In the frigid far north, a fierce wind howled and snowflakes swirled in the night.
A fluorescent green band of light hovered in the night sky, faintly illuminating the trail of footprints left on the snow.
Two large snow foxes, two to three meters long, were racing southward under the aurora’s glow.
Upon closer inspection, the lead fox was robust with a broad back, carrying several packs on its back, and a brown fur bundle slung around its neck.
The other snow fox, though slightly smaller, had a more graceful and fluid physique.
A small white fox barely reaching their shoulder height followed closely behind, struggling to keep up with them.
In the distance, snow-capped mountains stretched endlessly, and the night sky above was vast and boundless.
Whoosh—
After a long cry, the two large snow foxes gradually slowed down until they stopped before a patch of forest.
In the blink of an eye, the snow foxes transformed into human form.
In the blink of an eye, they were already dressed in neat animal skin clothing. These were two adult beastmen.
The little white fox behind them, after transforming into human form, wore a thick animal skin coat. The adults had clearly reserved warmer clothing for the cub.
While their furry beast form was beneficial for winter, their human form was more agile and suitable for daily life.
The snowstorm was gradually stopping, and the snow fox family planned to rest there for a short while to spend the long night.
The graceful snow fox was a sub-beastman named Rong Shan. After transforming into human form, his appearance was equally handsome. He walked to his beastman mate, Feng Yan, and untied the small brown fur bundle.
Inside, nestled a small human cub. Although almost seven years old, it was unusually thin with only a round face and snow-white skin.
The cub opened its large, round eyes, which were filled with the entire starry sky, shimmering with light. “Xue Tuan’s awake.” Rong Shan affectionately nuzzled the little guy, stroked his soft hair, and smiled gently.
The further south they traveled, the better Xue Tuan seemed to become.
“Mmm.” The tall Feng Yan untied his bundle, kissed his youngest son’s forehead, and handed him to Rong Shan.
On the other side, twelve-year-old white fox Bing Qiu also came close to his father Rong Shan, gently poking his younger brother Xue Tuan’s cheek with his finger.
Bing Qiu was used to this kind of journey, they had been traveling for nearly sixty days and nights.
The reason their family was migrating during the cold season was mainly because his younger brother had always been in poor health.
The far north has a frigid climate, and the snow fox clan’s natural cold resistance has allowed them to live comfortably in the north.
However, his Xue Tuan had been weak since birth.
Whether beastmen or sub-beastmen, the ability to transform was innate, and allowed them to freely change form from infancy. However, his younger brother, Xue Tuan, despite being so old, still couldn’t transform and disliked playing with the other cubs.
Furthermore, his eyes were always vacant and lifeless, and he often ignored questions.
His father and mother took him to the tribe’s priest for treatment, but the priest uttered cold and heartless words.
The priest said his younger brother couldn’t adapt to this world, shouldn’t have been born, and predicted he wouldn’t live more than a few years. His father, Feng Yan, nearly got into a fight with the priest and elders over this.
Bing Qiu remembered his childhood when his father, Rong Shan, would often hold his younger brother and tell him stories of his father’s youth. His father in his youth was fearless. He didn’t believe in the Beast God, and only trusted his own fists.
But as his younger brother grew weaker, he saw that imposing father devoutly praying to the Beast God, begging for his brother’s recovery.
From then on, Bing Qiu would occasionally converse with the Beast God in his mind: “If you truly exist, please don’t take my little brother away.”
The seventh cold season arrived, and his little brother’s health indeed deteriorated, even falling into a deep sleep. His father and mother immediately decided to move south, seeking a warm and comfortable new home.
“Father, Mother, let me hold my little brother.” Perhaps influenced by the atmosphere his fathers had created since childhood, Bing Qiu always cherished his adorable and fragile little brother. Every day, he hoped his brother would recover like the other cubs and play with him.
During this time, his little brother was unusually willing to speak more.
“Brother, brother.”
Bing Qiu took Xue Tuan and saw his little brother reaching out to grab his hair.
Thinking his brother wanted to play with his beast form again, he readily transformed into a little white fox, and skillfully encircled his brother in his arms.
