Beauty and the Beasts

“Snow…”

“Mm… Curtis?”

A muffled sound—that seemingly came from behind a wall of water—entered her ears.

With much effort, Bai Qingqing lifted her sore eyelids, and in her vision appeared a blurry human figure with a head of smooth and straight red long hair.

She felt joy erupt in her heart, and she wanted to speak. But the instant she opened her mouth, she spat out a large mouthful of salty seawater.

“Great, you’re finally awake.”

In her vision appeared another golden head—it was Parker.

Bai Qingqing looked at him, then towards the red hair, and only then confirmed that it was indeed Curtis. She was so agitated that she wanted to get up, but her body instantly fell into a cold, but sturdy embrace that made one feel a sense of security.

“Snow, you’re awake.”

Curtis’s smooth chin grazed against the top of Bai Qingqing’s head as he continuously patted her back with his chilly hand.

Bai Qingqing struggled powerlessly in Curtis’s arms a little, and he immediately let go of her. He cupped his hands around her face and took a close look at her.

Bai Qingqing also gazed back at him. She blinked her eyes hard and saw that Curtis’s face was clean and spotless, without a single animal stripe.

“Your face… why aren’t there any animal stripes?” The startled Bai Qingqing yelped out loud. Could it be that Curtis had lost all his powers?

Also, there was something not quite right with their voices. And her own voice also sounded kind of funny. Am I hallucinating? Ouch, head hurts so bad.

Seeing that she was fine, Curtis’s heart was put to ease. He explained calmly, “I had a breakthrough.”

“You broke through from four animal stripes to five?” Bai Qingqing’s mouth opened so wide that a quail egg could be stuffed into it. “But why aren’t there any animal stripes on your face?”

Parker was also so astonished that he lost the capacity to speak. Then, he suddenly said in enlightenment, “All along I’ve heard that there exists a level beyond four animal stripes, but no one has ever seen it. So it turns out that beyond four animal stripes, one ceases to have any animal stripes.”

“Is that so?” Bai Qingqing asked as she gazed at Curtis’s face. He was handsome in a soft and gentle way, so a clean and stripeless face like this suited him more.

No idea if it was because it had been a long time since she saw him, but after she recovered her vision, Bai Qingqing was once again stunned by Curtis’s striking good looks—he didn’t pale in comparison with the merfolks, and he even had an additional hint of inexplicable charm.

It was as though he had restrained his shine, and there was something wonderful about returning to simplicity.

“Mm.” Curtis spat out a one-syllable reply, answering them in the affirmative.

His voice sounded very vague in Bai Qingqing’s ears. She shook her head and covered her ears with her palms.

“What’s the matter? Are you not feeling well?” Curtis asked instantly.

Bai Qingqing replied, “Water got into my ears and is causing me a headache. I can’t hear quite clearly as well.”

Recollecting that instant she fell into the water, Bai Qingqing couldn’t help but shiver. When the seawater surrounded her body, she had felt as though she was enveloped by death. Water had gushed into her mouth, nose, and ears then. It was completely different from being soaked in river water.

The water pressure was indeed too scary. Thankfully, the water level wasn’t that deep. If it were in the depths of the ocean where even light couldn’t penetrate, she would definitely not have survived.

“I’ll help you take a look.” Curtis turned her head around and flicked out his tongue into her ear canal.

Bai Qingqing let out a startled cry, “No!”

She put up a great struggle, and as Curtis also felt that he couldn’t squeeze his way in, he let go of her.

Bai Qingqing stood up the moment she regained her freedom. Now that her range of sight had widened, she noticed that not far away stood a merman.

Alva was initially there too, but when he saw Bai Qingqing wake up he flew away. Bai Qingqing’s mates forbade them from transforming into their human forms and revealing their reproductive organs. As he didn’t want Bai Qingqing to see his naked butt the instant she opened her eyes, he decided to flee before she saw him.