TFBAT -Chapter 65

Seeing Hu Jin lift his fluffy front paw and touch his nose, Chi Yuyang frowned.

“Ah-chi—”

Not sure if it was because the tiger fur had entered his nostrils, Hu Jin sneezed several times in a row.

Chi Yuyang frowned. “Hu Jin, is your nose uncomfortable?”

“Awwooo! I’m fine!”

Hu Jin quickly responded, then couldn’t help but touch his nose again.

“Don’t move!” Chi Yuyang held the white tiger’s head and gently blew on it.

After blowing, she asked, “Still itchy?”

Hu Jin looked up at her while quickly shaking his ears.

After a while, he realized he was still in his beast form.

Even when Chi Yuyang got up again, Hu Jin remained stiff, unmoving.

From the shadows, She Qing tried to imitate and stuck out his tongue.

Just as he was about to blow a puff of air, he remembered that if a snake beastman mismanaged his control, even in human form he could still spray some venom.

Sigh, some beings are just born to be unpopular with fluffy creatures.

“She Qing,” Chi Yuyang turned toward the dejected-looking snake beastman, “you said earlier you were going to look for this kind of fruit?”

She Qing instinctively nodded.

Chi Yuyang touched Hu Jin, and seeing he had no objection, asked, “Can you take us along?”

Lost in his melancholy, She Qing shook his head randomly.

When he realized what Chi Yuyang meant, he immediately nodded enthusiastically and thumped the ground with his tail.

“Of course!”

“…,” Chi Yuyang thought he had misunderstood.

She had meant that Hu Jin could help pick the fruits as a thank-you for guiding them.

After all, the forest’s furry species weren’t just tigers; the lions and foxes also had full coats.

Hu Jin had the same thought.

If this snake beastman didn’t mind, the fur stripped from the dead foxes could be given to him.

“Fox tribe?” She Qing uttered.

Chi Yuyang actually caught a trace of grit in his tone.

She Qing led them to the trees that bore the Xiao Xiao Fruit, but looking at the scorched trees in front of them, a wave of unease rose in her chest.

Hu Jin made a soft scratching noise with his claws beside her.

“Wait… no way?” Chi Yuyang’s eyes widened. “This tree used to bear Xiao Xiao Fruit?”

She Qing glanced at the fruit in her hand and flicked his forked tongue to confirm.

“Yes.”

“You just mentioned the fox tribe…” Chi Yuyang swallowed hard.

“There’s residual scent of the fox tribe nearby.” She Qing circled the charred tree.

Chi Yuyang could only smell the burnt aroma.

Hu Jin’s tail suddenly slammed the ground, kicking up dust along with a few strands of yellow fur.

Fox Yu’s ears were yellow.

Not only that, most of the fox tribe beastmen she had seen that day had yellow ears.

Chi Yuyang’s heart sank.

Yet she still held a thread of hope. “She Qing, there must be more Xiao Xiao Fruit trees, right?”

She Qing remained silent.

The tiger fur they had could be lost; his mood was complex.

That was a snow tiger!

Even in the most hidden snowy mountains, a snake beastman could locate the snow tiger clan with their inherited memory.

But the mountain’s perennial cold made it nearly impossible for them to reach.

Over the centuries, very few snow tigers had descended to the forest.

She Qing felt that encountering a snow tiger and collecting some of its fur would become the highlight of his memories.

His lips moved, hesitating to speak.

Chi Yuyang guessed most of what he meant.

She returned the Xiao Xiao Fruit to Hu Jin and hugged his neck, comforting him: “At least we still have one left.”

“Awwooo…!” Hu Jin cried loudly, feeling wronged.

When his father gave the Xiao Xiao Fruit, he had said it was strange, with an unusual flesh-to-size ratio.

The bigger the fruit, the smaller the flesh proportion in the center.

The clan chief didn’t need this fruit, nor did he understand its secret.

But Old Xue did.

So he had given exactly the right one for Hu Jin.

The clan chief’s fruit was bigger, so it wasn’t quite enough.

“Awwooo-oooh!” Hu Jin desperately tried to convey this to his mate, but Chi Yuyang couldn’t understand.

Seeing that Hu Jin refused to put away the fruit, even rolling it with his tail in front of her several times, Chi Yuyang sighed again.

“Hu Jin, we’ll have to wait until winter, until your mating season.”

“Awwooo—!” Hu Jin almost tore the fox fur on the ground to pieces in his impatience.

Mate! Waiting for winter is useless! This Xiao Xiao Fruit—it—

“Ah! I suddenly remember!” She Qing abruptly interrupted the conversation between the two of them.

Chi Yuyang and Hu Jin were still staring at each other, oblivious to him.

She Qing raised his voice. “Other snakes in the tribe might have this fruit.”

