Dwelling in Caves

Before it could react, it felt a force shoving it from behind, sending it tumbling forward.

Wait—no, it didn't have a waist. It was two hands on its rear, rolling it along.

Either way, its whole body was no longer under its control.

"Ahhhh—"

I'll roll myself.

Tu Ran ignored it.

"Dizzy, dizzy, dizzy—"

I'm going to throw up.

Tu Ran still ignored it.

"Blargh blargh blargh—"

It threw up. Really threw up all over the ground.

Tu Ran... still ignored it.

Finally, they rolled into a cave, and only then did Tu Ran stop her "inhumane bullying."

She went in first to check the place.

The cave was neither large nor deep. Grass grew lushly around it, with no signs of animal tracks.

Deeming it safe, it would serve as a temporary resting spot.

Tu Ran turned back, grabbed Fatty by the furry scruff of its neck—the bird was nearly unconscious—and dragged it inside.

It collapsed onto the ground, curling into a ball, looking even more like a round orb than before.

Now this orb was angry.

The two-legged beast's rude behavior had deeply wounded it. It would show the two-legged beast, through actions, that it had a temper too!

Tu Ran couldn't be bothered with it.

After dragging it in, she left the cave again.

On her way here, she'd noticed a tree not far from the cave bearing red-skinned melons.

She needed to pick a few for today's food.

She needed rest—she probably wouldn't be coming out again within the next twenty-four hours.

Enduring her body's discomfort, she climbed the tree and picked eight melons in a row.

She'd taken into account that there was a pig in the cave.

She only needed one for herself; that pig would need seven, and even that might not be enough.

Using a rope to lower the melons down, Tu Ran rolled them back one by one.

Fatty was still sulking.

Until it heard the sound of Tu Ran chewing, along with the sweet aroma of the red-skinned melon.

Its stomach gave two traitorous growls.

It shuffled backward, then shuffled again.

From the corner of the wall, it edged all the way to Tu Ran's feet.

"Head not dizzy anymore?"

Tu Ran was using the tip of her dagger to spear chunks of melon flesh and feed them into her mouth.

Fatty hastily sat up. "Not dizzy. Long since not dizzy!"

"Then eat."

Tu Ran didn't make things difficult for it. She rolled all the melons over to its side.

Fatty stared at the countless melons, hardly believing its eyes.

"All for me?"

"Mm." Tu Ran glanced at its pathetic, eager look and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

With confirmation, Fatty immediately cracked one open and gobbled down the green flesh, pecking greedily.

Tu Ran paid it no more mind, using her knife to spear her own melon.

After eating to about eighty or ninety percent full, Tu Ran wiped her blade clean, sheathed it, and walked to the corner of the wall to sit down with her back against it.

She took a recovery agent from her medicine pouch and injected it with a syringe.

"I'm going to rest now. I hope when I open my eyes your leg is recovered—otherwise—" Tu Ran made a throat-slitting gesture.

Fatty was happily eating, not worried in the slightest. Its head, wet from the melon pulp, emerged as it said, "Don't worry, Fatty's recovery ability is excellent."

"It'd better be." Tu Ran gave it a cold glance.

In this danger-laden alien world, she had no spare energy to look after it for another day.

She placed her backpack on the ground as a pillow, rested her head on it, and closed her eyes.

She slept while Fatty went "crunch crunch crunch" on the red-skinned melons.

The sound wasn't quiet, but it didn't disturb Tu Ran's sleep at all.

On the contrary, it gave her a sense of ease.

Like having someone keep watch for her.

She quickly fell asleep, much more soundly than the night before in the tree forks.

When she woke, Tu Ran sat up comfortably and stretched.

Outside, the sky had already darkened; the entire cave was pitch black.

This was her first night in the Threshold.

She felt a bit fortunate she'd found a cave to stay in rather than still sleeping on a tree branch.

The night world could harbor many dangers. The Federal Government had also advised Pioneers to minimize movement after dark.

If she'd slept in the tree, she'd have been stuck up there, waiting for dawn to climb down—how stifling that would be.

Tu Ran listened carefully to her surroundings.

She heard a long, steady breathing sound.

She took out her flashlight and shone it toward the source.

Sure enough, she saw Fatty sprawled out, sleeping every which way.

The flashlight beam stung its eyes, and it grumbled twice, then rolled over and continued sleeping.

In front of it lay over a dozen melon shells, eaten perfectly clean—not a trace of green flesh left on the red rinds.

Tu Ran looked away and was about to stand up and stretch when something slipped from her waist and fell.

Tu Ran shone the flashlight down and found a fluffy blanket.

?

Frowning, Tu Ran picked it up and brought it closer for a look.

It was indeed a fluffy blanket—mostly white with a few streaks of orange fur mixed in.

The blanket wasn't large, just enough to cover her upper body.

Tu Ran hadn't brought any such blanket into the Threshold.

Nor had she covered herself with anything before sleeping.

And yet now this blanket had appeared on her.

Tu Ran looked at Fatty.

The fur around its neck was, in fact, white with a tint of orange.

Could it be that it had pulled out its own fur and woven it into a blanket? Tu Ran felt a complicated mix of emotions.

She walked over to Fatty and crouched down, examining the fur on its neck closely.

It looked perfectly intact?

She reached out and lifted the top layer.

Underneath, the fur was still long, with no signs of being trimmed.

So where on earth did this thing get fur to weave a blanket?

Tu Ran crouched there, unable to figure it out.

Fatty, awakened by the flashlight beam, opened its eyes.

Seeing Tu Ran in front of it, it said excitedly, "Ah, two-legged beast, you're finally awake! You slept for so long!"

So long? Tu Ran hadn't had time to check the time because she'd been too busy studying where the blanket's fur came from.

At Fatty's words, she went back to her backpack and checked the time. It was 9 a.m. Federal Time.

She'd gone to sleep at 7 p.m. the night before, so she'd slept for fourteen hours?!

Impossible. She could have sworn only seven or eight hours had passed.

Fatty sat up against the wall, using its wing as a hand to rub its eyes. "You slept so long, Fatty thought you were dead! Good thing I checked and you were still breathing."

Tu Ran guessed it was because of the recovery agent.

Recovery agents were of the same type as the Medical Department's nutrient pods—they could quickly restore an injured body to its pre-injury state.

Extremely precious; every Pioneer was allotted five before entering the Threshold.

She'd already used one, so she'd have to be frugal with the rest.

"Where did this blanket come from?" Tu Ran asked.

"Fatty wove it from fur I shed. Isn't it warm?" Fatty's bean-sized eyes were full of a look begging for praise.

Tu Ran gave a slight nod. "You wove it last night?"

"No, I wove it long ago and hid it there." Fatty pointed to a small mound of dirt at the very back of the cave.

That was where it had dug the blanket out from.

"You've been here before?"

Fatty nodded, then comfortably rubbed its back against the wall to scratch an itch. "Back in the day, Fatty traveled far and wide and had many homes. This is one of Fatty's."

Tu Ran looked at it, suddenly realizing she might have underestimated this creature.