She plopped down on the ground, the cold floor making her shiver and clearing her muddled mind a little.
The giant tiger lying by the fire seemed disturbed by her movement, lazily lifting one eyelid.
Those brilliant golden vertical pupils, in the dim cave, resembled a lit will-o’-the-wisp, sweeping over her with an eerie glance.
The gaze carried a hint of impatience, as if saying, “I was sleeping just fine, what are you fussing about now?”
Then, he closed his eyes again, feigning sleep.
As if the one who had just been used as a “mattress” wasn’t him at all.
Lin Shengsheng’s heart pounded so fast it felt like it would leap out of her throat.
She looked down at her hands, recalling the scene before she lost consciousness.
She had exhausted herself from overusing her ability and instinctively grabbed his paw…
Then…
Then she remembered nothing.
But now, the feeling of abundant energy flowing through her body was undeniable.
A faint yet incredibly pure warmth was continuously flowing from her palm into his body.
As this warmth poured in, Yuan could clearly feel that the “Withering Curse” entrenched deep within his bloodline, tormenting him like a festering sore, seemed to have met its nemesis. Once again, it was suppressed and weakened.
An even more immense, purer energy was flowing from his body, through their touching skin, back into the female’s body!
Like… a cycle.
Her energy purified him, his energy replenished her.
The strange sensation of energy exchange that had flashed through her mind before losing consciousness struck Lin Shengsheng like lightning.
An absurd yet perfectly reasonable guess surfaced in her mind.
Her [Life Purification] ability consumed her own energy.
And the way to replenish that energy was… through intimate contact with powerful males.
The stronger and purer the other’s bloodline, the more energy she could “absorb,” and the faster the replenishment.
Lin Shengsheng stared blankly at the massive White Tiger before her, as huge as a mountain range.
Without a doubt, he was the most powerful creature she had ever seen.
So…
He was her one and only, top-tier…
Mobile Charger in this world?
This realization made Lin Shengsheng’s cheeks burn once again.
What kind of situation was this!
In the apocalypse, to survive, she had to fight zombies, mutated plants, and human hearts.
Now, in this Beastman world, to survive, she actually had to… take advantage of male Beastmen?!
This was too… too shameful!
But shame aside, survival was what truly mattered.
Lin Shengsheng took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.
She glanced at Yuan, who seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep, even emitting a contented, soft purr from his throat.
Good.
Now she had a stable food source (Yuan hunted), a safe shelter (Yuan’s cave), and found a way to replenish her energy (taking advantage of Yuan).
The three essential elements for survival were barely in place.
Next, she needed to think about how to improve her quality of life.
Lin Shengsheng looked around.
This cave was really… too dirty.
Apart from a small clearing by the fire pit, the rest of the area was littered with the skeletal remains of various animals, some still clinging to dried, blackened, rotting flesh.
The air was filled with an indescribable odor—a mixture of blood, decay, and the musky scent unique to wild beasts.
It was practically a massive garbage dump.
Lin Shengsheng, who had a mild case of mysophobia, felt her nose was about to give up.
No, this had to change!
As a doctor, she knew all too well that poor hygiene was a breeding ground for disease. Even with her Purification ability, she had no intention of living in a trash heap.
No time like the present.
Lin Shengsheng stood up, brushed the dust off her pants, and began rummaging around the cave.
She needed tools.
Soon, she found a type of extremely resilient vine among a pile of withered branches and dead leaves. In the post-apocalyptic world, she had once used fibers from this plant to stitch wounds.
Using a stone shard, she cut the vine and skillfully tore it into finer fibrous strips, twisting them one by one into sturdy ropes.
After making the ropes, she found a relatively straight branch and tightly bound some soft, broad-leaved plants to one end of it with the vine rope.
Just like that, a simple, primitive-style broom was born.
Yuan was once again awakened by her rustling noises.
He opened his eyes to see the little creature holding a strange branch tied with a few tattered leaves, sweeping haphazardly around his cave.
Lin Shengsheng didn’t care what he thought.
With her new tool, she started from the deepest part of the cave, gradually sweeping all the bones, rotting flesh, and miscellaneous debris into one pile.
“Swish… swish…”
The sound of the broom scraping against the ground echoed through the spacious cave.
Yuan frowned slightly.
Watching the pile of bones, which emitted a familiar scent, his golden vertical pupils revealed a hint of dissatisfaction.
Among them were several large boar leg bones he had intentionally saved for grinding his teeth when hungry.
And that half-dried venison was his leftover “reserve food” from his last meal.
What was this female doing?
She was cleaning out his… storage room!
After sweeping the trash into a pile, Lin Shengsheng fetched the intact antelope hide she had skinned earlier.
She swept all the debris onto the hide and, with effort, dragged it by one corner to the cave entrance.
Glancing at the howling wind and snow outside, she hesitated for a moment before pushing the entire pile of trash off the cliff.
With that done, she clapped her hands and let out a long sigh of relief.
The entire cave instantly felt much cleaner.
Yuan let out a low, warning growl from his throat.
He leaped up from the ground, his massive body instantly blocking Lin Shengsheng’s path.
Lowering his head, his hot breath blew against her face.
Those golden vertical pupils stared intently at her, filled with an accusation of “you threw away my food” and a demand of “you’d better give me an explanation.”
An overwhelming sense of pressure washed over her.
Lin Shengsheng’s heart instantly leaped into her throat.
Oh no.
She’d forgotten who the real owner of this place was.
She had just… poked the tiger in the eye!
“That… that’s too dirty, you’ll get sick…” she tried to explain, her voice as faint as a mosquito’s hum.
Yuan clearly didn’t understand what “getting sick” meant.
All he knew was that this little creature had thrown away all the food he had painstakingly saved up!
Unforgivable!
Yuan clearly didn’t understand what “getting sick” meant.