Next came ordinary beastmen. Normally they appeared human, but they could transform parts of their bodies into animal traits. Beastmen, whether male or female, were born warriors, so most served in the military.
The most common were sub-beastmen. They could not transform, but their bodies carried more or less some animal characteristics. Qi Jun’s closest younger sister, Qi Tian, for example, had an adorable pair of cat ears. In every other respect, they were just like ordinary people from Qi Jun’s era, except somewhat stronger and physically tougher. These people performed most everyday occupations.
Then there were pure humans like Qi Jun. They were a branch of humanity that still retained the most ancient, completely human form. Aside from what he already knew—that pure humans were few in number and many possessed extremely high intelligence—most pure humans, male or female, married into other families rather than taking spouses into their own. In the beast world, the completeness of one’s beast form determined strength and social standing. The genes of pure-human males were not as dominant as beastman genes, meaning they could not produce offspring as well adapted to survive in this world. As a result, the marital role of pure humans had gradually become an unwritten rule.
Beyond those groups was the most tragic category, beings who could still be called people because they possessed human intelligence and could speak human language, yet were permanently trapped in animal form. Such cases were extremely rare; among several hundred thousand people, there might not even be a single pure beast. Pure beasts had very short lives, reaching only about fifty years, unlike beastmen and pure humans, who could live two hundred years or even more than three hundred. Yet pure beasts also possessed a brief, glorious twenty-year prime during which their combat power was no weaker than the transformed animal form of a powerful beastman. So although everyone regarded them as the most pitiable beings in existence, they were not despised. Unfortunately, they were born infertile.
In the beast world, every human category used “male” and “female” to distinguish sex. “Man” and “woman” were terms found only in history classes, used to describe the sexes of ancient humans.
After learning all this, Qi Jun remained outwardly calm. Of course, that was only on the surface. Inside, his thoughts had already been blown into complete chaos. He had the distinct feeling that the world he had transmigrated into was not particularly safe. Marrying into someone else’s family and all that… sounded terribly troublesome!
Ever since his mother died, Qi Jun had always wanted a home of his own, and a child carrying his blood. But in his previous life, he had never had the ability—or perhaps the courage—to shoulder the pressure that came with a family. To him, family was sacred, a responsibility one had to bear for life. At his previous age and with his financial foundation, he had not yet been capable of achieving that dream. But in this life… did he really have no choice but to marry into someone else’s family? This was completely outside anything he had ever imagined.
At a little after six, someone knocked on the door. Without waiting for Qi Jun to answer, the door was pushed open. A pretty young girl came in, a pair of white cat ears on her head that made her look extremely cute. Qi Jun knew this was Qi Jun’s younger sister, Qi Tian. “Tiantian?”
Seeing that her second brother was awake, Qi Tian beamed. She lifted the plate and bags in her hands and hurried to Qi Jun’s bedside. “Second Brother, this is your dinner. The ointment is on your bedside cabinet—you saw it, right? Remember to change the medicine after you eat. For now, you’d better not leave your room. Dad, Mom, and Eldest Brother all look furious, and if they see you they’ll just yell at you again. Oh, and I secretly saved this meat for you. Teacher said injured people need to eat more natural food to recover faster, so you have to finish all of it!”
Seeing the little girl’s secretive expression, Qi Jun suddenly felt warmth spread through his chest. How long had it been since anyone cared about him like this? Granted, the person she cared about was not truly him. But he had already occupied this body, even taken over its memories. “All right. Second Brother will remember. I’ll definitely eat it. But Tiantian is still growing too, so you need to eat more natural food yourself.” Heaven knew what “natural food” actually meant. The original Qi Jun had very few memories related to food. All he had managed to understand was that food here fell into three categories.