TFBAT – Chapter 3

When Chi Yuyang walked out of the cave again, she saw that the sun was finally beginning to sink slowly toward the horizon.

She pulled out her phone and glanced at the time—it was six in the morning, Beijing time.

If it weren’t for the sun descending, Chi Yuyang would have thought she was watching a sunrise.

There were only two explanations.

First, her phone was malfunctioning.

In reality, an entire day had already passed since she fainted.

Second, the timeline of this place was different from the one she was familiar with.

But where exactly was this place?

Chi Yuyang gazed up at the sky above, recalling the strange plants she had seen along the way earlier.

An idea surged up from the depths of her heart.

She might have… crossed over.

Crossed into this unknown land.

At this point, she could only take things one step at a time.

Unlike the initial fear, now she was more curious about what kind of world this truly was.

So far, she hadn’t encountered a single person—no one to explain her confusion.

Back inside the cave, Chi Yuyang looked at Tuantuan, who was lying lazily on the ground, and sighed.

“What a pity you can’t speak.”

Hu Jin lifted his head and cast her a glance. He could understand the female’s words.

If he could return to his human form, he would be able to communicate with her.

Earlier, he hadn’t looked at Chi Yuyang closely, but now he realized this female was a little different from tigress females.

Perhaps she was a primate-type beastman.

On this land, aside from tiger beastmen, there were other beastman tribes as well.

But this region belonged to the tiger clan’s territory.

By rights, a primate beastman shouldn’t be here.

Maybe this female had gotten separated from her tribe.

There were many things in the beastman world that defied explanation. For instance, at some point in the past, they had evolved from beasts into beastmen, gaining intelligence.

Later, beastmen had inexplicably acquired great strength.

Hu Jin had been on the path toward an even stronger evolution—but he had failed his tribulation.

So at the moment, he couldn’t be bothered to dwell on this female’s predicament.

After all, it couldn’t be worse than his own.

Seeing Tuantuan’s lazy posture, Chi Yuyang decided to check his wounds.

Hu Jin watched as the female’s face suddenly came closer, her hand reaching for places she shouldn’t touch.

He yowled and struggled to resist, but his body was too weak, leaving him no choice but to let Chi Yuyang have her way.

Her brows furrowed. As expected—

A feline.

When she applied medicine to kittens in the pet hospital, they also meowed endlessly just like this.

“Tuantuan, don’t move around—you’ll touch the wound.”

At the mention of the word “wound,” the ball of fur in front of her stopped moving.

Chi Yuyang thought her soothing words had worked.

“Tuantuan, you…” Chi Yuyang noticed that the gash had already begun to scab over.

The healing speed was astonishing.

She froze for a moment.

Hu Jin, however, thought this female was making a fuss over nothing.

Under normal circumstances, this kind of injury would heal in less than half a day.

Only now, the situation was different.

A glint of cold determination flashed across Hu Jin’s eyes.

By then, darkness had completely fallen outside, and Chi Yuyang couldn’t see Tuantuan’s expression.

Her thoughts were filled with how to make it through the night.

Though the cave entrance had a natural barrier, the wind still slipped through the cracks, sending chills into her body.

Her only jacket had been draped over Tuantuan.

Chi Yuyang couldn’t help sneezing.

“Achoo!”

Hu Jin noticed the female trembling slightly, and the strange fabric beneath him seemed to be her clothing.

He recalled that there should still be firewood stored in the cave, so he howled a few times toward Chi Yuyang.

She saw Tuantuan suddenly move deeper into the cave and then call out.

Could there be another creature inside?

Chi Yuyang was startled.

Seeing the fear on the female’s face, Hu Jin knew she had misunderstood.

The language barrier was truly troublesome.

Hu Jin thought for a moment, then pawed at the plastic bag of cat food.

Chi Yuyang assumed Tuantuan was hungry and placed a handful of kibble in front of him.

But instead of eating it, Tuantuan picked up a few pieces and placed them on his chest.

