The daily life of the crew of "Beasts".

Chapter 164 Side Story (Ancient Era, Explanation)

In the mountains of ancient times, young Tianlu excitedly searched for food everywhere, determined to outdo Bixie in the search for food.

He parted a patch of grass and saw a giant tree over ten meters tall. Its massive canopy cast a large shadow, and a bird's nest several meters in diameter was perched on it.

"Wow! Such a big nest, there must be delicious food inside!" Tianlu's eyes lit up. He quickly ran to the tree and climbed up. When he was at the same height as the nest, he jumped into it.

The entire enormous bird's nest was woven from branches and straw, and a faint stench permeated the air. Tianlu fell in, rolled twice, and quickly got up.

"Ugh, it stinks!" He instinctively covered his nose and looked around. There were three bird eggs in the nest, bigger than the entire Tianlu Pixiu. He was immediately excited when he saw them. "What huge eggs!"

The eggshell was plump and shiny with a creamy yellow color. Tianlu's mouth watered as he looked at it. He couldn't help but put down his paw and approach step by step. "Hehehe, I'll eat one first, and take the other two back to eat with Bixie."

A small shadow was cast over the bird eggs. Tianlu opened its beak wide, and saltwater dripped onto the eggshells and slid down. Just then... an even larger shadow descended, enveloping Tianlu and the three bird eggs.

Tianlu froze. "What is that?" He slowly turned his head stiffly. A giant bird was staring at him with its head down, the three claw marks on its left eye looking particularly ferocious.

"Ughhhhh! Help! It hurts so much! I'm sorry!"

……

A large patch of white clouds drifted across the sky, obscuring the sun and making the sunlight in the mountains less intense.

A small figure darted past like the wind, followed closely by a real bird of prey, its dark shadow looming over the ground, the wind whipped up by its wings flattening the weeds.

"Ughhhhh! Don't chase me!" Tianlu cried out as he frantically fled for his life. If he was even a step slower, he would become food. Ahead lay a dense forest, and he plunged headlong into it.

The giant bird flew over and circled a few times, but the dense foliage prevented it from seeing the details inside the forest. After lingering for a while, it finally flapped its wings and flew away.

"Hoo~" Tianlu was hiding under the spot where the giant bird was circling. He let out a long breath and collapsed, not wanting to move at all.

"Hi~"

The hissing of a snake reached his ears, and Tianlu's relaxed body tensed up again. He turned around, and a python more than ten meters long came into view. Its open mouth could easily swallow Tianlu whole.

"Ughhhhhh?"

Another round of fleeing for one's life begins.

……

The white clouds continued to drift, eventually coming to a stop in one spot.

"Ha~" Tianlu dragged his heavy body along, his legs feeling like they were made of lead, making it difficult to lift them... one step... two steps...

"thump!"

He fell heavily, his body twitched, he rolled over, and then remained still.

A white cloud floated right above his head, blocking the sunlight so that he could look directly at the sky without feeling the glare.

"I'm so tired~" Tianlu looked at the sky listlessly. Not only was he exhausted, but he was also even hungrier after the strenuous exercise.

Recalling his morning's escape, Tianlu, with a burst of energy from who-knows-where, closed his eyes and roared, "Can't something delicious just fall from the sky?!"

After letting out a roar, he opened his eyes wearily, as if he had lost all his strength.

"Huh? What is that?" A black dot emerged from the white clouds overhead. Tianlu blinked, wondering if he was seeing things. However, the black dot continued to grow larger, and the unidentified object crashed down.

"Boom!"

"Ouch!" Having been struck hard on the forehead, Tianlu yelled and sprang to his feet, shouting, "What was that that attacked me?!"

He nervously looked around. A gentle breeze blew, the weeds swayed, and the surroundings were quiet, seemingly without danger.

Tianlu scratched his head in confusion, then remembered that what had hit him was something, and he started searching around.

Parting a patch of grass, there lay a milky white egg with golden patterns...

"Another egg?" Tianlu swallowed hard, then glanced behind him nervously. No giant bird suddenly appeared and stared at him menacingly. Only then did his tense nerves relax.

Picking up an egg almost as big as himself, Tianlu hugged it and smelled it, a conflicted look on his face. "It smells so good... Should I eat it now? But if I eat it now, how can I show it off to Bixie?"

"Gululu."

His stomach growled in protest, and Tianlu immediately made up his mind to open his mouth. This time, without any doubt, he swallowed the egg whole.

Heavens: Wait! Those are the brothers we made for you...

Earth: Too late~ Too late~ Too late~ It's been eaten~ It's been eaten~ It's been eaten~

Heavens: Uh...

