Gentle Beast

Vlad heard and quickly removed a map from the cabin and gave it to Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu pinched the edge of the map, her fingertips trembling, and forced herself to calm down, observing the map and their situation.

This was her first time seeing a sea map, and before she was just an ordinary sophomore science student.

She asked the helmsman, Vlad, about their current location and compared the distribution of the se map to confirm that they were only two kilometers away from the reef in front of them.

She lopped up at the mast and determined it to be a two-masted sailboat.

Next, she worked to recall what her physics teacher had once said that the speed of this kind of ship was around 10-15 knots, equivalent to 1.8 kilometers an hour. That is to say. . .

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu mentally calculated and found that they only had 5-7 minutes left to avoid the reef.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu inhaled deep and placed her hand inside her jacket, removing her compass from her space under the cover of the coat.

Because the compass was small, this did not cause much concern.

The helmsman scowled miserably and his five facial features crunched, looking more like an uncivilized wolf as he urged, “Female, what is your solution? Hurry up and speak!”

At the same time, the wolves behind them were becoming more and more restless and they impatiently echoed:

“Yeah, if we can’t safely bypass the reef, we’ll throw you into the water with the leopard.”

“Why are you still dawdling? Isn’t it that you can’t do anything about it and are just procrastinating to deceive the patriarch!”

“Stupid woman, if you dare to tease us. . .”

Holden stood not very far away, leaning back against the wall with his legs crossed, and he looked at Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu with casual eyes.

Listening to his race’s clansmen scolding the girl, he did not move.

When the girl spoke to him just now, he pondered for a while and agreed to her request.

Vlad was the most experienced helmsman on board the entire ship, and even he was at a loss what to do with other clasnmen on board.

Since the female said there was a way, let her try it once.

Best if she was successful, but in the event that she was unsuccessful. . .

Holden raised his hand and touched the traces of blood on the side of his face that was scratched by the leopard, and both his grin and eyes flashed with light.

To his surprise, the girl was much calmer than he expected.

To facilitate giving convenient directions, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu drew up a temporary dial map for Vlad, clearly marked with “1-12” like a clock, and she quickly taught him how to identify them.

“Ten o’clock, 300 meters.” Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu articulated clearly.

The ship gradually entered the reef and Vlad looked out at the white fog in front of them, but steadies his mind and did not make any mistakes.

Three hundred meters later, he listened to Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu as she said, “One o’clock, go 500 meters.”

A familiar feeling fell over him and his heart was happy, knowing they had avoided the first reef.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t happy for long, as the second reef ushered in.

The girl’s methodical voice commanded:

“Nine o’clock, five hundred meters.”

“12 o’clock, straight ahead 200 meters.”

“Keep going straight. . .”

The lives of everyone on the boat were in the hands of that girl.

Not only did Holden stare at her, but so did all the other beastmen.

The girl’s brows were low, her quiet eyes downcast, and her soft skin shined white under the flames, glistening in the light like layers of lustrous gems.

Fine lashes quivered lightly, their shadows falling over the meticulous sea map, like the leaves of the China feather fir, their silk strands dense.

The night wind carried her voice onto the deck and to each and every beastman’s ears.

It also brought the sweet fragrance of her body.

Of course, this time none dared to move a bit at the charming allure.

Though, the scent was really enticing.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu stared at the marks of the reef on the map, her voice calm, and only she knew just how nervous her heart was.

As she looked at the map, she stared at the compass with a thin layer of cold sweat gathering on her palms.

She had only touched upon these things in textbooks, and she never once thought she would personally guide the helmsman’s hands.

This kind of practice gave no good feelings in the least.

After all, she was on this boat and if anything went wrong, if the hull hit the reef, she would have to explain it.

*

Just two hours felt longer than a century.

When Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu commanded the Vlad to avoid the last reef, and they successfully made it out of the rocky area, she felt her hands and feet go soft, and she slid down the side of the ship to sit on the deck.

She raised her hand and touched her forehead, coming away with more cold sweat.

The front of the fog began to dissipate, revealing a clear night sky and a crescent moon hidden in the distant stretches of mountain beyond, resembling a drunken eye.

Vlad loosened the rudder and happily jumped down to the rear of the deck, stretching his neck alongside his clansmen to celebrate.

“Woo——”

“We escaped——”

“Ah-woo——”

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu rubbed her ears. The wolves howled one after another and it was a bit too much for her eardrums.

