Gentle Beast 41

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【擒贼擒王: Seizing The King】

At six the next day, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu opened her eyes just on time.

She unconsciously looked around at the empty bed, and could not find Ryan.

Since Ryan had begun his courtship with her, he had locked her in his arms every night and his burning body was stuck to her, making her afraid to blink all night long. However, not that Ryan didn’t return overnight, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu couldn’t relax.

Yesterday, that group of saber-toothed tigers came with such arrogance and their roars echoed through the Camuda Valley all through the night.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu remembered watching in the animal kingdom, from before, that the tiger was the king of beasts. Extremely powerful and fierce, their size and strength drastically bigger than the leopards.

. . . She wondered if Ryan was in danger?

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu thought while she dressed herself and went outside to explore the situation.

There was a pair of binoculars in her space, though she couldn’t remember who had brought it. The parameters were 131×1000. The day she was caught by Ryan, she had especially noticed. From here to the edge of the Camuda Valley, it was about a kilometer.

In other words, she could stood in the courtyard and observe the situation with it.

However, she could not find it yet. Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu looked in a corner of her space.

After the sudden emergence of firecrackers yesterday, there was now a few more neatly placed wooden boxes.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu confirmed that she hadn’t seen these boxes yesterday. She looked closer then at their labels. The wooden box read, “Fragile, careful handling.” Looking next to it at the list, she was immediately dumbfounded. Inside, it was all, unexpectedly, valuable mahogany furniture!

There was a red table embossed with a water dragon, and a pair of chairs. There were rounded cabinets. . .

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s expression became more and more bad. Just how much were these things worth in the 21st century, ah! How could it appear in her space?

She just had a little nap, could her space have upgraded again?

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu calmed herself down to think, it shouldn’t be because of her space upgrading.

The furniture and yesterday’s firecrackers appeared out of nowhere. There was no theoretical possibility, like. . . the material had just appeared in her space.

The items that were originally placed in the cargo compartment of the bus were inexplicably entering her space.

In the blink of an eye, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu seemed to think of something. Her eyes opened wide and she stared at the furniture incredulously.

Were these things also held in the cargo hold? Like the stuff they had been traveling with, they were also sucked in?

——Was her space somehow connected to the bus compartment?

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu trembled with excitement.

Since these things had passed through from the 21st century through the space, then could it do the opposite and return to her world through the space?

With this in mind, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu couldn’t wait to get into her space and try it.

Before she could enter though, she heard the noisy sound of footsteps coming from outside. Then the panicking cries of the females interrupted her.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu took a look outside.

Immediately afterwards, a strong scent of blood passed through the courtyard walls.

The leopards had continued to fight with the tigers for an entire day and night. Because of their small number, they had initially had a disadvantage.

Many of the leopard warriors were injured and being sent back to the tribe.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu opened the courtyard and glanced around outside.

Most of the males were heavily injured. Some had their arms bitten off, and some had their thighs torn, some were inflicted with deep claw marks. . .

Several beastmen carrying an injured leopard passed through the gate. Just seeing the hollowed out belly, she covered her mouth and backed up a few steps.

Even when she had first come here, and seen many examples of the jungle law, this was the first time she had seen something this bloody and gruesome up close.

*

“Ermin, leopard, skull fracture, died of inadequate treatment.”

“Bailey, snow leopard, excessive bleeding, died of inadequate treatment. . .”

“Nice, leopard, seriously injured. . .”

. . .

Elder Scarlet stood at the entrance of the tribe, counting the warriors wounded or dead in the clan.

His daughter, Suzanna, had also been severely injured yesterday. She was almost killed by a saber-toothed tiger and it had been difficult to save her. He didn’t even have time to care for her.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu stood in the distance and watched the injured leopards be brought back one by one. Her little face was pale and white.

The thick scent of blood permeated the air in tribe and the leopard beastmen were busy treating their companions, so no one noticed her.

She walked in a circle and found no sign of Ryan.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu observed with her binoculars and saw a few tigers attacking a leopard, and she could not find Ryan.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu walked over to Elder Scarlet’s side and wanted to ask about Ryan’s situation, only just opening her mouth, “You know. . .”

Scarlet immediately waved, sparing no effort to speak with her, saying in the leopard tongue, “Go, do you not see I am busy, whatever it is can wait for a while.”

The sharp claws rubbed against Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s cheek and she backed away quickly, but didn’t give up asking, “Do you know where Ryan is?”

Scarlet, as a leopard elder, was barely able to understand the human language.

He turned his head to see it was Ryan’s baby female, stopping to say, “Ryan didn’t tell you?”

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu shook her head.

Scarlet said: “Ryan is leading the tribe at the entrance of the valley against the tigers. The situation is urgent and he won’t be back for a while.”

. . .

Nightfall, Camuda Valley entrance.

The moonlight sprinkled down on the treetops, silence everywhere.

A large saber-toothed tiger passed under a tree. His limbs were covered in heavy snow and his steps echoed.

The tiger looked around and didn’t see anyone, so he slowed down and prepared to take a rest under the tree.

In the tree, a strong figure was hidden in the dark, slowly opening a pair of dark blue eyes.

Ryan silently shifted and, taking advantage of the tree’s height and that the tiger was unprepared, suddenly jumped under the tree——

The tiger was pinned in the snow by Ryan’s front paws.

The saber-toothed tiger opened his mouth and snapped for Ryan’s neck.

