Catch up to that engine with the red star up ahead!
Nuannuan's thought was simple and firm.
The snow leopard answered with a sudden burst of speed.
Its body smashed through the wind and snow, leaving a white wake behind it.
Nuannuan buried herself in the snow leopard's thick neck fur, leaving only her bright eyes exposed as she stared fixedly at the engine of the train ahead.
Her little hands tightened their grip.
This was no longer simply a mount and its rider.
At this moment, they were comrades.
One sought her only hope.
The other answered that strange "contract."
The train climbed slowly, its heavy body groaning under the strain on the steep tracks.
This gave the snow leopard a perfect opportunity.
It took an exceptionally cunning route, always finding the fastest path through seemingly impassable jumbles of rocks and snowdrifts.
It knew these snowy mountains as well as its own backyard.
Soon, the girl and leopard passed the train's last carriage, then the freight cars in the middle, then the boxcar with the opening torn into it.
To the children in the boxcar, that white shape looked like a bolt of lightning flying along the ground, carrying a little patch of red as it charged straight ahead.
"Creak... creak..."
The train's wheels ground heavily against the rails.
The soldiers escorting the military train had no idea that a bloody hunt and a harrowing escape had just taken place not far behind them.
All they knew was that the wind and snow were especially fierce today, the tracks were slippery, and the locomotive seemed to lack power.
"Old Zhang, give it a little more! We'll be fine once we're over this slope!"
The driver shouted into the radio in the cab.
"Understood! Already shoveling in more coal!"
The reply came from the boiler room.
Just then, the human traffickers in the carriage behind finally recovered from the terror the snow leopard had struck into them.
Scarface's still-warm corpse lay in the carriage, his terrified eyes wide open.
The other man, tall and thin, regained consciousness. The sight of his companion's gruesome state nearly made him faint again.
But his survival instinct overcame his fear.
He saw the opening that had been torn open, and he also saw the little girl who had jumped off the train to escape.
"Fucking... little bastard..."
He squeezed the words through his teeth, his eyes filled with venom.
He picked up the pistol Scarface had dropped on the floor.
It was a battered homemade pistol, and there was no telling how many shots it could fire, but in a place like this, it could still kill.
He clambered unsteadily onto the piled cargo, stuck his head out, and pulled the trigger at the white shape receding into the distance.
Bang!
The muffled gunshot was insignificant amid the wind and snow.
There was no telling where the bullet went.
The snow leopard did not even break stride.
It had already left the train far behind.
Beside himself with rage, the tall, thin man tried to fire again, but a violent jolt threw him off balance. He tumbled off the piled cargo and lost consciousness once more.
Nuannuan knew nothing of this.
All her attention was focused ahead.
She could feel the snow leopard's stamina draining, too.
Its breathing grew labored, and with every leap, she could clearly feel its muscles bulging beneath its fur.
Almost there... big kitty... a little faster...
Nuannuan encouraged it in her mind.
The snow leopard seemed to sense her urgency. It accelerated again, its body almost parallel to the ground as it left a long white phantom across the snow.
At last, they overtook the locomotive!
The snow leopard did not stop. It raced several hundred meters farther ahead, then swung its hindquarters around in a graceful turn and came to a steady halt right in the middle of the tracks.
It turned to face the steel dragon slowly approaching.
Its massive body cast an enormous shadow in the dim yellow headlights.
It arched its back, a threatening growl rumbling in its throat, its ice-blue eyes filled with a king's warning.
Whooo-!
The train driver immediately spotted something wrong on the tracks.
He sounded the whistle, trying to drive away the beast that seemed oblivious to death.
But the snow leopard did not move.
Behind it, Nuannuan lifted her little head from its fur.
As she watched the locomotive draw closer and closer, her heart rose into her throat.
Would it stop?
Would it stop for her?
What if... what if it didn't stop?
Fear seized her.
But she could not back down.
She drew a deep breath and used the very last of her strength to unleash all of that strange power that allowed her to communicate with animals!
This time, her target was not the snow leopard.
It was every living creature in these snowy mountains!
Awooo-!
A long wolf howl suddenly rose from a nearby valley.
Then, as though some command had reached them-
Awooo-!
Awooo-!
From every direction, wolf howls rose one after another.
Each louder than the last, each following on the heels of another.
Dozens, perhaps even hundreds of wild wolves howled at the train at the same time, their cries filled with hostility.
Their voices joined into a terrifying wave of sound that echoed through the valleys, even drowning out the train's roar.
This was no longer simply a wild animal blocking the tracks.
This was an entire wolf pack declaring war on the train!
Inside the cab, the veteran driver's palms were slick with sweat.
He had worked this route for twenty years and had seen black bears and wolf packs, but never anything like this!
A king of the snowy mountains blocked the way ahead, while wolves howled throughout the valley.
This was too uncanny!
"Stop the train! Stop it now!"
He roared at his assistant.
His assistant was scared witless, too, fumbling frantically for the emergency brake valve.
Screeeech-!
An unbearably shrill scrape of metal tore through the wind and snow.
The tremendous inertia made the entire train shudder violently, dazzling sparks flying between the wheels and rails.
Out on that deserted snowfield, a fierce beast and a five-year-old child had forced the steel dragon to a halt.
Lying on the snow leopard's back, Nuannuan watched the train finally stop. Her taut nerves relaxed, her vision went black, and she nearly fainted.
She was far too tired.
Sensing the little one's weakness on its back, the snow leopard growled even louder, as though warning the people who were about to emerge from the train.
Do not come closer.
Do not hurt the cub on its back.
This was its promise.