Gentle Beast

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu vaguely thought back. She could have sworn she had seen this exact scene before.

Where was it. . .

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu closed her eyes to try and remember, but the pain at her waist too much. It bore into the nerves, dull and blunt, and she simply could not think normally.

Her ears were filled with the messy sound of beasts fighting each other, Laurence’s horror, howling, whistling and heavy breathing. . .

She even heard the voice of her mother and father, and the shrill sound of the school bus’s sharp turn——

“I really do not know how these boys think. Why pick this place for the spring outing? I heard there are many wild animals in the forest. We’d be better off going to disney and playing Buzz Lightyear. . . Xiǎo Ōu, what do you say?”

“I, ah, I think it’s not bad.” Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu looked out the window, her dark eyes glossy, and she smiled. It was part curious and part excitement. “Animals generally live deeper into the forest, and we’re at the foot, we probably won’t see any of them.”

. . .

. . .  . . .  . . .

Before the lethargy set in too deep, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu finally remembered it. This was her last conversation with her classmate.

After that, she fell straight out the bus window.

In the process of falling, she saw a huge beastly figure jump over her head, blocking the scorching sunlight.

The same color, the same agility, it was an adult leopard.

This was what drew her to this world.

*

In the snow, the ferocious leopard raised his forepaw. All of a sudden, Laurence was on the ground, blood and flesh flying every which way. All the surrounding animals had hid in their caves, too scared to venture out.

——Never before had they seen such a fierce fight.

Under normal circumstances, of the two beasts fighting, the weaker would often take the initiative to yield and the strong side would therefore spare it.

Few were like these two, the dominant leopard so bent on setting the panther to death. Not long after, the panther’s throat overflowed with vague syllables, then he ceased to struggle and laid motionless.

Ryan’s blue eyes stared at Laurence’s claws, the ones stained with blood, the ones that caused Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s body to bleed.

Ryan took his gaze back after a while and turned away.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was still lying on the ground, surrounded by blood, and her face whiter than snow.

Her lashes were stained with teardrops that would not fall.

Ryan stopped beside her and bowed to grip her clothes with his teeth. Looking at the girl’s delicate skin, the three claw marks were unusually obvious. They were two to three inches long and the middle was the deepest, stabbing straight into her belly and the blood had yet to stop.

Ryan opened his mouth and his long wide tongue gently licked along the wounds on her belly.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s blood was licked little by little by him for a long time, until she no longer bled.

Ryan lowered himself to the ground and placed her small body on his back, limbs stretching in the snow as he jumped steadily off the mountainside.

Alongside the mountain, Ryan walked a long time before he left the snow-capped hills.

A group of red foxes lived below the mountain.

Ryan placed Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu on a flat stone, and broke into the red fox village without regard for them. He came out with hemostatic anti-inflammatory herbs dangling from his jaw.

Ryan chewed the grass to a pulp then applied it to Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s gouges with his tongue. The cat’s tongue was barbed and they accidentally scraped along the girl’s skin, her eyebrows furrowing tight. Ryan immediately stopped.

After a while, the girl’s brow straightened out.

Ryan lifted his paw and rummaged around in Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s coat, pulling out a disc-shaped object.

Ryan opened the compass and stared at the red pointer.

He had been together with Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu long enough to have learned this object’s usage. Ryan set his direction and hunched over to pull Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu onto his back again. He then set off in the opposite direction she had been heading all along.

*

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu had a very long dream.

In her dream, she walked continuously with little rest. As if a river was pushing her forward, she kept forging ahead.

It was very fast, but very smooth.

She occasionally stopped but the water would scour at her belly, licking like the tongue of a beast.

The barbs would scrap her skin, a bit painful, but insignificant compared to the wound on her abdomen.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu wanted to open her eyes countless times, but her helpless eyelids were too heavy to move and they could not open.

She used to think that the winter here was tough, long and cold, and that every night would be spent shivering with cold.

But in recent days. . . she felt herself being pressed under a huge plush object that wrapped her hands and feet, a steady warmth spreading from it, especially hot.

She seemed to be back home during those days, crushed by her huge plush toys and pillows. The bed there and the heating was very similar.

In a cave, Ryan lay on the stone with a forelimb stretched, his paw pad under the girl’s neck.

His eyes drooped to look at the girl.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s cheeks were red and her breathing a little short. Her delicate eyebrows were slightly wrinkled and her exhaled breathes were deathly hot.

Ryan curved his paw and sheathed his claws, gently touching it to her head.

. . . Still had a fever.

Including today, she had been burning with fever for three days and nights.

With so much heat, would it burn out her brain?

Ryan’s heart filled with irritation. Why was this female body so delicate? How could he take care of her, when would her wounds heal?

She was obviously so fragile, but had, one after the other, attempted to protect him in her arms.

