A Guide to Raising Your Natural Enemy Chapter 9

Unedited chapter
9. The Skimpy Grass Skirt
The huge snake that had taken possession of his "living room" was sleeping, thus there was no snake in this cave. He totally didn’t need to be afraid.
Shu Shu dug around the cave mouth to make it wider. Looking down, he immediately pouted in disappointment.
This place was indeed... terrible.
Shu Shu’s cave had been dug up little by little. He had lived in the wild as a hamster for a few hundred years, and it had given him ample experience in digging a hole. Naturally, his digging skill was very good. Even if it was after the rain, his cave wouldn’t be damp. But this place….
This place should be a small crack that originally existed on this small mountain, and the snake had been using it for its nest. Beneath this kind of small crack that had been existing for years, there would certainly be water seepage. Or maybe because of the seepage, the crack had been eroded by water. Naturally, it was very damp here.
The damp environment would produce bacteria, and it would also nourish so many organisms.... The smell here was not so good. There were mosses growing on the cave’s walls; centipedes and some small bugs were crawling up and down on the other sides.... The snake could actually live in this kind of place?
Shu Shu crawled out of the cave mouth. Swaying on his feet, his claws were already stiff from digging the whole night. He looked around with disgust across his whole face.
He suddenly felt a little sympathy for the huge snake. Although the snake was very strong, but he could only live in a place like this. It still couldn’t compare with him!
The small crack where the huge snake lived was much smaller than Shu Shu's living room; he had to bend his waist to walk inside it. He had just walked a few steps when he saw some snake scales.
Seeing the snake’s scales, Shu Shu once again felt his scalp go numb. Recalling that the huge snake was not here, he breathed in relief.
Talk about snake—for small rodents that lived in the wild, snake was absolutely the scariest animal. Small rodents’ fear of snake was inherently engraved in their bones.... In contrast, Shu Shu was actually not so afraid of cat. Firstly, he actually hadn’t met any cat during those years in the wild; it had been owls that had eyed him instead. Secondly..., his successive owners had also kept a cat or two inside the house. Those cats had only eaten cat food at all times. Although they had been interested in him and had always come round to swat his cage, but he reckoned that they had just wanted to toy with him instead of wanting to eat him.
He definitely wasn’t that afraid of cat, but he also didn’t liked it in the least. What had happened during the day yesterday annoyed him even more because, in comparison with a cat, a tiger particularly looked like a cat.
He decided to hate tigers from now on.
Feeling aggrieved, Shu Shu ruthlessly stepped on the scales left by the huge snake. As a result, he hurt his feet.... Shu Shu lifted one of his feet and found a long cut caused by the scales on his sole.
Human’s body was indeed very weak. If he had known before, he would not have run around on the sharp stone floor and had his feet cut open by the stone.
Shu Shu had a mind to lick his own feet, but when he saw the dirty floor, he couldn't bring himself to do it. He could only give up this plan. At this moment, he suddenly discovered a pretty stone that was incompatible with the environment here.
This kind of glossy stone obviously could only be found by the brook that flowed into the small lake. To be able to appear here, it was definitely the snake that had specifically obtained it. And the snake had managed to bring back a block of stone like this.... Shu Shu observed the stone’s position, and right away he knew that this stone had been brought mostly to be used as a cover.

