Chapter 8

Chapter 8: I’ll Treat You to a Big Fish

Su Yan pulled a strip of dried jerky from system space and tore at it slowly. The meat was hard, stubborn between her teeth, as if it resented being eaten.

If she’d known things would turn out like this, she would’ve stripped Oro’s storeroom bare.

Now all she had left were a few strips of jerky and a bucket of water.

A bitter lesson. From now on, she would stockpile supplies like her life depended on it—because it did.

A day passed.

She waited.

Then five more days slid by, slow and merciless.

Lin Lang never returned.

Her belly grew heavier, fuller, dragging her center of gravity down until even breathing felt deliberate. The last of the jerky vanished. The water ran out.

“No food. No water.” Su Yan let out a shaky breath. “I have to find something. Looks like we really weren’t meant to be.”

She climbed down from the tree and ran deeper into the Beast Forest.

…Sunset bled into night. Moonlight washed the leaves. The moon sank. Dawn rose.

Su Yan crawled out of a newly dug mouse hole.

She stretched after sleep—and with the motion, she shifted back into human form.

She wrapped herself in broad leaves, crude and cold against her skin. Her snow-white hair spilled down her back, bright against the forest’s dark. Her belly hung heavy and round, unmistakable.

She was close now. Close enough that her body felt like it was waiting for a signal.

Then the hair on the back of her neck prickled.

A chill raced down her spine.

She shifted in an instant into a little white mouse again, but her belly bulged so much it made her movements clumsy, awkward.

A pitch-black leopard stepped out of the trees.

It moved without sound, as if the forest itself was carrying it forward. It paced toward her, unhurried, the kind of calm that belonged only to predators who didn’t fear anything.

Su Yan froze, trembling so hard it felt like her bones might rattle.

The leopard lowered its head, caught her gently in its mouth, and lifted her from the ground.

Its breath was warm. Its teeth were close enough that one careless bite could end everything.

Su Yan didn’t dare move. Panic made her head swim. It-it-it… it wouldn’t just bite down and crush her, would it?

“System Sister?” she cried in her mind.

No response.

Fine. If flattery was the price—“Universe’s most beautiful System Young Lady?”

“What is it?” the system replied at last, cool and mechanical.

Su Yan nearly choked on relief and outrage. “…Can you save me? Use Blink once!”

“The host and the fetus are not in danger. Blink is not required.”

“What?” Su Yan’s thoughts spun wildly. “I’m being carried in a leopard’s mouth and I’m not in danger? Are you sure you didn’t misread something?”

Silence.

Su Yan called again and again, but the system gave her nothing.

The black leopard carried her to a river so clear she could see stones gleaming under the surface. It set her down, then slipped into the water with smooth, effortless grace.

A flash.

A violent splash.

It emerged with a fat fish more than half a meter long, writhing in its jaws—caught as easily as if the river itself had offered it up.

Su Yan had been in the Beast World for so long, and this was the first fish she’d ever seen.

The memory of fish—fresh, sweet, rich—rose up like a craving from the bottom of her bones. Her tongue slid out before she could stop it, licking her lips.

The leopard noticed.

With quick, precise swipes, it slit the fish open, cleaned it, then placed it before her like tribute.

The meaning was obvious.

Eat.

A gift from the heavens? No way.

Su Yan stared at the tender flesh and didn’t dare move.

The leopard, as if understanding her fear, padded a little distance away and lay down. It closed its eyes, as though it had all the patience in the world.

Su Yan was starving. Ever since she’d gone deeper into the Beast Forest, she’d lived on fruit. It had been almost ten days since she’d tasted meat.

Now there was fresh fish in front of her—fat, fragrant, real.

She glanced at the leopard. It was turned away.

She edged forward, then started to eat.

One bite turned into another. Hunger drowned caution. She tore greedily, burrowing into the fish’s belly, chewing until her jaw ached and her stomach finally felt warm.

It was even sweeter than she remembered.

So good it made her dizzy.

If she had spices, she thought hazily, this would be incredible roasted.

While she ate like she’d forgotten the world, the black leopard rose without a sound and returned, watching her with deep golden eyes as she chewed inside the fish like a tiny white ghost.