Then, using his paw, he pushed them around, first forming the character for “wood,” and then another for “fire.”

When Chi Yuyang saw that Tuantuan had been fiddling with the cat food for so long without eating it, only playing with it in its paws, she thought it was just passing the time.

But when the words wood and fire appeared before her, she froze completely.

This couldn’t possibly be a coincidence.

But why would an animal understand human writing? Could it be that a human soul had entered an animal’s body?

“Tuantuan, do you understand human words?”

Human? He was a beastman.

Hu Jin ignored the question and simply let out a few more growls into the cave.

Chi Yuyang understood his meaning and walked deeper inside.

With the faint light from her phone screen, she discovered some wood and fire-starting materials piled in a corner.

The deeper part of the cave was also warmer than the entrance, and the wind wasn’t as strong.

So she sat down and began trying to start a fire by rubbing wood together.

This was her first time ever trying to make fire.

Naturally, she failed several times.

But when her hands were rubbed red and there was still no result, doubt slowly began to creep into her heart.

Hearing the sounds from her side, Hu Jin guessed her current predicament.

He let out a few symbolic growls.

In the orc tribe, females were always pampered and never needed to make fire themselves. It wasn’t surprising she couldn’t do it.

He thought Chi Yuyang would give up at this point.

Unexpectedly, she never stopped her actions.

Her phone battery was already critically low. Once night fell completely, being left without a light source would be extremely dangerous.

Not to mention, fire would also provide warmth.

She was cold and afraid.

But Chi Yuyang was never someone who gave up easily.

So when she finally saw a small spark appear before her eyes, she realized the ancients hadn’t lied—hard work really did pay off.

Sure enough, effort was rewarded.

Hu Jin also saw the firelight.

He hadn’t expected this female to be even more persistent than he thought.

Chi Yuyang walked over to Tuantuan, planning to carry it closer to the fire.

But just as she picked it up, it started struggling again.

Did this female not understand the rule that males and females should not casually touch each other?

Chi Yuyang had no idea what Tuantuan was thinking. She patted its head. “It’s warmer over there. Since you can’t move easily right now, I’ll carry you.”

That was at least a reasonable explanation.

When Tuantuan stopped struggling after she said that, she confirmed her guess.

This white tiger really could understand her words.

That, at least, was some comfort in this strange place.

Chi Yuyang moved Tuantuan and all her belongings deeper into the cave.

Several hours had passed since her last meal. She poured out the contents of the plastic bag.

She placed the mulberry-like fruits she had found earlier in front of Tuantuan and asked, “Are these edible?”

Hu Jin glanced at the blue fruit.

He never ate them himself, but as far as he knew, they were edible.

Seeing Tuantuan nod its little head, Chi Yuyang felt reassured.

She trusted Tuantuan very much. After all, up until now, it hadn’t done anything to harm her. On the contrary, it had even given her the materials to start a fire.

She guessed this cave must be Tuantuan’s territory.

Then she thought again—she had seen many plants bearing fruit along the way. Maybe she could ask Tuantuan which ones were edible.

Although eating only fruit could easily lead to malnutrition, for now she hadn’t seen any other living creatures besides Tuantuan in this place.

At least having fruit to eat was already not bad.

Chi Yuyang washed the pale blue fruit with stream water and took a bite.

So sweet.

The taste strangely reminded her of watermelon.

While eating, she poured out a large handful of cat food in front of Tuantuan.

Then she grabbed a packet of biscuits and a cup of jelly for herself.

She tore open the packaging and tossed several biscuits into her mouth at once.

She was too hungry to bother with table manners.

Anyway, right now it was only her and a tiger.

And the tiger was staring at her in a daze.

Chi Yuyang froze for a moment.

“What is it, Tuantuan?”

She thought Tuantuan wanted the biscuits in her hand, but in reality it was just his first time seeing such food.

Chi Yuyang knew cats could eat biscuits, so a tiger should be able to as well.

She placed a biscuit near Tuantuan’s mouth.

“Try it.”

