translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

Logically speaking, it was still very tiring to carry a thick tree back home even if Xiong Ye had turned into his animal form. However, probably because he was filled with joy, he actually didn't feel tired at all.

It was Zhou Ji who suggested that they take a break after walking for a while.

Xiong Ye put the tree down, turned back into human form, and immediately asked, "Zhou Ji, you mustn't travel so far in the future when you come out by yourself. It's very dangerous outside!"

This was something he had abruptly thought of as he was walking with the tree. He had been in animal form at the time and couldn't speak, so he could only hold it in and stew over it during the entire walk.

Although there weren't any large carnivorous dinosaurs near their tribe, Zhou Ji was someone who didn't even have an animal form. It was really too dangerous for him to go out alone!

Previously, Xiong Ye hadn't been worried because he had always thought that Zhou Ji was just out harvesting plants from the area where the gathering team went. However, that didn't seem to have been the case at all.

To his surprise, Zhou Ji had actually come to such a faraway place!

Zhou Ji was stunned--Xiong Ye had caught him off guard with his sudden transformation into human form. He wasn't even wearing his animal hide skirt!

Xiong Ye saw that Zhou Ji wasn't speaking and was worried that Zhou Ji was unhappy about him managing his affairs, so he added, "If you want to go to places further away in the future, I'll take you on days when there isn't any collective hunting."

Zhou Ji recovered and s.h.i.+fted his gaze away as he laughed slightly, "Good."

His future mate was so obedient! Xiong Ye gazed at Zhou Ji happily--Even though they had hiked around in the forest for such a long time, Zhou Ji was still so clean. He was so attractive!

Xiong Ye found another topic to talk about with his future mate. "Zhou Ji, you aren't stupid at all. Why didn't you leave the cave before?" Before Zhou Ji's mother died, he had hardly ever seen Zhou Ji.

Zhou Ji had already thought of a good explanation for himself, so he had a reply ready after he heard Xiong Ye's words, "I was really stupid before. I didn't think about anything or do anything every single day and only knew how to just lie there… Later, after my mother died, I was left alone in the cave and almost starved to death, and finally came to my senses all of a sudden."

"So it was like that." Xiong Ye had suddenly seen the light.

“The first person I saw when I woke up was you, so to me, you are different from the others." Zhou Ji smiled as he spoke. Back then, he had his abilities on hand but no seeds, and had dragged his nearly starved body out of the cave to find food. In the end, he hadn't managed to find anything yet when Xiong Ye, who had gone to find s.h.i.+ Li, noticed him and stuffed him with a chunk of dinosaur meat.

It had really tasted terrible.

Zhou Ji kept his eyes on Xiong Ye while he was talking, and Xiong Ye felt his heart speed up under his gaze.

Zhou Ji had felt that he was very special when he saw him for the first time? Had Zhou Ji started liking him a long time ago?

Xiong Ye's mood flew even higher.

Zhou Ji saw that Xiong Ye was acting so excited and added, "Later, you let me live in your cave, and I was really happy." The collective living cave… was fundamentally unsuitable for humans to live in!

Xiong Ye's heart beat even faster, "Zhou Ji… Um… I'm sorry. I didn't know that you liked me at that time…" Zhou Ji must've been happy about living in his cave because he liked him.

Zhou Ji felt like he was abducting a pure little boy, but he couldn't deny that he really liked Xiong Ye's reaction.

He felt that it was difficult for him to fall in love with a person, but it was truly pretty good to have a mate like this.

Xiong Ye's blushed for a while before he recovered and continued to speak, "Zhou Ji, it's a pity that you woke up so late. If you had come to your senses earlier, you would definitely have been able to awaken an animal form."

Even if some people awakened a very weak or small animal form, it wasn't completely useless and was still better than not awakening at all.

He remembered that after he had awakened his animal form at the age of ten, his senses had improved a lot. The whole world had become different in his eyes, and it was the same for the others too.

It was really a great pity that Zhou Ji hadn't awakened!

If he could awaken an animal form, even if it was only a tiny mouse, he would have a little more ability. For example, even a mouse would have a keen sense of smell.

"Perhaps I'll be able to awaken later on." Zhou Ji said. He had studied his own body, and it was no different from the other beastmen in the tribe, so he should be able to transform into an animal.

It was because he had no interest in becoming an animal that he had never transformed.

Yet now… When he had time, he could maybe give it a try and see exactly what kind of animal he was?

