The bedside lamp began to simulate natural light, and the LCD screen of the clock showed 07:00.

The butler knocked on the door a few times before Carlos got up sleepily and put his foot in the cotton slippers beside the bed. He was late in discussing the policies and team of the campaign last night, and he really didn't want to go home to face his wife and children and heavy household chores, so he dragged his tired body to his lover's apartment to rest.

On the other side of the bed, the woman was still asleep, her long thick red hair spread over the white sheets.

He put on his eyes, and after his glasses detected that he had put them on, the display on the inside of the lenses popped up with dozens of translucent messages, all from the campaign team and assistants. As the youngest candidate in this jurisdiction in recent years, his image in front of the public is quite good -

Happy family. has no prominent background, started as a grassroots metallurgical officer, and was promoted by his own strength at a young age. In recent years, he has been involved in politics without any record of taking bribes, and the media has never been able to find any stains and scandals against him...... In addition, it was also mentioned in an interview that no matter where this elite is, no matter how busy he is on the night before, no matter how high he is, he can insist on getting up early to reply to messages for decades.

Carlos read the message as he prepared to start washing.

When he was at home, his cup was always on the left hand side of the sink, and when he habitually stretched out his hand, the cold, sharp touch of his fingertips made him realize that it was in his lover's apartment.

Unlike his well-born, well-run wife, her home was more disorderly and disorganized than his mansion. On the left side of the sink is a small bamboo basket, which is full of makeup brushes and the like - this casual, unintentional personality is why women often let him relax.

But at this time, Carlos got up with a fire in his stomach.

He looked down at his bleeding fingers and scolded the sloppy woman for cutting her bangs and putting the scissors up in the basket with such a big opening.

Carlos opened the hanging cabinet behind the sink mirror, intending to find a band-aid to bandage it, and inadvertently saw that the blade of the scissors that had just cut him seemed to have some kind of thin milky liquid reflecting the light - he noticed that the scissors were almost transparent, and if he hadn't changed the angle of an almost imperceptible unknown liquid, Carlos secretly said that it was not good.

At the same time, the outer edge of the radiation zone.

Shi looked at the "boy" who had been absent for a year, and held back for a long time before he came out with a sentence:

"You look so good like this."

Lilith Sade looked up.

My brother learned from the experience of trying to get her to grow long hair a few years ago, but she deliberately shaved her head, and this time the confinement removed her prosthetic leg. During this period, the hair grew uncontrollably, and finally reached the waist.

She reached out and tugged at the braids that the stone had tied up to facilitate the battle, "Don't you also grow hair."

The stone didn't hold back a sentence for a long time, but his face turned red. He also couldn't understand why he and his brother had long hair, and it was obvious that they were boys, and L had long hair, so he changed from a beautiful boy to the sissy in front of him. Maybe it's because L's voice is originally more feminine, and her body is also very petite?

He had also talked privately with a few other boys, and it would be nice if L had a sister who looked like him - but no boy of his age was too embarrassed to say it directly.

With her long dark blonde hair and her white skin, it was hard for him to recognize her as a teenager now.

Only those green eyes are still the same, there is no emotion or fluctuation, just like ...... The eyes of the dead, or the eyes of those big cats in the jungle.

After living at home in handcuffs and leg irons for a long time, Lilith enjoyed the extremely oxygenated air when her brother walked out on a mission.

The mermaid's successful escape from prison a year ago has had an impact on the trajectory of many people's lives.

After the prison escape, as the government's investment in the institute shrank, the comprehensive capacity and quality of the recently renovated Chimera fell off a cliff compared with the previous one. This led directly to the fact that the merfolk batch and the Seven Wonders – the seven strongest Chimeras – before that would be the pinnacle of the modified creatures, at least for a long time, would be difficult to surpass by the modified creatures.

Stone's elder brother Iwa, because of the failure of participating in the capture of mermaids, was not promoted in the Ye'an official in the same period. Since the family's main source of living expenses is Changziyan, as the price of goods rises, the family has to move from the wormhole near the suburbs to a place close to the radiation zone - and in order to subsidize the family, Stone will go to the radiation area to hunt and hunt edible animals on weekdays, and is also preparing to enter the gladiatorial arena.

