Beauty and the Beasts

Chapter 960: Precarious Night (1)

The sun had set, and there were remnant red blotches in the skyline. The three moons, some round and some not so, had risen into the skies. However, in comparison with the afterglow, they appeared lackluster and resembled several birthmarks in the sky.

Before the giant stone laid a lone snake on the sand. Bathed in the fierce wind and raging sand, he exuded a bleak and desolate vibe, so lonely it was as though he was the only existence on earth.

As the lighting grew increasingly dim, the afterglow dissipated entirely, to be replaced by an abundance of moonlight.

Suddenly, the giant snake lying on the sand tensed his body, his tough snake scales making scratchy sounds of abrasion. Though it wasn’t loud, it had the effect of numbing one’s scalp.

Bai Qingqing, who was feeling drowsy initially, was jolted out of that state by that noise, immediately gazing outside.

She saw Curtis suddenly standing up, then lying back down. Clearly, a hallucination had appeared suddenly and was suppressed by him.

Before Bai Qingqing could heave a sigh of relief, she felt her breathing being choked by an invisible hand. She supported herself against the grotto door for a while, then gazed towards the pitch-dark lake opposite.

An’an didn’t cry, either. Fantastic.

Bai Qingqing nearly wept tears of joy. Afraid she would disturb Curtis, she bit her wrist to stop herself from making any noise.

The night was so quiet it was as though the world was frozen. Even the chirping of insects couldn’t be heard. In this vast oasis, a perfect silence prevailed, and one could only hear their own heartbeat.

Having endured the suffering till midnight, the time reached where the moonlight was the most abundant.

The giant snake on the ground coiled his body tightly. That tense snake body was filled with forbearance and pain, making Bai Qingqing heartache for him. When her gaze inadvertently met the snake’s, Bai Qingqing was startled.

The sandy ground exposed under the moonlight appeared so bright it was as though it was daytime. The shadow cast by the snake’s body appeared increasingly dark. With his snake’s head raised, those snake eyes glistened with an eerie red glow under the moonlight, like a demon that had crawled out from Hell.

“Waaa—”

At this crucial moment, the loud and clear cry of a baby rang from the opposite shore. A taut string in Bai Qingqing’s heart snapped as she thought to herself “Oh no”.

The baby’s cries seemed to be the spark that lit up Curtis’s fuse. He abruptly stood up and speedily slithered into the lake, heading straight for the source of noise opposite.

Bai Qingqing, too, ran out and yelled, “Curtis, don’t go over there!”

The snake gliding through the water halted, then suddenly changed directions and headed towards her. Those bloodthirsty eyes were filled with the cold and ruthless nature of a snake beastman, making Bai Qingqing sense an unprecedented feeling of threat.

The current Curtis felt a hundred times more dangerous than the Curtis she had met for the first time before she understood snake beastmen. He had lost all of his senses, and no one knew what he would do next.

Leopard howls and tiger roars rang from the opposite shore at the same time, as if to attract Curtis’s attention. However, Curtis remained unmoved and swam towards Bai Qingqing swiftly.

Bai Qingqing’s instinct to live caused every cell in her body to maniacally scream at her to flee. But it was like her legs were rooted to the ground, and she was unable to move an inch.

All she could do was watch as the snake got closer and closer to her, so close that she could feel the cold wind brought by the other party. Following that, the snake raised his upper body and was about to do something, when she felt something tighten around her waist, and the very next moment, she was forcibly brought away from where she was standing.

An ordinary person would be startled at having been abruptly taken away, but Bai Qingqing, on the other hand, heaved a sigh of relief.

She didn’t even have to raise her head. From her peripheral vision, she could see the abnormally developed chest muscles of the man holding her, as well as his overly long arms. Bai Qingqing realized who the person was right away.

Bai Qingqing suddenly thought of Muir. As a beastman who could fly, his chest was equally muscular, and his arms that could transform into wings also had an ape-like quality to them.

She even suspected that this mysterious beastman who treated her so well it induced panic in her heart was, in fact, Muir.