Chapter 18: A New Creature Appears

Ji Wuxiu followed his memory and found the place where he had previously robbed the hedgehog. He sniffed the air, but he didn’t catch the lingering scent of fruit.

It seemed that the hedgehog hadn’t shown up yet.

Ji Wuxiu slowly sat down and, while waiting, couldn’t help but fall into thought.

To be honest, he didn’t want to be so cruel, specifically targeting the poor hedgehog to rob it of food.

But what could he do?—he couldn’t find any food.

He just couldn’t find anything to eat.

The only way to survive was by stealing.

Suddenly, in the nearby grass, movement could be seen. The hedgehog, carrying food on its back, was slowly approaching. It suddenly realized something, and raised its head abruptly, staring with its black eyes at the black-and-white ball of fur in front of it. Terrified, it curled into a ball and didn’t move.

Ji Wuxiu walked over slowly, staring at the little hedgehog for a long time.

Long enough for the hedgehog to start trembling.

Ji Wuxiu sighed silently and moved aside, giving the hedgehog some space.

The hedgehog, frightened, remained still, its “playing dead” technique reaching maximum level.

Ji Wuxiu sighed again. He didn’t want to make things difficult for the hedgehog and chose to leave instead.

After seeing how the hedgehog acted just now, he couldn’t bring himself to steal from it.

—

At noon, the black panther finally woke up. It stretched its neck, looking around, its vertical pupils full of confusion.

Where’s the ugly creature? Why hasn’t it returned?

The black panther suddenly felt a sense of danger and, ignoring its injuries, quickly got up to search for the missing ugly creature.

The tree hollow was suddenly shaded, and the black panther looked up. The concern in its vertical pupils disappeared, replaced by curiosity.

“Howl—Roar?”

—Ugly creature, where did you go?

It was impressive that the panther could speak such fluent words. Ji Wuxiu weakly made a noise in response and walked into the tree hollow, holding strawberries wrapped in leaves, showing them to the black panther and making a few “mm-mm” sounds.

The meaning was clear—this was today’s breakfast.

The black panther immediately growled in dissatisfaction, “Howl!”

—It doesn’t taste good.

Ji Wuxiu was also helpless. He still couldn’t catch prey and could only figure out how to pick these strawberries and bring them back to feed the panther.

The panther shook its head in disdain towards the strawberries, once again whining loudly, trying to express its feelings.

—It really doesn’t taste good.

Ji Wuxiu understood very well the vast difference in taste between carnivores and omnivores, but right now, he had no other way to deal with it and could only try to calm the black panther down.

Fortunately, although the black panther looked unwilling, it still obediently finished eating the strawberries.

Ji Wuxiu sat down and began to rest.

Seeing this, the black panther eagerly pushed the strawberries towards Ji Wuxiu, whining loudly.

—Eat them.

Ji Wuxiu coldly watched and immediately saw through the black panther’s little scheme.

On the surface, it seemed like it was concerned about him, but in reality, it didn’t want to eat the strawberries.

Ji Wuxiu firmly shook his head, signaling for the black panther to eat all of them.

The black panther stared at Ji Wuxiu as if struck by lightning, seemingly ready to throw all the strawberries away the moment it detected even the slightest sign of softness from Ji Wuxiu.

Ji Wuxiu kindly shoved the strawberries into the black panther’s mouth and reminded it to finish them all.

The panther let out a miserable cry, laying flat on the ground, reluctantly eating the strawberries one by one. But with each bite, it couldn’t help but continue to whine, feeling wronged.

Ji Wuxiu coldly ignored it.

Injured animals needed to eat more in order to recover faster.

In the following days, the panther stayed in the tree hollow to recover, with Ji Wuxiu responsible for bringing food every day. And of course, it was still strawberries each time.

But after three days of eating strawberries, the panther strongly protested.

Ji Wuxiu was a little helpless and could only figure out a way to go to the river to catch fish himself.

Fortunately, there were no humans passing by, so the fish in the river appeared clumsy. Ji Wuxiu quickly learned how to use bear paws to stun the fish, then washed them and brought them back.

The black panther sniffed the fish, which had a faint fishy smell, and couldn’t help but dry-heave a few times.

Ji Wuxiu: “…”

Fine, since it can’t eat it raw.

Let’s grill it instead.

Ji Wuxiu spoke to the system, which hadn’t said anything for a while: “System, how many points do I have left?”

The system’s voice was as cold as usual: 【Ding! Host, you currently have 10 “cuteness points” left. What item would you like to purchase?】

Ji Wuxiu thought for a moment, then hesitated slightly before saying, “Did you recommend a fire-based ability before?”

The system confirmed: 【Yes, host. A level-one fire ability only requires 9 cuteness points to purchase. However, I must remind you that this skill is a level-one fire ability, and the flames are very weak. It cannot be used as an attack method.】

Ji Wuxiu let out a sigh of relief, as long as he could afford it, it was fine. After all, this wasn’t something to be used for attacking.