Sitting for a while, she tried to stand up. She was probably just too nervous because she tried twice without success.

As she climbed up the ship’s side, ready to try for a third time, suddenly a pair of thick boots appeared in her line of sight.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu followed the leather boots up and high above head, she saw Holden’s face.

The disparity between their heights, not to mention this angle, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s neck began to ache and she simply bowed her head to not look at him, dark eyes turning to search for something.

Holden saw that she did not speak to him and bowed his knees, squatting in front of the girl and caught her eye.

“What method did you just use?” He said with a tone filled with great interest.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu shifted her gaze but brought them back to Holden’s serene green pupils.

A short while later, she tilted her head to the side and gave an irrelevant answer, “I will leave tomorrow morning, did you remember what you promised me?”

“Of course,” Holden’s lips hooked up, his voice easy-going.

However, in the next second, he changed his tone, “I can let you leave, but you took my things and I traded them for food. Furthermore, that leopard cub destroyed my cabin. I can’t just forget that.”

Holden’s words “things” exchanged for food referred to Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s backpack.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu tightly pursed her lips and his clear eyes looked at Holden.

She had known all along that the wolf race were cunning and that dealing with them had great risk.

“Then what do you want?”

“You stay behind and come back to the race with me,” Holden did not beat around the bush, “then I won’t look into these anymore.”

“. . .”

Holden saw her silence and his brow tilted up slightly, “You don’t want to? The females in our race are treated well, at least better than the leopards.”

Holden saw her with the little leopard and automatically considered her “the leopard’s female”.

“Pity, the leopard race cannot comprehend protective feelings for the fairer sex, and the boss is ruthless and violent, and he was defeated by me. You are so weak, if you go back to the leopard race, you’ll only to be bullied. It would be better for you to go back with me, I will treat you well.”

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu said nothing, using silence to express her resistance.

She was not a female of the leopard race, and she wasn’t going back tot he leopard race anyway.

She just wanted to find a way back, back to her familiar 21st century. This place was full of crisis everywhere, and the beastmen were strong and brutal. They could eat her at any time. It was impossible for her to survive here.

Holden looked at the desperate girl in the corner and still wanted to speak, but he felt something press to his waist.

“Zzz, zzz,” the sound of electricity sounded out again and the girl’s black as ink eyes looked straight at him, steady and resolute.

Holden had seen the power of this thing. When he was electrified, he was numb and without any strength, even now he could still feel the pain.

“Okay, okay,” Holden held up his hands in compromise and he smiled without panic, “I’ll have Vlad dock at dawn, you can leave at any time.”

*

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu looked around and finally caught sight of a familiar shadow in the corner.

Ryan was still lying safely on the ground, but his would had not been deal with and his fur was soaked in blood.

He didn’t move a single bit, probably storing his strength.

His eyelids opened slightly and deep blue eyes shifted, falling on the sight of Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu and Holden.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu approached, seeing two wolves about to lift him up.

The beastmen were moving roughly and she saw a claw about to touch the leopard’s wound and she quickly cried out, “Don’t touch it!”

The two wolves looked at each other, but because Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu had just helped them through the reef, and even the patriarch was polite to her, they obeyed.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu borrowed a room from Holden and carried the leopard back to it, gently laying him on the bed.

She closed the windows and the doors, hurriedly removing the medicine kit from the space and removing disinfectant and gauze to clean his wound.

After several experiences with this, Ryan was resigned to her ability to take things out from nowhere and he silently closed his eyes.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu skillfully cleaned up his wounds and wrapped it up in clean bandages.

Finishing this, she looked at the watch and saw it was two in the morning.

She could still rest for four hours before dawn.

Too much had happened that night and Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was too tired, falling asleep shortly after lying on the bed.

But the boat swayed too much and she slept so restlessly that she was already awake by six o’clock.

Holden did not go back on his word and told the helmsman to halt the boat near shore.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu carried the backpack and the little leopard off the boat and looked back at the young leader standing on the deck.

Holden leaned his arms on the rudder, asking one last time, “Really won’t consider going back to the race with me?”

This sentence irritated Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu, and he saw the girl’s lips tightened. This time, she straightforwardly turned her head and left.

Holden bowed his head, watching the girl’s figure vanish into the forest, only taking his light of sight back to order the clansmen to set sail.

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