Years of exposure to the sun, hunting, physical training, and limit-defying freehand climbing have completely detached the boy from his former childishness - the indigenous warriors have a habit of tattooing in order to show their bravery, and the sturdy boy is covered with black tattoos from his left chest to his arm, which complements his strong bronzed skin. Around his neck hung a long necklace of thick rope, and every time he hunted a beast of prey, he would remove one of their canine teeth and hang it on the necklace.

Lilith looked at the hunter boy in front of her, who was already much taller than herself, and couldn't help but admire. Hunting was a novel experience for Lilith, so she followed the stone.

The probability of biological mutation in the radiation zone is very high, and after many years of natural selection without human intervention, most of the surviving organisms can be said to be quite dangerous.

Since they could not afford flying machines, the stone and many hunters in the Radiation Zone used their own tamed pterosaurs as a means of transportation.

Lilith sat on the saddle behind the stone and curiously touched the pterodactyl's rough, scaly skin.

The edge of the former Fallout site where they landed was inaccessible to people, with extremely dense jungle and a large number of mutated creatures.

Stone whistled for the pterosaur to leave first, and led Lilith into the jungle.

After taking a few steps, he suddenly remembered that the girl behind him was not used to sneaking and hunting in the jungle, and turned around to give a few words, but saw the pale girl behind him lowered her center of gravity and moved forward almost silently.

The outer edge of the ball of the foot touches the ground first, moving the center of gravity left and right......

This is a common "foxtrot" used by hunters to hide their tracks, not to make a sound to disturb their prey, and to track them - she uses them so skillfully that she doesn't need their instructions at all.

Lilith is completely unfamiliar with the novice that Stone imagined, and even her stealth is more skilled than that of the Rock Hunter.

Shi Mumu scratched his head, opened his mouth and said nothing.

The traces left by humans in the radiation zone have long been swallowed up by the dense jungle. Vegetation is the original skin and hair of this planet, which grows without hesitation, sheltering and nurturing countless life forms of different shapes.

The green plants resemble a solid ocean, and the breeze and the movement of the creatures in them can stir up ripples in the foliage.

The law of the jungle is quite common here, and the creatures that survive the mutation are the winners of every gladiatorial battle at the cost of their lives after many years of natural selection.

Lilith touched the new weapon on her back, licking her lips nervously and excitedly.

The stone looked up, sometimes recognizing the scent of the wind, sometimes looking at the footprints left by the animals on the ground, and beckoned to the girl behind him to follow.

Lilith nodded.

Although she has received quite a lot of professional training, she knows that her experience in surviving and hunting in the wild is far inferior to that of the stones that grow here.

Their purpose today is to help the inhabitants hunt leopards that have recently eaten man.

A few months ago, the rangers found the remains of a traveler who had strayed into the forest and had been eaten to a pulp and mortar to determine the species of animal that attacked him, and issued a bounty to the local slum Ye'an Self-Defense Force.

Once they have tasted the taste of humans, the beasts are likely to develop the habit of cannibalism, and such a hidden danger must be eradicated as soon as possible.

And for the stone who wants to join the gladiatorial arena and become a gladiator, a similar task is not looked down upon by a real gladiator, and other ordinary residents can't do it, it is a great opportunity for him to fight for a bounty and accumulate fame to apply to join the gladiatorial arena. Although he was confident that he would be able to complete the mission, he would never underestimate the danger of these creatures.

The tracking didn't last long.

With Lilith left nothing to mess with, the focused stone soon spotted the leopard's whereabouts.

To the surprise of the two, the leopard was not alone as they imagined, but guarded in front of her lair, with two tiger-headed cubs wrestling and playing on the ground.

The mutated leopard is not only huge, about two meters long, but also has obvious albinism all around it. Silvery-gray markings, white hair. In the sun, the mother leopard reclined quietly with her belly exposed, standing by her two cubs of the same color, licking her fur comfortably.

Since Lilith and the stone were coming from a headwind, the smell of the two did not alert the female leopard for the time being.

Seeing this, the stone only paused, and set up his bow and arrows and was about to shoot and kill.

"If you miss this opportunity, you may encounter revolt." Stone frowned, judging the situation, and lips to Lilith.

