Chapter 45: Sharing With You

Hearing the knock, Mo Lie stepped forward and opened the courtyard gate; at the doorway stood Sha Cheng and a camel that retained its Beast Form.

The Merchant Caravan's carefully selected camel beast was so tall it resembled a moving small hill, its coarse camel hair glinting a light brown in the yellow sand.

Sha Cheng smiled and said, "Our Merchant Caravan is ready to depart; please come now."

Sha Cheng, while laughing, enthusiastically helped move the luggage that was placed in the courtyard.

Lin Manzhi stood in the courtyard, glanced at the azure sky, pulled the headscarf from her shoulder and wrapped it around her eyes and nose; after Mo Lie finished moving the luggage, she followed him onto the camel's back.

Between the two towering humps, a cool leather blanket was laid on the back, and another sun‑shielding blanket was tied atop the humps; when the side‑hanging blanket was pulled, it formed a three‑meter‑wide independent little room.

Because there was a female, Sha Cheng, who had inherited an instinctive protectiveness toward females, had the camel meticulously arranged so that the female could sit more comfortably.

When Lin Manzhi and Mo Lie were settled on the camel's back, Sha Cheng transformed, becoming a two‑meter‑tall sand mouse covered in a layer of fine, soft, sand‑colored short fur.

Lin Manzhi was curious; she had ridden camels in the modern world, but she had to admit none were as steady as a beast, and she turned her head to look at the Beast Form below, a hint of novelty in her black eyes.

The sand mouse ran along one side, its slender whiskers sweeping the sand like sensors; its hind‑leg muscles were highly developed, allowing it to leap several meters forward, and the fluffy tip of its long tail brushed the sand, leaving fine traces that were quickly scattered by the hot wind.

The party soon reached their destination; from the camel's back Lin Manzhi saw a vast expanse of blackness.

The Merchant Caravan, fully equipped early in the morning, appeared outside the tribe's Rock Wall.

The six detachments of the merchant caravan that had set out yesterday also arrived at the gathering point outside the Rosanya tribe's Rock Wall, each bearing cargo; together with the Rosanya tribe's hundred‑person squad, the caravan reached a scale of six hundred Beastfolk.

Sha Cheng arrived at the caravan's front, his steps never ceasing, and kept driving the camel that Lin Manzhi rode forward until he stopped at the very front of the line.

As the Guard Squad's squad leader, he exchanged information with the unit responsible for the cargo, confirmed everything was correct, then raised his voice and shouted to the crowd, "Depart! To the Kuangsha City outpost."

Amid the deep roar, the caravan's Supernatural Male Beasts formed an orderly line.

It was Lin Manzhi's first time seeing so many Supernatural Male Beasts in Beast Form; the camels were massive and sturdy like small hills, and the cargo they bore on their backs alone weighed about two thousand kilograms.

Leading the procession were the powerful Beast Forms, the cargo‑laden camels marched in the middle, and the guard sand mice lined the sides; even the claws exposed on their fur looked like tiny steel knives.

At the very front, a camel raised a teal banner that fluttered in the yellow‑sand wind; Lin Manzhi, seated on a camel's back, tilted her head back to watch.

A gigantic eagle seemed to spread its wings in flight, its teal lightning motif on the base pressed beneath the eagle's talons, symbolizing the terrifying status of the caravan's master and the supreme honor of the caravan.

This is the sign of the Leitingcheng lord's Thunder Eagle Tribe; the lightning on the banner proves how powerful the caravan's patron truly is.

Of course Lin Manzhi had never seen a Thunder Eagle Tribe Beastfolk, only recalling the book's description of the Leitingcheng lord Cangqiong; in the original novel, one of the female lead's harem masters was a Supernatural Male Beast.

As depicted on the banner, it is a lightning Supernatural Male Beast.

The truth is unpredictable; had Mo Lie not suffered a tragic fate in the original book, he would have been the Young Master of Ansen City, a future lord set in stone.

While pondering this, Lin Manzhi turned her eyes backward; in her peripheral vision she saw a Supernatural Male Beast and thought his inexplicably arranged destiny… was pitiful.

Lin Manzhi, excited to reach the desert from the modern world, wanted to roll in the sand; at the start she had marveled at the desert's grandeur, but now her heart was as calm as a mountain pool.

She sat back up from the side, instantly losing interest in the desert scenery; the rolling dunes were less appealing than the Supernatural Male Beasts before her.

Mo Lie's Spirit Core was severely injured, and without medicine he now appeared to be in discomfort.

He sat opposite, leaning against a wooden pillow, propping his face with a hand; black fragmented hair brushed his handsome face in the breeze, and his blue eyes shone like sapphires under a lamp.

The Supernatural Male Beast's gaze fell gently on her, and Lin Manzhi seemed to see a melancholy yearning in his eyes.

His eyes are beautiful.

Lin Manzhi sighed again in her heart, wondering why the original author added so many hardships to such a handsome man!

Traveling through the desert was tedious; staring blankly for a while, Lin Manzhi, who hadn't slept well last night, felt drowsiness creep in.

Her thoughts grew hazy, her mind drifting bit by bit, uncontrollably pulled toward sleep.

No, she couldn't sleep; they were on the road in unfamiliar land.

Lin Manzhi struggled to open her eyes, raised her hand to rub her dry eyes, trying to chase away the drowsiness in her mind.

Mo Lie lowered his eyes at the sight, then straightened slightly and sat up, reaching out to place the Little Female's head on his shoulder, patting it, and said, "Sleep, I'll keep watching over you."

Those words were like hypnosis to Lin Manzhi; she trusted Mo Lie in a way she didn't understand, her head shifted on the Supernatural Male Beast's broad, reliable shoulder, she found a comfortable spot, closed her eyes and instantly fell asleep.

The Merchant Caravan sped forward through the desert.

There was no road here; the camel herd's broad feet pressed into the scorching sand, occasionally exhaling a puff of hot air from their nostrils, shaking their heads, flicking sand from their manes; each camel moved steadily yet swiftly.

They had long become accustomed to the arid wind‑blown dust, having traversed this path thousands of times, heading precisely toward Kuangsha City.

The sun vanished beyond the horizon, and night fell.

The caravan was filled with robust Supernatural Male Beasts, none intending to rest, still pressing onward.

Sitting on the camel's back, Lin Manzhi, who didn't have to trek on foot, felt time fly, the wind‑blown sand kept behind a curtain.

For lunch she ate the local meat jerky, and because of Lin Manzhi's female status, she also received a small fruit resembling a crabapple, its taste rather sour.

But fresh fruit being rare, Lin Manzhi forced herself to eat half, unable to finish, the sourness softening her teeth.

The other half… of course she gave to the Mo Lie beside her: "Good things are meant to be shared; see, I'm being kind to you."

Mo Lie didn't like eating anything besides meat, yet he didn't refuse, reaching out to take it, his cold blue eyes gazing at the Little Female's soft black hair.

He gave a low smile, his voice carrying a metallic, instrument‑like resonance, "Hmm, thank you, Zhizhi."

Behind the sand dune.

Someone noticed this passing merchant caravan.