The next day, Lan Cang made a meal and left before dawn, only returning in the evening carrying his kill.
The moment he walked in the door, he saw Sang Luo holding a few books she had pulled from the bedside, slowly flipping through the pages.
Lan Cang wasn't from this tribe. He had grown up in the slums with no means to attend school in the city. Since childhood, he had loved saving money to buy books, but they were all on topics like combat techniques—rather boring for a female.
A tall, slender figure appeared before her, bringing a gust of cold air. Sang Luo finally looked up from her book. Lan Cang sat on the edge of the bed, peeled a wild fruit, and held it to her lips. The females of the tribe all loved fruit, so he had made a special trip to pick a good number of them in the forest.
The fruit was shaped a bit like a mangosteen. She ate it from his hand, her tongue gently brushing against his fingertips. An electric jolt seemed to shoot from his fingers through his entire body. Lan Cang snatched his hand back, nervously rubbing his fingertips together. His ears flushed slightly red. He pretended to glance down, only to discover that she was holding the book upside down.
"You... can't read?" Lan Cang asked with a low chuckle. The sound made Sang Luo's ears tingle.
'This man was so quiet and taciturn, but his laugh was surprisingly captivating.'
She nodded.
'She wasn't from this world, after all. It was only natural she couldn't recognize the script.'
Lan Cang was a little surprised. 'Today's Beast World isn't the barbaric society of ten thousand years ago. Illiterate Beastmen are rare. Even if the great families don't expect their females to learn knowledge for the good of the Empire, you rarely see a female who's completely illiterate—to the point she can't even tell a book is upside down…' But then he remembered she was a female the tribe had found outside. 'She probably came from the slums. A mute with a genetic defect, she's even lost her most basic value in childbearing. It's no wonder no one taught her any of this.'
'Females weren't like the expendable males. They were supposed to be showered with endless love as they grew up, yet her life had been so difficult.'
The more he thought about it, the more his heart ached for her. He pulled her onto his lap. "Do you want to learn?"
Her eyes lit up as she nodded.
"I'll teach you."
After that, Lan Cang began returning much earlier in the evening, leaving more time to teach her to read by lamplight. In turn, he also started waking up earlier, often disappearing while it was still dark out.
Fortunately, Sang Luo was a keen student. In just half a month, she had mastered most of the simple, everyday vocabulary, aside from a few obscure and difficult characters.
It wasn't that her learning ability was that strong. Rather, the more she studied, the more she discovered that the characters strongly resembled Chinese characters—just a distorted version of them. The difference was akin to that between modern Chinese characters and oracle bone script.
Recalling how she had somehow been able to understand the Beastmen's speech right after she arrived, Sang Luo couldn't help but suspect that she hadn't transmigrated to an Otherworld. This world had to be connected to human society.
The Beastmen of the tribe still retained the primitive custom of hunting. Their diet consisted mainly of Star Beast Meat, and they also harvested the Crystal Cores from within the Star Beasts. Crystal Cores were the universal currency in this world; they could be used to improve one's strength or traded in the city for a greater variety of food and supplies. The Beastmen lived in relatively simple houses made of mud brick and stone, yet their furniture showed obvious traces of human civilization. There were convenient appliances like refrigerators, electric cookers, and electric lamps. This gave her transmigration to this Otherworld a sense of familiarity, and she found she hardly needed an adjustment period.
She hadn't been anywhere else yet, but from what she could see of this tribe, the level of technological development was comparable to a rural area in modern society...
But, clearly, there were no humans in this world—only Beastmen.
'Then where did the humans go?'
'Did they go extinct?'
Unfortunately, there weren't many books in the house. For the time being, she could only remain in this small world of hers, unable to get a glimpse of the bigger picture. Naturally, the answers were beyond her reach.
Lan Cang had run into trouble. He was locked in a struggle with a massive Elephant Bull Beast. This creature was one of the most difficult beasts in the ruined zones, possessing extremely high destructive power and an even more formidable defense. Any Beastman below Level Five who had the misfortune of encountering one of these beasts rarely made it back alive.
Lan Cang hadn't just been unlucky enough to stumble upon this ferocious beast. On the contrary, he had purposely traveled over half the mountain and lain in wait for several days. After a full day of brutal combat, the beast's stamina finally gave out. With its weak point grievously wounded, it collapsed beneath his claws.
It was late at night by the time Lan Cang rushed back to the tribe. He gently pushed open the door to the house, only to be met with a full embrace.
Her familiar, sweet scent filled him with a sense of peace and deep affection.
He hugged her back, holding her for a long moment before taking a deep breath and smiling. "Still awake this late? Were you waiting for me?"
She nodded.
At that, Lan Cang's heart was instantly filled with tenderness.
It was the contentment of a wandering soul that had finally found a home, an indescribable joy.
Suddenly, Sang Luo's nose twitched. Her small hand traveled up along his lean, firm waist.
Lan Cang had left that morning wearing a form-fitting white shirt under a raven-black jacket. As she slid her hand beneath his jacket, she realized the shirt was gone.
He must have stopped to wash in the river after his hunt. His clothes were still slightly damp and carried the faint, pleasant scent of fresh Water. But mixed in with it was an almost imperceptible whiff of blood.
"It's all right, I'm fine. Go on back and get some rest." Lan Cang quickly grabbed her small hand and guided her back into the house. 'If she keeps touching me like this,' he thought, 'I'm really afraid I'll lose control and enter my heat prematurely.'
In the dead of night, Sang Luo heard the sound of the black wolf licking its wounds by itself.
Not long after, the bed beside her dipped. An overwhelmingly masculine presence washed over her, completely enveloping her.
Lan Cang was extremely close. His hot, heavy breaths fell by her ear. A long, slender hand came to rest on her lips, feeding something like a stone into her mouth. The strange thing was, the moment the stone entered her mouth and touched her saliva, it dissolved into a faint, warm current that spread down her throat and through her entire body.
Her body felt more relaxed and comfortable than ever before.
As Lan Cang began to get up and leave, Sang Luo suddenly wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him back down beneath her. A soft kiss landed on his lips.
The breathing of the man beneath her immediately grew ragged, and the hand resting on her waist tightened abruptly.
[Lan Cang]
She traced the characters on his chest with her finger. His name.
And then, her name.
[Sang Luo]
"Sang Luo... Luoluo..."
Lan Cang froze for a moment, then nodded and whispered her name aloud.
He had remembered it.
[Sang Luo likes Lan Cang]
In the dim room, only the sound of their two breaths could be heard. Sang Luo's slender, soft fingers lingered on his chest. Her eyes crinkled as her lips curved into a bright, tender smile.
A normal person might not have been able to see it in the dark, but a Beastman's vision was exceptionally keen.
His heart pounded, hot and wild, as if trying to brand this moment into his memory forever.
Lan Cang had lived in a muddle for so long, but in this instant, he felt as if he had finally, truly come alive.
'The little mute girl that nobody else wanted... was a treasure gifted to him by the heavens.'
Sang Luo felt something, and her body trembled slightly. A blush involuntarily crept up her face.
Before she could have a single thought of retreating, Lan Cang flipped their positions, pinning her beneath him. He grasped her chin, seizing control as he kissed her fiercely...