Gentle Beast Novel Chapter 10

Gentle Beast Chapter 10

Chapter 10/77

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u though about the scene from the night before, the brown bear had fell sleep leaving only an emptied glass jaw of honey.

Did that bear steal her backpack?

Realizing this, Jǐ Xiǎo ??u quickly closed her eyes to examine her space.

Fortunately, everything else was still in the space.

Only the things she had left in her backpack for easy access—the compass, flashlight and cellphone—were missing.

Although she could now directly access the space without having to go through her backpack, the cellphone was her only contact in the other world, the compass was to identify direction, and the flashlight was used to illuminate the night. Each was very important.

What was that bear doing with her bag?

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u remained puzzled, looking towards the entrance of the cave.

The snowstorm was over, revealing the circumstances of the outside world.

The whole forest was covered in a layer of white, a thick pile of snow had accumulated on the tree, and the snow had even broken so branches.

Silver and white adorned everything in sight, the snow boundless.

The snow had yet to stop and cold wind floated snowflakes into the cave, making her tremble all over from cold.

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u ate two pieces of chocolate to supplent heat but also took a n’s windbreaker from the space to drape over her. The large coat was a bit wide on her and almost reached her ankles, but it wrapped around her entire body and blocked most of the cold.

Because their trip was during autumn, only a few of the class had brought thicker clothes. This coat belonged to Liù Qí Chāng.

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u had also asked, “What’s with the windbreaker, is it really necessary?”

Liù Qí Chāng, while reading a book, faintly replied, “The mountains are cold at night, just in case.”

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u now thought it was necessary, very necessary.

At her side, the little leopard’s voice interrupted her train of thought.

She did not know when he had woken up and walked over to her. But he had his two forelegs on her feet and was lifting his head to look at her with faint blue eyes.

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u thought he was hungry, considered it no more, and directly pulled a carton of milk from her space. She took out a pair of scissors and cut it open to place in front of him.

After finishing this series of actions, Jǐ Xiǎo ??u’s movent beca rigid, realizing that she had just done sothing wrong.

Just now, she didn’t have her backpack to cover it up??

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u: “. . .”*

*I seriously like to think of these monts as her deadpanning with those ani-lines on her face, like “oh sh*t, did that just happen?”

Although she was not as cautious in front of the leopard as she was with Eric, she still deliberately hid everything in her backpack and didn’t take things out from her space brazenly.

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u’s huge, black and white, eyes were staring nervously at the little leopard. He wouldn’t notice that, right?

Ryan was also attentively staring at her, his eyes never turning from her.

For a long ti, he slowly turned to continue staring, but at the carton of milk instead.

He abruptly turned to the entrance of the cave and jumped, his hind leg kicking the carton all over the ground.

“Pa——”*

*This is supposedly “Ai”, an interjection of regret/disapproval but I figured this would work better for this sound.

The milk splashed all over the place and half splattered onto Jǐ Xiǎo ??u’s shoes.

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u was a little annoyed. Did he find sothing wrong with?

But, she did not an to scare it. . .

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u watched the milk slowly seep into the ground, a little distressed.

Her space was limited in supplies, and milk was so precious in this place that she could not bear to drink it herself. But she had given it to him for him to heal as soon as possible.

How could he not appreciate it?

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u advanced and pinched the leopard’s two round ears, squished his cheeks, and said, “How can you waste food? Do you know where these things co from? You do not have it here, and I brought it with

. .”

She chattered on: “The next ti you waste your food, I will not give you anything to eat or take you on the road.”

It was said in the tone of a cat teasing a dog.

Ryan watched the girl’s glossy eyes, her collar was covered by the windbreaker, exposing only a small face, her cheeks white with cold and slightly red.

“Did you hear ?” Jǐ Xiǎo ??u asked.

Ryan moved his gaze away, his claws unconsciously scratching at the ground, but did not respond.

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u wanted to say sothing more, but suddenly heard a voice.

Because of the heavy snow and wind, it wasn’t very clear——

“??u. . . ??u. . .”

