Song Shuhui had assumed that once she left the building, she could go straight home. However, she had forgotten one thing: when she had fled in a panic from the patrolling robot, she had no idea what her exact location was, nor did she know the detailed route out of the city.
Once she got the direction wrong, she would end up wandering around outside for who knows how long.
So, just a few minutes after leaping out of the building, Song Shuhui stopped in her tracks.
The Leopard Cub followed closely behind her, and when it saw her stop, it stopped too.
Song Shuhui tilted her head to look at it, probing cautiously, "Do you know the way out?"
The cub responded with a chirp. Its call sounded very much like a bird, crisp and high-pitched. Once it finished calling, it walked ahead, as if it truly understood and had begun to lead the way.
A wave of relief washed over Song Shuhui, and she began to feel that chasing the cub away earlier had been a mistake. Perhaps she really did need a capable and reliable partner. No matter what the cub's habits might be in the future, right now it was both considerate and trustworthy.
The world beneath the leaning trees resembled a low, miniature forest. Because the canopy above grew taller and denser by the day, it was difficult for light to filter down. Even though it was a bright afternoon, the area beneath the trees was as dim as dusk.
Neither of them moved very fast, and Song Shuhui even had the leisure to look down at her feet. There were countless small animals on the ground; all sorts of familiar and unfamiliar bugs even crawled onto her. If she hadn't been encased in a mecha from head to toe, her fur might have been infested with ticks, flies, and lice.
Song Shuhui abruptly raised her head to look at the cub leading the way ahead. The cub had no mecha protection, it had never really taken a bath, and it usually ate a lot of raw meat. Not only did it have bugs in its fur, but it probably had parasites in its belly, too.
Yet she usually liked to sleep resting against the cub's belly.
At this thought, Song Shuhui suddenly felt an itch on her head and a creeping sensation across her back. She would definitely have to jump into the water and scrub herself fiercely when she got back.
Aside from various bugs, Song Shuhui kept stepping on unidentified objects from time to time. They were likely things dropped by the city's inhabitants when they fled in a hurry, long since covered by moss beyond recognition.
When her foot hit something hard yet again, Song Shuhui simply stopped to brush the debris away carefully, unearthing a slender object. It was light, and when she wiped the dirt off its surface, a gray-white exterior was revealed.
Song Shuhui looked at it left and right, even waving it around in her paws, when suddenly she realized what it was.
The object in her hand was flung away instantly, making a dull thud.
It was a bone—specifically, a human hand bone.
Song Shuhui jumped back in alarm from the spot where she had found the human bone. Searching the surroundings carefully for a moment, she spotted objects shaped like a sternum and a skull.
Someone had died here.
Under what circumstances would someone die by the roadside with no one to collect their body? What on earth had happened in this city back then to make everyone panic and flee in such a rush?
Song Shuhui could not puzzle it out, and a cold shiver ran down her spine.
Noticing that she had stopped, the cub trotted back and nudged her arm with its head.
Song Shuhui stroked its soft fur. "I'm fine, I just found something."
With the discovery of the first human bone, Song Shuhui deliberately slowed her pace to observe the ground as she moved forward. This observation made her spine chill all over again: within just a few street corners, she had found the bones of a second, a third, and even a fifth person.
Aside from bones, there were many shattered pieces of mecha. She saw a helmet of the exact same model as her own, crushed by some heavy object with only half of it remaining.
Song Shuhui rubbed her arms and consciously walked over to the cub, moving alongside it.
Seeing that she was interested in the things on the ground, the cub occasionally dug things up and pushed them toward her as they walked.
Unfortunately, almost nothing was usable, and even if there were, she wouldn't have known how.
Seeing that she didn't take it, the cub pushed over a small round sphere instead. The object looked somewhat like the glass marbles Song Shuhui had played with as a child—transparent, with a vibrant streak of yellow inside.
This stirred up Song Shuhui's memories. With rare delight, she wiped the bead clean and tucked it into her pack.
Having finally given away an item, the cub spun around happily nearby.
Right as they were stopping and going, a rustling sound arose behind them.
Unlike when she had been ambushed by the weasel at first, Song Shuhui's vigilance was extremely high now. Almost instantly, she reacted, raising the muzzle of her mecha cannon directly toward the source of the sound.
The cub reacted at the same time, baring its teeth in that direction.
As the vegetation shook, a rat soon poked its head out. The rat was massive, the size of a young cat. Its small, mung-bean-like eyes stared at the two of them for a moment before it suddenly leaped out. It ran with great skill, not moving in a straight line, but darting left and right.
Using energy attacks in a situation like this would simply waste energy. Song Shuhui put away the cannon muzzle and charged straight at it.
As fellow rodents, the attack styles of rats and squirrels were very similar, using claws and teeth as weapons. Now that Song Shuhui had a mecha, she was completely protected by it and had no fear of the rat's bites. Throwing caution to the wind, she lunged at the rat, quickly clawing a series of wounds into its fur.
