SGSHE77

Five thousand years later.

The beastman world had entered the technological age.

At Starlight Elementary, the largest public primary school in the beastman world, countless students were walking into the school grounds amidst the morning light.

Two towering, majestic statues stood at the school gate. One depicted a massive shiba inu gazing solemnly straight ahead. The other was a fierce tiger, its expression stern and naturally commanding respect.

Young cubs, carrying their schoolbags, filed into the school.

When the nine-o’clock bell rang, it was time for classes to begin.

Inside a classroom.

During the first lesson of the new term, a beastman teacher began introducing the newly enrolled cubs to a key figure in beastman cultural history, the very person who had founded the school.

***

“The spark of our beastmen culture was ignited long ago, but it was during the era of the ancestor Guang that it truly began to develop rapidly.”

The beastman teacher asked, “Everyone has seen the two statues at the school gate, right?”

“We have!”

“There’s one where my beastman father works, too!”

“I saw them on TV just yesterday!”

Amidst the enthusiastic responses from the little cubs, the beastman teacher nodded with satisfaction and continued, “The statue of the shiba inu beast-form is our ancestor Guang. Ancestor Guang was the first, and in recorded history, the only mutant whose mutation focused purely on physical size.”

“According to historical records, ancestor Guang’s beast form was massive like a small mountain, making him the most powerful beastman of his time.”

“The statue of the tiger form is ancestor Xing. He was the only Maltese tiger in history. As the patriarch of the Tiger Tribe, he was the most famous tribal leader of all time.”

“In the early stages of our cultural development, the ancestor Guang and ancestor Xing led the beastmen to successfully curb the worsening beast tides within a few decades, teaching our people how to control them.”

“Ancestor Guang was also the first beastman to build proper houses and develop artificial animal husbandry, vastly improving the living conditions of our people.”

Hearing these well-known facts, the little cubs couldn’t help but chime in excitedly.

“Teacher! I know, ancestor Guang and ancestor Xing were a couple!”

“Ancestor Guang’s beast form was huge and looked really fierce! Just one opening of his mouth would scare the wild beasts away!”

“Ancestor Guang loved yueyue flowers, and I love them too! Can I be as amazing as ancestor Guang when I grow up?”

“I’m a little tiger too, so why doesn’t the little shiba next door like me?”

……

The beastman teacher felt a massive headache coming.

Ancestor Guang and ancestor Xing were the most famous couple in the beastmen history, a hit TV series about them was even airing recently. The information available was already a jumble of conflicting details, and with the parents possessing varying levels of historical knowledge, the cubs’ own understanding of the past was equally inconsistent.

The teacher sighed, feeling a headache coming on as he corrected them: “Ancestor Guang doesn’t look fierce or scary at all. Let me show you the historical records and visual evidence regarding him!”

The beastman teacher turned on the computer connected to the large screen, opened his newly updated teaching materials, and enlarged the images for the cubs to see.

“Look, the beastman in this picture is ancestor Guang. Compared to the beast-forms of ordinary shiba inu beastmen, his was simply much larger. In fact, ancestor Guang’s beast-form was arguably even cuter. I suspect that the general standard of attractiveness among beastmen was higher back then.”

“This next image is a portrait of ancestor Xing drawn by ancestor Guang. As you can see, ancestor Xing was far better looking than the actors you see on TV.”

These images were newly released materials from just a few days ago, due to online age restrictions, this was the first time the cubs had ever seen them.

The cubs were instantly mesmerized.

“Ancestor Guang’s beast-form looks just like my beastman father’s!”

“Ancestor Xing is so beautiful! Much better looking than the ones on TV!”

“Teacher, I want ancestor Guang!! I want one!!!”

The cubs, whose minds had previously wandered, were now fully engaged, their eyes glued to the big screen.

The beastman teacher smiled with satisfaction and continued the lesson: “Don’t you want to know more about such amazing figures like ancestor Guang and ancestor Xing?”

He then began to use the photos as a basis for sharing fun, bite-sized historical facts. “In this picture, there is a drawing of a house, the very first house in history, and the home of Ancestor Guang and Ancestor Xing. It is thanks to Ancestor Guang’s inventions and creations that we have houses to live in today.”

“This is a photograph of the diary notes belonging to ancestor AFei’s. According to historians, his greatest dream as a child was to transform into a shiba inu. However, because both his beastman father and his sub-beastman dad were tigers, he was heartbroken to learn that he could only transform into a tiger.”

“Ancestor Guang encouraged him, telling him that no matter what one’s beast form is, hard work leads to greatness. Later, ancestor AFei succeeded Ancestor Xing as the new leader of the tiger tribe and became an outstanding beastman! Therefore, doesn’t matter what your beast form is, if you study hard, you too can achieve great things in the future!”

