Wulun had been suffering from a serious illness at a young age. The moment he closed his eyes on the operating table, he never woke up again. His consciousness faded into endless darkness, but when he awoke, he discovered that he had become a Pallas’s cat cub.
He was a small, fluffy, gray ball of fur, resembling a short-legged kitten that had only just learned to walk. His tiny body lay in the freezing snow, barely clinging to life.
In a daze, he heard the faint sound of footsteps crunching through the snow. Wulun wondered if he was going to die again. Would he become food for some other beast?
So sleepy…
He wanted so badly to sleep, but it was too cold. He wanted to find somewhere warm, at least so he could die in comfort.
Suddenly, a thick, bushy tail appeared in front of him. The tip swished twice before settling down.
The large tail, covered in dense fur, looked like a warm bed or blanket. The little gray fluffball was barely conscious and couldn’t care less who the tail belonged to. Mustering all his strength, he pushed himself up and threw himself toward it.
A warm, fluffy sensation immediately enveloped his tiny body. His little paws, complete with soft paw pads, couldn’t help kneading the fur as though making biscuits.
So warm… So comfortable…
Wulun felt so happy that he could practically burst with joy.
The owner of the tail turned around. His silver-gray fur was ruffled by the snowy wind, and his eyes gleamed fiercely, radiating a wild, warning aura.
On one side of the Pallas Land mountain range, several beast tribes had recently completed a large-scale migration and settled in the area. The environment was harsh, and food was scarce. To survive and prevent their species from facing extinction, different species sometimes reached agreements to coexist. Even alliances between carnivores and herbivores were quite common.
As the leader of the wolf pack responsible for patrolling their territory, Bei certainly didn’t remember there being any Pallas’s cats among their tribe.
Hake said, “Bei, nearby… Huh? Is this new prey?”
Besides Hake, Geye had also returned from patrol. Geye sat upright nearby, staring at the tiny ball of fluff. The little thing had practically buried its entire head between their bodies and tails.
Hake looked eager to try his luck, licking his lips as he paced back and forth.
“But it’s so tiny. It wouldn’t even be enough for one meal.”
Geye reminded him, “This probably isn’t an ordinary animal.”
Hake froze. He shook the snow off his ears, tilted his head, and took another look at Wulun, who was sound asleep on their tail. Then he glanced at Bei and stealthily brought a wolf paw to his muzzle before leaning toward Geye to whisper.
Hake asked, “Why is our boss stealing another beast’s cub?”
Bei shot Hake a look. Hake immediately turned around and sat down, pretending nothing had happened.
The swishing tail happened to brush against Wulun again. A moment later, a miserable howl rang out from the snow-covered mountainside.
The pain in his tail made Hake yelp repeatedly as he spun around. He crouched defensively and even let out a warning growl, only to discover that the creature that had ambushed him was none other than that tiny cub.
Now that he was warm, Wulun was dreaming about eating grilled sausages sold outside his school gate. The delicious aroma filled the air. With a sprinkle of chili powder, each bite released sizzling juices.
Except the texture seemed a little off today.
It was fluffy.
After a frantic struggle, Hake finally managed to save his tail by shaking it violently. Unfortunately, a tuft of fur was missing.
He immediately felt as though the sky had collapsed.
Hake wailed, “My precious tail… The tail I’ve always been so proud of…”
The little gray fluffball was flung away, rolling twice across the snow before coming to a stop. The returning cold made him curl up and shiver.
Geye said, “Come to think of it, don’t we have any Pallas’s cats in our tribe?”
Since the cub wasn’t from their tribe, it must have been separated from its family or abandoned.
Geye stepped forward to sniff the little creature, but Bei, who had remained silent until now, suddenly spoke.
“Go ask the other wolves on patrol. Make sure none of them have spotted any signs of Pallas’s cats nearby.”
Without another word, he picked Wulun up by the scruff and began making his way down the mountainside.
Hake bounced to his feet and exchanged a glance with Geye.
“Is our boss planning to take this cub back with him?”
On the Pallas Land, there was an unwritten rule that beastmen could only eat ordinary animals. However, not every beastman followed this rule.
Still, if they left this cub here, it would either freeze to death or become food for another beast.
At the very least, they could let the little fellow survive the night.
Bei carried Wulun back to his den. The cave blocked most of the cold, and the little fluffball continued to curl up with his body nestled against Bei, wrapped in the wolf’s large gray tail for warmth.
Wulun slept soundly. Once he had warmed up, he couldn’t help letting out a contented sigh. Occasionally, he even rolled over and exposed his soft belly.
After sleeping to his heart’s content, Wulun yawned and stretched, spreading his little toes. He touched the fluffy tail covering him and couldn’t help thinking:
This blanket is so comfortable.
He instinctively licked his little paw pads and washed his face. Only then did Wulun realize that he was now a Pallas’s cat cub, and the thing covering him wasn’t a blanket at all.
His tiny paws felt the large tail draped over his body. When he raised his head, his eyes met those of a gigantic wolf.
What was covering him wasn’t anything else.
It was a wolf’s tail!