Hu Jin had intended to refuse, but he never turned down food placed right before him.

And unexpectedly, this female’s food was delicious.

So Chi Yuyang watched as Tuantuan quickly finished chewing one biscuit and then stretched out a paw.

“No more than one more.” Chi Yuyang helplessly took out another piece.

If she had known, she would have kept it all for herself.

When she started eating the fruit again, Tuantuan once more blinked his big round eyes at her.

“You can’t eat jelly.”

Chi Yuyang patted Tuantuan’s head, but its expression made it clear it hadn’t understood.

Looking at the fluffy creature before her, Chi Yuyang’s heart softened. She pulled out another biscuit.

“My food isn’t as much as your cat food. Don’t fight me for it, okay?”

Tuantuan shook his head obediently, but inwardly he thought—once he recovered, he could hunt and eat whatever he wanted.

At this moment, by the firelight, Chi Yuyang counted her remaining supplies.

There were still a few fruits left. One fruit was fine to eat, but by the second, it already felt cloyingly sweet.

Once morning came, she could go pick other kinds of fruit.

As for her own snacks, there were seven packets of biscuits, two cups of jelly, one box of chips, and two loaves of bread left.

Her original plan was to conserve energy and eat only two meals a day. But now it seemed that would be hard to keep up.

In just twelve hours since arriving here, she had already eaten three packets of biscuits, one cup of jelly, and one loaf of bread.

According to Tuantuan’s appetite, the cat food would be gone in less than a week.

If she went a little farther, maybe she could catch animals like fish, but in Tuantuan’s current condition, moving around wasn’t convenient.

And she couldn’t possibly abandon Tuantuan.

Not only because Tuantuan was a rare species, but also because he was the first living creature she had encountered since arriving here—and one that even understood human language.

Thinking of this, Chi Yuyang couldn’t help but glance at Tuantuan. “If only you were an adult tiger. At least then the food problem could be solved.”

But if it really were an adult tiger, there was no way she could peacefully coexist with it like this.

Encountering a grown beast—even if she managed to save it—she would never keep it by her side. It would be far too dangerous.

A cub’s appearance, however, was extremely deceptive. At this moment, looking at Tuantuan, Chi Yuyang couldn’t resist reaching out to touch its snow-white fur.

Her impulse turned into action. Without realizing it, her hand slid across Tuantuan’s back.

Hu Jin’s tiger body trembled, and he let out a series of low growls.

What was with this female—always touching his fur?

But this time, he didn’t refuse. He didn’t know if it was because he was too weak to resist, or because this was the first time in his life someone had been grooming him so often.

In the orc world, partners usually stayed in the same form, and there were rarely situations of human with beast.

In beast form, the way of expressing intimacy was licking each other’s fur.

But Hu Jin was still a single tiger. Other than the distant memory of his mother grooming him as a cub, he had never been this close to a female in his entire tiger life.

In truth, Hu Jin had always scoffed at the talk of reproduction, so much so that despite being an adult for several years, he had never even considered seeking a mate.

Yet now, he suddenly felt that this female before him wasn’t bad at all.

Orcs’ thinking was much like that of wild beasts. They trusted their instincts more. Whatever they set their eyes on, they would never easily let go.

The same applied to prey, and the same applied when choosing a partner.

After indulging herself with the feel of his fur, Chi Yuyang happily rubbed Tuantuan’s round little head. She had no idea about the tiger’s complicated inner thoughts.

For her, there was something more important at hand.

When cats got injured, they were often made to wear something called an Elizabethan collar to prevent them from licking their wounds.

Just earlier, while organizing her supplies, she had unexpectedly found several adjustable Elizabeth collars of different shapes and sizes inside a plastic bag.

She had to admit, the shop owner had been really thoughtful—he had even prepared this for her.

From behind her, she pulled out a bread-shaped collar and called out, “Tuantuan.”

Hu Jin had never seen such a thing before, but for no reason at all, he suddenly felt a twinge of nervousness.

“Roar roar roar roar!” What is this?!