Chapter 138: Internal Strife?

Only to see, the young chief dragon fell asleep, and the dragon beasts below began to grow restless; it was unknown which dragon beast had started the commotion first.

Not long after, aside from the chief dragon still immersed in sleep, all the other dragon beasts in the herd woke up; yet, for some unknown reason, they actually began fighting their own companions.

At that moment, Ba Ke Er and Mo De were also awakened by the sounds coming from those dragon beasts below, snapping out of their respective thoughts.

The two exchanged a glance, seeing doubt in each other's eyes; obviously, they had both spaced out, neither noticing what was happening below.

Now they had no choice but to withdraw their gaze and begin observing seriously.

Only to see, among the entire group of Exquisite Dragon Beasts below, the only one unaffected was that young chief dragon; from his appearance it was clear he was sound asleep, which is precisely what puzzles people.

The herd had already erupted into fighting, with some dragon beasts severely wounded yet refusing to retreat, while the chief dragon slept peacefully unharmed; no matter how one thinks of it, this seems eerie.

Watching this scene, Ba Ke Er couldn't help thinking: if those dragon beasts were disobedient to the chief dragon's discipline, why would they choose to cause trouble like this instead of killing the chief dragon and taking his place?

Or perhaps this is the chief dragon's conspiracy? Merely to reshuffle the entire herd? Could this be internal strife among the dragon beasts? Seeing this, Ba Ke Er and Mo De also became uneasy.

Just then, the chief dragon that appeared to be asleep suddenly opened its eyes and glanced contemptuously at the two trees where Ba Ke Er and Mo De were, as if paying them no heed at all.

Ba Ke Er and Mo De, relying on their beast-like intuition, also sensed the gaze falling upon them, but when they tried to trace it, they found nothing.

If one had to say what they discovered, it was that they both saw the chief dragon showing signs of waking up; however, they did not realize that the gaze just now had been the chief dragon scanning over.

At this point, even though the chief dragon had awakened, it showed no intention whatsoever of quelling the fighting in the herd; indeed, it simply rolled over nonchalantly and went back to sleep.

Yet what is strange is that, at the moment the chief dragon rolled over, the entire herd abruptly ceased its endless fighting, as if they had witnessed something astonishing, each instantly lowering their proud heads toward the chief dragon.

Seeing this, Ba Ke Er and Mo De felt even more incredulous, completely unable to grasp what was happening; yet what would leave them speechless was still to come.

Only to see, after lowering their heads, each dragon beast began to moan toward the very opponent it had just been fighting; after a round of roars, all the dragon beasts left the battlefield and, in pairs, headed toward secluded spots.

Then they simultaneously halted, proceeded to lick each other's wounds clean, and afterward, without holding grudges, walked to the same place and lay down together.

All of this happening so suddenly left Ba Ke Er and Mo De utterly unprepared! Weren't they just fighting? How did they stop so abruptly? Even more unexpected was that the dragon beasts actually licked each other's wounds!

However, Ba Ke Er and Mo De failed to notice that the dragon beasts that had been fighting were paired off male-female, and even while fighting, each bore injuries.

Yet, while fighting, they tacitly avoided injuring each other's vital spots; although their wounds bled profusely, the bleeding quickly staunched as the opponent licked them.

What happened next made Ba Ke Er and Mo De blush uncontrollably: shortly after the dragon beasts lay down together, the larger-bodied ones rose up and pressed themselves upon the smaller-bodied ones.

Then the larger dragon beasts began to thrust their hips, while those beneath, due to the movements above, emitted low groans back and forth, as if suppressing something.

Seeing this, what else could Ba Ke Er and Mo De not understand? Hey! Isn't this just watching a live-action version of dragon beasts going 'papapa'?!

After reacting, Ba Ke Er and Mo De also withdrew their gaze, mutually closed their eyes, and began to doze lightly; watching others 'papapa' while they could only recall the feeling of being with their own partners was utterly agonizing!

At this moment, Ba Ke Er and Mo De had never regretted taking this mission so much! They simultaneously thought: if only they hadn't accepted this task back then, they would surely now be holding their beloved at home, asleep.

Why bother watching those dragon beasts getting intimate underground while they could only sit speechlessly with their own brothers?

Needless to say, the behavior of the dragon beasts below aroused strong dissatisfaction in Ba Ke Er and Mo De; however, even their dissatisfaction had no effect whatsoever on the dragon beasts' enthusiasm for 'papapa'.

Knowing that Ba Ke Er and Mo De had fallen asleep, the dragon beasts' affectionate activities showed no diminution; in fact, thanks to the moonlight, they became even more vigorous.

Only when the chief dragon rolled over again did they reluctantly separate, return to their original spots, lie down, and slowly drift into sleep.

