Beauty and the Beasts

Before Bai Qingqing could wave goodbye at Molly, all she could see was the latter’s back view.

She cast a helpless glance at her two mates but said nothing.

With so many people in the village now, if she wanted to make sure An’an remained free from harassment, she definitely wouldn’t be able to roam around in the village going forward.

After some thought, Bai Qingqing asked Parker, “Is it easy to navigate the roads of the iron ore mine? I’d like to go there to take a look.”

“With me around, there aren’t any roads that are difficult to navigate,” Parker reassured.

“Alright, let’s head to the iron ore mine then.” Bai Qingqing decided.

Once they got out of the village, Bai Qingqing was carried since the terrain wasn’t suitable for females to walk upon.

Although Parker claimed it was easy to move around, in actual fact, there were plenty of steep slopes all around. Moving up and down the undulating slopes, one misstep, and they might fall to their deaths into the valley.

But seeing the two males move quickly and steadily, Bai Qingqing felt like she was being alarmed over nothing.

With Curtis carrying Bai Qingqing, and Parker holding An’an, the four of them very quickly arrived at the mining area.

There were few plants in the stone mountain, and no tall plants around. With the sunlight shining directly upon them, the temperature was scalding.

The heat made Bai Qingqing press closer against Curtis’s body.

“Do you find it hot?” asked Curtis.

“A bit.”

Looking up at the skies, Curtis held Bai Qingqing more firmly.

Parker, too, covered An’an’s face as he said while pointing ahead, “Seems like that’s the deep earth fissure¹ Winston was talking about. There’s a spot next to it where we can rest. Let’s go over there.”

Bai Qingqing looked in that direction with her heart trembling a little. “You mean the earth fissure where the eight-faceted crystals can be found?”

“Mm,” Parker responded. “I haven’t had the time to check this out until now. Let’s go over and take a look.”

Bai Qingqing creased her brows. “Why go down? The mere look of it makes me feel uncomfortable.”

But there was a large rock over there, which made it convenient to rest, so Bai Qingqing didn’t object to it.

The four of them went to the flat rock. It so happened that the stone mountain blocked the sunlight from this spot. Parker cleaned the rock briefly, then laid an animal skin over it and asked Bai Qingqing to sit down.

“Qingqing, I’ll go down and take a look,” said Parker.

Bai Qingqing pinched his arm. “Are you really going down?”

“I just want to find out if there’s only one of that kind of rock down there, or if there are many of them,” explained Parker.

Bai Qingqing cast him an unassured glance. “Alright. Go, then. But be careful.”

Parker grinned and speedily planted a kiss on her face, then jumped into the earth fissure in the blink of an eye.

“Hooligan leopard!” Bai Qingqing scolded with a smile. She also walked to the earth fissure, but all she could see was pitch darkness and the movement of an indistinct black figure.

“It’s so dark.”

If it weren’t for the knowledge that Winston had gone down once, Bai Qingqing would have called Parker to come back up.

“Leopards have an excellent nighttime vision.” Curtis had walked up behind her since god-knows-when. He flicked out his tongue into the crack, and his pupils shrunk slightly.

Although temperatures had been rising, the air seeping from the earth fissure was abnormally cold and sinister.

Gazing at the earth fissure, Curtis reached out to grab Bai Qingqing’s hand.

Still worried, she said regretfully, “Why didn’t you guys tell me earlier? If I had known we were going down, I would have brought along the luminous balls.”

“Light appears too striking in dark places.” Curtis said, “If there are wild animals, the source of light will only put him in greater danger.”

“You’re right.” Bai Qingqing’s brows drooped.

The shadow of a bird swooping by speedily was cast upon the ground, making Bai Qingqing look up at the skies.

Neither she nor Curtis was carrying anything in their arms. Bai Qingqing suddenly asked, “Where’s An’an?”