The breakfast looked unappetizing, but given the circumstances, there was no point in being picky. Besides, hadn’t Qing personally taken him to gather all the ingredients in that pot? How could he complain? Xu Shuangci sat alone by the stone pot, filling his stomach, and placed the leftovers in a wooden bowl.

After resting for a while, he wrapped the pot in animal hide and carried it outside to wash it. The stream hadn’t frozen completely yet, but a layer of ice had already formed on the surface.

He used a stick to break through the ice.

He hollowed out a large, hard-shelled fruit with a long stem to make a gourd ladle for scooping water.

The brush he used to wash the pot was made from animal hide that Qing had discarded; it kept the water from touching his hands. After scrubbing the bottom of the pot a few times, he hurriedly carried it back inside. Just from being outside for a short while, his face had gone numb from the cold.

Qing dragged the prepared vines into the cave. Xu Shuangci passed by, staring at the big cat’s belly. It was bulging—he must have eaten it that morning.

Once inside the cave, he shook the snow off his body. He placed the pot in the corner, then eagerly sat down in front of the fire.

“It’s freezing out there!” Xu Shuangci rubbed his hands together, his teeth chattering. Qing tossed the vines aside and hooked the animal hide from the bed with his claws, placing it beside him.

The pelt was new; though not as soft as the fur of a golden-eyed beast, it was still thick. Xu Shuangci draped the pelt over his legs and exhaled a puff of white vapor. Once he’d warmed up, he looked at the wide-open cave entrance and immediately began weaving a curtain.

Xu Shuangci had underestimated just how cold the winters were here. Even by the fire, he didn’t feel warm.

Once he stepped away from the fire, even though he was dressed in heavy layers, his hands and feet soon grew stiff with cold.

His movements were restricted, so the screen couldn’t be as intricate as he’d envisioned. He simply wove a frame from rattan and brought out all the animal hides Qing had stockpiled earlier. He picked out the ones with coarse but thick fur, tore them open, and wove them into the rattan.

Fearing drafts, he layered them in two layers.

He also punched small holes in the hides and used strips of hide to secure them tightly to the wicker frame.

He reinforced the structure with vines back and forth, and what was originally meant to be a curtain turned into a heavy door. As long as it could block the wind, that was enough.

Once the rattan door was finished, he and Qing lifted it together to block the entrance.

A long wooden beam was secured to the right side of the door, with the top and bottom ends inserted into notches carved into the stones. Entering and exiting were just like opening a door.

But the construction was too crude. Xu Shuangci feared the rather heavy rattan door might collapse, so he propped it up with two sticks from behind. The top of the door didn’t seal the opening completely, leaving it open for ventilation.

This made it a bit warmer than when the opening was wide open. They didn’t put the remaining animal hides back either.

Xu Shuangci first raised the sleeping area with dry grass, then laid the coarse, shaggy animal hides on top, one layer upon another. For bedding and blankets, he used the hide of the golden-eyed beast.

Qing used his tail to gather the remaining vines and tidy up the cave. When he returned, he saw that the spot where he had originally slept by the cave entrance and the dry grass near the fire had been taken by the sub-beastman.

Xu Shuangci climbed out of the soft bed and said to Qing, who was staring blankly, “It’s getting cold. From now on, we’ll sleep in the same bed.” Qing’s tail tip curled, and his ears turned red.

“Only mates are allowed to sleep together.”

“What?”

Qing had spoken in Beast-speak, and he hadn’t understood his rapid-fire words. Qing: “It’s nothing.”

Although the sub-beastman wasn’t his mate, if they didn’t sleep together, he would die. The cave was now more or less set up.

The sleeping area was at the very back.

A pit had been dug in the center of the cave, with a fire burning constantly inside. Next to it was the stove built by Xu Shuangci for cooking. Against the left wall of the cave stood a stone jar filled with salt spring water.

Another stone jar next to it hadn’t been made yet.

Further along were wooden barrels made from tree stumps, filled with jam.

However, the bowls and chopsticks used for eating were piled on animal skins on the ground, where they might get crawled on by insects. Xu Shuangci planned to build a wooden rack.

A stone pot sat on the stove, filled with boiling water, ready to drink whenever they were thirsty. Qing glanced at the cave entrance but showed little interest.

He hooked his tail around a pile of hard stones by the rock wall and began chiseling away at another boulder. Xu Shuangci, meanwhile, was building a rack to store things.

The cold drafts inside the cave had subsided. Clad in thick fur, Qing seemed far more at ease than Xu Shuangci. Stone striking stone—though inefficient—required only a flick of his tail; he could lie on his side and doze off while working. During a break from building the wooden rack, Xu Shuangci took a piece of animal hide and draped it over his back.

Qing’s ice-blue eyes reflected the small sub-beastman. Xu Shuangci: “The ground is cold.”

A stone knife wasn’t very effective for whittling wood.

To save time, Xu Shuangci used sticks instead. He selected sticks of uniform size and cut them into pieces about a meter long. By interlacing them with supple strips of animal hide, he created a shelf for storing items.

The vertical platform was even simpler.

While Qing was gathering firewood, he had collected many logs as thick as a person’s waist.

She took two of them, whittled them to the same height, and propped the boards on top. Placing bowls and chopsticks on them was better than setting them directly on the ground. As they busied themselves with these manual tasks, whenever they got hungry, they would cook a pot of hot soup to eat.

Before they knew it, night had fallen completely.

There wasn’t much to do for entertainment here, so after Xu Shuangci finished his dinner and cleared the table, he crawled back into his sleeping bag. Qing went out to roll around in the snow for a while.

He shook the snow off his fur before crawling into the den.

He warmed himself by the fire for a while until his fur was toasty, then crawled under the animal skin.

