《Tear a Path》


 The start

    Puncak, Indonesia, a range of mountains which stretches several miles. In November, where many countries are preparing to welcome the cold breeze of winter, this peculiar country is still battered by the sun''s merciless rays.


    On the peak of a particular hill, a single house sits comfortably alone. Its slightly yellow stained walls betrayed its age regardless of the fact that its owners installed new air-cons and refurbished the driveway.


    It didn''t always need this. Its owners, with the increase in age could no longer enjoy the regular bumpy off-road trips up the hill. Therefore, they decided to make a driveway and rent it out to tourist whenever they didn''t use it. Additionally, with an elevation of 1,000 meters above sea level the cold mountain winds used to be sufficient to keep guests cool throughout their stay, even too cold sometimes. However, with the increase in the temperature of the earth, these hills became warmer with each passing year.


    On the veranda, Wang Zhao Hui sat across from his childhood friend turned girlfriend Xi You Ya. The latter seemed angry on the surface.


    "Zhao Hui! if you dare poke my sides again in front of our friends, you better be prepared to stop talking to me for a week!".


    "Oh, come on, I have been poking your sides since we were kids, even now you laugh if we''re on a date together, but suddenly when our friends are around you are suddenly conscious of it" Wang Zhao Hui said plainly, "If you keep making a fuss about it I won''t poke your sides again, instead, I''ll poke your belly button and see how our friends react then."Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    "You dare!!"


    The funny thing about spouses is how sometimes people end up finding those who are the exact opposite of their own characters. For example Wang Zhao Hui is very energetic in public is in reality very plain in private, on the other hand Xi You Ya who is usually shy in public has a temper she shows only to her loved ones.


    Life tends to tear apart and bring together the strings of fate of humans. For some lucky few, their strings are intertwined all through the rest of their lives until death inevitably pulls it apart in the end. For the unlucky ones, the string breaks apart before it''s time.


    In the case of the two lovebirds, their fates have somehow been kept together as if they were destined. During birth, both of their parents had actually eaten together because of a full hospital cafeteria, Xi You Ya being born on the 5th of August was 30 days old when her parents met the parents of the 7 day old boy.


    Many years later when they were both 8 years old, Wang Zhao Hui''s father, Wang Tian Long, began to do business with his grandfather. Because of this, he had to move closer to his family''s factory to make travel more convenient. Unknown to him, he had moved right next to the bakery Xi You Ya''s parents ran. Hence, began the many days of playing cat and mouse and playing hide and seek in the bakery for both family''s children. At 12, because of the success of business Wang Zhao Hui''s family moved to Indonesia for cheaper workforce splitting the two by a whole ocean.


    Somehow, later on both were sent to school in Singapore for better education when they were 16. Wang Zhao Hui''s classmate invited him to rent an apartment together with other students, one of which was Xi You Ya. 3 years later they are going steady and all seems right.


    When the stars align, things fall into place regardless of who or what steps in. But when even the stars are covered by the shroud of night, it''s uncertain if even fate can keep it''s strings together.

 Eggplant

    Sitting around with friends having snacks and drinks makes life fly almost too fast. At some points, people laugh so hard they''re not even sure what they''re laughing at anymore.


    "Aiyah!" one of them screamed while holding his arm, "Zhao Wei, why is your girlfriend so violent, other people beat people if they''re angry, but she beats people while she laughs at their jokes."


    Zhao Wei could only shake his head looking at the pitiful state his friend was in, "Meng Ke Er, you know she''s always been like that, but you always provoke her and stand in the line of fire."


    "What do you mean ''always been like that?" Xi You Ya squinted her eyes at him, "You have some complaints about me?".


    "Honey, you know I love you and I want to make sure your reputation stays perfect," Zhao Wei could only try his best to put out the fire he started, "what if one day people look at this future husband of yours and think there''s something wrong with our relationship?".


    "Yeah! they''ll call the police and make a report for domestic violence," Shi Di Wen, Zhao Wei''s best friend couldn''t help jumping into the conversation, "but instead of the husband beating the wife, this is the wife beating the husband!"


