Zhi Le smiled and waved his hand, leaning in close to whisper, "If we just rely on brute force to hunt the long tusked piglets, it certainly won't be easy. We'd have to kill the adult long tusked pig to get to them.
But if we use a few tricks, it might be much easier. So, are you in or not!"
Cui Tai and Ke Biao exchanged a look and nodded forcefully. "Deal. If you, a Level 3 Beastman, dare to do it, what do we have to be afraid of?"
"That's right. If we didn't agree, you'd just find someone else to team up with, or you'd go it alone. We're brothers who grew up together; we can't just stand by and watch you walk into danger..."
Zhi Le's heart warmed, and he patted their shoulders. "Thanks. I'll also have to trouble the other Couple Brothers in your families to help look after the long tusked piglets."
Si Shuo, sitting nearby, naturally overheard their conversation. She was both moved and worried, unable to stop herself from pressing her head against his arm and rubbing it gently.
Zhi Le turned and stroked her head. When she looked up, he chuckled. "Hungry? The food will be ready in a little while."
Si Shuo's eyes curved into crescents as she pointed to her chest. "Smelling Zhi Le's roast meat... it makes me feel so full right here!"
'This poor girl must have suffered so much in the past. At least I can rely on my strength to keep from starving. She, on the other hand... she's probably rarely had a full stomach, has she?'
"I'll make your belly full in a little while, too," he said, pinching her cheek. "And in the future, your face will be nice and round. Right now, your cheekbones are sharp enough to dig a cave."
Si Shuo bared her teeth at him fiercely. "Zhi Le, you're bullying a cat!"
Soon, the meat was ready. Cooked medium-well, it was at its most fragrant and tender. Zhi Le gave a smaller piece to Si Shuo.
Si Shuo stared at the seven or eight pounds of meat on the stick and blinked. Without saying that it was too much for her, she took the meat, turned away from everyone's gaze, and buried her head in her food.
Zhi Le let her be, simply telling her to ask for more if she was still hungry.
The freshly roasted meat glistened with fat and smelled incredible; even its slight gaminess was easy to ignore. She took a huge bite, feeling as grand as someone feasting on a prime steak.
Seeing that no one was paying attention to her, she would take a bite, then tear off a piece and stash it in her personal space. She had plenty of large, clean leaves she'd collected in there, which were perfect for storing the roasted meat. Later, when she got hungry, she could just take it out to eat.
In the end, she was full after eating only about half a pound of the huge portion. She stuffed nearly three pounds into her space and offered the rest to Zhi Le.
Zhi Le didn't eat it. Instead, he wrapped it in a large leaf. "I'll slice some of this for you in the morning to make soup. You can take the rest with you to eat while you're gathering."
Si Shuo pointed at him. "And you?"
Zhi Le's piece of roast meat had been over ten pounds, and he had somehow finished it all in one sitting!
'I guess I can't judge a Beastman's appetite by modern human standards,' Si Shuo realized. Zhi Le actually ate a relatively small amount; some Beastmen could devour an entire lamb.
"I'm going hunting first thing in the morning, so I'll just chew on some dried meat. Besides, I won't go hungry while I'm hunting. You just take care of yourself."
Si Shuo pressed her lips together. 'I want to wake up early and make him something to eat, but I don't know how to start a fire, and I have no concept of time here. The will is there, but I just can't do it yet. I'll have to figure it out slowly, over time.'
Zhi Le walked her back to the cave and went out again. He returned carrying two lidded wooden buckets full of water. They were ingeniously made from thick, dense tree trunks that had been dried, hollowed out, and then stripped of their bark and polished smooth.
He also had a string of bamboo tubes slung over his back.
'I love these bamboo tubes,' Si Shuo thought. 'They're so convenient for carrying water and food.'
The night air grew chilly. After they washed up, Zhi Le hung a heavy fur pelt over the bedroom entrance to block the wind. He also lined the walls with a circle of Beast Skins.
