Chapter 148: Beast Tide Month Ends

On a pleasant sunny morning, after breakfast, Zhang Fan, as usual, saw off Ba Ke Er who was heading out to hunt.

Then, as usual, he went to the wooden rack in the yard and began busying himself with smoking cured meat; everything looked the same.

But before Zhang Fan could light the fire, he heard a howl coming from above the tribe; he could clearly hear that loud, clear howl and also clearly understand its meaning.

Zhang Fan's mouth corner unconsciously twitched up slightly, his expression gradually relaxed. Great! Beast Tide Month finally ended! Zhang Fan clearly heard Lei Ya's voice.

He was then in the air above the tribe, using the beastmen's innate language to convey news to the tribe members, telling them what their scouting teams had done and discovered during this period, and what interesting things they had found.

The tribe members also learned from him that those exquisite dragon beasts were actually not the leaders! They had initially lingered near the tribe only because their group was about to have new life born.

So, right after the new life was born, they consciously left their original habitat where they had stayed for a while, and began migrating toward warmer southern lands.

Of course, everyone also learned from Lei Ya that, although this year's Beast Tide Month did not affect the Heaven Lion Tribe, it brought great disaster to some surrounding small and medium tribes.

What's more strange is that the identity of this year's Beast Tide Month's leader remains a mystery. Everyone only knows that the beasts causing severe impact on the surrounding small and medium tribes are not just a single species.

Exactly! The beasts dispatched in this Beast Tide Month were not just one or two species, but over a dozen different carnivorous species acting together! Otherwise, the surrounding tribes wouldn't even have had a chance to send out a distress call.

And when Lei Ya and the others discovered these and rushed over to help, they found it was already too late! All the small and medium tribes that had been thriving before the Beast Tide Month now, without exception, had only ruined walls and broken walls; everywhere was desolate.

Those tribes, after suffering the beast tide's onslaught, saw the number of male beastmen sharply decline; some tribes had only a dozen or so young adult beastmen left, while all the rest were females, children, and elders desperately protected by the beastmen.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Fan felt a deep respect for those fallen male beastmen! Though they are no longer of this world, the companions and children they guarded with their lives still live.

Zhang Fan somehow recalled his time on Earth, when whenever a place erupted in conflict, children, women, the elderly, and some disabled or sick people—these vulnerable groups—were always destined to be abandoned.

No one cared about their life or death; everyone only focused on how the battle was progressing, secretly analyzing how to maximize the benefits brought by war.

In that dark age, even some so-called scientists and medical workers, under the banner of serving the people, actually acted against the people.

Countless people suddenly disappeared, being taken into labs under various pretexts and forced to cooperate in inhumane experiments; some even had their organs removed without anyone knowing.

Although Zhang Fan was just a powerless college student, an ordinary person with no authority, influence, or wealth, having spent most of his early life in school, what he knew of these things was merely what he had seen in history books—already polished history.

The true situation of that era, as an ordinary person who had not experienced those things, he could neither know nor feel their despair.

When the voice of Lei Ya from above ceased, Zhang Fan's thoughts immersed in memory also came to an abrupt halt.

After coming to his senses, Zhang Fan couldn't help but shake his head and sigh, as if regretting something. Then Zhang Fan returned to his usual self, lit the fire in his hand, and began smoking cured meat, as if the person who had just shaken his head and sighed wasn't him.

Time passed unnoticed; when Ba Ke Er returned home with his game, he saw Zhang Fan sitting quietly on a small stool, adding firewood to the wooden rack.

Upon seeing that, Ba Ke Er unconsciously stared, dumbfounded! Indeed, a man earnestly working is the most charming!

And when Zhang Fan sensed that intense familiar gaze coming from above, he also stopped his hand movements, lifted his head, gave Ba Ke Er a faint smile in his direction, and then jokingly asked:

"Ba Ke Er, what are you doing? You're home but not coming down? Beast Tide Month is already over, right? Why do you still look like you're facing a great enemy? Or is it because I'm too handsome, you're mesmerized?"

Ba Ke Er was suddenly pulled from his thoughts by Zhang Fan's words; after hearing Zhang Fan's question, Ba Ke Er also smiled back at Zhang Fan. Then, feeling a bit embarrassed that his thoughts had been seen through, he said sheepishly:

"Um, Fan Fan, I… I…"

After saying that for a while, Ba Ke Er still couldn't straighten his tongue; he kept repeating just those few words.

Seeing this, Zhang Fan didn't feel impatient; instead, he smiled more gently and waved his hand toward Ba Ke Er.

After understanding Zhang Fan's meaning, Ba Ke Er stood there foolishly, dropped the game he was holding between his claws, then transformed in midair into a half-beast form, moving toward Zhang Fan; only when he reached Zhang Fan's front did he retract his pure white wings and land before him.

