《Gentle Beast》 CH 1 No content CH 2 J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u did not take notice because just then, she felt pain in the sole of her foot. She removed her shoes and bowed her head to look at the bottom of her foot, finding two transparent blisters. Yesterday, she had traveled four or five hours along the rough forest floor, and now she felt the pain for it. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u sniffled a little, feeling wronged. J¨«-f¨´ (formal father) and J¨«-m¨´ (formal mother) had only one son and only her as a daughter. She held them tightly in her heart and loved them dearly, but now she was alone in some desolate mountain range, suffering in injury, and god knows with what else. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was sad for a while, then she mentally hit herself to be strong. She hastily dealt with the blisters on her feet and overturned her space to find a pair of white sneakers. She did not know which classmate had brought these, but when she tried them out, they were just the right size. They were also the perfect thing to continue her journey. - J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u had not gone far when she accidentally bowed her head and saw mottled bloodstains amidst the grass. The blood had dried into an ocher red color. The surroundings were becoming familiar to her, and she was beginning to feel a bad premonition. Sure enough, just ahead was a familiar tree with four digits engraved upon it. Beneath the tree, a small figure with roundish stripes quietly lay. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u could hear her heartbeat in her head. She had circled back to this place again. In the darkness of last night, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was unable to see her surroundings and trees there were unfamiliar, so she thought she had walked quite a distance. Scarcely did she know, then, that the tree she had spent the night in and this one marked with 1002 were only separated by a few dozen meters. Why did she always return to this place? Why couldn''t she leave? Along with her panic, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u felt even more puzzled. The ancient TV dramas frequently showed an identical environment, but the matter of choosing the wrong path was made right away, and every step out concealed in mystery. Was it possible that she was now also in some sort of maze? "Wululu," a small voice whimpered and grumbled, pulling J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u back to consciousness. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u followed the sound and found him buried under the leaves, lying motionless on the ground, and on his last gasp. From the depths of his throat, a moan spilled over his vocal cords. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u walked over to him and slowly pushed the leaves from the leopard''s body to see the condition of the injury. Yesterday, she had peered from a distance away and now she could see the flesh around the would was festering with pus, and the blood was congealing in the leopard''s fur. There were even bugs crawling around inside. Wasn''t this little one still able to walk yesterday? How did he become like this today? When J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u accidentally touched the wound, a deep rumble emerged from the cub''s throat, and he lifted his eyelids to stare fixedly at her with deep blue eyes. His gaze could not be considered friendly, most likely the instinctual suspicion and guard of a dying animal . If he was not so seriously injured, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was convinced he would pounce up to claw at her face. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was powerless to defend herself this time, and she had originally not wanted to save him. God knows where his parents were, why or how he had gotten injured, and how he had appeared here. How much trouble would this implicate her with in the future? But, she hugged the leopard''s small body to her chest, and she changed her mind again. He was so small. Not yet even the size of her American short hair. She could save this little one, right? J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u carried the cub to the stream and squatted at its edge. Using one hand to hold the leopard''s forelimbs in place, and the other cupping a handful of water, she gently washed out the wound. The wound was deep, unlikely from any trap or weapon, but like the leopard had gotten caught by a beast. Was it possible that a beast separated the cub from his parents and he escaped on his own? J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u cleaned the baby leopard''s wounds well, then set the cub on clean grass. Digging around in her backpack, she began to take out the medicine kit from her space to treat the leopard''s hind leg, but at that moment, the distant howl of a wolf suddenly echoed through the forest. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s every movement stalled. The leopard opened his eyes, a meaningfully heavy look within them, and soon afterward, his body also quickly stood on guard. At first, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u thought she had heard it wrong, but the cry soon sounded again, only this time, it was much closer. Listening closely, it sounded as if there was more than one wolf. She had heard that wolves were social animals, and from the rise and fall of the howl, there ought to be a pack of wolves. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u snatched her backpack tight and stood up, wanting to run. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u had expected to meet a ferocious beast, but she had not expected it to happen so fast. She was still a stranger in a strange land when it came to these woods, and she had no place to hide. Plus, she had been lost in the forest for a while, so she hurriedly pulled at her bag''s zipper. Something fell from her backpack and onto the ground. She picked it up to take a look, and it was a round compass. The top was marked with the four directions "N, S, W, E", and it was of a superior quality. Before her departure, J¨«-f¨´ (formal father) had worried about J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u getting lost in the mountains, so he stuffed this into her bag in case of emergency. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u had not taken it to heart then, and afterwards forgot about it altogether. Now, however, her eyes were shining bright, she needed it more than anything else. With the compass to set her direction, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u slung her bag onto her shoulder and looked down at the ground where the tiny leopard still lay on his stomach, both calm and not moving. He was also looking at her, the pupils of his eye serene and composed, neither hiding or dodging from her gaze. Deep blue eyes flashed with an obscure light. Oddly enough, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u thought to herself, had she actually seen human emotion in the eyes of a leopard? Had he taken pity on her just now? "Awoo¡ª¡ª" The wolf''s howl was already close. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u ground her teeth, then after not much thought, advanced to hold the little leopard in her embrace as she began to run alongside the stream. - Changing to sneakers sure enough made running so much easier. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u split her attention between cautiously avoiding the leopard''s wound and closely following her compass. With the compass guiding her way, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u made it all the way south without a hitch. Not long after, she ran out of the forest and the howling of the wolves behind her slowly faded away. She bowed her head to glance at her watch and found she had unwittingly ran for two hours, much to her surprise. Now that the danger had passed, she felt extremely tired and gasped for air. Her legs softened, and she leaned on a tree as she slowly sat on the ground. Noticing her palms were sticky, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u spread out her hands to find them covered in blood. With horror in her heart, she hurried to examine the leopard. She had just ran very quickly, with many obstacles in her path and a very unsteady gait. The leopard''s already clotted wound had split open and was bleeding again. She could see the cub''s bone. He must have hurt but had unexpectedly remained silent from start to finish. "Are you going to die?" J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u murmured, extending a finger to gently press the leopard''s round ear. The cub''s ear moved, and he slowly opened his tearful blue eyes to meet hers. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u originally thought he might get angry and did not expect him to merely look at her for a moment then limply turn away. The leopard was probably in so much pain that even his strength was all gone, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u assumed. As they had escaped danger already, treating the would was the next priority. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u turned her body to cover the backpack and removed her medicine kit from the space. She opened the kit to look inside, and saw all the medicine was there. She had alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, antipyretic, hemostyptic, medical gauze and so on. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u raised cats at home so attending to them was not strange. But this was the first time she had to deal with such a deep injury. She steadied her hands and disinfected a silver knife with alcohol. Gently holding the hind limbs of the leopard, she carefully scraped away the festering, rotting flesh around it. The little leopard cried out in a whisper, and her hand shook. The leopard''s eyes flashed coldly and she blurted out, "Sorry, sorry, it was not on purpose." After she finished speaking, she realized he could not understand her, and she marveled at herself. Why did she apologize? Because his eyes were unhappy? Disposing of the rotten flesh, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u used sterile water to disinfect the wound and applied the hemostyptic. Then she picked up the gauze. She seriously wrapped the gauze around the little leopard''s hind leg several times. On the last loop, she tied a beautiful bow knot. All done. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u nodded with satisfaction and sighed. The leopard that had been standing steadily, abruptly moved forward and collapsed on the ground. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was gobsmacked, but she quickly picked him up. Once she touched his body, she noticed his temperature was abnormally high. Cats normally had a higher temperature than humans, roughly around 38 degrees, but it was obvious to the touch that this little leopard was much hotter than 38 degrees. Fever? J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u touched his ears and paws, and they were both very warm. He was already seriously injured yesterday and had spent the entire night in the wild. It was only to be expected that he was feverish. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u rummaged through the medicine kit to find a thermometer. A cat''s mouth could not hold the thermometer. Previously, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u had gauged their temperature by pushing it into the anus. She took the thermometer and laid the leopard flat on her legs, preparing to follow through. The thermometer only just touched its sphincter when the leopard cub probably guessed what she was going to do. She did not know where he found the strength to violently struggle in her arms. His fore paw suddenly swung down, and his blue eyes glared ferociously at her, glimmering with anger. CH 3 Uh. . . J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u held the thermometer, at a complete loss. Why did he react so badly? Did he not like it? But, before, when she took her American short hair''s temperature, it did not resist so badly, ah! She could not understand, so she approached again with the thermometer. This time, she had not even touched the leopard''s body when it quickly darted forward, turning to not exert any weight on his injured leg, and swiped at J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s hand, forcing the thermometer from her hand. CH 4 No content CH 5 No content CH 6 The full grown leopard had a muscular physic, and all four limbs were strong and especially pronounced. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was being crushed into the ground by the leopard called Rhode, and she was almost out of breath. . . . He was too heavy! Her chest tightened, and she subconsciously moved her arm but it was immediately caught by the other and fastened to the ground. The beastman''s gaze became vicious as he stared imploringly at her, demanding, "Where did you hide Ryan?" Unfortunately, the reindeer race had learned a di ttps://betwixtedtranslations.blogspot.com/2018/02/gentle-beast fferent form of language that was still close to the human race''s. During the evolution process, the leopard race developed certain differences in their imitation of the human language. In addition to the beastman''s very pressured tone, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u could only understand the word "Ryan", and she quickly answered, "I don''t know him." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was unable to make sense of what she was hearing, but Rhode listened to her language. He remained motionless, his eyebrow wrinkling, evidently pondering about the validity of J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s dialect. No matter what she said, she smelled of Ryan, therefore she must have seen Ryan. Rhode pulled back on her wrist with force, resting his other hand on her chest. His expression was particularly cruel, "Tell the truth." Even if the beasts had evolved into human form, they retained their sharp claws, and those were pressed against J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s stomach. If he used even a little bit of strength, he could gut her. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u felt her heart go cold. She looked up towards Eric in the cornfield, opening her mouth to cry, "Help. . ." She only spoke the word "help" before it was caught in her throat. Yesterday, Eric had also evaded the leopard race when they had meet. Despite the large size of the reindeer, their innate differences in race made them reduced to prey before the leopards. Was her asking Eric for help this time not tantamount to dragging him into danger? J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u ground her teeth. Even if she was killed, she was unwilling to do that. Her finger inadvertently touched the small bag at her waist, and she stilled as she suddenly remembered it. She pulled it off her waist without hesitation to observe the beastmen''s reaction. Rhodes stared at her with contempt, looking down at her condescendingly. The other beastman stood a few paces away, without any intention to help or to stop what was going on. She could only rescue herself. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u steeled herself and sucked in a deep breath. Holding the mint pouch tightly in her hand, she reached up and held it across Rhode''s nose¡ª¡ª Every time she coated her cat''s toys in catnip, it would become excited to the point of delirium. It would often hold it tight and rub and bite, rolling around. It was like a drug addiction. They were also cats, but would it work for leopards? The result disappointed her. "Stupid woman," Rhode leaned his head away from the catnip sachet, disdain coloring his tone, "Do you think we would leave such a weakness? Hundreds of years ago, cat mint no longer effects us." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u saw the the mint not only had no effect, but it only angered the beastman even further. Her heart thumped heavily in her chest. She knew that was not good. Rhode pressed his sharp claws against her belly, leaning down to get to the bottom of the matter, "Where is Ryan?" The claws tore through J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s baseball jacket with no difficulty. She had not brought too many clothes, so if he damaged them, she would no clothes to replace it later. