SGSHE69

The white tiger, looking a bit dazed, hauled out his stash of food, then watched as the canine beastman devoured pile after pile of meat.

The white tiger thought: I shouldn’t be greedy for brother Xing’s cooking!

By the time the white tiger had contributed his very last reserves, Jing Heguang had eaten everything but two large chunks of meat, and he finally felt…just a tiny bit full.

Jing Heguang rubbed his belly and let out a sigh of relief.

The white tiger, however, stared at the last two remaining pieces of meat, feeling like he might cry: “All my meat is gone!”

AXing patted him on the shoulder: “ABai, thanks for tonight. I’ll pay you back with interest later.”

The white tiger said ruefully, “You don’t understand, brother Xing. It just hurts my heart to see all my meat gone.”

As he spoke, he cast a resentful glance at Jing Heguang.

It wasn’t that he truly begrudged the meat, beastmen in the tribe would certainly pay back what they owed, but the mere thought of the meat being gone made him feel miserable.

Jing Heguang rubbed his nose, looking a bit sheepish: I didn’t expect to eat that much, either.

In the midst of his voracious eating, Jing Heguang had recalled a fact: the larger a beastman’s physique, the more food they required after emerging from the period of weakness.

Based on the sheer volume of food he’d consumed, Jing Heguang was certain of one thing, his beast form was bound to be massive!

The reason the tribe’s beastmen refused to believe the footprints in the cornfield belonged to him was precisely because his size was beyond their imagination.

However, Jing Heguang didn’t know exactly how big he was.

Reflecting on the ‘frailty’ of the past half-month, Jing Heguang felt like he had finally turned the corner. He was no longer just a little cub!

Jing Heguang looked around and spotted a reasonably sized flat area in front of the cave, he felt an urge to try it out: “Should I shift into my beast form and see?”

AXing sized up the flat area and realized it was likely only big enough for a small cub to squat in, there wasn’t even room to take a couple of steps. He glanced down at the clan’s expansive territory below and suggested, “How about we go down there? It’s not convenient here.”

The white tiger, however, didn’t want to go down. He urged, “Brother Xing, just roast these last two pieces of meat for me, brush on some honey. If AGuang wants to shift into his beast form for a bit of fun, let him!”

The white tiger kept his true thoughts to himself: How much territory could a canine beastman possibly take up?

He had been watching the young canine beastman eat meat for ages, and the sight was making his mouth water like crazy!

Unexpectedly, no sooner had he spoken than Jing Heguang began to shift into his beast form.

Jing Heguang really had no idea just how big he actually was. The last time he’d taken just two steps, he had ended up stuck as a tiny cub for a full two weeks! It was a classic case of ‘the thrill of power followed by a total disaster’.

Completely oblivious, Jing Heguang shifted into his beast form. As strength surged into his limbs, that familiar feeling, I am the strongest, rose up in his heart once more!

Meanwhile, the white tiger’s eyes went wide. He stared in stunned silence as the canine beastman kept growing larger and larger.

Was that really the young canine beastman…?

How could he grow so tall? So huge!!

He, ABai, had never seen a beastman so massive!

However, his eyes weren’t deceiving him. After rubbing them several times, ABai finally understood why AXing had suggested going down below.

It turned out that regarding the incident with the Spiny Behemoth last time, AXing hadn’t been exaggerating on AGuang’s behalf at all. AGuang, that young canine beastman, really did have a massive beast form. He was like a small mountain!

Jing Heguang once again experienced the novelty of his field of vision rising higher and higher.

Then, feeling aggrieved, he huddled on the flat ground in front of his home, not daring to move a single inch.

The space was simply too small! He didn’t dare move, nor did he dare crouch down.

If he were to crouch down, AXing and the white tiger would be crushed out of existence. Jing Heguang hung his head, feeling a hand touch his front paw.

AXing’s voice rang out from below: “AGuang, shift back!”

Jing Heguang clearly realized that after transforming into a canine beastman, he became a bit dim-witted. For example, it hadn’t even occurred to him to shift back on his own.

Fortunately, brother Xing was smart. Jing Heguang obediently shifted back into human form.

The white tiger was still in shock: “AGuang! How did you manage to get so huge?”

Jing Heguang twitched his ears and tail, saying awkwardly, “I don’t know either.”