Wulun froze when he realized he was in a wolf’s den. Terrified, he let out a tiny, childish meow and scrambled out from beneath the tail. He lost his footing and tumbled backward.
Just as Wulun thought he was about to become the wolf’s next meal, his stomach betrayed him by growling loudly.
The wolf stared at him for a while but didn’t attack. Instead, he turned around and slipped out of the cave. Before long, he returned carrying a piece of meat that had been buried beneath the snow.
He wasn’t eating Wulun, and he had even given him food.
He seemed like a good wolf.
Wulun had never eaten raw meat before. Perhaps because he had become a Pallas’s cat, the food in front of him was nevertheless irresistibly tempting.
His stomach was growling, and he couldn’t afford to worry about anything else. He bared his claws and teeth, pounced on the meat, and began scratching and biting it. He even kicked furiously with his hind legs, putting every ounce of strength he had into the effort.
After all that struggling, the piece of meat had suffered only minor damage, with a few little tooth marks on its surface.
Wulun licked his lips, tilted his head, and rested a paw on the meat before pulling it back. Then he raised his head and exchanged an awkward look with Bei.
He couldn’t bite through it.
Pallas’s cat cubs at this stage still had uneven, patchy fur. They were simply too small.
Bei had also asked the other wolves, but none of them had noticed any signs of Pallas’s cats in the surrounding area.
The large wolf and the tiny cub stared at each other for a while before Hake entered the cave. He was carrying a pale yellow mushroom in his mouth.
Hake announced, “Boss, look what I found!”
Wulun sat on the ground, looking up at Hake with his round eyes. The moment he saw the mushroom in Hake’s mouth, his eyes lit up.
Hake quickly noticed him, as well as the piece of meat on the ground.
“Boss, are we eating this early?”
Bei didn’t answer that question. Instead, he said, “He’s too small. He can’t eat it.”
Hake put down the mushroom.
“He’s so tiny. He must still be nursing. Our wolf tribe can’t raise him either!”
Wulun had already stopped listening to what Hake and Bei were saying. He stared at the mushroom, swallowing repeatedly.
He hadn’t expected anyone to find mushrooms in such freezing weather. This one looked thick and fleshy. It must taste delicious.
Winter mushrooms were rare and difficult to find. Hake had only managed to find this one after digging through three holes near tree stumps.
Originally, he had intended to share some with Bei, their wolf king, and carry the rest back to his den to eat himself. But now this Pallas’s cat cub was staring at it so intently.
I’ll just pretend I didn’t notice, Hake thought.
He placed a paw over the mushroom. Seeing this, Wulun looked up at him again, his eyes filled with longing for the little mushroom.
In the end, Hake surrendered and pushed the mushroom toward Wulun with his mouth.
“Here. Eat this instead…”
“Meow~”
Wulun wanted to say thank you, but all that came out was a little meow.
The mushroom wasn’t very big. When he bit into it, it was crisp and sweet, with a delicious, earthy aroma.
Wulun pinned the stem down with his paw and tugged at it with his teeth, eating with the same determination he had shown when attacking the meat. Yet, in the end, he managed to eat only a little bit from the edge of the mushroom cap.
He was so weak that he began questioning his entire existence.
Pallas’s cats were supposed to be fierce predators, after all. How could he be unable to eat his own food?
Wulun released the mushroom. It was as though he had exhausted every last bit of strength and every trick he possessed. His head drooped, and he looked utterly dejected.
Suddenly, a snort of laughter came from above him.
It was Hake.
Hake said, “Boss, this little thing is so weak!”
He had been laughed at.
Deeply wounded, Wulun turned away and curled into a little ball, presenting his back to them. It wasn’t particularly sorrowful, nor was it especially imposing. It was simply round and fluffy.
Before he could even finish feeling sorry for himself, Bei suddenly picked him up by the scruff and carried him out of the cave toward a neighboring tribe.
It was a herd of herbivores with strong, muscular bodies and handsome, glossy black horns. Their horns were also powerful weapons in battle, capable of easily piercing a predator’s abdomen.
Although the tribes coexisted peacefully, they still maintained a certain distance from one another, each possessing its own territory.
Bei didn’t approach too closely. After setting Wulun down, he explained the situation to the herd’s leader.
Bei said, “I found him nearby. He’s still nursing and can’t eat solid food.”
The bull leader stepped forward and looked intently at the tiny Wulun.
Wulun scooted backward a little, keeping a wary eye on the enormous bull’s hooves. He felt that a single careless step from the other creature could crush him to death.
The bull lowered his head and leaned closer to Wulun before turning to Bei.
“Leave him to me!”
Hearing the bull’s deep, steady voice, Wulun raised his head and looked at Bei behind him.
Wait. Are you giving me away to someone else?
Still unable to understand what was happening, Wulun was nudged by the bull leader. The bull then scooped him up with his horns.
Just like that, Wulun was carried back to the herd, perched on top of the bull’s head.
As they passed through the herd, other bulls occasionally asked out of curiosity, “Chief, why have you brought back such a little fellow?”
Some calves gathered around their fathers and asked, “What kind of animal is that?”
