While searching for the remains of their parents, the siblings met a hunter from outside the mountains in the mountains.

The other party claimed to be the "mountain patrol guard of the kingdom", who had just lost a battle, escaped from the battlefield by luck, and after receiving military merits that may not have belonged to him at first, he left the military camp and came to the vicinity of the Xuancai Mountains, intending to spend the rest of his life here.

Unbeknownst to him, the demon beast that dominated the mountains ran into his courtyard one night and killed all the livestock that could have survived this winter.

After the demon beasts left, he couldn't swallow this breath, he carried the firearm, and followed their footprints into the mountain as soon as his mind was hot...... And then got lost until now.

During this time he was trapped in the mountains, the firearms that had accompanied the ranger for many years were damaged by the cold, and his two leather boots were also gone: one was hooked and cut a huge hole in the thorny mountain wall while climbing, and it was impossible to continue wearing; The other one, when he was hungry and cold, used as a source of heat and energy, and finally there was no trace of it.

He tore off the collar of his jacket and tied it to his feet so as not to completely incapacitate him; He feeds with snow water every day, and occasionally encounters leftovers from demon beasts, if he doesn't dislike it, he can have a full meal.

In this way, I don't know how many days and moons he stopped in the mountains, he thought that he would pass away, who knows, he can see the same kind of figure in this mountain with countless demon beasts.

"The king of this mountain is a giant bear with a human face." The ranger said to the siblings, "It has a violent temperament and a strong sense of territory, but fortunately it has not yet tasted our blood, and has not yet developed a cannibalistic habit." ”

"Then why did you come into the mountains?" While comforting his trembling sister, Noka questioned the ranger about the situation of the group, "Aren't you afraid to set foot in its territory and make it think about you?" ”

"When it's full, it's time to sleep." The ranger explained that now that the climate in the mountains is getting colder, the king bear came down to hunt in order to store a sufficient amount of fat before hibernation.

"I would have liked to follow his trail to its lair and deliver a lethal blow while it was asleep." He sighed, "There's only one chance, and if it doesn't work out, it will soon wake up and send me to the Grim Reaper." ”

However, he failed to grasp the opportunity to attack the giant bear, and within a day of entering the mountain, he lost all traces of the other party, and lost his way home by the way.

……

"Hibernation...... Food is abundant in the Xuancai Mountains, and even in winter, there are all kinds of small monster beasts playing in the snow. Fang Nuo's two forefeet were still in pain, so he could only obediently lie on the witch's shoulders and listen to the young man's narration, "Those large demon beasts have never been afraid of cannibalism between races, unlike us, they still adhere to the principle of 'only hunting creatures'. ”

Bear-shaped demon beasts and the creatures that are their dependents, their body temperature will not drop greatly with the drop of ambient temperature, not to mention that they are the same as the Yellow Immortal clan, they are covered with enough fur to keep out the cold, as long as it is not an extreme climate, they can ensure a certain amount of mobility.

It's only when there is a lack of food that these big guys have no choice but to hibernate – a great way to save energy and improve their survival rate through the winter.

"Wait." Fang Nuo suddenly sensed that something was wrong, "I once heard in class that the snake-like demon beasts couldn't get rid of the nature of the ancestral beings before they were promoted, they were the demon beasts that needed to hibernate!" ”

Unlike the king giant bear in the young people's mouth, the snake-like demon beast that inherited the similar physique of the old ancestors inevitably has to face a shortage of energy and a state of paralysis every winter.

However, not long ago, a giant snake came to the mountain village to cause trouble.

In Fang Nuo's view, this is a proper "provocation of authority" - contrary to common sense.

"The serpent awakens, and the bear descends...... No matter how you look at it, this is like a precursor to a catastrophe in the mountain village or somewhere else. As a member of the Huangxian clan, Fang Nuo has been exposed to the education of "everything must have a correspondence" since he can remember.

After his first contact with the outside world, he awakened the ability to transform the unfortunate things in his daily life into "malicious values", which may also be a kind of foreshadowing, warning him: You will be unlucky in the future.

"Hurry up and react." He flicked his tail and slapped the witch's back, but he only amused the other party, and got two "good" in response.

"You-" As soon as Fang Nuo spoke, his throat stinged like fire, he still couldn't use the family's exclusive skills, "Goo......"

