu, did you join the gathering team too? That’s great! Now I’ll have someone to talk to.”
This sub-beastman’s name was Hei Yue. He was very young, about the same age as Bai Tu, and probably hadn’t joined the gathering team long ago either.
He was young and talkative, but when faced with older sub-beastmen, he felt too embarrassed to say much. Now that Bai Tu had joined, he was delighted.
Bai Tu was happy too.
Bai Shui had arranged for him to travel with Hei Yue. Although they belonged to the same gathering team, they couldn’t all stay together. They gathered within the same general area, then spread out to collect things separately.
But Bai Tu had only just joined and didn’t know what could be gathered or where to look. He needed someone to guide him.
Hei Yue was just the right person for the job.
As they walked, Bai Tu discovered that the gathering grounds were quite far from the cave where the tribe lived.
The “shoes” on everyone’s feet were really nothing more than pieces of animal hide wrapped around their feet and tied in place with rope.
They were certainly better than going barefoot, but with the weather already hot, wrapping hide around their feet made them stuffy. And the hide came loose from time to time.
Still, they had no choice but to wear it.
The paths used by the gathering team weren’t cleared and maintained like the area around the tribe’s settlement. Sharp stones and other hazards could be found everywhere.
Even with animal hide around their feet, the soles still got painfully pressed against the stones, but the hide was tough enough to keep their feet from being cut.
Bai Tu discovered that although sub-beastmen were weaker than beastmen, they were still considerably stronger than ordinary humans from his old world.
They also had impressive stamina.
They walked for roughly half an hour without a single person even breathing heavily.
Hei Yue chattered nonstop the entire way and didn’t seem tired at all.
Neither did Bai Tu.
After becoming a sub-beastman, he’d discovered that his physical strength had increased considerably tons of it. There’s a whole patch not far to the left of our cave. But Tough-grass doesn’t taste good, and it isn’t very useful. Apart from sewing hides, the only other thing it’s good for is making fire. Walking for this long barely registered as exertion.
“Are we almost there?” Bai Tu asked Hei Yue.
“Yep! Once we pass that big rock and cross the stream, we’ll be there.”
Hei Yue was positively enthusiastic as he explained it to Bai Tu. It wasn’t often that he got the chance to teach someone else.
Bai Tu nodded.
Along the way, he’d learned that this stretch of road was safe. At the very least, large animals rarely appeared here.
Although the gathering team said they’d already collected everything useful in this area and there was nothing left to gather, Bai Tu still kept an eye on the plants beneath his feet.
Whenever he spotted something familiar, he silently memorized its location.
The gathering team was still on the move, and stopping without reason would delay everyone. It was better to remember where the plants were and come back when he had the chance.
For some reason, Bai Tu found that he could remember the route with remarkable ease.
He’d never been bad with directions, but his memory had never been this good.
He attributed the change to a sub-beastman’s natural abilities.
Bai Tu glanced at the animal hide in his hands—or, more precisely, at the Tough-grass used to stitch the hides together.
“Is this stuff common?”
“You mean Tough-grass? There’s tons of it. There’s a whole patch not far to the left of our cave. But Tough-grass doesn’t taste good, and it isn’t very useful. Apart from sewing hides, the only other thing it’s good for is making fire.”
“Making fire” meant using fire to cook food. Bai Tu had heard the expression several times by now and understood what it meant.
But saying Tough-grass was useless?
As a former handicraft blogger, Bai Tu couldn’t agree.
He looked at Hei Yue.
“When we’re done gathering, can you take me to find some Tough-grass?”
Hei Yue didn’t even ask why. He happily nodded.
“Sure!”
They reached the two of them grunted and puffed as they dug up the Earth-fruit. Before long, they’d filled if he could plant them near his cave. They were a seasoning he’d need often. There was no reason to keep coming all the way stream and stopped briefly to drink some water and rinse themselves off before continuing.
