The sanatorium zone acted quickly. In just under two days, when Jin Qianyu went out hunting again, he spotted some figures wandering among the snow mountains in the distance. He wasn’t sure if these people had just arrived recently or had been there for a while.
Actually, it had been a very long time since he had seriously hunted.
After his therianthropy, Jin Qianyu could finally run and climb freely among the cliffs and crags. But as the days in beast form grew longer, the time spent leaping between cliffs had begun to feel endless. Until recently, every time he exerted himself to the limit, a sense of emptiness and weariness would well up from his heart. He started losing interest in everything besides running, including eating.
For many days, he would rest when tired, and when rested enough, continue his mountain games. If one day he didn’t rest enough, then he would just keep resting. The interesting things in this world were very limited, he thought. Perhaps when he was done playing, it could all just end.
But after meeting Ming Ruan, the situation changed.
First, Jin Qianyu had to be responsible for Ming Ruan’s meals. Second, as a friend sharing the same interests, he also had to ensure his own physical strength was sufficient to occasionally take Ming Ruan for a run. This forced Jin Qianyu’s eating habits to return to normal. He hunted every day these days, always returning with a full load.
On another note, those people searching the snowy mountains with instruments—could they be related to Ming Ruan? Jin Qianyu watched them from afar for a while, then quickened his pace back to the cave.
When he was just a short distance from the cave, the snow leopard’s ears twitched. He heard the sound of Ming Ruan communicating with someone inside the cavern. Pushing through the shrubs, he saw Ming Ruan set down his light brain and look up toward him.
“Leopard Cub’s back!” Ming Ruan greeted him naturally, stepping forward and rubbing the snow leopard’s head. Then, very naturally, he brushed the dust off him from head to tail. Finally, his hand shifted to the area under his chin and neck, his fingertips gently scratching a few times.
Before the snow leopard could do anything, he was being petted into a rumbling purr.
Ming Ruan withdrew his hand and gestured. “Come in quickly.”
Jin Qianyu inexplicably felt that this scene looked like coming home from work after marriage, being greeted by one’s beloved.
Ming Ruan couldn’t possibly have guessed the snow leopard’s thoughts had gone there. Just moments before, his light brain, which had been stuck on a blue error screen, suddenly returned to normal!
This was the first time in so many days he had successfully connected with the outside world. The sanatorium side had not only finally pinpointed his location, saying they would send people to bring him back, but they also brought Ming Ruan a piece of reassuring news—the snow leopard in front of him was indeed the mission target he had previously been searching for.
The target’s data had already shown improvement.
However, before Ming Ruan could ask what exactly had happened before, or whether White Tiger and the others were safe, the snow leopard had already returned to the cave. For some reason, the communication was cut short by the other side, their last message being that they hoped Ming Ruan could try to bring the snow leopard back to the base to take care of him.
But regarding this matter, Ming Ruan had his own considerations. He didn’t actually want to force this snow leopard who roamed freely among the mountains.
He would ask the snow leopard’s opinion. Ming Ruan then guided the snow leopard to his side, sat down, and gently stroked down from the back of his neck along his fur all the way down, until the snow leopard was comfortably resting his head on Ming Ruan’s knee.
While being utterly unable to resist this sensation, Jin Qianyu was also inwardly alarmed.
Wasn’t this crossing a line? What exactly did Ming Ruan mean?
The snow leopard let out a low, rumbling purr, his eyes growing darker and darker.
Just as the continued massage from those hands brought him to the pinnacle of comfort, he suddenly propped himself up, his thick paws pressing against Ming Ruan’s leg. The entire leopard leaned in close to Ming Ruan all at once.
This was an extremely close distance. If Ming Ruan didn’t have those kinds of intentions toward him, he should immediately retreat right now.
But Ming Ruan not only didn’t retreat, he opened his arms and hugged the snow leopard tightly, stroking his back a couple of times.
Such an overly enthusiastic, fully accepting gesture made the snow leopard’s claws involuntarily contract.
Could this series of actions by Ming Ruan be interpreted as him having changed his mind again? About that engagement?
Ming Ruan held the snow leopard as if it was perfectly natural. “Baby, do you want to come home with me?”
After these many days of effort, and two days of friendly interaction, Ming Ruan didn’t think there was anything strange about a Fluffball being close to him. On the contrary, if the snow leopard suddenly became distant, he would start wondering if he had done something wrong.
Home? The snow leopard pulled back slightly, his tail curling into a question mark behind him.
“I live in a place very far from here. You might not be very used to the environment there. But if you’re with me, I could bathe you in the future, cook for you, give you massages, groom you, take care of you… find suitable places to take you out and play your favorite parkour.”
With every word Ming Ruan listed, a corresponding image automatically conjured itself in Jin Qianyu’s mind. Before he could banish these images from his head, Ming Ruan landed another heavy blow: “I like you very much. So more than just being together all the time, I want you to be happy. Do you want to come back with me? Or do you prefer staying here?”
