Chapter 125 – Settling in the Cave
Before it could react, it felt a force pushing it forward from behind its waist.
Oh, wait, it didn’t have a waist—there were two hands rolling it from its rear.
Anyway, its entire body immediately felt like it didn’t belong to it.
“Ahhhhh—”
“I’ll roll on my own.”
Tu Ran ignored it.
“Dizzy, dizzy—”
“I want to throw up.”
Tu Ran still ignored it.
“Bleeegh—”
It threw up.
Really threw up all over the place.
Tu Ran… still ignored it.
Finally, they rolled to a cave, and Tu Ran stopped the “atrocious bullying.”
She entered the cave first to check the situation.
The cave was neither big nor deep. Judging by the lush grass around, there were no signs of animals having been there.
She confirmed it was safe and could be used as a temporary resting place.
Tu Ran came back, grabbed the scruff of the nearly fainted Pangpang’s furry neck and dragged it into the cave.
It collapsed on the ground, curled up into a ball, looking even more like a sphere.
Now this sphere was angry.
The two-legged beast’s rude behavior had deeply hurt it, and it was determined to show the two-legged beast 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 over, she had seen red-skinned melons growing on a tree not far from the cave.
She needed to pick a few for today’s food.
She needed rest and might not come out for twenty-four hours.
Ignoring her physical discomfort, Tu Ran climbed the tree and picked eight melons.
She considered the pig in the cave.
One melon would be enough for her; the pig would need seven, and that might not even be enough.
Using a rope, she lowered the melons down and rolled them back one by one.
Pangpang was still angry.
Until it heard the sound of Tu Ran chewing and smelled the sweet fragrance of the red-skinned melon.
Its stomach growled twice, betraying its hunger.
It scooted backward, then scooted back some more.
It scooted all the way from the corner to Tu Ran’s feet.
“Not dizzy anymore?”
Tu Ran was using the tip of her dagger to fork the flesh of the red-skinned melon, feeding it into her mouth and chewing.
Pangpang quickly sat up. “Not dizzy anymore, not at all?”
“Then eat,” Tu Ran said, rolling all the melons over to its side.
Pangpang looked at the countless melons in disbelief. “All for me?”
“Yes,” Tu Ran replied, glancing at its silly expression with mixed emotions.
Getting the confirmation, Pangpang immediately cracked open a melon and started devouring the green flesh ravenously.
Tu Ran didn’t pay it any more attention, continuing to eat her own melon with her knife.
After eating to her satisfaction, Tu Ran wiped her knife clean, sheathed it, and went to sit against the wall.
She took out a restorative from her medical kit and injected it into herself.
“I need to rest now. I hope that when I open my eyes, your legs will be healed. Otherwise—” Tu Ran made a slicing gesture across her neck.
Pangpang, happily eating, looked up from the melon pulp with a wet face and said, “Don’t worry, my recovery is excellent.”
“It better be,” Tu Ran replied coldly, giving it a stern look.
In this perilous world, she didn’t have the extra energy to care for it for another day.
She placed her backpack on the ground as a pillow and closed her eyes.
While she slept, Pangpang continued munching on the melons, making a loud “chomp chomp” noise.
However, Tu Ran didn’t find the noise disruptive to her sleep. Instead, it gave her a sense of security, as if someone was keeping watch.
She quickly fell asleep, feeling much more secure than she had the previous night on the tree branch.
When she woke up, Tu Ran sat up comfortably and stretched.
The sky outside was already dark, and the entire cave was pitch black.
This was her first night in the Threshold.
She felt fortunate to have found a cave to rest in rather than sleeping on a tree branch again.
The night could harbor many dangers, and the Federation had warned pioneers to limit their activities after dark.
If she had slept on the tree branch, she would have had to stay curled up there until daylight, which would have been incredibly uncomfortable.
Tu Ran listened carefully to the sounds around her.
She heard a long, steady breathing.
Taking out her flashlight, she shone it towards the source of the sound.
Sure enough, she saw Pangpang sleeping sprawled out.
The flashlight’s beam hit its eyes, causing it to grunt and turn over before continuing to sleep.
Around it were the cleanly eaten remains of about ten melons, with no green flesh left on the red skins.
Tu Ran redirected the flashlight and prepared to stand up and stretch when something slipped off her waist.
Holding up the flashlight, she saw it was a fluffy blanket.
?
Frowning, Tu Ran picked it up to take a closer look.
It was indeed a fluffy blanket, predominantly white with a few streaks of orange fur mixed in.
The blanket was small, just enough to cover her upper body.
Tu Ran hadn’t packed a blanket like this before entering the Threshold.
She hadn’t covered herself with anything before sleeping either.
Now, this blanket had appeared on her.
Tu Ran looked over at Pangpang.
Its neck fur seemed to be white with a hint of orange.
Could it have plucked its own fur to weave a blanket? Tu Ran felt a mix of emotions.
She walked over to Pangpang and squatted down to examine its neck fur.
It seemed intact?
She reached out and lifted the top layer.
Underneath, the fur was still long, with no signs of being cut.
Where did this guy get the fur to make a blanket?
Tu Ran squatted there, puzzled.
Pangpang woke up, squinting in the flashlight’s beam.
Seeing Tu Ran in front of it, it excitedly exclaimed, “Ah, two-legged beast, you’re finally awake! You slept for a long time!”
A long time? Tu Ran, preoccupied with figuring out the origin of the blanket, hadn’t checked the time yet.
Hearing Pangpang’s words, she walked back to her backpack and glanced at the time. It was 9 a.m. Federal Time.
She had fallen asleep at 7 p.m. last night, so had she slept for fourteen hours?!
How could that be? She felt like only seven or eight hours had passed.
Pangpang sat up against the wall, using its wings to rub its eyes, “You slept so long, I thought you were dead! Luckily, I checked to see if you were still breathing.”
Tu Ran suspected it might be because of the restorative.
Restoratives were similar to the nutrition pods in the medical department, allowing injured bodies to quickly return to their uninjured state.
Extremely precious, each pioneer received five doses before entering the Threshold.
She had already used one, and she needed to use the remaining ones sparingly.
“Where did this blanket come from?” Tu Ran asked.
“I wove it from my shed fur. Isn’t it warm?” Pangpang’s small eyes were filled with a plea for praise.
Tu Ran nodded slightly. “Did you weave it last night?”
“No, I made it a while ago and hid it here.” Pangpang pointed to a small dirt mound at the back of the cave.
It had dug it out from that mound.
“You’ve been here before?”
Pangpang nodded, rubbing its back against the wall to scratch an itch. “I traveled around a lot in the past. I have many homes, and this is one of them.”
Tu Ran looked at it, suddenly realizing she had underestimated this little guy.
