My husband is too wild, I need to go home and find my mom.

Chapter 12 Snakes are cold-blooded animals

Night walked over and squatted down beside her: "I won't scare you anymore, okay? You didn't eat much just now, so I'll go back into the water and find you some shellfish and shrimp? Didn't you like them yesterday?"

His attentiveness warmed Lin Ni's heart, but she still shook her head and said, "I want to talk to you." As she spoke, she blushed and glanced at his chest, "Why don't you take a shower first?"

Lin Ni had just stood up when she saw Ye jump high into the water, then emerge and walk to her side. The water on his hair and body dried up quickly, even his hair was dry! Ye took her hand and said, "Let's go."

"Wow, that's amazing! Then why were you wet just now? Were my tears too salty?" Lin Ni looked at Ye, who was completely dry, with self-doubt: "Ye, transform into your beast form and let me see?"

Ye hesitated for a moment, then looked at her and asked, "Aren't you afraid?"

Lin Ni still felt a little scared when she recalled the scene of the python flying towards her from the water. But then she looked at Ye beside her; he was watching her anxiously. He was so powerful and formidable, yet he was carefully concealing his identity, afraid of frightening her. She could feel his concern. He had been hiding it from her ever since she asked him about the python yesterday evening, but she never thought concealment was a good thing. She believed that honesty was the best policy. Lin Ni prepared herself to face her fear and looked at Ye, saying, "I'm scared, but I still want to see." She pointed to an open space to the side, "Go transform over there."

Night released her hand, walked to a wide open space a few meters away, and then, without any movement—no sound, no flash of light—it transformed into a silver snake coiled on the ground with its upper body upright.

Despite being mentally prepared, Linni's heart still skipped a beat. Seeing her reaction, Ye wanted to rush over but held back, lowering its head and curling into a ball. The two white tigers quickly ran to her side.

Lin Ni looked at the python with its head drooping, gently pushed aside Bai Shu, who was standing protectively in front of her, and tentatively called out to the python, "Night?"

The python raised its head to look at her, but seeing that Lin Ni was trying to back away, it lowered its flat head again. Its back had six bright green diamond patterns, the rest of it silver-gray. Its thick body, wider than Lin Ni's shoulders, was coiled up. If it hadn't been for its drooping head and pitiful eyes, she wouldn't have come forward.

Linni tried to overcome her fear, telling herself: This is the man who hugged and kissed me. If he wanted to eat me, he would have done it yesterday! Don't be a coward, he's trying to please you! Then she slowly walked up to the python and reached out to touch its coiled body: the tentacles were smooth and cool—she had heard that snakes were cold-blooded, no wonder she always felt cool when she was near it.

(Fun fact: Snakes are actually cold-blooded animals, meaning they don't have a body temperature of their own; instead, they rely on their environment to raise it. Cold-blooded animals lack their own internal mechanisms for regulating body temperature and can only raise it by regulating heat dissipation through their behavior or by absorbing heat from the environment. Apart from mammals and birds, most animals on Earth are cold-blooded.)

Linni touched the green rhombuses on the python's body again, feeling no difference in texture. After a while, she looked up at its head. When she looked at it again, she felt less afraid, so she smiled at it and said, "Night, turn back into human form."

The large ball of silver on the ground vanished instantly. Ye strode over to Lin Ni, reached out and scooped her up in his arms. Lin Ni looked down at him, the words she hadn't yet uttered caught in her throat: "Mmm—"

Night kissed her passionately and wildly.

Unable to put her feet on the ground, Linni could only cling tightly to his neck and shoulders. This position made her very uncomfortable, and she slapped him hard.

Ye released her, carried her to their previous spot, and sat down. Lin Ni breathed a sigh of relief, startled by his sudden outburst of passion; it was good that he had calmed down now. Although she didn't actually want to be too intimate with him, thinking of her sore bottom from sitting on the pebbly ground (even with the animal hide cushion, it still hurt after a while), she felt comfortable sitting on Ye's lap, nestled against him, his body still cool. She rubbed against him comfortably without objecting and adjusted her position: "Bai Shu, I want some water."

Bai Zhu leaned over and handed the cup that had just contained hot water to Lin Ni.

Lin Ni felt the foreign object protruding from under her little bottom, pretended not to notice, took the water cup, blew on it to find it wasn't hot anymore, gulped down half a cup, and then said to Bai Shu, "Go and cook some more." She then pointed to the lunchbox.

So Bai Shu took the lunchbox and left.

Night kissed Linni's hair from behind and said in a slightly coquettish tone, "I also want to understand what you and they are saying."

Linni smiled and said, "This is my home, and it's the tribal language, which I'm used to speaking. I'll try to speak your language from now on, and you can teach me, okay?"

Night felt comforted and nodded, "Okay."

Linni leaned on his strong, broad shoulders and said, "Night, tell me about the tribe you used to live in."

"Okay." Ye wrapped his arms around her slender waist and recalled, "I grew up in the Peacock Tribe at the foot of the Ten Thousand Cliff. Most of the beastmen there don't like snake beasts, so I hunted on the outskirts of the tribe from a young age. After I grew up, I transformed into human form and returned to the tribe, hunting with everyone every month. Then I leveled up to level five, and a female in the tribe wanted to mate with me. My father and mother beasts both liked her very much, but I didn't. So I said goodbye to them and left the tribe to live here alone."

"How long have you lived here?" Linni asked.

Night: "I came here last year during the dry season. There used to be a small tribe living here. I drove them away and leveled up to level six myself."

Linni: So you single-handedly—no, I should say, you single-handedly drove away an entire tribe! Amazing!

It was nearing noon, and the sun was blazing down, making it uncomfortable even in the shade. Linni had Ye carry everything back to the cave under the waterfall, and then asked them to prepare lunch. She wanted to eat stir-fried pheasant, shellfish, and shrimp.

At first, Ye Yi didn't want the two white tigers to enter his cave. Lin Ni pestered him to talk to her and promised that they wouldn't be allowed on the stone platform, so he reluctantly agreed. Actually, the two white tigers weren't too keen on entering his cave either. Not only did they smell of snakes, but they also had to swim every time they went in, which was too much trouble. However, Lin Ni was afraid of the heat, and the cave was cool and safe, making it a perfect place for her to live.