Gentle Beast Chapter 12

Eric's yelling drifted further and further away.

The sailboat departed the crossing and speedily drove to the other side of the river.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu's hand firmly grasped the ladder, and she listened carefully to the sounds aboard s.h.i.+p, confirming there was no one before jumping on deck.

Her wet sneakers trampled the deck, leaving a large watermark.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu did not have the time to wipe the droplets from her face when the world suddenly turned black, the entire s.h.i.+p becoming dark.

Here, the beastmen's schedules were based entirely on the color of the sky.

Rise at dawn and rest at dusk.

By this time, most of the beastmen had already returned to their rooms to rest and there was no one to find Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu for the time being.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu had not thought about the time at all and jumped into the river before anyone could react.

When she was young, her father taught her how to swim. A distance like this was not a problem.

But she had forgotten it was not winter and yesterday they had a snowstorm. The river was biting cold!

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu stood on the deck, the cold wind making her fiercely s.h.i.+ver.

What the h.e.l.l was she thinking? . . .

Why did she hear that the leopard was on board and immediately came over?

What to do next?

The deck was deserted and she was all on her own, no one else was there.

Only a bright spark at the bow of the s.h.i.+p was lit

In the faint light, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu could see a wolf in animal skin clothes standing at the helm.

Unlike the other wolf beastmen she saw today, this one retained most of the wolfish features, certical ears, a long wide mouth and green eyes that faintly glowed in the dark.

The wolf steering the s.h.i.+p seemed to hear the movement on deck and flas.h.i.+ng green eyes turned to the side Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was standing.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu's chest tightened and she quickly hid behind the mast to avoid the beastman's gaze.

The mast was thick and blocked her body from sight.

After a long time, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu her no sound but still did not dare to come out.

She stood there until her entire body was stiff and her hands and feet cold. Her nose itched a little, almost wanting to sneeze, and she quickly lifted a hand to cover her nose, suppressing it best she could.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu quietly peeked from behind the mast and carefully looked towards the bow of the s.h.i.+p.

The wolf at the helm seemed to not detect any abnormalities and had long withdrawn his gaze.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu sighed in relief and began to observe the surroundings.

This boat was not small and a little more advanced than a sailing yacht, and it relied entirely on wind and the rudder for navigation.

There were barrels disorderly cast around the deck and by smell, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu determined it ought to be wine. She hadn't expected the beastmen here to actually brew, so  Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was curious and she looked on either side of her.

There was a wooden door towards the back of the deck. It was closed and looked a bit old.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was all wet, clothes sticking to her body, cold and uncomfortable. The top priority was to find a place to change clothes.

She turned to look at the wolf at the bow again and saw that he wasn't paying any attention to her area, so she crept towards the closed door.

Fortunately, the wooden was heavy but when pushed up there was no sound.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu successfully pa.s.sed through the door, and inside there seemed to be everything on the s.h.i.+p, and the wide variety of things were piled up in a huge mess.

Without the flashlight, it was difficult to see everything. Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu groped along the stairs and accidentally stepped on something.

It was soft, like a pile of clothing.

Clothes?

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu felt pleased. What she needed most right now was dry clothes, so she quickly backed away half a step and hurriedly picked up a piece.

Unfolding it, she twirled it in her slender hands, wondering how the clothes here and in the 21st century were different?

However, when she figured out what this "clothes" was made of, her face changed she threw it out of her hands quickly.

That was not clothes——that was a reindeer's hide.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu had gotten along with Eric for a few days now, and she had come to understand the characteristics of the reindeer fur.

It was thick, but light, and had very good thermal properties.

The light of the moon shone into the cabin and she noticed that the fur had a distinctly white belly and neck, the exact same color distribution of Eric's.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu looked up and searched all around.

There was not only a pile of reindeer fur here, there was also a pile of sheepskin on a barrel to the left and several layers of suede to the right.

This entire cabin was filled with the fur of herbivorous beastmen.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was unable to say anything about her frame of mind.

In the 21st century, this kind of behavior was normal, and animal fur was sold almost everywhere. She didn't have the qualifications to offer her opinion on the matter.

Yet, when she crossed over and met Eric, she met many of the beastmen that had evolved from those animals, and now it was a bit uncomfortable to see these fur pelts.

She finally hit the nail on the head and understood the different between Eric's herbivorous type species and the carnivorous.

The law of the jungle: the weak are prey to the strong.

This was the law of survival in this world.

