Ran closed her eyes and quietly waited for death. But suddenly, she heard the wild boar let out a loud cry. When she opened her eyes, she saw that a wooden spear had been thrust into the wild boar's eye.
Ran quickly got up from the ground and backed away. At that moment, a stranger holding a stone knife rushed toward the wild boar. The man was fast and agile. He jumped onto the wild boar's back, grabbed its tusks with one hand, and stabbed its head repeatedly with the stone knife.
Blinded in one eye, the wild boar became even more furious. It struggled wildly, trying to throw the man off its back. Ran saw that the man's hand was bleeding from holding the sharp tusks, and she started to worry about him.
But no matter how hard the boar struggled, the man didn't let go. He kept stabbing it again and again. Finally, the boar stopped moving and died.
After killing the wild boar, the man walked toward Ran.
That's when she noticed the man had long silver hair down to his shoulders. He was extremely handsome, with sharp features like a carved statue. He was only wearing a skirt made of animal skin, showing off his bronze-colored, muscular body. He looked wild and powerful. He was also very tall—Ran guessed he was at least two meters high.
Looking at the tall, bare-chested silver-haired man standing in front of her, Ran blushed.
The silver-haired man opened his mouth and said, "￥＆￥＆..."
His deep voice spoke a long sentence, but Ran didn't understand a word. It wasn't Chinese or English. It was a language she had never heard before.
"What did you say? Can you say it again?" she asked, confused.
They tried talking for a while, but it was like a chicken talking to a duck—neither could understand the other. The man realized she didn't understand his language and looked a bit lost.
Ran sighed. She thought she had finally found another human and could figure out where she was. But now, it turned out they couldn't communicate at all.
She pointed to herself and said loudly, "Ran. My name is Ran. Ran!"
The man looked at her and moved his lips, trying to say her name. After practicing many times, he finally said "Ran" correctly.
"Ran," he said clearly. She nodded. At least it was better than the weird words he said before like "Almond" or "Star man."
She pointed at the man and asked, "You! What's your name?"
"Luis," he replied. This time, she understood—his name was Luis. It sounded similar to an English name.
Luis frowned as he looked at the small, pale girl in front of him.
During the hot season, there wasn't much food. The hunters from the Lion-Tiger Tribe hadn't caught anything for days. That's why Luis went deep into the Abyss Forest, hoping to find some animals.
Everyone knew the Abyss Forest was dangerous, even for beastmen. So when he saw a tusked beast chasing a small female, he was very surprised—but he still rushed to help.
Luis had never seen such a pale and small female before. Was she still a child? Why would someone so young be alone in the forest? And her clothes were strange—soft and thin, nothing like the animal-skin clothes his tribe wore.
"Ran, what's that on your head?" Luis asked, pointing to the grass ring on her head.
Ran understood his question and felt a little shy. She took the grass ring off and explained, "The sun was too hot, so I made this to block it."
Since he didn't understand, she pointed to the sun, then to her face, and used gestures to explain. After a while, Luis finally understood.
Then she noticed Luis's hand was still bleeding and that he had several wounds. She rushed over to check. Luis had saved her, and he got hurt because of her. She felt guilty.
She asked him to sit down. In her backpack, she still had some thistle leaves from the day before. She took them out, crushed them, and pressed them on his bleeding wounds. Soon, the bleeding stopped.
Luis watched her curiously. When the bleeding stopped so quickly, he was amazed. What kind of plant was this? It worked so fast.
In his tribe, the priests had a special black soil that could stop bleeding, but it was rare and precious. Only a few people had the chance to use it. Some beastmen had even died from bleeding when there was no black soil left. Usually, they just endured the pain. But this plant the little female used was incredible—it stopped bleeding quickly.
"Ran, is this plant very precious? Don't use so much on me, I'm okay," Luis said, trying to stop her.
Ran didn't understand why he was resisting. But since he was still bleeding, she insisted on helping him. She used the thistle leaves for the bigger wounds and band-aids for the smaller ones.
When she finished, she noticed Luis looking sadly at the thistle leaves. Then she realized why he had resisted earlier.
She pointed to the leaves and explained, "There are many. I have a lot." She made a big circle with her arms, then pointed in a direction. "There are more over there. I picked them from that place."
Luis understood and happily stood up. "Ran, can you take me to pick some?"
Ran didn't know why he cared so much about the thistle leaves, but she nodded.
Before they left, Luis picked a bunch of grass and covered the wild boar's blood with it.
"What's this grass? What is it for?" Ran asked, pointing at it.
Luis dipped his finger in the blood and held it under her nose. She smelled the strong blood scent. Then he covered the blood with the grass, picked some up, and let her smell again. This time, there was only a strong, strange smell—but no blood scent.
Ran realized the grass was used to hide the smell of blood.