Shihua's face turned deathly pale.
She looked at her companion nearby, whose fate was unknown, then met Moya's icy, indifferent gaze. In the end, she couldn't bring herself to accept it, but with trembling hands she placed the mirror onto Moya's open palm.
This mirror really was a treasure, reflecting things so clearly. She truly hated to part with it.
"I... I'll tell Lin Xi everything that happened here!" she said, her bravado a thin mask over her fear, trying to salvage a shred of dignity.
Moya didn't even bother to acknowledge her, turning to hand the mirror back to Gao Yue.
Gao Yue hurriedly took it, checking it carefully. Finding the surface undamaged, she finally let out a breath of relief.
Then she crouched down and began carefully gathering the scattered items back into the suitcase.
Moya said coldly to Shihua, "Take them and get lost, now."
Shihua bit her lip, feeling deeply humiliated, but didn't dare say anything more. Instead, she turned her fury on her own useless Beast Husbands, roughly kicking each of the unconscious men awake, and stormed off first, furious and mortified.
The three Beast Husbands supported each other, stumbling along in a sorry state behind her.
Moya crouched down without a word and began tidying up alongside Gao Yue.
Gao Yue had originally been quite angry, her face set in a scowl, but as she kept picking things up, she gradually came to her senses. She stole a glance at Moya's cold, hard profile, and unease began to creep into her heart.
Was it really okay for him to come down so hard on his beloved's friend, all for the sake of an outsider like her?
From the sound of it, he'd had some falling out with that person called Lin Xi. What if they made up later? And after they made up, what if Lin Xi stirred things up and had him come after her again?
Then she'd really be in trouble.
She'd become collateral damage in a lovers' spat.
While Gao Yue was lost in anxious thought, Moya had already finished packing everything up.
He picked up the suitcase, tossed a Beast Crystal to the injured Giant Python, then said to Gao Yue, "Let's go. We're heading in."
Gao Yue nodded and followed him deeper into the cave.
Perhaps because her mind was elsewhere, combined with her unfamiliarity with the uneven cave floor, she failed to notice a hidden dip. Her foot caught on it, and with a startled cry, she pitched forward.
The pain she expected never came. Before she hit the ground, Moya had already spun around and caught her in one swift motion.
A flicker of helplessness crossed his handsome, cold features, and then he swept his arm under her, scooping her up and holding her upright like a child.
Gao Yue struggled to get down.
"Stop trying to walk on your own." Moya tightened his hold, his voice light but leaving no room for argument. "The Medical Priest said your bones are fragile. Be careful, or you'll end up breaking a leg too."
Gao Yue's face flushed with embarrassment.
"I just wasn't used to the terrain here. It won't happen again..."
Moya gave an indifferent hum in response.
Gao Yue was thoroughly annoyed with herself, thinking that she wouldn't be able to drink soda for a long while yet, and that she should get more sunlight so her bones wouldn't be so fragile anymore.
Moya carried her, walking steadily deeper into the cave.
From the outside, the cave looked unremarkable, but inside it was unexpectedly vast and grand, and surprisingly clean and dry—there wasn't a single insect to be seen.
The interior was furnished with extreme simplicity. Only at the very back, against the rock wall, stood a stone platform of unimaginable size.
Moya set Gao Yue down on the cool, smooth stone platform.
The platform was smooth as a mirror and remarkably flat, wide enough for hundreds of people to lie side by side. To Gao Yue, it looked almost like a small public square.
Gao Yue curled her bare toes; the coolness of the cave made the soles of her feet feel a little cold.
She looked around, and aside from this absurdly enormous stone platform, there was nothing else in sight. Curious, she couldn't help but ask, "This... this is where you live? Then where's your bed?"
There was no trace of the bed, blankets, or any of the domestic comforts she'd imagined.
The only thing there was a sizeable, fluffy animal sleeping toward the back, a great puff of snowy white—she couldn't tell if it was a dog or some other kind of pet.
Moya lowered his lashes slightly, a hint of embarrassment surfacing on his jade-white face, and pointed beneath himself. "This is my bed."
Gao Yue's eyes went wide. "This is the bed?"
This wasn't a bed at all—this was a platform. It was just too big.
A modern architect could probably lay out a whole three-bedroom apartment on this thing. "Big" wasn't even the right word for it anymore; "vast and empty" fit better.
..Then again, it made sense when she thought about it. This man's python form was so enormous that the size was clearly meant to accommodate his coiled bulk while he rested in his Python Form.
Gao Yue: "Then what about your blanket? Uh, I mean, do you have any Animal Skin?"
How could there not be a single blanket on this man's bed? Wouldn't he freeze to death sleeping at night?
Moya explained, "Members of the Python Tribe don't sleep under Animal Skins. If you feel cold, you can hold onto it for now—it's warm."
As he spoke, he grabbed hold of the long-haired animal sleeping toward the back.
Which was, in fact, Snowball Pig.
Snakes like to coil around something warm while they sleep, so he kept a plump Snowball Pig as a pet. Usually, in his Python Form, he used the fat pig as a pillow to sleep on.
Snowball Pig could sleep twenty hours a day and had exceptionally high-quality sleep. It had been deep in slumber, and being abruptly yanked up left it a little dazed, its little black bean eyes rolling around in confusion.
"Huh, so this is actually a little pig."
Gao Yue exclaimed in surprise.
She had assumed it was a dog, or maybe some large breed of cat like a Maine Coon. She never expected this fluffy creature to actually be a long-haired pig.
It was about the size of an Alaskan Malamute, its snow-white fur extremely thick and dense.
It was so cute, impossible not to fall in love with at first sight.
After all, who could resist a fat little piggy so fluffy and round, looking just like a puffed-up Dandelion? She certainly couldn't.
Delighted, Gao Yue scooped the plump little piggy into her arms.
The pig's body temperature was so high, warm all over, and it felt wonderfully soft to hold, like a marshmallow. Its fur was snow-white and clean too, smelling fragrant, as if carrying the scent of sunlight.
"Hmph hmph hmph!"
But Snowball Pig was not pleased.
It had been thoroughly spoiled by Moya—back when other tribe members wanted to touch it, it wouldn't allow them. Now, how could it possibly stand being held by a stranger? It began thrashing wildly in Gao Yue's arms.
Gao Yue, soft and fragile as she was, was no match for its strength, and it broke free of her grip almost instantly. But the next moment, Snowball Pig was frozen in place, stunned by a familiar, icy chill in the air.
"Don't move."
Moya ordered it in a low voice.
"Eep." Snowball Pig let out a whimper, cowed into submission.
But it couldn't believe that its master, who had always doted on it, would actually be so fierce with it. Tears welled up in its wronged little black bean eyes, and it slowly rolled over into an all-four-hooves-in-the-air position, and lay still.
The little sight was both pitiful and funny.
Gao Yue was left staring, momentarily stunned.
Oh no, she liked it even more now. She really wanted to keep one of her own too.
✦✦✦