A Practice of Landslide

"Aren't you trying to lose weight? How are you supposed to lose weight eating so much?"

Feeling a pat on the head for the first time, Fatty closed its eyes in contentment.

But Tu Ran only patted it twice before pulling away, and Fatty looked a little disappointed.

"Fatty will lose weight through exercise."

"Okay." Tu Ran nodded cooperatively, not wanting to crush its confidence.

The fish roasted quickly. She handed the first one to Fatty, who, unusually, didn't take it right away.

"What's wrong?" Tu Ran asked, puzzled.

"Boss eats first," Fatty said.

"Huh?" Tu Ran wasn't used to Fatty being polite about food. "Why?"

"Because the boss used up too much energy carrying Fatty, and Fatty wants the boss to replenish her strength."

"Haha, no need. I'm already much better after sleeping. You eat, Fatty."

Its drool was practically pooling on the ground; she was afraid that if she ate first, she'd be drowned in it.

Indeed, yielding on food was never Fatty's strong suit—it couldn't control the saliva that kept secreting.

"Then... Fatty will eat first." Fatty took the roasted fish from Tu Ran's hand sheepishly, blew on it, and started pecking at it directly.

"Slow down, there's plenty more." Tu Ran continued roasting the next fish.

The heat was just right, and the fish cooked quickly. Meanwhile, Fatty tried its hand at roasting a fish itself, so Tu Ran handed over the roasting duties and gnawed on a fish that weighed five or six jin on the side.

There were no seasonings, so the fish was pretty bland. Tu Ran had to use her imagination, picturing it as a five-star delicacy with perfect color, aroma, and taste, and she ate with great relish.

Nutritional fluids and protein biscuits truly couldn't compare to real food. After eating a whole fish, Tu Ran's belly was pleasantly full.

She stood up and stretched, getting used to the feeling of her strength returning.

Fatty was still eating—this was already its fourth fish.

It ate while flipping the fish on the fire, thoroughly enjoying itself.

Tu Ran planned to clean the bloodstains off her clothes. She scouted the area to make sure it was safe, returned to the spot, and waded into the river.

She rinsed the caked blood off her clothes, cleaned herself up as well, and came back to the shore.

Fatty was already lying there, full and content.

This was the thing that kept claiming it wanted to lose weight.

Helpless, Tu Ran walked over and gave it a couple of kicks. "Don't sleep yet. We need to find a place to stay for the night—it's getting dark."

It wasn't even nine in the evening by Federation time, but the sky here was already noticeably dimming.

Staying out in the open at night in the Threshold was extremely dangerous.

Fatty immediately sat up obediently, but its eyes lingered reluctantly on the river. "Boss, why don't we catch a few zhu fish to take back? They can be our breakfast tomorrow."

That wasn't a bad idea—it would save them from having to hunt for food in the morning.

Tu Ran walked toward the river.

She drew her long blade and stabbed it into the water repeatedly. The river turned red, and seven or eight fish floated to the surface.

"Wow! Boss is amazing!" Fatty couldn't help but praise.

It had taken so long to catch just a few fish, but the boss could catch this many in such a short time.

Tu Ran ignored it. She took out a rope, strung the eight fish together, and walked back to the shore, handing the rope to Fatty.

"Carry them yourself."

Fatty took them cheerfully. They were a bit heavy, but hey, it was food—that was a burden it was more than willing to bear.

"Do you have a home on this mountain?" Tu Ran asked.

"No, Fatty's never been here before." Fatty grunted, hauling the eight fish on its back.

"Alright, then we'll have to find somewhere else."

She looked up at the sky, worried about whether they'd find a suitable place before it got completely dark.

Night fell fast inside the Threshold.

They still hadn't found a proper cave, man and ball.

In the end, Tu Ran led Fatty to stop in front of a huge rock face.

The rock face slanted inward, making it good for digging.

Tu Ran stroked her chin and looked at Fatty. "I remember you said you're good at digging holes."

"Yeah, but Fatty's claws can't scratch through rock this hard."

"I'll help you." Tu Ran said flatly, pressing her palm against the rock face.

She controlled the duration of contact and activated the "Landslide" ability.

In one second, cracks spread across the surface of the rock face, forming a circle three meters in diameter.

Tu Ran unloaded the eight zhu fish from Fatty's shoulder and hung them on a dead tree at the edge of the rock face.

"Dig now. The rock's already cracked—clear out the surface layer, and I'll crack the next one for you."

"Oh, okay." Fatty did as it was told.

Using both its claws and beak, it soon scraped away the cracked surface layer of the rock.

Tu Ran kicked the rubble aside and activated "Landslide" on the next layer.

Digging out a layer of rock about ten-some centimeters thick each time, after fifteen rounds back and forth, they'd dug out a cave that could temporarily house one person and one ball.

It was cramped, but it would do.

The sky was completely dark now. Fatty was already asleep inside the cave, but Tu Ran, having slept all afternoon, wasn't the least bit sleepy.

Staring at the pitch-black sky outside, void of any stars, Tu Ran mulled over what to do next.

Today was her eleventh day in the Threshold—the gate would open before long.

The holographic photography wristband issue was already handled; she could leave at any time.

But if she left, what would happen to Fatty?

That was the question.

It had no combat ability whatsoever. The inner parts of this dense forest were crawling with aberrations, fraught with danger. Leaving it here would be like leaving a slab of unattended fat out in the open—anyone could come take a bite.

But she couldn't bring it to the Federation either.

It was an aberrant creature. No matter how cute or harmless it seemed, the Research Institute would take it in for experiments.

Beside her ear, Fatty's snoring grew louder.

Tu Ran turned her head and glared at it.

Here she was, thinking about how to pave its way forward, and it was sleeping as soundly as ever.

Tu Ran couldn't help but reach out and smack it.

Fatty's snoring stopped. It rolled over and went back to sleep.

Tu Ran rolled her eyes.

Forget it. She'd given up all hope on it.

Tu Ran had already formed an idea in her mind. She closed her eyes and forced herself to sleep.

The next day, at seven in the morning by Federation time.

Tu Ran sat up.

Outside, it was still pitch black.

She was stunned—this night was unusually long.

She stood at the cave entrance and looked out. Darkness was everywhere, not a sliver of light, black so thick you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

This was the night of the Threshold. Human vision was as good as blind.

The Federal Government's number one piece of advice to pioneers was to respect the darkness of the Threshold: find a safe place before nightfall and don't travel until dawn.

Tu Ran sat back down in her spot. They'd have to wait for daylight before setting out, so there was no point in waking the still-sleeping Fatty.

She organized her equipment in the dark.

She still had plenty of weapons left. Over half of the various bombs she'd brought into the Threshold remained, and her pistol had half its ammo left. The biggest drain had been the machine gun rounds—only a quarter remained.