He didn’t know whether this thing called fire had roasted his face or what—he only felt his face burning hot.
“Yan Yu’an…” Xie Ji called his name.
Yan Yu’an smiled. “Will you let me live with you, little lion?”
Xie Ji didn’t know why his heart was beating so fast. He thought maybe he was sick—but he was still as strong as ever. He didn’t understand it.
“Suit yourself.” Their tribe had always been strictly hierarchical. Except for when he was young, he had never shared a house with anyone.
Yan Yu’an lay lazily on the grass. A few stars had already appeared in the sky, and everything around was shrouded in darkness—only here was lit by firelight, as bright as day.
Suddenly, a young, strong male lion walked up to Yan Yu’an, shook his big furry head, and offered his head up on his own.
Xie Ji’s expression darkened. He watched that show-off male lion with a blank face.
Yan Yu’an laughed and reached out to pat the lion’s furry head. The lion let out a soft “arf,” then shifted back into human form.
Lions were scary, but compared to the people of the apocalypse, they seemed much cuter.
Before him was a tall young man. He scratched his head shyly. “My name is Jiang Rong.”
“Yan Yu’an.”
“Alright, Jiang Rong, put away your courtship posture. He’s a male.” Xie Ji’s voice was cold. “Your task is to reproduce, not to be with a male.”
Jiang Rong’s lips moved. He wanted to retort but didn’t know what to say, so he could only glance cautiously at Yan Yu’an and leave, looking back every few steps.
Yan Yu’an was stunned. “Was he courting just now? Sorry, I didn’t know.”
“Now you know,” Xie Ji said. “Don’t think that just because you taught us to make fire, I’ll let you off. If you still can’t master your ability after seven days, I’ll roast you and eat you.” He gave a soft huff and turned to leave.
Yan Yu’an quickly caught up with Xie Ji’s pace and asked quietly, “Then how do I start? I don’t know how to do it the first time—could you teach me, Teacher Xie?”
What was a “teacher”? Xie Ji was puzzled, but judging by Yan Yu’an’s expression, it seemed to be a good word. He huffed and slowed down a little.
As if sensing Xie Ji’s thoughts, Yan Yu’an explained, “A teacher is a profession—someone who teaches us to learn and grow.” He thought for a moment, then, afraid Xie Ji wouldn’t know what a “profession” was, added, “A profession is like the people in your tribe—everyone has different tasks and divisions of labor.”
As they spoke, they had already returned to Xie Ji’s house. Xie Ji gave a soft huff, but his tail, held high, had already betrayed him—Yan Yu’an could tell he was in a good mood. He leaned in close and asked, “How did you know I’m a mutant?”
“Your mutant mark is at the corner of your eye.” He pointed at the red mole by Yan Yu’an’s eye. “Only mutants have marks.” He said this and then pointed at the bridge of his own nose.
Yan Yu’an froze. “You mean the mole?”
Xie Ji didn’t know what a “mole” was, but he understood that the mole Yan Yu’an spoke of must be the mutant mark, so he nodded.
Yan Yu’an sighed and couldn’t help but rub his forehead—the misunderstanding was huge now…
He’d had this mole since he was little, and in his era, having a mole was a perfectly ordinary thing. But he never expected that here, a mole would turn out to be a mutant mark.
This was way too dramatic! Yan Yu’an thought, wanting to cry but having no tears.
“Is there any chance that I’m just an ordinary person, and you just…” mistook me.
Before he could finish, Xie Ji glanced at him lightly. “I won’t mistake it. If I’m wrong, then I’ll eat you.” He paused. “Do you think I’m wrong?”
Yan Yu’an quickly shook his head. “You’re not wrong, not wrong at all.”
Xie Ji was satisfied. He smiled and licked Yan Yu’an’s face. “I approve of you. You can join my tribe.”
Xie Ji’s tongue still had tiny barbs on it, but licking his face didn’t hurt at all—it was ticklish, if anything. Yan Yu’an couldn’t help shrinking back. Though he knew that grooming each other by licking was a perfectly ordinary thing for felines, he still felt a little uncomfortable.
“Are you rejecting me?” Xie Ji looked at him discontentedly, his brows knitted together like a twisted rope.
