Bonus chapter thanks to SweetLittleBunny on ko-fi, thanks for your support!

Fan Zhou was not used to being hugged. If the white wolf were in human form, he would have felt extremely uncomfortable.

But the white wolf was in his beast form, and he was not an ordinary wolf. He had a thick mane around his neck.

Buried in this incredibly soft fur, he only wanted to roll around in it. There was not a trace of rejection in his heart.

The night air was a bit chilly. Half of his body was nestled in the fur pile, while the white wolf’s large paw embraced the other half—the sharp claws had been retracted, leaving only the soft, cushiony pads.

The experience was truly wonderful. Soon, his initial discomfort turned into enjoyment.

However, he couldn’t be the only one enjoying this. He lifted his small paw and patted the white wolf’s chin. “Do you feel a little better now?”

“It doesn’t hurt as much anymore.”

the white wolf responded immediately.

It was true—he was too busy secretly laughing and feeling delighted to even notice the pain.

“That’s good. If the pain becomes unbearable in the middle of the night, wake me up. I’ll help you rub your fur.”

Hearing this, the white wolf was extremely touched. The rabbit was so kind!

He couldn’t resist rubbing his big head against the rabbit again. But he would never actually wake the rabbit up.

Still, he obediently replied with a soft “Okay.”

Now, Fan Zhou felt reassured. He found a comfortable position within the white wolf’s fur and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

He listened to his steady breathing. the white wolf’s fluffy tail swayed slightly before he closed his eyes in satisfaction.

━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━

When Fan Zhou woke up, the white wolf had already gotten up, as usual. He stepped out of the cave and, as expected, saw that the white wolf had taken human form. He was under the shelter, roasting meat.

“Why don’t you sleep a little longer?” Fan Zhou frowned and asked, “Does your body still hurt?”

“A little, but I can bear it. Once I wake up, I can’t fall back asleep,” Feng Xun explained.

He would have liked to keep cuddling with the rabbit, but that would definitely wake him up. Rather than disturbing the rabbit’s sleep, he might as well get up and roast some meat.

Fan Zhou sighed helplessly, intending to give him a serious “lecture.” But just then, voices from below the cave interrupted him.

Mao Yu and the other beastmen had come to ask for sweet water!

Yesterday, only a few beastmen had witnessed Fan Zhou’s ability. After they spread the news, everyone’s curiosity was piqued.

So, at the crack of dawn, they came carrying wooden buckets and stone basins, eager to collect water.

Hearing the calls from below, Fan Zhou had no choice but to descend from the cave.

He instructed the beastmen to line up properly. With a wave of his right hand, a stream of water appeared out of thin air and quickly filled Mao Yu’s wooden bucket.

Then, he moved to the next beastman.

At the end of the line, Que Yu watched the scene in shock. His mind was filled with one thought: This Fan Zhou was not the same Fan Zhou from Sacred Mountain, nor the one from the Waterfall Tribe!

Unfortunately, the beastman world had no concept of transmigration, nor did they have ideas like soul possession or demonic influence. So, no matter how hard he thought, he couldn’t figure out where this Fan Zhou had come from.

He wanted to jump out and tell everyone, “This Fan Zhou is fake! He should be driven out of the tribe!”

But reason told him that wouldn’t work.

Salt-making, hemp cloth weaving, planting, and sweet water that could relieve exhaustion—these unusual abilities had already been regarded as blessings from the Beast God.

Fan Zhou’s status in the tribe was second only to Lang Tian. If he accused him of being fake without any proof, all the beastmen would turn against him!

How could this happen?

And what about Feng Xun’s strength?

Lang Tian and the others had said that Feng Xun was so fast he seemed to vanish into thin air, completely invisible to the naked eye. But in the previous life, Feng Xun wasn’t like that!

In the past, when Feng Xun fought, other beastmen could still see his movements.

Had Feng Xun been hiding his true strength all along?

But that didn’t make sense, either.

