I Thought I'd Never See You Again

After an unknown amount of time, Feng Rumeng slowly woke to find herself in her own cave.

She sat up and took a careful look. It wasn't a dream; it really was her cave. Several layers of thick animal hides covered her, and a fire was burning beside the stone bed.

She got off the stone bed, put on her down jacket, and headed for the cave entrance. The door was wrapped in thick animal hides too. No wonder she hadn't felt cold. What kind soul had done this?

She pushed open the door, and a blast of cold instantly invaded every limb and bone, as if even her blood had frozen solid. "Thump! Thump!" Seven or eight steaming carcasses appeared at the entrance.

"Who are you? Did you save me?"

No one answered. Feng Rumeng walked out a dozen meters and found scale-shaped patterns in the snow that had not yet been completely covered. She took a few more steps and saw that the snow had sunk in places.

She called out again, but still no one answered. She went back to the cave, dragged the carcasses inside, and shut the door.

Someone had given her game, and she'd be a fool to turn it down. She couldn't let their kindness go to waste, could she?

With these extra carcasses, she would surely make it safely through the winter. Outside the cave, it was already nearly thirty degrees below zero.

She added some dry branches to the fire, lay down on the bed, and wrapped herself in the hides for a while before eating something.

Then she began preparing and washing the game. When she ran out of water, she filled a basin with snow and put it beside the fire to melt.

In the days that followed, she hardly went out except to carry a bucket outside and fertilize the earth. Every day, she slept until she woke naturally, and if she wasn't hungry, she didn't cook.

Winter was long. She played with her phone until its battery died, sorted the things in her space seven times, and wore out her squash ball...

Every morning and evening, she kept up her boxing practice. She drew, wrote in her diary, and played chess against herself in the afternoons...

When she got even more bored, she worked on jigsaw puzzles, rolled cotton and glued it to cotton thread, and experimented with food...

She had always longed for a life of doing nothing, but now she hated having nothing else.

In the middle of the night on the twenty-sixth day, Feng Rumeng heard the crack of breaking glass. Thinking someone had come to rob her, she had barely lifted the hides when she was nearly frozen into an ice sculpture.

She took out a flashlight and shone it around. Except for the area near the fire, everything, including the inner side of the stone bed, was coated in a thick layer of ice.

With the cold pressing in on her, she took thermal underwear, a down jacket, and down pants out of her space and piled on as many layers as she could. She put on thick padded boots and stoked the fire.

Yet this was not the coldest it got. Later, she took every quilt out of her space and wrapped them all around herself.

She finally understood why there were so few females in the beast world. At these prehistoric temperatures, even if they didn't freeze to death, they'd be frozen half to death.

She took out a thermometer. At its warmest, the cave was forty degrees below zero. She suddenly remembered what Jianyue had said: no matter how many mates she chose, she had to have a furry beastman among them.

The days passed one by one. Feng Rumeng was like a cabbage bound with hemp rope, unable to squat or stand straight. Wrapped in seven layers inside and seven layers outside, her hands and feet were numb even when she ate.

When she breathed out, her throat felt like it was about to freeze. Turning over in bed at night was difficult, and she had to know five minutes in advance when she needed to pee.

The fire burned fiercely, but it seemed to do no good at all. Her body was stiff, and her teeth chattered uncontrollably.

She didn't doubt for a moment that if the temperature dropped another two degrees, she would definitely kick the bucket.

During the coldest days, she also had to spend half the day poking a hole through the ice blocking the cave entrance so she wouldn't suffocate. Every time she did it, she was frozen half to death and needed half a day to recover.

Feng Rumeng swore that once this cold season was over, she would find a place where it was spring all year round.

In the fourth month, the temperature rose a little, but the snow still hadn't stopped.

In the days that followed, Feng Rumeng passed the time letting her thoughts wander. Alone for five months in this tiny space, she could already thank heaven and earth that she hadn't gone mad or become depressed.

Seven days before the cold season ended, the snow outside began to melt.

Feng Rumeng gave the cave a thorough cleaning and put away everything that needed putting away. Of course, she also prepared to leave without waiting for the tribe to drive her out.

She would leave on her own, live in another tribe, then find a chance to get a map and make a living in Beast City. She would earn a pile of Beast Crystals and hire a few powerful bodyguards to find a suitable place to settle.

The toxins in her body were gone, and her complexion had returned to normal. In the mirror, her face was lovely and her eyes shone, though she hadn't put much flesh on her bones.

Feng Rumeng adjusted her mindset and happily welcomed the arrival of the flower season.

She looked at the earthen wall, long since covered in a web of cracks. It had really come through for her, silently shielding her from the wind and snow of the cold season.

With five days left, she began to hear people talking outside the cave from time to time. It still wasn't warm, though; the thermometer showed it was more than ten degrees below zero.

On the day the flower season arrived, Feng Rumeng heard birdsong in her sleep for the first time in ages.

She smiled faintly. She could finally see living people again. She wound her hair into a bun and heartily ate two large bowls of stewed potatoes.

After washing up, she applied black liquid foundation to her fair face. Even though her looks had returned, she would keep a low profile to keep trouble from coming to her door.

She opened the door. The sunshine outside was wonderful, though it took her eyes quite a while to adjust.

She threw out what needed throwing out, emptied what needed emptying, and scrubbed clean what needed scrubbing. Then she left the cave door wide open to air it out.

Someone in the square spotted her:

"Hey, hey, hey! Look, that ugly female is still alive!"

"It really is her. She's got nine lives!"

"Didn't they say a feral beast had taken her?"

The males spoke and began to chuckle quietly.

Feng Rumeng took a deep breath. There was no point arguing with dogs.

"Rumeng," Jianyue said, her voice choking, "you're still a-alive."

Feng Rumeng turned and saw "Jianyue" running over barefoot.

She hugged Feng Rumeng tightly, her body trembling. "Thank goodness, Rumeng. I thought I'd never see you again."

Warmth filled Feng Rumeng's heart, and she hugged her tightly in return. "It's been a long time, Jianyue."

Jianyue's eyes reddened. "Rumeng, Batu told me you might have been taken by a feral beast. I cried for a long time."

Feng Rumeng shook her head playfully. "Look, it's me, alive and well."

Jianyue released her and smiled in relief.

Feng Rumeng looked at Batu. "Thank you, Batu."

Batu scratched his head. "Actually, I didn't manage to help you. I'm glad you made it back safely."

Suddenly, a commotion broke out in the square.

Hu Feng was leading a man over, followed by a crowd of tribespeople.

"Who is he?" Jianyue asked Batu.

Batu turned his head and glanced at Ling. "That's Ling from the Green Snake Tribe."

Jianyue was a little surprised. "He's so good-looking, yet he's a snake beastman. What's he doing here?"

"He came early this morning and said he wanted to join our tribe," Batu said, sounding a little puzzled himself.

The moment Feng Rumeng heard "snake beastman," her eyelid twitched.

When she turned her head and swept her gaze over them, Hu Feng's eyes darkened further, and a trace of disgust showed in them.

Ling met Feng Rumeng's gaze, and his purple eyes darkened. Why was she still so thin?

The corner of Feng Rumeng's eye twitched again. Was he that venomous snake?

Ling walked up to Feng Rumeng, his tone as undisturbed as an ancient well. "I came to take you as my mate!"