The most terrifying thing is when the air suddenly goes still~~

After staring at that piece of meat for a few seconds, Zhang Shuguang finally gritted his teeth and reached out.

But the moment his hand touched the meat, Mang Jiu lowered his own hand.

Zhang Shuguang looked at him in confusion.

They were standing on an incline, yet Mang Jiu still towered slightly above him.

Zhang Shuguang quickly scanned Mang Jiu from head to toe. By his estimate, Mang Jiu must be around 2.23 meters tall. Besides his mixed-race features, his body bore peculiar yet orderly patterns that glimmered with a faint dark gold in the sunlight.

He thought to himself, He’s actually quite handsome.

Mang Jiu took a step up, standing level with him. The distance between them was barely two fists.

Zhang Shuguang took a step back, overwhelmed by the sheer height difference.

He was a model with a 185cm frame back home. How had he become such a weakling in this strange world?

Being weak wasn’t the issue. Being a skinny weakling was unbearable.

“You don’t like it?” Mang Jiu sensed his inner resistance to the grilled meat and asked, “All demi-beasts enjoy it.”

Zhang Shuguang let out a soft gasp before realizing what kind of race Mang Jiu referred to as demi-beasts.

In this strange world, those who could transform into fierce beasts were called Beastmen, while those without that ability were known as Sub-Beastmen.

Several images flashed through his mind. Zhang Shuguang’s gaze drifted involuntarily toward Mang Jiu, but he said, “I like it too, really,” offering a polite smile. “It’s just that my current condition might not be suitable for eating meat.”

Mang Jiu’s eyes held confusion. “The shaman said you’re fine.”

“The Cliffside Tribe has a shaman?” Zhang Shuguang was astonished.

His surprise was understandable. Zhang Shuguang flipped through the memories of the minor cannon fodder and discovered that the tribe the other had originally belonged to didn’t have a shaman. Shamans were extremely rare in this strange world. Generally, only those of great wisdom could become shamans. To put it plainly, if you weren’t intelligent, you simply couldn’t become a shaman.

The little cannon fodder had never seen a shaman; he’d only heard the elders of his tribe mention that there used to be one. But before the shaman died, no one had been found to inherit the position, so the tribe had been without one ever since.

Zhang Shuguang surmised that a shaman might be similar to a physician-priest. After all, in a world where people ate raw meat, someone who had begun studying medicine would be highly sought after.

But it was merely a fleeting thought, one he didn’t show on his face.

Seeing his surprise, Mang Jiu nodded and patiently explained, “The shaman is very old. He’s been in the tribe since I was born. Would you like to meet him?”

Zhang Shuguang: “I can meet the shaman?”

“Yes. He lives in the big cave with the children. You can visit him anytime.” Mang Jiu glanced down at the meat in his hand and asked, “What would you like to eat?”

Zhang Shuguang scratched his head, feeling a bit embarrassed. “Is there fish? Fish is easier to digest. I can eat fish.” Plus, it would help him complete his mission!

Mang Jiu furrowed his brow slightly, asking with a hint of uncertainty, “You want fish?”

“Yes, is there any?” Zhang Shuguang turned to look at the distant coastline, wondering how he’d get there if the other didn’t take him fishing.

He glanced at his dirty, wounded feet and longed intensely for comfortable shoes.

Seeing him staring out at the distant sea, Mang Jiu guessed he genuinely wanted fish and nodded. “Alright, I’ll go catch some for you.”

Zhang Shuguang chuckled softly and asked, “Can I come with you? Was it over there that you saved me?”

Mang Jiu’s expression turned serious as he emphasized, “I picked you up. You’re mine.”

“…Huh?” Zhang Shuguang finally caught on. The difference between “picked up” and “rescued” seemed rather significant.

Mang Jiu grabbed Zhang Shuguang’s slender wrist. A thin vertical black stripe suddenly appeared in his dark brown eyes.

A chill shot down Zhang Shuguang’s spine in that instant, making the hairs on his neck stand on end.

“You’re a sub-beast I found. You belong to me now. I’ll make sure you’re well fed.” With that, disregarding Zhang Shuguang’s wishes, he dragged him along the path down the mountain.

Zhang Shuguang stumbled along, pulled along by Mang Jiu’s long strides. He had to run and stumble just to keep up.

”Jiu, where are we going? “Just as they descended this level, they encountered a beastman emerging from a cave. Spotting Mang Jiu, he paused in surprise before noticing Zhang Shuguang being dragged along. Smiling, he asked, ”So this is the sub-beastman you picked up?”

Mang Jiu halted his stride, and Zhang Shuguang stopped with him, panting heavily. He glanced at the speaking man and noticed the colorful patterns on his body, though they differed slightly in appearance from Mang Jiu’s.

“I’m taking him fishing.” Mang Jiu tossed the piece of charred black meat he held in his hand to the speaking beastman. “He won’t eat it. You can have it.”

“I don’t like roasted meat. It tastes bitter,” he said, taking the dark piece of meat. Though he disliked it, he didn’t push it back. After all, it was a decent-sized piece—why pass up free food? When provisions were scarce, they’d even eat rotten flesh. But upon hearing Mang Jiu mention catching fish, he exclaimed in surprise, “Fish have so many bones. Who would catch fish to eat unless they were truly starving? It doesn’t even taste as good as grilled meat.“

”Bai, you talk too much.” Mang Jiu shot him a sideways glance.

