Paoxiao and Danghu

Tu Ran never imagined she'd one day see shyness on a chicken's face.

She glanced at its weight and roughly guessed why it couldn't fly.

Suddenly, she wasn't so sure she needed a subordinate like this.

As things stood, aside from winning the trust of the wild chicken leader, it didn't seem to have any useful qualities.

Maybe she should just leave it here.

She could find a more suitable choice later.

"Ah! Are you going to abandon Fatty?"

Tu Ran's conscience pricked her, and she instinctively denied it. "No."

"That's good, then go find Fatty some food. Fatty's hungry."

Tu Ran bit her lower lip. What should she do? She wanted to shoot it dead.

"Once Fatty's full, he'll recover in no time. Fatty's regeneration is excellent—he can heal in a day."

The pudgy chicken monster had no idea it was teetering on the brink of life and death.

One day. Tu Ran stroked her chin. If it could recover in a day, guarding it was worth the trouble.

"What do you eat?" Tu Ran asked.

"I eat anything." Fatty patted its belly with its wing, looking proud.

Tu Ran glanced at the ground beneath her feet and said with complete seriousness, "Here, didn't you say you eat anything? Dirt. Here you go. Have at it."

Fatty's mung-bean-sized eyes filled with wounded pride. "You two-legged beasts are so mean! You're bullying Fatty!"

Tu Ran curled her lip. "Didn't you say you eat anything?"

"Squawk squawk squawk squawk squawk!"

Fatty's feathers puffed up.

The feathers around its neck stood straight on end, and its little black brow feathers furrowed downward—fierce, like an angry bird mid-fluff.

Tu Ran stopped teasing it and turned to head into the dense woods around them.

She had food in her backpack, but not much of it. She'd planned to stay in the Threshold a while longer, so she needed to conserve what she had.

Given that Fatty's height, width, and length were practically equal, the food she carried would only amount to a single meal for it.

It was better to find something it could eat.

When Tu Ran had read its memories earlier, she'd caught glimpses of its eating habits and had a rough idea of what it could consume.

For instance, a kind of melon with red skin and black flesh.

Tu Ran had seen this melon in the woods before.

She retraced her steps. Sure enough, after only a few paces, she spotted many red fruits clustered at the top of a tree.

Each fruit was bigger than a human head, with red skin.

Pioneers had brought these back before, and they were documented at the Research Institute.

Testing had shown them to be non-toxic and highly nutritious.

The reason they weren't included in the Pioneer Team's in-Threshold diet was their taste: extremely bitter.

A bitterness no human could bear.

Tu Ran climbed onto a branch and twisted off a melon.

It was heavier than she'd expected.

Tu Ran figured a single one wouldn't satisfy that chicken monster at all.

She'd need to pick several.

She looked down at the ground. Dropping it directly would probably smash it.

Tu Ran took a rope from her backpack, wrapped it around the melon, and lowered it steadily to the ground.

Then she pulled the rope back up and picked three more melons in succession.

Four melons, each the size of a human head—Tu Ran figured that would at least half-fill its belly, even if it wouldn't be completely full.

She climbed down from the tree, hugged two of the melons, and headed back to where Fatty was.

Fatty was sprawled flat on the ground, feet pointing skyward, happily wiggling its toes.

Having someone fetch food for it was just the best!

It wanted to become a leader too!

Watching its carefree posture, Tu Ran suddenly wondered: had she gained a subordinate, or had she just gone and become someone else's servant?

"Eat up!" Tu Ran tossed the melons in front of it, her tone curt.

Fatty sat up nimbly, and when it saw what they were, it lit up with delight. "Fatty loves red-skinned melons the most!"

It hugged a melon with both wings, knocked it against the ground with practiced ease, and the melon split in two, revealing green flesh inside.

It pecked at the flesh, eating with relish.

Before long, it had finished half the melon. As it moved to the other half, it managed to squeeze in between bites, "Fatty used to not be able to fly, so I could never reach melons like these."

Tu Ran watched it eat with green juice smeared all over its beak and couldn't help but doubt it. Was this melon really as bitter as the legends said?

Judging from its blissful expression, it looked like the melon was incredibly sweet.

Was the difference just in how humans and it tasted things?

Now that she'd eaten the Gu Diao's inner core, would this melon taste sweet to her too?

Thinking this, Tu Ran looked at the other melon.

She cut it open with her knife and took a small piece of the green flesh.

It didn't look appetizing.

But she still wanted to try.

Tu Ran put it in her mouth, already bracing for a bitter death.

Unexpectedly—and yet, as she'd suspected—the flesh wasn't bitter at all. It even carried a hint of sweetness.

The juice was abundant, flooding her entire mouth, quenching both thirst and hunger.

So the Gu Diao's inner core was the real hidden treasure.

Having swallowed the Gu Diao's inner core, she could now eat many of the Threshold's foods. That meant she didn't have to worry about running out of food during a long stay.

"I picked two more. Stay here; I'll go get them." Tu Ran stood up.

Hearing there were two more, Fatty's eyes brightened.

This was wonderful. Following the two-legged beast, it could eat its fill.

"Squawk squawk squawk squawk squawk squawk squawk squawk!"

It would follow the two-legged beast forever!

Tu Ran had already left, heading back to where she'd picked the melons.

From a distance, she could see the two melons still lying quietly on the ground.

Tu Ran was about to step forward when she noticed a black shadow behind the tree.

A massive shape, hidden behind the trunk.

Its tail wasn't tucked in—most of it stuck out, swaying back and forth.

It was guarding those two melons, waiting for its prey to come to it.

Tu Ran quickly retreated.

She ran back to the oblivious Fatty.

Fatty was still eating its second melon.

"Stop eating. There's a black-tailed monster over there. We need to leave, now."

Fatty raised its head from the melon flesh. "Black tail... is it a Paoxiao?"

"Don't know."

Tu Ran spoke quickly, yanked the melon from its grasp, and tossed it aside. Then she turned her back to it, crouching slightly.

"Get on."

Fatty was startled by her pose, hardly believing it. "You're going to carry Fatty?"

"Less talk! If you don't want me to leave you here, get on now!"

Fatty jolted at her shout and sat there, looking aggrieved. "Don't abandon Fatty. Paoxiao will eat Fatty."

"Then get on!" Tu Ran was about to die from anger.

"Oh."

It finally climbed onto Tu Ran's back.

Its two wings gripped her shoulders tightly.

"Boss, boss, run this way. This is the Danghu's territory," Fatty directed from atop Tu Ran's head.

So the chicken monster wasn't called a chicken monster—it was called a "Danghu."

"Are you sure your territory has enough authority to intimidate it?"

Don't end up inviting a wolf into the house.

"Of course!" Fatty said. "Danghu live in flocks. In Danghu territory, there are many adult Danghu birds. They're very powerful. A Paoxiao is just one; it can't beat a flock of adult Danghu."

Tu Ran ran in the direction it indicated.