Is She an Idiot?

She stored the beast crystal in her space, picked a few large leaves and put them inside, then laid the black panther's carcass on top. She didn't want to get her space dirty.

She wasn't sure whether vicious beasts were edible, but she couldn't let it go to waste. Its hide could be made into fur clothing to ward off the bitter cold.

After disinfecting her wound, she returned to the trap. She used her crutch to swat away a big black bird gnawing on a rabbit leg, reset the trap, collected the rabbit, and headed to the river.

There were no other beastmen by the river. She took out her sulfur soap, carefully washed her wound, sprayed it with medicine, and bandaged it. After resting for a while, she got to work.

She was out of practice at processing hides, but fortunately her dagger was easy to use. After scraping all the fat off the hide, she rolled it up and stored it in her space.

She set the black panther's teeth and claws aside to make daggers. Her nano blade was due for a rest; a dagger this good should be saved for when she really needed it.

By the time she had washed the prey clean, both hands were red with cold, and it was almost dark. The black panther's meat was black, and she wasn't sure whether it was poisonous. In any case, one look at it was enough to put her off eating it.

After some thought, Feng Rumeng decided to give the prey to the injured venomous snake. She was going to throw it away anyway, so she might as well do him a favor and help him out, treating it as making a friend.

When she had been injured in the forest, how she had wished someone would help her. It wasn't easy surviving in this savage beast world. The weather was so cold, and he was so badly hurt. Wouldn't hibernating while injured make him more likely to die?

Feng Rumeng hesitated no longer. She put the black panther into her space and headed that way.

Ling, who had been dozing, opened his beast eyes and watched Feng Rumeng approach one step at a time. Wasn't this female afraid of me? What trick is she up to now?

Feng Rumeng took out the prey and leaned against a tree nearby. "Venomous snake, if you're not dead, eat up."

Ling looked at the prey, his vertical pupils contracting and expanding. A fourth-tier vicious beast? "Did you hunt this?"

Feng Rumeng glanced at Ling. "No. I went into the forest to pick fruit and found it. I don't like eating it, so you get the bargain."

Ling didn't believe Feng Rumeng at all. Vicious beasts weren't like ordinary wild beasts; every part of one could be exchanged for crystals. A beastman who had hunted one would never bear to leave the prey behind.

This female is lying, but she has no rank, and she doesn't look capable of hunting, either...

Seeing that Ling hadn't eaten, Feng Rumeng assumed the black panther's poison was feared even by snakes. She turned and went back to the river, returning shortly afterward with a dozen or so fish in tow.

"If you don't want to eat the panther meat, then don't. These fish are for you." With that, she picked out the two largest and carried them away.

Ling watched Feng Rumeng's departing figure. This female is unbelievably scrawny. Her wrist bones are almost poking through her skin, yet she's giving me food? Is she an idiot?

Only after Feng Rumeng had disappeared completely did Ling swallow the food. He couldn't understand how a female could be so stupid as to share her prey with a male.

When Feng Rumeng returned to the tribe, Jianyue was standing in front of her cave.

"Rumeng, you're finally back." Jianyue looked at Feng Rumeng, who was filthy all over, with dead leaves caught in her hair and a strip of beast hide wrapped around her arm. "What happened to you?"

Feng Rumeng shook her head. "I'm fine. I accidentally took a tumble on the way back."

Jianyue looked at the Wobble Beast Feng Rumeng was carrying and sighed. "A female actually has to hunt for herself. Rumeng, why don't you ask the tribe leader to assign you a male?"

Force someone to marry me? It hasn't come to that. Feng Rumeng gave an awkward smile. "I can take care of myself. Maybe one day my fox beast husband will come looking for me."

Jianyue took the prey from her and handed her some roasted meat. "Hu Yu gave this to me. He said you weren't in your cave and hadn't gone to collect your meat, so he asked me to bring it to you."

"Thank you both for helping me. I was only thinking about how to find prey, so I forgot all about it," Feng Rumeng said, rubbing her nose.

Jianyue's heart ached. She thought Feng Rumeng had made up an excuse because she was afraid people would call her ugly.

