“And that he could only live if he replenished his energy. He lent us a lot of transparent crystals.” As Bai Qingqing spoke, she opened her palms.

  Curtis’s pupils shrank, and his murderous air dissipated. But his desire to get rid of that eagle beastman remained.

  Seemed like that eagle beastman was rather capable, to be carrying with him so many green crystals.

  Curtis coiled his snake’s tail around Parker and dragged him back to the cave, and Bai Qingqing hurriedly kept up.

  Panicked breathing could be heard in the cave, and even Bai Qingqing heard that.

  She anxiously felt her way to their luggage and rummaged through it for the luminous balls.

  Now that the cave was lit up with a faint glow, she could see An’an crawling outwards, looking up with her fair and tender little face, horror written in her silver eyes.

  At the sight of her mommy, that pair of eyes calmed down, and she continued crawling forward.

  Heart aching, Bai Qingqing wiped her hands on her skirt and lifted An’an into her arms.

  “My sweetie, you must have gotten a bad scare, huh?”


  Bai Qingqing patted An’an’s back reassuringly, then pulled down her clothes and fed her.

  As An’an was just fed not that long ago, she probably wasn’t hungry. But when a baby felt fear, they liked sucking things. She instantly wrapped her mouth around her mother’s nipple. Curtis placed Parker on the ground and draped a piece of clothing over Bai Qingqing.

  “I hunted prey outside. I’ll roast it for you,” said Curtis.

  Bai Qingqing, who was just fretting over insufficient breastmilk supply, responded with a smile, “Mm.”


  Now that there was a source of light, Bai Qingqing realized that the crystal in her hands wasn’t a transparent crystal, but the more precious and valuable green crystal that represented life.

  She was so surprised that she drew in a gasp.

  “Curtis!”


  Curtis, who was starting a fire outside, said blandly, “Keep it for yourself.”


  Bai Qingqing opened her mouth and shook her head resolutely. “No way! This is too valuable. I must return it to him.”


  A faint smile graced the edges of Curtis’s lips, the emotions in his eyes intensifying as he gazed at her.

  “Up to you.”


  Bai Qingqing carefully placed the green crystal into an exquisite animal skin bag and placed it in the innermost corner of their luggage. Afraid she would misplace or lose it, she even made it a point to tell Curtis about it.

  Curtis speedily sliced open the chest and abdomen of the live prey with his sharp fingernails, making sure not to stain it with mud, then put it to roast on the fire.

  Curtis then slithered over to the lion beastman lying by the side and, seeing that it still appeared fresh, transformed into his full beast form and swallowed it whole.

  The blood traces on the floor were covered with mud.

  Bai Qingqing looked in that direction, and what she saw made her turn her head away, deciding that what she didn’t see couldn’t hurt her. She directed her attention to Parker instead.

  Parker had completely stabilized by now and seemed fine, merely asleep.

  By the time the prey was done roasting, the food in Curtis’s stomach had more or less digested. In the meanwhile, Bai Qingqing told him about how the scorpion king had brought her the antidote.

  Curtis transformed into a human, his figure as slim and tall as ever. No one could tell that he had just eaten a lion bigger than a human not long ago.

  Bai Qingqing wiped her body using the least amount of water possible, then went to sit down by the fire to warm up as she shivered.

  There was firewood smoke everywhere in the mine shaft, making one’s eyes sting. Unable to tolerate the smoky smell, Bai Qingqing kept on coughing.

  She let out a cough and said, “By starting a fire here, won’t others discover us easily?”


  With the firewood smoke trapped here, it couldn’t drift out.

  “It’s alright, I’m here.” Curtis pulled Bai Qingqing into his embrace. The odor of that lion beastman’s blood entered his senses, making him frown in displeasure.

  Bai Qingqing remained worried despite his reassurances. Of course, she believed that Curtis could protect her. But she didn’t wish for him to kill indiscriminately.