Zhi Le didn't ask questions, simply following Si Shuo's directions. He gathered some walnut-sized river snails from the stream, threw them into the shrimp trap, and then placed the trap where the stream flowed into the Divine Mother River.
Si Shuo spent two and a half hours on her daily gathering tasks, earning sixty-three Beast Coins.
She bought a bottle of nourishing amino acid shampoo and a bottle of moisturizing body wash with a delicate peach scent, successfully breaking even for the day!
After a nice, long bath, she felt refreshed from head to toe.
When Si Shuo emerged, fully dressed, Zhi Le pulled her into his arms. She smelled wonderful all over, and he couldn't resist nibbling on her for a moment.
'If he wasn't worried she'd catch a cold, he would have wanted so much more!'
Zhi Le then pressed a roasted fish into a blushing Si Shuo's hands. As he dried her hair with a piece of beast skin, he asked about her gathering trip and told her about leading his men to dig traps and capture long tusked piglets.
They both truly enjoyed sharing their days with one another.
After Si Shuo had devoured two fish, they packed up their things and went to retrieve the shrimp trap.
In less than an hour, the once-empty trap was now crammed with large shrimp and crabs, as well as some water snakes and fish!
A delighted Si Shuo circled around Zhi Le, her mind already swimming with all sorts of recipes for the river bounty. She was the very picture of a hungry kitten.
Zhi Le's Adam's apple bobbed as he watched her. Shaking his head in amusement, he hauled the heavy trap from the water.
He poured the catch onto some large leaves. Before anything could crawl away, Si Shuo swept it all into her space.
A single trap had yielded over forty pounds of fresh catch!
What's more, the system notified her that she'd earned twenty Beast Coins. It seemed that letting the trap soak also counted as gathering—a pleasant surprise indeed.
Long tusked pigs had tough skin covered in a layer of stiff bristles, making them resistant to ordinary attacks. They were incredibly strong, and their long tusks could easily pierce the body of a Beastman. They moved in herds and were also highly vindictive, relentlessly hunting down any enemy that dared to harm them, often to the death.
Most Beastmen would give a herd of long tusked pigs a wide berth!
Yet Zhi Le and his party of five others had managed to scatter the herd. They killed three adult pigs, each weighing over a thousand pounds, and even captured seven piglets alive.
Zhi Le's share came to nearly three hundred pounds of pork, plus one of the piglets.
That evening, it was all anyone could talk about. Many of the males came over, hoping to pick up some pointers.
Cui Tai and Ke Biao laughingly shooed them away. This wasn't the kind of skill they could just announce to the world. Besides, they were counting on using the same method to catch more piglets over the next few days.
No one was offended, though. Everyone enthusiastically raised their torches to look at the piglets and roared with laughter at their terrified squeals.
Back in the cave, Zhi Le set aside a tenth of the pork, rubbed it with salt, and hung it in the outer chamber. He stored the rest in the space.
"Zhi Le, we have the space now. We can eat fresh meat anytime. You don't have to take such huge risks to capture piglets alive," Si Shuo said, her heart aching as she noticed the scrapes on his body. She crushed some herbs and applied the poultice.
As she held the poultice in place, she activated her Level 1 skill, As if in the spring breeze. A faint, fluorescent light radiated from her palm.
Zhi Le felt a distinctly gentle energy flowing from her hands.
He glanced down, and his expression changed in an instant. He grabbed her wrist, his voice a choked, urgent whisper. "kitty, how do you have a superpower?
As far as I know, only a Female Saint who has received the Beast God's Blessing can possess a superpower.
Does anyone else know you can do this?"
Si Shuo shook her head and leaned close to his ear, whispering very softly, "No, this is the first time I've used it. I didn't know I had a superpower before."
His expression was complicated as he stroked her face and pressed his forehead against hers. "kitty, I'd rather you didn't have a superpower, that you weren't so alluring. That way, I could greedily keep you all to myself for a little longer."
Si Shuo wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest, listening to his strong, frantic heartbeat. "But I want to protect you too, Zhi Le. Having a superpower isn't necessarily a bad thing. As long as I'm careful and no one finds out, it might even be my ace in the hole."
