TFBAT – Chapter 4

“This is to stop you from licking your wound,” Chi Yuyang explained.

Then, ignoring Tuantuan’s pitiful cries, she slipped the Elizabethan collar over its head.

“Pfft—” Seeing Tuantuan’s silly and dazed look, Chi Yuyang couldn’t help but laugh.

She had already realized that Tuantuan couldn’t muster any strength for the time being, which meant she could freely knead and squish this ball of fluff as she pleased.

Taking out her phone, she snapped a picture of the harmless little creature, then powered the phone off.

Before shutting it down, she noticed the time on the screen—it was a little past seven in the morning.

Yet outside the cave was pitch dark, which led Chi Yuyang to suspect that this place was twelve hours apart from Beijing time.

At that moment, drowsiness began to creep in. Since arriving here, she had only managed to sleep once. Now, with Tuantuan by her side, she actually felt she could rest in peace.

Hu Jin noticed her rubbing her eyes and guessed she wanted to sleep.

He tapped her gently with his paw, indicating that she could use him as a pillow.

But Chi Yuyang didn’t understand his meaning. Instead, she simply pulled the items out of her cloth bag, laid the bag flat on the ground, and prepared to use it as a pillow.

Seeing this, Hu Jin gave a soft snort in his heart and closed his eyes, feigning sleep.

Only when Chi Yuyang’s breathing grew slow and even did Hu Jin open his eyes again.

By then, he had regained a little strength. With a light roll, he moved to her side and pressed his body against hers.

In her dreams, Chi Yuyang felt something warm and soft. Instinctively, she snuggled closer, mistaking it for the plush toy she used to sleep with back home—forgetting for a moment that she was now in another world.

Hu Jin watched the female lean tightly against him and closed his eyes, perfectly content.

The night passed without dreams.

When the morning sunlight finally spilled into the cave, Chi Yuyang slowly woke.

The first thing she saw was a white creature rummaging through her belongings.

“Tuantuan!” she called out.

Hu Jin froze on the spot, caught red-handed, his body stiffening at the sound behind him.

Because of his injuries, his senses had dulled, and now he had been exposed just like that.

“You can move already?” Chi Yuyang was surprised. She hadn’t expected Tuantuan to recover so quickly—last night, it had been completely at her mercy.

That was when she noticed the Elizabethan collar that had been tossed into the ashes of the firepit, the rest of it chewed to bits.

“So naughty.” Chi Yuyang stroked Tuantuan’s head, but didn’t scold him.

After all, she had already taken a photo yesterday. The only pity was not trying out a few different collars to see how funny he’d look in them.

“Let’s have breakfast first.” Chi Yuyang glanced at the plastic bag holding bread and biscuits, sighed, and picked up the bread.

Her choices were limited, so she could only decide based on which food would last longer.

Beside her, Tuantuan was already licking at his cat food.

At the same time, he peeked curiously at the bread in her hand.

Unable to resist those eager eyes, Chi Yuyang tore off a small piece of bread and held it out to his mouth.

Tuantuan swallowed it in one gulp, then looked down at the cat food in front of him. Carefully, he scooped up a small pawful of it and pushed it toward Chi Yuyang’s hand.

“You’re… sharing your food with me?” Chi Yuyang asked in surprise.

Tuantuan nodded its little head and nudged the bag of cat food again.

“I can’t eat that.” Chi Yuyang shook her head.

Seeing Tuantuan tilt its head, as if puzzled why, Chi Yuyang pointed at the picture on the bag and explained: “This is for cats… for feline animals to eat, understand?”

Hu Jin had already noticed the picture. The animal drawn there looked similar to the tiger clan’s beast form, but it lacked their ferocity, and no animal in the forest grew to look like that.

Could it be that this female’s race was like that? But she clearly resembled the ape clan more.

Hu Jin felt that there were far too many mysteries surrounding this female. Still, since he had already made his decision, he wouldn’t easily go back on it.

After all, he himself was an oddity among the tiger clan.

Thanks to Chi Yuyang’s help, he estimated that within two days at most, he would be able to revert back to his normal beast form, and within a week, he could switch back to his human form.

If not for her bandaging and providing him with food, he would have needed three days just to recover his strength—yet in less than a day he could already move around.

Chi Yuyang had no idea what kind of effect her actions had produced. Since Tuantuan could move now, she thought of taking it with her to search for food.

But she was worried that might worsen Tuantuan’s injury.

“Tuantuan, let me see your wound.”

Hearing that, the furball immediately rolled over and revealed its belly.

Sure enough, the scar that should have been on its abdomen was already gone.

Chi Yuyang was dumbfounded.

She reached out to touch its belly. White fur covered it, leaving no trace that it had ever been wounded.

Hu Jin felt the female’s soft hand on his body, and though he restrained the strange stirring in his heart, he still licked her hand.

Licking was a tiger clan’s way of showing closeness, so he assumed other beastmen tribes would understand it too.

But—

Chi Yuyang was not from the beastman tribes.

