Chapter 100 Spring Beast Tide - Part 2: The Giant Bird Was Shot...
After shooting the large bird, Tang Bufan breathed a sigh of relief. He immediately turned to look at the people around him and asked worriedly, "Is everyone alright?"
The group gradually came to their senses. Wan Yiming immediately grabbed the bird by the neck and threw it out of the pavilion, while Pei Zhishu slowly began to feel feverish.
"...Madam Tang's marksmanship...is truly excellent." Pei Zhishu said calmly, his dark eyes glancing at Tang Bufan's thigh where the gun was hidden, which was concealed by his Tang suit and loose robe, making it impossible to see any trace of it.
If that shot had been aimed at him, he would be dead... This was the closest Pei Zhishu had ever come to being shot. He was from a prominent family and married Guo Shen soon after coming of age, living a life of comfort and security.
He then realized that he had underestimated Tang Bufan... This man had been hiding such a strong aggressiveness all along.
"I've been wandering outside for five years, and my marksmanship... is alright, I guess." Tang Bufan smiled slightly, raising his hand to look at his right hand with some delight. The feeling of holding a gun without shaking was fantastic.
He didn't think there was anything wrong with killing the bird. In his five years of wilderness survival, he had killed countless creatures and had long forgotten that he used to be someone who wouldn't even dare to kill a wild dog.
His carefree smile, coupled with his blood-stained face, sent chills down the spines of Pei Zhishu and He Yun, and even Wan Yiming, a beastman, was startled by his ruthlessness.
But as a hunter, Tang Bufan looked at the large bird's carcass and began to ponder, "Shall we take this back and eat it?"
He was thinking about whether he and Lu Yi should cook for each other in the courtyard.
"No, don't eat it!" He Yun finally couldn't help but speak up, frantically saying to Tang Bufan, "We don't even know what kind of bird this is. What if it has parasites or infectious diseases..."
Tang Bufan looked at him strangely: "We're sub-beastmen, why are we afraid of parasites and viruses?"
"..." The pampered Pei Zhishu and He Yun remained silent.
"Should we hand it over?" Wan Yiming asked. He came from the military and he knew what to do.
“…Yes, it has to be handed over.” He Yun was inwardly weeping, but had no choice but to agree with Wan Yiming. He was terrified that Tang Bufan would grab the bird by the neck and drag the corpse back like that; he felt that Tang Bufan was capable of doing such a thing!
No! You're so handsome and refined... Don't do something that will ruin your image!
“It needs to be handed over…” Tang Bufan understood, and then smiled at Pei Zhishu beside him: “Then it’s handed over to Mr. Pei.”
"..." Pei Zhishu remained silent for a long while before stiffly curving his lips: "Alright, Madam Tang, just leave it here."
At this moment, the little boy who was walking his dog in the distance ran over, grabbed Pei Zhishu's hand, and was not afraid of the gunshot. Instead, he looked at Tang Bufan with curiosity.
With children present, Tang Bufan couldn't help but look down at himself. He had used his gun to shield Pei Zhishu and He Yun, which was why blood had splattered on him.
"I should go back and take a shower," Tang Bufan thought to himself.
Now that the hairpin had been returned, Tang Bufan politely bid farewell to Pei Zhishu, saying, "I'm going back to my courtyard."
After he finished speaking, he glanced at the slightly gloomy February sky and instructed Pei Zhishu, "It seems that the spring beast tide is coming. Mr. Pei, you should take the children back as soon as possible."
Looking at Tang Bufan's clear and kind eyes, Pei Zhishu suddenly understood why he was chosen by Zero.
"...Okay, Mrs. Tang, please be careful on your journey."
Tang Bufan then left with He Yun and Wan Yiming. Pei Zhishu kept watching him, recalling the image of Tang Bufan sitting "weakly" on the RV bed.
"..." Pei Zhishu lowered his eyes and smiled, she was even better at pretending than him.
After the three of them left the small garden, Tang Bufan immediately stopped and bent down to pull on Wan Yiming's trouser leg.
Wan Yiming was taken aback, but Tang Bufan acted quickly, pulling up his trousers to reveal three bloody holes in his hairy right calf.
The bird, with Wan Yiming grabbing its neck, struggled frantically to survive, flapping its wings and kicking wildly, and Wan Yiming's foot was hit by the attack.
If Tang Bufan hadn't fired so quickly, he probably would have taken several more hits from that bird.
"Madam, it's alright... I'm alright." When Wan Yiming saw Tang Bufan squat down to check his injuries, his soft fingertips touching his hairy legs, the area touched felt a tingling sensation. He immediately blushed and his usual 'I'm alright' slipped out.
"It looks pretty deep... but it shouldn't need stitches." Tang Bufan breathed a sigh of relief and turned to ask He Yun, who had also squatted down, "Is there a medical room in this garden?"
"Yes," He Yun quickly replied, only to discover that Wan Yiming was actually injured. He thought to himself that Tang Bufan was very thoughtful.
