An Jin’s expression softened as she reassured him, "I’m just going to look around nearby for some medicinal herbs. I won’t go far."
Seeing him stay put, the tip of his tail unwound from her calf. She breathed a sigh of relief and started to walk away. "Just watch over these two wooden boxes for me. I’ll be back soon."
The black-and-red python followed her gaze to where she was pointing. Two yellow wooden boxes sat on the grass. She had been clutching them to her chest the entire time. ’They must be very important.’
Mi Yin hesitated for a moment before obediently moving his massive body, coiling up beside the wooden boxes.
He wound himself into a tight, impenetrable coil around them.
But his gaze still lingered with longing on her petite figure.
Only when she was completely out of sight did he lower his head, tucking it into his coils until he was as still as a stone.
After An Jin left, the tightness in her chest didn’t ease. Instead, it grew worse.
The Snake Beast had protected her and the two wooden boxes so well that they didn’t have a single scorch mark, yet he himself was so grievously injured.
’He must have really liked the original owner, right? But I’m not her.’ The Snake Beast’s devotion and care only made An Jin feel guilty, as if she were stealing affection that wasn’t meant for her.
Most of the Snake Beast’s skin was festering, a wound far beyond what ordinary herbs could heal. Driven, perhaps, by this guilt, An Jin decided to buy a bottle of Epidermal Cell Proliferation Milk from her system space on credit.
Her Gold Coin balance instantly dropped to -20.
The system’s voice was so cheerful it seemed ready to take flight. "Host is permitted to go into debt. If the balance is not repaid within one week, the daily interest will increase by one. Failure to repay on time will result in system punishment. Please get rich quick, Host!"
An Jin was speechless. "..." She exited her system space, a large leaf now in her hand, filled with a green liquid.
She crouched beside him, and his tail gently arched to support her back. An Jin’s heart stirred. She lowered her head, carefully cleaning the Snake Beast’s wounds before applying the liquid.
"Does it hurt?"
"No."
The Snake Beast’s upper body shifted into his human form. With his ink-black hair and red eyes, he was ethereally beautiful. He watched the female’s diligent work and gave a slight shake of his head.
The moment the liquid touched his wounds, his snake tail twitched uncontrollably, as if in pain.
A flicker of pain crossed Mi Yin’s ethereally handsome face, but it vanished in an instant. He lowered his eyes, his expression returning to its usual calm.
His long lashes cast a shadow over his narrowed eyes. His blood-red, slitted pupils were fixed on her soft, pink-tinged fingertips as they spread the medicine over his tail.
Her uniquely soft touch seemed to awaken the numb, deadened flesh.
He could even feel it when her soft, fragrant skin accidentally brushed against his python body. The tail beneath him tensed slightly, and a dark glint flashed in his red eyes...
"Lord Ling Hong, we’ve scoured the entire mountain but couldn’t find An Jin. Shouldn’t we head back to the city?" a Beastman asked, his voice full of trepidation.
The silver-haired man before him remained motionless, as if he hadn’t heard a word, devoid of all life.
He knelt on one knee on the scorched, blackened ground. Reaching out, he picked up a burnt leaf fragment. With the slightest pressure, it disintegrated into ash.
The tragic scene of a world incinerated by fire was reflected in his lifeless eyes.
Everything pointed to one conclusion—no living creature could have survived. ’An Jin... she...’
When his clansmen had gone to fetch him, he was already on his way back.
A sudden inferno had engulfed a vast swathe of the forest. Ling Hong had just finished dealing with a group of other Beastmen when he saw the black smoke in the distance. The sight had sent him scrambling back like a madman.
But he was too late.
The flames had spread too quickly, and the thick, choking smoke made it impossible to enter and search. A sudden downpour the next day finally extinguished the raging wildfire.
The torrential rain had put out the flames, only to reveal that the vast forest had been reduced to ash. Not even a single animal carcass remained intact.