Chapter 348

Ancient legends of immortals and monsters had always existed; Yuan Lang found it shocking, yet he believed it, after all the facts were right before his eyes.

He took the small beast-skin parcel Wu Yue handed over: "Don't let others see this ability."

Wu Yue nodded embarrassedly: "I also just forgot I didn't bring the small basket."

After saying that, he directly pointed at the small beast-skin packet in the Beastfolk's hand and said: "Inside is the reward the Shaman gave me after we found food last time; things like ferocious beast crystal cores are useless to me, so I'll give it to you."

Yuan Lang also didn't stand on ceremony and accepted it; anyway, in his heart, once he becomes strong, he still needs to protect the little female.

Moreover, having learned an important secret of the little female, the Beastfolk's lips have been turned up for several days straight, showing he's absolutely in a good mood.

The rainy season continues, and as the days pass, the rain has actually grown heavier and heavier.

Wu Yue couldn't help worrying about the taro previously stored behind the mountain; although the back mountain hasn't been flooded, with such heavy rain continuing, it's uncertain whether the taro will get damp and rot, after all she still lacks confidence in the cellar she first dug out.

The more she thought, the less she could stay seated; she got up and headed straight for Yuan Lang's cave.

"Yuan Lang, are you there?"

As her voice fell, the Beastfolk's voice came from behind: "I'm here."

Wu Yue startled, quickly turned around, and indeed saw the Beastfolk wiping sweat from his body while smiling at her.

Looking at the Beastfolk, bare-chested and still sweating, and herself wrapped in several layers of beast-skin yet shivering, Wu Yue inexplicably felt a pang of heartache.

Yuan Lang stretched out his hand in a gesture of invitation: "Come in."

The Beastfolk's cave was clean and simple, containing only a grass nest besides a few beast-skins piled in the corner.

The beast-skins were placed on a wooden rack, likely to prevent dampness.

The cave isn't large; one glance takes it all in.

"You're sweating so much; be careful not to catch a chill."

Yuan Lang chuckled lightly: "Naturally, I'm training to strengthen my body; I aim to become the strongest Beastfolk in this world."

Seeing his confident expression, Yue couldn't help but grin.

The cave itself isn't large, and the distance between them is somewhat close; waves of heat from the Beastfolk's body made Yue feel hot as well.

Needless to say, this guy Yuan Lang truly has a top-notch physique—his muscles are firm and strong, not overly bulky, exactly the kind of build someone likes.

"Your mouth corner is wet."

The Beastfolk's amused voice sounded in her ear.

A certain little female, eyes wide, instinctively raised her hand to wipe her mouth corner, only to find it completely dry.

She turned her head and indeed met the Beastfolk's teasing, smile-filled gaze.

Even someone as thick-skinned as Yue couldn't help but blush.

She immediately looked away, gave a dry cough, and said: "The taro we harvested earlier is still stored in the cellar; I want to check its condition."

She then frowned and said: "We've had rain for many days straight, and this is our first time building a cellar; if it's damp inside, the taro will spoil."

Yuan Lang nodded, dried his hair, went to the corner, took out a beast-skin garment and put it on: "Let's go; I'll accompany you to have a look."

Yue nodded, and the two put on the previously woven grass clothes and ran all the way to the nearby cellar area.

Here at the cellar, a Half-Beast warrior is on guard; everyone takes turns staying in the previously built houses, which have ample firewood and food, making them quite warm.

Seeing the two figures coming from the great cave, the Half-Beast warrior guarding the cellar hastily put on his grass clothes and came out.

"Wu Yue? Yuan Lang? In such heavy rain, how did you come here?"

Yue smiled: "I wanted to come to the cellar to get some taro to take back and make some tasty food, so I asked Yuan Lang to accompany me."

The Half-Beast warrior nodded, then smiled: "You could have just sent the slaves to say a word; why come yourself? Getting sick wouldn't be good."

Although he said that, he still led the two toward a side cellar.

Upon reaching the outermost cellar, he stopped and said: "The taro in this cellar is what we've been eating; I'll go down and fetch some for you."

Yue smiled: "Let me go down too; since the cellar was finished and the taro stored, I've actually never been down there before."

The Half-Beast laughed while lifting the stone slab above the cellar to one side: "Since only Beastfolk or Half-Beast warriors go down, we never prepared any stepping aids."

