Chapter 71
Little snake’s snake skin was wrinkling more and more, and the colour of his body was also getting lighter, completely suffused in dull white.
“You can do it, little snake!” Shu Jintian’s voice was very soft, his hands tightly fisted, so nervous that even his breathing had slowed down.
He already said he wasn’t the one who did it, yet Shu Jintian still beat him!
The merman snorted unhappily, and looked at the little snake carelessly.
The little snake was molting for the first time, and would spend longer time on it. Because of his nervousness, there was a layer of sweat on Shu Jintian’s forehead.
After a long time, the little snake’s head finally broke through the outer skin, and then he slowly crawled out from the broken skin. From time to time, he would rub against the ground. Very soon, a long, blanched snake molt was left on the ground.
Little snake that crawled out was even darker in colour, and his body turned from a deep green to a dark green. His scales glimmered with a chilly light and looked even harder. His body also seemed a size larger.
Little snake raised his eyes and slowly crawled to Shu Jintian’s legs, not even feeling like moving.
“That’s amazing! You did it, little snake!” Shu Jintian said excitedly. He felt very distressed upon seeing the little snake’s tired appearance and picked up the little snake’s limp body, resting him in his embrace.
How sleepy ah! Little snake narrowed his transparent eyelids and found a comfortable position in female father’s embrace, and soon fell into a deep sleep.
Seeing little snake obediently sleeping in his embrace, Shu Jintian’s heart suddenly surged with intense fatherly love, and he felt that the little thing in his embrace was so adorable.
“Sleep ba! Dad will hold you, so be good and sleep ba!” Shu Jintian was afraid of scaring little snake, and enduringly softened his coughs.
Shu Jintian walked to the bottom of a tree while holding a mass of snake in his embrace, and pressed his back against the roots and rested.
Although little snake wasn’t even a full year old, he was already no longer small and light. Curled up in Shu Jintian’s embrace, Shu Jintian still almost couldn’t carry him.
The merman blindly followed Shu Jintian, and only then did Shu Jintian notice that there was still a merman beside him.
Shu Jintian thought that the merman had treated little snake as a common snake and acted like this in self-defense. Although he was still a little angry, at least little snake had a strong body and was fine. Since the merman had saved his life, Shu Jintian was still grateful.
“Cough cough! In any case, I’ll still thank you for saving me. Thanks!”
The merman couldn’t understand Shu Jintian’s words and looked at him doubtfully.
Shu Jintian thought about how he was thrown into the sea, so his body should be wet, yet he was very fresh and cool. Could he have dried up? Shu Jintian touched his clothes; they were exceptionally clean. Shu Jintian glanced at the mermaid, pulling up the end of the shirt and sucking it in his mouth; there wasn’t any salty taste either. Could it be because the merman brought him for a swim in the freshwater river?
【I’ll go find something for you to eat!】Seeing the female seem to have realised something, the merman hastily spoke. After that, he didn’t even wait for Shu Jintian to reply and turned to crawl back into the river.
The merman’s face was a little red, and he seemed to be bolting.
“Ah? What did you say? Ran off so fast.” Shu Jintian barely finished speaking when the merman’s figure disappeared from his sight.
Seeing that there was no one around at all, Shu Jintian straightforwardly undid his pants. Upon realising that even his underwear was clean, he finally felt a little embarrassed.
What the fuck! Laozi was unconscious a little too heavily ba! Actually not realising anything at all when someone stripped me bare and then put them back on.
When thinking of this, Shu Jintian thought of Shu Hanyu and couldn’t help feeling a little guilty. The fuck, why would laozi feel guilty? We’re all men! What does it matter if it was just a small look, that guy was just taking care of me. Ahem! Though he could get pregnant…
All around him were various bird cries, and with a lift of his head, he could see birds flying by in the sky occasionally, and there were several large bird-types among them.
This place seemed to have many birds. It was on the same level as the forest big snake once took him to collect bird eggs. But this place clearly wasn’t a forest he had been to. Shu Jintian vigilantly noted his surroundings, tightly protecting the little snake in his embrace.
After a long while, a splash came from the river. Shu Jintian vigilantly looked over to see the merman from before emerging from the water and looking at him while lying on the shore.
The merman tossed out a half-metre-long fish from the water and casually said, 【Quickly eat ba!】
The fish dropped to Shu Jintian’s feet. Without the surroundings of the water, the fish flopped with all its life, its mouth opening and closing as it spat out sticky bubbles.
“For me? Thanks!” Shu Jintian was a little astonished; he even thought the merman had left ne!
Shu Jintian didn’t want his fish, but his body was in a bad state now, and he had to protect the little snake. Shu Jintian hesitated for a few seconds, and accepted it.
Seeing the female accept it, the merman dove back into the water plants, and casually plucked a couple out to eat. Occasionally, he would even inadvertently glance at the direction of Shu Jintian. Did he like eating it? He looked for a long time before finding a yummy fish.
“Little snake, wake up, eat something and you can go back to sleep,” Shu Jintian spoke gently as he shook little snake’s body.
It took a long time before the little snake opened his eyes to a tiny slit, looking at female father in befuddlement.
“Eat ba.” Seeing that the little snake woke up, Shu Jintian spent a lot of effort to tear out a small piece of the fish tail and fed it to the little snake. And fortunately, this fish was tender enough so Shu Jintian was able to tear out its flesh with his bare hands.
