Seeing Lore return safely through the heavy rain, his mouth stuffed with fish that looked delicious, Luna immediately excitedly let out an “Awoo” and pounced over, circling around Lore, affectionately licking his rain-soaked cheeks and fur, expressing welcome and joy.
“So…
does this count as increasing ‘Affection’?” Lore looked at Luna’s enthusiastic appearance and couldn’t help but recall the system’s nonsensical hint again, “Luna is female, does this intimacy count as ‘Favor’?
When will that hidden mechanism pop out?”
He felt like he was playing a hidden achievement without any task prompts, both full of anticipation and carrying a bit of heart-scratching curiosity.
He shook his body gently, shaking off most of the rainwater and Luna’s overly enthusiastic saliva, and placed the fish in his mouth on the dry ground in the center of the nest.
The family of three sat together, starting to enjoy this unexpected full-fish feast.
Outside the nest was the sound of the pouring rain, while inside the nest were the faint sounds of the Zinogres chewing fish bones, unexpectedly creating a sense of tranquility and warmth amidst the storm.
However, today’s rain seemed exceptionally different.
Not only was the intensity super high and the duration long, but it always gave people a sense of unnatural oppression, as if it contained some unknown energy.
Just as Lore was tasting the tender fish meat while looking at the waterfall-like rain curtain outside the cave, suddenly, a petite, agile, but clearly stumbling figure flashed past in the dense rain lines!
Because the rain was too heavy, his vision was blurred, and the scent had been washed away, Lore was completely unable to distinguish what it was.
Immediately following, an extremely mournful and shrill cry came through the rain curtain.
The figure seemed to have fallen from a high branch, landing with a “thud” in the mud not far outside the nest, and then there was no more sound.
Mother Zinogre and Luna were still focused on eating fish, seemingly unaware of this slight movement.
But Lore’s curiosity was hooked.
He hesitated for a moment, then stood up, braving the heavy rain to walk out of the nest again, carefully exploring in the direction where the figure had fallen.
After walking closer, borrowing the light of lightning that occasionally tore through the sky, Lore finally saw clearly the small thing curled up in the mud.
It was a fox.
But definitely not an ordinary fox.
It was not large, only about half the size of Lore, and at this moment, its fur was soaked through, covered in mud, looking extremely bedraggled, having already fainted due to weakness and pain.
Despite the terrible situation, its fur, which could still show its original color even when covered in filth, and the distinct, multi-layered fluffy tail silhouettes that were vaguely visible even in its unconscious state, allowed Lore, this “professional hunter,” to immediately recognize its identity — this was the extremely rare endemic life from the Shrine Ruins area, the Jade-Faced Golden Nine-Tailed Fox!
At this moment, perhaps feeling the faint heat brought by Lore’s approach, the Jade-Faced Golden Nine-Tailed Fox’s eyelids trembled, barely opening a slit.
Those eyes, which should have been charming and agile, were now filled with pain, fear, and weakness.
When its vision focused and it saw clearly that before it was a Zinogre, much larger than itself and exuding the aura of a predator, the extreme shock prevented it from even letting out a whimper before it passed out completely again.
Lore looked at this dying, beautiful creature, and a sense of pity inexplicably rose in his heart.
He carefully lowered his body, using his teeth to gently grip the relatively safe fur on the back of the Nine-Tailed Fox’s neck, lifting it up as gently as possible, and turned to bring it back to the dry nest.
Seeing that Lore had actually brought back a living creature that looked like “prey,” Luna excitedly “Awooed” again, thinking this was an extra meal.
But she soon discovered that Lore did not place this fox on the “dining table,” but carefully placed it on a dry and comfortable moss mat in the corner of the nest.
“Awoo?” Luna tilted her head in confusion.
“Roar?” Even Mother Zinogre cast a puzzled gaze, the mother and daughter blinking their bright, large eyes with extremely high synchronization.
Looking at their adorable appearance with off-the-charts synchronization, Lore couldn’t help but smile inwardly: “They really are mother and daughter; even their expressions of confusion are exactly the same…”
Soon, Luna’s gaze changed from confusion to salivation for “potential food,” staring at the unconscious Nine-Tailed Fox, a hungry rumbling sound emitting from her throat.
Seeing this, Lore immediately tapped the ground gently with his tail while emitting a low and firm rumbling sound, clearly indicating: This one, cannot be eaten.
This command confused the two female Zinogres even more; they tilted their heads in unison again, revealing an even cuter, dazed expression.
Luna even let out a few short, low growls, as if saying:
“Food is so scarce right now, why not eat the meat delivered right to our mouths?
What a waste!”
Lore, of course, understood their logic of survival.
But deep in his heart, beyond the hunting instincts of a Zinogre, there existed a human soul.
Looking at the Jade-Faced Golden Nine-Tailed Fox before him, whose beauty and spirituality were hard to hide even in unconsciousness, he simply couldn’t view her as just a meal.
“She is so beautiful and looks so spirited; it would be a pity to just eat her…
Hmm, why not keep her?
Raising a fox as a pet sounds pretty cool, right?
A Zinogre raising a Jade-Faced Golden Nine-Tailed Fox—that’s a rare combination.”
He held firm to his idea and shook his head again.
Mother Zinogre looked at the determined Lore, then at the little creature in the corner with almost no meat on it, and seemed to understand something.
She lowered her head, gently nudged Luna with her nose, and let out a low growl, as if admonishing her daughter:
“Since Lore wants to keep it, let him be.
It doesn’t have much meat anyway, so it’s not worth arguing over.”
Sensing her mother’s attitude, Luna, though still somewhat puzzled and regretful, had no choice but to droop her tail.
She stopped staring at the Jade-Faced Golden Nine-Tailed Fox and turned back to deal with her fish, though she would occasionally steal a glance at the strange “new member.”
Lore walked over to the unconscious Jade-Faced Golden Nine-Tailed Fox, first placing the fattest piece of sashimi fish by her mouth, hoping she could replenish her strength after waking up.
Then, he extended his broad, rough tongue and began patiently licking the Jade-Faced Golden Nine-Tailed Fox’s soaked fur.
This wasn’t out of any ulterior motive, but a necessary rescue—if the fur wasn’t dried quickly, hypothermia would rapidly take the life of this weak little creature.
His movements were as gentle as possible to avoid hurting her.
Just as he was licking along the fur to the Jade-Faced Golden Nine-Tailed Fox’s hind leg, his tongue felt something unusual.
He carefully parted the wet fur and discovered a gruesome wound on one of her hind ankles, deep enough to see the bone, with jagged edges and still oozing blood.
It looked like it had been caused by the violent impact or goring of a Bullfango’s tusks.
The soaking from the rain and mud had made the wound even worse.
“Sigh…”
Lore sighed softly in his heart, his movements becoming even more cautious.
“It seems you also have a sad story of escape…”