At the sight of this, Bai Chuan froze. A strange feeling welled up in his heart, and he couldn't quite put it into words. He stared blankly as it shakily held out the little wooden box, waiting for him to take it.
After a long moment, he finally came to his senses and let out a deep sigh. Then he reached out with his other claw and took the little box.
The little box, which had always felt light in the past, suddenly seemed heavy.
He raised his head and gazed into the distance, his eyes passing over the lush treetops to the clear blue sky.
He carefully calculated how far they had traveled by now, and tried to recall just how fast that human had been when he burst into motion.
It seemed they would have to stay put for a few days.
Fortunately, there was no way that human could catch up so quickly.
This river and its tributaries wound and twisted in every direction; the terrain was incredibly complex. And humans couldn't swim nonstop like he could.
Even building a boat would take time.
Besides, he was no slouch when it came to swimming. This time, time was on their side.
That worked out, then. He would prepare to evolve right here.
The power of Frost Strike...
Having made up his mind, Bai Chuan stayed where he was.
By dusk, after searching all afternoon, Bai Chuan had finally found a fairly secluded hedgehog burrow. Using it as a starting point, he dug out an entirely new den.
He hadn't had much time, so the den was still rather shallow, but compared to the hedgehog's original burrow, it was already quite large and deep.
As for the hedgehog?
It had been gutted long ago and now lay off to one side. Fortunately, Bai Chuan's new den was deep and enclosed, so the stench of blood hadn't spread very far.
At that moment, Bai Chuan frowned as he watched the mouse, which seemed a little off—if a snake like Bai Chuan had eyebrows, that was.
But that wasn't the point.
The point was, ever since Bai Chuan had brought back this injured little thing, it had remained in this half-dead state. It was still breathing and could move a little, but that was about it.
He looked at the rather gruesome wound on its leg. The little snake had bitten it, and something seemed wrong with the injury now.
The wound might have become infected—or perhaps it wasn't just the wound. Its internal organs might have been hurt as well.
That was Bai Chuan's guess after taking a closer look.
He should be glad the little thing had run into a nonvenomous snake instead of a venomous one. Otherwise, it would already be dead.
But by the looks of it, there wasn't much difference now. One would have died on the spot; the other was dying in agony.
Because he couldn't seem to do anything to help.
Animals—any animals that lived in the wild—were afraid of getting wounded. Once they had an open wound, it was all too easy for it to become infected and inflamed.
And that was exactly what had happened to this little thing.
This was bad.
At that moment, whether he looked at it rationally or let his personal feelings weigh in, Bai Chuan felt an instinctive urge to save the little thing.
Reason told him that he still needed it to suppress the Ice Silkworm. If it died, the little bug in the wooden box beside him would go berserk at once.
Then no one could say whether he would be able to withstand it.
After weighing his options, he decided he couldn't get rid of the Ice Silkworm yet. Its ability was far too strange. He couldn't make a rash decision before reaching a final conclusion, or he might regret it when it was too late.
As for his feelings, after what had just happened, Bai Chuan found himself unwilling to let it die just like that—especially when he was the reason it had been hurt.
He didn't like owing anyone.
But he couldn't find any useful way to help.
What if he searched for medicinal herbs?
Forget the possibility that plants in this world might be different from those in his old one. Bai Chuan had never studied this stuff in his previous life. How could he tell what was what?
And on top of that, he was a snake.
Faced with this, Bai Chuan let out a quiet sigh. For a moment, he felt helpless.
Was this little thing simply fated to die?
He glanced around irritably, trying to find some way to help. If only the little thing could regenerate like him.
"Hmm? Regeneration?"
Bai Chuan froze. He suddenly remembered that he had the ability to regenerate. How did that ability work?
At its core, it came from genes in his body that allowed him to produce a mysterious kind of cell.
These mysterious cells were the most primitive, unspecialized cells in a living organism. They were not fully differentiated and had the potential to regenerate various tissues and organs.
They were called "stem cells—pluripotent stem cells!"
And where were the stem cells that enabled a host to regenerate usually stored? They existed in all kinds of tissues in the body, even in the bone marrow.
But what about his blood?
Bai Chuan recalled how his body had changed when he was injured the last time, especially his blood.
It seemed like the answer was yes!
With that thought, he looked again at the little thing suffering all over.
In that case, whether you lived or died was up to your own fate.
Bai Chuan brought his tail closer. After taking a glance at it, he decisively slashed it hard with his Sharp Claws.
A faint pain followed. Crimson blood began to seep from his tail, gathering into a bead at its tip.
Seeing this, Bai Chuan held his tail above the little thing's mouth. One drop after another of bright red blood fell under the pull of gravity and dripped into its mouth.
One by one, the drops fell and disappeared inside.
It wasn't until Bai Chuan noticed that the bleeding had stopped and his tail was beginning to heal that he stopped.
"That should be enough blood, right? If it doesn't work, then I guess you were fated to die."
After that, Bai Chuan moved away from its side.
He had done everything he could. If it still didn't work, there was nothing else he could do.
If that was the case, he'd better start preparing now.
For example, he could find a safe place to evolve the Ice Silkworm's ability. The sooner he finished evolving, the sooner he could find out what it actually did.
If it proved useless, he could take advantage of the little thing still being alive and quickly figure out why, then scan it again to obtain the Ice Silkworm's ability model.
If it died, there would be nothing he could do.
Don't blame Bai Chuan for being so practical. He had already done all he could; now he was simply making the most of things.
In the end, the two of them were just hunter and prey, like a wolf and a sheep.
The idea of a wolf falling in love with a sheep was laughable to him.
He had caught it because the Ice Silkworm needed something to suppress it. Subconsciously, he simply considered the mouse his property.
He hadn't eaten it before only because this was the first time he had encountered a creature that might possess intelligence, and because he had thought this might be a world of immortal cultivation or something like that.
He hadn't yet figured out what kind of world this was, and didn't want to get himself into a whole heap of unnecessary trouble. Besides, he didn't like eating creatures that possessed intelligence.
After all, in his eyes, the mouse had a bit of spirit, but it still wasn't an intelligent creature. What had moved him today had merely raised its standing in his heart from prey to an ordinary pet.
Even if it survived this time, once he obtained the Ice Silkworm's ability,
he wouldn't take it along anymore. After all, every time he evolved an ability, he had to enter Deep Slumber, and during that time, he would lose all ability to fight back.
That alone meant he could only ever travel alone.
Not to mention that humans had left some kind of tracking method on it. Taking it along would be practically asking to draw attention to himself.
Now, he needed to go out and find another place to evolve.
It wasn't safe to stay here, even if he had just dug this den himself.
As long as there were other creatures around, he couldn't let down his guard. His Panel concerned his entire future; he couldn't afford even the slightest lapse.
Just as human nature couldn't withstand a test, Bai Chuan trusted nothing—not a thing except himself!
He had to choose a secluded place where he could be alone to evolve.
Before you continue