The green cat-eyed stared at him with no expression or emotion, and Lilith hesitated for a moment before asking in a low voice, "How are they going to know you're done?" ”

"Heart."

He didn't have much patience to explain Lilith's interruption.

Females with cubs are sometimes more dangerous than more aggressive, larger males, and maternal instincts sometimes lead them to fight hunters with desperate determination.

Lilith reached out and grabbed Stone's arm, motioning for him to wait.

Lurking all the way, it stands to reason that the temperature of the hand on his arm should rise, and the palm of the hand should be sweaty, but the girl's palm is cold and dry. It's more like the temperature of metal than a human hand.

Stone tried to shake off her hand, only to find that Lilith's seemingly slender hand was far stronger than he had imagined.

Now such a good opportunity is likely to be missed under the delay of such a womanly lady from the city.

Before he realized the gap between the rich and the poor in the city and the slums, the stone did not deliberately keep his distance from Lilith. As he became sensible and his family moved closer to the city, he gradually realized that not everyone is created equal.

The children in the city seem to have the kind of kindness that is not necessary for beasts.

They don't need to participate in the cruel competition for survival, and what they see is not a beast that eats people and competes with people for survival resources and land, but can abuse their kindness and highlight their noble weaklings as human beings - only when they are well fed and clothed, they don't need to worry about dying because of radiation and pollution, and they don't need to worry about walking in some dark corner and the city people who will have their throats cut by robbers because of the dry food in their hands, will have such extravagant "kindness".

He subconsciously took it for granted that Lilith was still a "city kid" even if he was his friend, and he became a little irritable.

Lilith seemed to sense his impatience and let go of her hand, "Don't do it yet."

She deliberately didn't lower her voice to say this. Stone Heart said badly, and immediately looked in the direction of the prey.

Sure enough, with Lilith's words, the huge white leopard realized the arrival of an uninvited guest and immediately pricked up its ears and became alert.

Lilith pushed the stone behind her with a strong push, and she came out of her hiding place first. The stone fell to the ground, busy and was about to shoot a bow and arrow, when the girl in front of him suddenly landed on all fours, lying on the ground like a beast and lowering her center of gravity, her hind legs curled up and ready to exert force.

The girl's body was much smaller than that of the female leopard, and the sudden appearance obviously caught the female leopard a little off guard, and she rolled over and immediately protected the two cubs behind her, baring her teeth and making threatening noises at the girl.

The stone sounded like thunder in his ears, and a low and terrifying beast roar sounded. I saw that the girl's jaw was open, and the green tendons erupted from her neck, and it was obvious that the beast roar just now came from her throat.

The roar shook the she-leopard back, and the extraordinarily sensitive ears of the stone behind her were tingling with the sudden roar.

You can't go wrong......

It was the roar of the King of Beasts at the top of the jungle food chain.

The surrounding jungle rattled with this roar, and the beasts scattered and fled, and the frightened birds overhead panicked.

The female leopard was so frightened that her ears were close to her head, and although her body was still protecting her two cubs, her exposed fangs had already been withdrawn, and a weak whine came from her throat.

The stone reacted and immediately set up his bow and prepared to shoot an arrow.

Lilith had just turned to signal that he didn't need to kill you, when she suddenly felt a wind of heat and smell hit the cartilage in her throat. The abrupt weight of her shoulders and the astonished look of the stone told her very clearly what had happened in the last few seconds.

Without turning her head, Lilith subconsciously reached out at great speed to block the beast's throat bite.

The prosthetic limbs were slightly dented due to the huge bite force of the sharp teeth, the bionic skin was torn apart to reveal the internal metal structure, and the two shoulders that were still "original" were torn apart by the huge leopard claws, and the flesh was blurred. The female leopard's smelly breath came to her face, and Lilith roared again into the ears of the behemoth that was close at hand, her heel sank into the dirt a little, and her waist pushed forward violently, directly knocking the female leopard who had just pounced on her, much taller than her, to the ground.

The feline habitually tried to distance herself with its hind paws, trying to get up and pounce again.

Lilith was prepared this time, and her knees pressed against the leopard's fragile abdomen, firmly nailing it to the ground.

Having hunted a considerable number of beasts, Stone watched the shocking changes in front of him in silence - bowing, archery, almost all in the blink of an eye.