“Then, I’ll buy it.”

【Ding! Purchase successful. The level-one fire ability has successfully fused with your body. The host only needs to focus their thoughts, and flames will emerge from your bear paws.】

Ji Wuxiu nodded in understanding, then quickly called out to the black panther with a few sounds.

—Xiao Hei, stay here, I’m going to pick up some twigs.

The black panther, which had been pretending to nap on the ground, immediately stood up. Its vertical pupils flashed with a trace of confusion, and it wagged its tail, wanting to follow.

Ji Wuxiu waved his bear paw, signaling for the black panther to stay.

The black panther tilted its head, a hint of rebelliousness flashing in its eyes, and licked the corner of its mouth.

It felt like it had been stuck in the den for too long.

And it was really hungry.

It wanted meat.

The things the ugly creature brought back were all so disgusting.

Ji Wuxiu had thought that the black panther would stay in the tree hollow as it had before, so when he finished picking up the twigs and was walking back, he unexpectedly ran into the black panther at the corner, carrying prey in its mouth.

There was a moment of silence.

Ji Wuxiu felt his emotions were complicated at this moment.

The black panther, holding its prey, also looked complicated, with a hint of guilt.

Ji Wuxiu had intended to scold it, but when he remembered the way the black panther had looked at him these past few days with a longing for meat, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Instead, he allowed the panther to follow him back to the tree hollow.

The black panther walked with its head down, its usually high tail dragging on the ground, leaving a mark as it walked.

When they reached the tree hollow, the black panther dropped its prey and lay down, looking guilty. Its eyes darted around, and its tail impatiently slapped the ground.

Ji Wuxiu remained expressionless, but he had already seen everything and couldn’t help but laugh inwardly.

This panther’s personality was just too cute.

Ji Wuxiu leaned over and patted the black panther’s head, making a few sounds.

—Don’t be afraid, I won’t scold you.

The panther cautiously lifted its head, finally returning to its previous lively and rebellious appearance.

Ji Wuxiu glanced at the prey the panther had brought back, feeling a bit emotional inside.

This rabbit is really fat.

Although he felt a little sorry for the rabbit losing its life to the panther, Ji Wuxiu couldn’t help but drool, eagerly carrying the rabbit to the river to clean it up.

The panther growled in dissatisfaction.

It really didn’t understand what the ugly creature was doing.

It was washing the prey.

What a strange ugly creature.

Ji Wuxiu didn’t know that the panther was complaining about him. He was focused on carefully threading the prepared rabbit meat onto a stick.

The panther widened its eyes in shock: “??”

Ji Wuxiu swallowed, quickly propping up a dry twig. With a movement of his mind, a small flame suddenly flickered out from his palm, weak enough that a gust of wind could extinguish it.

The panther’s eyes widened: “!!!”

It immediately growled at Ji Wuxiu: “Awooo!”

—Ugly creature, fire is dangerous!

Ji Wuxiu calmly glanced at the black panther, which had its rear raised and was in a defensive posture, and reassured it: “Mmm mmm!”

—It’s not dangerous, if you’re scared, just stay away.

The black panther remained in a firm stance, unwilling to back down. It wanted to protect the fragile ugly creature.

Ji Wuxiu shook his head, no longer paying attention to the panther. He didn’t even have time to appreciate the novelty of the situation because the flame in front of him seemed like it could go out at any moment.

Ji Wuxiu was startled, quickly placing his bear paw at the bottom of the dry twig. When the fire grew stronger, he began roasting the rabbit meat…

The panther flicked its tail, quickly moving away from the fire. Its vertical pupils were fixed on the flame, its expression wary as it growled quietly.

Ji Wuxiu continued to calmly ignore the panther.

The panther remained persistent, growling softly: “Awooo!”

Soon, the unique aroma of roasting meat filled the air.

The panther, who had been growling, paused, sniffed the air, and its eyes flashed with surprise.

It vaguely realized that the scent of the meat seemed to be related to the dangerous fire.

The panther cautiously approached, continuing to sniff.

Ji Wuxiu swallowed, his face full of desire.

Soon, he would be able to eat rabbit meat. No more having to eat raw fruit every day and living such a miserable bear life.

The system also agreed from the side: 【That’s right, you can also get fatter faster.】

Ji Wuxiu: “…”

If the system hadn’t mentioned it, he might have almost forgotten about it.

He now had to eat and sleep more every day to ensure that he wouldn’t lose weight every month.

Thinking about it now, he felt even more miserable.

In a hidden corner, a creature that had been napping suddenly opened its eyes, revealing unseen pupils. It sniffed the air filled with the aroma, swallowed, and excitedly bounced.

“Chirp!”

—Wants to eat!