The night grew dark, and Bern was assembling the parts to transform into a tiger. Happiness's privilege of sleeping in the warmth of Bern's paws was gone. She tried to get closer to the fire and covered herself with the dry straw. Vincent had already fallen into a deep sleep within the blood-red circle. He had no guard against Bern and Happiness, which made Happiness, who had always been cautious of him, feel a sense of guilt.
Lying together in the haystack, Happiness watched Bern attentively as he focused on making a communicator. After a while, she softly said, "Bern, can we go back? Alexander and the others have prepared a lot of things for me to survive the extreme cold of winter. Will I freeze into an ice block? But I would rather be frozen than stay with Maya and be dissected."
"No, you won't," Bern reassured her in a confident tone. He continued, "I will finish this quickly and then go out to find food and firewood for you. As long as we keep the campfire burning, have enough food reserves, and my body heat, you won't freeze to death."
Happiness nodded and thanked him. She had no idea how Bern would gather a month's worth of supplies within a day on this island, which was not a supermarket like Zone 5. It wasn't as simple as going out and buying everything in bulk. It took two or three days for Eliot to make her a heater. Lost in her thoughts, Happiness gradually grew drowsy and decided that she would help to find food tomorrow, even if it meant assisting Bern....
In reality, the virus inside Bern's body had not completely disappeared, and his strength had not fully recovered. However, he was pretending to be strong for Happiness, providing her with a sense of support. He connected the fine copper wires to the electronic board and inserted a dry battery. A green light lit up in the corner of the electronic board. Wiping the sweat off his forehead, Bern felt relieved. They finally had a signal! The first step was successful. After adjusting the wireless signal to a universal code and transmitting it through the antenna on the broken phone, Bern planned to gather enough firewood and catch fish for Happiness. Speaking of fishing, tigers were definitely no match for sea pythons... Bern glanced at Vincent, who was sleeping soundly, and thought that it was already difficult for him to remember the common language and accommodate them politely, considering his isolation from the world. He couldn't possibly ask Vincent to go fishing in the middle of the night.
Just as Bern reached the door, he heard the faint sound of scales rubbing against the ground behind him. He turned around and saw Vincent rubbing his eyes, "I will go out to search some foods, The sea surface will freeze tomorrow," Vincent said, even though he had a terrifying appearance and a rustic accent, he was knowledgeable and intelligent. He seemed to understand others' needs well.
"Thank you!" Bern expressed his gratitude. Having Vincent help them find food was the best outcome.
"Not a problem," Vincent wagged his tail.
In the warm haystack by the campfire, Happiness slept comfortably, without any worries. It was not much different from a soft bed. However, when she woke up, it was already noon.
There was no one in the building. Happiness ran to the edge of the water pool to wash her face and rinse her mouth. The clear water felt pleasantly cool yesterday, but now it had a chilling sensation. The signs of extremely cold weather were approaching.
Happiness took a few sips of water before stepping out of the gate. She saw Bern carrying a large bundle of branches and entering the building. Happiness greeted him and followed. To her surprise, inside the building, which was about the same size as her living space, half of it was filled with firewood and straw. Various marine fish and shellfish were piled up like small mountains on the ventilated side of the building. With Happiness's appetite, one-tenth of it would be enough for her to eat for a month, with some leftover.
"Wow!" Happiness clapped her hands. "Bern! You're amazing. You've prepared so much! I think it's already enough!"
"It's about right," Bern finally showed a truly relaxed smile. "Vincent caught all of these. He's a very helpful marine creature."
"Mmm..." Happiness nodded. As the saying goes, once bitten by a snake, one fears even a rope for ten years. Even though Vincent was very good, she couldn't help but have some resentment towards snakes...
"I made some pots out of rocks and already cleaned them and filled them with fruit," Bern led Happiness to see the large jars that were hollowed out from the big stones. Inside, clear water soaked the purple and vibrant round fruits. Just looking at them made one's appetite soar. As Happiness smelled the fruity aroma in the steam, Bern continued, "At night, these will all freeze. When you want to eat, just take a piece of ice and boil it over the fire. It's very convenient. Happiness, do you like it?"
Even as the leader of the Tiger Clan, after a busy night of completing various trivial tasks, all he wanted to hear was a compliment from Happiness.
"I like it!" Happiness said happily. "It's really great. I was worried about not being able to find food last night, but I didn't expect you to be so well-prepared! It's really beyond my expectations!"
Bern couldn't hide his happiness on his face, but humbly said, "This deserted island only has this much to offer."
Happiness picked up a fruit from the water and stuffed it into her mouth. Looking at Burn's appearance, she couldn't help but find it funny. Most of these tigers, leopards, wolves, and dogs had very simple personalities. Whatever they thought was written all over their faces. Animals were much easier to get along with than humans, of course, except for Uncle Ermao.