Sitting on the bed waiting for his strength to recover, Noka heard something and looked at him suspiciously, but he didn't realize that something was wrong, so he continued to recall what happened in the mountains:

"We managed to persuade the ranger to give up this gamble, which could cost him his life; When he heard about our parents, he decided to help us find their skeletons together, and then we would go down the mountain together to catch the first carriage of spring and return to where he had set out. ”

But they didn't expect that a few days later, the group would actually run into the mountain beast head-on.

At first, the trio only vaguely heard the roar of some creature, which seemed to come from a long distance, and should not affect their activities.

I don't know how long I had been traveling in the mountains, but when my brother Noka was arranging the reference materials he needed for the return trip, he suddenly noticed that the branches of some plants had been broken, as if some creature had hit them, and it seemed that the creature had stepped directly on them.

In winter, these shrubs are not covered with green leaves, so these marks are very conspicuous.

They also found animal tracks behind injured bushes, large one after the other, and finally disappeared at the edge of their field of vision, obstructed by other plants.

From the moment the footprints were discovered, a strange fishy stench always lingered around the three humans.

"Ha-ah......" Noka was terrified and repented for a moment when he thought of these details, "If we had realized these strange phenomena and decided to go back, what happened would not have happened." ”

What happened after that, needless to say, was nothing more than the giant bear appeared around them, and the frightened people fled in a hurry, and finally at the cost of one person, the brother and sister were out of danger...... In the end, like the mountain ranger who was preyed on by the demon beast, he lost his way in the dense primeval forest.

"Ahh Yilan lowered her eyes, her eyes flickering, perhaps sympathizing with the brother and sister's plight, perhaps, thinking about something else.

Since the mountain ranger was a retired soldier, under his cover, the brother and sister were not injured when they escaped from the clutches of the demon beast, and they did not get into those thorny dangers when they panicked, so looking at the brother and sister who have been treated now, they would never have thought that they had encountered such an incident not long ago.

The elder brother stuffed all the dry food rescued from the chaos to his sister, but in the process of groping for the direction, he accidentally ate the poisonous weeds, so he forced himself to persevere all the way-

"What we found in the end was a dead end."

He stretched out his hand to the sky, and the sapient creatures around him understood what he meant.

The brother and sister stopped on the edge of the cliff above the witch's house, and walked back, most likely to encounter an ambush by a giant bear and monster; Going forward, that's nine deaths.

"You jumped off?" There was a rare mixture of surprise in the witch's tone, "Fell into my back garden?" ”

"Luckily, we survived." Noka nodded and replied, "You saved us." ”

But why did he tell the story under the tree at that time, and what was the meaning of the story he was telling - Fang Nuo really wanted to communicate with the other party on behalf of the witch, many things, and the witch who arrived at the scene after that did not experience it.

"Come to my garden, you are my guests, and it is my duty to deal with the troubles of the guests."

The witch didn't ask him about the things he cared about, she skipped the matter of thanking and accepting it, and after raising her hand to signal the young man and his sister to be silent for the time being, she fell into a brief contemplation.

After a moment, she raised her hand and said her judgment: "It seems that the spiritual power in the mountains has been somewhat disturbed recently, and the physiological conditions of the animals have been affected. ”

"That snake from before......" Fang Nuo heard her mutter, "it could be a precursor to an impending beast tide." ”

Beast tide?

Fang Nuo was secretly surprised, referring to the saying in the clan, if one or more animals reproduced without discipline, too fast, and too many offspring, the same area would be crowded with its own kind...... Then, based on certain physiological factors, these animals, monsters or ordinary creatures, are likely to become more and more manic over time, and then, at a certain point, suddenly riot to form a "beast tide".

In the opinion of some elders in the clan, the endless expansion of the "human" race outside the mountain can also be regarded as a kind of "beast tide", and it may be stimulated by a mental illness called "greed" - this disease has a certain chance of appearing in small demon beasts, even the Yellow Immortal clan should be careful to beware; It is also possible that this type of "beast tide" stems from the innate desire for "life" of this race.

"Isn't it just to expand the territory", Fang Nuo, who had not been in contact with the outside world at that time and knew nothing but remembering this information, left this impression in his mind.

Therefore, after hearing this word from the witch's mouth, he did not have any fear at all, but was a little confused, and more disapproving.

"That's right." The young man, who had not been able to hear the witch talking to herself, suddenly spoke, "Before Mr. Mountain Ranger died for us, it was as if he knew that he would not be able to leave this mountain, and he told me a story and told me that I must relay it. ”

"Until ......," his expression became a little strange, as if he was still puzzled by the trust of the deceased, "until he met the right person who could understand the story." ”