    Zhao Wei tried to stifle his laughter after seeing his girlfriends reddening face, glaring at his friend for making the situation worse.


    "No no, that''s not what I meant honey, I know that when you hit me it''s a sign that you love me and you love talking to me," he exhaled in relief seeing that his girlfriend was appeased with his statement. With the trouble settled, he couldn''t help being cheeky as he closed his hand into a paw, raising his eye brows and pouting his lips imitating a pitiful dog, "but if you keep beating me, what if people think your future husband is weird, other husbands may have tattoos but yours has an eggplant on each of his arms."


    "Ha ha ha ha!" Xi You Ya couldn''t resist from laughing at the statement mixed with the acting of her boyfriend and reached for him.


    Zhao Wei looking at the claw coming towards him almost turned pale, luckily he had good reflexes and ducked behind Meng Ke Er while he used his free hand to push him right into harms way.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    "Zhao Wei! Noooo!"


    Zhao Wei and Shi Di Wen could only wince as they listened to the agonizing screams of their friend.


    From behind them Kai Xi Lin, Meng Ke Er''s girlfriend walked forward and clapped her palms together and bowed slightly, looking solemn, "we will forever remember your sacrifice."


    Immediately after both the males followed in imitating her actions and bowed, "we will forever remember your sacrifice!"


    Xi You Ya looking at the comical actions of her friends laughed even harder, making her hitting and pinching more energetic to the remorse of only Meng Ke Er as his suffering became more intense.


    Like this, the group of youths made the most of their teenage lives before they went to become adults.


    "Zhao Wei! Xi Ya! you sure you don''t want to come with us to the next hill to look for dinner?", Kai Xi Lin gave her friend a look of exasperation for leaving her to go alone with two rowdy boys.


    "Zhao Wei! better play safe" Shi Di Wen grinned from ear to ear while his eyes becoming just slits.


    Living in the modern world, both girls of course understood the meaning behind his words and took of their sandals to fling at the lecherous man.


    Once the group left, Zhao Wei could be seen lounging on the sofa his head on Xi You Ya''s lap. Xi You Ya while pouting looked at his chubby cheeks started pinching them both and stretching them in opposite directions.


    "So you think you can bully me hah?, I''ve got you now, apologize or not?"


    Zhao Wei being half asleep could only reply lazily, "Apologize, apologize..."


    "So insincere!" the apology actually made Xi Ya angrier, "do you even love me or not?"


    "I love you, you know that."


    "See, so plain again," Xi Ya looked helplessly at her blunt boyfriend, "Why don''t you just go date a machine."


    Opening one eye, Zhao Wei brows became scrunched together suddenly deep in thought. A few seconds pass and he nodded his head seemingly satisfied. Looking at him, Xi Ya became curious, "What are you thinking about, hah! probably something perverted," as she continued to play with his cheeks".


    "If I had to date a machine, I''d date a refrigerator," he finally uttered.


    Xi Ya could only facepalm at her boyfriend''s weirdness. "Any reasons?"


    "Well, although the refrigerator is big and doesn''t have curves..." he said, "it has angles."


    Laughter rang out from the house in addition to the sound of muffled screams, without anyone else around, Zhao Wei could only lovingly bear the pain.


    In a noodle shop on another hill, three friends sat next to each other. Suddenly it all three raised their heads from their bowls, thinking the same thing. They then clapped their palms over their meals and slightly bowed, "We will forever remember your sacrifice."


    The shop''s chef looked at these kids and thought to himself, "kids these days and their weird traditions."

 The break

    "HAAAAAA!"


    This was of course Xi Ya. With her arms and legs in the air she rolled back and forth on the couch. Zhao Wei standing next to the couch could only force a smile as he looked at his girlfriend throw a tantrum like a child.


    "Why aren''t they back yet!!, we''ve been waiting for four hours and they still haven''t come back with the food!!"