Earth: It's okay~ It's okay~ It's okay~ I can't digest it~ I can't digest it~ I can't digest it~

Heavens: So be it then...

……

The grass rustled, and a curious little insect flew over. As it drew closer, the evil spirit suddenly emerged, startling the insect, which flew away instantly. "Whoosh~ whoosh~ I'm so lucky to have found so much food."

He pulled a leaf several meters long from the grass, panting, covered with golden balls.

"Bishe! Wow, so many golden balls!" Tianlu jumped over happily, his attention instantly drawn away by the gold and jade.

"Well, if we use these sparingly, they'll be enough for two days." Bixie couldn't help but smile.

"Hehe, speaking of food, I found a really fragrant egg today, but unfortunately I was too hungry and already ate it."

"An egg?" Bixie was taken aback, then his expression suddenly changed. "You ran out by yourself!?"

"Eh?"

When Bixie saw Tianlu's bewildered expression, he knew he had guessed correctly. "Do you know how dangerous it is outside! What if you encounter danger while you're out alone as a beast!"

"It's alright, it's just a ward off evil spirit. It's just dangerous, I can handle it."

"That's not OK!"

Meanwhile, inside Tianlu's stomach, the milky white egg with golden patterns was floating up and down in the digestive pool. The highly corrosive digestive juices washed over the eggshell, but there was no sign of it dissolving. Instead, the egg absorbed the nutrients in the digestive pool little by little, along with Tianlu's divine power.

……

"I'm so hungry~" Tianlu collapsed listlessly to the ground. Bixie stood silently by the side, looking at the empty food supplies. He thought they would last at least two or three days, but they were all gone on the second day.

"Tianlu, how come you've become even more of a eater?" Bixie asked helplessly.

"I'm hungry~" Tianlu replied weakly.

"Hey, you wait here, I'm going out to find something to eat. Don't wander off this time."

Actually, there's no need to say anything about warding off evil spirits. Tianlu is so hungry right now that he doesn't want to move at all, and he doesn't have the strength to run.

Before long, Bixie brought back some food, and Tianlu immediately pounced on it like a starving ghost and devoured it. This time, he was lucky; Bixie brought back a day's worth of food under normal circumstances. However, Tianlu ate all of it in one go.

"Ha~ Hiccup~" Tianlu covered his stomach and lay down contentedly, even letting out a burp.

Pixie stared at the empty food reserves and fell silent again, realizing he couldn't afford to support his younger brother anymore.

Inside Tianlu's stomach, a large amount of food falls into the digestive pool and is rapidly broken down. Some of the nutrients produced are taken by the eggs that fall into the digestive pool, and only the remainder is absorbed by Tianlu.

With sufficient nutrients replenished, the egg wobbled slightly, and with a click, a tiny crack appeared on its surface.

"Awooo!" A small head broke through the eggshell and emerged. It looked almost exactly like Tianlu Bixie, except that its eyes were blue, its fur was covered in gold patterns, and the pattern on its thigh was a small sun.

"Hmm, where is this?" The little golden Pixiu looked bewildered. He was in a huge, strange pool. Outside the pool was a flesh-colored world, with mountains of gold and jade, as well as various kinds of meat and flowers. He blinked and looked down at the eggshell from which he had been born.

"Huh? Tiao Tiao."

The eggshell that the little golden pixiu had knocked off had two horizontal stripes, one green and one yellow. He curiously stretched out a little bit of the green stripe.

"You are a Pixiu, and your name is Baijie."

"Oh, a name! And this?" Bai Jie's eyes lit up as he looked at another golden horizontal bar.

"You have two older brothers, and I have sent you to their side. From now on, you three brothers will depend on each other and help one another..."

The sound from the eggshell continued, but Baijie looked around blankly.

Brother? Where are you? At the pool and the gold mountain?

"Recording complete. Self-destruct activated!"

"Ouch?!"

A sudden beeping alarm sounded from inside the eggshell. Bai Jie froze, and in that moment of delay, he missed his best chance to escape.

"3, 2, 1, Boom!!"

Outside, Tianlu's satisfied expression suddenly twisted, and he instinctively clutched his stomach, curling up in pain. "Ouch, ouch, ouch, it hurts so much!"

Bixie, who was still figuring out how to support his younger brother, was startled. "Tianlu, what's wrong with you!"

His question went unanswered. Tianlu trembled in pain, then suddenly opened his mouth and spat out a golden Pixiu with a vomiting sound.

"Huh?!" Bixie exclaimed in surprise.

After spitting out the golden Pixiu, Tianlu collapsed to the ground, exhausted and covered in cold sweat. Bai Jie, whom he had spat out, was now rolling his eyes and losing consciousness.