"When we get back, I'll cook some shells for you to eat," Bern casually picked up a basin-sized fat shell and said to Happiness.
"Great!" Happiness saw that Bern was only wearing a thin pair of pants and took off her own shirt that she was using as a cloak, handing it to him. She said, "Bern, put this on. The wind outside has already started to cool down, and even the sunlight doesn't have any warmth."
"No need," Bern shook his head. "Not to mention our Tiger Clan, even Kurei and the Hound Clan don't need any clothes to withstand extreme cold. Our fur is the best protection against the cold."
As the two were talking, Bern's ears twitched. Then he threw the shell in his hand and held the spike hanging from his waist, taking a step forward to block Happiness behind him. Happiness was startled by his sudden movement and was about to ask a question when she heard a muffled roar coming from the sky. She looked up and saw three particularly eye-catching gray-green planes flying in the cloudless blue sky. Burn held Happiness's hand and whispered, "It's the Beast Clan's fighter jets."
The three planes circled in the air for a few rounds, then selected a landing spot and descended straight towards the small island. Bern's communication device worked well, but he didn't know if the ones coming were from those ancient species!
Happiness's hand was held by Bern, and she leaned half of her body to see the direction where the planes were landing. While her heart was pounding, she also had strong anticipation. Could it be Alexander and the others coming?!
Under the sunlight, the figures of the people rushing towards them became closer and closer. Suddenly, Happiness's eyes welled up with tears, her fingers trembling uncontrollably. Finally, she forcefully shook off Bern's hand holding hers, shouted with joy, and ran forward!
The group of black-uniformed beasts surrounded Happiness, each wearing an expression of joy. In the sunlight, the slender girl pounced on one of the black-haired men like a hungry tiger and rubbed against him with all her might. Then, she reached out her hands to the man with light golden hair and called out, "Ben!"
Ben hurriedly carried Happiness over. She tightly hugged Road's neck, smiling on her face but tears streaming down incessantly. She never could have imagined that Alexander and the others would actually find this deserted island and find her!
The alarm was lifted, Bern hung the spikes back on his waist, and he slowly walked towards the group of people, his steps as heavy as his mood.
"Let me hug her too!" Damian said eagerly.
"And me too, Happiness, you can't favor one and neglect the other!" Abyssyus pushed Eugene aside.
Eugene still had a large lunch box in his hand. He hurriedly opened the box and stuffed a small piece of warm fried meat into Happiness's mouth.
"It's delicious!" Happiness chewed with tears in her eyes, then swallowed it.
"H-h-h-happiness, we brought clothes for you!" Andy approached and offered his services eagerly.
"I made them based on ancient down jacket information." Eliot was quite pleased with himself.
Now all of Happiness's animal keepers were here, even Lionel, who stood on the side, seemingly relaxed, with his hands in his pockets, looking at his phone. He pressed a few times with his fingers before pretending to casually look up at Happiness. It was so obvious that playing with his phone at this time was a cover-up. If he really didn't care about Happiness, why would he come all the way here?
Bern's face was cold as he watched Happiness being hugged one by one by these beasts and heard them loudly kissing and calling themselves the Road Canine Clan. The only thing missing was them excitedly licking her with their tongues.
Indeed, a female animal was shared by all the male animals, but the premise was that these female animals wouldn't favor certain male animals and treat all the males equally. Happiness's actions towards the canine, wolf, and leopard clans in front of Bern had violated the most basic principle of fairness.
"Burn, thank you for saving Happiness!" Alexander gave Bern a warm hug.
"It was just a coincidence." Bern said casually, without a smile on his face. Instead, he called out to the little animal in Road's arms, "Happiness, do you still eat shells?"
Happiness turned her head when she heard this, seeing Bern's strange expression, his bare upper body, and the scars from her injuries that hadn't healed yet. His pair of eager sapphire blue eyes made Happiness's heart ache. She said, "Yes, I want to eat."
"What shells?" Eugene became interested. "I'll make it, I'm good at seafood dishes!"
"No, I'll make it for Happiness." Bern picked up the big shell and headed towards the central building. His fist was clenched tightly, and only when he heard the light footsteps of the light-weight Happiness did he know she had followed him. Then Bern's right fist relaxed.
A strange and sour atmosphere spread out like this. Although Eugene was very resentful of Bern's attitude, he didn't want to make things difficult for the long-lost Happiness, so he smiled and followed towards the dome building.
"It seems that you really didn't abuse and persecute this human girl." Standing next to Eliot, a brown-haired man who hadn't spoken said, "But I still need to further investigate the specific situation." This man had a strong and sturdy figure, slightly taller than Bern, wearing the same black uniform as Alexander and the others, but with a shiny silver badge on his arm, he had a very strong presence. If it weren't for Happiness's excitement, she would have definitely noticed him.