"It would be great if you could awaken. Maybe you'll awaken as a cat." Xiong Ye was quite looking forward to it--Zhou Ji's lazy appearance was quite similar to Mao Jin's, and he might awaken as a cat just like her.

If Zhou Ji awakened as a small cat that could lay in his hand… He would definitely give it a kiss.

"I'll awaken in the future." Zhou Ji said. There were all sorts of mammals in this world, and he was now a little worried after hearing Xiong Ye's words.

If the animal form this body awakened as was terrible…

He would transform on his own to see what exactly he was, then decide whether or not to let Xiong Ye know about it.

If his animal form was decent, he could pretend that he had suddenly awakened, and if it was a bad animal form, he could act as though he had never awakened at all.

After a short rest, Xiong Ye stood up, "Let's go!" If they got back early, they would have time to make water buckets.

"Alright." Zhou Ji nodded.

Xiong Ye continued, "Walk ahead of me." If Zhou Ji walked behind him, and he accidentally sped up, Zhou Ji might not be able to keep up. He might as well let Zhou Ji take the lead.

Zhou Ji smiled and agreed, then watched as Xiong Ye took on his animal form and picked up the huge piece of wood without complaint.

He began to think about how to reward Xiong Ye.

Such a cute little bear that worked so hard to take care of his family must be properly looked after.

Zhou Ji moved forward at a pace that suited Xiong Ye's speed and killed some of the unfriendly gra.s.ses and plants along the way as he walked. He also drove away an a.s.sortment of small animals.

He didn't want these things to hurt Xiong Ye.

However, these things didn't seem able to hurt Xiong Ye in his animal form at all.

Although Xiong Ye could stand up on his hind legs, it was very tiring to do so. The 'carrying' that Xiong Ye was doing right now was using one of his paws to hold the wood firmly in place, then walk forward on his three remaining legs.

His shoulders were a little sore after walking like this for a while, but he could bear it--he wanted to get back quickly.

While he was thinking, Xiong Ye saw Zhou Ji stop. "There are some edible vegetables here. I want to pick some."

Xiong Ye s.h.i.+fted into human form and immediately said, "I'll help you."

Zhou Ji didn't refuse him, then watched on as a naked Xiong Ye pitter-pattered away to go and pick vegetables.

This position… was clearly full of temptation.

Zhou Ji touched his nose. When they had set out, he had brought a simple basket made of twigs with hm--people in the tribe knew how to make them.

However, considering the fact that the basket was very basic and had many 'holes', people would generally layer some larger leaves at the bottom first before they used it to hold things.

Zhou Ji's basket had been padded with leaves. After he placed the vegetables into the basket, he carried it by hand.

“Do you want me to carry it for you?” Xiong Ye asked.

"No need." Zhou Ji said.

Vegetables didn't weigh much; Xiong Ye didn't insist. He changed into his animal form again and used his other front paw to hold the chunk of wood in place on his back as they continued on.

After walking for a while, Zhou Ji stopped again. He pointed to a bird's nest in a tree nearby, "The dinosaur eggs obtained yesterday were very delicious. Bird eggs should also be very tasty."

Xiong Ye once again turned into a human. “Bird eggs are more delicious than dinosaur eggs. I'll go get them for you."

Xiong Ye didn't put on his animal hide skirt and simply began to climb up the tree as he spoke.

Some bears were very skilled at climbing trees, but Xiong Ye's bear form was too large to climb. However, this didn't affect his ability to obtain the bird eggs.

He could climb trees with his human form!

Zhou Ji, who was under the tree: What a good view!

Before long, Xiong Ye clambered back down with three eggs that were slightly smaller than chicken eggs, "There were six eggs inside. I took half."

"Mm." Zhou Ji smiled at him and placed the three eggs into his basket. He praised, "Xiong Ye, you're really impressive."

Xiong Ye, who had exercised his muscles and body and had even gotten praised for it, happily continued to carry the big chunk of wood.

After walking for a period of time… Zhou Ji had more things he wanted to do.

The two of them started and stopped five times on the way back to the valley, collecting an a.s.sortment of things.

Xiong Ye was very good-tempered and didn't feel impatient at all. On the contrary, he was delighted that Zhou Ji asked him for help with things and was happy to clamber up into trees and dive into the water when needed.

What a lively and vibrant little bear… Zhou Ji led the huge brown bear back to the tribe.

It was almost dark by the time they returned. The people of the tribe had lit a fire and were gathered around it to prepare for their evening meal.