The rat let out a squeak of pain. Song Shuhui had expected it to flee, since rats were naturally cautious and timid creatures; but instead of running, it recklessly charged right at her.
Song Shuhui intended to finish it off immediately, but just as she swiped at the rat's eyes, a dark shadow lunged out from the bushes ahead. The shadow vaulted into the air and collided squarely with her.
Caught off guard, Song Shuhui rolled across the ground. The force of the colliding animal was too great; before she could even crawl back up after rolling to a stop, her attacker leaped up and pinned her body down once more—just like the cub had pinned the robot down a few hours earlier.
This blow was practically a critical hit. Song Shuhui was pinned so hard she almost threw up blood, feeling as though several of her ribs might have broken. Only then did she clearly see that the creature pouncing on her was covered in a mecha just like hers. The mecha was pitch black all over, making it extremely difficult to spot in this increasingly dark world beneath the trees.
After acquiring the mecha, Song Shuhui's greatest reliance had been its strength. She had once wondered what she would do if she encountered an opponent wearing the same kind of mecha, and whether she could win; she didn't know and lacked confidence. She just hadn't expected that moment to arrive so quickly.
The posture of the animal opposite her looked very much like a cat. A cat's offensive power was incomparable to a rat's, and its strength was truly immense. Song Shuhui gritted her teeth in secret, unable to get up despite putting all her strength into it several times. She directly raised the cannon muzzle on her arm and blasted it right at the black cat.
The black cat leaped back to dodge. The shot missed it, but it bought Song Shuhui her freedom. She scrambled up swiftly and stood at a standoff with the black cat across a distance of a few meters.
The black cat let out a hoarse howl. Perhaps intimidated by that previous blast, it delayed in attacking again.
After the black cat had lunged, the cub had also been quick-witted and fast-pawed enough to pin down the fleeing rat. Without a moment's hesitation, it bit straight through the rat's neck.
The black cat and the rat—species that ought to have been mortal enemies—had formed a bizarre partnership in this region: the rat was responsible for luring the prey, while the black cat handled the ambush. Yet today, the rat had been bitten to death right on the spot.
The black cat's cries grew increasingly shrill as it lunged at the cub.
The cub had only just recovered, and Song Shuhui couldn't possibly let it put itself in danger. She took a swift step forward to block the path in front of the cub.
Cat and squirrel clashed once more. Song Shuhui staggered from the impact, knowing she couldn't trade blows head-on with the black cat. She resorted to her previous harassment tactics, scratching once and sprinting away quickly.
The black cat's speed was also quite astonishing, and it gave chase immediately. Daring not to be stingy with her energy anymore, Song Shuhui unleashed attacks at every critical moment. Soon, holes appeared on the black cat's mecha, and howling in pain, it rolled onto the ground.
Only then did Song Shuhui notice that the mecha on the black cat was different from hers. It wasn't a helmet-style that could be retracted, but a full suit of armor worn on the body. At the pierced holes, the metal was slowly closing up like a living thing.
Song Shuhui suddenly felt a pang of greed for this mecha. Once her own ran out of energy, it couldn't be started or used anymore; the one on the black cat might not be able to use energy attacks, but it could be worn continuously to increase protection.
Without giving the black cat a chance to react, she suddenly intensified her attacks. The already injured black cat slowed down, and Song Shuhui finally spotted an opening, striking it squarely in the neck.
Just like the rat, the black cat soon collapsed.
Looking at the motionless black cat, Song Shuhui felt somewhat conflicted. She had always claimed that she still retained her original aspiration as a human being, but imperceptibly, she too had slowly adapted to her current environment like a true beast, growing indifferent to the deaths of animals.
She felt that she had somewhat betrayed her original aspiration, yet she also felt that she had done nothing wrong. She still preserved her sense of morality and shame; if the figure standing before her today had been a human, she would never have killed them without emotion.
This was a fierce beast trying to kill her, and she was merely fighting to survive.
Song Shuhui pressed her lips together and fumbled to strip the mecha off the black cat. Once the mecha was removed, she discovered it wasn't a black cat at all, but a tabby. It looked extremely ferocious, its mouth split wide to the sides, its face protruding forward, and its head ending in a sharp point—completely different from the cute little cats on Earth, resembling instead some unfamiliar new kind of animal.
This inexplicably made Song Shuhui breathe a sigh of relief.
In this short span of time, the initial small hole pierced in the mecha had completely vanished.
The material of the mecha was a kind of memory metal. It felt very light to the touch; ordinary claw marks could not penetrate the metal layer, and even if scratched through, it could repair itself quickly. Unless attacked with energy weapons, it was completely defenseless—more than enough for dealing with ordinary animals in the forest.