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u struggled desperately. She could tell they were looking for a beastman called Ryan. "I really do not know. . ." Rhode frowned impatiently as the girl squirmed under his grip, claiming she didn''t know the whereabouts of Ryan. He decided to take her away. One hand gripping J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s wrist, the other her slender waist, he tossed her onto his shoulder without care for the fairer gender and said to Dole, the companion behind him, as he walked towards the forest, "Back to the race." Her stomach was held right on the beastman''s shoulders, and J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was in too much pain to even cry out. Eric said the leopard race was a cruel one, and they could not learn anything from her mouth. Were they taking her back to eat her? J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s soul was dead with despair. She was coming to accept her misfortunes as being decreed by fate, when suddenly beastman carrying her grunted in pain. It was accompanied by a damning curse, "What the hell was that?!" J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u did not understand how it happened, but the beastmen were suddenly thrown to the ground. She suffered the pain in silence and refused to rub at the aching regions of her body. Instead, she quicly looked up and saw a small leopard sitting on Rhode''s shoulders, sharp teeth pierced mercilessly in his flesh. Rhode reached for the leopard cub and pulled him down from his shoulder, thinking to teach it a ruthless lesson. Dark blue eyes met his with an unfathomable ferocity, and he petrified, "Ry. . ." Ry, Ryan?! He was interrupted by the cub''s foot planting itself on his face. Rhode admired him and loosened his grip. The small leopard leaped out of his hand. Seeing the small leopard running toward her side, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u worried that the beastmen were looking for trouble and hurriedly stooped to hold him. When the two beastmen were still recovering, she turned and bolted. "Wait!. . . " Rhode and Dole wanted to catch up but had not taken even two steps when the leopard cub clutched to J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s chest poked its head out. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was only looking forward as she ran, so she did not see the little leopard''s eyes, the expression within powerful, threatening and conveying a command. Rhode and Dole were distracted for a moment and stopped, watching as J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u and the cub ran further and further away. * Finally fleeing to a safe place, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u lifted the cub in her arms and considered him with surprise, "How did you get here?" The little leopard''s throat rumbled with a whimper, then he continued in a softer voice, moving his hind legs. As expected, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s attention was drawn to see the gauze on his hind leg was blotched with blood. It must have been split open when he was fighting the two beastmen just now. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was grateful he had dashed on with no thought of his own safety, and she quickly set down her backpack and took the medicine kit from her space to disinfect the cut. Wrapping it up again, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was moved to ask, "You appeared to save me?" The little leopard hung his head to obstruct the view of his eyes. To J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u, this was equated a tacit approval. Of course, regardless of the reason, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u had already determined he confronted the beastmen to save her. "You provoked them, and they seem very difficult to deal with. Won''t they look for you?" J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was very worried about him standing in for her. The small leopard laid quietly in her arms as if there was no nothing to worry about at all. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u lightly whispered to the top of his head, "Where is your race? Is it far from here?" Then she set him on the ground, "You had better go back to your race. Your clansmen ought to be able to protect you should they come after you. I fear that I cannot protect you." The cub stood motionlessly and raised his head to stare silently at her with his dark eyes. After some time, he still refused to move. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u tilted her head askew, puzzled, "Why won''t you go?" He silently walked around to stand at her side. ? ? ? What situation was this? Did he not intend on going back to his race yet? J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u stood up and deliberately walked forward two steps. Right away, the leopard stood and followed after her, his injured leg staggering behind him. Where she went, he went. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u, at long last, asked, "You want to follow me?" He stopped beside her leg, agreeing by default. "But I am heading far east. The road might get dangerous and we may never come back. You still want to go with me?" The leopard finally had a little reaction, but he did not leave. Taking advantage of when J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u bent over, he exerted force on his uninjured hing leg and jumped into her arms. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was afraid he would fall and scrambled to catch him. "Okay," J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u said helplessly, slightly amused, "Since you want to follow, then follow. . ." She came to this world and he was the first animal she met. When she thought about it, perhaps it were fate? Thing this way, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u dropped her emotional burden and quickly acquired a pleasant attitude. She had originally intended to go alone, but now that the cub would be going, she had to rearrange her itinerary. . . . Actually, it did not matter. Nothing had been planned. The patriarch had only said that the turtle called Pat was on the easternmost part of the continent and that she would just have to go east. Remembering Barry, she was reminded of Eric. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u planned to leave after saying goodbye, but she had met the leopard race and disrupted her plans. She had to run away and she already stood at the foot of a mountain. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u looked toward the forest and decided not to say goodbye. She had no way to explain her race to him, or why she had to go east. Turning around, she walked a few steps and heard a call from behind¡ª¡ª "Wait a minute, ¨­u!" J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was astonished to turn around and see Eric running from afar, his huge antlers shaking with his footsteps. Her heart trembled in fear. Still not in front of J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u, Eric could not wait to ask, "I heard my grandfather say you were heading east to find your clan. Why didn''t you tell me your race was so far away?" J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u hesitated, "Oh, I did not want to be a bother. . ." Before J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u finished, Eric raised his head to smile brilliantly, "That doesn''t matter. I will take grandpa''s place at the Elk Village meeting. It is also in the east, if you don''t mind, we can go together." ". . ." Eric finished speaking just as he reached J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u and finally saw the leopard she was holding. The grey striped leopard stared at Eric, and his dark eyes flashed with the characteristic glint of a carnivorous race seeing prey. CH 7 No content CH 8 J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u checked his rear leg and found the gauze intact and with no signs of the wound reopening. She felt at ease and naturally scratched under his chin lightly, "Where did you go?" She thought the two leopard beastmen from earlier that day had come to cause trouble and took him away. Ryan did not speak and the dignity of the leopard race did not allow him to show a pleasant expression at having his chin scratched. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u saw his eyes were faint and thought he was unhappy, so she quickly took her hand away. She had almost forgotten. No matter how harmless this leopard looked, his nature was vicious. She was being too cocky. While J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was reflecting on her behavior, Ryan tilted sideways and faced the direction of the wood, baring his teeth in a low growl. Immediately, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u and Eric''s attention was attracted towards the forest and they searched through the darkness. Eric, holding a piece of firewood, took two steps forward and looked around but found nothing. Rhode and Dole had left right after receiving Ryan''s signal, so there was nothing out of the ordinary to be found. One human and one deer searched all around again. Having thought Ryan heard danger and ran outside, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u spoke to console him, "There is nothing here. Did you hear wrong? You should not worry, they will not find you here. Don''t be afraid." To not let a leopard be scared, Eric could not continue to listen. It was still far from early, so J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u checked her wristwatch. It was half past ten. This had to be the benefit of crossing worlds, being able to sleep early everyday. Once the sky was black, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u had nothing to do and could only close her eyes and go to sleep. She did not know if she had not had enough sleep before, but now J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u thought her skin and mental condition was significantly better than before she crossed over. To speak of her skin was nothing, these days she had only been washing with water but did not feel dry or greasy all day. As for her state of mind, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was previously only capable of taking things from her space through her backpack. This morning, though, she found she could take a piece of chocolate directly from the space. It was no longer limited to her small bag. This appeared to be related to her psychological state. She had slept very well last night and even woke up feeling refreshed in the morning. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u decided to try and get a good night''s sleep to see if there would be any new discoveries the next morning. However, after daybreak, there was no change and her space was still the same as the day before. This disappointed her a little. But at the same time, she began to speculate. Was it only after accumulating a certain amount of sleep time that her space would trigger "new abilities"? Eric had already picking wild fruits and fresh mushrooms from outside. He thought about J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u while expertly roasting the mushrooms. Eric took salt and pepper from home, and he sprinkled them on the mushrooms as they were coming off the fire, delicious and crisp. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u originally hadn''t known the baked mushrooms to be so delicious. For the time being, she forgot about the space and ate four or five in the space of a single breath. Eric smiled and said, "Later, I can give you roasted corn and eggplant which are delicious." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u thanked him and saw the leopard lying still at the side. Worried about him going hungry during the day, she put a baked mushroom on the ground before his shiny eyes and clearly stated, "Eat it. It''s delicious." Ryan opened his eyes and looked at the roasted mushroom on the ground, his expression lacking enthusiasm. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u thought he would not eat. However, he thought about it for awhile then exasperatingly slowly stood up and pulled the roasted mushroom in his mouth. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u immediately gave him another. The leopard''s expression wrinkled. He was not very interested, but he still ate them. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u discovered that it appeared in the new world, the leopards could not only eat meat but some roasted mushroom. She fed him a series of five and next to her, Eric was stunned. Since when could the leopard race be so docile and obedient? * After breakfast, they left the cave. It may have been due to the terrain being too low, but they walked all morning and J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u did not see a hint of the beastmen race. The only group they encountered was one of hedgehogs who were carrying supplies. The hedgehogs had not yet evolved into a human shape, and they had thick barbs on their backs pricked with nuts, mushrooms and insects that looked like food for winter. Noticing that J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was staring at them, the hedgehogs carried their things faster and soon hid in the bushes. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u tilted her head and looked around the trees then looked up at the sky overhead. It had only just become autumn, and they were already reserving the winter supplies? "¨­u, what are you looking at?" Eric couldn''t help but ask when he turned around and saw J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u still standing in place. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u, holding Ryan, hurried to catch up with him and asked, "Eric, can''t the hedgehogs take human form?" Eric walked while talking, "No, they. . ." He had hardly begun when his antlers suddenly got caught on a vine and he had to stop and devote himself to fighting them. "Not all animals can become humanoid. Some animals have this awareness and respect, and when they desire approaching humans, they will be bent in this direction to evolve. After all, despite humans going extinct, their brains were extraordinary. An animal needs not only a strong physique but also a brain that can think independently in order to survive on this continent." Unexpectedly, it was because of this kind of thing. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s eyes drooped down, not saying a word. Although it may different from the world where human beings lived hundreds of years ago, as she knew that there was no place in the 21st century called the Bornia* continent, but she still felt a bit sad. *I mistakenly removed the name of this a few chapters ago, when the Patriarch was talking to her, because it didn''t make sense in context, but I will go back and edit it in, because that is apparently the actual name of the continent here. This meant that she was the only human being on the entire continent. She had no race, there was no one else like her. "¨­u, can you help me?" Eric''s anxious voice interrupted J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s thoughts. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u looked up and did not know how but Eric''s antlers were tangled together with vines. His posture was strange, body twisted over, and his funny expression made J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u smile. She did not think about it much and took the Swiss Army knife from her pocket. She grabbed the vines, sharply swung the blade a few seconds, and pulled Eric out. The vines grew with barbed tips and when J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u did not watch, a barb was stabbed into her finger. Eric glanced at the knife in her hand and his desire to speak disappeared. Turning his line of sight, he caught sight of her fingertip overflowing with blood, and he said with chagrin, "Blame me, I ought to pay more attention when walking." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u shook her head, "It does not matter, it''s just a little cut." Probably because her parents were not at her side, when she came here, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u became a lot stronger. The last time, her forehead was injured and the soles of her feet hurt, but she was only sad for a little while. When she was at home, whenever her toes hit a table leg, and she wouldn''t be able to help crying out in pain. Thinking of home, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u became a little absentminded. She did not notice the changes in the leopard she held in her arms. The sweet scent of blood, so close in proximity, was a deadly temptation for a meat-eating animal, especially for one that hadn''t eaten raw meat for days. Ryan''s expression grew darker and darker, and he licked his teeth, trying to suppress his own nature. The girl''s blood was sweet and smelled different from the grass-fed animals. Clean and sweet, like the first nectar that he encountered as his throat was running dry. Ryan''s throat rolled. Afraid that he could not help himself, he jumped down from J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s arms without warning and went to the front. * "Where are you going?" J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u stepped forward to ask closely. However, just as she took a step, she felt something cold falling on her cheek. She was surprised for a moment and stopped, raising her hand to touch her cheek. There was a drop of water. It was raining? This was her first thought. However, looking up at the sky, the weather was clear and the clouds were calm. It did not look like it was going to rain. After a while, one after another, white specks fell from the sky and they were numerous. