Beauty and the Beasts

Parker sprinted several hundred meters away and didn’t hear anyone chasing after him. He thought to himself in alarm: Did Curtis see through my plot and thus plans to take down Winston first?

In the midst of sprinting, he turned his head to check. Indeed, Curtis wasn’t chasing after him.

Before he could come to a halt, with his head tilted sideways, he collided into a tree. Roar! The strong impact from the collision caused the leopard to fly and land in an inverted position against the tree trunk, causing the tree leaves to fall.

Moral of the story: One should remain alert while driving and mustn’t be distracted.

“Parker!”

Bai Qingqing’s voice rang in Parker’s ear. He shook his head and looked towards his partner giddily while whimpering, which made him sound quite pitiful.

Caught between laughter and tears, Bai Qingqing jogged towards him. Not far from her on her left and right, Curtis and Winston followed behind her.

Parker stared at the calmed down Curtis and transformed into a human. As he rubbed his head, he asked doubtfully, “Is Curtis fine now?”

Bai Qingqing nodded joyfully. She placed her hands on the back of Parker’s hands which were covering his forehead. With worry clouding her eyes, she said, “Let me take a look. Was the bump severe?”

Parker took the chance to act pitiful in front of her. How could a male’s body be that fragile? Only females would be deceived by such an act; no males would believe him.

As though he didn’t see anything, Curtis’s expression started to look dangerous. Even Alva couldn’t bear to stand by and watch.

Sharply sensing the change in Curtis, Parker stared at him warily and said, “Haven’t we agreed on this?”

Bai Qingqing, too, looked towards Curtis. Alva couldn’t resist ranting, “Pardon me for being frank. Anyone would feel like punching you seeing you behave in this manner.”

Roar! Parker let out a threatening low growl at Alva, who shut up in embarrassment.

Bai Qingqing also understood their intentions. But Parker truly suffered quite a severe knock, so she didn’t feel cheated. As she continued massaging him gently, she gazed at Curtis and asked, “How are you feeling now?”

Curtis nodded, walked to her side, crouched down, and then gently caressed her face, which had a shallow wound from being scratched by the crushed rock. He worriedly sized her up.

After staying quiet for a while, the remorseful-looking Curtis said, “I don’t recall what happened last night. Did I injure you?”

Even if he could recall it, his memories were all jumbled up, and he could only vaguely remember striking out at Snow.

Bai Qingqing shook her head with a smile. “Right when you started getting irascible, Parker and Winston rushed over. Following that, you chased after Parker and ran out. I’m fine.”

Curtis relaxed in relief and said, rejoicing, “Thank god.”

After rubbing the bruise on Parker’s head, Bai Qingqing let go of him and clasped Curtis’s hand tightly. “Listen to me, Curtis, don’t allow yourself to be controlled by the venom. You must retain clarity of mind. If you…”

Guilt welled up in Bai Qingqing’s heart, making her unable to continue. But for the sake of his life, she tightened her grip and continued.

“Don’t sink into the hallucination. I know that you love me and that you’re unable to tolerate Parker and Winston. Putting myself in your shoes, if you have other spouses, I wouldn’t be able to accept it as well. But this concerns your life, so you must persist. I can’t do without you…”

After she finished speaking, Bai Qingqing couldn’t stop the tears from rolling down her cheeks. She wiped away her tears haphazardly and said in a sitting/kneeling position facing Curtis, “Okay? For my sake, don’t be like this next time.”

With his eyes riveted upon her, Curtis said, “Of course, I don’t wish to leave you.”