Xiong Bai shut his mouth. Fine, he wouldn’t say another word.

Zhang Shuguang noticed Xiong Bai constantly eyeing him. Maintaining a friendly demeanor, he gave him a slight smile.

Xiong Bai blinked rapidly, then turned to Mang Jiu. “Hand him over to me. He’s so handsome. I’ll trade you a giant ox beast for him.”

Zhang Shuguang’s mouth twitched. How wild was that?

Mang Jiu’s already stern face darkened further. Without a word, he raised his free hand and swung a punch.

Thud! One solid punch sent Xiong Bai crashing to the ground.

“Ow!” Xiong Bai yelped in pain.

People emerged from neighboring caves. Spotting Xiong Bai lying on the ground, clutching his mouth and whimpering, then seeing Mang Jiu nearby, they guessed what had happened and burst into laughter.

“Xiong Bai, what did you do to provoke Mang Jiu again? Get up and fight back!”

“Mang Jiu, is that the sub-beastman you picked up? Bringing him out to introduce him to everyone?”

“Bai, get up! Fight him!”

Zhang Shuguang couldn’t help but twitch his mouth several times.

Why did every single one of them seem so unreliable?

When he’d been watching from outside the cave earlier, he hadn’t noticed any beastmen or sub-beastmen. If he hadn’t heard this tribe had a shaman, he truly would’ve thought it was just a small tribe.

But after being dragged down by Mang Jiu, passing several cave entrances filled with sounds, and now hearing a fight, quite a few onlookers had come out to gawk. Each stood over two meters tall, towering and muscular, their bodies covered in intricate markings.

Clearly, they were all beastmen, though he couldn’t identify what kind of beasts they were.

Amid the clamor, more beastmen emerged from the caves. Zhang Shuguang glanced around and noticed the cave level they’d just been on was five or six meters below the current one. This single cave level contained several chambers, all inhabited.

He only saw the beastmen emerging from the caves, not a single sub-beastman in sight. He couldn’t tell if sub-beastmen couldn’t come out, if none lived in this area, or if some other reason applied.

Zhang Shuguang’s mind raced through possibilities as he tugged at Mang Jiu, who was poised to land a second punch on Xiong Bai.

Mang Jiu’s forward momentum halted as he turned to look at him.

Zhang Shuguang gave him a wry, dry smile.

After all, the reason for the punch seemed to stem from the other guy teasing him. Now that he’d pulled him back, wouldn’t he be seen as ungrateful?

Growl…

No excuse was needed. His famished stomach growled loudly—a sound perfectly audible to the sharp-eared, keen-eyed beastmen.

A momentary silence fell over the scene, followed by roaring laughter.

“Mang Jiu, you actually let your beastman go hungry!”

Ignoring the jeers, Mang Jiu shot a fierce glare at the surrounding beasts watching the spectacle before dragging Zhang Shuguang away.

After they departed, the gawkers returned to their caves, muttering as they walked: “I heard they’re going fishing. Fish is tasteless and has no meat. That sub-beastman is strange.”

“Hurry back to sleep. Wake up for the hunt.”

“I’m hunting a bull beast today. Beef has great chew.”

“My cubs have been clamoring for boar beast meat these past few days.”

“Boar beast has a strong taste. Long-eared beasts are better—their meat is tender.”

Zhang Shuguang faintly heard the chatter behind him, but he had no time to listen closely as he broke into a trot once more.

“Slow down…”

Mang Jiu turned to look at him, his face pale and forehead glistening with sweat. Frowning, he bent down and hoisted the man onto his shoulders.

Zhang Shuguang hung upside down on his shoulder like a piece of cargo.

While this spared him the fatigue of walking, his starving stomach suffered terribly.

The whistling wind roared past his ears. So stunned by Mang Jiu’s speed, Zhang Shuguang forgot his stomach’s discomfort. After about half an hour, just as he was about to pass out, Mang Jiu finally stopped and set him down on the sandy beach.

The sand was fine and hot, pleasantly soft underfoot.

Zhang Shuguang crouched for a long while, clutching his stomach, before finally standing up. Watching Mang Jiu dive into the sea to catch fish, he took a few steps forward and stood in the water.

“Ouch!”

The seawater stung the wounds on his feet, making Zhang Shuguang wince.

With a splash, Mang Jiu broke the surface, clutching a half-meter-long fish that shimmered with a silvery-white glow.

Zhang Shuguang was dumbfounded.

What kind of fish was this?

While he stood there stunned, Mang Jiu tossed the fish beside him with a flick of his wrist before diving back underwater.

A splash of water from the thrashing fish at his feet hit Zhang Shuguang in the face. A split second before it swam away, he bent down, reached out to grab it, and silently chanted in his mind: Take!

The fish vanished before his eyes.

Mang Jiu threw fish; Zhang Shuguang took them. After collecting ten, he tossed the extra ones onto the sandy shore further back.

“Mang Jiu, that’s enough,” he called out.

Mang Jiu’s final dive took longer than usual. Zhang Shuguang frowned, a hint of worry creeping in.

After all, he was free labor. It would be better not to have any more mishaps.