The little snake was truly miserably starving, and stirred himself upon smelling fresh blood. Opening his mouth, he bit into the fish, swallowing it down with it squirming in his oral cavity.
The merman pursed his lips, resentfully biting into the water plant. This Bailian Fish was a fish that was extremely delicious. Not only was its flesh tender, there weren’t any scales either. He wasn’t even willing to eat it, yet this female actually fed it to the Spiritual Snake just like that. Watching that little Spiritual Snake not even chewing before swallowing it up, he truly didn’t know how to cherish it ahhhhh!
The merman unconsciously swallowed the water plant that he hadn’t fully chewed yet, and nearly choked on the roots.
Shu Jintian tore the fish piece by bit and fed it to little snake. When little snake had his fill, the fish only had one quarter left, and this one quarter was even including its fish head.
Little snake went back to sleep right after eating. At this time, Shu Jintian was starving as well, but there was no fire, so how should he eat?
Shu Jintian held the remaining fish head, holding his stomach and just looking at it with a headache.
Hmph! Who told you to feed it all to the Spiritual Snake, now you yourself have nothing to eat ba! The mermaid bit into the water plant with schadenfreude, his mood finally easing.
“Um… Hong Zao.” Shu Jintian looked at a certain fish who was eating water plants in the water with a bitter face and said awkwardly, “There’s still some fish. Eat it ba, since I can’t eat it anyways.”
The merman submerged in the water had his hair scattered in the water, like red seaweed, and it was very eye-catching. Shu Jintian saw him give the fish to them while he ate water plants, even glancing at them with every bite, as if he was eating while looking at the fish. He must really want to eat fish ba! Shu Jintian thought of this, and tossed the fish into the water.
【You aren’t eating?】The merman lifted the fish and pinched its meat. Mn, very good, still very bouncy, so it must still be very delicious.
Shu Jintian shook his head.
The merman no longer declined and grabbed the fish with a hand before taking a large bite. Then, with narrowed eyes, he slowly chewed. Sure enough, it was still so delicious. It turned out that Shu Jintian just didn’t like to eat this fish; then that was too good. If he caught it in the future he can eat it up whole. Just so few bites truly weren’t fulfilling ah!
The merman ate up the fish, licking up the juices on his fingers in dissatisfaction and directly gathering the taste in his mouth.
Shu Jintian’s lips twitched indiscernibly and he speechlessly turned his head away.
As his tummy grew louder in complaints, Shu Jintian got up while holding little snake, intending to find some wild fruits to eat.
【Where are you going?】Seeing this, the merman poked out from the water.
When Shu Jintian heard the merman’s voice, he nodded at him politely and indifferently said, “Thank you for your care. I’ll be leaving.”
Shu Jintian finished speaking and no longer regarded the merman. Shu Jintian carefully tucked the little snake’s tail on his shoulder, a hand hugging his head, and then he gathered a stick and started walking while treating it as a crutch.
Seeing this, the merman hesitated for a good while, then turned into a human form. Although there weren’t any very fierce and large beasts, a female alone here was still very dangerous.
Merman Hong Zao clearly transformed very rarely, and seemed unable to stand stably as he clambered ashore from the water. The merman staggered a few steps before finding the feel.
【Wait for me!】
Shu Jintian heard unusual sounds behind him and turned his head back, and his body abruptly stiffened.
He witnessed a completely naked, red-hair man standing by the river, walking towards him. The man’s torso was still his appearance as a mermaid, but his lower body had become an ordinary human’s legs, but his pace was a little unsteady, like a toddler learning how to walk.
Two ordinary legs, but that thing between them wasn’t normal. It was like a contracted ball; the colour was light, and there wasn’t any hair nearby either.
Shu Jintian suddenly realised he had seen something and very unnaturally turned his head.
“Your tail…”
Shu Jintian took a good while before he recovered. That’s true, all the beastmen in this world could become humans. But the mermen’s beast form’s were half-human half-beast, so why wasn’t it an entire fish ne? How resentful!
This was the merman’s first time forming two legs in front of someone. Seeing the female staring at him, he couldn’t help blushing in embarrassment, and swiftly strode to Shu Jintian.
“You want to follow me?” Shu Jintian asked curiously, but did not intend to refuse the merman’s tailing. After all, it was an unknown environment; having company was still safer.
The merman intuitively understood and nodded.
With the merman following him, Shu Jintian casually found a few fruits along the way to fill his stomach, then walked to the edge of the island by following the sound of the waves.
The waves scoured against the island, leaving white foam on the shore.
Shu Jintian stopped walking, surveying the distance from a tall place. The azure water was gleaming clearly under the burning sun, flickering with dazzling light. It was so wide he couldn’t see the end.
Shu Jintian emerged from the forest. Seeing the entire area of the forest, he realised that he wasn’t in the forest he had lived in for a long time like he had thought, but a small island.
“Cough cough!” Shu Jintian coughed painfully, braced against the stick as he slowly sat on the ground.
It turned out he had drifted so far; no wonder big snake still hadn’t found him. Perhaps he was now already on the road to finding him, and he might be in the seawater he was looking at ne!
Thinking of this, Shu Jintian earnestly looked at the water, hoping that a large snake would pop out in the next second.
The merman stood nearby behind Shu Jintian, quietly staring at Shu Jintian’s back.
It was very strange. For some reason, he felt that the female seemed to be waiting for someone, which made him feel indescribably sad.