Gentle Beast

With the wind and snow blocked out, the temperature rose a little but Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu felt chills along her entire body.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s light of sight fell on the bear man’s deerskin vest and her heart contracted in her chest.

Looking carefully, the deerskin was withered and old, not as if it had just been stripped off, and her heart dropped with relief.

It seemed that Eric hadn’t meet him.

In the 21st century, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu frequently saw on the news that “human beings met with danger in the woods and were eaten by brown bears.” The pictures were cruel and considerably bloody.

Back then, she had thought herself very distant from the issue, but she hadn’t expected it to be her turn so soon.

She did not know even brown bears had evolved into beastmen. Did he have preferences? Could he separate right from wrong?

Was it too late for her to lie down and pretend to be dead?

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu 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, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s mood became even heavier.

“That one. . .” Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu 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.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu 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 Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu, 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, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu and Ryan were crowded into the corner.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu 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.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu felt a glimmer of hope. Since this was not his territory, perhaps they could communicate nicely?

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was just about to open her mouth, showing no signs of nerves, when the bear ordered in a low voice, “Get out.”

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu: “. . .”

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?

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu 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 Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu. 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 Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu had finished, the beastman impatiently roared, exposing two rows of sharp teeth, “Get out.”

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu 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.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu 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.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu 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.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu bowed her head to see the leopard was staring at her.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu quickly understood he was trying to stop her.

. . . he was protecting his food?

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu 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.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu 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.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu 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.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu 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. Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu 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?

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu 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.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu 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.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu 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——

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.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu 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.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu 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.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu 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.