Yesterday, Feng Xun was covered in blood. Even after eating an almost fully bloomed Beast Spirit Flower, he hadn’t been healed. It took a total of eight flowers just to stop the bleeding.

Has Feng Xun ever eaten so many Beast Spirit Flowers in his previous life?

Probably not.

His leg had permanently been crippled…

While Que Yu’s mind was in turmoil, Fan Zhou had already finished filling all the beastmen’s containers.

He pulled Mao Yu aside before he could leave with the others, asking about the three captives from yesterday. He wanted to interrogate them himself. The beastmen of the Waterfall Tribe were too naïve—he worried that Lang Tian wouldn’t be able to get any useful information from them.

“Hu Sheng and the other two are awake,” Mao Yu said. “The chief plans to starve them first. Once they’re too hungry to bear it, they’ll start talking.”

Fan Zhou hadn’t expected Lang Tian to be so cunning. Feeling reassured, he returned to the cave.

As soon as Feng Xun saw him, he immediately said, “We don’t have much meat left. After breakfast, we need to go hunting.”

“There’s no rush for that. Let’s talk about your body first.” Fan Zhou’s tone was serious. “You don’t need to do these things. Go lie down on the bed. You need more rest to recover faster.”

Feng Xun looked at him innocently. “Lying down still hurts. If it’s going to hurt anyway, I might as well do some work. That way, when you wake up, there will be meat to eat.”

Fan Zhou: “……”

All his arguments were completely shut down. He had nothing to say in response.

“The only time it doesn’t hurt is when you help me rub my fur,” Feng Xun added. “You should rub my fur more often.”

“…Fine. But you can only do light tasks. Leave the rest to me.”

Fan Zhou said seriously.

Feng Xun nodded repeatedly. In this matter, he would not act tough.

He didn’t want his condition to worsen.

Otherwise… What if the rabbit found a stronger beastman to replace him?

The meat Feng Xun was roasting was dried meat that Fan Zhou had prepared earlier. It had little moisture and was quite salty—not suitable for an injured beastman to eat alone.

After breakfast, Fan Zhou grabbed a rope and set out to hunt.

He wanted to catch a few snow chickens and, ideally, some snow chicken eggs as well.

Gray birds were easy to catch, but their meat wasn’t as good as snow chicken. Some species even had a sour taste. the white wolf didn’t mind the sourness, but he was particular about texture.

Snow chickens were rare. He had to walk for a long time before finally spotting them. By then, he had already caught two big-horned beasts and over a dozen gray birds.

After an entire day of effort, he managed to find five snow chickens and more than twenty snow chicken eggs.

He hung the snow chickens and gray birds on the big-horned beasts and carried the snow chicken eggs on his back. Before sunset, he returned to the cave.

Feng Xun had been waiting impatiently. The moment he saw Fan Zhou, he rushed down the cave and grabbed his hand. “I don’t have to eat snow chickens. You’re working too hard.”

“I’m not tired. Hunting is easy for me,” Fan Zhou said with a smile.

But Feng Xun clearly didn’t believe him. He still looked distressed. “I’ve already roasted the meat. Let’s go up and eat first.”

“Alright!” Fan Zhou’s smile widened.

With such a thoughtful roommate, he didn’t mind working a little harder.

Later, he would give the white wolf a good fur rub—longer this time!

After eating the dry jerky, Fan Zhou wanted to smooth down Feng Xun’s fur, but instead, Feng Xun had him shift into his beast form, then bent down and scooped him up.

“?”

Fan Zhou was a little confused.

At that moment, Feng Xun lifted him up to his face and said with a bright smile, “You’re really tired. Let’s sleep first. I’ll get my fur rub tomorrow.”

After speaking, he seemed to find Fan Zhou’s dazed expression amusing and gently pressed his forehead against Fan Zhou’s little head.

“……”

What’s going on?

Did his roommate suddenly fall in love with fluffiness too?

But before, when he shifted into his beast form, his roommate had been completely normal.

