Tang Hongluan rolled her eyes and bit her lip, finally feeling a bit better.
After arriving in the Beast World, she had encountered three beast husbands, each of whom threatened to kill her. Two of them had even flung her several meters away. Her abilities were stuck at the first tier, and she didn’t even have a place to sleep.
She had been seething with anger, but now she finally felt a little relief.
Being able to ask the system for things was really considerate!
But since it had said she couldn’t go overboard, requests like escaping the Beast World or restoring her abilities to the tenth tier were definitely off the table.
[Little Host, you’re quite self-aware.]
Every little thought of hers was laid bare before the system.
Tang Hongluan couldn’t help but curse inwardly, did she even have any privacy left? Every tiny thought in her mind was being completely exposed…
[Little Host is a beginner. I’m just worried you might not grasp the limits, so I’m giving you a timely reminder. Please don’t scold me, Host!]
Tang Hongluan smiled helplessly. Since she was here, she might as well make the best of it. But not even having a place to sleep…
At the very least, she needed a shelter, right?
That wasn’t too much to ask, was it?
“I want a place to live,” Tang Hongluan muttered softly.
The system remained silent.
“Just something simple will do,” Tang Hongluan added, her heart tightening. Was even this request too much?
Thinking back to her past life, the royal residences were all extravagantly built, far beyond the definition of a simple dwelling. Ah, the system probably thought she wanted something like that…
“Just an ordinary house like the ones everyone in the Beast World lives in…” She was on the verge of tears, was even this not allowed?
In this tribe, most people lived in houses built from adobe. Without brick-making technology, they mixed soil with dried grass to form adobe blocks, which were then used to construct homes.
Of course, some lazier beastmen simply dug pits in the ground to live in. But those who were slightly more diligent would build their dwellings to be spacious and tidy.
Few were like the original owner, who had dug a coffin-sized sleeping hole.
[Little Host, which one do you prefer?]
Three house styles flashed before Tang Hongluan’s eyes: one was a cave dwelling, another an adobe house built above ground, and the last a dugout pit.
Tang Hongluan’s heart swelled with joy, the system really did care for her.
Though it was sneaky, it could be generous when it counted.
Remembering the original owner’s coffin-like earthen cave, Tang Hongluan still chose the cave dwelling.
On one hand, suddenly having an adobe house or a dugout would raise suspicions.
But modifying the original owner’s earthen cave into a proper dwelling would seem much more reasonable.
“I’ll take this cave dwelling, connected to my old earthen hole!”
[Little Host is so clever!] the system fawned.
[Since your right hand is severely injured and won’t recover anytime soon, making large-scale physical labor impossible, the system has carefully considered and decided to grant your wish. Come take a look, Little Host!]
Tang Hongluan nodded. At least the system had some conscience, knowing her hand wasn’t in good shape.
She raised her right hand and examined it carefully. The fingers were always weakly curled, and there was a protruding bone in her forearm like a deformity or an old fracture. But perhaps because it had been so long, she no longer felt any pain.
In short, this hand was practically useless. The original owner had always relied on her left hand for everything.
Because of this, it wasn’t easy for her to dig out a sleeping hole.
Tang Hongluan spared three seconds of sympathy for the original owner of this body before striding back to the earthen cave.
The entrance remained unchanged. She bent down and crawled inside, finding it much more spacious than before, an arched roof, flat ground, covering an area of about twenty square meters.
She was overjoyed. Finally, she had a place to call her own.
Except… the system really did stick to its principles, this was just an empty house, nothing else included…
Still, she was satisfied.
She laid out her only possessions, a few animal hides, on the ground. Though they were old and dirty, they would suffice as makeshift bedding for the night.
She was exhausted. With three beastly husbands, each more terrifying than the last, and the night already deep, she curled up on the ground and fell asleep.
Qing Yuan dragged the shed snakeskin behind him as he passed by Tang Hongluan’s earthen cave.
Normally, that woman would always leave half her calves exposed, typical of someone who cared only about covering the top and not the bottom.
But today, he didn’t see her exposed calves.
Had she been thrown too far and hadn’t made it back yet?
Faint, shallow breaths drifted from inside the cave. His emerald-green eyes darkened, and as if compelled by some unseen force, he bent down to peer inside.
It seemed… much more spacious?
When had this woman secretly expanded the cave?
Tang Hongluan had no idea Qing Yuan had passed by in the middle of the night and taken a peek at her new dwelling.
After a good night’s sleep, she felt refreshed and took another look around her new home.
“Hmm! The entrance needs some adjustments to make it easier to come and go!”
“I need a bed!”
“And a stove!”
“And also…”
Ah, the innate nesting instincts of a woman had fully awakened. Having a house was just the first step, she wanted to turn it into a proper home!
The thought filled her with motivation.
With a home, a shelter, and her gradually recovering abilities…
Once she completed the system’s tasks, she’d divorce those insane beast-husbands!
That was the plan!
Instantly, she felt hopeful about her future.
A loud growl from her stomach snapped her out of her daydreams. She was starving!
Crawling out of the cave, she surveyed her surroundings.
The Beast World had an excellent natural environment, but these beastmen never bothered with farming, it was too troublesome. Hunting was their main source of food, and since they were still beasts at heart, most preferred meat. Females, lacking survival skills, relied entirely on their beast-husbands for sustenance. So…
The original owner’s meals depended entirely on her husbands’ moods. Sometimes she had three meals a day, but more often than not, she went hungry for days…
No wonder this body was so weak from starvation.
From the memories, it seemed the original owner hadn’t eaten in three days… Was that why she was so ravenous now? Had the original owner starved to death?
And yet, on the brink of starvation, she still ran off to Xiao Shuo’s pond to peep at men bathing?
She couldn’t understand the original owner’s thought process.
The original owner was the original owner. She was herself.
The original owner was lazy, but she wasn’t. She wouldn’t sit around waiting to die, nor would she rely on the whims of five heartless beast-husbands for scraps.
It was midsummer, and this place was nestled in a valley with a small stream running nearby. The surrounding mountains were rich with wild fruits.
Following her memories, she made her way to a secluded part of the stream. The rushing waters carried plump fish, each over a foot long, she hadn’t expected the ecosystem to be this thriving.
Moreover, beastmen preferred to devour large chunks of meat, so fish were hardly ever on their hunting list. As a result, the fish in the river grew plump and round.
Tang Hongluan licked her lips. If she could just grill one of these, wouldn’t it be absolutely mouthwatering?
No sooner said than done.
She jumped into the stream…
But her spirit was willing, her flesh weak! Her crippled right hand was no help at all, and the idea of an ordinary female catching fish single-handedly was simply impossible.
Not only did she fail to catch any fish, but her already empty stomach was now gnawing at her backbone. Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she was utterly exhausted.
“What are you doing?”
Startled, Tang Hongluan, who had been intently but unsuccessfully trying to catch fish, plopped down into the stream, staring dumbfounded at Bi Ze standing by the riverbank.
His face was expressionless, but his golden eyes were full of disdain. In his hand, he dragged a deer.
Having already witnessed this beastman husband’s cold, striking beauty, Tang Hongluan felt no excitement. She knew that behind such beauty often lay a black heart. Her gaze simply fell on the deer in his hand.
She swallowed hard. She was so hungry!