Eric's race was at the top of the foothills. Along with the reindeer, there were also antelope, giraffe and other herbivorous tribes.
Eric went out looking for food that he could grow.
The food the deer had been planting all these years was sweet potatoes. Except the harvest hadn't been good and it was becoming difficult to maintain the survival of the entire race.
To fill their bellies, the tribe had to go into the nearby hills to find food.
However, the mountains were also full of fierce beasts and several deer had lost their lives in the mouth of a meat-eating species.
Eric was the young patriarch of the clan and he naturally had to worry about the clan finding suitable seeds for planting.
He didn't expect to find Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu while he was out.
"Ōu, how are you here? How did you escape the leopards? Did you find your own race?" Eric brought Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu back to his race and entered the house, unable to wait to ask.
When Laurence had appeared, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu and the leopard cub had disappeared. Eric thought they had been eaten. It had been a long time since then.
Now he could see that she was still alive, and he was happier than anyone else.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu smiled lightly and evasively answered, "Yes, I found my race."
"That's great," Eric lamented. As a social animal, he knew the importance of being with ones' race. Before, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu had been alone with only a baby leopard at her side. There was absolutely no security on the Bornia continent for her.
. . .
Speaking of the leopard cub, Eric subconsciously glimpsed toward Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu, "Ōu, where's that leopard child you used to raise?"
The smile on her face stiffened a little, "He also returned to his race."
Eric seemed relieved. That was wonderful.
To Eric's knowledge, herbivorous and carnivorous species were inherently incapable of coexistence. But those words, he did not saw in front of her. "So you came back this time to find it?"
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu shook her head, "He is living well with his race. I would only disturb him if I went. . ."
She paused and said in self-deception, "I just wanted to come back and take a look."
Eric wasn't quite sure but he also didn't ask too much. After learning that she had no place to stay for a while, he warmly invited her to stay in his own home.
When Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu entered the door, she met Eric's spouse, so there was no need for self-consciousness and
she agreed to stay.
It was not that Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu didn't believe in Eric, but in the eyes of animals, a female living with a single male was the default meaning of "spouse."
——This, she had learned from experience.
However, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was still embarrassed to stay without payment, so in return, she gave Eric many crop seeds.
On the way back, she had listened to Eric saying that the harvest wasn't good this year.
When winter came, the entire race would be hungry.
"Ōu, what is this?" Eric looked at the variety of seeds in front of him and asked curiously.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu explained to him one by one, "These are peanuts, those are radish, red beans, mung beans, and potatoes. . ."
Eric listened and felt faint. Although they had involved into beastmen and lived more like humans, farming for hundreds of years, they really could not compare to real humans. "Where did you. . . where did you get these things from?"
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu told some half-truths, "These are foods that we grow in my race. They're easier to plant than sweet potatoes and they taste better. You can let your race try them."
Then she talked about how to plant them and how long they took to mature respectively.
Eric finally understood, "Ōu, you have such good timing. My people will be very grateful to you!"
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu bit her lips, a little embarrassed. These were originally things from the real world, she was just using something not of her design to win favor.
It would be good if this world could be made a little richer.
. . .
. . .
The next day, Eric could not wait to plant the seeds given to him by Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu and he went out to the fields to start planting.
In the real world it was already winter, but here it had just entered autumn.
Eric, according to Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu's directions, spread the radish and autumn eggplant seeds into the fields.
But they were not good at cultivating and didn't know how to sow. Usually there were a lot of seeds bunched together, and even if they grew, they wouldn't grow in the future.
Although Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu didn't do farm work, she also knew it shouldn't be like this so she taught them how to sow.
Eric led the tribe to follow suit carefully. Within a few days, he saw green shoots growing from the bare soil.
He was shocked and pleased to see it, because this sweet potato field hadn't grown for a long
long time!
His tribe was very grateful to Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu and were also more and more enthusiastic.
*
Today, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu stood at the front of the field and explained to Eric about how the crop was fertilized. Suddenly, she heard a huge explosion coming from a distant valley.
Bang——
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu took a slight look. Looking back, she saw thick white smoke coming from the Camuda Valley entrance.
Eric must have also heard it, his face was pale, and he quickly told the tribe to return to the race.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu asked, "Eric, what was that sound just now?"
Eric walked back with her and explained, "It must be the wolves and the leopards at war again. Ōu, let's hurry back."
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu lagged behind and heard his undertone, "They fight like this often?"
Eric didn't refute it, looking dignified.
"Why are they fighting?"
Eric: "Since three years ago, they've been fighting a lot like this. I don't know the exact reason why."
". . ."
"But," said Eric, his antlers bowed seriously, "I heard that the wolf leader stole the leopard leader's spouse."
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu: ". . ."
The sounds of fighting continued and, across the valley, the roar of beasts could be heard.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu hesitated for a moment then couldn't help but ask, "What was that explosion just now? It sounds powerful. Will it hurt other races?"
