"Why does that tin can... smell entirely of two-legged beast cubs?"
A voice rang out in Nuannuan's mind.
The voice belonged to no person. It was vast and languid, carrying the majesty of something that looked down upon all things.
Nuannuan's eyes lit up.
She lay against a gap in the cold metal of the carriage, looking at the enormous white figure on the snowy slope outside.
"So hungry..."
"Want meat..."
The voice sounded again, simple, direct, and full of primal desire.
The big kitty was hungry.
Nuannuan's heart beat fast, not from fear, but because of a wild idea.
She glanced at the corner of the carriage.
The two traffickers who had kidnapped her, one scar-faced and the other tall and thin, were huddled together under ragged quilts, dozing.
The tall, thin man's snores were steady. Scarface's leg was still wrapped in rags, with dark blood seeping through where the big guard dog had bitten him.
The knives at their waists reflected a glint of cold light in the gloom.
They were bad people.
Even worse than Liu Guifang.
Liu Guifang only cursed at her, beat her, and wanted to sell her for dried sweet potatoes.
But these two had locked her and the other children in cages like livestock and were taking them somewhere far, far away.
Stifled sobs came from the darkness beside her. It was a boy a little older than her. When he was taken, he had seen the traffickers smash his father over the head with a rock.
"Big kitty..."
Nuannuan closed her eyes and summoned every bit of strength in her body to answer that voice in her mind.
Her forehead burned. Every thought felt like little hammers pounding at her temples.
"I have meat..."
On the snowy slope, the snow leopard stopped just as it was about to lick its paw.
Its ice-blue eyes once again locked precisely onto the metal carriage making those strange sounds.
A response?
From that can full of the smell of cubs?
Interesting.
Nuannuan felt its attention focus on her and thought even harder.
She knew very few words and could only express herself in the simplest terms.
"In the carriage... two... bad people."
She tried hard to remember the words her mother had taught her.
"They... steal children... hit people..."
"Their meat... you can eat."
She sent that thought out, carrying a five-year-old child's purest hatred.
A low rumble rose in the snow leopard's throat.
It stood up from the snow and stretched its powerful body. Not a speck of dust marred its white fur with black rosettes amid the wind and snow.
It had no interest in the internal disputes of two-legged beasts.
It was only interested in food.
"Cubs... can't eat." Nuannuan hurriedly added this. It was her final boundary and all the courage she had.
She did not know whether this big kitty would listen.
What if it treated everyone as food?
Her little hands gripped the medal at her chest tightly, the cold metal lending her a trace of calm.
Time ticked by.
Inside the carriage, there were only the tall, thin man's snores and the children's stifled cries.
No more sound came from the snow leopard outside.
Did it fail?
Nuannuan's heart sank little by little.
Her body was too weak. The high fever and hunger made her vision darken in waves.
Just as she was about to reach her limit, that voice finally sounded again, carrying a trace of impatience and a final verdict.
"Meat."
One word.
Yet it was a promise.
Nuannuan breathed a sigh of relief and slumped onto the cargo as though all her strength had been drained away.
It worked.
She had no idea what an earth-shattering thing she had done.
A five-year-old child, inside the sealed freight car in which she was being trafficked, had reached a hunting agreement with an apex predator of the snowfields.
In the corner of the carriage, Scarface smacked his lips in his sleep, seemingly dreaming of the piles of money and tables laden with meat and liquor he would get after selling these children.
He had no idea that death had already chosen him.
On the snowy slope, the enormous snow leopard moved.
It made no sound, its four broad paws stepping silently through the deep snow.
It lowered its body, its muscles like a fully drawn bow.
Facing the green metal carriage slowly climbing the slope, it drove hard with its hind legs.
A white shadow crossed more than a dozen meters like a bolt of lightning, tracing a perfect arc through the air.
Thump!
A muffled crash rang out.
That was not a collision.
Something heavy had landed squarely on the roof.
Scarface and the tall, thin man jolted awake.
"What was that sound!" The tall, thin man scrambled up and looked around in terror.
Scarface reached for the knife at his waist, his face wary. "Track patrol? Or soldiers?"
"No... doesn't sound like it..." The tall, thin man's voice shook. "It's... it's above us!"
Before he finished speaking.
Screeeech-!
A teeth-grating scrape of metal came from the roof.
It sounded as though someone were using an enormous file to grind hard against the carriage's sheet-metal roof.
Powdery snow and rust sifted down through the gaps overhead.
"Is... is it a mudslide!?" Scarface went deathly pale. Hauling freight on this line, this sort of natural disaster was what he feared most.
"Quick! Find somewhere to hide!"
The two men panicked, completely failing to notice that a pair of bright eyes in the darkest corner of the carriage was calmly watching it all.
Nuannuan did not hide.
She knew it was no natural disaster.
It was the "helper" she had invited.
It had come to collect its "meat."
She curled up and struggled to feel around beneath herself with her bound hands.
When she had woken earlier, she had noticed that one corner of the sack beneath her was torn. There seemed to be some kind of machine parts inside. When she shifted, she had felt something sharp scrape her wrist.
Now her chance had come.
Enduring the searing pain of the hemp rope digging into her wrists, she pressed the rope against that sharp metal edge and desperately sawed it back and forth, stroke after stroke.
The hemp rope was strong.
But however strong it was, it could not withstand repeated cutting by metal.
The sounds on the roof grew louder and more frenzied.
Clang!
A crash rang out, as though something had been forcibly snapped apart.
Then came a rapid series of sounds like a heavy hammer pounding an iron plate.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The entire carriage shook.
The traffickers scurried about with their hands over their heads in terror, while the children in the carriage screamed and cried in fright.
Amid all this chaos, no one noticed.
Snap.
A faint sound.
The rope around Nuannuan's hands broke.