*

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu took off her wet clothes and took a set of clean clothes from her s.p.a.ce. There was a chiffon long-sleeved s.h.i.+rt, a short denim jacket, and she had originally found a floral skirt but Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu feared it to be too inconvenient. It was too cold here. Looking through the s.p.a.ce again, she found a pair of white trousers and immediately put them on.

It was impossible to wear the windbreaker again. She had forgotten to take it off when she dove into the water and now it was soaping wet.

She was forced to return it, and the clothes she had swapped out, back into the s.p.a.ce.

Although the flow of time in her s.p.a.ce was very slow, the flow of wind was normal and in just about two to three days, her clothes would be able to dry out.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu managed to exchange them for good clothes though, and soon her mind was turned back to the situation at hand.

Before boarding the boat, she had seen dozens of wolves standing onboard and there was no other race. This ought to be a wolf only ferry.

She wondered. Was the wolf that had taken her backpack today on this boat?

If he was, she also needed to find her backpack as soon as possible.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu's head began to hurt. Not to mention the number of her opponents and their generally stronger physique. How was she going to deal with them?

All the blame could be put on that little leopard of hers. He just had to go looking for trouble.

Where the h.e.l.l was he?

Why did he follow the wolves onto this s.h.i.+p?

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu planned to find somewhere else. There were so many herbivorous pelts here and she could not stand it anymore.

However, just under the stairs leading to the door of the cabin, she heard footsteps approaching followed by a voice——

"Why is the cabin door unlocked?"

The voice was a little hoa.r.s.e and arrogant, though it sounded slightly familiar.

Another voice sounded out, though it was a little ill at ease: "Patriarch, we took some wine at night, you know, accidentally. . ."

That familiar, arrogant voice did not speak, and she listened to the latter issue a m.u.f.fled hum, followed by the sound of something hitting the floor.

Holden retracted his feet and did not look at the hapless fool he had kicked to the ground. He stuck a sharp claw in the door and pushed it open.

*
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu's heart stopped beating for a moment.

She finally remembered the voice. It was the beastman that had strode away with her backpack earlier that day.

Patriarch?

It was too late to think about this issue. The other person had already opened the door and heavy boots stepped on the wooden stairs, issuing a heavy clunk with each step.

They rapidly entered the cabin.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu held her breath, hands covering her nose and mouth, for fear of letting out even the slightest breath.

She hid behind a stack of wooden barrels, piled under thick antelope skins. On the rear cabin wall, there was a door to the left and she did not know where it accessed.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu tried to gently push the door open but it was locked and simply would not move.

She was discouraged, but through the gab between the barrels, she observed the situation outside.

The wolf was holding a lamb, the flames burning bright, and the illumination brought the appearance of the two into light.

One had proper facial features and a mark between his black eyebrows, this was the one she had seen today. The other was of the same type as the one at the helm, wide mouth, long ears, and the general appearance of the wolf beastmen.

Their conversation still went on.

The human-like wolf asked, "Enough fur?"

The ordinary one answered, "Enough, patriarch. From the reindeer, antelope and red seude, we have fifty of each. It should be enough for the females this year to survive winter."

Holden nodded and was satisfied, "The rest of the things in the observation room is left to you."

The beastman was incredibly happy and smiled.

They had been on board for two months and were staying in the peaceful village for more than a month. They had been without meat for three months and long coveted it.

After a while, the ordinary wolf remembered something, "That. . . patriarch, the leopard in the observation room, how to deal with it?"

Holden tilted his mouth into a sneer and touched his chin, "Close him up in there. I'll handle him myself."

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu, hidden behind the antelope skin, heard what was said and stared blankly.

The leopard in their hands, could it be the little one she had lost?

Had he been caught by them?

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu's state of mind fluctuated, but she did not dare take any action and just looked on, hoping these two beastmen would quickly leave.

For a while, they counted the skins in the cabin and were finally preparing to leave.

Holden's heavy boots stepped on the stairs, pus.h.i.+ng the wooden doors of the cabin open, na dhe had one foot already outside.

But he suddenly stopped.

He frowned slightly, turning to look back into the cabin. His dark green eyes narrowed and he slowly surveyed everything inside.

"Do you smell anything?" He asked his subordinate.

The subordinate obediently lifted his nose to sniff but asked, puzzled, "What smell, Patriarch? I don't smell anything."

Holden did not speak for a while, then raised a claw to his nose and licked the corner of his mouth to say——

"Female. The scent of estrus."