"It's called 'gunpowder'," said Eric, in awe, "The leopards only use it against the wolves, and haven't used it on other races yet."
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu: ". . ."
Ryan must really hate Holden. . .
Returning to the deer tribe, Eric's expression finally relaxed and he said, "Ōu, fortunately you haven't been in contact with the leopards. . . If that little leopard was still around, the leopard leader would never let you go."
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu turned and curiously asked, "Why?"
"The leopard leader is unreasonable, ferocious, and brutal. It's said that Pat from the eastern sea offended him and he was brought back from the east three years ago. He still hasn't been released," said Eric.
*
The leopard's battle with the wolves didn't last long, and in the afternoon, the wolves howled in surrender.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu had mixed feelings in her heart when she thought about what Eric said. She couldn't sleep when she laid down that night.
Since then, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu always intentionally, and sometimes unintentionally, asked Eric about the leopard's situation.
But, Eric was a herbivorous species and he feared the carnivores. Usually, by the time
the time they saw them coming, it was too late to hide. So where did he have any piece of mind to go snooping in their business? He didn't know much about what she wanted to know.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu felt a little lost, but there was no other way.
Unbeknownst to Eric, over the last seven days, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu would return to the tree engraved with "1002" early in the morning so she could report in with her parents.
With her fingers on the trunk, she closed her eyes.
In the next second, that familiar feeling came over her again and pulled her back to the real world.
Back there, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu opened her mobile phone and searched for a signal.
After listening to her parents' recent voicemails, she would reply to them and return to the other world.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu didn't return to the deer tribe right away this time, instead going to the back of the mountains to look around.
Halfway there, suddenly a small leopard came out from the bushes and scared Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu into jumping.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu stepped back and fixed her gaze on it.
The leopard's hind leg was slightly injured and his blue-green eyes were staring at her. A threatening growl poured out from his throat.
However, she didn't make a single movement.
Since she knew that the animals here could become humanoid, she didn't dare provoke any of them.
And. . . wasn't this a herbivorous area, how could a leopard be here?
One person and one leopard, both with their own thoughts, stared. Then, after a long time, the flower patterned leopard turned away.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu thought this was the end, not expecting that the next day, she would unexpectedly meet the leopard cub in the same place.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu said nothing and waited for him to leave.
On the third day, she met him again.
This time, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu seriously looked at him and saw that he hadn't dealt with the injury on his back leg. It was exposed to the air and his body was much thinner than the first day she had seen him.
Perhaps because he was injured like Ryan had been when they met, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu's heart was inexplicably soft towards him.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu struggled for a long time, but she could not bear it. She took a carton of milk from her backpack and pushed it forward, "Do you want to drink it?"
The little leopard looked at her then the carton. He buried his head in the box and stuck out his pink tongue his pink tongue to lap it up.
Soon, the leopard finished the milk and lifted blue-green eyes towards Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu, those eyes expressing that he wasn't full.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu took some beef jerky out to feed him.
. . .
Over the next few days, the little leopard would go to the same place everyday to beg for food.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu saw that this place was quite far from the deer tribe and he wasn't a threat to Eric's people, so she acquiesced to his behavior.
But, every time he finished his milk, she would retrieve the carton.
After all, it was something from another world and the less people that knew, the better.
*
Wenrick was banished to the wilderness for a month. When he returned, Winter and Suzanna both signed with relief.
This was one of the leopard's rules. Each newborn offspring must undergo training to be independent.
During such inhuman training, some came back, and some didn't, dying the mouths of wild animals.
Winter's son, Wenrick, was a naughty little boy. He didn't liked hunting and liked to play around, being lazy.
This time, Winter and Suzanna had feared that he wouldn't come back. When he saw him standing there, he could finally put down his heart.
"Wenrick, tell me, what have you been doing these days?" Winter held his son's shoulder and asked.
Wenrick shifted into his human form, it was about eight or nine years old. He had inherited Suzanna's red lips, white teeth, and delicate eyebrows.
Wenrick said, "I killed two hyenas, but their companions bit my leg."
Suzanna heard it and quickly checked his wound.
She saw that Wenrick's right leg had a deep claw mark, the bone easily visible, and no treatment had been done.
"You're so useless, to actually be bitten by hyenas," Suzanna said.
Wenrick's lips parted to complain, "But there were more than a dozen of them against me alone."
"How did you escape?"
Wenrick: "I fled towards the deer tribe, the stupid deer planted some strange plants and didn't find me."
. . .
The children who had went out to train that came back were returned to their parents.
About half an hour later, Elder Berson counted the children that returned and reported to the chief.
The tall, upright beastman listened, and asked in his unique, low voice, "Who didn't come back?"
Elder Berson said two names: "Gus and Felice."
His dark blue eyes and profound facial expression didn't express his emotions. He said unhurriedly and unquestionably, "Go look for them. No matter who's stomach they are in."