Once they crossed the stream, they had indeed reached the gathering grounds.
“We’re digging Earth-fruit today.”
Hei Yue pointed to a large patch of green plants on the ground. He used a stone to dig around the base.
Before long, a brown plant root emerged from the soil.
Hei Yue looked delighted.
“We found this place just after sunrise. Everyone’s leather bags were already full then, so we waited until we’d rested before coming back to dig them up.”
Bai Tu’s eyes lit up too.
Wasn’t this a potato?
He’d almost failed to recognize it. The potatoes here were far larger than the ones he remembered. Most of them were practically big enough to fill Bai Tu’s entire palm.
He and Hei Yue dug together while the others spread out, each taking a separate patch.
The two of them grunted and puffed as they dug up the Earth-fruit. Before long, they’d filled half a leather bag.
But Bai Tu noticed that they were using the pointed end of a stone to dig, which was inefficient and easily stabbed the Earth-fruit.
Judging from Hei Yue’s accustomed expression, however, this was clearly considered normal.
“The damaged ones won’t keep well,” Bai Tu said.
Hei Yue looked delighted.
“Bai Tu, everyone was telling the truth! You really did get smarter!”
Bai Tu broke into a cold sweat.
“……”
Are you only noticing that now?
“Eat the damaged ones when we get back,” Hei Yue added.
So that was the arrangement.
The ones that had been damaged were eaten quickly, while the intact ones were stored.
But the problem was that nearly a third of them were damaged.
And Hei Yue was tossing the good ones and bad ones together into the same leather bag.
The gathering team would have to sort them all again after returning. That seemed unnecessarily troublesome.
Bai Tu suggested separating the good ones from the damaged ones. Conveniently, both of them had leather bags.
Hei Yue praised him for being clever.
Bai Tu:
“……”
It wasn’t that the others couldn’t think of something like this.
It was simply that, in the beastmen’s way of thinking, there was no such concept as wasting time.
The beastmen lived very long lives, after all.
Before long, both leather bags were full.
Bai Tu and Hei Yue rested.
Bai Tu sat on a rock and wiped away his sweat. His gaze landed on a patch of plants in the distance.
He deliberately paused.
Why did that look so much like wild scallions?
To be cautious, Bai Tu still asked Hei Yue.
From him, Bai Tu learned that the plant was called “spicy grass.”
It didn’t taste good.
Once Bai Tu confirmed that it wasn’t poisonous, he stood up and plucked a little, putting it into his mouth.
His eyes immediately lit up.
It really was a scallion!
“Hey! There’s a patch of gray greens over here!” Hei Yue called from nearby. “Bai Tu, come quickly!”
Bai Tu answered him, but his hands didn’t stop moving.
He planned to dig up some of the scallions and see if he could plant them near his cave. They were a seasoning he’d need often. There was no reason to keep coming all the way out here just to gather them.
Once he’d finished digging up the scallions, he went to find Hei Yue.
Then he saw Hei Yue lying motionless on the ground.
Bai Tu was startled.
He immediately shouted for help and hurried over to check on Hei Yue.
Before long, the other sub-beastmen came running over.
Once they determined what Hei Yue had eaten, however, everyone visibly relaxed.
One of the older female sub-beastmen explained,
“He ate slumber-grass instead of gray greens. The two look very similar.”
From the older female sub-beastman, Bai Tu learned that when beastmen ate this thing called slumber-grass, they would simply fall into a deep sleep.
After a while, they’d wake up again.
Exactly when they woke depended on how much they’d eaten.
After examining how much Hei Yue had consumed, the older sub-beastman was even able to estimate when he’d regain consciousness.
“Before nightfall.”
Judging by how practiced the older female sub-beastman was at handling the situation, this clearly happened from time to time.
Bai Tu relaxed.
For the moment, however, all his attention was focused on the slumber-grass.
You ate it, and you fell asleep.
It didn’t leave toxins in the body or damage your health.
What a treasure!