Ryan leaned slightly to the side and pressed his claws to the tiger’s head, pushing it aside.

The tiger, Sarant, had no time to recover from the shift, and bit into the trunk beside him. The long fangs sunk deep in the tree and could not be pulled out.

In a hurry, Sarant yanked hard, his fangs splintering the tree, and he roared angrily at Ryan.

The noise was so loud even the snow on the trees began to fall.

Sarant raised his claws and swiped towards Ryan. However, because he had gone too long, his physical strength was long spent and the power in his claws wasn’t much. Ryan easily dodged the attack.

To kill a man, first shoot the horse. To catch a thief, first smash the king.

This truth, the wild beasts understood clearly.

The number of leopards weren’t as high as the tigers. So instead of wasting their strength fighting with them, it was faster to beat the leopard first.

Ryan singled Sarant out the entire day and night. At first, he was evenly matched with the tiger. In fact, Sarant even had a slight advantage.

But after fighting for so long, Sarant’s physical strength was overdrawn and Ryan was still as resilient as yesterday. His strength hadn’t diminished in the slightest.

Sarant knew this now. Ryan had been saving his strength the entire time, waiting to give him a fatal blow.

*

Another night past, Camuda Valley gradually calmed, and still, Ryan did not return.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu stood at the front of the courtyard and saw that most of the leopard tribe had returned. Most of them were more or less injured. Dragging with them, the injured saber-toothed tigers could only be called “Captives.”

Perhaps due to the defeat of the tigers, even exhausted, the leopards could not conceal their bloodthirsty excitement.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu turned her eyes this way and that to find Ryan and found nothing.

She did not dare to look more closely, and hid herself behind the door.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu crawled into her space yesterday and looked around it, trying to find the connection between it and the 21st century.

Unfortunately, nothing ever came of it.

Moreover, the driver possibly noticed something was off and no longer put anything into the compartment of the bus. Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu looked for it especially and there was nothing new in her space.

It somewhat disappointed her.

Just like that. She had touched that shining silk thread of hope and suddenly it was snipped, cut off from the other side. Her leap of joy, abruptly ended.

However, after the night of adjustment, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s mentality had become better.

Her space was not a path, and Pat still had a clue.

In any case, there was still a glimmer of hope.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu sat to the side of the courtyard, thinking of these things, and waited for Ryan to come back.

By three in the afternoon, Ryan had yet to come back.

Her belly was hungry, so she ate a bit of bread and it filled her stomach. She quietly opened the door to look, and the tribe had returned to peace. All the leopards had been returned to the tribe, with the exception of a few that had lost their lives.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu waited another two hours until five and finally could not sit still.

She saw no beastmen at the door of the yard so she opened it and went out in the direction of where Elder Scarlet had been yesterday.

Sure enough, Scarlet was still counting the casualties there.

The ground was covered in rows of corpses, and Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu took a rough glance, seeing ten or twenty bodies.

. . . No Ryan. She breathed a sigh of relief.

“Elder, are all the injured here?” Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu asked as she reached Scarlet’s side.

Because of yesterday’s exchange, she knew he understood human language.

Scarlet looked down at her and said, “There are still a lot of bodies that aren’t brought back yet.”

His voice fell, and several beastmen carried in the bodies of two more companions from outside.

They had died horribly. One had his face half bitten off and the other was gutted.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu saw their horrified faces and her expression tightened, the bread she had just eaten churning in her belly. She choked on the discomfort and hesitated but still asked, “Then. . . what about Ryan? Aside from the dead, are all the leopards back?”

Scarlet was about to comfort her and tell her that Ryan was the strongest leader of the tribe and even if he didn’t return, it didn’t necessarily mean that he was injured. Then he took a look at a figure behind her and changed his mind, “Yes, aside from the dead, everyone is back.”

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu paled.

In other words. . . Ryan. . .

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu could not accept this fact for a moment and staggered back.

Wasn’t Ryan powerful? He didn’t even put the wolves in his eye, how could he be so easily killed by the tigers?

But then, she thought it was understandable. A tiger and leopard, one was better than the other.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu gasped ant the beastmen carrying the bodies passed her then and it hit her. She could not stand firm and she tumbled to the side.

Just as she was about to fall, a pair of arms caught her around the middle and, along with the strong scent of sweat and blood, brought her into his arms——

“So worried about me?” The voice rang out from above her head, the sound of smoke passing through gravel, with a hint of laughter.

Husky, rough, and sexy.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu first felt her ears go numb then looked up to meet Ryan’s blue eyes.

She blinked and blinked again, and only just half-way shocked said, “Ryan?”

“It’s me,” Ryan lifted her legs and brought her to his chest, not caring about how dirty he was.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu remembered Elder Scarlet’s words, “You, you’re not dead?”

Ryan greeted Scarlet and handed everything over to him for processing, then he carried Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu home, “My woman’s waiting for me. How could I die?”

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu: “. . .”

*

That said, after getting back, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu found that Ryan had multiple injuries from his fight with the tigers.

There were two on the shoulders, one at the neck, and the deepest on his arm, almost piercing his entire arm. It was deep and long and still bleeding.

And he had just used this arm to carry her back.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was frightened and quickly took her medicine kit out of the space, instinctively removing gauze and disinfectant to deal with the wound.

It was customary for her to bandage Táo Táo’s wounds. Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu didn’t even ask Ryan for permission. She just pulled his arm and cut open his sleeve, stopped the bleeding and disinfected it. Then she wrapped up the wound all in one go.