"Then take him there and let the doctor take care of him." Tang Bufan then put down Wan Yiming's trousers and stood up.
“No, I must take you back to your courtyard, Madam.” He Yun stood up with him, her expression becoming more serious: “Mr. Pei said that we cannot leave you alone.”
"Are you spying on me?" Tang Bufan looked at him with a half-smile, but his face showed no unusual expression.
Without making things difficult for He Yun, Tang Bufan returned to the courtyard first, escorted by He Yun and Wan Yiming. Upon seeing Tang Bufan return covered in blood, Wan Bing immediately shouted exaggeratedly, attracting Lu Yi, who was having a meeting inside, to come out as well.
"It's alright, I'm not injured." Tang Bufan briefly explained the situation to them, then asked He Yun to take Wan Yiming to the infirmary, while he went into his room.
Lu Yi followed him closely, and after the door closed, she immediately nervously touched Tang Bufan's body.
"Are you really not injured?" Lu Yi stood in front of Tang Bufan and touched him from head to toe, then found the pistol hidden in his thigh.
Lu Yi wasn't surprised. He knew that Tang Bufan was hiding a gun. On the day they entered the city, Tang Bufan had tucked the gun behind his waistband and concealed it with his sweater.
"I'm really not injured." Tang Bufan took off his white coat, feeling a little distressed. It was such an expensive piece of fabric, and it was stained with blood. He wondered if it could ever be washed clean.
"Caw caw—!" At this moment, a large bird landed outside the window, but instead of flying into the house, it drank water from the small pond outside Tang Bufan's house.
Lu Yi then went over and closed the window.
"Is the beast tide from the east coming so fast?" Tang Bufan listened to the birds chirping outside and reached up to untie the knots on his clothes.
"The latitude here is relatively low, so the climate warms up faster," Lu Yi said. But he didn't expect that the earliest batch of migratory birds would arrive in February, while in their Western Federation, it wouldn't be until March or April.
"Looks like I won't be able to go out for the next month or so." Tang Bufan said as he was about to go into the bathroom, but was suddenly hugged from behind by Lu Yi.
"Teacher looks so good today." Lu touched Tang Bufan's body with one hand, and pressed his face against Tang Bufan's blood-stained face with affection: "Let me look at you a little longer."
"Aren't you getting more and more lewd?" Tang Bufan blushed slightly and removed Lu Yi's hand from his crotch.
"...Does the teacher like serious people?" Lu Yi asked, feeling wronged and realizing she had changed somewhat. "I'm not like this with anyone else, only with the teacher..."
Why are you making such a pitiful face? Tang Bufan had no choice but to turn his head away because of his aggressive face-to-face contact.
Lu Yi stared intently at the bathroom mirror. The man he was holding in the mirror was dressed in an elegant Tang suit. The buttons that were originally tied were undone, and the collar of the suit was open at the waist, revealing a large expanse of snow-white skin.
Thanks to Tang Bufan's daily binge eating, his once slender ribs were no longer prominent, and his chest had developed a slight curve. Lu Yi couldn't help but stroke him from bottom to top, carefully feeling Tang Bufan's small chest line.
“…You really like touching here.” Tang Bufan blushed and bit her lip. She already knew Lu Yi’s fetish. Before her breathing became erratic, she suddenly broke free from his embrace.
He strode into the bathroom and closed the door under Lu Yi's regretful gaze.
“20 years old…20 years old…” Lu Yi sat down on the soft sofa, looked up at the ceiling, and sighed, “I’ll have to whine to my teacher a little…”
He probably won't last past 20.
When Tang Bufan came out after taking a shower, several very tall poles had already been erected in the Guo family compound, and the servants of the beastmen began to lay down protective netting.
Tang Bufan looked on curiously in the yard. The protective netting was made of iron chains, with mesh about the size of a fist, and was suspended by dozens of thick iron poles, covering the garden.
"With this protective netting, birds won't be able to land in the park during the beast tide," He Yun explained to Tang Bufan.
If Ming's leg injury wasn't serious, the doctor applied some anti-inflammatory solution and put on some gauze before sending him back, but Tang Bufan still told him to rest well.
Tang Bufan looked up at the sky full of silver iron chain nets, sensing that the price was not low, so he asked, "Is the entire city covered with nets?"
“These nets are very expensive; only some wealthy families in the inner city can afford them,” He Yun said. “Most people can only close their doors and windows and bring everything inside until the beast tide passes. But at least our Tai City has city walls. Only birds cause damage, so people outside have to hide in cellars, and often the doors are broken down by wild animals.”
Tang Bufan understood, thinking to himself that it was really not easy for people to live in the apocalypse.
The garden was very large, and it took a week to lay the silver netting. During this time, Tang Bufan went to watch the servants install it out of curiosity. The foundations of the iron poles were hidden in various parts of the garden. Each pole was five meters long and consisted of a base pole, a middle pole, and a top pole. After being assembled with screws and other tools, the total length was 12 meters, which basically covered most of the buildings and trees in the garden. Only some particularly tall ones had the silver netting simply hoisted onto them.
