Free Web NovelChapter 149: Chapter 149: Love at First Sight
Seeing Damian flushed red up to his ears from his teasing, Colton smiled with satisfaction.
Colton patted Damian’s shoulder, dropping his playful attitude, and his tone became slightly more serious:
"Don’t call me ’this Sub-Beast’ or ’that Sub-Beast,’ my name is Colton. Out of respect for your hard work yesterday, I didn’t shoot you into a hedgehog. Stop following us, my squad members are not as easygoing as I am."
Damian pursed his lips, saying unhappily: "You are operating around our tribe’s territory, yet you won’t allow us to be on guard? Don’t be so unreasonable!"
Colton sneered: "I’m sure you haven’t forgotten what you guys did to Ian, right? The reason we are leaving you in peace is because Ian doesn’t want to cause trouble! You should know when enough is enough!"
After Colton finished speaking, he turned around and walked away. Damian subconsciously grabbed Colton’s tail to pull Colton back. Colton’s body went limp, and he almost fell. Colton glared with his glistening eyes, angrily scolding Damian: "What are you doing! Don’t you know that you can’t touch a Sub-Beast’s tail?"
Colton’s appearance right now was incredibly beautiful and alluring, stirring up taboos within the beastman’s heart. Damian’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down; he couldn’t resist grabbing Colton’s arm to pull Colton into his embrace, lowering his head to plant a kiss.
As the deep kiss ended, both of them were filled with passion. Damian could no longer restrain himself; he bent down to hoist Colton over his shoulder, disappearing into the deep forest within a few steps...
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At the same time, on the other side of the forest, Ian’s group had found the land they were searching for.
"Captain! Look over here quickly!" an excited warrior waved his hand and shouted loudly.
Ian walked over. Before them was a small, open valley nestled amidst the oak forest. Under the brilliant sunlight, a vast field of wild wheat was undulating, gradually shifting from green to pale yellow. The heavy ears of wheat swayed gently in the wind.
"Found it..." Ian’s heartbeat quickened with excitement. He carefully stepped into the wheat field, caressing the ears of wheat that were still milky.
Based on this ripeness, it would only take about two to three weeks for this entire wheat field to ripen into a rich golden yellow. At that time, they could harvest a large quantity of perfect seeds to bring back to Crimson.
"Listen up, everyone," Ian ordered the warriors in a stern voice. "Starting tomorrow, we will split shifts to strictly guard this area. Herbivorous demonic beasts or birds are absolutely forbidden from damaging the wheat field. At the same time, we must conceal our tracks carefully; we cannot let the Oakstone group discover our true purpose."
"Understood!" the warriors replied in unison, their eyes shining brightly. They understood the importance of this new food source for the tribe’s future development.
By the time Ian’s group returned to the campsite, dusk had already fallen. Campfires were lit, dispelling the biting cold of the deep forest night.
Colton sat by the fire, using a small bone knife to refine his stone arrows. Seeing Ian return with a face full of joy, Colton smirked: "How was it? Did you find it?"
"Found it. The area is massive, and the grains are very plump." Ian sat down beside Colton, accepting a bowl of hot broth from a teammate’s hand and taking a large gulp, then glanced at Colton: "Where did you drag that other family’s beastman off to this afternoon? You didn’t cause any trouble, did you?"
"How could I have caused trouble?" Colton blinked, looking aggrieved. "I was just fully demonstrating the hospitality of our Crimson, taking care of our partner a bit. I am a responsible Sub-Beast~"
Hearing this made Ian’s skin crawl, and he shuddered:
"Drop that drawn-out way of speaking right now, it doesn’t suit you. Seriously!"
Then Ian suddenly felt a chill at the back of his neck. Glancing across to the opposite side, he saw someone’s glowing green wolf eyes staring intently at him. He subconsciously shifted his butt, sitting a distance away from Colton.
Colton snorted coldly: "Why are you running so far away? Am I that scary?"
Ian raised an eyebrow, pointing towards the opposite side: "Colton, it seems you’ve gone too far. That guy over there seems to have really fallen for you."
The hand with which Colton was carving arrows paused slightly, then continued refining them, completely without glancing in Damian’s direction. Colton coldly asked Ian:
"How much longer until the seeds can be harvested?"
