"I woke it up..."
Ye Fei stared at the red exclamation mark. There had been nothing in that spot a moment ago, which meant there had been no danger before.
His approach had woken whatever was hiding there...
[Snow Lurker: A four-legged animal that lives in the snow. Skilled at hiding, with Sharp Claws and Sharp Teeth. Thick padded clothing will give it considerable trouble.]
After staring at the red exclamation mark for a few more seconds, Ye Fei saw a new hint.
Did the last part mean this hidden animal was so small that it couldn't even bite through padded clothing?
The supply crate was right in front of him, and Ye Fei didn't want to give up. He had walked so far before finding another one, and he had no idea where the next would be.
Besides, as long as he didn't let it bite his hands or face, there probably wouldn't be much danger.
Tightening his grip on the axe, Ye Fei watched that spot carefully and tried walking toward the supply crate.
As he moved, the red exclamation mark moved too, circling around the supply crate and approaching him.
He couldn't see how the animal beneath the snow was moving. At least, there was no change on the surface.
Only when it got close to him did the thing stop.
It lay perfectly still in front of him, waiting for him to walk over.
Without that hint, Ye Fei was sure he would never have noticed the danger.
After looking around, he picked a spot where the snow was only ten centimeters deep and ran toward it.
It was only a few meters away. When he reached it, he jumped up onto the rock beneath the snow, where the snow barely covered his ankles.
Here it comes!
Ye Fei had his axe ready. Watching the red marker rush toward him, he planned to chop the thing dead as soon as it showed its head.
However, things didn't seem to unfold quite the way he had expected.
"Whimper... whimper... whine..."
The animal beneath the snow charged at Ye Fei, but it failed to avoid the rock and crashed straight into it, falling over.
It hadn't knocked itself unconscious, but the sudden whimpering left Ye Fei a little dumbfounded.
Had this little animal come to act like an idiot rather than bite him?
He took a wooden board out of his Inventory. For safety's sake, he wouldn't reach out and touch it, no matter how curious he was.
Using the board, he cleared away some snow, then dug out the four-legged animal that had knocked itself silly.
"What is this, a snow fox or a ferret?"
Looking at the round little Little Dumpling he had lifted onto the surface with the board, its head apparently injured and its health bar down to just one-third, he really couldn't make sense of it.
Since he didn't know, he waited for a hint. He stared at the little thing a while longer, and after ten seconds or so, the information he wanted finally appeared.
[Level 1 Snow Fox Cub: A hunter that hides in the snow. Can be tamed.]
The tamable tag made Ye Fei loosen his grip.
Still, he didn't put away his axe, because he wasn't sure whether the little thing would attack him when he approached.
"Don't bite me, or I'll chop you dead!"
Ye Fei walked up to the badly injured snow fox cub and pinned its head down with his axe. Under its terrified gaze, he grabbed it by the scruff of its neck.
He honestly didn't know whether foxes could be held like this, but he had seen people do it with cats when he was young, and he wouldn't have to worry about being bitten.
Carrying the little fox, which was still whining, Ye Fei walked over to the supply crate, dug it out and put it away, then hurried home.
[Today's random quest: Search for supplies ×3. Quest progress: 3/3. Quest completion rewards: 3 survival points, 1 Level One Survival Pack.]
The quest was complete, and the rewards were his.
Once Ye Fei reached the yard, he left the little fox outside the door and went inside to open the supply crate first.
He didn't know anything about taming foxes, so he would let it go hungry for now and figure things out once he found a method or something the little fox could eat.
As for whether it would starve to death outside...
He had no idea.
But he couldn't give the little thing a chance to ambush him.
[Opened wooden supply crate: Bread +2, water +2, frozen White-Feathered Chicken +1.]
"Foxes like chicken?"
Ye Fei looked at the White-Feathered Chicken in his hand, frozen into a solid lump. Was this why the little fox had been guarding that supply crate?
Could it really smell the chicken through that huge lump of ice and the supply crate?
Still, this chicken was pretty big.
After putting away the bread and water, Ye Fei placed the White-Feathered Chicken, which weighed about two and a half to three kilograms, into the electric pot. He switched it on, poured in a bottle of water, and began cooking.
That amount of water certainly wasn't enough, but as the layer of ice around the chicken melted in the heat, he had a whole pot of broth in less than ten minutes.
In the real world, Ye Fei would never have done this, but his resources were limited now. Besides, the White-Feathered Chicken had already been cleaned, and the ice was clear and free of impurities, so he felt it should be fine.
After half an hour, which used up 6 energy points, the smell of chicken soup finally drifted from the pot.
Outside his door, the little fox, which had been quiet until then, started whining and whimpering again.
"Hungry?"
Ye Fei opened the door and crouched down to look at the little fox, whose health bar was still at one-third.
The little thing was actually quite pretty: a fluffy white ball with a big, bushy tail and a pair of large ears that were currently drooping listlessly...
"Whimper..."
The little fox struggled to lift its head, tears welling in its eyes.
It knew that this human had taken the meat it had smelled earlier but never gotten to eat.
What's more, it had hurt itself trying to stop him from taking its food. Its head was still spinning, and it couldn't even stand.
"Feeling wronged?"
Ye Fei reached out and stroked the little fox's head, then found a purple bruise beneath the skin of its white head.
It had lost two-thirds of its health bar in a single collision. This little fox was fast, and it had clearly been in quite a hurry.
"Whimper... whine..."
The little fox trembled in fear when Ye Fei's fingers touched its head.
But the pain it expected didn't come again, nor did he kill it. After giving Ye Fei another tentative look, the little fox tilted its dizzy head a few times, then grew too tired to move and simply rested it in his palm.
"You're pretty well-behaved. How about staying with me from now on? I can't promise meat at every meal, but I should at least be able to keep you from starving."
Ye Fei couldn't understand what the little fox was saying. All he knew was that it was obediently nestling into his palm, which meant it was willing to trust him.
When he found that Little Dumpling wasn't resisting, Ye Fei considered the taming a success. He carried the Little Fox inside, took a basket from the storage rack, and set the injured little thing down.
Once inside, however, the little fox obediently lay still because the room was warm, and especially because the smell of chicken soup was tempting it. It hoped to recover its mobility soon so it could find its meat and carry it away.
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