Beauty and the Beasts

“Why is it mud? Has the clear lake dried up too?” Bai Qingqing scratched her head in exasperation. Heaven knew how itchy and sticky from sweat her scalp was. She was itching to use the mud to dry-wash it.

Beastmen didn’t have such troubles as their hair was always dry and fluffy. The females seemed to have the same type of hair as the males, and they all had short hair. It was as if she was the only person in the City of Beastmen who had trouble with her hair.

“Ah! I want to just shave my head!” Bai Qingqing couldn’t help but exclaim.

“I had to vie with others for this. Everyone’s scrambling to store water like madmen. The mud’s been scraped clean,” Parker said defeatedly.

He tenderly stroked Bai Qingqing’s sticky scalp and continued, “If you let the dirt settle, the water in here will be enough for you to drink for a few days. The water we have at home will last you till the heavy rainy season. There just isn’t any extra water left to shower with.”

“What about you guys?”

Parker smiled and didn’t say a word. There were certain things that males didn’t want females to know about.

Bai Qingqing recalled what the ape king said about “drinking blood” and suddenly became silent.

Had it come to that already?

Curtis couldn’t bear to see Bai Qingqing suffer. He said firmly, “Come to the coast with me.”

“The hot season will be ending by the time we reach the coast. And we might not necessarily find water along the way.” Bai Qingqing rejected him without a second thought.

Bai Qingqing could walk, but the other females in the City of Beastmen couldn’t. They had never experienced hardship before, so they wouldn’t be able to take all the suffering. They might as well stay in the City of Beastmen. The heavy rainy season would eventually arrive anyway.

The beastmen had prepared early and stored a certain amount of water in their homes, so they could hold out a period of time.

Bai Qingqing scratched her head again. Parker suddenly realized that something was off.

“Qingqing, why do I find that you’re different from the females of the ape tribe?” Parker held Bai Qingqing’s ponytail and looked at it. “Your hair… grows so quickly. It was at your shoulders last year, and it’s at your waist now. The females of the ape tribe have longer hair than that of other tribes, but their hair pretty much doesn’t grow once it reaches their shoulders.”

“Ah!” Bai Qingqing turned her head away angrily. “I probably just eat better.”

Bai Qingqing hid the truth from them out of habit. It wasn’t that she distrusted them, but her background was too complicated, and revealing it would only bring her more trouble. She wanted to forget it and just be a female from the ape tribe.

Whether I reveal it or not, the situation will still be the same. Nothing will change.

Parker accepted her explanation and didn’t ask further.

Due to this incident, Winston’s reputation seemed to be catching up to the ape king’s. From time to time, beastmen would ask Winston in groups about what they should do.

Upon hearing the noise coming from outside, Bai Qingqing adjusted her spaghetti strap dress, got up, and walked out.

“When will it rain, tiger king? Can you make it rain from the sky?”

Bai Qingqing heard the question the moment she walked over, and she couldn’t help but bring a hand to her forehead.

Winston didn’t say a word. Just when everyone was about to leave in disappointment, they heard a soft voice call out to them.

“Wait.”

The beastmen all turned their heads to look at the beautiful female walking towards them. Even though it had been a year since Bai Qingqing arrived in the city, they were stunned by her beauty every time they saw her. She was always prettier than they imagined.

This was what humans often talked about, that the face was the index of the heart. No matter how beautiful a woman was, if people hated her, her face would disgust them. On the contrary, if an average-looking woman had a likable personality, she would gradually appear charming in other’s eyes.

Moreover, in this world, Bai Qingqing was considered to be very pretty, and her obedient and gentle personality made her easy on the eyes.

Bai Qingqing smiled at them, then stood on her tiptoes and leaned to whisper in Winston’s ear.