Cohabitation
As the meat entered its stomach, a faint wisp of spiritual energy dispersed and merged into its body. Bai Lou stuck out its tongue, trying to dispel the strange taste in its mouth.
It understood why dinosaur meat was so precious. Besides being food, it contained spiritual energy, which could strengthen the body.
But it was truly awful! Bai Lou, with a pained expression, tore off another piece of meat. Looking around, he was puzzled as to why these people ate without batting an eye, even chatting and laughing.
Bai Lou suspected that the blood in the meat hadn’t been properly cleaned, and there was no marinating or seasoning involved.
Yes, it was a cat that knew how to cook. Although it had never cooked, it understood the basics.
Years ago, the elderly didn’t have so many rules about cats. What kind of cat food or canned cat food did they feed them? Most cats ate leftovers. It was a little better off. There was only one person and one cat in the family, and when the elderly person cooked, they ate together.
Lang Zhan stared at the pained cat face for a while, then suddenly said to Lang Kai, “Don’t worry, Bai Lou will take care of me these next few days.”
“Huh?” Bai Lou looked up, bewildered. “When did I say I’d take care of you?”
Lang Zhan seemed to understand its gaze, waving the skewer of meat in its hand in front of it, reminding it, “I’m not full yet, and neither is my little brother.”
“I’m feeding you now, understand?”
“Meow,” Okay.
“As long as you two aren’t worried about being taken care of in a mess, although theoretically even cats understand, to be honest, I don’t even know if I can walk in human form.”
After eating half a skewer of meat, Bai Lou refused to eat anymore. A little something to fill your stomach is enough so why eat until you’re stuffed!
Lang Zhan didn’t bother it. Since it wasn’t eating anymore, it could finally eat its own meal.
With some free time, Bai Lou started looking around. In the center of the square was a stone platform, and in front of it burned a bonfire larger than the surrounding area, with a stone pot on top, cooking something inside.
Looking over from Bai Lou’s perspective, the food in the pot seemed to be cooked, and the priest directed people to scoop it into a stone trough.
After it cooled slightly, several beastmen carrying the large earthenware jar containing the dinosaur’s blood from the evening went over and poured the blood in, stirring it well.
The priest stepped onto the stone platform, and one of the beastmen transformed into his beast form, howling to the sky. The noisy square instantly fell silent as everyone looked towards the platform.
Lang Kai got up, carrying his family’s round ball and Lang Tu, and went up to the platform, throwing them directly into the stone trough. Two wolf cubs pounced out, clinging to the edge of the trough, and soon both troughs were full of cubs.
In summer, food was plentiful, and wolf cubs, being young, didn’t eat much; few families lacked even a few bites for their cubs.
Most of the wolf cubs were plump and round, and even with their fur wet from the medicinal bath, they hadn’t lost much weight.
The priest, holding a vine staff, stood on the stone platform with his hands raised, and proclaimed loudly, “Blessings from the Beast God! Today, we use the blood of the Wind Dinosaur to bathe the cubs of our tribe. May the Beast God bless them so they may all grow up healthy and strong beastmen!”
As he finished speaking, strange syllables gradually coalesced into a mysterious melody, and his body danced along.
Bai Lou watched with wide eyes, amazed. He hadn’t expected the priest to perform such a ritual. The strange syllables and dance weren’t entirely useless. Although they had nothing to do with the Beast God’s blessing, they did seem to gather spiritual energy.
However, he turned to look at Lang Zhan, wondering what he thought about how his desperate hunt for the dinosaur had become a blessing from the Beast God.
Lang Zhan clearly had no other thoughts. As the priest danced, the beastmen in the square rose, their expressions becoming solemn.
As the priest ceased his actions, the vine staff pointed to the stone trough, and two beams of green light fell into it. A unified roar echoed through the arena, “Blessings of the Beast God! May the Beast God protect the Wolf Tribe!”
As the gathering dispersed, everyone extinguished their fires, tidied their bonfires, and went home.
Lang Zhan, carrying Lang Tu he had just cleaned, stood up. The white cat sitting beside him stood up automatically, its round, bright eyes fixed on Lang Zhan.
“Can I go back to sleep now? I’m so sleepy.”
Lang Zhan swallowed back the words that were about to escape his lips.
“Never mind, I promised this cat would take care of him and pay off his debts. Now I’d have to run back and forth to the main house.”
Although he had intended to keep it as a companion for one of the clan’s bachelors, the matter wasn’t settled yet, and it was uncertain whether Bai Lou would agree. One had to be careful around females, but among beastmen, there were no taboos so taking it home wouldn’t be a problem.