19: Chapter 19 Intuition is terrifying

Qiu Rong's intuition was too terrifying. Even though she had the system's cheat to erase her tracks, he could still suspect her.

It seemed she could only try to stay as far away from him as possible from now on.

Perhaps because she had walked too quickly, her slightly protruding belly seemed to have been kicked by something.

She had felt nothing before, making her forget she was already carrying Qiu Rong's Cubs.

She touched her belly, feeling a bit troubled.

Beastmen were especially sensitive to their own bloodline. If she gave birth and Qiu Rong happened to see them, there would be no hiding it. He would definitely find out.

"peanut, can you do something then to prevent him from finding out?"

"Host, before it was the newbie protection that allowed me to intervene. After this, you'll need to use points to exchange for things to protect yourself and the Cubs."

"So, in the end, I still have to give birth to this litter?"

"Yes."

"Alright then. I guess I'm unloading this cargo in about a month anyway."

Cat Beastmen only required a little over a month's gestation period.

While conversing with the system, she had already returned to the Plaza.

"How come you're back so soon?" Xin Feng looked at her, somewhat surprised.

She tugged on his beast skin. "It's too noisy here. Let's go back and talk."

Xin Feng had only come to accompany her anyway, and they had already received their share of the Unicorn Deer meat.

"Alright, let's go."

The beastmen in the Plaza were still playing and making noise. Bai Wanwan, supporting Xin Feng, walked home, noticeably much quieter along the way.

"Wan Wan, did something happen just now?" Xin Feng tilted his head, his gaze falling on her face.

Bai Wanwan wasn't the type to keep things bottled up inside.

She spoke indignantly: "It's the clan leader scheming against me again, trying to get me to do the Pairing Ceremony with Xin Shan and Xin Yu. That old thing is really no good. Before, he looked down on me and always wanted to send me to the Female Cave. Now, he's trying every trick to push his two Cubs onto me."

"We haven't even had our Pairing Ceremony yet. What right does he have to scheme and force me into one?"

Xin Feng grasped her hand. "I'll go talk to the clan leader tomorrow."

Bai Wanwan immediately shook her head. "No need. Xin Shan just promised me they would have their Pairing Ceremony with Hu Ya. I also said that if the clan leader schemes against me again, I'll leave the Cat Clan Tribe. When that time comes, would you be willing to go with me?"

After these few days together, she had genuinely grown quite fond of Xin Feng.

"You are my Consort. Wherever you go, I will be there." His reply held no hesitation.

Bai Wanwan didn't hide her happiness, smiling as she patted her belly. "Once I give birth to this litter of Cubs and help you recover sooner, let's see who dares to have improper designs on me then."

The system had said Xin Feng's Talent was extremely strong. Perhaps not on par with the most powerful Males from the Super Tribes, but among large Tribes, he would be a top-tier existence.

That he grew up in a small Tribe like the Cat Clan was an honor for the Cat Clan Tribe.

It was a pity the Cat Clan Tribe couldn't protect him, causing him to lose his Talent so quickly.

Xin Feng nodded with a smile, his tone affectionate. "Alright. Once I recover, any Male you dislike, I'll throw them all out for you."

Only then did Bai Wanwan's smile return. "Then in the future, whoever I point at, you'll throw them out for me."

As they talked, they slowly made their way back to their cave.

She helped Xin Feng onto the Stone Bed. "You rest for a bit. I'll go start the fire and call you when the food is ready."

Xin Feng wanted to stop her, but Bai Wanwan was already too eager, turning and running off.

Earlier, she had gathered some dry branches and leaves trying to start a fire, but without flint, she rubbed her hands raw without success.

Now that she had flint, it was no trouble at all.

She struck the flint against the dry grass a few times, and it ignited.

But starting a fire was a skill. She had no prior experience with wilderness survival.

The fire would catch and then die out, catch and die out. After six or seven attempts back and forth, the flames finally caught the wood and began to burn steadily.

The firelight illuminated the entire cave. Bai Wanwan smiled, her eyes curving, and called out towards the inner part of the stone cave, "Xin Feng, come look! I got the fire started!"

The orange-yellow light shone on her pretty face, which was a bit smudged with dirt on both sides, but her eyes were exceptionally bright.

Seeing her so happy, Xin Feng thought trading a piece of Golden Lion beast skin for the flint was quite worthwhile.

Bai Wanwan was just informing him. After speaking, she went back to being busy.

Earlier, in her quest to eat cooked food, she had made quite a few preparations.

Not only had she made a cutting board, but she had also picked up a very thin stone slab by the Riverside.

After building up the fire, she placed the cleaned stone slab on top.

Humming a tune while cutting the meat, she placed each slice onto the stone slab.

The stone knife wasn't very easy to use. She couldn't cut the meat as thin as the fatty beef rolls sliced by Modern Times machines. Instead, it was more like thinly sliced steak, needing a few minutes of roasting.

A sizzling sound came from the stone slab. Bai Wanwan used the stone knife to scrape and flip a piece of meat.

As she finished flipping the last piece, Xin Feng had already walked over and squatted down in front of her.

"Why are you up?" She glanced up at him.

Xin Feng, supporting himself on his leg, sat down on a nearby Stone Stool and took the stone knife from her hand. "I'll do it. You go take care of something else."

"You know how?" She didn't refuse, raising an eyebrow and smiling at him.

"I just watched you do it. Let me try."

"Alright then. The meat-flipping duty is yours."

If a Male wanted to cooperate, she certainly wouldn't spoil the mood.

Teaching him would make her life easier in the future.

She got up and went into the cave to find some fruit.

The beastmen called this fruit golden fruit. It resembled an orange, was quite sour, and didn't taste that great, but the Females loved eating it.

Bai Wanwan didn't like it. She preferred sweet flavors, but thought it might work well as a seasoning.

She immediately peeled the fruit, squeezed out the juice... then took out the salt brick Xin Feng had given her, adding a bit of powdered salt to the mix.

"Wan Wan, it's about to burn black. Look..."

Bai Wanwan quickly put down the seasoning, hurried over, squatted down, and checked.

"Not black. It's perfect. Use the stone knife to pick it up and put it on the plate beside you."

Xin Feng did as instructed, then was directed by Bai Wanwan to place a few slices of raw meat on the slab.

"Here, open up. Try it and see if it's good."

She picked up a slice of meat with her homemade wooden chopsticks, dipped it in the seasoning, and held it up.

Xin Feng obediently opened his mouth and took the piece of meat.

Xin Feng, accustomed to eating raw food, held no particular expectations for this fire-altered food.

Seeing Bai Wanwan's expectant gaze, he still found himself inexplicably opening his mouth to accept it.

But what he didn't expect was that as soon as the food entered his mouth, he liked the taste.

Bai Wanwan noticed his relaxed brow and surprised expression.

"Good?" She leaned in closer, asking with a smile.

"Mhm, good," Xin Feng stared at the cooked meat, very surprised. "How can meat touched by fire taste so good?"

Bai Wanwan quickly corrected him. "It's not that meat touched by fire is good. Roasting meat also requires mastering the heat. This level of doneness is just right. If roasted any longer, the meat would become tough and not tasty. After roasting, adding golden fruit and salt for seasoning enhances the flavor, that's why it tastes so good."

Bai Wanwan also put a piece in her own mouth, chewed, and expressed satisfaction.

Although it couldn't compare to the flavors from those barbecue restaurants of later eras, it was passable.

It had been a long time since she'd eaten cooked food. The seasoned roasted meat entering her mouth was like setting off fireworks on her taste buds...