Every so often, it raised its head and shot Su Wei a quick glance with its ice-blue eyes. Its gaze was complicated, both wary and eager to please.
Su Wei leaned against the wall without moving, his hand never leaving the cold Browning rifle.
He still couldn't make sense of it.
This wasn't how wild animals behaved.
Shouldn't a wild fox trapped in a room with a person either attack for all it was worth or hide in a corner, baring its teeth?
How could it come up to him on its own like a pet dog?
He took a closer look. The white fox had no injuries, its limbs were fine, and it didn't move slowly, either.
Apparently, it wasn't injured and out of its senses.
Could it be starving out of its mind?
Su Wei looked at the mess tin on the stove. There was a little warm mush made from compressed biscuits left inside.
It was the last of his food.
He hesitated.
He had meant to save it for breakfast the next morning.
Then the figure of eight thousand dollars popped into his head again.
That money could cover a third of the thirty-thousand-dollar minimum payment he owed.
It wasn't money; it was his hope of keeping the cabin and the land.
Su Wei made up his mind.
He took down the pot, scraped the mush off the bottom with the handle of his survival knife, put it on a clean piece of firewood, and gently pushed it in front of the white fox.
He moved very slowly, afraid of frightening the eight-thousand-dollar treasure.
Eat up. You can hit the road once you've eaten.
That was what Su Wei thought.
The white fox's nose twitched as it sniffed the lump of food warily.
It was too hungry to worry about being afraid.
It stretched out its head and took a quick lick, then immediately pulled back.
Only after confirming there was no danger did it come forward again, polishing off the little bit of food in a few bites.
When it was done, it licked the piece of firewood clean, still unsatisfied.
Then it raised its head and stared straight at Su Wei with those blue eyes before looking at the mess tin beside his hand.
Su Wei could only marvel under its gaze.
This thing... wasn't it too smart?
He paid it no more attention, retrieved the pot and firewood, and leaned against the wall, closing his eyes to rest.
No matter how strange the fox was, all he had to do was get it down the mountain alive.
He hoped he could set out without a hitch tomorrow.
Time passed bit by bit.
The wind and snow outside grew fiercer, and the howling sounded frightening.
The firewood in the stove crackled softly.
Su Wei got up from time to time to add more wood.
He was so tired that his awareness gradually blurred.
Just as he was about to fall asleep, a weight suddenly landed on him.
Su Wei's eyes snapped open.
At some point, the white fox had silently approached. Moving nimbly, it leaped straight into his arms.
Every muscle in Su Wei's body tensed at once.
Veins bulged on the hand gripping his gun, and he nearly jabbed the reckless little thing off him.
But it didn't attack.
The little creature found a comfortable spot in his arms and curled up. Its furry body was warm, and its heat seeped through his clothes.
Then something wet and warm gently licked his face.
Su Wei froze all over.
He looked down and met those clear, ice-blue eyes.
The wariness and fear from before were gone. Instead, was there a sense of closeness and trust?
"Holy shit..."
In two lifetimes, this was the first time Su Wei had encountered something so outrageous.
This was a fucking fox?
It was clearly just like a pet dog!
Where was its wild animal's wariness? Where was its predator's dignity?
All for a mouthful of compressed-biscuit mush, and it had already disowned its ancestors?
Su Wei felt his brain couldn't keep up.
He had transmigrated, fallen into debt, been chased by a bear, and nearly frozen to death!
Those things were hard, but he could still understand them.
But this eight-thousand-dollar fox in his arms, which had thrown itself at him and even licked his face, had truly left him baffled.
What was this?
A fox's ploy?
What did it want from him? His age? The fact that he didn't bathe?
Su Wei's thoughts were a tangled mess.
He reached out and stiffly touched the white fox's fur.
It felt wonderful, fluffy and soft.
The white fox gave a comfortable whimper and even rubbed its head against his palm.
Then its whole little head flopped onto his chest, and it stuck out its tongue to lick Su Wei's chin again.
Su Wei: "..."
He had no temper left.
Forget it. Whatever.
Money had come knocking at his door. He'd be a fool to turn it down.
Perhaps it had once been someone's pet and had gotten lost, which was why it was so friendly toward people.
That was the only explanation Su Wei could come up with.
Otherwise, he couldn't understand it at all.
His tense body slowly relaxed, and he let the little creature that wasn't afraid of strangers sleep in his arms.
The warm little thing in his arms made him sleepy again.
This time, Su Wei didn't resist. He needed rest.
He didn't know how long he had slept before a noise woke him.
He opened his eyes. His arms were empty.
The white fox was standing in front of his backpack.
It wasn't rummaging for food or making a mess. Instead, it had brought its head close to the backpack's side pocket, pressing its nose against the canvas and sniffing hard.
It let out a whimper from its throat, sounding anxious.
It even raised a paw and pawed frantically at the backpack, as if trying to open the zipper and crawl inside.
Su Wei frowned.
This was even stranger than it throwing itself into his arms.
What was in his backpack?
Rope, an axe, a magnesium fire starter, spare ammunition...
And...
A thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
Chaga!
Those sixteen pounds of chaga he had risked his life to harvest.