Night fell, and the tribe lit a grand bonfire. The young Beastmen laughed and chatted joyfully, creating an atmosphere even hotter than the blazing summer.
On the southern side of the tribe, the mountain peak's cave remained dead silent, starkly contrasting with the lively tribe square.
Two figures intertwined on the bed lay motionless, with the woman's lips turning purple. Her once gentle face twisted in pain, and her rigid body exuded a sense of death.
Suddenly, she clutched her chest tightly, breathing heavily as if she was about to suffocate in the next moment.
"Water... cough cough cough!"
Her throat felt as if it was on fire, a heavy iron taste permeating her mouth.
The instinct for survival made Wen Shu try to rise, but it was as if a hard coffin lid weighed upon her, impossible to budge.
Damn it, who buried her?
"Um—"
Just as she thought she would die of thirst, she felt warm breath brush against her neck, followed by a painful moan sounding beside her ear.
She froze, then forced her aching eyes open. As her vision focused, she found her hand pressing against a pale, firm chest.
"?"
Raising her eyes, she met a pair of piercing green snake eyes.
The man in front of her had sleek black hair, a sharp jawline, and deep, sculpted features, strikingly handsome.
Yet she had no mood to appreciate this.
The man was staring at her intensely, with beast-like, bloodshot eyes, an icy coldness in his gaze as if he might twist her neck at any moment.
The air stalled for a few seconds, and a chill crawled up Wen Shu's back.
Living in the apocalypse for years, her intuition told her the man before her was very dangerous.
"Who... are you?"
Wen Shu cautiously arched her back, discreetly retreating. Suddenly, her leg brushed against something cold and eerie on the side.
She froze, her adrenaline surged, and with a skillful maneuver, she swiftly pinned him down beneath her.
Under the flickering firelight, she finally saw the man was unclothed.
Strong arms helplessly supported beneath him, his bare back muscles smooth and tense. Further down, black scales glistened coldly, spreading from his slim waist, resembling—
Wen Shu grabbed the cold, slippery object in her hand, and indeed saw a thick, severed snake tail, huge like a giant python.
She had never seen such a thick snake tail, let alone attached to a human!
Wen Shu's pupils contracted, "What, what are you?"
She tried to remain calm, but there was a slight quiver in her voice.
Yet the male snake beneath was struggling and didn't catch her words.
"Enough nonsense!" He turned back with humiliation, unhidden loathing and ferocity in his eyes, gritting his teeth as he spoke, "Female, you'd better release me now, or the entire Snake Beast Tribe won't spare you."
Female? What kind of strange title is that?
As the question arose, a sharp pain pierced her temples, countless chaotic unfamiliar images forcibly drilling into Wen Shu's mind.
Once she broadly processed the jumble of memories, Wen Shu was shocked, yet quickly understood her current situation.
Betrayed by teammates and pushed into a corpse horde, she thought she was surely doomed, yet unexpectedly found herself in the Beast World novel her roommate recommended before the apocalypse!
The original character shared her name, Wen Shu, with a particularly tragic end, memory of which stayed fresh in her mind.
This was a world with extremely low birth rates, females scarce and hard to impregnate.
To boost birth rates, the three Empires issued a one-female-many-male mate system, requiring each female to test their Pregnancy value upon adulthood, adjusting mate limits.
As a contrast to the heroine, the original character was the malicious true daughter of Su'en City, exiled with low spiritual power, unable to use her Healing Ability, and possessed ridiculously low Pregnancy value.
Besides being lazy and ill-tempered, she'd even forced a male to jail, causing males to avoid her.
Meanwhile, the heroine was a reborn fake daughter, adored in Su'en City thanks to her likable personality and impressive 70% Pregnancy value.
Attracting numerous overly powerful males, contributing to explosive storylines akin to content rating wars.
After being retrieved home, the original character resented the heroine for seizing everything that belonged to her, crazily targeting the heroine, yet failing and being called before the Supreme Court.
In the end, plotted against by her mates, she ended up with severed limbs, tortured into madness, thrown into the dense forest to feed mutant beasts.
Among those plotting against her, the most dominant was Mious—a tailless Snake Beast.
Wen Shu stiffly looked at the increasingly weakened male struggling beneath her.
