“You were just asking about that female…”
Duan Si had only said half the sentence before he abruptly stopped.
‘I lied to her.’
Those four words flashed again in his mind.
His face instantly darkened.
He had been lied to as well.
Jiang Xi didn’t notice the change in his expression and instead spoke first.
“Unprovoked kindness usually means someone wants something. Go ahead—what do you want from me?”
She didn’t believe that a beastman crazy enough to want to die together with his female would suddenly treat her well because of the meal she left him.
These potatoes—rather than a thank-you—felt much more like a knock on the door.
What kind of “door” he wanted to knock on, she didn’t know.
But since Duan Si had already figured out she wasn’t the original person inside this body, there was no need to hide anything between them.
Hearing her words, Duan Si came back to his senses.
He didn’t understand what “unprovoked kindness means ulterior motives” meant, but he instinctively felt it wasn’t anything pleasant.
He didn’t dwell on it.
Since she was being so straightforward, he didn’t need to pretend to be like other beastmen trying to please a female.
“Two days ago, you helped tidy my ability sea. I still don’t know how you managed external soothing without a guiding stone, but I want to continue receiving the soothing—externally, not through mating.”
“As an exchange, during this winter, everything you need to eat in Hot River Valley—I’ll help you find and collect.”
Logically, this was something a beast-husband was supposed to do by default, not something to call an “exchange.”
But Duan Si had never once imagined marrying any female in his entire life.
He hated that kind of binding and command.
He didn’t understand how such a disgusting thing as a life-binding marriage contract could exist in this world.
He wanted freedom.
He fought his way out of the underground arena for the sake of freedom—to one day return to his ancestral land and make those people pay.
Freedom and revenge had been within reach.
Then Jiang Xi appeared—and ruined everything again.
If he couldn’t break the marriage contract, he’d rather die with her.
However…
Things had changed.
He could sit down and negotiate with the “Jiang Xi” in front of him.
He didn’t care who she really was.
As long as she could free him—and give him what he wanted—he didn’t mind temporarily obeying her.
Jiang Xi had no objections.
Having a snake-beastman’s help would make surviving in Hot River Valley much easier.
But hearing him so bluntly mention “mating” still made her feel inexplicably awkward.
Jiang Xi cleared her throat.
“Sure, no problem.”
As she spoke, she lifted her hand.
“Come on then.”
She also wanted to test whether soothing his ability again would upgrade hers like last time—purifying toxins and improving her healing ability.
Duan Si’s scarlet snake pupils froze for a moment.
She wasn’t adding any additional conditions?
Based on what he knew of spoiled females, she shouldn’t have agreed so easily.
Jiang Xi blinked.
“Is now inconvenient?”
He slowly shook his head.
He looked at her—the pair of dark, bright eyes—trying to judge whether she meant it.
But her black eyes were unexpectedly clean.
No calculation, no greed.
Duan Si lowered his pupils slightly and chose to trust her.
The next second, his half-beast form shifted into a massive black serpent, its thick body coiling around Jiang Xi.
Glossy black scales shimmered.
His tongue flicked with soft “hiss hiss” sounds, and his huge scarlet pupils focused on her.
When the giant snake lowered its head, she saw her own reflection within those enormous crimson eyes.
Hmm…
A very dark shadow.
Black hair, black skin, dark-colored beast hide clothing—if her eyes weren’t bright, she might’ve doubted she was even a real person.
Duan Si observed her for a moment, then closed his eyes.
“Begin.”
Jiang Xi placed her hand on his snake head and closed her eyes as well.
His turbulent dark ability sea churned beneath her senses.
But compared to the stormy, tsunami-like chaos of last time, this was much calmer.
There were still waves, but not the overwhelming force that felt like it could crush everything.
Soft green light spread across the surface of his ability sea.
The turbulent waves gradually smoothed.
A comforting sensation wrapped around Jiang Xi, and faint strands of invisible ability flowed through her palm into her body, making her healing ability leap joyfully.
But this time, the expanding fullness from last time didn’t appear.
Instead, as time went on, she felt the consumption of her ability.
She stopped before exhausting it—using roughly half.
She withdrew her hand and opened her eyes.
Duan Si’s scarlet pupils opened slowly, still carrying a trace of dazed confusion.
So this was what soothing felt like?
Two days ago he’d fainted, so he hadn’t experienced the process.
But today, fully conscious, he had.
Being wrapped in that warm ocean of comfort made him not want to wake up—wanting to fall asleep and never emerge.
Beastmen had keen senses, especially in full beast form.
Duan Si could smell the scent on the female before him—a scent completely different from the original Jiang Xi.
It made him want to move a little closer.
And then a little more.
He had heard other beastmen describe how wonderful soothing felt—how once a female soothed your ability, you could never leave her.
He always thought they were exaggerating.
But now, at the moment he opened his eyes, even he felt the absurd urge to draw close to her.
Jiang Xi didn’t know any of this.
She was checking her healing ability.
It hadn’t upgraded—still the same.
But after careful probing, she found it had expanded a tiny bit—not useless after all.
A little at a time, and it would eventually reach the breakthrough point.
After checking, she looked up at the black serpent.
“How do you feel?”
The black serpent still circled her, lowering its head toward her like a statue.
The massive snake head nodded.
The next moment, the giant snake vanished, replaced by Duan Si’s human-upper-body, snake-lower-body form.
Jiang Xi glanced at his sleek black-scaled tail.
Snake clans really were convenient—came with built-in lower garments.
Unlike Lu Liufeng, who needed to carry beast hide everywhere or risk being naked every time he transformed.
Thinking of that made her cheeks warm.
At the tribe’s gate that day, she had seen Lu Liufeng transform back—completely naked.
Just remembering it was embarrassing.
Duan Si pressed his lips lightly.
“Good.”
There couldn’t be anything better.
For half a year he’d been in a muddled, collapsing state—ability rampaging, his mind breaking, always on the verge of exploding and dying.
Two days ago was the first time he’d been clear-headed.
The first time he could think.
But after two days, his ability had begun rampaging again.
So he asked for this exchange—food from Hot River Valley in exchange for her soothing his ability.
Duan Si’s pupils lowered halfway.
After a few moments of silence, he said softly:
“Thank you.”
