One Person, One Ball, Walking Together

Tu Ran stood in place, arms crossed over her chest, watching its struggling figure.

Its silhouette was rounder than the two melons.

The fanned-out tail was probably the only trait that distinguished it from a melon.

After rolling every melon back into the cave, Fatty leaned against the wall and gorged itself.

Tu Ran wasn't hungry. She left it there and went outside to survey the surroundings, and also to fetch some water—the portable canteen was already empty.

She walked a long way before finally coming across a small river. It was very clear. Tu Ran cupped her hands and drank a few mouthfuls, then filled her canteen.

She stood up, tucked the canteen into her pack, and headed back to the cave.

Fatty was still in the same spot, in the same pose, gnawing on its sixth melon.

It really could eat!

Tu Ran marveled.

That layer of fat wasn't earned for nothing.

"Do you know how to get out of this forest?" Tu Ran leaned against the cave wall across from it, one leg bent, pulling out a compressed protein biscuit to nibble on.

Fatty poked its head out of the melon shell. The pure white feathers around its beak were soaked through with green juice, looking somewhat comical.

"No. Fatty's never left this forest," it said honestly.

"Aren't you supposed to be a wanderer? You've never even left the forest—how does that count as wandering?"

Fatty retorted, "This dense forest is huge. Not a single bird from our whole Danghu clan has ever flown out. I've met birds of many other races, and they've never flown out of this forest either."

Tu Ran bit her lip. "Then do you have a rough map of this forest?"

She couldn't keep wandering aimlessly like before.

"I pretty much know it," Fatty said.

Tu Ran's eyes lit up. "Draw it out for me. I need it."

The two orange brows above Fatty's eyes drooped. "Boss is going somewhere—won't you take Fatty along?"

Tu Ran was caught off guard. "Why would I bring you?"

Fatty: heartbroken! Its loyal heart had been fed to the dogs, after all.

Even the delicious red-skinned melon didn't taste good anymore.

It said dejectedly, "Fatty thought Boss would treat Fatty as a friend, would wander the world with Fatty. Never expected that Boss never even took Fatty seriously."

Tu Ran said seriously, "Fatty, you should know that following me means a lot of danger. I don't have the ability or the extra energy to protect you. Staying here on your own is very safe—like before, go wherever you want, eat whatever you want."

"Besides, back with the Danghu clan, they already think you were eaten by the Paoxiao. They won't come looking for trouble or force you to join their ranks. Shouldn't you be even freer to do whatever you like?"

Fatty said gloomily, "But without Boss, I can't pluck red-skinned melons. I can only pick up the ones that fall, and sometimes there aren't even any on the ground."

It was playing pitiful, but Tu Ran had no proof.

"You can eat other things. Before I came along, didn't you still manage to keep yourself nice and plump?"

Fatty was still aggrieved beyond measure. The red-skinned melon lost its appeal. Its eyes were watery, and it said nothing.

Tu Ran: She felt like a scumbag who'd deflowered an innocent maiden and was now abandoning her.

With a sigh, Tu Ran spread her hands. "Suit yourself."

Do whatever you want. She was tired of it.

She'd have to be crazy to worry about the safety of a chicken.

In the Threshold, she only needed to look after herself, and on that premise, obtain as many inner cores as possible. Nothing else mattered.

It could follow or not.

Hearing that Tu Ran agreed to let it tag along, Fatty cheered up, tail wagging, and continued leisurely gnawing on its watermelon.

As much as Tu Ran hated to disturb its meal, she still felt some things had to be made clear in advance.

"Since you've decided to follow me, I'll handle your food and drink, and you'll be responsible for pointing the way."

Fatty nodded without hesitation. It had lived in the Threshold for thirteen years, wandered for thirteen years, and had been to most places in the Threshold. Navigation wasn't a problem.

"When we run into danger, I'll save you only if I'm sure of my own safety first. That means if we meet a really powerful enemy, I might abandon you to survive. You need to be mentally prepared," Tu Ran stressed.

Fatty hesitated for a moment, then still nodded. "Fatty trusts the two-legs' strength."

Tu Ran didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She herself was utterly lost about her own path ahead, and this thing actually said it believed in her—what a joke.

"Also, following me is going to be tough. You can't just eat and sleep, sleep and eat. If you waste my time, I'll ditch you on the spot."

Tu Ran thought to herself that this condition was harsh enough for it to back off.

But Fatty nodded directly. "Don't worry, Fatty can do it."

Tu Ran didn't know what to say.

She really couldn't understand why it insisted on following her—just for food?

After a long silence, she let out a heavy sigh, put away the half-eaten biscuit, and leaned against the wall with her arms crossed, closing her eyes to rest.

"Then eat up quickly. We set out as soon as you're done."

...

Half an hour later, one person and one ball walked toward the depths of the forest.

Fatty said that during the past few days, their range of activity had been only the outer edge of this forest. Deep inside, there were many more aberrant creatures, and most of them were smarter and stronger than the ones on the periphery.

The outer aberrant creatures generally didn't dare go further in.

And the Paoxiao they'd encountered the day before yesterday—most of its clan lived in the inner area.

The danger inside was obvious. After weighing it repeatedly, Tu Ran still decided to venture in.

She'd been wandering the periphery for days, running into only aberrant creatures with weak combat ability.

Correspondingly, they yielded mostly support-type abilities.

The only one that truly boosted her combat power was [Instant Teleportation].

That was far from enough for her.

The higher-level aberrant creatures deep in the forest were sure to have more powerful abilities.

She needed to seize more abilities while there were still no other humans competing with her.

Along the way, Fatty shouldered the heavy responsibility of navigation.

Its sense of direction was excellent. It could quickly locate the nearest water source and easily find tasty fruits and food.

For Tu Ran, who had no sense of direction at all, Fatty was practically a mobile map.

When it found a fruit tree, Tu Ran was responsible for climbing up to pick the fruit.

After eating and drinking their fill, the pair continued onward.

Fatty was easier to deal with than Tu Ran had imagined.

It walked fast.

Despite its heavy body and short legs, it moved them quickly, never slowing Tu Ran down.

It ate a lot—seven or eight meals a day—but each meal took little time, and Tu Ran was happy to feed it all sorts of food.

Whenever they came across fruit on the road, she'd pick one to tide it over.

After these few days, not only had Fatty not slimmed down from the daily exercise, but it had grown even rounder, like a ball.

Fatty also had many survival skills in the wild, and what surprised Tu Ran even more was that it had many nests here as well.