"About more than two weeks. Why?"
Colton threw the bamboo scraps into the fire, and the scraps were instantly swept by the flames, burning into glowing embers. He packed his bamboo into his quiver and said:
"Stay here for two more days. On the morning of the third day, we break camp, pretending to go somewhere else, then loop back halfway to station ourselves at that wheat field. Since it’s that far, they probably won’t suspect anything."
Ian blinked, staring at Colton, and asked softly:
"Are you really letting go? Although I’ve only known you for a few months, I know you aren’t a casual person. I can be certain you fell in love with Damian at first sight, but why are you being so heartless?
Looking at Damian’s appearance, he likes you too. If the two of you continue to nurture your feelings, perhaps Damian wouldn’t mind following you back to Crimson."
Colton placed his hand on his quiver, caressing it gently. To Ian’s question, Colton only used silence to decline to answer. Ian let out a sigh: "Forget it then, we are all adults and know what we need to do. I won’t ask about your business anymore." Saying that, Ian stood up, took his dinner, and walked back to his tent.
The surrounding squad members heard the conversation between the two of them; at this moment, they all tacitly refrained from stepping forward to ask anything. They always felt their captain had something weighing on his mind, but if Colton didn’t want to speak out, they wouldn’t force him.
Darkness enveloped the oak forest, the campfire crackling in faint intervals amidst the quiet night.
Colton couldn’t sleep, finding a secluded spot alone not far from the campsite. He leaped onto a sturdy oak branch; his wooden mask had been removed, placed carelessly beside him. Under the hazy moonlight, his alluring face with a hint of wildness was revealed, but the peach blossom eyes that always sparkled with laughter were now drowned in a shroud of gloom.
Colton raised his head, looking up at the starry night sky through the gaps in the oak canopy. Ian’s words still echoed in his ears: [I can be certain you fell in love with Damian at first sight, but why are you being so heartless?]
Love?
Colton slightly curled the corner of his lips, a self-deprecating smile full of bitterness appearing on his face. That’s right, he had indeed been attracted from the very first glance by that Snow Wolf beastman with the long scar on his face.
Damian was strong and proud, yet in matters of affection, he was strangely naive, stubborn, and easily embarrassed. That sincere, burning gaze of Damian was something Colton had never seen throughout his entire dark past.
But precisely because of this, Colton dared not step forward even more.
Colton instinctively lowered his hand, lightly touching his flat lower abdomen. A chill rose from the very depths of his bones. He recalled the years of living like hell when he was a slave prostitute, trampled from the hands of one person to another.
Back then, to ensure that the Sub-Beasts captured as slaves could not get pregnant, causing trouble or decreasing their entertainment value, the cruel slave masters had forced Colton to drink a bowl of medicine that stripped away his reproductive capability.
Yet for some reason, he still became pregnant. Colton remembered that day when he was buried in the freezing snow. Cold as his body was, the blood flowing out of his body was strangely warm.
On this continent, Sub-Beasts were inherently scarce, and their most sacred and important duty in the eyes of beastmen was to continue the lineage. A Sub-Beast who couldn’t bear children, whose body had been defiled by countless individuals... how could he be worthy of receiving the complete love of an outstanding level-four warrior like Damian?
While Colton was immersed in his cluttered thoughts, an extremely light footstep echoed on the dry leaves below. The vigilance forged from battles made Colton instantly retract his vulnerability; his hand swiftly grabbed the mask to put it on his face, while his other hand quickly drew an arrow, pointing it directly at the newcomer.
But Colton’s hand was firmly grasped by a large, warm, and rough hand.
The faint eucalyptus scent characteristic of the Snow Wolf enveloped the space. Damian was standing right behind Colton’s back at some point, his breath fanning against Colton’s ear. Damian’s chest, heaving slightly from the hurried movement, pressed against Colton’s back, as hot as lava.
"Damian?" Colton quickly stepped forward half a pace to create some distance; however, they were up in a tree, and space was insufficient. Colton helplessly raised his head, teasingly saying: "Silly wolf, not sleeping in the middle of the night, what did you run over to our territory for? Aren’t you afraid of being shot into a hedgehog?"
