The wind in the wilderness always blows with a mournful chill. In this expanse of overgrown grass standing over a meter tall, there are no trees in sight, no significant water sources, and scarcely a few large rocks. The evolved beings who have gradually shed their wild nature mostly disdain such a place. Even those that remain herbivorous prefer to seek out more nutritious plants rather than the grasses here. Some herbivores have even altered their habits, beginning to hunt other evolved beings. After all, though plants have evolved, their nutritional value often pales in comparison to the flesh and blood of other evolved beings.
However, it's not just the lack of appealing features that makes this plain sparsely populated. There's another reason—there is a massive ant nest here. Thousands of giant ants roam this area, treating the wilderness as their domain. Twenty or so evolved beings once attempted to cross this place, relying on their numbers, but they never made it out. Since then, nearby evolved beings avoid this place like the plague, steering clear whenever they see it. To everyone, this wilderness has no attractive features and is so dangerous that anyone who runs there is either out of their mind or has a death wish.
Yet, there are indeed people who would run to such a place.
She wasn't out of her mind, nor did she have a death wish; she simply had no other choice. "Damn it! That little brat ran into the wilderness!" Outside the wilderness, three goat-like evolved beings stared into the distance. One of them, furious, yelled at another, "It's all your fault! If it weren't for you, that wolf brat wouldn't have gotten away!"
"How can it be all my fault? What were you doing at the time?" the yelled-at one retorted. "You share the blame too!"
"No way! It was your job to watch that brat!"
"Don't shove all the blame onto me!"
"It was clearly your responsibility! You wanna fight?!!"
"Bring it on! I'm not afraid of you!!"
As the two argued, about to come to blows, the third, larger, and more robust goat evolved being finally had enough and shouted, "Enough!" His words immediately silenced the other two. Clearly, he was the leader among them. "I'll go in and take a look." Leaving that statement behind, the leader frowned and entered the wilderness.
But moments later, he came running out in a disheveled state, looking back in terror. "It's too dangerous in there! Those giant ants keep calling for their companions, swarming out endlessly. There are simply too many of them. If I hadn't run fast, I'd be a goner too." Then, he said with some relief, "Luckily, they only consider this wilderness their territory and didn't chase me out. Let's go; that wolf girl is dead for sure." "Yes," the other two responded respectfully, as the leader was a chosen one, holding a high status in their tribe.
As the three were about to leave, the goat chosen one thought for a moment and then ordered, "You two stay here. If that brat just hid inside and was lucky enough not to encounter the ants, she might return the way she came after we leave. This is possible. Her mother swallowed a divine stone while pregnant with her. Various signs indicate she benefited from it too, though she's still young and not yet a threat. But that doesn't mean she has the right to live. To be cautious, stay here for a day and patrol the surroundings. If nothing happens after a day, return. With her current strength, she can't go far in this wilderness, nor can she hide for a whole day." "Understood," the two responded.
Meanwhile, inside the wilderness, the wolf girl who had fled was running desperately. She retained her wolf-like features, covered in deep blue fur with sharp claws on her limbs, but her body proportions were very human-like, allowing her to walk upright. She was lucky not to encounter any patrolling ants upon entering. She didn't hide, nor did she think to return after her pursuers left. As a child, she lacked such calm wisdom. Instead, fear, panic, the false sense of security from the taller grasses around her, and the slight relief from seemingly having no one chasing her anymore drove her further in.
However, luck runs out eventually. Without warning, they appeared before her. Nearly a meter tall, their frightening appearance sent shivers down her spine. Their blue-black shells gleamed eerily, and most importantly, they never acted alone. Blocking her path were over a dozen giant ants!
"Ah—!" Falling, wetting herself, trembling legs—an overwhelming fear and a powerful survival instinct took over, and the girl crawled, using both hands and feet, to escape! Yet, this was the ants' territory, known as a deathtrap to the nearby beings. Running into patrolling ants meant no chance of survival. The monstrous ants seemed omnipresent, appearing endlessly. In no time, they had cornered her.