The original owner had never managed to shift into his beast form before he died, so Jing Heguang had no idea how he had managed to grow to such a massive size.

The system, Little Yellow Peach, which was currently playing dead, hadn’t emerged at all, so it couldn’t answer his questions. Jing Heguang was somewhat dissatisfied with the system’s service.

Just as Jing Heguang was pondering this, he heard the white tiger let out a miserable wail.

“My meat!”

Staring at the meat that had fallen to the ground, the white tiger felt as though his heart were bleeding. His last two pieces of meat were gone!

ABai’s wail disturbed the tigers in the other caves.

“What meat? ABai, if you yell again, I’ll have you boiled in the stone pot tomorrow!”

“Yell about meat one more time, and I’ll eat you up!”

The white tiger shouted back, “AGuang ate up all my meat! AXing was right, AGuang’s beast form really is huge!”

Jing Heguang had shifted large and then small again in the blink of an eye without taking a single step or making any loud commotion. The only traces left behind were a few large paw prints on the ground.

However, it was pitch-black at night, so no matter how good the beastmen’s eyesight was, they couldn’t see them.

And so, the white tiger, who was telling the truth, was met with merciless mockery. “ABai, what kind of dream are you having?”

“He must have eaten up all the meat and wants brother Xing to go hunting with him!”

“ABai, go to sleep. You can have anything you want in your dreams!”

The white tiger wore a look of utter bewilderment on his guileless face.

Jing Heguang watched the scene and thought: That’s just too pitiful, nobody believes him at all.

AXing felt as though he were looking at…his past self from half a month ago.

The white tiger felt dejected: “How come not a single person believes me?”

AXing asked him, “Why didn’t you believe me back then?”

Jing Heguang was a bit confused: “What’s going on?”

The white tiger recounted to Jing Heguang the story that brother Xing had already explained twice before.

Then, the white tiger concluded, “You can’t blame me for being naive back then. Look at the situation now, not a single beastman believes it!”

Jing Heguang patted his shoulder reassuringly. “We’ll go hunting tomorrow. I’ll shift into my beast form so everyone can see, then they’ll know you weren’t lying to them.”

The white tiger’s eyes lit up. “Right! AGuang, you can go hunting now. Shift into your beast form tomorrow, I’m going to laugh right back at everyone who laughed at me!”

Then, Jing Heguang smiled and asked, “So…can I pay back the meat I owe you a little later?”

Having consumed so much of their ‘family assets’, Jing Heguang was feeling the pressure.

The white tiger put on a deadpan expression. “No.” How could there be any room for negotiation when it came to meat?

***

After failing to postpone the debt repayment and seeing the white tiger off, Jing Heguang felt a sense of pressure whenever he touched his belly.

Back in his own cave, Jing Heguang sat on brother Xing’s bed and sighed, “Why do I have such a huge appetite? I’ve eaten up so much meat.”

AXing watched as the little cub, unaware of the significance, climbed onto the sleeping hide. Suppressing the pleasant surprise rising within him, he reassured the cub, “This was just a one-time thing. Your appetite will return to normal after this, AGuang. That meat was meant to be eaten, after all. If we run out, we can just go hunting again later.”

Jing Heguang nodded and said earnestly, “Then I’ll go learn how to hunt tomorrow!”

Afraid the cub might notice something amiss if the conversation continued, AXing said, “Let’s get some sleep for now, we can talk about tomorrow when the time comes.”

Hearing this, Jing Heguang silently gave himself a mental thumbs-up: I’m so clever, I successfully climbed into bed…twice!

Hunting was important, certainly, but Jing Heguang felt that since he could transform into such a massive beast, he was bound to be strong. There was no need to worry too much about it.

— What he did need to worry about was whether he might fall out of favor after growing so large.

Thus, Jing Heguang decided to play the part of a well-behaved, innocent little beastman.

Both of them, harboring their own private thoughts, felt they had played their hands perfectly.

***

Jing Heguang’s mind wandered further.

He had previously considered moving out, but now that seemed impossible. He had eaten up all of brother Xing’s meat, if he left now, brother Xing might misunderstand and think he was trying to welsh on the debt.

Since moving out was off the table, the plan to break the current dynamic of their relationship wouldn’t work either.

Jing Heguang racked his brain but couldn’t come up with a good solution.

The ‘little brother’ and ‘big brother’ dynamic made things tricky for him.