In an ecosystem where food was scarce, carnivores were already struggling to feed themselves. The milk they produced was only enough to raise their own offspring.
That was why Bei had chosen the leader of the cattle tribe, a herbivore with a relatively calm temperament.
The bull leader was the strongest bull in the entire tribe. His body was entirely black except for a streak of white fur along his spine.
With Wulun perched on his head, he looked as though he were wearing a fluffy ornament.
Feeling uneasy, Wulun wanted to return to the wolf named Bei.
I’d better stick with that wolf after all.
Just as he tried to shift his position, wondering how to get down from the bull’s head, the bull carried him into a secluded thicket.
Seeing the dense branches about to scrape him off, Wulun closed his eyes. Yet he felt no branches brushing against him.
Deeper inside was a recessed rock wall, resembling a cave but not extending as far inward. Some of the branches curved overhead, while the other side was formed by solid rock.
The bitter cold had taught even some herbivores to seek out secluded shelters like this.
When Wulun opened his eyes, he discovered that the bull leader was holding him protectively in his arms.
The enormous wild bull had transformed into a muscular, dark-skinned man wearing a cow-patterned outfit. His wild, curly hair had a streak of white running through it, and the same pair of handsome, glossy black horns still protruded from his head.
To cope with the harsh environment, most beastmen maintained their animal forms because they were better suited to enduring the cold. However, the cub in his arms was too small, and he couldn’t feed him while remaining in his wild-bull form.
Wulun was completely dumbfounded.
The bull leader said, “You must be hungry! I’ll feed you some milk right away.”
Holding Wulun in his arms, the bull leader swished his tail behind him and sat down beneath the rock wall.
Only then did Wulun realize how serious the situation was. He began struggling frantically in the bull leader’s arms.
“Meow! Meow!”
Some animals couldn’t speak yet while they were still nursing. In the bull leader’s eyes, Wulun’s resistance was simply a hungry cub crying for food.
The bull leader patted his bottom and soothed him in a deep voice.
“Good little cub, don’t cry. You’ll stop being hungry once you’ve had your fill.”
Wulun struggled with all his might, refusing to drink no matter what.
He had drunk plenty of cow’s milk before, but this was different. The milk was coming from a male bull. And those enormous pectoral muscles, that cow-patterned outfit…
The mental image was simply too much for him.
I’d rather starve to death!
The bull leader coaxed him, “Be good, little cub. Listen to me. Once you’ve eaten your fill, the chief will tell you a story.”
“Meow! Meow!”
Wulun meowed in his soft, childish voice, unable to bring himself to latch on.
The bull leader continued, “A long, long time ago, our former chief rescued the vulture uncle from the neighboring tribe and even fed him milk.”
A vulture drinking milk?
And judging from that description, why did the mental image sound so terrifying?
Wulun suspected that the bull leader was making up stories to trick a cub, but he had no proof.
In the end, he was forced to drink milk from the bull leader.
Wulun felt that he would need a very long time to recover from the shock of that feeding session.
However, not all of the bull leader’s little story had been made up. At least some of the young ones in the tribe had indeed been nursed by him.
After feeding Wulun until he was full, the bull leader placed him on a dry pile of grass to rest. He then transformed back into his wild-bull form and lay down beside him.
Winter nights arrived early. Since Wulun was still a nursing Pallas’s cat cub, he was always sleepy. He was still at the stage where he would fall asleep as soon as he had eaten.
Although the bull leader had allowed him to sleep pressed against his body, the bull’s hair was coarse and stiff. It was neither comfortable nor particularly warm.
Besides, Wulun really didn’t want to drink the bull leader’s milk again.
Taking advantage of the moment when the bull leader fell asleep, Wulun tentatively pushed against him with his little paws. After confirming that the bull was truly asleep, he quietly slipped away.
He was going to find that wolf.
Perhaps the advantage of becoming a Pallas’s cat was that he could see the path beneath his feet even in the darkness. Both his eyesight and sense of smell were exceptionally sharp.
Although he didn’t remember the route very well, he remembered the scent of that wolf. It was a warm, comforting smell.
The night was bitterly cold. Occasionally, a gust of wind made Wulun shiver, and the snow beneath his paws was freezing.
Fortunately, Bei’s den wasn’t far from the cattle tribe’s territory. Wulun managed to find it before the cold could freeze him stiff.
As soon as he entered the cave, he felt a wave of warmth that chased away the chill clinging to his body.
Wulun shook the snow from his fur and carefully padded deeper into the cave.
He approached Bei and looked at the enormous, fluffy creature lying there. Leaning toward the wolf’s nose, he sniffed gently.
After confirming that Bei was asleep, he made his way to the wolf’s tail and cautiously climbed onto it.
Bei’s ear twitched slightly, causing Wulun to freeze halfway through his climb.
Only after confirming that Bei hadn’t woken up did he continue climbing. He curled himself into a ball and settled down to sleep on the wolf’s tail.
So warm…
The fluffy sensation beneath him chased away every trace of cold, and Wulun quickly drifted off to sleep.
In the darkness, Bei’s ear twitched once more. His wolfish eyes opened slightly, and he glanced at the little fellow on his body before slowly closing them again.