“Stupid,” Ryan scraped her skin with his claws, then after a while, straightened up and put her on his back again, leaving the small gaze.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu felt that that she had gone a long way.

Her body staggered through the forest and across the plains, leaving behind only the scenery.

It seemed to go one for an incredibly long time, but for only seven to eight days.

. . .

. . .  . . .  . . .

Opening her eyes, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s first reaction was to touch the thing under her body.

It was soft and covered in fur, like a bed.

She was in bed, so that rush of memories was a dream?

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu had been in a coma for too long, her brain turning slowly. Her eyes open, she looked up at the roof above her.

For a long time, she remembered the scene right before she fell unconscious.

Laurence’s claws had penetrated her stomach, and the tail clung so tight to her neck. . . she wasn’t dead?

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu wanted to sit up and see her wounds, but a sharp pain came from her stomach and she hissed.

She obediently laid back down and looked around the room.

The room was spacious and the furniture concise, a somewhat informal atmosphere.

There several skins scattered about, fox, wolf, bear, tigers, they all hung on the wall. . .

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu looked around roughly and saw the furniture in the house wasn’t complicated. There weren’t even any bowls to eat or drink out of.

Where was she?

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was puzzled, but she carefully listened outside for any sounds.

Outside, it was very lively, lots of people coming and going, and there were high and low voices. But, when they passed this cabin, they kept their voices quiet and walked quickly.

This was. . . a beastman village?

Why was she here?

Who saved her?

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu tossed around countless issues in her mind, but could not remember how she got here no matter how long she thought about it.

Was this the power of her space?

The last time she was pulled into her space, she was thrown out into a strange place. . .

She hurriedly looked at her space and found everything there, only her little leopard had disappeared.

. . . Where was Táo Táo?!

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu looked again but still could not find him. She remembered putting him in her space, did he get out again and run off?

Or. . . was he captured by Laurence?

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu felt anxious and unexpectedly sat up in the bed. She clutched at her belly where hte wounds were stitched shut. She didn’t dare act up too much, and only got up to look around in a circle. She could not find her shoes, and she leaned against the bed, barefoot on the ground.

The floor was slightly cold, so her toes curled from cold.

Outside the window, it was still snowing. Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu walked to the door and grit her teeth, getting ready to push the door open. Suddenly, the person on the doorstep outside pushed it open.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was unprepared and she staggered backward two steps, but because she had forgotten her ankle sprain, her body fell backward.

She subconsciously protected her waist and closed her eyes, prepared to fall any moment.

A pair of hands suddenly stretched out from in front of her and the fingers tightly clasped around her slender wrists, pulling her forward and holding her.

“Where are you going?”

The low, slow voice sounded from above her head, with a strong magnetism. It was like an electromagnet had leaped up and curled in her ears, making her go limb and numb.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu stood firm and stared up at the other in surprise.

He was very tall and to pull her up, he had leaned over, but she still had to tilt her head back to see his face.

Tall and with broad shoulders, the man was almost twice her size.

His body was covered in fine snowflakes and with the chill outside seeping, there was invisible sense of oppression.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu looked upward again and met his blue eyes, stunned at the feeling of familiarity.

However, she thought seriously. She had never seen him before.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu relaxed her vigilance and wanted to speak, but her eyes fell to the sight of his tail swinging behind him.

Thick flower stripes marked the tail as it swept against the ground, impressively appearing before her.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu tried to remember even deeper, Laurence’s tail was like this. When it tightly wrapped around her neck, it caused her to lose her breath——

He, too, was a leopard?

“You, who are you?”  Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu pulled out of his hands in a panic and backed away from him.

The other turned his gaze, blue eyes of the sea staring intensely at her.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu found that under his eyes that were was a black stripe, the size of a grain of rice and at first looked like a teardrop mole.

He did not answer her, but continued with the same tone of voice as before, “Where do you want to go?”

There was no obvious compulsion or threat, but it made people want to answer his questions involuntarily.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu pursed her lips nervously, “To go out. . . and walk.”

He frowned, “What good is there to go out? It’s still snowing.”

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu: “I want to find someone. . .”

He asked: “Who?”

The other did not feel anything about it, and got to the heart of the matter quickly, questioning her about everything.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s lips sealed shut.

She had no idea who he was or what his attitude was. Why would she tell him everything? What if he was with Laurence?

The other side was not anxious to press her for answers, but his eyes looked at her bare feet and reflexively closed the door, blocking the snow outside the house.

Looking down, he casually asked: “Táo Táo?”

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s eyes opened wide in surprise and she asked in reflex, “How do you know?”

The other locked the door and turned to her, eyes fixed on her, slightly strange, “The nobleman called Táo Táo was harmonious and happy.”

He asked: “Isn’t that the name you gave to me?”