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u’s eyes opened wide and she looked into the distance.

In the fast expanse of white, a wooden cart ca plowing through the snow, a muscular reindeer running in the front splashing snowflakes all over.

The reindeer quickly pulled the cart to the front of the cave and a familiar voice sounded, “??u, are you alright?”

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u was pleasantly surprised, “Eric?”

*

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u drew Ryan to sit on the cart and covered Eric with the goose down blanket, curiously asking. “Eric, where did you go yesterday? Why didn’t you co back? We were waiting the entire night, I though. . .”

Eric ran along the snow as he said guiltily, “I’m sorry, ??u. I was looking for firewood but the snow got too heavy and quickly buried

under it. My friend Ruth saved , but I was drowsy all night. . . I’m sorry I’m so late to pick you up,” he apologized again.

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u learned he was buried by the snow and asked him how he was, but he said, “The deer race is very strong. This amount of snow is nothing.”

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u thought about what he just said and asked, “Who is your friend?”

Eric shouted back, “He’s called Ruth. He lives in the Ferris village. He is of the bear race.”

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u thought about last night with the capriciousness of the brown bear race and instinctively felt a bit scared.

Eric sensed her dread and comforted, “Ruth is very gentle and kind. Don’t be afraid, he will be very friendly to you.”

They soon arrived at the Ferris village.

Before reaching the village, she saw all kinds of beastn coming and going.

A study bear beastman, a snake man with a coiling tail gliding alone, a butterfly with moon colored wings on his back. . .

Despite Eric just describing the village where many races lived together, Jǐ Xiǎo ??u was still surprised when she saw it with her own eyes.

Further still, Jǐ Xiǎo ??u was amazed to find there were not just herbivorous species around. There were also carnivores?

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u saw a lion beastman walked past, and she gaped.

“Eric, you. . . are you not afraid?”

Eric shifted into his humanoid shape and walked to her side, “This is a peaceful village. The grass-eating and at-eating races have reached a consensus coexist peacefully. Disputes rarely happen here, and if a carnivorous race was to act recklessly, they would cause public outrage.”

Unexpectedly. . . there was such a place?

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u remained shocked, holding onto the little leopard, and she followed behind to enter the village.

Walking for a while, Jǐ Xiǎo ??u felt that sothing was fishy and she asked Eric, “Why are most beastn male?”

Eric spoke doubtfully, “Your race’s patriarch did not explain? . . . Whether it is the deer or the bear or any of the other races, the females are very frail. After all the changes to the continent, females beca rare and much more precious.” Then, Eric said with an ordinary expression, “In order to continue the race, so clans have females mate with a number of males frequently.”

Eric’s nature was that of the beast, in his eyes, this was rather normal.

But, it sounded very awkward in Jǐ Xiǎo ??u’s ear. No wonder she had not seen any female beastn.

When she was in Eric’s village, all she saw were male reindeer.

The Ferris village had low wooden houses on either side and occasionally one or two stone houses.

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u could see huts placed in front arranged like vendor’s boothes. So had odd items, others had bows and arrows, axes, rattan mats and fire mirrors. . .

“Ferris village is the most prosperous on the Bornia mainland. One of the people here invented a boat. The ferry leaves everyday to various villages.” Eric said while he walked, “??u, there’s a boat going to the Elk village tomorrow afternoon, and I intend to take it. The ship is heading east, would you like to co with ?”

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u thought for a mont, then nodded, hearing lively voices from up ahead.

Several beastn surrounded a booth and they were intensely discussing sothing.

“What is this?”

“It’s hard and isn’t warm, and there’s a thorn. . .”

“What can this one do? How much corn can you put in it?”

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u subconsciously looked over at the beastn and caught sight of a red corner.

Her heart stopped. She didn’t bother replying to Eric and walked to the front.

Most of the beastn were tall, and she was small. Bending over, she held the leopard close and easily made her way to the front.

Looking up, there in the middle was her red backpack, the zipper wide open and inside was the compass, flashlight and cellphone set up side by side.