Beauty and the Beasts

She was very confident in the beginning, but they had finished making it in so little time that one could say they finished it in one breath. She couldn’t believe it.

Parker was about to carry it over when Bai Qingqing suddenly thought of something and said, “Wait. We should put a bit of oil on the axle to make it smoother.”

The three of them headed to the waterhole once they were ready.

Bluepool entered the water, leaving behind a small hole that was immediately covered with another thin layer of ice. The ice broke when Bai Qingqing stepped on it.

She initially didn’t notice her animal skin boots getting wet.

“Bang—”

Curtis used his snake tail to break the entire layer of ice in the waterhole. The pieces of ice slowly sank into the water as a head of blue hair gradually rose to the surface.

Bluepool came up to the water with a splash and opened his mouth to breathe. “I just fell asleep. It was so suffocating that I could have died.”

His eyes then landed on a weirdly-shaped piece of wood. “Hm? What is this?” he asked.

“Something to help you breathe freely,” Bai Qingqing smiled and replied.

Parker had already placed two rocks near the waterhole and created another hole that would prevent the water wheel from rolling away when placed there.

Bluepool was forced to swim back and forth in the middle of the waterhole along with the movements of the water wheel. He looked at the water wheel, then at Bai Qingqing, who stood on the shore.

“Just what does this do?” Bluepool knocked on the bamboo water bucket, producing hollow sounds.

Bai Qingqing took a deep breath and pushed the water wheel.

“Splash—”

The sound of flowing water could immediately be heard coming from the waterhole. When the water bucket submerged in the water rose to the surface, it was filled to the brim. When it moved to the other side, water was poured out again.

The whole water wheel was wet as the direction of the water buckets hadn’t been adjusted properly, causing the current above to be unable to flow into the water bucket below.

Looks of confusion were written all over Curtis’s, Parker’s, and Bluepool’s faces.

So, what was this thing?

“Ah!” Bai Qingqing scratched her head in frustration. “There’s a small problem. Let me see.”

As she continued rotating the water wheel and observing it, she noticed that some water buckets poured water more accurately. She then got Parker to help her adjust the angle of the water buckets.

After a few experiments, water was finally able to properly rotate around the water wheel.

Bai Qingqing let out a small sigh of relief. After turning the water wheel one more time, she let go and pushed it aside.

“Splash—splash—splash—”

Bai Qingqing held her breath and held onto Parker’s hand tightly as the water wheel rotated.

“Your hands are cold.” Worried, Parker immediately rubbed her hand between his hands, then placed it near the water and breathed into them to warm them up.

As the water wheel slowed down, Bai Qingqing’s chest tightened, and she clenched her fist tightly, not even noticing that her hand wasn’t in Parker’s anymore.

The sound of wind in the air was heard, and one could still vaguely make out a tiger’s roar from afar.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew over, causing the water wheel to pick up speed and the sound of flowing water to become louder.

Bai Qingqing exclaimed in surprise, “Is it working?”

The cold wind was blowing unevenly. The water wheel would rotate quickly for a while, then immediately slow down, then pick up speed again after a moment. Sometimes, the water wheel continued rotating even when the air stagnated.

Bai Qingqing let out a deep sigh of relief. “It’s working!”