Shu Shu removed that block of stone, and sure enough, he saw a small hole behind the stone. The hole was not big, and it looked taken care of, very clean. It seemed that there’s something put inside.
Did the huge snake hide some food here? Or did he hide some treasures?
Shu Shu gazed inward, just a glimpse, and he suddenly felt that there’s something wrong.
Laid out inside the small hole, was it the first grass skirt he had woven?
Before changing into a human, he had never woven a grass skirt. At that time, in order to weave the grass skirt properly, he had genuinely spent a lot of efforts. He had repeatedly torn apart and re-weaved the skirt correctly. In the end, he had eventually produced a grass skirt that had met his approval. Unfortunately, the first time he had met the huge snake, the skirt had been lost.
He had painstakingly weaved the grass skirt; the huge snake had picked it up but then hadn’t even returned it to him. In addition, it was used to pad out the small hole!
Shu Shu took out his grass skirt and had no time at all to take care of those odds and ends that were placed on top of the grass skirt. He had always felt a bit ashamed and uneasy toward the huge snake before. Now he felt that he finally got something on the huge snake. Instead of feeling guilty, he was feeling immensely proud of himself.
Edgar had just arrived at his cave mouth and happened to see the little sub-beastman with the grass skirt he had brought back. The little sub-beastman looked proud of himself, while the whole snake was stiff.
He himself didn't even know why at that time he had brought the grass skirt back. It hadn’t meant anything, just bringing something home, that’s all. Unexpectedly, he was caught by the little sub-beastman in the end!
Edgar stared blankly at the little sub-beastman. For a moment, he simply didn't know what he should do. At the same time, he extremely regretted running back here.
Today he had woken up inside Shu Shu's cave at dawn. Unfortunately, he hadn’t caught sight of the little sub-beastman. Then he had realized that his body had felt much better after a night of rest.
Last night was definitely a night when he had slept the most comfortably these days. It was important to know that although his body was a snake, but it was not a water snake. In fact, he didn’t like damp, gloomy, and cold environment at all.... So he had planned to return to his cave, take his stuffs, and bring them to the little sub-beastman’s place. Afterwards, he would live in the little sub-beastman’s place.
In the end.... The little sub-beastman whom he had not seen before was actually in his cave. Even more, he had rummaged through the little hole he used to store things!
What would the little sub-beastman think of him?
Having grown this old, it was the first time Edgar had an urge to dig a hole on the floor and hide inside it.
Of course, he didn’t have hands and feet now, so there was nothing he could do.... In the end, Edgar could only continue staring at Shu Shu’s rigid body.
Shu Shu was being stared at by Edgar. The previous feel of being proud of himself had already disappeared thoroughly, and his mind was getting chaotic.... This snake was so scary, ah!
"I didn't do it deliberately.... I really didn't do it deliberately.... I'm sorry...." Shu Shu unconsciously started to apologize. He saw that the huge snake was still staring at him with its icy cold eyes even after he had apologized. He was practically crying, and his body unconsciously shivered.

Throwing away the grass skirt on his hand at lightning speed, Shu Shu suddenly leaped and then fled into the hole he had dug out.
Edgar was totally having a guilty conscience. He couldn't bear to remain silent after watching the whole act.
The little sub-beastman’s action of leaving things behind and running away made him want to laugh, but he very quickly sobered up, and the laugh didn’t come out. To compare, when the little sub-beastman saw him, the little guy got so scared to the point of running away. Whereas he even wished for the little sub-beastman to have the power to point at his nose and reprimand him and scold him....
His appearance now was that of a snake, though. The little sub-beastman was no doubt afraid of him; it was impossible that the little guy had the courage to point at his nose and scold him.
Thinking of this, Edgar immediately lost his spirit.
The little sub-beastman had already bore a hole; Edgar stared towards a certain cave for a while and suddenly felt that he had done something undue.
He obviously knew that the little sub-beastman was very afraid of him, but he had still gone to the little sub-beastman’s home, to the extent that the little sub-beastman had gotten so scared that he had dug such a long tunnel that very night to fled from him....
Edgar tried to find a place to rest his coiled body. The body that had clearly improved before seemed to get worse than yesterday.... At this moment, he suddenly smelled blood.
There was the smell of the little sub-beastman’s blood in his cave. Was the little sub-beastman wounded?
Edgar immediately began to worry. He turned round and left the cave to look for some medicinal herbs. Then he would go to the little sub-beastman’s cave.
Meanwhile, Shu Shu had already run back to his bedroom. He had been frightened since yesterday morning, and later he had also been busy for the whole afternoon. Pushing himself to the limit for a long time, now his spirit was weary and his strength was exhausted. In the end, not only he had not been able to rest in the evening, but he had also spent the whole night digging a hole….
Earlier, he had been unable to endure, so he had pushed himself to keep going in spite of difficulties. Now he was nesting in his nest that was made of soft hays, he promptly felt exhausted from head to foot. He was so tired he couldn’t move and didn’t even want to move.
His hands ached so much, and so did his feet. If he had known earlier that changing into a human meant he would get this kind of body, he would not have changed into a human....
Shu Shu felt that his eyes were a little hot; it seemed that tears were flowing out of them. He was also in a daze, but he actually couldn’t open his eyes at all. He could not even lift his hands to wipe the tears on his face.
It's so cold, ah.... Hasn’t this second-rate owner prepared a warm cotton nest for him? Shu Shu's whole person was curled up into a ball. He didn’t realize that he had somewhat fallen ill.
Edgar brought back the medicinal herbs, but he didn't see the little sub-beastman, so he waited for quite a while in Shu Shu’s living room. He was about to leave when he suddenly heard the sound of the little sub-beastman moaning.
His heart skipping, Edgar took into consideration that he might scare the little sub-beastman if he went to him, but if he didn’t go, he would get very anxious. He quickly used his tail to pry open the stone blocking the doorway of the small hole where the little sub-beastman lived. That was when he discovered that the the little sub-beastman had a fever, and his fever was so high he was in a stupor.