In this moment of despair, a faint crying sound suddenly reached her highly sensitive wolf ears. Without a second thought, at the moment she heard the crying, she stumbled and dashed toward that direction. If one were to think about it, it's rather funny—what was she going to do, run towards the crying in such a situation? But the young girl had no time for such thoughts. In her desperation, hearing a different sound, she instinctively fled toward it.
However, something strange happened! The closer she got to the crying, the fewer ants she encountered. Coupled with the wolf's survival instincts flaring up in desperation, she narrowly escaped the ants' encirclements several times. Gradually, the seemingly certain deathtrap opened up a narrow path!
Finally, she stumbled to the source of the crying. In a spot indistinguishable from the rest of the wilderness, she saw a set of adult male clothes scattered on the ground. Beside them were a brown cowboy hat, a sheathed long sword, and a small crying jaguar cub. This was everything laid out before the girl—a baby in the wilderness.
The jaguar cub before the wolf girl was smaller than her head, appearing newly born. Its crying sounded just like a human baby, but since the girl could also speak the human language, she didn't find this odd. She endured the sharp pain from her wounds and asked, "Did you save me?" For some reason, the ant colony seemed to avoid this area.
"Waaa—! Waaa—!" The only response she received was the continuous crying and flailing of the jaguar cub's tiny paws.
Seeing this, the wolf girl quickly dropped to all fours, mimicking her mother's actions by rubbing her face against the cub to comfort it. However, this was awkward for her, accustomed as she was to walking upright, and it had little effect. After a moment, she stood up, wrapped the cub in the clothes on the ground, and picked it up, clumsily rocking it like she had seen in human parenting illustrations. "There, there~ don't cry~~~ There~~~" After a while, this method actually worked a bit, and the crying eased slightly.
The girl sighed with relief, looked at the things on the ground, and said, "Are those your dad's things? Did he leave for something? Let's wait here for him!" However, they waited for three days without any sign of him.
"Grrr—! Grrr—!" There was nothing to eat nearby. The girl had fled for her life, her body battered and her spirit exhausted. After three days without food or water, she had reached her limit. The cub in her arms also cried more intensely. Waking from a hunger-induced stupor, the girl looked at the sky and gently spoke to the cub, "It's been three days... little one, if we keep waiting, we'll starve to death. We have to leave here. Don't worry, your dad will come looking for you, just like my parents. So, for them to find us, we need to leave and try to survive." Saying this, she forced herself to stand, ready to leave. "I hope it's you that the ants won't approach."
Just then, the cub in her arms started crying loudly, its tiny paws stretching toward the ground. "What's wrong?" the girl asked, puzzled, and then understood. "Do you want these things your dad left behind?" Remembering her own captured parents, she felt a pang of sorrow and crouched to pick up the cowboy hat and sword, placing them on the cub. The cub grasped them with its tiny paws, looking very precious.
This both amused and saddened the girl. Since the surrounding grass was taller than she was, she had to jump up a few times to survey the distance. She then chose a direction away from where she had come, carrying the cub and the sword, and dragging her weary body out of the wilderness. She was correct; it wasn't her location that kept the ants away but the jaguar cub in her arms. As she walked through the wilderness, she didn't see a single ant. Though she didn't understand why, she owed her survival to it.
"You've saved my life again!" she told the cub as they safely exited the wilderness. "Until our parents find us, we'll have to rely on each other. I'm older, so I'll be the big sister, and you'll be the little brother, okay?"
"Waaa—!" As soon as she said this, the cub started crying again. "Huh? What's wrong? Don't you like it?" she asked, then thought for a moment and said, "Do you think of me as your mom? That can't be! I'm too young to be your mom!"
"Waaa—!" The cub continued to cry.
Biting her lip, she said, "Alright, you can think of me as your mom for now…"
"Waaa—!" But this made the cub cry even louder.
"Did I guess wrong?" the girl quickly said, "Then I'll just be your sister!"
"Waaa—!"
"There, there~ little one, don't cry~ someone might hear us!"
"Waaa—!"
"Shhh~ be good~~~"
As she awkwardly comforted the jaguar cub, the girl cautiously searched for food around the wilderness. To her, this was the safest method. If danger arose, she could immediately retreat into the wilderness. Thanks to the cub, the wilderness was a refuge rather than a death trap. However, she soon found this method ineffective.
