In the wee hours of the night, the fire died down completely. Wind poured in through the cave entrance, and Lin Qiu moved closer to the source of warmth.

Having slept in the large cave for several days, Lin Qiu gradually let his guard down. When his body brushed against the furry form, he couldn’t help but press his face into the soft fur, falling into an even deeper sleep.

Lang Yan felt a weight on his back, and his ears snapped to attention. He opened his eyes and glanced back.

The sub-beastman was pressed against his back, almost rolling into his den. Beastmen do not share a den with members of the opposite sex who are not their mates.

Lang Yan narrowed his eyes and shifted slightly to the side.

Lin Qiu, having lost the source of warmth, curled up and rolled over, tucking himself into his own grass nest.

Everyone else sleeps in their beast forms, but Lin Qiu seems to have lost his mind. The winter season has only just ended, yet he still maintains his human form at night.

Lang Yan simply assumed he was just naturally slow-witted.

Otherwise, why would he listen to the beastmen from other tribes and steal his own tribe’s food?

In the wee hours of the night, few beastmen could sleep soundly.

There hadn’t been enough meat last night. Though they’d chewed plenty of grass, it still wasn’t as satisfying as meat, and by now everyone’s stomachs were aching with hunger.

The beastmen rose one by one, their limbs weak and unsteady, as if they’d been drinking.

They instinctively tilted their heads back to sniff the scent wafting from the cave.

Their eyes scanned the area, but they saw no sign of food. In the end, they could only rush out to gulp down a few mouthfuls of stream water and pluck a few handfuls of grass by the bank to use as a makeshift cushion. Before dawn, the beastmen lay back down in their nests to continue sleeping.

Deep within the cave, in a massive grass nest, a dozen or so cubs huddled together.

The tribe made sure the cubs had enough to eat; fortunately, they had small appetites, so the beastmen in charge of caring for them only needed to turn the meat into a paste and feed the cubs until their bellies were full.

The cubs were frail and prone to illness, so before the weather had fully warmed up, the beastmen in charge of them would not take them outside.

But now, deep in the quiet of the night, a white wolf lay by the grass nest, making no sound as the cubs passed by him. The soft, fluffy little balls sniffed the scent of the cave, wriggling their four paws as they huffed and puffed their way toward the exit. After walking for just a short while, they curled up on the ground to rest.

Its stomach was rumbling.

The fire had died down, but the wolf-beastman could still see clearly in the night. The cub twitched its nose to get its bearings, then crawled toward another spot. Lin Qiu’s hand, resting on the edge of the grass nest, twitched slightly; his fingers moved, but he remained fast asleep.

Lang Yan opened his eyes at the sound.

The cub was perched on its front legs at the edge of Lin Qiu’s grass nest, standing upright, its nose still sniffing the air. He rose, picked up the cub by the back of its neck, and placed it inside his own nest.

He sniffed the cub’s head with his nose, and with a slight tug, the cub fell onto its back, all four paws pointing skyward.

The cub dared not move.

Lang Yan’s nose pressed against its little belly, which had already gone flat.

As if it tickled, the cub whimpered softly and kicked its four legs in a struggle. Lang Yan tucked him closer to his chest and closed his eyes. When dawn broke, they would venture a little farther to see if they could bring back more prey.

━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━

At first light, the hunting party and the gathering party set out once more.

Before leaving the cave, Lang Yan placed the sleeping cub back in the deepest part of the cave. As he passed by Lin Qiu, he glanced at the sub-beastman sleeping peacefully. 

Lang Yan slipped away silently.

The grass nest in the large cave was suddenly empty.

Lin Qiu woke up and sat up in the grass nest, resting his arms on the edge as he stared blankly into space for a moment.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something white stir in the inner corner of the cave. Lin Qiu’s gaze paused, and he slowly stood up. It was a cub.

A pure white ball of fur, sprawled on the ground with its limbs outstretched, its short, stubby tail shaped like an inverted triangle.

Only a single white wolf-beastman was supposed to be guarding the cub, but he was nowhere to be seen. Lin Qiu dared not approach and stood frozen in place. The cub raised its head shakily. The moment it saw him, its eyes lit up, and it immediately began to whine.

Stared at by the cub’s wet, gleaming eyes, Lin Qiu curled his fingers slightly.

“Woof-woof! Woof!”

Its voice was high-pitched and soft.

