Beauty and the Beasts

In the center of the four stone castles stood a platform made of stone. On the stone platform stood four beastmen. Three of them had four animal stripes—they were the leopard king, the tiger king, and the wolf king.

The fourth king, however, was a two-striped beastman. He had sparse black hair that reached his shoulders and was slightly bald. Despite having only two animal stripes, his status seemed to be above the other three beast kings, for he was standing more in front than the other three.

Seeing Bai Qingqing stare at the two-striped beastman on the stage, Parker said to her, “He’s Bard, the ape king, one of your kind. He’s the most intelligent beastman in this city.”

Bai Qingqing nodded to express she understood. She thought to herself that the ape beastmen were indeed primates—from their appearances, you could tell they were extremely intelligent.

As an evolved version of an ape-man, her intelligence should be higher than these ape-men? But this was merely her speculation. Those present weren’t ape-men, but ape beastmen.

The hair on the beastmen looked the same from their beast form, so one could tell their species based on the color and texture of their hair. Bai Qingqing had dark-brown hair, which looked pretty much the same as the apes. She was really glad she had sounded Parker out previously and didn’t say anything inappropriate.

The white tiger leading the group of beastmen walked onto the stone platform, and the ape king welcomed him with a broad smile on his face. “Vincent, the fact that five females were brought back this time, much of the credit goes to you. We’ve prepared a bonfire banquet to welcome the newly arrived females. You have to be there.”

Vincent coldly sneezed in response. Standing on stage, he gave off a majestic air, exuding a strong sense of pride.

Now that the five females were standing on the platform, Bai Qingqing finally got a proper look at their faces. None of them were good-looking. Perhaps because conditions in small villages were tougher, they had dark skin and skinny frames and also appeared to be in poor spirits.

If Eve and Eudora from the Camel Hump Valley were considered pretty girls of humble birth, these females would be country bumpkins from the deep mountains.

But nonetheless, the beastmen were staring at them with passion burning in their eyes, each and every one of them rubbing their hands in anticipation, fierce will evident in their eyes. Bai Qingqing felt that the males were no longer capable of judging females’ beauty objectively around here.

The ape king surveyed the five females on stage, a satisfied glint in his eyes. He then declared to all the beastmen. “The newly arrived females will choose a male each on the first day. Each and every one of you may come on stage to fight. The victor has the priority to be chosen.”

The beastmen below the stage erupted in growls, making such a deafening din that Bai Qingqing covered her ears with her hands.

“However…” The ape king suddenly turned towards the white tiger. “There was a female from the fox tribe who tried to escape with a companion during the journey. They were abducted by a scorpion homeless beast, and that male has been killed. It was Vincent who rescued the female. Hence, by right Vincent should become her mate.”

Following the ape king’s words, Bai Qingqing noticed one of the females onstage flinch and tremble a little.

Now that she looked carefully, this female was very pretty, with a pair of large fox eyes. Her skin was also fairer than the rest by quite a lot. The way she shivered had the effect of evoking pity in others, making one wish to protect her. Even Bai Qingqing’s heart went out to her. How pitiful to have had her mate killed. All the males present stared at her with glowing eyes.

Bai Qingqing smiled at Parker and said, “You just said nobody wants the white tiger. Well, he has a female now.”

Parker, however, wore a disdainful look. “Just wait and see.”

Just as they were talking, the white tiger onstage suddenly got up and transformed into a human.

Bai Qingqing accidentally saw him naked. Oh! My eyes!

Wasn’t it said that males don’t transform in public? Is this tiger behaving like a pervert?

But the beastmen didn’t seem to reproach him for it. And so, Bai Qingqing understood that it wasn’t wrong of the white tiger to do that.

His figure was very muscular, a full head taller than the ape beastmen. He was unlike Moore, who only had an abnormally muscular chest. He appeared a fair bit more ferocious than Parker, his entire body exuding an explosive strength.