Transmigrating to the BeastWorld,I Picked Up an Adorable BeastHusband!-Chapter 58: Feeling unusually tired

[That’s the spirit!] Doudou cheered. [Exploit the labor while the labor is still conscious!]

Weijie approached her, draped in a sturdy leather harness he used for hauling large game.

He scooped her up effortlessly, settling her onto his back. Even through the furs,

Ningning could feel the radiating heat of his body. It was intoxicating, but now it felt like a countdown.

"We go to the white stones." Weijie announced, stepping out of the cave.

The sunlight hit Ningning’s face, and she squinted.

The tribe clearing was bustling. She saw Nala and Puka near the communal fire, and for a moment, she felt a pang of guilt.

They were all laughing, oblivious to the fact that they were about to enter a five-month coma.

"I can’t save the whole tribe." she realized with a cold shiver. "I can only save my myself. I’m sure they have other plans for their winters. I’m the newcomer here."

As Weijie began the trek toward the East, his long, powerful strides covering the rocky terrain with ease, Ningning looked down at the valley.

The trees were a riot of orange and deep red. It was beautiful, but to her eyes now, it looked like a dying world.

"Weijie." she whispered into his ear, her melodic voice making him shiver.

"Yes, moon-light?"

"Don’t stop at the creek. If you see any heavy-bellied deer or those large, fatty boars... kill them. Bring them all back. I want to start the ’wedding feast’ again, just for us. In our cave."

Weijie’s ears perked up.

A private feast?

More time alone with his mate?

"I will bring you a mountain of meat, Ningning. You will be the fattest, happiest female in the Snake Tribe."

Ningning leaned her head against his neck, closing her eyes.

Not fat, Weijie. Just alive.

[Salt deposit ahead.] Doudou alerted.

[Three hundred yards. Get ready, Dumpling. The real work starts now.]

While Weijie set her down on a flat, sun-warmed rock, Ningning didn’t waste a second.

Her body still felt like it had been through a centrifuge, but the ticking clock in her head was louder than the throb in her joints.

The creek bed was a graveyard of bleached stones and cracked earth, but in the depressions where the water had lingered longest, a thick, sparkling crust of white crystals had formed.

"Dig here." she commanded, pointing to the darker, damp earth beneath the salt crust. "Don’t just take the top. I want the heavy mud from underneath. Bring up the dark earth that tastes like the white stones."

Weijie looked at her with a mix of confusion and amusement. To him, she was asking for mud and rocks, but he was still in the "honeymoon" phase where he would have climbed the highest peak just to bring her a specific cloud if she asked.

"As you wish, my wife," he rumbled. He knelt in the dirt, his powerful hands, calloused from years of gripping spears and scaling cliffs acting like shovels.

He began to heave up large, heavy clumps of mineral-rich, saline mud, piling them onto the leather hide he had spread out.

While he did the heavy labor, Ningning moved slowly on her hands and knees. She couldn’t stand for long, but she could crawl.

She focused on the surface, meticulously scraping the purest, clearest salt crystals into a smaller pouch.

This was the "table salt" the stuff she’d need for her own meals and for cleaning wounds.

The heavy mud Weijie was digging would be for the "Meat Vault." used to pack around the larger joints of protein to pull the moisture out and keep the rot at bay.

[Efficiency rating: 85%] Doudou chimed in. [He’s moved about fifty pounds of saline earth in twenty minutes. At this rate, we’ll have enough to cure a whole bison by sunset. Just keep him motivated, Dumpling. His heart rate is already starting to show the slightest dip in the shade. The false sense of warmth is fading faster than I thought.]

Ningning wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead, her fingers leaving a streak of white salt across her brow. She looked at Weijie.

He was working hard, his muscles rippling under his sweat-slicked skin, oblivious to the fact that he was essentially digging his own life-support system.

"You’re so strong, Weijie." she rasped, her new, melodic voice acting like a physical caress.

Weijie paused, a wide, prideful grin breaking across his face. He wiped his hands on his thighs and looked at the pile he’d created. "Is this enough? Or does my mate want the whole creek moved?"

"More." she whispered. "I want to fill the back of the cave. I want us to be safe when the wind turns cold."

Weijie raised a brow, she also knew the weather was changing?

By the time the sun began to dip behind the jagged peaks of the settlement, they had a massive haul.

Weijie had bundled the mineral-rich mud and crystals into two large, heavy-duty straw sacks. He slung them over his shoulders as if they weighed nothing, though Ningning knew it was at least a hundred and fifty pounds of dead weight.

As they headed back, the air took on a sudden, sharp bite.

The false sense of warmth was officially over.

[Temperature drop detected: 10 degrees in the last hour] Doudou warned. [The countdown just accelerated. We have fifteen days, Ningning. Maybe less.]

When they reached the cave, Ningning made Weijie stash the salt in the very back, near the coolest, driest corner. She watched him move, noting with a pang of dread that he seemed just a little slower than he had this morning.

He yawned, a deep, jaw-cracking stretch and rubbed his eyes.

"I am... unusually tired today." Weijie admitted, his voice sounding a bit more muffled than usual. "The sun must have drained me. Or the cold is coming faster than expected.."

"Then sleep." Ningning said, guiding him toward the bedding.

Tomorrow they’d have to gather meat and tubers, she had two weeks to prepare herself.

She stared at Weijie who had gotten into the bedding.

It wasn’t even that cold yet but Weijie was already feeling lethargic.

"Let’s go to sleep."