"Hu Yu has business to attend to and won't be in the tribe for a while. When I go to collect meat each day, I'll collect your share too. I have plenty of firewood, so it's easy for me to roast it. I'll bring it over once it's cooked."

Feng Rumeng pursed her lips in a smile. "Thank you so much, Jianyue."

Jianyue looked at the earthen wall. "Rumeng, why did you block up your cave?"

Feng Rumeng walked over and opened the door. "This way, the cave can stay warmer. I don't have a large beast hide to cover the entrance, so I came up with this clumsy method."

"Rumeng, you're really amazing." Jianyue walked inside as she spoke and hung the prey on the stone wall. "Get some rest early, then. I'll be going."

"Okay, Jianyue." Feng Rumeng saw Jianyue out of the cave.

After filling her stomach, Feng Rumeng took out the beast hide, spread soot from the bottom of the pot evenly over it, rolled it up, and placed it at the back of the cave. Then she heated several pots of water, washed her hair, wiped down her body, and took out a solar-powered hair dryer to dry her hair.

After closing the door, she washed the orange crystal and turned it over in her hand. Jianyue had once said beast crystals were eaten directly, but this was so, so hard. If she bit down on it, there was no doubt her teeth would all be put out of work.

How strong did beastmen's teeth have to be? She tentatively took a gentle bite. Crack. She couldn't bite through it, but the next second, the crystal melted into liquid on its own and flowed down her throat.

At once, she felt threads of warmth moving through her body. It was as soothing as someone giving her a massage. She let out a contented sigh and lay down on the bed.

So that's... how you eat this thing!

After the sensation faded, she covered herself with a beast hide and soon drifted off to sleep.

With the cave blocked up, Feng Rumeng felt much more at ease. She could still hear the sounds of beasts getting it on, but they were within an acceptable range now.

In the middle of the night, sweat broke out on Feng Rumeng's forehead, and she mumbled something indistinctly.

She was dreaming, and in the dream she was terrified. She saw a man covered in wounds standing on sticky ground, with things squirming beneath him.

Countless vertical pupils of different colors floated around him. The stone walls were densely studded with bones, and a steady drip, drip sent a chill down her spine.

At the bottom of a dark valley thousands of miles away, Wuchen stopped resisting altogether. He was tired and had no strength left. He had thought he might still make it back to see his mate one more time, but even after giving it everything he had, he hadn't managed to take a single step out.

After Liaoyuan and the others had gravely injured him, he had fallen into this valley, where no sunlight reached and there were nothing but mutant vicious beasts he could never finish killing. He closed his deep-blue eyes and spread his arms. "Come at me together. Tear me apart."

"Roar!" All the vicious beasts pounced at once.

In the cave, Feng Rumeng reached into the air as though trying to grasp something and shouted, "Don't!"

The Black Fox Mark on the right side of her abdomen had gradually turned gray.

The scene shifted. A giant bird swept her off a cliff on a mountain over three thousand meters high in Hong City.

With a bang, Feng Rumeng appeared in a university hallway. "What is this?"

"Rumeng, your grades are good. What's wrong with giving her your spot?" Her father stood before her, arms folded across his chest, his tone brooking no argument.

Feng Rumeng had grown up in a single-parent family. Her mother had divorced and raised her alone.

She had a perfect oval face, rounded almond eyes with upturned outer corners, a high, shapely nose, and soft pink lips that curved into a smile. She was tall and slender; taken on its own, each feature was the pinnacle of human beauty.

Yet she had no freedom at all. She had taken all kinds of extracurricular classes since preschool, and apart from swimming, she had mastered almost every skill. She had even attended cooking classes for half a year.

Her mother always said no skill was a burden, but too many skills had crushed her mother. When Feng Rumeng was nineteen, her mother left her forever.

She remembered the words her mother had said most often: "I'm not having you learn these things to please anyone. It's so that, in the future, you can live with dignity without having to depend on anyone."

She looked at the father before her, still talking on and on to himself. This was the first time she had met him.

He showed no concern upon meeting her. The moment he opened his mouth, he demanded that she give up her admission spot at the Supernatural Academy to her younger half-sister.

Her university had only four spots, and she had worked hard to earn hers. What right did the child he had with another woman have to it?