While the classroom was bustling with activity, the online world was even livelier.

**

The discovery of the cave where ancestor AFei’s once lived had become the hottest trending topic of the moment.

Ancestor AFei was a legendary figure, an outstanding beastman and, thanks to the discovery of authentic historical records, the historical figure closest to the legendary ancestors Guang and Xing.

The lives of ancestor Guang and ancestor Xing read like an extraordinary tale.

Ancestor Guang, in particular, was a figure whose inventions and creations propelled societal progress forward by centuries, or even a millennium, drastically shortening the developmental timeline of the beastman world.

Some speculative fiction writers had even theorized that ancestor Guang might have been a beastman from the future who traveled back in time!

However, since ancestor Guang was not the only exceptionally brilliant beastman or sub-beastman in history, most people preferred the explanation that he was simply a person of extraordinary intelligence.

The internet erupted again after the official history account posted the latest photos!

This time, the official account released new photographic evidence confirming details about the ancestor Guang and ancestor Xing.

The first image was a photo of a lake. Everyone was a bit bewildered at first, wasn’t this the famous Thousand-Fish Lake they all knew so well?

The second image showed a photograph of an animal-hide scroll inscribed with ancient script, while the third image provided the translation:

[Uncle Xing suddenly developed a craving for fish, so uncle Guang stomped out a fishpond for him not far from the tribe. I went along to help catch fish and stock the pond. Uncle Guang would hand out sweets, they were delicious! Uncle Guang is the most amazing beastman of all!]

Netizens, both beastmen and sub-beastmen, were stunned. That breathtaking tourist attraction they visited so often, the Thousand-Fish Lake, home to so many rare, national treasure level fish species, had originally just been a fishpond created by ancestor Guang so ancestor Xing could have fish to eat?!

And considering how massive that lake still is after all these years…just how big was it back then? Exactly how huge was ancestor Guang’s beast form?

With so many questions swirling in their minds, everyone chose to keep looking.

The fourth image was also a photograph. This time, a series of sketches depicting hands.

The fifth image was an explanatory graphic: Historical records indicate that in the past, beastmen would hold bonding ceremonies during the Beast God Festival, and some would receive the Beast God’s blessing. It has now been verified that this legend is true.

The sixth image came with a caption: The Beast God’s marks on the hands of ancestor Guang and ancestor Xing.

Netizens were left dumbfounded.

Heart-shaped marks???

Bestowed by the Beast God?!

Even TV dramas wouldn’t dare write a plot like this! In hit series, actors usually only displayed ordinary-looking marks on their arms!

The seventh image was rather dry, an excerpt from the diary of ancestor AFei. Netizens took a look but found it incomprehensible, so they gave up and moved on to the eighth image.

Image 8 caption: [Hehe, lately, beastmen and sub-beastmen from many tribes have taken a liking to the shiba inu clan, but they eventually discovered that their waists simply don’t measure up to uncle Guang’s. A bunch of silly goofs! To think they’d dare look down on me, AFei, for being chubby.]

Image 9 caption: Who would have guessed? Our ancestors were so interesting and adorable~

***

The internet erupted in excitement.

For the forum dedicated to the GuangXing ship, it was like a festive celebration.

“Ancestor AFei is a saint for leaving behind so many animal-hide drawings of Ancestor Guang and Ancestor Xing! We’ve really hit the jackpot with this immortal couple!!”

“That heart-shaped mark…the Beast God must have truly believed ancestor Guang and ancestor Xing were a match made in heaven. It’s a shame no one can receive the Beast God’s blessing mark anymore. What a pity…”

“Is no one talking about the Thousand-Fish Lake? Turns out, all those fish were lured there by ancestor Guang using sweets. Their love story is so sweet, I need to eat some sweets myself just to calm down!”

“How did ancestor Guang manage to get so many fish to coexist peacefully? It’s absolutely incredible, a total miracle!”

“Am I the only one focusing on something else? I’m wondering just how good ancestor Guang’s waist is…Hahahaha~”

“Ancestor Guang is a mutant type, after all, so having a strong waist makes sense. But he’s also so cute, a massive, super-sized cutie!”

“Remember when ancestor Xing was accidentally injured? Ancestor Guang dominated the entire beast tide, needless to say, he was fierce and imposing. Don’t just describe him as ‘cute’; I won’t stand for it!”

“Domineering on the outside, but cute on the inside?”

“Domineering cutie? The domineering CEO shiba?”

“Domineering love?”

“Love! Anyway, I’m absolutely sold on this CP!”