Lin Qiu remained motionless. The cub seemed displeased and yelped at him a few more times, trying to crawl over.

It looked only a few months old, its legs weak; it dug its claws into the ground a few times but didn’t move very far. It grunted for a while, then the sound faded, as if it had run out of energy.

Lin Qiu heard slightly hurried footsteps outside the cave entrance. The beastman in charge of caring for the cub rushed in, cradling a pot of meat porridge.

Seeing Lin Qiu standing nearby, the beastman warily lifted the cub into his arms and turned to head deeper into the cave.

Lin Qiu looked away and left the cave.

The cub was fed twice a day—a pot of meat porridge in the morning and another at night. It was slightly better off than an adult beastman, but not by much. Unlike the plump little puppies his neighbors used to raise, this cub was actually rather thin.

When Lin Qiu stepped out of the cave, he didn’t notice the beastman who had turned back at the corner and was staring intently at him.

“Woof!”

The white wolf cub in his arms kicked its legs and yelped.

The beastman stroked the pup’s back and placed it in the grass nest.

“If you crawl out again, you’ll go without a meal.”

The pup opened its mouth and snapped at thin air, then turned away in a huff, presenting its rear end to the beastman.

He’d eaten some of the earth ear he’d found yesterday, and given the rest to Lang Shi.

He hadn’t gathered much wild garlic, and he’d eaten every last bit of it. All he had left was a small lump of lean meat and the jerky Lang Shi had given him. The jerky was cooked and about the same size as his own lean meat.

Lin Qiu ate it straight for breakfast, finishing it in a few bites, then went to work for the Old Priest.

Having handled plants so much these past few days, Lin Qiu had gradually come to recognize some of them.

Most of them were familiar—like ginger, for instance. The Old Priest would harvest the ginger to help the beastmen ward off the cold, though the beastmen called it by a different name. Whenever he encountered something he didn’t recognize, he’d ask while working, and gradually his knowledge grew.

The old priest was a man of few words. Seeing that Lin Qiu was getting the hang of things and working faster and faster with the plants, he gradually assigned him other tasks as well. For example, grinding medicinal powders and bone meal, or extracting medicinal juices.

Whatever he was told to do, Lin Qiu did it without complaint.

The old priest released him while the sun was still high in the sky.

Lin Qiu quickly built a fire and used a stone cooking pot to boil the remaining meat. He tossed in some tender shoots left over from yesterday, and it was enough to fill him up.

In the afternoon, Lin Qiu picked up his wicker basket, intending to find some more wood ears, but after walking a full circle around Wolf Mountain, he found the ground had been picked clean. Seeing the beastmen crouching with their heads tucked in, washing wood ears by the stream farther away from Wolf Mountain, Lin Qiu knew there was nothing left to eat.

Even the wild garlic had been nearly picked clean; looking out across the grassland, he saw nothing but patches of turned-over soil where the turf had been dug up. Lin Qiu turned his gaze away, intending to venture further afield—ideally into the forest to take a look.

But he hadn’t taken more than a few steps when a wolf’s howl rang out behind him. Lin Qiu stopped and turned back.

As he passed by Lang Shi, Lang Shi called out to him.

Since he’d accidentally eaten Lin Qiu’s food last night, Lang Shi looked a bit awkward, even with his fur covering his face.

“The black-skinned vegetables and stinging grass you were looking for have all been picked clean by beastmen.”

Lin Qiu nodded and was about to leave when Lang Shi slid a bundle of earth ear mushrooms and wild garlic, wrapped in large leaves, out from under his paw pads.

“Take this. Don’t stray too far from the cave.”

Lin Qiu looked at the unfolded large leaves; the earth ear mushroom had been pressed flat. Lin Qiu accepted them calmly. “Thanks. I’ll share half with you once I’ve cooked them.”

Lang Shi: “I don’t want any.” 

He simply handed them back to Lin Qiu.

Lin Qiu pretended not to hear; he wasn’t one to take advantage of others.

Back at the stream, Lin Qiu placed the basket in the water. He grabbed a handful of grass and lined the bottom of the basket with it.

He couldn’t go far, and all the edible grass nearby had been picked clean. Lin Qiu could only try his luck in the stream to see if there were any small fish or shrimp. The midday sun was scorching. With the cubs in the big cave and the beastmen on guard against him, he usually stayed outside during the day.