Hu Jin reacted first, turning to She Qing. “Awwooo!” Really!?

In She Qing’s eyes, this sneeze was an olive branch, an invitation for a head pat!

Just as She Qing’s tail almost touched the white tiger’s forehead, another long tail swatted it away without hesitation.

“Awwoooo…” Hu Jin cried, feeling the snake beastman was definitely defective!

Chi Yuyang was still in a daze.

Hu Jin’s obsession with the Xiao Xiao Fruit might indicate he was more suited to beast form.

Chi Yuyang collected her thoughts. “She Qing, could you take us to the snake tribe’s village?”

“This…” She Qing hesitated.

If they went to the tribe, others might get the snow tiger fur before him…

“Awwooo!” Hu Jin’s eyes widened, glaring at his mate, trying to tell her with his gaze that the snake beastman was problematic.

“Hu Jin,” Chi Yuyang smiled, “you also think we should visit the snake tribe, right?”

Hu Jin didn’t know how to respond.

Although She Qing’s behavior was a bit irregular, he had no ill intent.

Unlike the fox tribe, whose every action was full of scheming.

He recalled the time his mate attended a class with him when the chief talked about the snake tribe.

The snakes’ biggest traits were inherited memory and highly toxic saliva; the chief hadn’t mentioned anything about collecting fur.

Perhaps even if most snakes enjoyed collecting fur, it was just a hobby.

She Qing had also said it was influenced by inherited memory, not their nature.

Since his mate was injured, Hu Jin had been in a constant state of alert.

His instincts told him visiting the snake tribe was risky.

So Hu Jin shook his head.

She Qing didn’t show any anger but relaxed.

“Then I’ll get the fruit first and visit your tribe.”

Chi Yuyang understood his plan.

She Qing intended to exchange the fruit he got from his tribe with them.

Meaning…

She Qing looked at the white tiger awkwardly. “Can we trade it with Hu Jin’s fur?”

Chi Yuyang looked at Hu Jin, letting him decide.

After considering, Hu Jin nodded when he felt it was safe.

She Qing’s previously unreadable face lit up with a bright smile.

He acted bashful, but kept talking: “Then… can I keep a few strands of fur…”

Chi Yuyang understood—it was a deposit.

She glanced at Hu Jin, unsure whether to speak.

If she did, he would never refuse.

But she wasn’t eager to pluck his fur herself.

He was past shedding season; if she hadn’t been frightened, she wouldn’t have plucked it.

She noticed Hu Jin shiver then.

She Qing saw her embarrassment and said, “Those you just collected will do.”

Chi Yuyang was stunned.

He meant the fur on the ground.

This made her feel even more guilty.

She intended to use Hu Jin’s winter shed fur for the exchange when She Qing visited.

But Hu Jin didn’t mind at all; he raised his head and “awwooed.”

Chi Yuyang smiled inwardly. If Hu Jin were in human form, he would look so proud.

She read his thought: “It’s all my fur anyway; any of it is good quality!”

…

Satisfied, She Qing collected the legendary snow tiger fur and began chattering again.

“You two make a great couple; the fox tribe will lose this time.”

Chi Yuyang leaned against Hu Jin, left arm around his neck; he slightly moved his head in acknowledgment.

Hu Jin was glad to hear it.

Other tribes could see his mate and him were well-matched!

Now with a deal with She Qing, Chi Yuyang trusted him more.

Especially since he had received their deposit.

Chi Yuyang asked, “Why force Hu Jin to stay in beast form?”

She Qing glanced at the four prominent black stripes on the white tiger. “Fox tribe beastmen can attract other tribes to mate, but due to rank restrictions, they can’t overstep levels.”

Attract?

Chi Yuyang smiled, a mocking smile, at this euphemism.

She Qing continued: “But if the target beastman stays in beast form, it’s different. You see, we beastmen…”

Halfway through, She Qing transformed into a giant python!

Chi Yuyang quickly covered her mouth to avoid screaming.

Luckily, she was leaning on Hu Jin, who used his tail to support her, so she didn’t fall.

At that moment, she longed for Hu Jin’s human-form embrace.

She Qing quickly reverted to human form.

He noticed her abnormal reaction, but it was the effect he wanted.

After all, in his view, Chi Yuyang was an ape-like beastman.

“You see, to avoid angering me, you stay silent in human form; but in beast form, you instinctively try to flee,” She Qing explained.

She had no beast form.

But she couldn’t tell him that.

Chi Yuyang roughly understood She Qing’s meaning.

In beast form, a beastman acts according to instinct; in human form, they consider emotions.

In other words, beastmen are more easily dominated in beast form.

Chi Yuyang turned to Hu Jin, who was looking at her.

What is a tiger’s instinct…?