Yan Yu’an quickly shook his head. “No, no, please continue.”
Xie Ji nodded in satisfaction. “You’re the prettiest white fox I’ve ever seen.”
“…” Yan Yu’an sighed. How was he supposed to tell Xie Ji that he wasn’t a white fox, he was a human? “Do you know about humans?”
“Humans?” Xie Ji’s head snapped up, his blue pupils seeming to ignite with flames. “You mean ape-men? Those disgusting creatures—probably no one in this forest doesn’t know about them.”
“…”
Yan Yu’an fell silent. Humans’ ancestors were apes, after all. And judging by Xie Ji’s expression, he seemed to really hate ape-men.
“Alright, let’s not talk about them.” Xie Ji climbed onto his bed and patted the spot beside him. “I’ll teach you how to use your ability.”
Yan Yu’an obediently sat down beside Xie Ji and watched him earnestly. Xie Ji’s fingertip moved slightly, and he appeared at the other end of the house.
Yan Yu’an was stunned. He couldn’t help clapping. Was this the legendary superpower? Before he could react, Xie Ji was sitting back beside him again.
“Impressive, right?” Xie Ji’s tail swished. “When you grow up, you’ll be like me too.”
Yan Yu’an didn’t know how to explain to Xie Ji that he was already 26. He didn’t know whether 26 counted as grown for a lion, but for a human, 26 was well past the cub stage.
“You don’t need to do anything else. Just focus your mind, then merge it into your consciousness—that’s all.”
Yan Yu’an thought to himself: That’s way too abstract. Who’s supposed to know what you mean… But he didn’t dare say that to Xie Ji, so he just nodded in a show of understanding.
Xie Ji nodded in satisfaction. “Work hard at learning. Back when I was your age, it only took me three days to learn it. I’m giving you seven—you can definitely do it.”
Yan Yu’an sighed. “I’ll… try my best.”
“Alright, go to sleep. We have to go hunting first thing tomorrow morning.” Xie Ji shifted back into lion form. “Aren’t you going to change back to your true form?”
Yan Yu’an shook his head. Sleeping next to a lion for the first time—honestly, he was pretty nervous. He was afraid this big lion would swallow him in one bite.
“Suit yourself.” Xie Ji curled his tail around himself and lay down on the bed contentedly.
Yan Yu’an carefully leaned against him. The lion’s fur was a little prickly, but it didn’t have the fishy smell he’d imagined. Instead, it carried a grassy scent mixed with earth. After a tense day, he somehow found it familiar and relaxing, and he quickly fell asleep.
In his dream, though, Yan Yu’an was entangled by a slimy, cold giant snake. The snake flicked its red forked tongue at him, coiling tighter and tighter until Yan Yu’an could barely breathe. Dense cold sweat broke out on his forehead. The snake’s pupils stared fixedly at the mole at the corner of Yan Yu’an’s eye, its tongue flicking against his face. Yan Yu’an jolted awake—only to see the lion’s tail wrapped tightly around his waist.
He gasped for breath. The feeling in the dream had been too real—unbelievably real. Yan Yu’an swallowed.
“What are you afraid of?” In the darkness, the man’s voice held no warmth. “I told you, I won’t eat you.”
Yan Yu’an shook his head and hugged the big lion’s tail. “I had a nightmare.”
“A nightmare?”
Yan Yu’an sighed. “It’s nothing.”
The lion was a little displeased. He shifted into human form but didn’t retract his tail. He sat up and looked at Yan Yu’an seriously. “What’s a nightmare?”
Yan Yu’an didn’t answer. Xie Ji swished his tail gloomily. In his view, Yan Yu’an was now part of his tribe—he had the right to protect him.
“Do you know if there are pythons in the forest?” Yan Yu’an asked.
“Pythons?” A flame seemed to ignite in Xie Ji’s eyes, and he said angrily, “That thing came looking for you? Where is it? I’ll go bite it to death right now.”
In this forest, there had originally been only three mutants: him, the python Yan Yu’an spoke of, and an eagle. Now there was one more—Yan Yu’an.
In Xie Ji’s view, only the two of them in this forest were barely a match for him. As for Yan Yu’an—a little white fox—he wasn’t afraid of him at all.
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