Seeing her expression, Hu Jin realized that she didn’t understand his action at all, and he suddenly felt an urgent desire to return to his human form.

That morning, Chi Yuyang had bread and fruit for breakfast.

She finished quickly and decided to take a walk nearby.

But after only a few steps, she realized Tuantuan was following her.

“You need to rest.” Chi Yuyang thought that no matter how fast Tuantuan’s recovery was, it was still injured. After much consideration, she decided it wasn’t suitable for it to move around.

But what Hu Jin was thinking was that, as a male, he should protect the female—especially since this female was to become his future mate.

“Aw, aw, aw.” I want to go.

In Tuantuan’s heterochromatic eyes, Chi Yuyang saw her own reflection. She guessed what it wanted to say.

“…Alright then.” She also figured Tuantuan must be far more familiar with this forest than she was.

So, one human and one tiger set out, one after the other.

Chi Yuyang moved very slowly—so slowly that Tuantuan, who had been behind her at first, soon walked ahead.

How in the world had this female made it here? At her speed, she wouldn’t be able to catch even a single prey.

Hu Jin’s doubts grew, but he still had no way of communicating with her.

Because it had rained the night before, droplets still clung to the forest leaves, occasionally falling and brushing across Chi Yuyang’s cheek.

“The air here is so clean.” She paused to look up at the sky.

She lived in an industrial city, and without enough money to move away from the factories, she was used to seeing white smoke puffing from chimneys every day.

Living here actually wasn’t so bad.

For a fleeting moment, such a thought appeared in Chi Yuyang’s mind.

But the truth was she didn’t even have the basics to guarantee survival here.

Shaking her head, she told herself to focus on immediate needs first.

“Tuantuan, can this be eaten?” Chi Yuyang bent down to look at an unknown object blown down by the wind. It resembled an apple, but its skin was milky white.

The tiger, walking ahead, heard her voice and turned back. Sniffing at it, he picked it up in his mouth and brought it to her.

The meaning was clear: it was edible.

Chi Yuyang understood.

Before she could ask another question, Tuantuan suddenly turned away.

After walking a short distance, it stopped.

Still within her sight, Chi Yuyang hurried to catch up. She saw Tuantuan sniff at the ground, then swiftly claw aside a patch of vegetation.

Hidden beneath were several fruits of different colors.

“All of these can be eaten?” Chi Yuyang couldn’t help but exclaim.

Tuantuan nodded.

Cheering, Chi Yuyang pulled out a plastic bag she had prepared and began collecting the fruits.

When she finished, she belatedly realized something.

“Tuantuan… did you hide these?”

Hu Jin had intended to tell her that of course it was some other forest animal’s stash—he himself never ate such things. But when he met her expectant gaze, he strangely found himself unable to deny it.

Receiving his silent confirmation, Chi Yuyang happily lifted the bag and prepared to fetch water at the stream.

“It’s so strange. Why aren’t there any other animals in this forest?” Sitting by the stream, she gazed at the reflection of herself and the tiger. Even if this was Tuantuan’s territory, surely at least fish in the water or birds in the sky should exist, right?

“I really want to eat meat.” Chi Yuyang sighed. She wasn’t particularly fond of heavy meat dishes, but surviving on nothing but fruit wasn’t a solution either.

The white tiger beside her lowered his head quietly when he heard her words, even pawing nervously at the soil.

Because when he was undergoing his tribulation, every animal within a ten-mile radius had fled in fear of being struck by lightning.

He hadn’t expected to fail that tribulation. Now food was scarce—but fortunately, this female had provided him with sustenance.

After he recovered, he planned to catch whatever the female wanted to eat.

“By the way, Tuantuan, is there any rice around here?” Chi Yuyang suddenly interrupted Hu Jin’s thoughts.

When she asked this question, she wasn’t holding out much hope, but still, she wished Tuantuan could give her a positive answer.

Unfortunately, what she got in return was a puzzled expression.

As expected—even if this white tiger was intelligent, there was no way it would know about rice, the kind that humans eat.

The disappointment on the female’s face made Hu Jin’s heart sink. He didn’t know how to comfort her, and his front paws waved uneasily, tearing up the already-dug soil a second time.

Seeing Tuantuan’s movements, Chi Yuyang couldn’t help but place her hand on its head, smoothing down a tuft of fur blown out of place by the wind.

“Tuantuan, you’re just too cute!”

With Tuantuan’s help, Chi Yuyang had a bountiful harvest.

She carried the collected fruits back into the cave.

Just as she was about to sit down and rest for a moment, she suddenly felt a warm current flow out of her body.

Oh no! Her period had come!

Chi Yuyang’s cycle had always been very regular. Before being forced into this situation, she had bought sanitary pads and disposable underwear at the supermarket.

Tuantuan, lying on the ground, also caught a faint scent of blood in the air. It quickly stood up and moved toward her.

Chi Yuyang instantly remembered that wild beasts are attracted to the smell of blood. At that moment, she didn’t know what she should do.