Knowing that big cats don’t like to get too close to people, Xu Shuangci kept a little distance from him.

Xu Shuangci didn’t dare to get closer. Qing, however, seemed slightly uneasy.

For a moment, no one spoke. All that could be heard was the soft crackling of the firewood burning in the hearth nearby. Xu Shuangci hesitated, then looked up and saw those clear, round eyes.

He shifted the animal skin beneath him and asked in a hushed voice, “Big cat… have you been living in this cave all this time?” Qing’s ears twitched.

“I have to go out to check the territory.”

“And after you’ve checked the territory?” 

“I sleep.”

Xu Shuangci pressed his lips together. “Have you always slept through the snow season?”

Qing shook his head.

But it was pretty much the same.

Winter is cold, and as long as they’ve stockpiled enough food, most beastmen stay in their dens. They eat, sleep, sleep, and eat again, until the ice and snow melt.

But there are exceptions.

Small tribes and rogue beastmen, for instance, who can’t find enough food in the fall, will venture out to forage even when it’s snowing in the winter, risking their lives to do so.

The white, fair-skinned sub-beastman standing nearby was an easy target for those starving beasts. Qing, unusually stern, warned, “It’s dangerous out there. Don’t go out.”

Xu Shuangci looked up to see the big cat’s gaze grow stern. He curved his lips slightly and said softly, “I wasn’t planning on going out.” 

“Then when will you go out to patrol the territory?”

Qing: “In a little while.”

Xu Shuangci nodded.

The heavy snow had confined Xu Shuangci to this cave. Taking advantage of the situation, he continued practicing the language of the beasts with Qing. Thus, aside from the cold, Xu Shuangci’s days were relatively leisurely.

Their stockpiled food was being consumed bit by bit.

Since Xu Shuangci was cooped up in the cave with little exercise and none of the mental stress he’d felt as a corporate drone, he’d put on some weight. Outside the cave, snow fell in one blizzard after another.

Qing finished carving another stone trough, which Xu Shuangci used to store snow for water. Before he knew it, many more tally marks had been added to the stone wall; over two months had passed.

When Qing suggested patrolling their territory, he knew that half the time had already passed. By that reckoning, the snow season here would last five months.

Beastmen retain a certain degree of their animal nature. This is especially true for rogue beastmen.

A lone beastman out in the wild doesn’t have to be so particular; their way of life is actually no different from that of wild beasts. But if they want to live a peaceful life, patrolling their territory is a necessity.

Typically, patrols are conducted twice a year.

Once in the summer, when food is plentiful, to drive out the beastmen who enter the territory to hunt. Once in the winter, when food is scarce, to prevent beastmen from coming in to scavenge and plunder.

Smaller tribes with scarce food supplies might even patrol five or six times a year. In the past, Qing was alone; he could simply set off whenever he pleased.

But now that there was a sub-beastman in the cave, he worried that some reckless beastman might launch a surprise attack while he was away. So, after discussing it with Xu Shuangci, he blocked off most of the cave entrance with snow and rocks.

The deep snow made travel difficult, so this trip might take him three to five days.

As long as Xu Shuangci didn’t come out by himself, it would be very difficult for the beasts to discover this place. Even if they did discover it…

Qing swished his tail and piled even more stones on top. Even if they were discovered, he would do his best to ensure his safety. “Don’t come out. I’m leaving.”

Qing took a few steps back and looked at the partially blocked entrance.

Xu Shuangci stood inside. Hearing Qing’s voice, the fingers hanging at his sides curled slightly. He raised his voice slightly and said, “Okay.”

He couldn’t help but take a few steps forward, suddenly feeling a twinge of fear as he stared at the empty opening.

“You… come back soon.”

Qing had keen hearing; hearing his voice, he glanced one last time at the opening before turning and running away. The big cat was gone.

Xu Shuangci shuffled over to the fire, looking somewhat listless. It was still early; the bone broth in his pot wasn’t even cooked yet.

With Qing gone, he felt a hollow emptiness inside.

He couldn’t help but glance repeatedly toward the entrance. Finally, convinced the cat wouldn’t return, he sat hugging his knees, lost in thought. He hadn’t had much of an appetite today.

Having filled his stomach, he didn’t feel like doing anything else.

The cave was deathly quiet; he could even hear his own heartbeat.

Xu Shuangci would walk when he grew tired of sitting, and lie down when he grew tired of walking. Locked away alone in the cave, he had nothing to do.

After leaving the cave, Qing first surveyed the surrounding mountains. He made sure the area was safe before heading south. In the eastern region, separated by the Beast God Mountain Range, there were actually quite a few rogue beastmen.

Some continued to wander on their own, while others had reestablished new tribes.

However, since Qing had held sway in the north for many years, and since rogue beastmen were rarely as robust as the Tiger tribe, they dared not venture over.

Even so, Qing dared not let his guard down.

Huge paw prints fell upon the soft snow, winding their way southward.

Two nights later, the tracks were covered by fresh snow, and a set of footprints heading in the opposite direction appeared on the snowy blanket.

“He’s gone out.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t go after all.” 

“Don’t you want to starve to death?!”

“But if we’re discovered, we’ll be torn to pieces…”

Deep in the jungle, two figures argued back and forth.

Halfway through the snow season, the two rogue beastmen of the Wolf tribe had eaten all their food.

The vast wilderness offered no food to be found. Starving and desperate, they had no choice but to set their sights on Qing.

Qing was a mutated white tiger beastman; anyone who had ever encountered him would never forget him. He was also formidable, his reputation far-reaching among the rogue beastmen. The rogue beastmen all knew that Qing must have plenty of food.

In winter, many beastmen had their sights set on Qing. But the only ones who dared to take action were these two brothers.