Rainstorm

Tu Ran felt a pang of regret. "You haven't figured it out yet, have you?"

She raised her wrist, revealing the handband wrapped in cloth.

"Even if I spare you now, once the Federal Government sees what you recorded, they won't spare me."

As a pioneer, she had deliberately wrapped her handband in cloth—that alone was enough to earn her a death sentence from the Federal Government.

Both of them took a step back simultaneously.

They realized that the woman before them had long since stopped being loyal to the Federal Government.

She was planning to escape the Federation's control.

And the two of them were just unfortunate souls who had stumbled into her plan and thrown it off course.

Tu Ran stared at the pair, her fingers silently curling around the trigger of her pistol at her side.

If it weren't for the recording rings, she could use "Phantasmal Realm" to alter their memories, make them completely forget what they had just seen, and let them live.

But the holographic recording rings were there.

She had no way to destroy them for now.

To keep the footage from leaking out, she could only dispose of the two before her.

The moment she drew her pistol, the man squeezed the trigger of his machine gun.

But he forgot that Tu Ran's speed was beyond human limits.

All the bullets slammed into the tree trunk across from them.

He spun around frantically to find Tu Ran, and a single bullet struck him square between the eyes.

The woman shrieked, "Let's die together!"

She pulled the pin on a demolition grenade.

The instant the bomb detonated, Tu Ran activated Blink and appeared ten meters away, ducking behind a tree trunk.

Chunks of flesh rained down in a gruesome patter. Tu Ran leaned against the tree, her heart a tangle of indescribable feelings.

She had killed her own kind.

Not fellow humans possessed by aliens.

Not fellow humans infected by aliens.

But fellow humans who had stumbled upon her secret—killed to silence them.

Killed for her own benefit.

Melancholy aside, Tu Ran still stepped over to the pile of flesh and picked up the two handbands.

They hadn't been damaged at all.

In the eyes of the Federal Government, these bands were worth more than a pioneer's life.

Tu Ran returned to the riverbank, where Fatty was still obediently waiting for her.

The foam on its body had already rinsed itself off, and now it was shaking its body like a motor to fling the water away.

Seeing Tu Ran, it bounded over happily. "Boss, boss, did you catch those two two-legged beasts?"

"Caught them."

Tu Ran brushed past it and headed for the river.

She needed to wash her face and clear her head.

"Boss, why didn't you bring them over? Fatty doesn't know any other two-legged beasts besides you. Fatty wants to make friends with other two-legged beasts."

Tu Ran pushed up her mask and splashed two handfuls of cold water onto her face. At that, she didn't even bother wiping the water droplets away, and said sharply, "Don't go near any two-legged beast except me! And don't trust any two-legged beast either!"

"Wh... why? Two-legged beasts won't eat me."

Tu Ran wiped her face. "Right, two-legged beasts won't eat you, but they'll trick you into their territory, pluck your feathers out one by one, drain all your blood, and slice your flesh and bones into thin pieces."

Tu Ran deliberately made it sound as terrifying as possible so Fatty would understand how frightening humans could be.

Sure enough, Fatty believed her, wrapping its wings around itself and trembling. "Why? Why do they want to slice Fatty into pieces?"

"Because chicken meat is delicious—grilled, fried, it's all tasty."

"But Fatty isn't a chicken. Fatty is a Danghu bird."

"Humans eat birds too, especially fat ones like you, all meat. Humans love them even more." Tu Ran continued to scare it.

Fatty was on the verge of tears. "Then boss, are you going to eat me too?"

"You're so fat, your meat must be greasy. I don't eat fatty meat."

Tu Ran glanced at it, thinking the effect had been achieved.

"So from now on, if you see humans, hide, got it? Don't stupidly run up to them, understand?"

"Got it."

Fatty nodded rapidly.

"Come on, let's find somewhere to rest. I'll pick some fruit for you."

...

One human and one ball arrived under a colossal tree.

Standing beneath it, craning your neck to look up at the canopy was like an ant staring up at an elephant.

Only in a place like this could a human truly appreciate the magnificence and grandeur of nature.

After its bath, Fatty's feathers were even whiter, and up close, there was a faint, pleasant scent. It was fluffy and looked wonderfully petable.

Tu Ran couldn't help but reach out and stroke it. The fine, soft feathers brushed against her palm, feeling exceptionally nice.

"Boss, boss, don't pat Fatty's head. Patting the head stunts growth."

Tu Ran: Does this saying exist in every world?

She withdrew her hand. "You stay guard down here. I'm going up to pick."

"Okay, boss, be safe."

The fruit on this tree was golden, hanging in clusters from the branches. Tu Ran picked three bunches, enough to fill both their stomachs.

Fatty described the taste: sour and sweet, with a dense, fluffy texture, getting sweeter toward the center.

Following that description, Tu Ran managed to turn the fruit—sour beyond belief for a human—into something resembling a frozen pear.

Not bad.

She finished most of one bunch and couldn't eat anymore. The rest went to Fatty for digestion, as usual.

With a full stomach, Fatty wanted to find a cave and sleep soundly.

But it knew the two-legged beast would never allow that.

It also didn't want to hold up the two-legged beast's journey because of itself.

It trailed listlessly behind Tu Ran.

Usually it would chatter nonstop along the way, but now it couldn't even be bothered to move its beak.

Inside, however, it was praying for the sky to darken quickly—when it got dark, it could go sleep in a cave.

Perhaps its prayer was sincere enough, because the sky indeed began to dim.

Before it could get excited, a torrential rain came crashing down all at once, as if the sea had been turned upside down.

Thanks to the canopy overhead, Tu Ran and Fatty weren't drenched immediately—only fine droplets trickled down.

"Boss, we need to find high ground to hide. Once this rain starts, it doesn't let up."

"Which way? Lead the way." Tu Ran nearly shouted.

The sound of raindrops hammering the leaves was deafening, and the entire forest was a chorus of that noise; if you spoke any softer, you couldn't be heard.

"This way!" Fatty roared, covering its body with its wings and dashing in one direction.

Tu Ran followed close behind.

The two of them ran at full tilt. Under the canopy, there was barely any rain, but at the gaps between two crowns, they would suddenly be doused by cool rainwater.

Thank goodness for Fatty—otherwise, at a time like this, Tu Ran could only pick a random direction to run.

She might get struck by lightning before even finding shelter.

Finally, they climbed up a steep hillside, where a natural cave sat, its mouth gaping open.

The cave was deep, with no end in sight.

They huddled inside, temporarily safe from the rain.

Outside, the sky had gone completely dark, and inside the cave, there was no light at all.