Having said that, he somewhat embarrassedly scratched his head.

Yue smiled: "No problem; Yuan Lang also needs to go down, so he can just catch me."

Upon hearing that, Yuan Lang didn't hesitate, walked straight forward, and leapt into the cellar.

Then he reached upward and said: "Just jump down; I'll catch you."

The Half-Beast beside them, seeing this, revealed a meaningful smile, making Yue blush involuntarily.

But thinking of her worries, she still jumped down into the cellar.

One-third of the cellar's space has already been emptied, likely eaten by the male guarding this place.

The remaining taro still looks fresh, and even the cellar walls are dry, with no sign of the dampness she feared.

This made her involuntarily let out a deep sigh of relief.

"How is it? All right?"

Yuan Lang had previously entered commoners' cellars, but back then he was merely hiding from pursuers, only glancing around briefly; although he'd stored some easy-to-keep food, the space was far less spacious than this.

After filling the backpack he brought and handing it up to the Half-Beast warrior above, Yuan Lang directly embraced the little female and leapt upward.

Yue's heart tightened; ten thousand grass-mud horses galloped in her mind.

This cellar is at least as tall as an ordinary Beastfolk, over two meters high—are you really jumping straight up like that while holding someone?

"Why don't you just fly up?" The Yue who had been set down felt her legs tremble a little.

"I didn't expect you to be this timid."

Yuan Lang looked at the little female's timid appearance and said, quite amused.

Tongzi burst into wild laughter in the darkness: "Exactly, exactly, what you saw is absolutely right—the dog host is just a coward whose courage is only the size of a sesame seed."

Noticing Tongzi's thoughts, Wu Yue immediately pulled up the panel, preparing to deduct all of its pocket-money points, but when she saw that the balance already had hardly any points left, she decisively gave up the idea.

No wonder Tongzi has been like menopausal these days; whenever she does something slightly unsatisfactory, she switches to fault‑finding mode—turns out she's simply run out of money to spend and has thrown in the towel, letting things go to ruin.

The two returned to the cave carrying a whole back basket of taro, and the surrounding females curiously gathered around: "Yue, what's in your back basket… Good heavens, isn't this just a dirt lump that gets itchy and painful when touched?"

Among the onlookers, someone quickly recognized it.

Wu Yue nodded: "This is called taro; touching the juice of raw taro makes us feel itchy and uncomfortable, but eating it cooked or roasted is fine."

She said while using a stick to push aside the fire beside her and bury a few taros in it.

The rest were taken by Yuan Lang to the poolside to be washed clean.

"Help me cut it into chunks." Wu Yue grinned, showing her teeth.

Yuan Lang narrowed his eyes; the effect of taro juice, no one in the tribe knows it better than she does—this little female is too scared to cut it herself, so she's letting him have a go.

But for the little female he likes, the beastman also enjoys pampering her, chuckling lightly as he carried off a whole basket of taro.

Wu Yue watched the beastman's retreating figure, puzzled: "What's he off to do?"

But soon he found out.

When Yuan Lang came over carrying a whole basket of diced taro, the painful cries from the scorpion-tribe beastmen at the cave entrance could practically be heard throughout the whole cave.

Wu Yue looked at him amusedly: "Isn't this just 'may the wicked die while the virtuous live'?"

Yuan Lang raised an eyebrow: "As a captive, one can't just eat and sleep all day."

Having said that, he sat down on a stone lined with grass mats: "Besides, I just gave them a piece of ginger."

Wu Yue silently lit a stick of incense for the scorpion-tribe beastmen in her heart.

But that smile of sympathy lasted less than three seconds before she tossed it out of her mind.

Because the oil in the stone pot had heated up.

He dumped the pre‑sliced meat into the stone pot and stir‑fried it; the fat quickly rendered, sizzling and jumping in the pot.

Then he added some pre‑prepared flavored fruits and seasonings, poured in water, and began to stew.

As the water in the pot boiled, the meat aroma quickly spread through the cave.

The tribespeople rose with a mix of sweetness and worry, walking out of the cave; this tempting smell must be Wu Yue making something delicious again.

Recalling the previous rainy season when hides and food were scarce, he suddenly felt that this rainy season had been pretty wasted.

As the tribespeople came out one after another, they indeed saw Wu Yue cooking something at the biggest stove, while around her a circle of females were learning.

The female beastfolk sat on the outskirts just like the males, sniffing the meat aroma and drooling.