He wore nothing but an animal skin skirt around his waist, leaving his lower body exposed to the sun. It was fine at first, but after a few days of sun exposure, Lin Qiu’s skin began to turn red over large areas.

He’d gotten sunburned.

He looked at the inside of his pale arm. This didn’t look like the kind of reaction you’d expect from a beastman who’d lived in the wild for a long time; it looked more like his original body. But how could he explain the hair?

Lin Qiu couldn’t figure it out, so he simply stopped trying.

There were almost no trees at the foot of Wolf Mountain, leaving nowhere to hide, so Lin Qiu had no choice but to stay in the old priest’s cave.

He sat on a pile of grass, holding a wooden splinter he’d found among the priest’s herbs. After cleaning it, he used it to prick open each of the blood blisters on his hand. The old priest saw that his face remained impassive, his gaze unwavering—a stark contrast to his earlier self.

His face set, he picked up a herb and tossed it to him.

“Crush it and apply it.”

Beastmen seemed to always like throwing things.

Lin Qiu took it; his cold, sharp features softened, his eyes brightened slightly, and a hint of vitality returned to his face.

“Thank you.”

The old priest fell silent again, turning his back to him as he fiddled with a tortoise shell, lost in thought. His baggy, animal-skin robe hung loosely over his gaunt arms, giving him the appearance of a bat.

The trinkets on his staff jingled, and in the gloomy cave filled with the scent of various herbs, the scene carried a certain primal mystery. With nowhere else to go, Lin Qiu treated the blister on his hand, then sat on a pile of grass, leaning against the rack and watching the old priest.

He was curious about how the tortoise shell was used for divination.

“Look again, and I’ll gouge out your eyes.”

Lin Qiu: “Am I not allowed to look?”

Old Priest: “You’re not the next priest.”

Lin Qiu understood; the priest’s craft was considered a secret within the tribe.

He shifted his position to face the entrance of the cave, staring blankly at the mountains and rivers bathed in sunlight.

The great river was wide; the terrain here was flat, and the water flowed fairly calmly.

In the distance lay an endless primeval forest. The trees stood dozens or even hundreds of meters tall; some were tinged with pale red, others clad in fresh green, clustered thickly, resembling a magnified cluster of mushrooms.

The old priest slowly put away the tortoise shell; his ankle-length leather tunic concealed his gait, but Lin Qiu could still sense a certain heaviness in his step. The divination had yielded an unfavorable result.

Today, the hunting party and the gathering party returned exceptionally late.

The sky was already studded with twinkling stars, and the bonfire—lit the moment it grew dark—had burned down to half its size before the beastman contingent finally appeared on Wolf Mountain. Over a hundred beastmen, all silent.

Lin Qiu watched as the beastmen who had remained at the tribe rose one after another to take over from the hunting party in hauling the game. Working together, several beastmen quickly skinned the animals and began cutting and dividing the meat.

Tonight’s meat ration was the largest in days; Lin Qiu received nearly two and a half pounds.

The beastmen who had been out hunting were ravenous; they devoured their food so voraciously that Lin Qiu, who was slowly cutting the meat into pieces, had to pause. The massive wolves lay listlessly on the ground, stuffing chunks of meat into their mouths with their heads down.

Some of the meat wasn’t even fully cooked yet.

Their thick fur couldn’t hide their sunken bellies; some of their legs were trembling as if they were completely exhausted, and they were panting heavily. With so much meat today, they must have exerted a tremendous amount of effort.

Lin Qiu was so engrossed in the scene that, before he knew it, his gaze met Lang Yan’s.

━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━

T/N: Hiii guyss, with all new stories uploaded, we are gonna be consistent with the schedule now. Bonus chapters on Sunday, regular updates on Monday and Tuesday, Patreon uploads on Saturday. Side note, with the way the site is built, uploading chapters is a bit of a hassle for the way the site was built, so the Milou’s Archive admin handles the uploading, not us, so we may see comments late. You can chat us up on Discord for issues. I heard that the channel is coming up this week. Also, since we (TKA and the Site Admin) are not from the US, which makes ad views payment low and inconvenient, we are looking for a way to resolve it, but MLA activated their Patreon using a similar way to ours, so check it out if you want, their seven-day free trial is open until the end of June.

That is all. As usual, Tokki’s Archives is thankful for every reader and supporter with us.