Bing Qiu’s furry cheek gently rubbed against Xue Tuan’s. His little brother seemed to particularly enjoy playing with his fur now, and always held him tightly.
Perhaps it was because his younger brother couldn’t transform into his beast form himself that he especially loved his family’s beast forms.
Bing Qiu pulled Xue Tuan closer to his chest, and tucked in his brother’s outstretched hand so he could play to his heart’s content.
Xue Tuan, now submerged in fluff, was named Hu Li in his previous life. He had only reached out to remove a fallen leaf from his brother’s head, but since his brother was so “sensible,” he naturally obliged and grabbed the fluffy thing in front of him.
Hu Li buried himself in his brother’s fur and inhaled deeply, thoroughly enjoying the fluff. Fluffy things were just wonderful!
Two months ago, Hu Li arrived in this strange beast world. In his previous world, he was a precious eleven years old ginseng spirit, and had just been admitted to the demon realm’s youth program.
He had lived deep in the mountains since childhood, and after transforming, he became neighbors with Grandpa Tree’s family. His neighbors were all kind people who taught him how to live self-sufficiently in the human world.
Before he even registered at school, he encountered a wicked demon who had come to the demon realm to steal ginseng essence. His last memory was of sliding off a cliff. Even now, thinking about it still makes him furious!
When he regained consciousness, Hu Li found himself transformed into a small child lying in a cave. He was extremely weak. Just getting up from the haystack and leaning against the stone wall had exhausted all his strength.
Then, suddenly, two tall strangers appeared at the cave entrance, rushing over and surrounding him, speaking a language he couldn’t understand. Hu Li was completely bewildered.
One of them excitedly picked him up, and babbled incoherently. Hu Li didn’t resist. From the moment he was picked up, a sense of familiarity arose within him, and his body and mind instinctively wanted to be close to the person holding him.
Hu Li guessed that the person before him must be his father.
Later, as he gradually came to understand their language, he realized that both of them were his biological fathers!
He had transmigrated into a beastman world, where all normal people could transform into animals! They were further divided into beastmen and sub-beastmen. Beastmen were typically tall and robust, while sub-beastmen were agile, nimble, and capable of reproduction.
However, Hu Li quickly calmed down. After all, he himself had previously been a ginseng spirit—who was more fantastical?
He adapted well to this world. It’s only that his current body was somewhat weak, and he often felt physically exhausted.
The level of civilization here wasn’t high. According to his extensive “paper knowledge,” this world was roughly at the level of primitive humans, but not entirely the same.
Although Hu Li spent most of his time sleeping in his pack, he still paid attention to his surroundings when he was awake.
While traveling, he often saw plants and animals that shouldn’t exist in a primitive era while some even looked familiar yet like mutated species.
This beastman world gave Hu Li a sense of disorientation, a feeling of time and space being disordered and intertwined, but at least he recognized quite a few things. Hu Li was quite content.
If anything made him happy, it was that his whole family were fluffy snow foxes, and they doted on him.
Hu Li struggled to crawl out from under his brother Bing Qiu’s belly and let out a breath.
Since waking up, his family had been constantly on the move. Sometimes they were lucky enough to stay in caves, but most of the time, like now, they had to pitch tents.
Strangely enough, Hu Li could clearly feel that the further south they migrated, the better his physical condition became.
The good news was that his weakness in his limbs had lessened considerably, after all, he could now cling tightly to his furry older brother.
The bad news was that his body was too weak. His will often yearned to stand and move, but his body remained lethargic as if on strike.
Moreover, from snippets of conversation with his family, Hu Li had guessed that his body would be unlikely to transform anytime soon—a truly sad piece of news.
However, there was nothing that could be done as it couldn’t be forced, Hu Li thought optimistically. The inspirational stories that Grandpa Tree often had Hu Li read came in handy at this moment.
“Ooh?” Bing Qiu lowered its head, and raised its paw to tuck its restless younger brother further under its belly, afraid he wasn’t warm enough.
Hu Li had no choice but to peek out with his large eyes to watch his father and mother busy at work not far away.