The ants had cleared out all the food near the wilderness. Even if there were leftovers, she didn't have time to search thoroughly. Without food, she and the cub wouldn't last. Reluctantly, she began to move away from the wilderness. Fortunately, due to the ants occasionally foraging for food outside, the surroundings were also devoid of people. Otherwise, the cub's crying would have attracted many with ill intentions.
Before long, the girl found a small human town. After searching through several houses, she finally found some cookies, snacks, and a few cartons of milk. Having seen these with her parents before, she knew they needed to be unwrapped. Using her claws, she gently tore open a carton of milk, poured it into a bowl, and placed the cub next to it. "Drink the milk, little one~" Watching it start to drink, she opened a pack of cookies and devoured them. After a few packs, she felt alive again. Exhaustion hit her, and her spirit, finally relaxing, caused her to fall asleep.
That night, the girl had a beautiful dream about reuniting with her family. However, in the middle of the night:
"Bang—!"
A loud noise shattered everything! Even her dream wasn't spared. The door was kicked open, and a dozen goat-evolved beings filed in. Then, two goat chosen ones entered. "You have good luck, managing to get out of the wilderness," said one chosen one, noticeably taller than the others. He was the one who had chased her earlier. "But your luck ran out. You avoided the guards but ran into us foraging for food."
"Grrr—!" The wolf girl growled, baring her teeth. She backed against the wall, slightly crouching, her right claw shielding the jaguar cub, constantly searching for a way to escape.
"Don't be so hostile!" At this moment, the other chosen one stepped forward. Unlike the first, he was of average build but walked upright and had a golden horn on his forehead. "We come with good intentions. We've brought your parents here to reunite with you."
"Wha...what do you mean?" The girl's eyes widened in shock as she anxiously looked past them. "My parents are here? Where are they? Let them go!"
"Oh dear, oh dear! Where are you looking?" The horned chosen one patted his stomach with a grin. "Aren't your parents right here?"
Horrified, the girl's face paled as she understood the implication. "You...you monsters!" she screamed, tears streaming down her face. "I'll never forgive you!"
She bared her fangs and, driven by a desperate rage, lunged at the golden-horned chosen one. But before she could reach him, the taller chosen one stepped in, striking her down with a powerful blow. She hit the ground hard, the cub still clutched protectively in her arms.
"Such a futile struggle," the taller chosen one said, looking down at her with disdain. "You should know better than to challenge us."
Gasping for breath, the girl glared up at them with defiant eyes. "I will protect him... even if it costs me my life."
The golden-horned chosen one chuckled, stepping closer to her. "Admirable, but foolish. You're no match for us."
Just then, the jaguar cub, sensing the danger, let out an ear-piercing cry. To everyone's surprise, the ground around them began to tremble slightly. The chosen ones looked around in confusion, their confidence wavering.
"What's happening?" one of the goat soldiers exclaimed.
Before anyone could react, the earth split open beneath the golden-horned chosen one, and massive roots shot out, wrapping around his body and pulling him into the ground. The other chosen one and his soldiers stumbled back in shock, watching helplessly as their leader was swallowed by the earth.
The girl, still clutching the cub, used the distraction to drag herself up and flee. She didn't know what had caused the roots to appear, but she didn't waste time questioning her luck. She sprinted through the town, the cub's cries echoing in her ears.
Finally, she found a small hidden alley and collapsed, her energy completely spent. The jaguar cub nestled close to her, its cries softening to whimpers.
Panting heavily, the girl whispered to the cub, "We made it... somehow, we made it."
As she lay there, trying to catch her breath, she felt a strange sense of hope. Whatever power the cub possessed, it had saved them both. She stroked its tiny head gently. "I don't know what you are, but thank you."
With renewed determination, the girl looked up at the night sky. "We'll find a safe place, little one. We'll survive. And one day, we'll avenge our families."
The cub looked up at her with wide, trusting eyes, and she knew she wasn't alone in this fight. Together, they would face whatever challenges lay ahead.