Transmigrating to the BeastWorld,I Picked Up an Adorable BeastHusband!-Chapter 33: Paying respects

The touch of her hands seemed to act as a grounding wire for Weijie’s lightning-hot rage.

He stiffened, his chest heaving as he fought the urge to simply snap Deimos’s neck.

He looked down at Ningning, seeing the tears of genuine terror swimming in her eyes, and the fire in his own gaze flickered.

Slowly, agonizingly, Weijie loosened his grip. He didn’t just drop Deimos; he threw him.

The black-scaled man hit the dirt with a graceless thud, coughing and gasping for air, his dark scales dusty and dull.

"Get out." Weijie commanded, his voice trembling with the effort of restraint. He stepped back, wrapping an arm protectively around Ningning, shielding her body with his own. "Get out of my sight. If you are still within the boundaries of this tribe by sundown, I will not ask my father’s permission. I will hunt you down like the vermin you are."

Deimos pushed himself up onto his elbows, wiping a trail of dark blood from his lip. He looked at Weijie, then shifted his gaze to Ningning. There was no fear in his eyes, only a deep, unsettling curiosity.

"The little bird has sharp eyes." Deimos wheezed, his voice raspy from the crushed windpipe. He stood up slowly, brushing the dirt from his tunic with an eerie calm. "You’re lucky, Weijie. Most wouldn’t have noticed my venom until it was too late. But remember... a black type doesn’t need to hunt to win. We just wait for you to stumble."

Ayres stepped forward, his massive frame adding to the wall of muscle surrounding Ningning. "You heard him, black-skin. Move. Before I decide to check if your bones has the same crunch as dog bones."

Deimos chuckled, his throat rasp. He turned without another word, disappearing down the path, but the feeling of his gaze lingered on Ningning’s skin like a cold slime.

"You two, watch him from a distance. Make sure he’s far from our tribe." Weijie said, watching the two men leave.

The commotion didn’t end with his departure. Puka’s wails rose again, a reminder of the body still lying in the center of the clearing.

Numa looked older than Ningning had ever seen him, his shoulders hunched under the weight of the tragedy and the near-miss of a bloodbath.

"We must prepare Jaren." Numa said quietly, his voice hollow. "And tomorrow... tomorrow we find out what really happened at the stream. Because if it wasn’t the black-type, then there is something else in these mountains. Something that can kill a warrior like Jaren without leaving a mark of a struggle."

Weijie didn’t listen to the rest. He turned Ningning around, his hands gripping her shoulders with a strength that bordered on painful. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

He searched her face, his eyes searching for any sign that Deimos had touched her, even with a look.

"Are you hurt?" he demanded, his voice frantic. "Did he do anything? Why did you run toward him, Ningning? You could have been killed!"

Ningning shook her head, her breath finally coming in. "I didn’t run to him, I ran to you. He’s dangerous, if his nails had grazed you, you would have ended up like Jaren."

Weijie froze, his eyes widening. He looked back at the shadows where Deimos had vanished.

The realization of the narrow escape settled over him, followed by a surge of renewed protectiveness.

He pulled her into a crushing hug, burying his face in her hair.

He whispered, his heart thudding like a war drum against her ear. "I have you. I won’t let anyone, black-type or otherwise touch a hair on your head. I promise you, Ningning. I’ll be the better man. I’ll be the only man you ever need to fear for."

Ningning sighed. Patting his shoulder, though she found it a bit odd, Weijie recognised Deimos from the get go.

The golden hue of the late afternoon sun slanted through the mountain passes, bathing the settlement in an amber light that felt cruelly beautiful given the tragedy at hand.

The day was far from over, and the brightness of the sky only served to highlight the pallor of Jaren’s skin as the men prepared to move him.

"Doudou." Ningning whispered urgently in her mind, her eyes darting between the grieving Puka and the lifeless man.

"Is there any hope? Tell me he isn’t fully gone."

[Scanning... The neurotoxin is a localized paralyzant, Dumpling. His heart has slowed to a near-stop, mimicking death to bypass the body’s natural defenses. He’s in a state of suspended animation. He’s ’dead’ by primitive standards, but his brain is still flickering. There is a 50/50 chance with a High-Potency Universal Antitoxin.]

Ningning felt a surge of adrenaline. "Give it to me."

[Not so fast. This world’s laws are strict about ’miracles.’ To generate a Tier-4 medical item, you have to trade something of equal weight. The only thing you have that qualifies is your reward for Task 3: The Primitive Arsenal Codex and this is me giving you a discount, because the codex is only tier 1]

Ningning’s breath hitched. The Codex was her insurance policy. It contained the secrets to metallurgy, advanced bow strings, and fortifications that would make the Snake Tribe the masters of the mountains. To give it up was to remain vulnerable in a world that clearly wanted to kill her.

She looked at Puka, who was currently being pulled away from the body by two sympathetic women. Puka’s scream of "There is only one of you!" echoed against the canyon walls, raw and soul-shattering.

Ningning closed her eyes. "Take it, Doudou. A codex of weapons won’t help me sleep at night if I let a good man die when I could have saved him. Trade it."

[Understood. Processing trade request. Primitive Arsenal Codex: Revoked. Generating High-Potency Universal Antitoxin... Done. Check your inventory.]

A small, translucent vial filled with a shimmering silver liquid appeared in her mental grid. Ningning felt a weight lift, followed immediately by a new one: the challenge of administration.

Weijie was still hovering over her, his eyes scanning the treeline for any sign of Deimos’s return. The men were beginning to lift Jaren’s litter to move him to the "Resting Cave" where the dead were kept before the final rites.

"Weijie." Ningning said, her voice small but steady. "Can we go to him? To Jaren? I want to... I want to pay my respects properly."