At this moment, Zhang Fan at home was already sound asleep; yet even in his unconscious state, he would still shrink his form, as if Ba Ke Er were still on the bed at home, holding him as he fell asleep.

When the sky began to show the first glimmer of light, Zhang Fan had already opened his eyes from sleep; at this moment his consciousness had not fully awakened, and he had not yet recalled that Ba Ke Er was away on a mission, not at home.

Instead, as usual, he reached out toward Ba Ke Er's direction, only to grasp at air in an instant; this made his drowsiness fade. He suddenly sat up, rubbed his eyes, and let out a silent sigh.

Not long after, Zhang Fan had already composed himself, gotten up, dressed, and gone to prepare his own breakfast.

Not long after Zhang Fan had just finished preparing breakfast, Fei Er arrived; this time she was clearly recovered. As always, she came rushing in, ran up to Zhang Fan, and snatched food from his hand as usual.

While eating, she kept muttering: 'Fan Fan, you can't blame me! Humph! It's all because your cooking is too delicious! The hateful Mo De also went out on business, so no one prepared breakfast for me; thus I had no choice but to mooch off you.'

Having said that, Fei Er gave an embarrassed 'hehehe' laugh.

Faced with such Fei Er, Zhang Fan had nothing to say; he helplessly shook his head and went back to the kitchen to prepare another serving for himself.

After breakfast, Fei Er and Zhang Fan began busily lighting a fire in the branch shelter to start curing meat.

Meanwhile, out in the wild, Ba Ke Er and Mo De had shifted into beast form, with Ba Ke Er responsible for continuing to watch the dragon beast herd, while Mo De took charge of hunting to procure food for the two of them for the next three days.

When Mo De returned carrying a large water buffalo, the two did not revert to human form to build a fire and roast meat; instead, they remained in beast form and together devoured the entire buffalo raw.

Having settled the food issue, Ba Ke Er and Mo De continued to follow the dragon beast herd as it went out to forage, secretly observing its every move; however, after observing for a morning, they noticed nothing different about the herd.

At that time, Zhang Fan and Fei Er at home also dug out the meat that Ba Ke Er's group had brought back yesterday, which was still unfinished, and began preparing lunch.

However, when they were halfway through preparations, Wei Er and Di Er arrived with a roasted wild boar; seeing this, they halted their own work, took the boar meat from Wei Er and Di Er's hands, went into the kitchen, and began to busy themselves.

By the time the noon dishes were served, Wei Er and Di Er had already vanished without a trace.

Zhang Fan and Fei Er found this result somewhat unexpected; the food was ready, yet the people had disappeared. They searched front and back of the house several times to no avail, so they had no choice but to sit down and eat.

Originally they had prepared food for four; now with two missing, Zhang Fan and Fei Er, eating haphazardly, managed only three-quarters of it, leaving the remainder to be saved.

At noon, after washing the dishes, Zhang Fan hurriedly went to tidy the guest room for Fei Er, intending to let her nap there at midday.

But Zhang Fan never expected that Fei Er, who usually loved to sleep after a full meal, would say she wasn't tired! This caused Zhang Fan to busy himself in vain; however, since Fei Er said she wasn't sleepy, Zhang Fan couldn't force her to nap.

Thus, to keep Fei Er company, Zhang Fan also skipped his nap, instead joining her on the courtyard lounge chair to snack, and meanwhile took a moment to add some firewood to the black branch shelter.

In this way, another afternoon passed, and the whole day Zhang Fan and Fei Er never stepped outside the gate of Zhang Fan's home.

Meanwhile, Ba Ke Er and Mo De, still on their mission in the wild, had spent nearly the whole day trailing the Exquisite Dragon Beasts; when the sun was about to set, Lei Ya quietly arrived at the tree where Ba Ke Er slept.

After Ba Ke Er and Mo De had reported all the information they had gathered, including last night's mishap, to Lei Ya one by one, Lei Ya then departed the tree just as quietly as she had come; once she was far enough away, she spread her wings and flew back to her base.

Upon returning to her base, Lei Ya convened a brief meeting with her team members; after everything was arranged, she spread her wings again, taking the information with her, and returned to the tribe.

Chief Fei Ji and the elders, upon hearing Lei Ya say that Ba Ke Er and Mo De had witnessed the breeding process of the Exquisite Dragon Beasts, initially thought it was internal strife within the Exquisite Dragon Beast tribe, and couldn't help bursting into laughter.

However, after laughing, everyone's expressions instantly turned solemn; if Zhang Fan were present now, he would surely marvel: the speed of changing faces is such that only a Wi‑Fi network speed could keep up.

Meanwhile, Zhang Fan and Fei Er were already preparing dinner together; after they finished eating, Fei Er left Zhang Fan and returned to her own home.

After Fei Er left, Zhang Fan washed up and then went back to his room to sleep early.