Lu Yi also went to observe and even took a picture of the bracelet.
"Don't you Western Federation protect your birds like this?" Tang Bufan asked him curiously.
“No, our manor doesn’t have that many courtyards,” Lu Yi said, putting down the bracelet and taking the umbrella from Tang Bufan. “Besides, Great Britain Island has the sea as a natural barrier, so the impact of the beast tide disaster is the smallest among the three federations.”
"Your Western Federation is in a pretty good location," Tang Bufan remarked.
“Only Fog City and Snow City are somewhat better off,” Lu Yi said. “The other four major cities are in Europe, and every year our Fog City and Snow City troops have to go to support them.”
The Western Federation has six major cities: two on the island of Great Britain and four on the European mainland.
The two were talking under an umbrella when a large bird dropping landed on their heads with a "plop," and the brownish droppings immediately dripped down the edge of the umbrella.
"Ugh... How disgusting." Tang Bufan quickly shrank into Lu Yi's arms. Although there was a silver net for protection, bird droppings could still fall into the garden unimpeded.
"Let's go back." Lu Yi, holding an umbrella, put his arm around Tang Bufan's waist.
Tang Bufan nodded, and the two walked towards their Green Bamboo Pavilion under the gray sky.
It was initially thought that with the resurgence of the wild beasts, the mutated poisonous humans would also appear, but surprisingly, they were nowhere to be found.
This silence, however, made Lu Yi and Tang Bufan uneasy.
"Did Pei Zhishu and Guo Wen say anything?" Tang Bufan asked Lu Yi, who was having dinner with him inside the house.
They still ordered food, and the servants from Shanzhen Pavilion would bring it over with umbrellas. Tang Bufan originally wanted to cook for himself, but there was bird droppings everywhere outside, and he was too embarrassed to light a fire in such a luxurious guest room.
Tang Bufan couldn't help but sigh at how comfortable life was for the heads of state's families. He thought how miserable he and Lu Yi had been hiding in the mountains back then.
“The people at the satellite control center didn’t notice anything, and the main force of the beast tide is about to arrive, so Guo Wen has recalled the army.” Lu Yi said to him, “The farmland and orchards outside the city need a large number of beastmen to guard them, and troops also need to be sent to observe the movement of the beast tide.”
Sometimes, a section of the city wall would be repeatedly rammed by wildly running beasts. The beasts behind would only follow the ones in front, not noticing the wall. By the time they realized what was happening, they had already crashed into the wall and were unable to stop, resulting in a stampede.
At this point, human intervention was necessary. Soldiers poured hot oil and lit it to force wild animals to detour. This is why the windows of the city walls were made of stone holes and large stones, because normal windows could not be made.
"I have a really uneasy feeling..." Tang Bufan pondered, holding his rice bowl, feeling a sense of calm before a storm.
“We’re right in the heart of Taicheng, don’t worry.” Lu Yi comforted Tang Bufan, then habitually looked up at his lover, before suddenly freezing in shock.
“We’re safe, protected by two walls, but what about those people outside?” Tang Bufan sighed, when Lu Yi suddenly lifted his chin and turned him around.
"Caw caw caw!" The birds outside chirped incessantly along with the clanging of the wire mesh. The doors and windows of the room were tightly closed, and a warm yellow lamp shone inside.
Tang Bufan, holding the bowl curiously, noticed Lu Yi slowly moving his head closer to him. Speechless, Tang Bufan pulled his head back.
"Can't you just eat properly?" Tang Bufan muttered to himself, thinking that he loved kissing too much.
“No…” Lu Yi gently pinched Tang Bufan’s chin, put his thumb into Tang Bufan’s mouth, pried open his mouth, and his expression became very strange.
“Teeth…” Lu Yi stared at him nervously, her fingertips touching Tang Bufan’s small, sharp fangs: “Teacher, your teeth are coming out.”
Tang Bufan was stunned. This scene seemed familiar, except that he and Lu Yi had switched identities.
The finger that had slipped into his mouth was quite large. Tang Bufan could feel the fine lines on Lu Yi's fingertip through his lips. He then looked at the beastman's face. Lu Yi had his hair tied up, with a strand of bangs hanging down his forehead. His golden-green beast eyes were as beautiful as beads, and the scent emanating from him was mellow and fragrant, like red wine.
Tang Bufan broke out in a cold sweat for no reason. He swallowed Lu Yi's thumb and felt a sudden wetness flowing out from behind him. The unprecedented and strange overflowing sensation instantly turned Tang Bufan's hot sweat into cold sweat.
His hair stood on end, and Tang Bufan felt a chill run down his spine. He abruptly put down his chopsticks, pushed Lu Yi aside, and ran to the standing mirror. He then grabbed the mirror with both hands and opened his mouth.
Sure enough, two sharp little fangs appeared in his mouth at some point.
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