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u discovered it was snowing. Snowflakes fell on her back and before she could see clearly, they were melted. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u felt astonished. How could it be snowing? She did not feel the cold at all, and even if snow fell in autumn, there should of been a sign, shouldn''t there? Compared with J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s surprise, Eric''s face became very imposing. At the first snowflake, he climbed up a huge tree and looked into the distance, observing the reaction of lesser animals around them. Then he jumped down and told J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u, "The storm is coming. We need to find a place to hide quickly." In just five minutes, the snow was getting bigger and bigger, covering J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s cheeks and the traces of chill seeped into her skin. The temperature dropped suddenly. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u could not understand the situation but followed Eric from behind, "What''s going on? Isn''t it autumn, why is it snowing?" Eric walked forward while explaining, "After the snowstorm, it''s winter." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u: ". . ." Wasn''t it after winter began there would be a blizzard? What is this kind of argument about inverting the root and branch? She was full of doubts and wanted to ask what happened, but looking at Eric''s solemn face, she had to temporarily press down the question at hand. Near the jungle''s low lying terrain, there was no other race and it was hard to find a place to escape the snowstorm. Eric knew that if they did not find a safe place soon, they would be buried by the sudden blizzard. At this time, the races were ready for the winter well in advance. This time, he had left alone and completely forgot about it. Erc was annoyed at himself while walking to the pick of the mountain. Snowflakes were fluttering in the wind, confusing their line of sight. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u narrowed her eyes and held Ryan tightly behind Eric. About fifteen minutes later, the snow had paved a white layer on the ground. The wind was also growing bigger and bigger, and J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u almost could not keep a steady pace. Finally, Eric found a dark hole in one of the many trees. He went in first to explore the inside. The tree was ice cold and the leaves were dead and messy, unlike most bear''s signs of habitation. Eric called J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u to come inside, "We should stay here and wait for the snowstorm to stop." The wind whistled outside the tree and he had to speak in a loud voice. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was wearing only a thin baseball jacket and a vest underneath. It was not warm and her whole body was frozen stiff. She tensed her jaw and nodded in agreement. Eric looked around and there was nothing to make a fire except the leaves, "I will go out to get some dry firewood. I''m afraid the snow will last for several days, and we will freeze to death without fire. ¨­u, wait for me here, I will be back soon." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u did not try to be brave this time. Eric had warm fur and she only had a thin jacket. She had nothing to help him with and would actually only give him trouble. Eric walked into the wind and snow. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u, holding Ryan, shrunk in the corner. Despite the fact that most of the wind was blocked outside the tree, a small still curled in with the snow, making her shiver with cold. At this time, she refused to think about being found out to be human. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u removed blankets from her space and tightly wrapped herself and the little leopard up. Ryan was tightly wrapped up with J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u, but his dark blue eyes were looking out the entrance. Neither panicked like Eric nor dazed like J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u. One human and one leopard waited for about half an hour but did not see Eric coming back. Wind and snow raged outside, and she could not see the surrounding environment leaving only a vast expanse of white. Eric still did not come back in another half an hour. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u felt somewhat faint with worry. Where had he gone to look for dry firewood? What took him so long? Worried that Eric was in an accident, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u untied the blankets and covered Ryan''s body, then walked out of the cave. At the mouth of the cave, she discovered that the layer of snow outside had accumulated to almost past her calf. She was shocked. With so much snow, Eric wouldn''t be buried right? She was just about to go out to look and saw a shadow of a figure coming in the distance. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u could not see his face, only the stature of his body, and it was strong, rather similar to Eric. She thought Eric was back, and without waiting for the other party to approach, she immediately said, "Eric, how do you. . ." The words became caught in her mouth and she swallowed them back down. The other''s limbs were stout, and he was wearing a deerskin vest. His arms and chest were covered in hair. He had dark eyes and his mouth was protruding slightly outward. Once at the entrance of the cave, his huge body sealed the entire hole. This was not Eric, clearly a member of the brown bear race. CH 9 With the wind and snow blocked out, the temperature rose a little but J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u felt chills along her entire body. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s light of sight fell on the bear man''s deerskin vest and her heart contracted in her chest. Was it too late for her to lie down and pretend to be dead? J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u watched the brown bear attentively and, without a trace of retreat in her eyes, quickly analyzed the situation again. The only exit was blocked by the other, and she only had her knife in hand. Although she had a leopard with her, he was also underage. If the bear wanted to attack the two of them, they would have no chance at winning. Realizing this cruel reality, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s mood became even heavier. "That one. . ." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u attempted to converse with the other, but just as she opened her mouth, she saw him bend his huge body over and entered the cave as if it were uninhabited. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u hurriedly backed away until her back was stuck to the tree trunk to give him way. This tree was thick, looked about a hundred years old, and the cave was relatively wide. More than enough to accommodate J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u, Eric and the little leopard. Now that the bear was inside, the cave suddenly seemed a lot narrower. The bear beastman occupied almost half of the cave. When he sat down, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u and Ryan were crowded into the corner. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u recalled Eric''s words. This cave was desolate, and when they first came in, the temperature was very low and there were no signs of a living creature anywhere. She watched the bear beastman as he leaned half his body against the trunk, and he seemed unfamiliar here. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u felt a glimmer of hope. Since this was not his territory, perhaps they could communicate nicely? J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was just about to open her mouth, showing no signs of nerves, when the bear ordered in a low voice, "Get out." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u: ". . ." She knew he was a solitary animal. Especially when hibernating, he wouldn''t want someone around to disturb him even more. But this place was one they found first, couldn''t he see sense? J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u took a deep breath, lightening her voice as much as possible, and tried again, "The snow outside it very high, and there seems to be no other place to hide nearby. If you don''t mind, we can stay here for a while and wait for the snow to lighten up. . ." The brown bear turned black eyes towards J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u. She did not know if it was his natural disposition or whether he was dissatisfied with her words, but his face was expressionless. "A friend of mine went out to find firewood and will come back soon. With the fire, it will be a little warmer. You, you need it to keep warm. . ." Before J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u had finished, the beastman impatiently roared, exposing two rows of sharp teeth, "Get out." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u had one arm around the little leopard and the other clutching her backpack tightly, they were both shivering. Although terrified, she still did not listen to him. It was impossible to walk in the snow outside, and to go out right now was to throw away her life. She bit her lower lip and, seeing that the other wasn''t going to change his mind, braced herself to ask, "My friend is still out. Can''t we wait for him to come back? He will be back soon." Before he had a chance to reject, she hastened to push her knitted blanket in front of him, "Are you cold? I will give this to you, it''s warm." She tried to restrain her emotions, but the last words were trembling. The bear did not speak and looked down the length of the blanket once. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u then took out a box of Dove chocolate from her backpack, "You can eat this? It''s high in calorie and you won''t feel hungry if you eat it." The bear man still only looked at her and did not receive it. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u continued to struggle through, taking an assortment of things out one after the other, trying to curry favor with the other. When she got hold of the milk and beef jerky, her wrist was suddenly held down by a sharp claw. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u bowed her head to see the leopard was staring at her. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u quickly understood he was trying to stop her. . . . he was protecting his food? J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was forced to put the milk and jerky back, so she groped around for half a day until her fingertips touched a glass jar. Her heart was filled with delight, and she immediately pulled it out of her space, carefully pushing it towards the bear, "Do you. . . like honey?" The beastman looked at the glass jar, crystal clear and filled to the brim with honey. Even when it wasn''t open, he could smell the sweet scent inside. He did not refuse this time, and he pulled the honey into his range with a thick paw. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u saw him accept it and felt relief at last. Putting the rest of the things back into her bag, she sat quietly in the corner and was overcome with gratitude to the classmate that brought the honey. The bear beastman did not force them to get out again, and opened the honey jar with an inflexible hand. He dipped a finger into the honey and stuffed it in his mouth. Soon after eating the whole thing, he held the closed jar tightly in his arms and began to sleep. Since the female wanted to stay, let her stay. The snow would not stop for a while and, although he had just filled his stomach, he would get hungry again after some time. She could stay to be his food reserve. * The blizzard did not stop, and cold wind poured in occasionally. Eric was out for two whole hours and never came back. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u became increasingly more worried, fearing that he had encountered something unexpected. However, she had no way to go out this time. The entrance was blocked by the snowstorm, and it reached her knees. Even if she went out, there was no animal with legs strong enough to walk in the snow. The needle on her wrist watch passed six, and it got dark, but Eric still didn''t come back. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u fed the little leopard but had no appetite herself, so she did not eat. There was no fire in the cave and she couldn''t see through the darkness. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u turned on the flashlight and shown it on the bear lying silently opposite her. The bear looked as if he was asleep, his huge body lying on the ground but towering like a mountain. Had he begun hibernation after eating the honey? J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u did not date fall sleep, for fear of the bear waking suddenly. She and Ryan would be at the disadvantage then. She was also afraid of the situation outside, and she only sat in the sleeping bag, keeping vigil. However, since she came to this continent, she had developed the habit of going to bed early. Less than two hours later, the fight to keep her eyes open was lost and her head began to droop. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u pinched the space between thumb and forefinger and forced herself to wake up, but it had little effect, and her eyes slowly closed once more, sending her into sleep. In the wee hours of the morning, the cave was calm and the snow and wind outside had slightly lessened. In the darkness, the bear beastman slowly sat up and turned dark eyes to look at the girl in the corner, walking towards her. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was holding her backpack and lying on the ground, curled into a ball. Although the ground was covered in a blanket and she was wrapped in a sleeping back, it could not resist the nip in the air. The bear stopped in front of the girl and reached out, his large nails stretching in the girl''s direction¡ª¡ª Without warning, the leopard in the girl''s arms opened his eyes and his glowing pupils stared straight at him. The leopard race could see precisely, even in the dark. Ryan looked at the huge size of this body before him, unsure how much bigger this bear was, but his eyes were ferocious and did not shrink away, bearing a hint of warning. The bear''s hand stopped and slowly returned to his side after a while. Later that morning, the snowstorm was a bit lighter than the day before. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u lifted her head from the sleeping bag and looked around, for a while, to find out where she was. The space opposite her was empty, the hibernating bear was gone, and Eric still had not come back. The leopard lying on her pillow still had his eyes closed and was fast asleep. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u gingerly sat up, unconsciously searching around, looking for her bag. This had become her habit since coming here. As if that little backpack had become her dependency, the first thing she did when she woke up was to find her backpack. However, today, she came up empty. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u stared blankly, a bad feeling welling up in her heart. She looked inside and outside the cave but did not see any traces of her backpack. Her compass, flashlight, and cellphone were all inside the bag. CH 10 No content CH 11 The group''s voices continued. The beastmen''s tongues wagged spiritedly, filled with curiosity towards this strange backpack. However, it had be swapped for something and no one really wanted to. It was both unattractive and impractical, what to do with it? The backpack was being sold by a red fox and the asking price was two fish and three live chickens. Seeing people were indifferent to this price, the red fox lowered the asking price to a fish and two live chickens. Still, there were no beastman willing to exchange. "This looks useless." "Not as good as my own wicker basket. . ." "What''s inside? Is it a fire-making mirror?" A weasel beastman asked while pointing to the flashlight. The convex lens greatly resembled the mirror. The beastman selling it could not say. A brown bear had given the backpack in exchange for a jar of honey and ten potatoes. He saw this new and unique backpack and inside there were three things, the itch in his chest made him agree. He did not expect to lose goods. Still no one was willing to exchange for it, and the red fox had to reduce the price down to a fish and a live chicken. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was unable to hold back and became restless. If she had no fish or chicken in hand, she was not going to get her bag back. "Sorry, please, let it go." Eric squeezed in from behind, the huge antlers hitting the beastman next to him, and he hasted to apologize before turning to look at J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u, "¨­u, what are you doing?" J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u did not have the time to explain and directly asked, "Eric, do you know where to get a fish and a chicken?" Eric, although it was still hard to understand, still answered seriously, "Chickens are in the mountains behind Ferris village and there are fish in the river. I can go back and help you catch it if you need it." He glimpsed towards the backpack and his black, deer eyes went wide as he asked, "Hey? ¨­u, is this not yours. . ." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u immediately lifted her finger to rest against her lip and said quietly, "Hush." She did not want to attract the attention of the surrounding beastmans. If a fish and a live chicken could solve the problem, she would rather leave it alone. The beast world was far more complicated than she thought it was, and she didn''t want to get into any trouble. By this time, the backpack''s price had been reduced again from a fish and live chicken to just a live chicken. A couple of the crowd began to move, some even heading to home to get a chicken to swap. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u, afraid it was going to be snatched away, quickly raised her hand and said, "I, I want!" The red fox beastman looked at her, saw her empty hands and child-like appearance, and curled his lip, "What do you have you to exchange for it?" J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u bit her lower lip. If this was the 21st century, she would not hesitate to buy it back. But, this was a different world, there was no money in circulation and she could only exchange goods. Actually, there was a lot of ice-sealed seafood and chicken in her space, but here there were beastmen on the street and she could not take things out in front of them. They would certainly consider her a freak. Eric standing in for J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u, asked the red fox, "Can you save the bag for us while we get something to exchange for you?" The fox beastman looked at him. Even though Ferris was a peaceful village, but the carnivorous species always despised the grass-eaters and regarded them as the weaker party. So he did not take Eric''s words to heart and deliberately embarrassed them, "Well. When you come to get it, you bring five fish and give live chickens." Eric stared blankly and said with a sullen face, "That is an unfair deal." The red fox said with a smile, "This stuff is mine. It''s my say. You have me wait for you, yet don''t allow me to raise my price?" Eric clenched his teeth, indignant, but unable to respond. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u did not want to let Eric be embarrassed, she set the little leopard on the ground, and she looked around, ready to hide in an empty corner and take out the frozen chicken and fish to exchange. But, she hadn''t moved yet when a hand stretched before her and easily lifted up the backpack and said to the red fox, "I''ll take it." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was a little sluggish but she anxiously called out, "I wanted it first." The other looked down at her, this little female who had not even grown hair yet, and his mouth tilted askew, taking her words as jest, "You wanted it first? Now it''s mine." Then, from behind his companion, he took a fish and live chicken in hand and passed them over to the fox beastman, nails hooked in the backpack. The backpack''s zipper was open, and when it tilted, the flashlight inside slipped out. The new owner''s other hand reached out to catch it and he turned it over in his hands with curiosity. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u, mind pressing with anxiety, said without taking the time to think, "I can exchange something with you, can you give me this bag?" While she spoke, she looked up and saw the other''s appearance for the first time, stunned for a moment. This was the first time J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u say a beastman so close to a human''s appearance since crossing over. He had the correct facial features and the corners of the mouth rose up, and beside the black mark between his eyebrows, the appearance was almost identical to a human. If it wasn''t for his mouth revealing two sharp teeth, she would have almost thought he was of the same race as her. He groped along the flashlight for a long time then finally found the power switch. His thumb pressed against the side lightly and it slid up. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u saw his movement and her heart swelled in her throat. She was afraid the flashlight would turn on and a beam of light shin into the crowd. But, after waiting for a while, the flashlight was unresponsive. The beastman turned it up and down, looking at it carelessly. Only J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u knew what was going on. Since she came to this world, almost every night she had used the flashlight. Its battery life was limited and now it had run out of power, naturally it would not light up. But, in her space, there were several sets of batteries. The other seemed to have finally registered J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s words, and he tossed the flashlight into the bag, looking down at her. He raised the corner of his mouth in an unruffled smile, calmly asked, "And what can you exchange for it?" J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u pursed her lips, "What do you want?" He heard what she said and, after crossing over J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u, looked at Eric with undisguised hunger in his eyes, "Oh, is anything alright? Just now, I used food to exchange for it, how about you send your companion with us?" Eric''s face immediately went white. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u: ". . ." The other side had never intended to exchange for it, and had only said that to tease J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u. The beastman and his colleagues finished appreciating their panicked expressions, laughing, and he carried away J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s backpack. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u stared in the direction of their departure, still wondering about their race. She saw the short, fluffy tail behind them and heard their unconscious cry, and it was finally confirmed. "Woo¡ª¡ª" That first night she had come here, she heard the same sound¡ª¡ª A pack of wolves. * J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u hadn''t managed to get her bag back, so she felt a bit depressed. She couldn''t figure out what the wolf beastmen wanted with her backpack. They could not even use the flashlight, what use would it give them? Eric was unable to help, his nature made him instinctively afraid of all meat-eating species, and now he felt a little guilty. So he hurried to comfort, "¨­u, do not worry. We will go back and discuss it with Ruth. I will find a way to help you get it back." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u knew he meant well, but the other party was a pack of wolves. She didn''t want to let Eric take any risks, and she shook her head, gratefully responding, "Thank you, Eric, but I''ll find something to do about it." Eric asked how she lost the backpack and J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u recalled the brown bear she met last night. She told Eric about spending the night in the tree cave with the beastman and said, "I suppose he took it. When I woke up this morning, he was gone with my bag." Eric frowned for a while, then proposed, "¨­u, we are not good right now. How about we go back to Ruth''s place first? We''ll figure out what to do about your bag." Since she had no other suggestions, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u forcefully lifted her spirits, found Ryan and picked him up to follow Eric. Ryan leaned over J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s shoulder, his blue eyes still fixed on the direction the wolves had gone. No one noticed his cold, shining eyes. Ruth lived at the very far east side of the Ferris village. Most of the houses here were made of clay mud, and the roofs were made from layers of naturally cast-off tree bark, one stacked upon the other. Like Eric said, Ruth was a very gentle and friendly black bear. His skin was black, he had the height and strength of any bear beastman, but he was charmingly naive. He probably had very little contact with females, because when he say J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u, his cheeks blushed bright red. Fortunately his skin was black, so the blush was not obvious. Ruth had already prepared a room for J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u, which had a bed. Taking into account J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was female, he had also specially prepared a soft straw mattress. At the bedside, there a pile of firewood and the whole room was nice and warm. The room was a little shabby, but for J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u who was still sleeping in the trees last night, this was excellent condition. "Thank you, Ruth," J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u sincerely thanked. Ruth touched his head shyly, "You''re welcome." It was still early morning, and it was not yet time for lunch. Eric thought J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u did not sleep well last night in the cave, so did not say too much, and along with Ruth, left the room to let her rest for a while. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u did not sleep well last night, and her mind was slightly befuddled. But, when she laid in bed, her thoughts were very clear and there was very little drowsiness. Was there any chance of getting her backpack back? What would the wolf race do with her bag? If the found the compass inside, or the flashlight. Both were not things of this world, what would they do? The room was very warm, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u thought the surroundings were very comfortable, and she soon fell asleep. She slept extremely deeply and her sleeping posture was a little presumptuous. Body doubled over, she had the little leopard held in her arms. She took it to be her small pillow at home, and she hugged him tight to her chest, even rubbing her chin against his head gently and emitting a few barely audible mumbles. * Ryan had originally wanted to only wait for her to fall asleep and did not expect for her body pressure to pin him under her. The girl exuded a sweet fragrance and its overwhelming scent even took him by surprise and he was unprepared. Ryan struggled twice and lifted his claws to J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s fingers and twisted his body around. With his paw between her fingers, he finally escaped her shackles. He stood on all fours and remained beside her, watching the girl sleep. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u slept very heavily. As long as there was a bed, she was able to sleep very well. Long thick lashes covered her face, dropping two rows of fan-shaped shadows upon her cheeks, and her exquisite little nose shifted slightly with the open and close of her lips, emitting a pure, harmless scent. That was why the wolves did not take her seriously. Thinking of the wolf race''s proud complacency, Ryan''s eyes cooled quickly. Unlike the coming and going alone of the leopards, the wolf race were gregarious*. *Sociable, living in groups The wolves and the leopards could never agree, and a few days ago, the conflict between the two races intensified over the order to plunder a site. The wolves proliferated rapidly and the villages in which they lived could not accommodate the speed of their multiplication, so their young patriarch, Holden, got the idea to occupy one of the leopard''s valleys. Every time the wolves invaded, Ryan would beat them into a sorry state himself. The wolf race''s fighting ability was inferior to the leopards, but because they always flocked in groups, they dared to contend with the leopard clan. Several times, the wolves has not experienced a single advantage and even sacrificed a lot of clansmen. However, Holden did not concede defeat even once and, taking advantage of Ryan''s tendency to travel alone, designed a pitfall trap and besieged him with dozens of wolves. Ryan stood off against all of them on his own, his ferocious claws tearing their chests to shreds, his sharp teeth biting necks in two. In the end, Holden mounted a sneak attack from the back and Ryan sustained the injury on his hing leg. That was also when he came to look like this. Although Ryan guessed the change was unrelated to the wolves, he decided to go and look for himself just to be safe. Remembering this, Ryan turned and jumped off the edge of the bed. Blue eyes, deep and serene, once again looked back at the girl sleeping on the bed. The reindeer said they would take the boat tomorrow. That was to say, he only had to get back before tomorrow afternoon. * J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u woke up from her nap and glanced at her watch, seeing it was five thirty in the afternoon. Ruth and Eric were preparing dinner outside and it consisted of potatoes and carrot stew and fresh mushroom soup. The scent of potatoes woke J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s appetite. She had gone a long time without eating a decent meal. Although there were pots and a stove in the space, she did not dare to take them out. Eric saw her come out and said, "¨­u, you woke up. Dinner is ready, come and eat." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u nodded, looking around, and did not see that familiar little figure, so she asked, "Where''s my leopard?" Eric scratched his head and answered with another question, "It''s not in your room? I haven''t seen it." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u shook her head and returned to the house, looking again, but she still did not find head or tail of Ryan. "Did you see him go out?" J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u came back out and asked. Ruth put down a wooden spoon and said with hesitance, "At noon, I think I saw it go out. . . I thought it would just go play but it didn''t stop." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u rushed to ask, "Then did you see which direction he went?" Ruth pointed to a direction, "Over there. . ." He still hadn''t finished but J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u ran off. It had been fifteen minutes since she woke up. The sky was going to go dark soon, but she still had not found her little leopard. The darkness here was not the same as her world. The moonlight was thin, turning everything invisible in its pitch-blackness. Her little leopard ought to know that even better than she, and if something hadn''t happened, why hadn''t he come back yet? J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u followed the route Ruth had pointed out for her, searching all the way, but ten minutes passed and she still didn''t see him. Eric and Ruth followed her from behind. Eric would have liked to make a statement to persuade her against it, but seeing J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s eyes filled with worry, his words abruptly became: "I''ll help you look for it." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u couldn''t find her leopard, and her heart became more and more uneasy. Here, the carnivorous species mingled freely about and powerful beastmen could be found everywhere. Her leopard was only a juvenile and if he encountered a strong enemy, wouldn''t he suffer? J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u did not know from when she had feelings for it. But it was the first creature she had met in this world, and it was a small life she had personally saved. Even if he was dangerous, she still hoped he would be safe and sound. 