"Aow!!"
Gao Yue screamed in pain.
Her body, weakened by years of drinking cola, had brittle bones—even a simple fall could break something, let alone a three-meter drop. But she'd forgotten that just now, too busy worrying about someone else, and so she'd happily earned herself a broken right arm.
Moya was stunned, his lazy eyes widening slightly in disbelief, all traces of languor gone in an instant.
He had never seen a female cub with such fragile bones—no, wait, how could it have broken just like that? It was more brittle than wood.
He hurriedly set Gao Yue down, his expression slightly flustered.
..Had he just accidentally broken a female cub's arm?
"Wuuuu, it hurts!"
Gao Yue burst into tears from the pain.
Moya frowned, immediately set Gao Yue down, and vanished on the spot in a swift gust of wind. A moment later, a vivid, strange red flower appeared in his hand.
"Eat the whole thing."
Gao Yue ate the flower through her tears.
After swallowing it, her pain immediately eased by a huge margin, as if she'd taken a strong dose of ibuprofen. What had been a hundred percent pain was now down to thirty percent—bearable.
She blinked in amazement.
"I'll take you to get your injury treated."
Moya said this and moved to carry her off, but he didn't dare touch her now, afraid that if he used any force, the rest of her bones might snap too—he hesitated.
At this moment Gao Yue said, "Wait a moment, please—can you bring my suitcase and my zebra along?"
Moya: "I can."
Gao Yue, eyes still brimming with tears, added tentatively, "And... could you make sure my zebra doesn't die?"
Moya: "...Fine."
Gao Yue was completely reassured.
It seemed they really did take good care of female cubs—even someone like her, who'd appeared out of nowhere, was getting such good treatment.
Though she'd been an adult for a long time now, she'd just shamelessly pass herself off as a cub for a little while.
She hadn't really asked that question out of genuine concern for the zebra—after all, the bastard had kicked her twice to push off earlier, nearly drowning her.
She'd said it mainly to test the waters, to see how things stood around here.
The result was even better than she'd expected—if even her pet could receive protection, then her own safety was well guaranteed.
Add to that the fact that he'd just fed her a flower that eased her pain, and she felt she didn't need to be so on edge anymore, so her tone immediately lost some of its earlier caution.
"I'm freezing, I'm freezing, let's hurry up and go!"
Gao Yue urged him.
Moya: "..."
He fell silent for a moment, then said to the giant pythons by the lake, "Don't speak of what happened today. This female cub is someone I happened to find outside the tribe and brought back. Understood?"
The giant pythons all nodded in unison, quite astute.
Only then did Moya say to Gao Yue, "Come with me. I'll take you to see the witch doctor."
The giant pythons hissed among themselves in low voices—was Moya really leaving the Holy Lake?
Moya led the way in front, with Gao Yue struggling to keep up behind him. The banks of the Holy Lake were thick with vegetation, forest and shrubs alike, but it wasn't too hard going, since there was a wide python trail plowed out by the giant pythons, keeping the ground level.
But even a rubber track wouldn't have let her keep pace with him.
He stood nearly two meters tall, with legs that long, and he was even walking briskly—she had to run just to keep up. But having just survived a flood, she had no strength left at all, and simply couldn't keep up.
After they'd walked like this for a short distance, Moya stopped first, turning back helplessly. "Change into your true form and follow me. Walking like this is too slow."
Gao Yue: "?" OoO
Her true form—this was already her true form.
She did her best to stay composed, saying with a straight face, "I can't. My true form walks even slower than this."
A beast form slower than this—what could it possibly be, some kind of earthworm clan? Moya was at a loss for words, and asked her, "What clan are you?"
Gao Yue pulled out her all-purpose formula, the corner of her mouth curling into a smile: "...Why don't you guess?"
Moya: "Pig clan?"
"..."
Damn it, you're the pig clan!
Gao Yue's smile turned stiff. "Heh heh... it's really hard to guess, I won't tell you. Take me to get treated first, my arm still hurts a lot."
Moya: "Should I turn into my python form and carry you on my back?"
His true form was far too terrifying—Gao Yue didn't want to see it, and without hesitation found an excuse to refuse. "No, I only have one arm, I can't hold on to you, I'll slide right off."
Moya: "Then I'll carry you in my arms?"
Gao Yue agreed at lightning speed: "Sure!"