Zhi Le's chest felt tight with emotion. He scooped her up into his arms and carried her toward the inner room. "I won't go hunting tomorrow. I'll guard you all while you gather. It'll be a good chance to help you process the fresh catch and weave some wicker baskets for storage."
He spoke in a perfectly serious tone, but his hands were already sampling the appetizers...
Another night of insatiable passion.
Si Shuo could no longer look at the "activity" of "going to bed at night" in the same way.
The variety of plants on the mountain was much richer than in the scrublands. Wild fruits, mushrooms, herbs, and spices—Si Shuo found a pleasant surprise with almost every step.
Zhi Le followed her every step, weaving a wicker basket as he walked. His Beast Skin Bag was filled with stones, and whenever a wild rabbit or bird passed by, he'd expertly flick a stone at it. He even dug up several bamboo rat dens!
'Zhi Le could provide for her perfectly well all on his own.'
Her two-cubic-meter storage space was nowhere near big enough, so Si Shuo started alternating her days: one day for gathering, the next for preliminary processing of her finds.
This included making things like preserved fruits, jams, dried meat jerky, meat floss, fish balls, shrimp balls, crab sticks, seasoning powders, and prepared medicinal herbs.
The pay for preliminary processing was five Beast Coins per hour higher than gathering. She was busy, but her work was both fulfilling and fruitful.
Every time Zhi Le returned from a hunt, she would heal him to reduce his pain and to raise her Skill proficiency.
When she had any energy left from her superpower, Si Shuo would use it to heal the scars on his face and mend the small fractures in his Dantian.
Once she had completely exhausted her superpower, Zhi Le would feed her a Level 6 Crystal Stone!
After half a month of this routine, the scars on Zhi Le's face had genuinely faded a bit, and the three red Beast Patterns on his neck had become more solid, showing signs of him breaking through to Level 4. Her superpower capacity had also doubled, allowing her to sustain her healing for longer, and her proficiency level reached 50.
Of course, in her spare time, she also studied the Catalyst Technique. The Catalyst Technique offered zero Combat Power Value; it only shortened a plant's growth cycle to some extent. Furthermore, its proficiency rose at a snail's pace; it had only just reached 5. The skill felt completely useless!
Zhi Le installed a wooden door for their cave, but for a Beastman, the door was laughably weak. It might deter a gentleman, but not a villain.
Their cave was also gradually filled with new belongings, and it was starting to feel like a real home for the young couple.
Soon, it was time for the tribe's spring hunt. Zhi Le hadn't stopped talking all morning:
"kitty, the food we've stored at home is enough to last you a month.
Half of the tribe's males are joining the spring hunt, so the gathering teams will have half as many guards. A lot of Rogue Beasts wait for opportunities like this.
If there's anything you want, wait for me to come back and I'll go with you to get it. Unless it's an absolute emergency, don't leave the safety of the tribe..."
Si Shuo listened intently, nodding repeatedly. "Okay, I'll do as you say."
Zhi Le gazed at the little female he had been taking care of for the past half-month. She had finally put some meat on her bones, and she no longer looked like the pitiful, timid creature she was at the beginning.
A lump formed in his throat, and he forced the words out:
"If... if something happens in the tribe, or if I... I don't make it back, kitty, remember to find yourself a strong Beast Husband..."
Infuriated, Si Shuo yanked his head down, rising on her tiptoes to stop his words with a kiss. She bit his lip hard. "Zhi Le, you must come back.
You know I'm not like the other females with low fertility.
I'm a naturally Mutated Cat Beastman. Besides you, no one from the nearby tribes would dare take me.
Do you want to see me thrown into the female cave, or abused by Rogue Beastmen?
You have to live to protect me. So live, for my sake. Please?"
Her voice broke into a sob by the end, and a pang of love and pain shot through Zhi Le's heart, compelling him to deepen their kiss.
"Alright, I promise I'll come back! I'm hard to kill. The Beast God won't be claiming me anytime soon."