There wasn't a sliver of light in the room. All the boisterous noise of the day faded into silence, replaced by an array of muffled sounds drifting up from the caves to the left, right, and below them.
Si Shuo felt like she was turning into a gecko, wishing she could just plaster herself against the wall and disappear.
Zhi Le lay on his back for a moment before rolling over, pulling her tightly against him from behind. He buried his face in the crook of her neck. "Don't be afraid, kitty. Let's become a couple. I'll give you my Beast Mark.
Once you're healthier, I won't have to worry so much about you going gathering tomorrow."
Si Shuo, who had been tense and rigid, felt a wave of helplessness and sorrow wash over her. 'So this is my reality...'
'This should be something that happens naturally, when the feelings between two people are deep enough. And I can feel that Zhi Le likes me.'
'The original owner of this body was just too weak. Even with the system's enhancements, I'm still just skin and bones right now.'
'I've been through so many life-or-death moments. Every time I thought I wouldn't live to see the next day, I'd open my eyes and realize I had somehow survived again.'
'So I've never been one to waste time on pointless hesitation. Since we're bound to become a couple eventually anyway, I might as well teach this young man a thing or two and make it a little easier on myself.'
She turned to face him, her hand gently stroking his cheek. She kissed his chin, her lips brushing the corner of his mouth. As she listened to his calm, steady breathing grow ragged, she murmured softly in his ear, "Zhi Le... please be gentle, okay? I'm afraid it will hurt..."
After a night of intimacy, Zhi Le coaxed Si Shuo out from under the warm covers.
Her eyes still closed, she wrapped her arms around his waist and playfully refused to budge.
'Who could possibly say no to a soft, cuddly kitten?'
Zhi Le couldn't resist kissing her, his hand gently stroking the soft skin at her waist as he coaxed her in a low voice, "If my kitty doesn't want to go out, you can just rest here at home. I have meat soup simmering in the pot. You can drink it when you get up."
That snapped Si Shuo awake. In the heat of passion last night, her cover had been blown: her hearing impairment had vanished. And after they became a couple, Zhi Le had gained shared access to her personal space.
The space had doubled in size to two cubic meters. One of those cubic meters was for Si Shuo's exclusive use, while the other was shared between them.
This arrangement both guaranteed Si Shuo a degree of privacy and gave Zhi Le an additional means of survival.
The leftover roasted meat from last night was currently in the shared space; Zhi Le had reheated it while making the soup.
"I have to go. Before, everything I gathered had to be turned in. But now when I go gathering, aside from the half that goes to the tribe, the rest is all ours!
Plus, I can secretly hide some of it, so I might not even have to hand over a full half. Now *that's* motivation to work hard.
Zhi Le, I'll just have two bowls of the soup. Pack the rest into the bamboo tubes and put them in the space. When you get hungry or thirsty during your hunt, you can have some."
Zhi Le hugged her tightly, sighing wistfully. "Suddenly, I don't feel like going hunting anymore."
Si Shuo smiled, her lips pressed together. "Then don't go. Don't males get to rest for three days after taking a mate?"
"Other females have several Beast Husbands to share the load. Our kitty only has me for now. If I don't work a little harder, when I leave for the spring hunt, you'll be stuck watching everyone else eat meat," Zhi Le said, giving her a playful nip. "I've already spoken with the guards who escort the females during gathering. If you need anything, just call for them."
Si Shuo nipped him back and mumbled, "You work so hard, Zhi Le."
"I'm not afraid of hard work. I'm just afraid I won't be able to protect my kitty," Zhi Le said, taking a deep breath. He set her down and stood up; if he stayed and doted on her any longer, he'd never get out the door. "I'll be back. And remember, don't let anyone bully you!"
Si Shuo hummed in agreement, watching over him as he filled several bamboo tubes with soup and reminding him of a few more things before finally letting him go.
Since the space could keep things fresh, Si Shuo moved all the fish she had caught the day before into their shared space. Then, she transferred a few Level 6 Crystal Cores from her private space into the shared one, stashing them there for Zhi Le, just in case.