"..." That was a bit too quick to agree.
Moya glanced at her, but didn't take back what he'd just said. Still, once he raised his arms, he hardly dared to touch her.
In his mind now, Gao Yue was an impossibly fragile female cub made of brittle wood, liable to shatter at the slightest pressure.
In the end, he carefully slid one hand under her back and the other behind the crook of her knees, very gently attempting to lift her up sideways into his arms, as if he were cradling a block of tofu.
Hearing no telltale snap of breaking bone, he quietly let out a breath of relief.
Meanwhile Gao Yue, being princess-carried for the first time, couldn't help but tense up with nerves.
At that moment, the side of her face was pressed against his firm chest, bare of any fabric between them—his pecs were beautifully shaped, his skin smooth, and she could even see... well, something delicate and petal-pink. His faintly cool body heat seeped through her soaked nightgown into her skin. It was simply too close.
Why did she feel this strange guilt, like she was taking advantage of him?
On his side, Moya was equally uncomfortable—this female cub was soft all over, her skin snow-white, like a big ball of cotton curled up obediently in his arms.
This was the first time he had ever carried a female.
"Close your eyes in a moment. There will be a lot of giant pythons on the way that might scare you."
Moya said, a little awkwardly.
The Youpython Tribe was covered in giant pythons everywhere—this cub was so timid, he didn't want her getting frightened to death.
Gao Yue obediently closed her eyes.
In the end, two giant pythons ended up following along.
One giant python carried the half-dead zebra in its mouth, the other carried Gao Yue's suitcase, both slithering along behind them like two obedient followers.
Gao Yue glanced back once and found the two giant pythons unsettling in their cuteness and endearing in their unsettlingness, the sight making her hair stand on end. After that one look, she buried her face in Moya's neck and didn't dare open her eyes again.
Feeling the soft warmth against his neck, Moya grew even more uneasy. He took a deep breath and sped forward with her in his arms, moving very fast.
It was currently late autumn heading into early winter, with temperatures hovering only around ten-some degrees.
Soaked through, Gao Yue gradually began shivering in the rushing wind, her face turning pale.
She had no idea how long it had been since she'd fallen into the floodwaters. The only reason she hadn't succumbed to hypothermia yet was thanks to her layer of thick fat—if she'd been thin, she might already be gone.
Drifting in and out of consciousness, she felt Moya come to a stop, and then heard him speak.
"You need to change your clothes."
He set her down, produced a pale blue fragment of gemstone from who-knows-where, and handed it to her, gesturing toward a wooden house not far off.
"Ahead is Grandma Ya's dwelling. She's a kind old female. Take this, go ask her for two sets of beast skin clothing, and change inside the house."
Gao Yue took the gemstone.
It looked to be about two carats, glittering, translucent even without any artificial cutting. Her head fuzzy, she asked, "What kind of gemstone is this, it's so pretty—are you sure I should give this away just to get some clothes?"
Moya looked at her searchingly and answered, "This is a Tier 1 Beast Crystal."
"Oh."
Gao Yue gave an awkward little laugh.
It seemed like this was something everyone here was supposed to already know. She must be running a slight fever, her head foggy—she shouldn't have asked something like that.
Whatever. She'd stopped caring.
Gao Yue took the beast crystal and stepped forward, then noticed Moya showed no sign of coming along. "Aren't you coming?"
Moya: "It's a female's dwelling. It wouldn't be proper for me to go in."
Remembering her mouse-sized courage, he added, as if to comfort her, "No need to be afraid. Grandma Ya is very fond of female cubs."
For Moya, this was an exceedingly rare act of comfort—he was cold-hearted and unfeeling by nature, and had never coaxed anyone like this before. It was only because Gao Yue's excessive fragility had shaken him, and because she looked so pitiful covered in injuries.
This one line of comfort didn't do much good.
Gao Yue stared at the tall wooden house a dozen or so meters away, saw the pitch-black darkness beyond its open door, and felt a flicker of fear. Her feet stayed rooted in place, and she turned to look at him pleadingly, her eyes begging him to let it go.
Then he gave her a light push on the back, saying without room for argument:
"Go on."
For a moment, Gao Yue felt like a child being pushed by a parent toward some independent socializing. She shot him a resentful glare, but had no choice but to steel herself and go.
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