Chapter 70: Preety Feet
To them, that sentence sounded almost absurd at first, because everyone in the beast world walked barefoot. Females, males, cubs, elders, everyone. No one thought much of it. The ground was the ground. The stones were stones. One simply walked.
But the moment they looked properly, they understood.
Hu Baiyu did not even wait for her to finish speaking. He immediately scooped her up.
Just like that.
One second she was standing there wincing, and the next second she was in his arms, lifted off the ground so easily that it made Lin Huahua feel as if she weighed nothing at all.
Her eyes widened and her ears jumped.
And because Hu Baiyu moved with such instinctive force, he carried her straight to a shaded place nearby where the sunlight would not fall too harshly on her and carefully set her down on a flat stone that was warmed by the morning but not rough enough to hurt.
Lin Huahua stared at him.
Was this lion crazy?
No warning.
No asking.
He had just picked her up like she was a little fruit basket with feelings.
But the worst part was that her face was already growing hot again, because being carried by such a huge handsome beastman in broad daylight really did strange things to her weak little heart.
Once she was seated, Hu Baiyu immediately took one of her feet into his hands.
His large warm hands held her small foot so gently it was almost like he was afraid it might break, and the heat from his palms spread up her leg in a way that made Lin Huahua’s cheeks grow even hotter, her white rat ears twitching nervously because no one had ever touched her feet like this before, so careful and warm and full of quiet worry.
He was actually really panicking now.
His lion ears were fully alert, his blue eyes were fixed on her foot, and his expression looked so tense that one would think she had been struck by a poisoned spear instead of sharp stones.
Mu Qingyi leaned in too, and both of them stared.
At first they were looking for injury.
Then they simply kept staring.
Lin Huahua felt increasingly awkward.
Because now that her feet were in Hu Baiyu’s large hands, and Mu Qingyi’s gaze was also on them, both males had gone strangely still.
Hu Baiyu noticed the skin first.
It was extremely far too soft.
Even injured lightly by the stone, her foot still looked incredibly delicate, pale and smooth in a way that did not fit this rough primitive world at all. And then, because the lion had already started looking, he suddenly noticed just how pretty they were.
Very pretty.
Ridiculously pretty.
Pretty enough that his lion brain paused for one stupid second.
Mu Qingyi had also noticed it.
The nurturing deer beastman, who had first come over in pure concern, now found himself staring too long as well, because what kind of feet were these? They looked tiny and neat and absurdly soft, the kind of feet that should not be stepping on rough stone without anything under them. Compared to the feet of other beastwomen who had to walk hard paths every day, Lin Huahua’s were simply...
Beautiful.
Very beautiful.
How come they were suddenly so beautiful.
Lin Huahua kept waiting for them to speak.
But they did not.
They just kept staring.
And staring.
And staring.
At first she was confused.
Then she got embarrassed.
Then, when Hu Baiyu still did not stop staring, she reached out and lightly knocked him on the head.
"Why are you staring at them?" Lin Huahua asked suspiciously. "Do you have a feet fetish?"
Both males finally looked up.
Mu Qingyi, being the first one to recover, answered honestly, "Your feet are so pretty."
Lin Huahua’s whole face turned a deep burning red that spread all the way to the tips of her white rat ears, and her fluffy tail gave a quick embarrassed flick that knocked against Hu Baiyu’s knee, because hearing such a big strong lion say something so soft and honest about her feet made her heart wobble in the silliest way, and she suddenly felt shy and happy and confused all at once.
Her ears folded back at once, her tail twitched sharply, and for one second she truly did not know whether she should laugh, scream, or sink into the earth and disappear forever.
What was wrong with these men?
Were they shameless?
How could they say something like that with such calm faces?
Mu Qingyi’s gentle eyes softened even more, a quiet warmth filling his chest because seeing his little female blush like that over something so simple made him want to protect her from every sharp stone in the world forever.
Lin Huahua sputtered in embarrassment for half a breath before forcing herself to say, "Focus on my leg."
Both males blinked.
Then looked down again.
Then Lin Huahua, who was still red, had to clarify in a wounded voice, "No, not like that. I mean the wound. I am in pain."
Only then did they snap out of it properly.
At once their attention returned to the blood and the bruised skin.
And then the real panic started.
Hu Baiyu’s face darkened immediately.
Before Lin Huahua could even ask what he was doing, the lion suddenly stepped back and transformed.
The change happened fast.
Too fast.
One second there was a huge shirtless lion beastman kneeling in front of her, and the next second there was a massive white lion standing there, his form so enormous that the world seemed to shrink around him.
Lin Huahua stopped breathing for a moment.
He was huge.
Not just large.
Huge.
At least three times the size of a normal lion, if not more, with a white mane and powerful shoulders that looked capable of crushing a grown beast under one paw. His blue eyes were still the same, but in that great animal body they looked even more intense, and the pressure of his three-striped power spread outward in a way that made the air feel heavier.
Lin Huahua’s mouth opened.
Then her eyes filled with fear.
Then, before she could stop it, she actually felt like crying.
Because this lion was too big.
Way too big.
He had already been huge in human form, but now this... this was terrifying.
Mu Qingyi noticed immediately.
The gentle deer beastman frowned the moment he saw her expression, because it was obvious that Lin Huahua was scared. Her little white rat ears had flattened, her tail had gone still, and her pale face looked shaken in a way that made his heart clench.