Damian didn’t care about Colton’s threat. He lowered his head to look at his hand that had just grabbed Colton’s hand, then pulled out a carefully wrapped package of mugwort leaves from his shirt breast, stuffing it straight into Colton’s hand.
"What is this?" Colton looked down at the leaf package that was still radiating a moist warmth.
"Wild mugwort... I just went to pick it this evening, and I’ve already warmed it over the fire." Damian turned his face in another direction, his neck and earlobes hidden in his hair already bright red. "This afternoon in the forest... I saw you frequently rubbing your waist. A Sub-Beast after... um... after strenuous exercise often gets a backache. If you apply this, you will feel better."
Colton’s heart suddenly skipped a beat. The hand holding the warm mugwort leaf package was so warm that his fingertips trembled slightly. It turned out that when he accidentally revealed a bit of fatigue this afternoon, this idiot had noticed so closely, even groping through the night himself to find herbs for Colton.
Rustling sounds echoed from the tents and the nearby guard posts; Colton knew that thick-skinned bunch was probably eavesdropping. Colton decisively pulled Damian to jump down, and they hid together into the forest. The eavesdropping group pouted.
Hmph! In the dead of night, the two captains of two opposing squads invited each other to sneak off for a date; how truly irresponsible!
Looking at that bunch of idiots on the opposite side, they probably didn’t know yet that their captain had deserted. A few Sub-Beasts and beastmen who couldn’t sleep decisively dragged each other out, lighting a fire right in the clearing between the two squads.
A young Sub-Beast cleared his throat: "Hey, you guys over there, want a midnight snack?"
The Oakstone beastmen looked at each other blankly, then searched for their captain’s whereabouts again. The captain said he was going to relieve himself, so why hadn’t he returned yet?
A Crimson beastman burst out laughing: "Stop looking, your captain snuck off to go on a date with my captain. Come on over, being that cowardly, are you guys even beastmen?!"
Hearing the news that their captain went on a date with the opponent’s captain, the Oakstone beastmen were first stunned, and then their jaws dropped. Before they could fully digest it, they were provoked by the other party’s "are you even beastmen" remark, and they stepped forward with grim faces:
"If we come, we come, as if we are afraid of you!"
Right after plonking his butt down, a beastman jumped up again, running back to his camp to bring food over. A Crimson Leopard clan Sub-Beast looked at the mangled roasted meat in their hands, showing an expression of disgust:
"Put your food away, we already have some here. If you feel bad, just hunt some fresh prey and bring it over tomorrow morning."
This beastman embarrassedly brought his food back. It couldn’t be helped; the other group’s food was too fragrant, and their own food paled in comparison to theirs.
The two groups of people sat down together, eating meat and drinking fruit juice. Initially, they were somewhat wary of each other, but after a few scattered stories, they gradually closed the distance, chatting extremely animatedly.
A Snow Wolf beastman from the Oakstone tribe hesitated for a long time, his eyes staring intently at the Crimson Sub-Beasts, causing a Crimson beastman to frown. The Sub-Beasts, however, were more relaxed, teasingly saying:
"What do you keep staring at us for?"
That beastman blushed, saying: "That... where did you guys exchange for the fabric clothes you are wearing? Is it very expensive?"
The Leopard clan Sub-Beast happily replied: "Ah, this wasn’t exchanged. This is fabric provided to us by the tribe, and then we spent money to hire a member of the textile squad to sew it for us. Do you have a mate already? Want to exchange for some to gift to your mate?"
The male beastman embarrassedly nodded. The Crimson Sub-Beasts instantly became enthusiastic, starting to pitch their wares.
In just a short while, the Snow Wolf beastman in a daze completely emptied his magic core pouch, bringing back a bunch of random items like bracelets, necklaces, hairpins, and elaborately styled fabric pouches.
However, the fabric clothes he wanted required him to come to Crimson himself to trade.
The other few beastmen didn’t have mates yet, but they were interested in the food. They were also perfectly willing to dig out magic cores from their pouches to exchange for two bamboo tubes of barbecue sauce and shrimp salt powder, along with a recipe for delicious grilled meat.
Ian observed secretly from inside his tent. Seeing his own squad members swindling the other squad’s magic cores, his heart was entirely without a ripple.
Keep swindling, it’s best if you swindle them down to their very underwear for me!
