Chapter 41: First Night in the Wild

This is a place Leng Xiu and the others had never set foot in; after over half an hour, they finally found a tree hollow just big enough to hide a person.

Leng Xiao cleared out the spiders, unknown dung, and dirty dead leaves hiding in the tree hollow, worried that Yun Li would find it inconvenient to enter and exit, and he prepared to spend a little time widening the opening.

Enough, stop fiddling with it.

The sky had darkened, and Leng Xiu's side had lit a campfire; Yun Li pressed down on Leng Xiao's hand and said, "I just need to be able to get inside in my beast form."

Leng Xiao lowered his head and kissed the female, smiling, "You feel sorry for me? Then once we find a suitable place to settle, you'll have to make it up to me."

Yun Li really wanted to shove him away, "All you ever think about is that."

Leng Xiao said innocently, "If I truly didn't remember this, you'd be the one crying."

As Yun Li reached out to hit him, he quickly added, "Don't hit, don't hit—I'll widen the hole for you so you can see us when you sleep inside at night, and we need to be able to see you too, otherwise we won't sleep well at night."

Yun Li didn't know whether they could see her and thus wouldn't be able to sleep, but if she couldn't see them she would surely suffer insomnia, after all this was an extremely dangerous wilderness, and a place completely unfamiliar to her.

"This tree hollow can only fit one person; we might as well sleep outside together with you."

She stood to the side, still not entirely resigned, and brought up what she had said before.

When they first saw that filthy cave, they suggested she rest inside for the night, but she was strongly opposed, thinking about how many wild animals might have lived there, not to mention the dirt and smell, and if there were even the multi-legged creepy-crawlies she feared, she would break down completely.

But Leng Xiu and Leng Xiao refused to let her be exposed outside, no matter what; they weren't sure what dangers this forest held, and while they could handle them, providing Yun Li a hiding place to increase her safety and minimize her risk of injury was another matter entirely.

"No. For your safety, it's best you stay in the tree hollow at night; although I and my brother are confident we can protect you, some of the wild beasts outside look quite ferocious, so you're better off not seeing them."

Of course, most importantly, Yun Li is too weak—she looks like an easy target.

If a beast that likes to bully the weak and fears the strong noticed Yun Li, the next few nights would bring them no peace.

Hearing that, Yun Li's mind instantly conjured the image of huge spiders and centipedes coming for her in the middle of the night; if she saw such a creature suddenly approach in her half-asleep state, she would truly faint from fright.

So she kept quiet, watching helplessly as Leng Xiao put in some effort and widened the opening to about half a person's height.

Although one still had to bend over to enter in human form, it was still better than having to squat and crawl in before.

After widening the hole, Leng Xiao wasn't done; he took a torch from the campfire pile, went inside, and shone it around.

Soon, Yun Li stood outside and saw some light-averse bugs crawling out of the hollow; in that instant she felt her whole beastly self freeze up.

Can this place really be lived in?

"Almost done. Since we didn't bring any insect-repelling powder, we can only use fire to scare away these hiding bugs. A Li?"

Seeing Yun Li standing outside motionless, and hearing his voice still startle her into a jump, Leng Xiao's face flashed with surprise, then he immediately pulled her into his arms, vigorously rubbing her head, and asked:

"What's wrong? Did I just scare you with my words? Then next time I'll be more careful, I'll watch what I say next time, A Li, you......' Are you okay?"

How can his female be so timid?

Leng Xiao frowned, already worrying about the days ahead; if A Li fears the dark and fears being alone with a beastman at night, then they will certainly have to assign someone to stay by her side every night, not leaving her for a moment.

"I'm fine."

Yun Li was calmed by his gesture, but mainly she was still paralyzed by the terrifying images in her mind.

Thinking of what bugs might crawl into her nose and ears while she sleeps in the middle of the night......

Good heavens, I can't think about it anymore, I can't think about it anymore.

Yun Li quickly clung to Leng Xiao, rubbing against him a few times, then hesitantly voiced her worry: "I'm just afraid there might still be bugs inside; if it crawls out while I'm asleep at night......"

She dares say that if she felt a bug in the middle of the night, she would absolutely scream in terror.

"So can you turn into your beast form at night to sleep with me?"

If a beastman were to accompany her, she would definitely not be so afraid.

"This......"

Even Leng Xiao couldn't guarantee that shining a torch inside the hollow would ensure no bugs, but if he turned into his beast form to accompany A Li, the night watch would be left to just his older brother as the sole beastman.

"A Xiao~ I'm really scared."

Yun Li acted coquettish toward Leng Xiao, then pulled out her trump card: "You don't really want to turn into your beast form and sleep with me, do you?"

Although she insisted on not using her beast form for that, she didn't believe he could resist the temptation of her beast form sleeping beside him.

Leng Xiao indeed couldn't resist the temptation of Yun Li's words.

"Alright then~"

He sighed helplessly, yet inwardly he felt a great deal of schadenfreude, thinking his older brother would probably be so jealous tonight he wouldn't be able to sleep.

After all, he's been craving A Li's beast form for a long time, and his brother is hungry for it too.

However, Leng Xiao still underestimated his brother a bit; although his brother won't say nice things to himself to seize opportunities, he will steal his lines.

Finally, after waiting for Yun Li to finish her meal, he was about to turn into his beast form and accompany A Li into the tree hollow when Leng Xiu suddenly spoke from behind: "Are there bugs in the tree hollow? When you cleaned it out, didn't you put some leaves inside?"

Leng Xiao replied without turning his head, "Where would clean dead leaves come from around here? If there were any, I wouldn't not use them."

"Just get some big leaves that won't cut people; take care of this, and then what's there to sleep about?"

Leng Xiu pressed him down and said, "I'll tidy up the campfire side; while I haven't put out the fire yet and you can still see the surroundings clearly, hurry up."

Leng Xiao suspected his brother was trying to stop him, but after watching his brother finish speaking and turn to go to the campfire, he thought he was being paranoid; after greeting Yun Li, he hurried off to gather those large leaves, yet as he gathered them he began to feel something was off.

Hey! No, Yun Li has already gone inside to sleep—what is he still gathering leaves for?

At that moment the campfire suddenly went out, and Leng Xiao finally realized this was his brother's trick.

Yun Li saw the firelight outside go out and instinctively felt afraid, but soon she heard Leng Xiu's voice beside her ear, followed immediately by a mass of heat squeezing in beside her.

She instinctively leaned toward it, "A Xiu?"

"'Mm, it's me.'"

Leng Xiu lightly rubbed against his female, sensed her fear, and spoke to soothe her: "Don't be afraid, I'll stay with you while you sleep—get a good rest."

Yun Li remembered she hadn't asked Leng Xiao to keep her company while she slept, so how had Leng Xiao's chance to do so been snatched by his brother?

Leng Xiao:!!! He wants to cut ties with his brother! Clearly A Li called for him to keep her company!