The black bear’s eyes flashed with a trace of confusion. He himself wasn’t so excited, so why was this sub-beastman so excited?
He originally thought he would die in a giant python’s mouth, but unexpectedly again, he escaped a disaster.
“Just treat it casually.”
The content a priest needs to study is vast and varied. The black bear didn’t think this pale-faced, thin sub-beastman could have such a strong learning ability.
He closed his eyes, leaning against the tree.
“Forget it, talk tomorrow. The forest is very dangerous after dark.”
“This isn’t very good.” Occupational habit made Lu Xuan immediately wish he could carry the black bear into a machine and arrange everything, like drawing blood and taking X-rays.
The black bear suddenly opened his eyes. A sharp wind brushed past Lu Xuan’s eyes, and a scream that seemed to pierce eardrums instantly made his vision blurry.
The scream was high-pitched and thin, drilling into the brain through every crack.
“Ugh~”
Lu Xuan fell to the ground dry heaving, without food in his stomach, wanting to vomit but unable to.
His eyes filled with tears. Almost by bodily instinct, he looked toward the direction the sound came from.
A huge trumpet flower, its petals flaring angrily toward this side, as if roaring in fury.
In the middle of the stamen was actually a mouth lined with countless sharp teeth. Judging by the size, Lu Xuan had no doubt it could swallow his head in one bite.
“Man-eating flower.”
Lu Xuan silently murmured, astonished and uncertain.
The petal’s flaring force gradually faded, finally shrinking into a long strip-shaped bud, and together with the stem, went limp and fell to the ground.
The moment it fell to the ground, a thin red thing curled around it and dragged it into the dim depths of the bushes.
Lu Xuan’s throat rolled, his whole body stiff.
That flower was so close to the tree hole. The cubs were still…
Cubs?
Lu Xuan gasped: “My cubs!”
Rolling and crawling, he rushed to the tree hole, pulled out the three little cubs inside, and hugged them in his arms.
“One two three.”
“Three two one.”
Thank goodness, none missing, not a single one missing.
Lu Xuan’s heart was still pounding with fear. The original owner had brought six cubs when escaping, the other three were newborns who couldn’t withstand the bumps of the journey and lack of milk, and all died.
He had taken over the original owner’s body, and should protect them.
“Little babies, Daddy will definitely raise you all, raise you plump and chubby, cute and lovely.”
Lu Xuan put them into a leather pouch, leaving only three little fuzzy heads exposed.
This tree hole was not safe at all right now.
Looking at the knife stuck in the ground, Lu Xuan hesitated for a moment, took a big step forward, pulled out the knife, and ran.
He crouched next to the black bear beastman, holding the cubs in the leather pouch, and placed the knife in front of the black bear.
“Your knife.”
He didn’t know what material it was made of. The color was pale white, the texture smooth and heavy.
Not even a handle, formed in one piece.
Lu Xuan at this moment felt reverence for this knife. Such a knife, about twenty centimeters long, had stabbed to death a man-eating flower that could swallow a head in one bite.
“Still treating?” the black bear said with downcast eyes.
A knife made from black feather bird bone wasn’t a rare thing, tribes with priests would have a few.
This sub-beastman’s eyes could light up over a bone knife. It seemed his tribe was also poor and backward.
As for the priest grandpa, that might just be a beastman who had been a priest’s apprentice for a few years, then left his original tribe to go to remote and weak tribes, scamming people.
The black bear no longer held any hope for the sub-beastman before him.
“Ah? Well, maybe tomorrow then.” Lu Xuan said with an embarrassed smile.
Since so much time had already been delayed, it probably wouldn’t matter to delay one more night, right?
Lu Xuan’s face felt a little hot. He looked up through the gaps in the tree canopy toward the sky. There was still light, but down inside the forest it was already nearly dark.
The surrounding plants and bushes were like a ferocious beast with claws bared, and there were things hiding in the darkness, waiting only for them to let their guard down before swallowing them one by one.
Lu Xuan tightened his hold on the leather pouch again and imperceptibly moved closer to the black bear.
At the same time, he felt some regret inside. He shouldn’t have returned the knife to the black bear. Since the bear had his eyes closed and couldn’t see anyway, keeping it for self-defense would have been so much better.
Wuu wuu wuu…
The three cubs in his arms whimpered softly and thinly. Lu Xuan’s heart trembled, and he nearly burst into tears.
“I’m sorry, cubs. Wait a little longer. Daddy will find you food as soon as it’s light tomorrow.”
He was terribly hungry too. This body hadn’t eaten anything all day.
Although he dared not sleep, the hunger was so unbearable that Lu Xuan closed his eyes and tried to ignore his stomach, which kept crying out from time to time.
Fatigue gradually set in, and Lu Xuan fell asleep anyway.
In the night wind, he shuddered, hugged the leather pouch tighter against his chest, and instinctively moved toward the source of warmth.
The black bear opened his eyes, silently watching the sub-beastman curled up against his waist and the three little cubs. After a while, he moved his arm, shielding them from the assault of the cold night wind.
Lu Xuan was licked awake again by the little cubs. The three cubs whimpered and whined, eagerly expressing that they were hungry, very hungry.
Lu Xuan was hungry too. He opened his eyes and realized he had spent the night curled up against the black bear.
No wonder he hadn’t felt cold at all. He stood up, clutching his stomach aching with hunger.
The sky was already bright. The sun… let’s call it the sun. Lu Xuan didn’t know what the star hanging in the sky, emitting light and heat, was called, so he would just borrow the name “sun.”
The black bear was still leaning against the tree with his eyes closed, just like the night before. His fur was long and tangled. Some areas were caked with dried mud and matted, and some clumped areas clearly showed traces of blood.