Lilith only felt the rust-smelling arrow grazing the back of her neck, and the leopard under her body screamed with the sound of the arrow piercing the flesh, and the blood splattered all over her. The stone came with a bow and arrows, and made several more rounds at the wounded female leopard, so strong that the arrows penetrated the skin and muscles of the female leopard, and the arrows sank into the ground.

Lilith was hoarse and was about to say, "Don't kill," but before she could speak, she saw the dark-skinned boy frowning and looking down at her.

The stone's deep eyebrows, strong limbs, and the tattoos of the beast on his body rose and fell with his breathing as if they could breathe and roar.

The golden sunlight poured down from among the leaves, and it seemed as if a god of war stood in front of her.

He looked down at Lilith, whose face was covered in blood, and reached out to pull her to her feet.

“…… Thank you. Lilith's voice was hoarse and thin like a fingernail scraping through sandpaper, and the words "don't kill" still didn't come out.

“…… Don't underestimate the jungle. The stone took Lilith's arm and took a cursory look at the wound on her shoulder—if he hadn't known that this friend was a girl by now, he might have been rude to that naïve behavior.

After confirming that Lilith was only a flesh wound, Stone silently stepped forward to cut out the leopard's abdomen to take its heart in exchange for a bounty.

Although she was no stranger to the bloody scene, Lilith still felt a little guilty and did not dare to look him in the eye, looking around for the two young beasts.

Not long after she let out a roar, the two tiger-headed little ones hid in the stone cave under the cover of foliage.

The stone glanced over the side, probably knowing that she wanted to check on the cub, and didn't say much, just let out a loud whistle to signal that the pterosaur could come and pick him up.

Enduring the pain in her shoulder, in order to prevent infection, Lilith tore off the clothes near her shoulder with her sleeve, spat twice on the wound, and pushed away the thorny weeping.

The two young beasts, who had just lost their mother, were pitifully huddled in a very small space, grinning at the murderer in front of them.

Lilith sighed, blaming herself for her own recklessness and self-righteousness that led to the death of their mother.

Stone seemed to hear her faint sigh: "Even if it weren't for us, someone else would come and kill their mother." ”

Lilith didn't say anything, and she didn't know how to answer.

The two little beings in front of them had just witnessed the death of their mother, and their bright eyes, which had just taken off their blue membranes, were full of panic and fear. Lilith reached out to stroke their soft fur without being attacked by them, and the warm little life under her hand trembled. The fur of big cats is not very delicate, even the fetal hair of young beasts is a little rough, but their body temperature is slightly higher than that of humans, warm, it is from the source of life, full of strength of temperature.

Lilith suddenly remembered what her mother said to herself, you are just too soft-hearted to become the second Duke of Poison.

Probably......

She pinched the fur from the back of the leopard's neck and lifted them out of her nest as easily as their mother lifted them. The warm body temperature of the little beast has a slight smell of beasts mixed with the smell of milk.

Carrying the weight of two fresh, small lives in my arms.

The stone side had already quickly obtained the heart he wanted, wrapped it up and put it in the animal skin backpack behind it. The war-like boy knelt down in front of the leopard's corpse despite the blood, and prayed with his palms together facing the direction of the sun.

Thank you to the sun god for giving us food. Thank you to the brothers and sisters who sacrificed their lives with flesh and blood.

Lilith took the blood-stained rags and her coat, wrapped the two leopards like babies, and stood silently watching the young hunter kneel down and pray to the sun.

When he had finished praying, he got up silently and took one of the young beasts in Lilith's arms. It didn't take long for the stone pterosaur to land in a small clearing in front of the two of them.

The stone was not very happy about Lilith's nonsense, but because Lilith's throat had already broken because of the lion's roar, he didn't say anything, but just held the reins in front of him to control the flight of the pterodactyl. Lilith only held the two cubs in her arms, and the legs of the prosthetic were attached to the skin of the pterodactyl's back.

Although it was a reunion after a long absence, the two tacitly said nothing all the way back.

When the two were children before, they were used to a silent and tacit way of getting along, the fastest and the strongest among the children climbed the wormhole silently, and after reaching the top, they sat side by side and looked into the distance.