Beastmen Attack

Hatching a dinosaur egg was an extremely difficult task. Neither Alex nor Emma had any experience with it, so they could only experiment as they set up an incubation room for the egg—a separate stone chamber kept at a constant temperature.

To ensure a successful hatching, Alex and Emma did not leave the cave for three straight months. They usually only moved around near the cave and never once set foot in the swamp.

After tremendous effort, the dinosaur egg finally hatched. Looking at the baby pterodactyl breaking out of its shell, Alex and Emma could not help embracing excitedly.

After a while, the two came back to their senses. Alex hurriedly pushed Emma out of his arms, then carefully picked up the baby pterodactyl, which had just opened its eyes, his face full of excitement.

Emma leaned over as well. Seeing the baby pterodactyl waddling around and sniffing everywhere, she quickly reminded him, "Give him something to eat. I think he’s hungry."

After a frantic rush, the baby pterodactyl finished its last bowl of meat soup and fell asleep in contentment. Alex and Emma, unable to resist their exhaustion any longer, drifted off drowsily as well.

For the past three months, neither of them had slept peacefully even once. Afraid that the incubation room might become too hot or too cold, they had gotten up every half hour to check on it. It had been utterly exhausting.

When the dawn light filtered through layers of leaves and shone into the cave, Alex woke up rubbing his eyes. He felt as if something were pressing on his chest. Looking down, he found that the baby pterodactyl had somehow climbed onto his chest and fallen asleep. Beneath the pterodactyl, Emma was lying on top of him too.

"No wonder it felt so heavy!" Alex carefully picked up the baby pterodactyl, lifted Emma’s head, and slowly pulled himself free, afraid of waking either of them.

But no matter how careful Alex was, he still disturbed Emma. She opened her bleary eyes, looked at Alex, and asked groggily, "Alex, you’re awake?"

Seeing that Emma’s eyes were about to close again at any moment, Alex chuckled and nodded without saying anything.

Just as Alex expected, Emma nodded too, then lay back down on his chest and continued sleeping.

Looking at the sleeping girl and pterodactyl, Alex did not know whether to laugh or cry. "Fine, I’ll go back to sleep too!" Seeing that he could not get free anyway, Alex simply went back to sleep. There was nothing else to do, after all.

But just as Alex closed his eyes, the ground suddenly began to shake violently.

"An earthquake?!" Alex sprang to his feet. He did not even care about the baby pterodactyl and Emma on him, his face filled with terror. In his previous life, Alex had experienced China’s most terrifying earthquake, and earthquakes had always frightened him.

Emma was fully awake by then. She was nowhere near as panicked as Alex. Shaking her head, she said calmly, "It doesn’t feel like an earthquake. Let’s go outside and take a look!"

Alex also realized that the tremors beneath his feet did not feel like an earthquake, and his pounding heart settled. He followed Emma out of the cave.

The moment they saw the scene outside, Alex and Emma froze.

Towering dinosaurs charged through the dense jungle like speeding bulldozers, smashing through everything in their path. Nothing could stop them. Massive ancient trees that took several people to encircle were knocked down as easily as thin bamboo poles, their roots even torn out of the ground.

"Could this be the legendary beast tide?" Alex only closed his mouth after staring blankly for a long while. "Are the dinosaurs rioting?"

"No, those dinosaurs are mounts!" Emma’s expression became extremely serious. Her faint brows furrowed tightly as she pointed at the running dinosaurs and said in a dark tone, "Look. There are people standing on them."

"Mounts?" Alex looked at the dinosaurs in astonishment and indeed saw figures standing on their backs. "There really are Dragon Riders!"

"They’re beastmen—Forest Beastmen. They’ve come to attack the Swamp People!" In those brief moments, Emma had already used telepathy on a "Dragon Rider" and learned quite a bit. Her face turned deathly pale. "We have to leave immediately. If they find us, we’re finished."

Rather than being alarmed, Alex was delighted. An idea struck him, and he quickly asked, "Then can we take advantage of the chaos and sneak through the swamp?"

"Don’t even think about it!" Emma grabbed Alex’s hand. Ignoring everything in the cave, she turned and sprinted deeper into the forest, in the opposite direction from the advancing Forest Beastmen riding dinosaurs.

After following Emma for over an hour, Alex looked at her in confusion. "What exactly did you find out? Why are we running so fast?"

"The beastmen seem determined to wipe out the Swamp People this time. Not only have the Forest Beastmen who control dinosaurs joined in, but many beastman races such as the Pterodactyl-men and Ape-men are involved too." After running all the way, Emma’s face had turned bright red. She panted heavily and rested for a while before continuing, "The swamp is now surrounded by beastmen. If we keep staying there, we’ll be discovered sooner or later."

"Weren’t they getting along just fine before?" Alex was even more puzzled. He teased the baby pterodactyl in his arms with one hand and looked up at Emma. "A small fight every three days and a big one every five—wasn’t that fine? Why did things suddenly get so serious?"

"I don’t know." Emma frowned and shook her head, equally bewildered. "I tried sensing several people, but they didn’t know either. It seemed like they had come to attack the Swamp People in a daze."

Alex’s expression turned serious as well. He looked back and said strangely, "They may be uncivilized savages, but they still possess basic survival instincts. They wouldn’t come to war with the Swamp People for no reason, much less cause such a huge commotion. Something is definitely strange."

"Should I go take another look?" Emma also felt that something must be hidden behind this and was eager to investigate.

Alex stopped Emma as she was about to leave and handed the baby pterodactyl in his arms to her. "Take care of him. I’ll go."

"You don’t have telepathy. It would be more convenient for me to go." Emma did not take the baby pterodactyl. She looked up at Alex and said solemnly.

"With your little skills, going there would just be throwing your life away. I should go!" Alex pointed at Emma’s thin arms and legs, mocking her without mercy. "Besides, scouting for information doesn’t necessarily require telepathy. Stay here and wait for my good news!" Alex shoved the baby pterodactyl into Emma’s hands again, giving her no chance to refuse, then vanished into the trees after a few leaps.

Watching Alex’s retreating figure disappear, Emma gradually became dazed. She stroked the baby pterodactyl’s smooth skin with both hands and murmured, "Little pterodactyl, do you think he’s worried about me?"

The baby pterodactyl gently nibbled at Emma’s finger, happily playing.

Emma answered her own question and continued, "He cares about me. I can’t hold him back. From now on, I’ll learn hand-to-hand combat from him too, starting today!"