Still, being pressed against by such a handsome man—seeing that radiant face, as dazzling as a beast spirit flower, slowly approach and magnify before his eyes—the visual impact made him subconsciously hold his breath.

Surprisingly, he didn’t dislike this kind of interaction…

Seeing that Fan Zhou hadn’t kicked him in the face, Feng Xun couldn’t hold back the corners of his mouth. He couldn’t resist giving Fan Zhou another affectionate forehead touch.

He had wanted to do this for so long! Such a tiny beast form—it was so cute he could roll around in joy.

But in the past, he hadn’t figured out his feelings, so he only thought about it and never acted on it.

Now that he understood, he had to act quickly.

He needed to make the little rabbit get used to him, then grow fond of him!

Anyway, the rabbit hadn’t said he was going to become mates with Xiong Jing yet, so he still had a chance.

However, he needed to take things slow—he couldn’t scare the rabbit away right at the start.

He carried Fan Zhou into the cave, lay down on the straw mat, and transformed into his beast form. Then, wrapping his front paws around Fan Zhou, he pulled him into his embrace.

Just like last night, he rubbed his big head against Fan Zhou and said, “Sleep.”

Satisfied.

Fan Zhou: “……”

He was seriously confused.

But considering how cute his beast form was, he thought it made sense. His roommate must have caught the “fluff addiction.”

As drowsiness washed over him, his head felt heavy.

Hunting wasn’t tiring, but he had been walking around all day, consuming a lot of energy.

He soon fell into a deep sleep.

Fan Zhou slept soundly and was only woken up by Mao Yu’s voice.

The sweet water from yesterday had a great taste and refreshing effect, so Mao Yu and the others came early.

Feng Xun was not happy about this. He had just woken up, which meant the rabbit should still have at least one more meal’s worth of sleep left.

The rabbit hadn’t slept enough.

He walked down the cave with a serious expression and addressed the beastmen sternly, “From now on, don’t come this early. Fan Zhou needs to sleep. If anyone disobeys, they won’t get any sweet water.”

After saying this, he extended his claws toward the rock wall behind him.

With ease, he left five claw marks, each as deep as a finger.

The once lively and noisy beastmen instantly fell silent.

Mao Yu shrank back and whispered, “Got it. I’ll remember.”

The other beastmen also lowered their voices, promising they would remember.

Feng Xun was satisfied. “If you’re willing to wait, then wait. If not, go back and come again when the sun is about to rise.”

After saying that, he leisurely returned to the cave.

Once inside, he saw Fan Zhou sitting up in bed. He let out a small sound of surprise. “Did they wake you up?”

“It’s fine. I was about to wake up anyway,” Fan Zhou said with a smile as he got up.

Beastmen had great hearing, and with his ability, he had heard everything.

He rubbed the white wolf’s head. “A simple reminder would’ve been enough. No need to scare them.”

the white wolf looked a little embarrassed, his fluffy tail swaying slightly. “I’m used to it…”

“Used to it?” Fan Zhou was puzzled.

“I used to specialize in catching criminals… like that Hu Sheng guy.”

Before capturing someone, he would always put on a show of force.

Although, back then, his claws weren’t this sharp. While he could still break rocks, his claws would hurt afterward.

But just now, when he left those deep marks on the rock wall, aside from his usual pain, his claws didn’t hurt any more than usual.

As expected, he had gotten much stronger.

Fan Zhou was surprised. He hadn’t expected Feng Xun’s past job to involve maintaining order and upholding justice. This beastman world was more advanced than he had thought.

“A role specifically for catching bad beastmen? That’s not a job for just anyone. You must be really skilled.”

Feng Xun didn’t respond. He had been exiled—back then, he wasn’t skilled, just naive.

He changed the subject. “Mao Yu and the others are still waiting below.”

“I’ll head down now.” Fan Zhou rubbed his head again. “When I get back, I’ll make you steamed egg with minced meat.”

the white wolf had been looking out for him—he needed to make sure the white wolf was well-fed!