His mother, Rong Shan, was dexterous. He made most of the things in the house that needed further processing. His father always refused help, the reason being: “You’d waste materials.” In fact, his father’s hunting skills were quite good, but he preferred handicrafts.
His father, Feng Yan, was the strongest warrior in the tribe, and mainly responsible for various physical tasks such as hunting and building.
Hu Li watched as his father rummaged through a huge bundle and pulled out several bones. Piecing them together, it was clear they were originally the teeth of some kind of giant animal. His father held each tooth pointed downwards, then forcefully plunged it diagonally into the ground.
After burying three teeth in this way, his father formed a two-meter-high cone-shaped dome. His mother then unfurled a huge animal hide beside him and neatly laid it on top of the dome.
The two used various large stones they found nearby to weigh down the hide, securing it, and quickly finished setting up the tent.
“I’ll go gather some branches,” Feng Yan told his mate, then turned and walked into the forest.
“Go get some jerky if you’re hungry.” Rong Shan took out Xue Tuan’s special little wooden stool and placed it aside so the cub could sit and rest.
Rong Shan turned around and saw Xue Tuan hidden under his eldest son’s belly with only his big eyes showing. It looked quite comical, and he couldn’t help but laugh.
He was spreading dry grass into the tent, this was much better than sleeping directly on the damp, cold ground.
“Not hungry.”
Bing Qiu and Hu Li shook their heads in unison, they wanted to wait for the whole family to eat together.
There was still a while before dinner. Pulling open his older brother’s belly, Hu Li wanted to stand up and move around. Now, even if they rested along the way, he would try to find time to move around.
Yes, he had already embarked on the path of rehabilitation at such a young age.
Bing Qiu, sensing his younger brother’s determination, didn’t stop him. He obediently stood up and acted as a crutch for Hu Li.
When Hu Li lost his balance, Bing Qiu would quickly grab him by the back of his collar to prevent him from falling.
Bing Qiu wasn’t impatient, he treated it as a game with his younger brother.
When Hu Li got tired, he would lean against his furry older brother to rest and rub his fur to recharge.
“Chirp-“
Hu Li’s ears twitched, and he turned his head to one side.
“Brother, a sound.” He heard a very faint sound and pointed towards the woods.
Bing Qiu heard it too, but he didn’t pay much attention. Any noise in the wild was normal, especially such a harmless sound.
In this world, various ferocious beasts existed, and they would attack beastmen indiscriminately. The furry beast clothing that Xue Tuan wore was made from long-haired beasts, making it warmer than ordinary animal clothing.
But ferocious beasts didn’t appear often, and Bing Qiu believed he was capable of immediately picking up his brother and running away if he sensed any other malicious attack.
Xue Tuan stood up and walked towards the source of the sound with Bing Qiu following closely behind.
After walking only a few meters, Xue Tuan saw a grayish, round object under a tree.
It was… a small bird? It was about half an arm’s length long with a hooked beak and snow-white belly feathers.
“Chirp-” The little bird wasn’t afraid of strangers, and its wide eyes looked eagerly at Xue Tuan and Bing Qiu.
Xue Tuan crouched down and carefully picked up the bird.
He examined the bird closely, and found no wounds. He touched its little belly, was it too weak from hunger?
Xue Tuan carried the bird back, placed it on a small wooden stool, and then ran to his bag to retrieve his own very thinly sliced jerky.
Xue Tuan took out a small piece of jerky and placed it in front of the bird.
The little bird seemed to come alive the moment it saw the food, and eagerly devoured the jerky.
“What did you find?” Rong Shan was busy with his hands, only glancing at the two cubs when he had a spare moment.
Bing Qiu transformed back into human form, and also looked at the little bird. “Xue Tuan and I found a bird.”
He added at the end, “Should we roast it?”
The beastmen on this planet could automatically sense whether the person in front of them was a normal wild beast or a beastman in human form.
Ordinary wild beasts were usually eaten, so Bing Qiu asked instinctively.
The little bird seemed to understand a bit. Upon hearing Bing Qiu’s question, it spilled the jerky from its beak.