5:57 P.M. Directly ahead, a female sheep was coming towards them, and J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u didn''t hold out any hope but she casually asked, "Have you seen a little leopard passing through here?" The other thought for a moment then pointed at a medium-sized ferry and said, "A little leopard with a flower pattern"? If I''m not mistaken, it seemed to follow a few wolves onto that ship." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was pleasantly surprised and quickly looked up towards the ferry. She saw the sheep beastman at the head of the ship was just lifting up the sailcloth and turning the rudder, the evening breeze slowly pushing it out of port and away from the riverbank. CH 12 Fortunately, the wooden was heavy but when pushed up there was no sound. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u successfully passed through the door, and inside there seemed to be everything on the ship, and the wide variety of things were piled up in a huge mess. Without the flashlight, it was difficult to see everything. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u groped along the stairs and accidentally stepped on something. It was soft, like a pile of clothing. Clothes? J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u felt pleased. What she needed most right now was dry clothes, so she quickly backed away half a step and hurriedly picked up a piece. Unfolding it, she twirled it in her slender hands, wondering how the clothes here and in the 21st century were different? However, when she figured out what this "clothes" was made of, her face changed she threw it out of her hands quickly. That was not clothes¡ª¡ªthat was a reindeer''s hide. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u had gotten along with Eric for a few days now, and she had come to understand the characteristics of the reindeer fur. It was thick, but light, and had very good thermal properties. The light of the moon shone into the cabin and she noticed that the fur had a distinctly white belly and neck, the exact same color distribution of Eric''s. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u looked up and searched all around. There was not only a pile of reindeer fur here, there was also a pile of sheepskin on a barrel to the left and several layers of suede to the right. This entire cabin was filled with the fur of herbivorous beastmen. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was unable to say anything about her frame of mind. In the 21st century, this kind of behavior was normal, and animal fur was sold almost everywhere. She didn''t have the qualifications to offer her opinion on the matter. Yet, when she crossed over and met Eric, she met many of the beastmen that had evolved from those animals, and now it was a bit uncomfortable to see these fur pelts. She finally hit the nail on the head and understood the different between Eric''s herbivorous type species and the carnivorous. The law of the jungle: the weak are prey to the strong. This was the law of survival in this world. * J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u took off her wet clothes and took a set of clean clothes from her space. There was a chiffon long-sleeved shirt, a short denim jacket, and she had originally found a floral skirt but J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u feared it to be too inconvenient. It was too cold here. Looking through the space again, she found a pair of white trousers and immediately put them on. It was impossible to wear the windbreaker again. She had forgotten to take it off when she dove into the water and now it was soaping wet. She was forced to return it, and the clothes she had swapped out, back into the space. Although the flow of time in her space was very slow, the flow of wind was normal and in just about two to three days, her clothes would be able to dry out. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u managed to exchange them for good clothes though, and soon her mind was turned back to the situation at hand. Before boarding the boat, she had seen dozens of wolves standing onboard and there was no other race. This ought to be a wolf only ferry. She wondered. Was the wolf that had taken her backpack today on this boat? If he was, she also needed to find her backpack as soon as possible. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s head began to hurt. Not to mention the number of her opponents and their generally stronger physique. How was she going to deal with them? All the blame could be put on that little leopard of hers. He just had to go looking for trouble. Where the hell was he? Why did he follow the wolves onto this ship? J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u planned to find somewhere else. There were so many herbivorous pelts here and she could not stand it anymore. However, just under the stairs leading to the door of the cabin, she heard footsteps approaching followed by a voice¡ª¡ª "Why is the cabin door unlocked?" The voice was a little hoarse and arrogant, though it sounded slightly familiar. Another voice sounded out, though it was a little ill at ease: "Patriarch, we took some wine at night, you know, accidentally. . ." That familiar, arrogant voice did not speak, and she listened to the latter issue a muffled hum, followed by the sound of something hitting the floor. Holden retracted his feet and did not look at the hapless fool he had kicked to the ground. He stuck a sharp claw in the door and pushed it open. * J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s heart stopped beating for a moment. She finally remembered the voice. It was the beastman that had strode away with her backpack earlier that day. Patriarch? It was too late to think about this issue. The other person had already opened the door and heavy boots stepped on the wooden stairs, issuing a heavy clunk with each step. They rapidly entered the cabin. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u held her breath, hands covering her nose and mouth, for fear of letting out even the slightest breath. She hid behind a stack of wooden barrels, piled under thick antelope skins. On the rear cabin wall, there was a door to the left and she did not know where it accessed. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u tried to gently push the door open but it was locked and simply would not move. She was discouraged, but through the gab between the barrels, she observed the situation outside. The wolf was holding a lamb, the flames burning bright, and the illumination brought the appearance of the two into light. One had proper facial features and a mark between his black eyebrows, this was the one she had seen today. The other was of the same type as the one at the helm, wide mouth, long ears, and the general appearance of the wolf beastmen. Their conversation still went on. The human-like wolf asked, "Enough fur?" The ordinary one answered, "Enough, patriarch. From the reindeer, antelope and red seude, we have fifty of each. It should be enough for the females this year to survive winter." Holden nodded and was satisfied, "The rest of the things in the observation room is left to you." The beastman was incredibly happy and smiled. They had been on board for two months and were staying in the peaceful village for more than a month. They had been without meat for three months and long coveted it. After a while, the ordinary wolf remembered something, "That. . . patriarch, the leopard in the observation room, how to deal with it?" Holden tilted his mouth into a sneer and touched his chin, "Close him up in there. I''ll handle him myself." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u, hidden behind the antelope skin, heard what was said and stared blankly. The leopard in their hands, could it be the little one she had lost? Had he been caught by them? J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s state of mind fluctuated, but she did not dare take any action and just looked on, hoping these two beastmen would quickly leave. For a while, they counted the skins in the cabin and were finally preparing to leave. Holden''s heavy boots stepped on the stairs, pushing the wooden doors of the cabin open, na dhe had one foot already outside. But he suddenly stopped. He frowned slightly, turning to look back into the cabin. His dark green eyes narrowed and he slowly surveyed everything inside. "Do you smell anything?" He asked his subordinate. The subordinate obediently lifted his nose to sniff but asked, puzzled, "What smell, Patriarch? I don''t smell anything." Holden did not speak for a while, then raised a claw to his nose and licked the corner of his mouth to say¡ª¡ª "Female. The scent of estrus." CH 13 No content CH 14 No content CH 15 No content CH 16 No content CH 17 No content CH 18 * Because of the darkness outside, the dinner was eaten inside J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s house. It was a meal to end all thoughts. Eric would, from time to time, look to J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s side where the leopard laid, with his expressionless face, and if the cub did anything at all, he would immediately stand and tightly guard J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u behind him. Just like the first time he saw the leopard cub. And if Eric tried to say anything to J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u in a whisper, the leopard would immediately dart to Eric''s side and unsheathe his claws as a threat. Thus, Eric, with his blood-stained face, sullenly finished dinner. Afterwards, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u took the initiative to clean up the dishes and the chopsticks. Eric did not stay long and was preparing to leave. But before departing, he looked profoundly into J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s eyes then the little leopard''s, and though he wanted to say something, ended up leaving without saying a word. Sending Eric off, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u pointed at the leopard''s head and said, "T¨¢o T¨¢o, how can you be so mean to Eric?" "T¨¢o T¨¢o" was shouted out. Ryan was too lazy to lift his eyelids, and he refused to recognize this stupid name. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u also hadn''t expected to see his hind leg''s bandages were shredded apart. And though she didn''t know how he had done it, she moved aside the wooden bench by the fireplace and carefully reapplied the bandage. The burning fire in the fireplace made the room warm and serene. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u wrapped the bandage around to one side and warned, "You''re still injured and now you''re hurt again. Even when it gets better, you might be left with sequelae*. It''s winter now and Eric said there''s going to be a blizzard in a few days. We should stay here for a while. Take advantage of the time and let this wound heal. Ryan did not respond, and he was thinking about something else. Why did he return to this size so soon after reaching his original shape? What did this have to do with J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s "space"? After his wound was dressed, Ryan laid on J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s legs and patted the back of her hand with his paw pads, tilting his head to stare at her. Trying to enter her space again To no avail, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u did not know what was in Ryan''s heart and only say him acting spoiled, like a cat treating its own family, so she scratched under his head, "Well, you lie here. I need to go out for a while, I''ll be back soon." Eric''s face was full of bloody scratches. There shouldn''t be any rabies virus here, but it would be better to make sure. But when J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u found Eric, he was already asleep so she had to give up. * Early the next morning, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u woke from her sleep. The leopard was lying on the table next to the fireplace with his eyes closed in slumber. The courtyard was silent, Eric had gone out even earlier. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u remembered that light night Eric said he was going to meet the Elk Village patriarch but would come back around noon. Eric had prepared breakfast before leaving and left J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u some. The room next to Eric''s was the kitchen. It was similar to the kitchen of rural areas in the 1970s or 1980s, with a stone brick stove hollowed out in the middle and a large wok set there, capable of making simple dishes. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u opened the bamboo lid and saw inside three pieces of steaming, fluffy, and golden corn cakes, along with a small dish of honey. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u scooped out some honey with a wooden spoon and spread it on the cakes. They were soft and tasted sweet and delicious. Filling her belly, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u took some cereal and soaked it in milk, feeding it to the leopard as breakfast. Shortly after, she heard Eric''s voice coming back from outside. Eric''s cheeks were visibly scratched on both sides but, though it looked a little funny, he seemed very happy. "The sweet potato field behind the village is ripe and the patriarch has invited me to dig potatoes in the afternoon. He promised to give me some if the harvest is good." Because of the impending snowstorm, Eric had to spend more time in the Elk Village. There is very little food in winter and there was not much for the Elk to share with Eric. If Eric wanted to fill his belly, he had to go out and look for other ingredients. Right now, with J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u and the little leopard, the weight on Eric''s shoulders were not light. ¡ª¡ªThough, he was very reluctant to feed the leopard. If he could get some sweet potatoes this time, then they would not have to worry about food for the next few days. "Really? That''s great." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was happy for him and could not help but ask after a moment of thought, "Eric, can I go with you this afternoon?" Eric said, "The snow outside has not melted and walking is very difficult. If you want something, just tell me, ¨­u, and I''ll bring it back." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u pondered it over but still insisted, "I want to go out and see for myself." Before, on the way to the village, she was in a hurry to find a place to stay and did not pay careful attention to her surroundings. But now she wanted to go back and make sure. * That afternoon, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u and Eric went together. Because she knew the beastmen here were afraid of the carnivores, this time J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u did not bring the leopard with her and left it at home alone. The sweet potato field was located to the rear of the village and was about 78 acres, surrrounded by a low fence wall. Once at the grounds, Eric raised his sleeves and helped the clansmen of the village. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u turned away nearby. She had gone out for two things this time. Although the fireplace here burned at night, it was ice and snow outside and J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u only had a thin blanket that wasn''t warm enough. If she could find cotton around here, making a quilt would make things much warmer. The other thing she wanted to do was to find something to cover up the scent of estrus. Ovulation only lasted about a week in women and she could not always rely on the smell of pepper and spices. She had to find something else. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u remembered that on the way to the village she had seen something similar to cotton on the side of the road. She had unfortunately been too anxious to take a closer look. She followed the path back a ways and carefully watched the plants around her. There were not many plants in winter and she could see the end in a single glance. It did not take long before she saw a plant that looked like cotton with soft bits in it. The cotton was white and it was the same color as the surrounding snow. It was easy to ignore if one wasn''t looking carefully. Was there a difference between this flower and real cotton? Would it make the quilt warm enough? J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u temporarily decided to hold onto the cotton and think about it again later. The people here shouldn''t know the use of cotton and to see this piece of open space filled with it. No one was picking them and their buds bulged, unexpectedly thriving even in winter. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u filled a bamboo basket full but still felt it wasn''t enough, so she put a lot of it into her space. Checking the time, it was almost time for her and Eric to meet up. On the road back, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u saw catnip covered in snow her eyes brightened. She quickly picked some and put it into her basket. Finding the two things she needed most, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was satisfied and her footsteps very relaxed. Back at the sweet potato fields, Eric was just finishing his picking and they returned to the Elk Village together. They hadn''t entered the village yet but could see a lot of the beastmen standing inside, then a female screamed. Faintly they could hear them say, "Drive it out", "Get it out of here", "He''s going to bite us", and so on. Having been there for two days, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u understood the Elk race''s character. They were gentle and friendly, and they rarely clashed with other races, much less shouting like this now. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s heart sped up, and she suddenly had a bad feeling. She quickened her pace and poked through the crowd to get to the front. Still unsettled, she heard the deafening roar of the elk patriarch¡ª¡ª "Who brought this carnivorous species here?!" J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u looked up and saw that in front there was a rectangular wooden table covered with corn. And on top, where the sun was warm, feeling immensely pleased with itself, her little leopard was curled up on the corn. Basking in the sun, he leisurely glanced around at the crowd. Soon, the blue eyes turned and fell on J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u. His lazy and dismissive attitude contrasted sharply with the patriarch''s anger. CH 19 Ryan laid silently in her arms, his eyes taciturn in its depth. CH 20 No content CH 21 Usually, her physiological period wasn''t so painful. This time, perhaps because of the cold weather, and the cold sweat, and her cold sweat, she was felt so much worse. Early in the morning, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u detected something was wrong, her belly bloating with pain, and there was something wet between her legs. When Ryan went out, she took off her panties and found the bloodstains on it. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u supported her body against the wall and scrambled to get her sanitary napkins and clean underwear out of her space and onto her body. Then she collapsed into bed. At noon, she already hurt so much, she had turned pale as if to hover between life and death. She didn''t know what the little leopard was doing all morning. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u only brought two packs of tampons total, barely enough for one period. This kind of intimate thing, most girls kept in their own bags, and that wouldn''t be placed in the bus cabin, so she didn''t have any extras. What was she going to do when this ran out? Would she have to learn how to use ashes like ancient women? Did the females here not have a menstrual period? How did they handle it? J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u exceeded her mind''s ability to think, and she felt dizzy. But there was a force pulling on her. . . pants? J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was wearing sweat pants with an elastic band. The force pulled very quickly and soon pulled her pants down to her hips. The cold air hit bare flesh and her exposed skin quickly rose in goosebumps. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u looked down to see the little leopard biting at her pants with his teeth, pulling down hard. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s cheeks flushed red and she reached out to stop him, embarrassed, "You, what are you doing?" But she was weak, feverish, soft and small. However, Ryan had also become smaller, and his strength was also negligible,. The two people were unexpectedly in a bit of a deadlock. So, one girl, one leopard, and the elastic band of a pair of sweatpants. They looked at each other. Ryan stared at her fixedly. She reeked of blood and her complexion was pale. She was obviously injured, but why wouldn''t she let him see the wound? Thinking such, Ryan bit her pants again and dragged it down. "Hey. . . don''t. . ." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u blocked it in a panic. The leopard''s teeth were sharp and J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u worried that he would tear her pants. This was her only pair of warm and comfortable pants. She considered them her pajamas. This hesitation though, the sweatpants were successfully dragged down by the leopard with a "swoosh" all the way down to her thighs¡ª¡ª J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u opened her eyes wide in shock. Azure cotton panties wrapped around her exquisite pelvis, the girl''s hips slender and skin white as snow. Above her straight legs was a delicate triangular area. Ryan stared closely, the scent of blood was coming from there. . . . . . . This place. . . Was hurt? Once the scent of blood filled the air, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u suddenly understood what was going on. For a moment, her cheeks flushed a rose red. Despite the other being a leopard cub, she still felt indescribable shame. She clutched the pants'' with her fingers and shuffled back on her butt, body curling like a shrimp. "I. . . I''m not hurt," her teeth bit into her lower lip, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u did not know how to explain this to him, "This. . . this is a normal physiological reaction, every month. . . I''ll be fine in a few days. . ." Ryan''s dark eyes looked at her and did not seem to understand her words. The leopard females also went into estrus. But almost every time, the estrus would be spent with a male and then begun the nurturing of the next generation, very rarely were there cases of no fertilization. Even then, they did not bleed as much as humans. So Ryan had almost never seen anything like this. The smell of blood was so dense, just how much was flowing? Ryan''s expression became heavy, and he took step away from her limbs, wanting to continue examining her body. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u quickly shrunk to the corner, for fear of him stripping off her underwear. Maybe she was too weak right now, or maybe she was just too embarrassed to talk about such things, but was she even afraid of this little leopard? ". . .You are not allowed to come over here!" J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u commanded with the last of her strength. Ryan: ". . ." She wasn''t afraid of bleeding to death. . .? * The smell of blood filled the air. Ryan was lying beside the fireplace, tilting his head while watching the girl on the bed. He had thought she was hurt so badly it wouldn''t take long for her to go into shock. . . But that was a long time ago, and she didn''t look any sicker aside from being a bit paler in the face? She had bled for most of the day and was still able to stay awake. How much blood was hidden in that delicate body? Ryan was curious. At the same time, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u looked over at the lazy leopard staring at her, and faced a dilemma. She changed the tampon at nine that morning and it was not three in the afternoon. They were supposed to be changed every three hours, but because the leopard was present, she feared that it would see her bleeding and take away her underwear when she took them off. Who knew that after he came back, he would just lie there, not moving! J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u clutched her stomach. She wanted to change the tampon. . . CH 22 No content CH 23 No content CH 24 No content CH 25 No content CH 26 No content CH 27 No content CH 28 J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u: ". . ." He didn''t say it badly but J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u remembered it all. Now only did she give him medicine, but when he had a fever, she tried to measure his temperature through his anus. . . J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was still wondering why he reacted so badly. Now that she thought about it though. . . Ah, ah, ah, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u would like to bury her head in the ground. How could she do such a thing! The girl on the bed was even more embarrassed and she raised her hands to cover her cheeks. Her red ears were still exposed and she shyly bent down. Ryan gazed at her for a moment then, in a calm voice, continued to say words that would make her even more ashamed, "When you were asleep, I gave you medicine." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u: ". . ." * The following day, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u became aware of where this was. Outside the house were multiple Panthera beastmen, leopards, cheetahs, panthers, snow leopards, etc. . . Without exception, they were all extremely tall, had long tails sweeping behind them, and had that peculiar aggressiveness natural to the carnivorous species. Of course, there were also many different ways the beastmen traversed the road. One jumped high, their figure disappearing agilely, and the others faced it with calm expressions. There were very few females here. The entire day, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u had only seen a couple. They were obviously different from the males, their height significantly shorter, but still much taller than J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u. Even in human shape, they also had a pair of semicircular ears atop their heads. For the most part, they had ample figures and upright backs. Curiously enough, the females here were few but each seemed to be independent. Were they not assigned to the male population? Throughout the reindeer and elk villages, where there was a female, there was a male. . . J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u thought of the animal kingdoms from before. Leopards were solitary animals, only occasionally would the opposite sexes tolerate each other. That was to say, the leopard had no "spouse"? No wonder Eric once said that in some races, a female had to bed with several males. . . J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u laid in the window crankily. Her wound was still not healed and she could not stand very long, so she laid on the bed after a while. There was a bear beastman treating J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s wounds. Of the carnivorous type, it was a panda, also known as the Iron Beast. Before humans went extinct, pandas were the closest species to humans so their medical standards were high. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s wound was stitched by a panda called Bethan. He stretched out his pudgy arms and looked at the wound, coming to a conclusion, "The wound isn''t healing very well." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s body went stiff and rigid. Then, Bethan asked, "Did you move around violently?" J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u thought and recounted honestly. Yesterday, she almost fell and accidentally pulled at the wound. "If you don''t want to die, just sit in bed obediently." Bethan said, the dark circles under his eyes drooping, "The last of the medicine should be running out. I made some more. Apply it three times a day, once it''s finished, tell me." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u nodded very obediently. Bethan looked at the wound and was ready to leave. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u had continued to endure and endure, but she still couldn''t help but ask, "That. . . do you know where this is?" This question, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u had always wanted to ask. But when she looked at Ryan. . . it was hard to talk. She felt uneasy at the thought of what she had done to him when he was still young. Having the guts. . . that indescribable shame. Bethan misunderstood what she meant: "Camuda Valley, Leopard Tribe." "No. . ." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u hurriedly waved her hand, discretely searching for her words, "How far from the east of Bornia?" Bethan looked her in the eye and slowly spit out a few words, "From heaven to earth." After her left, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u spent a long time sitting. Heaven and earth? In other words, one in the east and one in the west? How could this be. . . She had hardly gotten halfway. She was close to reaching the east and finding her way home. But now, she had wasted all her effort and gotten even further from her goal. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u stared at the ground in a daze, her thoughts melancholy. * Ryan pushed in the door from outside and saw this scene. The girl half lying on the bed, her eyes drooping and lips slightly pursed, her heavy expression, and he did not know what to think. The wounds on the back of Ryan''s hands and his shoulders had increased, but he did not feel them. Sticking out his tongue, he licked away the blood and strode over to the bedside, his voice low, "Bethan came?" The shadow crossed over the top of her head and J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u lifted to meet his eyes, and she nodded, "Ah." Ryan asked, "What did he say?" J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u answered honestly, "He told me to rest well and not get down. He also sent more medicine and said to apply it three times a day. . ." Her voice became lower and lower as she spoke, reminiscing about yesterday''s scene, and her cheeks turned red. "Said that when it''s better, he''ll come take out the stitches." Ryan asked, "Have you put on today''s medicine?" J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u: ". . . no." Ryan hadn''t needed her response and he walked to the cupboard to get the jar. Walking back to the bed, he was going to give her the medicine. "Ry, Ryan," When his hand touched her clothes, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u struggled to call out his name. She stared at his fingers, not yet accepting that the little leopard had become a big leopard, and she was always cautious in front of him. "Bethan said this was a leopard tribe, and that only they live here." She had thought about this the entire afternoon and now summoned up the courage to say, "I am not your people. . . I need to go back to mine. Once my injury is healed, can I leave?" . . . After J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u said this, she didn''t get a response. She raised her eyes, "Ry. . ." "No," Ryan pinched the jar in his hands, and his dark eyes were narrowed, interrupting her with an unpleasant tone. CH 29 No content CH 30 No content CH 31 No content CH 32 No content CH 33 No content CH 34 No content CH 35 No content CH 36 No content CH 37 No content CH 38 No content CH 39 No content CH 40 No content CH 41 The wounds on his shoulders weren''t treated well so he had to take off his clothes. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u first treated the scratches on Ryan''s neck. They weren''t deep and only slightly broke the skin. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u disinfected them and couldn''t help but wonder if the beastman could really use their paws to hurt anyone. Wouldn''t they get rabies. . .? The girl was standing in front of Ryan, holding the bed for support with one hand and a cotton swab with the other, seriously working at his wounds. Unconsciously, she had trapped Ryan''s body. She tilted her head and, as she looked at the wound, her long lashes swept against Ryan''s chin. Strangely itchy. Ryan looked down and saw the girl a mere two centimeters away from him. Her eyes reflected his face, her lips pink and pursed seriously. He was suddenly shocked by the sudden move, and J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u regained her composure. Her eyes shifted to his and she blushed, pulling away quickly. She didn''t get far, Ryan using his uninjured hand to catch her wrist¡ª¡ª Ryan held the back of her head with his palm and pulled the girl towards him, leaning over to finally take a bite of that little mouth he''d been longing for without hesitation. CH 42 *Warning: Keep in mind during this chapter that Ryan has no point of reference for J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s humanness. He gets a little pushy in this chapter, unwanted even, but! He backs off when she lays down her rules by the end. And for that, I can only say he''s trying really hard to accommodate her, even if he doesn''t understand, and she''s still too shocked to verbalize what''s wrong. If you want to skip the potential trigger, skip the italics.