His nose was dry and pale, a sign of unhealthiness.
Lu Xuan’s heart felt heavy, but the hungry little cubs had already climbed onto his shoulders, licking and crying out.
He put the cubs into the leather pouch. First, he had to solve the problem of feeding the cubs and himself.
The forest in the morning was full of vitality, like a beautiful oil painting. All kinds of bird calls filled the air, and the fresh scent of plants filled the air, as if the huge man-eating flower from last night had just been a hallucination brought on by hunger.
Lu Xuan did not dare let his guard down at all. He walked through open spaces, choosing areas with plenty of room. He did not dare step into dense thickets of plants, afraid that with one step he might step on something.
A rabbit with two fangs hopped past in front of him. The three little cubs stared at Lu Xuan longingly.
Lu Xuan: …
I’m really sorry, Daddy doesn’t have any hunting skills.
The original owner was a sub-beastman who had never participated in hunting in the tribe. And he himself, a person from the end of the 21st century, was even less likely to know how to hunt.
Lu Xuan swallowed a mouthful of bitter, tearful regret.
“Daddy will find you some fruit to eat.”
Making carnivores eat wild fruit, what a sin.
In fact, he didn’t even know which wild fruits were edible.
Fortunately, he had the original owner’s memories. The red fruits growing on the waist-high plant in front of him looked a bit like cherries. Lu Xuan couldn’t wait to pick a few, stuffing one into each of the three cubs’ mouths, and finally eating one himself.
Yes, the taste was even more similar, thin-skinned, juicy, sweet with a hint of sourness.
His long-starved stomach desperately wanted to just remove his head, then uproot the plants, leaves and all, and stuff them straight into his stomach.
He picked some large, ear-shaped leaves from a nearby plant, placed the three cubs on them, then frantically picked red fruits with one hand to stuff into his own mouth while picking red fruits with the other hand to place on the leaves for the cubs to eat.
When Lu Xuan finally calmed down from his manic eating, he realized just how pathetic he had looked moments ago. The three little cubs were covered head to toe in red fruit juice.
He picked another leaf and barely managed to wipe the three cubs clean, then put them back into the leather pouch. He used the leaf to wrap up the remaining twenty or thirty small red fruits to take back to the black bear, if he was still there.
The three little cubs kept whimpering and struggling inside the leather pouch, so Lu Xuan had no choice but to gently stroke each one to soothe them.
“Be good, babies. Daddy knows you’re not full. Daddy isn’t full either. The four of us will go find some water next, and see if we can catch a few fish.”
Aow, aow, aow~~~
Among the three cubs, the fishing cat cub kept stretching his neck and crying out. He had heard the sound of flowing water.
Lu Xuan paused. The sound of flowing water? Talk about perfect timing.
“Which direction, Baby Xueyu (Snow Fish)? Show Daddy the way.”
The fishing cat cub was born on a snowy day, so his parents had named him Xueyu. It was actually quite a nice name.
Xueyu extended his little paw and pointed a direction. Lu Xuan turned his steps and walked left.
Ten minutes later, Lu Xuan, holding the three cubs in his arms, found himself staring face to face with the black bear by the stream.
“Hey, brother, I brought you some little red fruits.”
Lu Xuan held up the green leaf bundle.
“Didn’t expect you would come here. Good thing I didn’t just go straight back to find you, otherwise we would have missed each other.”
The black bear was silent for a moment. The fish in his paw moved, and the sub-beastman and the three little cubs’ eyes followed its every movement.
After teasing them a couple of times, a hint of amusement flashed in the black bear’s eyes. They were quite entertaining.
“Want some fish?”
Lu Xuan smiled so wide that his teeth showed but his eyes crinkled shut. He stepped forward and took the fish from the black bear’s paw.
“That’s a bit embarrassing.”
Then he turned and walked to the stream to begin gutting the fish. Without a knife, he could only pick up a slightly sharp stone and make do.
The black bear handed him the bone knife: “Use this.”
Since he had already taken the fish, there was no need to be overly modest about the knife.
Lu Xuan took the knife and said, “Thank you.”
The black bear watched the three cubs circling the fish, then walked to the side and slapped a few more large fish onto the bank. As luck would have it, they landed right in front of Lu Xuan.
Lu Xuan looked up and gave the black bear a sincere smile.
“You’re really a good person… ah, good bear.”
Then he pressed down on the three cubs’ heads and said in a lowered voice, “Say thank you to Uncle Black Bear. Uncle Black Bear, you’re so kind.”
The black bear fell silent. If he had been momentarily stunned by the sub-beastman’s warm and enthusiastic smile just now, now he was truly astonished.
This was nothing like someone fleeing with cubs. It seemed more like a tribe member resting after gathering.
What an interesting sub-beastman. Before death, he might as well help as much as he could.
After all, cubs were the hope of any tribe.
The black bear turned his gaze elsewhere, distant and sorrowful.
Inside the leather pouch there were two small stones. These were flint stones, something the original owner treasured greatly.
Lu Xuan gathered some dry branches from around the area and made a large fish roasting rack, one that could cook several fish at once.
After setting up the rack, he squeezed the red fruits and dripped some of their juice onto the fish.
Once the aroma of roasting fish emerged, the three little cubs’ mouths never stopped watering.
Lu Xuan swallowed his saliva. No need to mention it, he was also about to lose control.
He sat in front of the roasting fish, with a lynx cub perched on top of his head, and a fishing cat cub and a leopard cat cub standing on his shoulders.
The one person and three cubs just stared longingly at the fish roasting over the fire.
The black bear couldn’t help but let out a quiet laugh from his throat, but the others didn’t hear it at all, their entire beings were focused on those skewers of fish.