The observing half‑beasts and pure‑human females had pretty much finished learning.

The female beastfolk watching the half‑beasts and pure‑human females gathered around the pot felt a twinge of envy.

No way— for some reason, the female beastfolk warriors whose combat prowess matches that of the beastman warriors seem to have been abandoned by the Beast God when it comes to cooking; they just don't get it.

The food they produce could be called the dark cuisine of the beastfolk world.

About the same time, Wu Yue dumped the taro that makes the tribespeople's faces change into the pot, then covered it again and let it stew.

With the bubbling stew sound rising again, the meat aroma mixed with the taro fragrance drifted out once more, and the surroundings filled with a chorus of gulping sounds as people swallowed saliva.

Yuan Lang, seated beside the pot holding a bowl and waiting, buried his handsome face in the steam rising from the pot, his Adam's apple rolling up and down.

"Is it not ready yet?"

It's rare to see him like this; Wu Yue chuckled, lifted the lid, and scooped a chunk of taro and a piece of meat into his stone bowl with a spoon: "Try it and see if it's good."

White steam rose from the meat and taro in the bowl; Yuan Lang's eyes lit up, he picked up his chopsticks and shoved the food into his mouth.

The savory, fragrant, crispy meat blended with the various flavored fruits and seasonings added to the pot, losing any gamy smell; one bite made the beastman narrow his eyes.

The taro, having soaked up the meat juices in the pot, actually took on a rich meaty flavor, soft and tender—perfect for the older tribespeople and the young.

For the beastfolk and the younger tribespeople, naturally the meat is more attractive to them.

"How is it?" Wu Yue looked at the beastman with some anticipation.

The tribespeople around echoed the question with a wave of synchronized gulping sounds.

Yuan Lang lifted his bowl to the pot's edge: "It's done."

The meaning was obvious enough that Wu Yue laughed and cried, first serving him a bowl, but she saw the beastman set aside the bowl of taro‑meat stew he'd just been given and bring over another stone bowl: "Mine."

"That bowl just now?"

The beastman's face was utterly natural: "Yours."

In the few times she'd cooked before, the little female had given the food to the tribespeople, keeping little for herself; it was better to just set some aside.

Yuan Lang, satisfied, carried two bowls of stew and made space at the pot's edge; two half‑beast warriors naturally squeezed in, flashing a big white‑tooth grin: "The shaman's and ours."

They always do this; whenever they come to serve food for the shaman, they inevitably bring an extra stone bowl, each eating one, quite consciously.

The remaining food was distributed by the tribe's grandmothers according to household.

Anyway, everyone had tasted it, and only now did they realize that the dirt lump that used to make them itch, hurt, and feel miserable was actually delicious food.

Over the next few days, after learning from Wu Yue that taro existed, the tribespeople kept coming to the rear‑mountain cellar, and its stock began to drop at a visible pace.

The half‑beasts tasked with guarding it felt dazed by the tribespeople's frenzied love for taro, inexplicably thinking their guard duty might end early.

"Dog host, haven't you been overly decadent these days—just eating, eating, with no progress at all on the iron‑clam worm task?"

That day, Wu Yue, full and satisfied, was lying in the cave's grass nest digesting when Tongzi's disparaging voice suddenly sounded, followed by an attack from a chubby‑legged creature.

Seeing the blue‑fatted Lan Pangzi repeatedly patting her with its chubby paws, Wu Yue sighed contentedly: "Don't stop the massage."

Tongzi: "!!!"

"Oh ho! Dog host, what are you making me into—a salt‑crystal beast‑shaped massager?"

He immediately moved his little chubby paw off the dog host's hoof.

The shifting of the chubby paw left Wu Yue sighing in disappointment; Tongzi, who couldn't earn any pocket‑money points, seemed to have reverted to being as hard to deal with as before.

He spread his hands: "I'd also like to catch some iron‑clam worms, but ever since the last iron‑clam worm attack, none have appeared—everything downstream is flooded, and I have nowhere to look."

Tongzi looked at the somewhat lazy host, its furry little beast face growing solemn; perhaps this period of leisurely living had relaxed the host, making her seem to have dropped in intelligence.

But upon thinking of something, it didn't utter a bodily warning; in this beast world, nothing is lacking more than danger—if one lacks the awareness to respond to danger at any moment, then the consequences…