Miles pressed his lips together, blinked once, and then spoke softly, "Thank you for saving me."
His voice was weak, but Tanya heard him clearly. She could also tell he was being sincere, which made her feel a bit better.
"Let's go back to the tribe. It's going to get dark soon, and the wild is dangerous at night."
After speaking, Miles forced himself to sit up. "You… should be more careful in the future. Don't let others easily notice anything strange about you."
On the Beast Continent, whether human or beast, females were always considered weak. No one was like Tanya, more fierce than a male.
Tanya raised her eyebrows. She didn't expect him to be this open minded and adaptable. Who said primitive people were stuck in their ways?
When her eyes landed on his injuries, she frowned. "What happened to you? These wounds look serious. Don't you need medicine?"
Miles shook his head. "It's fine. Just small wounds. Let's get back to the tribe first."
Tanya didn't think they were small injuries, but she didn't have any healing abilities or medicine right now. She couldn't help him.
She couldn't help but complain about how stingy the guide was, it only gave her one anti-inflammatory pill earlier! Wasn't it worried that one pill wouldn't be enough for the gash on the back of her head?
They returned to the tribe. Miles barely made it back to his grass hut, pushing himself to the limit.
Tanya followed the original memory of the body to her own house. She didn't even get the chance to complain about how broken down and shabby it was before a group of people surrounded her.
Bogart raised a wooden spear to block her path. "You're a beastman! You can't live in the tribe anymore!"
Tanya frowned. That didn't make sense. Her memories clearly said she was fully human.
This man was lying!
Her face immediately turned cold.
Star and Moon jumped in to defend her. "Sister isn't a beastman!"
"Ha! We all saw her breathe fire! She's a beastman!"
"Yeah! We don't want beastmen in our village. Get out!"
"Be smart and leave by yourself. Otherwise, don't blame us for getting rough!"
Tanya's cold gaze swept over them. She saw two of Bogart's men each holding a little child, it was Star and Moon, her twin younger siblings.
They were clearly uncomfortable, struggling hard while trying to defend their sister.
According to the original memory, the three siblings were useless to the tribe. Instead, they were seen as a burden.
Even though Tanya was a female, she was skinny and looked unhealthy, not someone who could give birth easily. And with two kids dragging behind her, no one wanted to marry her. The tribe had already given up on them, stopping their food rations and hoping they'd either leave or get eaten by wild beasts.
Now that they believed she was a beastman, they had the perfect excuse to kick them out.
Tanya glanced at Star and Moon and said coldly, "You're not going to let go of my people?"
Bogart frowned. He didn't like her attitude. Something felt off about her, but he couldn't say what.
He gave a signal to his men, and they let the children go.
Star and Moon ran to their sister right away.
Tanya looked them over, no injuries. She turned and started walking away.
"Stop!"
Bogart raised the wooden spear to block her again.
"What now?"
Faced with Tanya's sharp and annoyed stare, Bogart swallowed without thinking.
When he realized he had flinched, he got angry and shouted, "Leave your snake meat! I know you have two giant pythons!"
As he spoke, their eyes scanned her up and down and got angrier. "Where's the snake meat? Did you hide it? Hand it over!"
Tanya smiled. Her eyes were bright and alert. She didn't used to smile often, so when Bogart saw her smile now, he was momentarily stunned. In that split second, the wooden spear slipped from his hand.
Tanya grabbed it with both hands and snapped it in half right in front of him.
"Remember this, don't ever point this thing at me again. Next time, it won't just be the spear that breaks."
Bogart was shocked. His spear was strong, it could go up against woolly mammoths without breaking. She broke it with her bare hands!
"You still want the snake meat?" she asked coldly.
The warriors around were stunned by her sudden display of strength. No one said a word.
She hadn't been like this before, skinny, weak, not healthy or strong at all. How did she suddenly become so powerful?
Tanya gave the tribe one last cold glance before turning her back on them. With Star and Moon close behind, she walked away without hesitation, her steps firm and unyielding. The rain fell harder as they disappeared into the forest, leaving the place that no longer welcomed them.
Using the original memory, Tanya found an abandoned grass hut on the far edge of the tribe. It was run down and drafty. The last person who lived here had been kicked out and soon died.
The three of them were starving. Star quickly lit a fire, Moon gathered dry wood nearby, and they cleared off a stone slab to roast meat.
Tanya's body was truly weak. Plus, she had lost a lot of blood from the wound on the back of her head. She had pushed herself to the limit. Once she sat down, her limbs felt weak, and her head was spinning.
"You're hungry, right? Here's meat." She took out the entire python and threw it down.
Star and Moon froze in shock. Where did that come from? They hadn't seen it before!
They exchanged a look, then silently got to work, skinning, cutting, washing, and setting it up to roast.
They didn't say a word, but kept glancing at Tanya.
While resting with her eyes closed, Tanya was deep in thought. She had always been alone in the apocalypse, she didn't have any experience taking care of kids. What was she supposed to do with these two siblings?
Suddenly, a burnt smell filled the air.
She opened her eyes with a frown. Clearly, she had overestimated her little sister's cooking skills. The meat was burned black on the outside, and the thicker cuts were still raw inside. She didn't need to taste it to know it was awful.
"This won't do…"
This wasn't the apocalypse anymore. Now that she had meat, she didn't want to torture her stomach. She pulled herself up and took out a set of iron skewers from her space, cut the meat into small cubes, and grilled them slowly over the fire.
There were no spices, it smelled very gamey. But at least it wasn't burnt or raw.
Tanya ate several skewers, filling her stomach. She couldn't help but sigh, how many years had it been since she had eaten this much meat? It felt amazing.
Star and Moon were full too.
Star praised her, "Sister, your roasted meat is so good! Smells amazing!"
Moon nodded while chewing, "So good! Sister, you're getting better at this!"
Tanya was surprised. She didn't expect these primitive kids to be so good at flattery.
Their compliments made her feel a little dizzy, but also really pleased. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad keeping them around. They had sweet mouths, which made her feel better. Their cooking was bad now, but she could teach them.
Most importantly, she figured this could be her way of repaying the original owner of this body, she was alive now because of her, after all.
After eating, Star and Moon brought out dry grass, shook it out, and laid it flat on the floor to use as their bed for the night.
In the middle of the night, it started raining. The thatch hut didn't keep out the rain at all, every part of the roof leaked.
Truly, when it rains, it pours.
At dawn, Tanya suddenly smelled a strong scent of blood. Even the heavy rain couldn't wash it away.
"Stay here. Don't make a sound."
After warning them, she crouched low and crept toward the entrance.
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