Zhang Fan smiled as he rose from the small stool; after Ba Ke Er steadied himself before him, he opened his arms and gave Ba Ke Er a big hug, then lifted his feet, raised his head, and planted a light kiss on Ba Ke Er's lips.

Seeing this, Ba Ke Er quickly reached out with both hands, tightly gripping Zhang Fan's head, then gradually deepened the kiss that Zhang Fan had originally intended to be just a brief touch.

When Zhang Fan and Ba Ke Er finally let go of each other, the fire in the wooden rack, lacking fresh cypress branches to suppress it, grew more intense.

One could see the flames in the rack licking the hanging cured meat bit by bit, while the meat's fat gradually melted out, dripping drop by drop onto the fire below.

As the fat sizzled 'pop-pop' in the fire, the flames burned even brighter, and the smoke originally used for curing the meat gradually vanished without a trace.

Seeing this, Zhang Fan and Ba Ke Er, as a couple, no longer had time for intimacy; they hurriedly separated and began frantically grabbing sand to throw onto the fire.

After seeing the fire obviously diminish, Ba Ke Er then added fresh cypress branches again. Seeing smoke slowly rising from the wooden rack, Zhang Fan's previously anxious heart gradually settled back.

After letting out a sigh of relief, Zhang Fan gave Ba Ke Er a white eye, half shy, half resentful, and said:

"You don't even look at the occasion! Really, you almost caused a big disaster!"

While saying that, Zhang Fan, still uneasy, checked the wooden rack again; seeing everything normal, he finally let out a long sigh of relief.

"Good thing we caught it in time, you! You!"

After saying that, Zhang Fan gave Ba Ke Er a big white eye, then turned away haughtily.

Seeing this, Ba Ke Er instantly panicked, rushed forward to grab Zhang Fan's sleeve, anxiously saying: "Don't! Fan Fan! Don't rush off! This is all my fault; believe me, next time it won't happen."

Upon hearing that, Zhang Fan glared, slowly turned his head, and gritted his teeth asking: "How? Do you still want a next time?"

Before Zhang Fan's words even finished, Ba Ke Er realized his slip of the tongue and hurriedly explained: "Oh! No no no! I mean, there will never be a next time!"

After saying that, Ba Ke Er still earnestly raised his hand, preparing to do the "point to heaven and swear" trick he had learned from Zhang Fan to gain trust.

Seeing this, Zhang Fan quickly reached out and slapped Ba Ke Er's hand away, then gave him a fierce glare and said:

"That swearing trick doesn't work on me anymore."

Although Zhang Fan's words were blunt, inside he was secretly relieved for Ba Ke Er's recent action; fortunately he had noticed in time, because if Ba Ke Er really swore a poisonous oath and then accidentally broke it, that would be awful.

You know, here there really are deities watching three feet above one's head! Moreover, I've even seen it myself—though only in a dream—but I firmly believe this world truly has a Beast God and other immortals.

After all is said and done, Zhang Fan is genuinely worried about Ba Ke Er, because Ba Ke Er is his sole reliance on this primitive planet.

Thinking of "reliance," Zhang Fan unconsciously thought of the dragon egg that had been kept in his room all day; now he realizes his reliance seems to have increased by one, and he truly hopes it hatches into a little beastman!

A cute little dinosaur would still be lovely! Of course, Zhang Fan also wouldn't mind hatching a clever, well-behaved, adorable little female.

Anyway, the females here look just like men on Earth, and there's no awkward situation of big men raising little girls.

"Hey! Fan Fan, what's up? Thinking of something fun again? Come on, tell me too!"

Zhang Fan had originally begun imagining taking a child for a walk around the tribe, but Ba Ke Er's comment suddenly brought him back to reality.

Looking at Ba Ke Er's gentle face before him, Zhang Fan didn't feel right getting angry, nor did he feel right voicing what he'd just thought; instead, he smiled at Ba Ke Er and said somewhat aggrieved:

"Ba Ke Er, I'm hungry."

Upon hearing Zhang Fan say he's hungry, Ba Ke Er immediately lost his composure, hastily chopping the freshly brought-back game into chunks with a knife, then rushed to take the meat pieces into the kitchen.

Not long after, Zhang Fan saw cooking smoke curling up from his kitchen roof; inside the kitchen, the sounds of chopping meat and cutting vegetables gradually began.

At this moment, Zhang Fan truly felt himself extremely fortunate, to have met Ba Ke Er on the first day he arrived on Shouren Xingqiu, this man who was sometimes gentle, sometimes childish, yet doted on him extremely.

Just thinking back to when he first met Ba Ke Er, Zhang Fan couldn't help feeling regret over his unsophisticated, naive appearance. Oh! Image! Image! First impression! First impression!

Fortunately, he later behaved quite normally. At this moment, Zhang Fan was obviously trying to cover up but only drawing more attention; however, since even his partner Ba Ke Er didn't care about these things, other people's opinions were, of course, not important.