Ming Ruan was communicating with the small animal as an equal, friend to friend. Little did he know, to the snow leopard’s ears, nearly everything was a gesture of affection that broke through the boundaries of ambiguity.
Jin Qianyu barely managed to extract information: Ming Ruan should be the Executor of District 12.
Logically speaking, he should continue staying in the Plateau Region, living as a single leopard. Yet now, bewitched, he couldn’t muster the slightest thought of refusal.
“Coming back with me? Yes is two tail taps, no is one.” Ming Ruan made a pact with the snow leopard.
He didn’t have to wait long. A thick tail landed in Ming Ruan’s palm and gently tapped twice.
Receiving an affirmative answer, Ming Ruan excitedly stroked that thick tail in passing, then ecstatically cupped the snow leopard’s head. “You really want to come home with me?”
Jin Qianyu thought: Is he really this happy? Does he really want to be with him this much?
“Then let’s go right now!” Ming Ruan shook his light brain. “Someone’s already coming to take us back.”
Left to his own realizations, Jin Qianyu: “…” The feeling of being so neatly arranged by someone brought a moment of clarity.
He suddenly remembered that not long ago, some people had been active in his usual range, bringing a group of Beastmen with them. But by that time, Jin Qianyu had already lost much interest in outside things. Though somewhat curious, he had ultimately just followed from a distance for a while, listened to some of their laughter and noise, and never approached them in the end.
Now, the voices in his memory abruptly overlapped somewhat with the young man’s tone.
A strange feeling rose in Jin Qianyu’s heart. But that oddness only surfaced for a moment before being interrupted by the sounds of Ming Ruan bustling about, packing things up.
Watching Ming Ruan gather those leftover berries, the uneaten prey, and even those little flint stones together, Jin Qianyu felt his heart inexplicably soften again. He took the initiative to walk up and pick up the larger chunk of prey in his mouth. His tail lightly patted Ming Ruan’s head, then he lay down on the ground, signaling to Ming Ruan.
Get on. I’ll take you.
Some inexplicable, ominous premonition made Jin Qianyu unconsciously try to shorten the distance with Ming Ruan. For example, letting Ming Ruan sit on his back when he appeared before the people who came to pick him up.
Riding a leopard was naturally much faster than walking on his own. And they had ridden so many times already—Ming Ruan gladly accepted the snow leopard’s invitation.
After mounting the snow leopard, Ming Ruan glanced back one last time at the cave where he and the snow leopard had lived for these few days. It was the snow leopard who showed no nostalgia for the cave, not even a backward glance.
Ming Ruan sat on the snow leopard’s back, giving directions. The ‘leopard-mobile,’ for its part, was responsible for smoothly navigating the perilous passages of the High Mountain Zone.
“We’re almost there.” Ming Ruan’s voice had just fallen when the snow leopard suddenly made an emergency brake!
As luck would have it, Jin Qianyu detected the scent of other wild beasts just around the corner of the snowy mountain ahead—and more than just one. The moment Jin Qianyu discovered that pack of beasts, he also knew that the other side had likewise detected his presence.
He didn’t know why wild beasts would suddenly gather here, but there was no time left to set Ming Ruan down and hide him.
The snow leopard’s tail climbed onto Ming Ruan’s waist, winding two tight loops around it, fixing him even more securely on his back.
If the situation turned critical, Jin Qianyu planned to avoid a direct confrontation and use the snow mountain’s terrain to shake off these beasts.
Yet Ming Ruan on his back was still unaware. “What’s wrong, baby?”
As he spoke, the presence around the corner drew nearer and nearer.
The next moment, a bizarre combination—a gray wolf, a lion, and a fox—abruptly rounded the bend and appeared before the snow leopard.
Both sides were stunned.
Since the sanatorium had already pinpointed Ming Ruan’s location, Xie Gewen and the others had no reason to wait on the spot. Unspoken, the three of them had rushed to the snowy mountain, wanting to see Ming Ruan even a moment sooner, to confirm his condition. They never expected to see such a scene.
They only paused for a second before recognizing the snow leopard’s identity.
But! They knew Ming Ruan had been alone with the snow leopard this whole time, but they hadn’t expected it to develop this far! The snow leopard actually had Ming Ruan riding on his back? And his tail was even shamelessly wrapped around Ming Ruan’s waist!
As if struck by lightning, they then glared furiously at the snow leopard.
Ming Ruan, on the snow leopard’s back, twisted. “Huh? Baby?”
Jin Qianyu sensed the movement on his back, thought Ming Ruan was afraid, and his tail, wrapped around his waist, patted twice in reassurance.
But the next moment, his tail was untied by the young man’s hands. The weight on his back lightened. Ming Ruan had already jumped down and was running straight toward the beasts opposite them.