* The girl''s lips were soft and felt like clouds of honey, smelled like it too. T/N: Can I just say this was one of the hardest chapters to translate? I suffer the Secondhand Embarrassment Syndrome and this one was tough. I wish they would talk a little more. You know, get rid of this miscommunication issue, but -shrugs- what can you do? Hopefully, Ryan can start to put intuition to use soon. . . Sorry for the first translator''s note, but I had to. This was a difficult chapter, especially since it has that potential trigger and I have no idea what to do with it. . . But our female lead is strong and this won''t set her back from her goals. I hope you stick around to the end! CH 43 No content CH 44 No content CH 45 No content CH 46 No content CH 47 No content CH 48 J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u stepped out of the house and sighed outside the door. She breathed out and pressed her hand to her chest. CH 49 J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u knew what he was trying to do. She just reacted so badly to that. CH 50 Crew and Flick stopped. CH 51 It took Winter nearly 20 days to return. CH 52 Since spring had begun, each day was warmer than the one before. CH 53 J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u evaded in reflex. CH 54 "No, no good," J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u grasped the blanket tightly in her fingers and lied. CH 55 J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u felt her heart skip a beat and she immediately stepped back, asking vigilantly, "What are you doing here?" CH 56 ". . ." CH 57 Laurence wasn''t dead??? She saw them every time she took a bath. An inch above her navel, her scars were ugly and alien to the rest of her skin. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u once asked Batan about getting rid of scars, and he told her about several herbs that could help fade the scars. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u tried them one by one, but it was a pity. The scar only faded a little and turned pinkish, but it was still there and visible at a glance. There was no laser scar removal and the medicine here was very limited. It was impossible to completely erase those three scars. Now, at the mention of Laurence, there was a dull pain there. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u also wanted to ask what the problem was, but the beastman had turned away to continue searching for Ryan. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u had to stay in the courtyard and anxiously wait for news on Ryan. Meanwhile, at the edge of Camuda Valley. An agile black figure stood at the top of a tree, his tail sweeping silently behind him. His amber pupils stared at the leopard tribe that was walking toward him. Suddenly, his eyes shifted to the leopard that stood in front and, snarling his sharp teeth, he jumped down! The panther attacked without warning, waning to rush Ryan. Ryan jerked back several steps. The panther threw a blank stare at him and stopped a few paces ahead. Ryan stood still, watching the black leopard in front of him, and blinked, "Laurence?" In the next instant, Laurence transformed into his human form. He was slender and wore black leather, his facial features cold with indifference. His lips quirked up and he said, "Sorry to let you down, Ryan. I''m still alive." His head was once slammed by Ryan''s claws, and he was thrown down the hillside, where he remained half-dead in a coma for three days and three nights. Fortunately, there was a cave below the hill with a rotted snow leopard corpse inside it. The snow leopard had been dead for several days. Perhaps because the cave was well hidden, the body hadn''t been carried off as prey. Laurence didn''t care if he was bitten to death by wild animals, or for whatever reason. But he relied on the body of his companion and survived the deadliest of days because of it. Ryan''s complexion didn''t change and he licked his teeth, "Indeed. It''s a bit disappointing." Laurence swept his gaze across the people behind Ryan and said indifferently, "How is that you are still the chief? Has the leopard''s strength fallen so low that no tribesmen dare challenge you?" Ryan''s long, striped tail hung behind him, slouching calmly against the ground, as was his attitude. "Of course," said Ryan, "On the premise that they beat me." Laurence''s eyes were sharp and cold, "In that cause, there should not be more than one." He said: "If you don''t mind, I''ll take your place as leader." Ryan smiled, an bestial bloodthirst hidden in his blue eyes, and he willingly accepted the fight, "If you have the strength." "Tomorrow morning, the competitive highlands, I hope you don''t flake," Laurence finished and twisted, jumping back up the tree and leaving. * Laurence''s house wasn''t that far away from Ryan''s and was only separated by a wall. That was one of the main reasons for his discord with Ryan. One mountain could not contain two tigers. How could one piece of land accommodate two strong players? When Laurence passed Ryan''s gate, he paused, wondering what to think, and suddenly jumped up onto the wall and looked into the courtyard. The courtyard was empty, and it was quiet. A bamboo frame was placed in the center of the courtyard, the shelves covered with cotton and dried bamboo shoots were drying out. In addition, the yard was completely tidy and traces of female arrangements everywhere. Laurence''s claws pierced the wall and he walked along it slowly, never seeing any kind of movement in the yard. CH 58 After the smog dispersed, injured wolves were sprawled across the gross in disarray. CH 59 The next morning, before J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u had woken up, Elder Berson returned to Ryan''s house and knocked on the door. The next day, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u signed a contract with Elder Berson, containing all the conditions mentioned the day before. Elder Berson was bitter. Originally, he wanted to use it to dominate the entire continent. Now that his hopes had been shattered, it was a bit uncomfortable. . . However, the leaders promised, and what else could he do as a mere elder? But, on second thought, it was still good. At least, the leopards no longer had to fear attacks from other races in the future. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u said anxiously, "Why did you pour all of the power into it? Didn''t I say just half. . ." While listening to J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u, Walker backed away and, keeping a safe distance from her, nodded, "Sorry, I''ll pay attention next time. . ." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u saw his sincerity and didn''t continue to scold him. Since then, every time J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u taught them, they consciously kept a distance between them. If they got too close, their chief''s eyes would sweep over, and it was no joke. * Half a month later, there was finally a small success. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u let several males to the back of the tribe to test the powder. The results from Joel were most remarkable, and the gunpowder produced was enough to crush a stone half as tall as a person. He was followed by Walker, then Selwyn. There seemed to be something going on at Winter''s house and he hadn''t arrived yet. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u took a record of their achievements and pointed out the advantages and disadvantages, then let them go back to practice. Waiting for a while, she still saw no signs of Winter''s figure. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u prepared to teach them how to set up the gunpowder, "The arrangement is just as important as the production. If it isn''t well-arranged, it can be easily discovered and it''s very easy to pick up. . ." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u taught for an hour because the venue was too big and it wasn''t easy to explain. The three beastmen learned a little. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u touched her cheek and was a bit embarrassed. Suddenly, she remembered that she had once painted a "topographic map" for the gunpowder. When she was bored, she had designed it according to the terrain around Camuda Valley. It would be easier for them to understand if she could give it to them. "Wait for me, I''ll go fetch something." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u remembered she had put it in the closet, and she hesitated for a moment. It wasn''t too far from Ryan''s house. Roughly thirty minutes back and forth, so J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u sped up and took ten minutes to get there. She went straight to the cabin and stood in front of the cupboard, tip-toeing. Five minutes later, she couldn''t find it. Strange, it wasn''t there? J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u twisted her brows in thought. Could she have put it in the bedroom cabinet? That wasn''t impossible. Every time she went to bed too late, Ryan would take away her flashlight and carry her to bed, ordering her to sleep. She would have no choice but to stick out her hand and put everything in the closet next to her. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u walked in the direction of the bedroom. CH 60 The door slammed open, hitting the wall with a loud bang. . . . The other side was empty and quiet. Looking around at the houses across the street, the doors were all closed, like no one had come back at all. Ryan''s brow stretched, then he turned to Winter and eyes glinted coldly, "If you day saw those words again, you won''t live long." Winter touched the top of his head, "Your female is at the back of the mountain and won''t hear it anyway. . ." Ryan looked at him and his dark blue eyes seemed to carry a stormy sea. Winter immediately shut up and respectfully said, "Yes, Chief." * On the other side, beyond the hill. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was "thrown" out of her space and dropped onto her knees, palms pressed against the rough grass. Her thoughts were in disordered. All she could think about was Winter''s words. They were deceiving her? What did they mean, Pat wasn''t dead? Why did Ryan do this? Didn''t he promise to help her find Pat. . . were they fake? J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u tightened his fingers and raised his eyes to find that she had reappeared at the back of the mountain. Just as Ryan pushed the door, she hid in her space reflexively. ¡ª¡ªNow that she had been "moved" by the space? J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u remembered the last time she had used the space''s teleportation that she had almost been killed by Laurence. Why did she do it this time? Every time her mind began to fluctuate wildly and wanted to escape something, her space would make the decision for her? J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was utterly confused. "Hey, why are you still here?" a voice called out to J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u from overhead, suddenly interrupting her thoughts. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u looked up and saw Suzanna standing in front of her carrying a bamboo basket. There were two grey hares inside, and in her other hand, she dragged a few palm leaves. She looked in a rush to get home. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u hesitated, ". . . what''s wrong?" Suzanna pointed to the sky. Heavy dark clouds hung over the valley, looking as though rain could fall any moment. "Rainy season is coming. There will be torrential rain over the next few days. The terrain is low here. If you don''t hurry back, then heavy rain will come and you''ll drown." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u stood up, "But I haven''t spoken to Walker yet. . ." "They''ve already gone home long ago!" Suzanna said the truth. Once the sky darkened, Walker, Joel and Selwyn left. "Who else do you see here? You''re staggering on the floor. . . by the way, why are you lying here?" J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u tacitly didn''t tell the truth, "I went home to get a few things, accidentally fell over." Suzanna''s mouth curled, undisguised disgust, "You really are useless, can''t even walk without falling." She said so while reaching out a hand to lift her off the ground, "The rain hasn''t started yet, you''d better hurry and go back with me." CH 61 "Little Darling, it really is you. . ." CH 62 She''d come back? CH 63 J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u accompanied her mother in the hospital for a day and returned home that night. When she opened the door, out jumped a figure. G¨³n G¨³n came over to her feet and took advantage of the owner who hadn''t returned in so long, acting spoiled for a long time. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was stunned and didn''t respond. After such a long time, she had quickly forgotten she had a cat at home. She stooped and rolled him in her hands, scratching under his chin. "G¨³n G¨³n, did you miss me?" The cat meowed twice and lolled out his tongue to lick J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s palms. Usually G¨³n G¨³n wasn''t happy when J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u touched his chin, but today, he actually didn''t resist at all. Probably because his owner had been gone for so long, the proud cat had also been afraid of being abandoned. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u teased him for a while, playing hard before going to take a bath. Her clothes were wet and sticky, clinging to her body. She stood in front of the bathroom mirror and felt embarrassed. She was dirty and ugly. This appearance was even unacceptable to her. She did not even know how G¨³n G¨³n had bared with her embrace. After a long, serious shower, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u dried her hair and took a bottle of milk from the refrigerator. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u originally planned to go back to the hospital to accompany her mother in the evening, but Mrs. J¨« felt that she had only just returned and had a high fever. She told her to go back home and rest. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was really tired but was reluctant to agree with her mother and father. In the end, her father promised to pick her up the next morning, so she was willing to go home. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u drank her warm milk and G¨³n G¨³n was on the table, his eyes staring at her hand. "Meow," he cried twice. She startled, "Do you want to drink it?" He bounced twice, his front paws grabbing her arm. Because she had been gone for so long, he probably wanted to show their closeness more than ever before. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u hesitated for a bit then took a small bowl from the cupboard and poured in a little milk, pushing it in front of him. "Don''t drink too much, " she muttered. Letting her hand go, he buried his head in the bowl and stuck out his tongue, lapping it up. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u quietly watched him drinking some milk, suddenly remembering another small figure. Round ears and blue eyes, a dark spotted pattern, and devouring the milk delivered by her hands. So clear even after a long time, every scene was engraved as fresh a memory as yesterday. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u blinked her sore eyes and rubbed at them with her eyes to ease off some of the uncomfortable feeling. CH 64 After entering sophomore year, time flew by at a particularly fast pace and it was soon the end of the year. CH 65 Eric''s race was at the top of the foothills. Along with the reindeer, there were also antelope, giraffe and other herbivorous tribes. CH 66 Soon after, Felice was found by the tribe. He was dizzy from hunger because he hadn''t eaten in days. CH 67 Behind them, the voices of the deer escaping continued, their hooves trampling across fallen leaves and accompanied by the loud roar of the tigers. CH 68 "You dare mention those words again, and I''ll let Winter slaughter the stupid deer and his tribe." CH 69 Outside the cave, the night was dark and the moonlight thin. CH 70 Every year before winter, the leopards went on a large hunt. CH 71 As night fell, the beastmen set up a bonfire in the forest. CH 72 Probably due to J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s commitment, but the following days, Ryan no longer deliberately restricted her freedom. CH 73 The girl wore a thick cotton-padded coat and a furry hat on her head. Her nose was red from the cold weather, and her eyes were very clear. The snow-capped mountain stood in the distance were also eclipsed. "That. . ." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u had her hands behind her back and she hesitated for a long time, then she spoke slowly, "Ryan, I have something to discuss with you." Ryan raised his eyebrows and simply said, "Speak." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u shrunk her shoulders and lowered her voice, "Can I leave for a few days. . ." Ryan frowned, "Where to go?" J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u felt guilty, "I have some important things to do that haven''t been resolved. Tomorrow, I have to return to my race. . ." . . . The pressure around her dropped. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u didn''t receive a response and she quietly raised her eyes to see his face was expressionless and his eyes were deep, silently staring at her. Her heart jumped and hurriedly explained, "I won''t leave for a long time, and once I''ve finished resolving things, I''ll be back. . . at the most, two months." The sophomore course was quite a lot, but she had taken some lessons in advance and was relatively relaxed about it. If she finished all her lab courses ahead of time, she could be back earlier. Ryan''s expression didn''t change and his claws took hold of her chin. He leaned forward and bared his teeth, asking in a whisper, "What did you promise as my spouse?" J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was stunned then she responded with what she had said back in Wilnor Valley. She said, "Since I promised to be your spouse, I won''t leave you." When she had thought of only coaxing him then, she had said so. What''s more, she didn''t intend to leave him anymore. She would return home for a few days, should it be more being "away?" J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u raised a finger and changed her mind, "One month? It will pass quickly. . ." Ryan looked at her with a little anger in his face and left no room for discussion, "Not a single day." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u: ". . ." It couldn''t be blamed that she was so anxious. The day after tomorrow was the day she started school. If she didn''t go in on time, the school would automatically expel her. Coupled with her not having contacted her parents for a month, even if she went to teach in a remote area, this time of being "missing" was too long. She could almost imagine the trouble that she would face when she came back. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was helpless and stared at Ryan in discouragement. Her head was messy and suddenly a thought flashed, as if suddenly thinking of something, and her eyes were suddenly bright. She stretched out her hand to Ryan''s fingers and looked up with her small face, uncertainly and cautiously saying, "Ryan, would you. . . come back to my race with me?" * After the hung was over, there was no large events in the clan. CH 74 Ryan slightly froze, then he lifted J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s face and gently rubbed her pink lips, "What are you so anxious about?" CH 75.1 ¡°No, nothing,¡± J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u mumbled, having a guilty conscience as she got in the car. She didn¡¯t know how to explain it to Ryan. She had never thought she would one day buy something like that herself. The small box in her left pocket burned like a hot potato and her ears flushed red. But, what other solution did she have? Other people¡¯s boyfriends were well prepared in advance, only her ¡°boyfriend¡± had no concept of contraception. Along with Ryan¡¯s frequent desires, if she did not take precaution, then she would soon get pregnant. But she didn¡¯t want to have a baby so soon. . . J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u¡¯s heart was tangled. Fortunately, Ryan did not ask, presumably already accustomed to the strangeness of the human world, and his gaze shifted elsewhere. His tail could not wait to sweep out from behind, curling through the window to dangle loosely toward the ground. After hiding it for the entire day, it finally had the opportunity to be let out. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u had originally intended to go home directly, but seeing Ryan¡¯s tail, she remembered that she still hadn¡¯t gone to get G¨³n G¨³n despite being back for so many days already. Quickly turning the car, she turned toward her friend¡¯s house. Her friend had taken good care of G¨³n G¨³n for two months. G¨³n G¨³n had long forgotten that J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u had abandoned him, and when she appeared, he meowed and enthusiastically ran toward her. Unfortunately, he was stopped in the air by an arm. Ryan¡¯s hand closed around G¨³n G¨³n¡¯s neck, and he indifferently looked at it, asking, ¡°Who¡¯s this stupid cat?¡± Hanging in the air, G¨³n G¨³n meowed restlessly, flopping about trying to escape his hand. ¡°His name is G¨³n G¨³n, and he¡¯s my pet,¡± J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u wanted to rescue the cat from his hand, thinking then she added, ¡°And he¡¯s not stupid. He¡¯s very smart.¡± ¡°Male?¡± Ryan licked his lips and lowered his voice. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u¡¯s hands on the steering wheel stalled slightly and she nodded. Then, she saw Ryan open the window and raise his hand to throw the cat right out the window. ¡°Ryan!¡± J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u hurriedly parked the car at the side of the road, frightened, ¡°G¨³n G¨³n is just a cat, even if he¡¯s male, it¡¯s just an animal that doesn¡¯t know anything. You can¡¯t treat him like that. . .¡± She said so and grabbed G¨³n G¨³n from his hand. ¡°I am also an animal,¡± Ryan looked at her with a stark contrast to her anxiety, reminding her, ¡°Leopard.¡± ¡°But, you can become a man. . .¡± She subconsciously explained, then halfway suddenly understood why Ryan cared. She set G¨³n G¨³n in the back seat and turned dark eyes at him, ¡°And, you¡¯re not like G¨³n G¨³n.¡± Ryan¡¯s eyes narrowed, ¡°Where aren¡¯t we the same?¡± "G¨³n G¨³n is my pet,¡± J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u bit her lip, seemingly embarrassed to say her next words, ¡°You are my favorite person. . .¡± A layer of blush colored the girl¡¯s cheeks, like raindrops suddenly falling in the dry desert, instantly nourishing his dry heart. Ryan held her waist and legs then kissed her at the corner of her mouth and sternly asked, ¡°How much?¡± J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u tilted her head, the kiss was itchy, and she shyly answered, ¡°Won¡¯t tell you.¡± Ryan kissed her lips and twisted into her mouth, searching out her soft tongue to bite it. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u gasped and lifted her hands to push him away, but she was even more forcibly kissed. . . . The two girls walked along laughing the entire way and came to the school gate where they heard a noise up front. The two looked up and saw the students at the entrance of the school were frightened and avoiding it. There stood a large wild dog baring his teeth and growling. The dog was infamous at the school and very hostile. Usually the students that saw it were desperate to hide. Today, somehow, the wild dog suddenly went to the entrance of the school and was barking at one person more than the others. The man opposite it wore a black overcoat and his long legs were propped on the ground as he leaned against the gate, his brows cold and expressionless. He seemed to be waiting for someone and his blue eyes slightly rotated through the crowd, bored. The dog barked so loudly in front of him but he didn¡¯t even set eyes on it. It wasn¡¯t until the dog¡¯s teeth came close to him that he raised a leg and stepped on its head. The dog was put in place, pushing at his front paws but couldn''t even move. ¡°Woof, woof¡ª¡ª¡± The man finally set eyes on it and emitted avery low, irrefutable threat, ¡°Get lost.¡± The wild dog¡¯s eyes were shocked and even its barks stopped. Then he dropped his fierce eyes and lowered his tail, barking quietly. The man dropped his eyes to it and listened to the dog¡¯s lower voice. It backed away a few steps and fled in despondency. ¡ª¡ªAs if the devils and its monsters were after its tail. . . . J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u¡¯s roommate dragged her over by the arm, ¡°Xi¨£o ¨­u, look at the guy. . .¡± J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u naturally set the scene in her eyes but she thought differently from her roommate. A leopard running out and crazy wild dog. . . when Ryan came to this world, did they lose sense? Well, she thought, he was very handsome. CH 75.2 Driving from T city to S city, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u didn¡¯t go straight home, first dropping by a nearby supermarket. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u didn¡¯t know what to say. She and Ryan had nothing to do with it, so she just smiled and said, ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter.¡± After that, there was no mood to continue visiting the supermarket so J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u and Ryan went to buy G¨³n G¨³n¡¯s cat food, a pair of slippers, a toothbrush, towels, and other toiletries suitable for Ryan. Then they pushed the cart to the cashier ready to check out. There were many people at the registers, and J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u picked a relatively short line. When it was their turn, the cashier set their account and politely asked, ¡°Is there anything you need help with?¡± J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was ready to say, ¡°No, thank you,¡± when Ryan¡¯s low voice spoke up from the said, ¡°Do you have a big one?¡± J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u: ??? J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u found the key and was ready to open the door, ¡°But that would damage the body. . .¡± ¡°Naturally, that¡¯s what you humans say,¡± Ryan pinched her soft face and rubbed it with his thumb, ¡°Delicate.¡± ¡°. . .¡± CH 75.3 Back upstairs, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u switched her shoes and put the things she and Ryan had just bought at the market in the kitchen. CH 76 The car traveled down the winding mountain road, accelerating then flowing into a free drift. When Ryan said he could help her drive last time, she thought he was just saying it casually and hadn''t taken it to heart. Even if he could, it should only be as skilled as she was. But now, he had only been behind the wheel for half an hour and after adjusting to it, he was completely at ease with it. . . How did he learn? When did he learn how to drift??? J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u stared at Ryan in the driving seat and felt rather bad. Luckily, she didn''t promise to let him drive in the city, she thought, or she''d be scared to death. Ryan loosened his right hand on the steering wheel and stretched it out to J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s face, lightly touching her dropped jaw, and he asked with amusement, "Is this it?" J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u closed her mouth and turned to look. It was the cliff above the tree engraved with "1001." She nodded and turned big eyes at Ryan, remembering her questions, "Ryan, how did you learn to drive?" Ryan opened the side door and circled around to pull J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u from her seat and said honestly, "I didn''t learn." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u hugged his neck and found it difficult to understand, "Then how do you drive so well?" Ryan: "It said in the box the other day." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u was silent, then realized that Ryan meant the TV by "box." But when did she set the channel to one about driving? Ryan saw she looked confused and closed the door then set her on top of the car, taking a bite, "When you gave the stupid cat a bath." ". . ." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u recalled it and finally understood how it happened. That night she brought G¨³n G¨³n back, she had casually turned on the TV and went to the bathroom. Because G¨³n G¨³n was so lively, the sound of the TV stabilized everything. Later, when she went tot he bathroom, she didn''t pay attention to the program. Now that she thought of it, it seemed to be a professional rally? J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u looked at Ryan''s eyes and glowed, her dark eyes bright, "Did you understand it?" Ryan raised his brow and said it was easy. This thought had such a great impact, J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u didn''t think anything else could top it. Then Ryan took out a rectangular case from the trunk and J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u asked, "What is it?" Ryan opened the case in front of her and said placidly, "A gun." . . . !!! When J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u saw the thing in the box, her whole body was shocked frozen. The box held three guns, their dark barrels exuding the unique coldness of the weapon. Although J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s understandings of guns wasn''t that deep, she could recognize a pistol, a rifle and a sniper rifle. . . The case was well equipped and there were two grenades in the corner. "Ryan. . . where did you get this?" J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s voice changed and she asked incredibly. Ryan pulled the pistol and tucked it into his waist, then left the rest in the case, "Black market." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u: "You even know the black market??" ¡ª¡ªWhere had he gone in the real world? She remembered that he had always been with her and hadn''t gone out alone! Ryan leaned over her little face and kissed the corner of her mouth, "Scaring you?" J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u nodded honestly, really afraid, "That. . . how did you buy it?" Even if J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u hadn''t been to the black market, she also knew that the transaction price wasn''t low, and Ryan was a beastman from another world, so he wouldn''t own any kind of currency. Ryan said calmly, "Didn''t buy it." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u widened her eyes, "How did you get it?" Did he steal it? Ryan curved his index finger and knocked it to her forehead to stall the chaos in her head. Of course, robbing wasn''t impossible, but the world''s legalities were too much. One error and it would involve J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u, and he didn''t want to cause trouble for his little one. Ryan: "Exchanged for it." J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u: "Exchanged what?" Ryan no longer answered, his deep voice full of temptation, "Be obedient. You do not want to know." The black market was free of the market''s natural laws. In that place, pillaging, killing, trafficking and violence ran rampant. There were more ugly things there than in the beast world. Standing under the "1002" tree, they were once again looking at the distant Camuda Valley spread out before them. J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u actually had a treacherous illusion. She and Ryan had been away for one and a half months, and it was still a cold winter. The rolling mountains were covered in snow and the whole of Bornia was still a vast expanse of white. The snow blew on the wind and J¨« Xi¨£o ¨­u''s nose was frozen red in an instant. Her hands and feet were tucked into Ryan''s embrace. Ryan took off his overcoat and wrapped it around her, blocking her from the wind and carrying her toward the leopard tribe. A man was standing on the lookout at the entrance of the race and saw a man wearing strange clothes coming towards him. He thought it was the wolf clan''s conspiracy and immediately raised his spear, stabbing it forward as he said, "Stupid wolf, get back to your race!" Ryan stepped to the side and extended his arm to throw the spear aside and his eyes narrowed. "Fool, open your eyes and see who I really am." The other looked up at Ryan''s blue eyes and was surprised, "Chi-Chief?!" . . . During the time Ryan was away, everything with the leopards was normal. CH 77 "Ka¡ª¡ª"