If her memory was correct, this was Mious.
Due to the potion's influence, the male's pale face flushed with redness, his breath scorching, yet his voice was icy cold, "Today is the blessing day, if found, aren't you afraid of being accused of desecrating the Beast God and brought to court?"
Wen Shu was momentarily stunned, then quickly reacted.
Indeed, today is the blessing day.
To express gratitude for the Beast God's nurturing, five tribes gathered at the Fox Beast Tribe to prepare for the blessing ceremony. As the tribal leader's daughter, the original character also helped.
No one anticipated that when entertaining guests, the original character fell in love with Mious at first sight, and upon failing to win his favor, drugged him, intending a forced union.
Mious resisted desperately, and the original character cruelly severed his snake tail and extracted his venomous fangs.
Then, things led to the current situation.
The main point is, the blessing day is the most sacred festival for the Beastmen; if caught coercing a male, one's reputation would be ruined, and it would be seen as desecrating the Beast God.
In the original story, the protagonist was imprisoned because of this matter and became a cripple upon release!
Wen Shu's vision went black; the original protagonist not only offended Mious gravely but also left such a mess...
Having finally been given another chance at life, she didn't want to follow the original protagonist's path and needed to eliminate all unstable factors.
With determination, Wen Shu pinched her thigh hard, squeezing out a couple of tears!
"Why, why is there so much blood..."
She maintained the original's domineering attitude, voice trembling, and complained with guilty conscience, "I wasn't intentional, who asked you to be ignorant enough to resist? I am the daughter of the leader, the tribe's future heir; am I not worthy of you?"
Mious remained silent, his gaze more indifferent.
In order to resist the effects of the potion, he bit into his lip, the blood trickling down the edge of his chin, his whole being exuding a menacing aura.
Wen Shu swallowed nervously, feeling the performance was about right, wiped away her tears with the back of her hand, "I really like you... but you're not indispensable; there are plenty of males wanting to be my Beast Husband, you're not the only one!"
She tentatively attempted to activate her superpower, just wishing to quickly heal this troublesome issue and sever ties with the original protagonist's fate.
"I will heal you, but in the future, when you see me, it's best you keep away, understand!"
Feeling the familiar energy, she silently breathed a sigh of relief, it seems her past life's superpower has merged with this body.
She reached out to touch Mious, but before getting close, was fiercely struck down by his whip-like tail with a "snap".
"Get away!"
Mious propped himself against the wall, with a large movement, causing the wound on his snake tail to split open again.
He gritted his teeth in pain, still unwilling to relax his vigilance, constantly observing the opponent's actions.
He hadn't forgotten the vicious female's frenzied gaze when severing his tail, due to the blood staining her hand.
Wen Shu pretended to be disappointed and blinked, pursing her lips, "You! You think I want to touch you!"
Determined, she raised her hand, releasing a white glow to envelop the injured Snake Beast.
Mious instinctively wanted to dodge, but as the glow descended, the stinging wound felt soothed by warm sunlight.
Even his agitated emotions seemed to be gently calmed by a soft hand, gradually quieting down.
He felt comfortable enough to sigh, but only after a few seconds, the warmth abruptly stopped, the pain from the severed tail returned fiercely.
Wen Shu: What's going on?
She looked up, their eyes meeting.
Mious pressed against the wall, expressionless, and bit his lips, a trace of doubt flickered in his eyes.
The minor injuries on his body had healed, leaving only the missing part of his snake tail.
Wen Shu tried to activate her superpower again, but her palm flickered perfunctorily like a flashlight with insufficient power, then fell silent.
"..."
Strange, she didn't feel her energy was exhausted.
As a top-level superpower user, she had saved countless people and never encountered this situation.
Wen Shu awkwardly withdrew her hand, feeling a bit anxious, if he isn't healed and someone comes, what will happen!
She rubbed her fingers twice, feigned calmness, and asked, "It should be much better now, try and see if you can transform back to human form?"
Upon hearing her request, Mious lowered his head in silence, a glint of sarcasm flashing in his cold eyes.
Seeing his unwillingness to cooperate, Wen Shu rapidly thought of a countermeasure.
Just then, footsteps echoed at the entrance of the cave.
"Wen Shu the female!"