It couldn't really be called dinner… The people in the tribe would often only eat one meal a day, then have a good sleep before waking up the next day to continue hunting.

Everyone noticed as Zhou Ji came back with Xiong Ye.

“What a big tree."

"Why did Xiong Ye bring back a tree?"

"Probably to make things with… Did you guys see? There's a beehive and alligator on the tree!"

"Xiong Ye is truly amazing."

"Zhou Ji really doesn't have to worry about having enough to eat when he's with Xiong Ye!"

The crowd looked at Xiong Ye with admiration and also couldn't help feeling envious of Zhou Ji.

There were some people with relatively poor strength who began to regret that they hadn't tried to find a way to obtain Xiong Ye earlier.

As long as they could live a lifetime without worrying about hunger, it was fine to become a mated pair with Xiong Ye! They had originally been quite weak and wouldn't necessarily be able to have children anyway.

"Elder brother Xiong Ye." The children of the tribe ran over and greeted Xiong Ye.

Xiong Ye wanted to take on human form, but Zhou Ji, who had figured out his intentions in advance, stopped him. "Let's put our things down first before coming back down." It was fine to transform when there was only the two of them, but he shouldn't run around without clothes right now!

Xiong Ye nodded. He first brought the wood to the entrance of their cave, then went inside to change into his human form. Zhou Ji simultaneously handed over an animal hide skirt.

Zhou Ji said, "Let's break open the beehive and set some aside, then give the rest to the priest."

Xiong Ye nodded and immediately broke open the beehive. He poured quite a lot of honey into the eggsh.e.l.l that had been sc.r.a.ped clean this morning and set aside some honeycomb in a stone bowl.

Zhou Ji wasn't interested in the honeycomb, but if Xiong Ye wanted to eat it… let him eat it, then.

After setting aside enough honey, Xiong Ye picked up the remaining portion of the beehive and took Zhou Ji with him to the priest's cave.

The cave that the priest lived in looked similar to the one Xiong Ye had in that there were many tools and items made out of stone or wood inside.

However, Zhou Ji didn't feel envious at all.

The priest's cave had a smell that elderly people often had, and it wasn't pleasing at all. Xiong Ye smelled a lot better.

"Xiong Ye, why did you come?" The priest smiled as he asked, then sniffed the air, "Honey?"

“Grandpa Priest, I obtained a beehive and wanted to give you some of it." Xiong Ye said.

The priest was overjoyed, “That's great. Is there anything you guys would like? I can trade for it."

"Grandpa Priest, the mating ceremony two days from now…" Xiong Ye clutched at his head.

"Don't worry. I will definitely think of the best mating ceremony for you." The priest immediately replied. Xiong Ye had already brought up this request before, when Xiong Ye and s.h.i.+ Li were going to become mates. Now… He should help Xiong Ye think up an even better ceremony.

Xiong Ye was overjoyed when he heard the priest's reply, "Thank you, Grandpa Priest."

The priest looked at him kindly and brought out a small bowl, “This is for you to eat.”

“What is this?” Xiong Ye was very curious. Zhou Ji glanced over but only saw that the bowl contained leftover oil dregs.

Obviously, the priest had followed his words and used dinosaur oil.

"This was cooked with fat. It's particularly delicious. Those little fellows wanted to eat it, but I only let them try a bit of it. Now, I'm giving it to you." The priest handed the bowl over to Xiong Ye and looked at Zhou Ji again, "I did as you said and made an especially tasty dinosaur egg. I'm stuffed now."

As for the fact that he had accidentally splashed some oil onto his hand while cooking and injured it slightly, there was no need to say it.

He definitely wouldn't get hurt next time!

Xiong Ye ate a bit of the oil dregs and enjoyed it very much. He wanted to let Zhou Ji give it a try, but Zhou Ji refused, "I don't like it. You have it."

After refusing to eat the dregs, Zhou Ji looked towards the priest again, "Grandpa Priest, the oil that you cooked in this way can be stored for a long time."

"Really? I'll try it out!" The priest was surprised and continued, "Zhou Ji, you've suddenly become very clever."

"Zhou Ji must have been blessed by the Beast G.o.d." Xiong Ye shared the story that Zhou Ji had made up and told him today with the priest.

Like Xiong Ye, the priest believed it right away and said to Zhou Ji, "The Beast G.o.d must be protecting you!"

Zhou Ji: "……" Sorry, but he didn't actually believe in the Beast G.o.d…

xiin: ZJ's a prude – confirmed.

Juurensha: ahaha, he is, but they're both so cuuuute.