Beauty and the Beasts

Chapter 28: The Cave by the Lake

Bai Qingqing taught the females in the tribe to roast meat with ginger, garlic, and other seasonings, but there weren’t many people who sought to learn how to cook the fish steamboat as it wasted a lot of salt. Hence, she only privately taught Eve how to make that.

There was now a sudden interest in the culinary arts in the tribe. The beastman used their imaginations and created many different kinds of… unknown substances.

Such as, there was this beastman who liked the fragrance of star anise and cinnamon, so he ground these two herbs into powder and mixed them together, dipping his meat in it just like how they dipped their food in salt.

According to an observer, that person had a subtle expression on his face as he ate it, claiming the taste was not bad.

In another instance, someone found some tree leaves outside his house, turned it into a gooey state, and used it to grill some dark green colored meat, which turned out so bitter it was a torture to swallow.

Beastmen didn’t waste their food, so that beastman movingly and tragically swallowed all that bitter meat by himself.

There were countless such examples, making Bai Qingqing unsure whether to laugh or to cry at the sight of them. The next few days passed quickly and soon, her period finally ended.

Neither Parker nor Bai Qingqing was willing to give in, in the meantime. When Bai Qingqing was at home, she kept feeling Parker was going to make a move on her any time. So, for the sake of her own safety, she wisely chose to go out.

“I’m heading out to look for food. Eating meat every day is making me heaty.”

After all, Bai Qingqing wasn’t of the leopard species, and the differences between his species and hers were quickly evident. She urgently needed her intake of vitamins now.

Parker stared at Bai Qingqing with sorrowful eyes, but Bai Qingqing was unmoved by that. He suddenly ripped off his skirt.

Stunned, Bai Qingqing subconsciously retreated a step. She heard Parker say, “I’m going to hunt!”

Parker then transformed into his animal form and walked out of the house. Bai Qingqing heaved a sigh of relief as she smiled and waved at him. “Be careful.”

Parker turned his head around and took a deep look at her with his golden eyes before sprinting off.

Hmph, I’m going to look for the Flos Eriocauli. Leopard beastmen get excited and stirred when they sniff that, greatly enhancing their mating rates. Qingqing who is of the ape species will probably react to that too.

Bai Qingqing also left the house after Parker left. She didn’t go to look for Eve but merely went to the lake outside the village by herself. She recalled seeing quite a lot of edible moss there.

As the sun only shone into the valley at noon, the temperature was much lower than outside. As she walked out of the valley, Bai Qingqing started feeling hot, so she quickly walked towards the trees where she could seek the shade.

To her surprise, in the cooler areas, the moss was more luxuriant. Feeling jubilant, Bai Qingqing instantly broke a tender piece of moss and lifted the green-red tender skin and ate the refreshing and tasty moss within.

As she ate, Bai Qingqing continued bending over and continued looking. Accidentally, she lost her footing and fell.

“Ah—!”

Bai Qingqing fell into a black cave and instantly sniffed an intensely damp stench, like the smell in a fish basket, but darker and colder. The stench didn’t smell rotten like dead fishes, but there was an earthy smell.

It was clearly a hot season out there, yet in here it was wet and cold like it was deep autumn, giving Bai Qingqing’s bare and exposed skin goosebumps.

Raising her head, she saw speckles of sunlight shining in through the vines outside. Ah, she had thought those vines were grassland.

This place underneath was vast, and the only entrance was that hole of 2m of diameter from up there. No idea how it came to be that way. Outside the walls was the lake water—plenty of water had seeped in, and the water level was somewhere in the middle of Bai Qingqing’s calves.

Bai Qingqing wanted to find something to climb up with, so she looked everywhere. Vaguely seeing a rock, she walked over to it.

The accumulated water made whooshing sounds and resounded throughout the nearly completely enclosed cave as she moved about.

That was indeed a rock. Bai Qingqing was about to lift it away when she noticed something lying on top of it.

“Hm? Why is there a piece of cloth here?”