Even though they weren’t biological brothers, if brother Xing continued to view him as a younger brother, then the romantic feelings Jing Heguang harbored for the maltese tiger would be unacceptable to the other.

It was all because of this body’s low IQ, he couldn’t think of a good way out of this.

With that thought, Jing Heguang let out a soft sigh. AXing had been keeping a close watch, assuming the young cub was worried. He patted Jing Heguang on the back and said, “Don’t worry, I’m a great hunter. With a beast form as large as yours, you’ll surely be impressive too. It won’t take long for you to pay back the meat we borrowed from the white tiger.”

Hearing the gentle tone, Jing Heguang turned around to face the maltese tiger.

“I wasn’t thinking about hunting.”

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.

Jing Heguang decided to test the waters: “I thought I heard the voices of two male beastmen coming from a cave earlier…”

That referred to a pair of male beastmen who were partners, though they hadn’t held their formal bonding ceremony yet, they had recently started living together.

When AXing heard the cub mention two male beastmen being together, his heart instantly tightened.

He had previously suspected, after seeing the cub get distracted while watching him bathe, that the cub preferred the slender, petite physique typical of sub-beastmen.

Now, hearing the cub’s tone, clearly tinged with apprehension and hesitation, AXing wondered if the cub was actually opposed to two male beastmen being a couple.

Jing Heguang, who was tentatively probing the subject, was also nervous.

If brother Xing was against male beastmen pairing up, then he was done for…

Of course, if brother Xing didn’t mind it, he could proceed to carefully test whether brother Xing preferred sub-beastmen or male beastmen.

If brother Xing said he liked male beastmen, he would strive to become the most outstanding male beastman possible and win brother Xing’s heart!

AXing thought for a long moment before speaking cautiously: “They are male beastman couple. They liked each other, so they got together, just like a beastman and a sub-beastman pairing, it’s perfectly normal. There are quite a few couples like that in the tribe, and they all have great relationships.”

Jing Heguang: …What was with that tone, like someone explaining the facts of life to a child?

Thus, Jing Heguang naturally asked with a curious tone, “So, brother Xing, do you prefer beastmen or sub-beastmen? It seems like you aren’t really interested in sub-beastmen?”

As the most formidable beastman in the clan, many sub-beastmen had shown interest in the maltese tiger, but without exception, they had all been rejected.

Thinking of this, a hopeful light gleamed in Jing Heguang’s eyes as he looked at AXing.

AXing suddenly felt his mouth go dry.

He was certain now: the little cub didn’t have an aversion to beastmen.

The little cub’s question wasn’t easy to answer. Giving a fake answer about preferring sub-beastmen was out of the question, of course, but if he honestly said he preferred beastmen, would it scare the little cub? After all, the little cub was a beastman himself.

AXing suddenly felt a twinge of timidity. He said to the curious Jing Heguang, “I don’t know. I’ll know when I meet the right one.”

To his surprise, Jing Heguang said, “Brother Xing, I’m not going to like sub-beastmen anymore! Bai Xiang is just too annoying!”

AXing was taken aback for a moment and asked, “Then…what kind of person are you looking for?”

“Me?” Jing Heguang stared at the beastman who was so close to him and said, “I want to find someone who likes me. I treat him well, and he treats me well, that’s all I need.”

“Do I count as meeting those requirements?”

AXing asked the question as if it were a joke, though he was actually incredibly nervous inside.

In the entire tribe, he was the one who treated the little cub the best. Because he was the beastman responsible for raising the cub, obligated to meet the cub’s needs before he came of age, it naturally appeared that he cared the most about him.

Upon hearing this joke, the tips of Jing Heguang’s ears perked right up!

If only it weren’t a joke…

But given the casual nature of their chat, brother Xing was surely just joking.

Jing Heguang boldly replied, “Yes! Brother Xing treats me the best. Right now, I like brother Xing the most!”

After saying this, Jing Heguang even mustered the courage to wrap his arms around him in a hug. Jing Heguang thought nervously: He surely won’t push me away, right?

It was brother Xing who started joking around. If brother Xing dared to push him away, then he’d…well, he’d just have to try harder later!

AXing, currently being hugged: …What do I do now?

He had spoken in a joking tone, and the kid seemed to be joking back.

But the kid actually hugged him!

T/N: Same goal, different plan ┐(‘～`;)┌