    This had been ongoing for half an hour and Xi Ya could be seen running back and forth between the kitchen and sofa. "There''s no snacks, no signal and no car!!, what if they forgot about us, we''ll be starved!!" if people saw her now they''d remember a certain cursed hobbit from Lord of the Rings when he lost the ring.


    At some points her thinking would even switch from desperation to pure blood-lust. "It must be that Shi Di Wen''s fault eating so much must''ve made all the stores nearby run out of food," it should be known that while she said those words she was actually doing a choke hold to a pillow while her left hand kept pummeling it, her eyes oozing killing intent. "And Xi Lin!!, think she''s so skinny that she can keep eating without consequences, we''ll see how I pull the fat building on her waist when she gets back."


    Another 15 minutes pass and she became more hysterical. Finally Zhao Wei decided he should talk to her, or else people at the bottom of the hill would think a kidnapping was going on up here. Walking into the kitchen, Xi Ya suddenly turned around spreading her arms across the kitchen table looking like a cornered mouse faced with a cat when she saw Zhao Wei


    "It must be you!!, you must have planned all this to starve me and take away my strength, and then when I''m too tired and fall asleep you would unleash your carnal desires and devour me," she said her palm facing outward on her forehead as she slumped on the kitchen floor, "Oooh! this great me is finally overcome not by might, but the schemes of a lustful young man."


    Zhao Wei''s right eye twitched as a visible vein throbbed on his forehead. "This girl, why not just go to Broadway if you want to play so many parts," he thought to himself.


    She held her pillow in front of her body looking at Zhao Wei embarrassingly as if she was naked behind it. "Haaa..." Zhao Wei sighed, his eyes looked up a little and then he shrugged, "well I''m planning to marry you someday anyway, so it''ll be the same either way... if you insist then...."


    "Wa... Wa... what.. hah?" instantly Xi Ya''s face turned red, "you shameless... eh... PERVERT!!!"


    "Who''s the pervert!?"


    "That''s the one you''re angry about!?, how can you use that word to justify your actions!?" if this were a cartoon both of Xi Ya''s eyes would be swirls right now.


    Snapping out of it, Xi Ya became even more angry, "how can you use that word for this situation!? and so plainly!? as my future husband you should.. pah! pah! ptui! who would want a future husband like you!"Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    "Oh! so you reject the proposal?"


    "Of course I reject!"


    "You better not regret it! if next time you suddenly feel like it, I''m not going to be the one doing the proposing!" he said.


    "You... what...?" she could only stutter at his response.


    "That''s right, next time, you''re going to be doing the proposing, I want it in a nice candle light dinner in a fancy restaurant, and a big diamond ring, none of that cheap zircon rings, also I want a whole heartfelt speech leading to it."


    "YOU! Shameless!! you''re not even doing all of that and you demand i do it?" Xi Ya couldn''t hold her anger anymore, "what candle light dinner!! we don''t even have a bag of chips here to keep us from starving."


    Finally Xi Ya walked out of the house. After thinking for a bit Zhao Wei thought he had maybe teased her too far and went to look for her. It didn''t take long as she was only by some railing over looking a cliffs edge. Turning around she held her head high and said, "fine I accept!"


    Zhao Wei was stunned in his step looking at her with eyes wide open, "Wha... Ha?"


    Xi Ya had a visible smile on her face seeing that it''s this guys turn to get shocked.


    After regaining his bearings, Zhao Wei felt like he had taken a loss, "What accept, you already rejected it so my proposal no longer counts, now it''s your turn."


    Xi Ya remembering the screaming match they had before could only look helplessly. "Fine... will you..."


    "Ask me nicely"


    She glared at him as she gritted her teeth and forced her lips into a smile, "Will you..."


    "Wait! Wait!"


    "What now!?"


    "You haven''t gotten down on one knee." he said.


    "Haaaa... fine, shameless bastard"


    "OMG!! every girl dreams of this day, I never thought mine would come so quick!" as he said this he was fanning his face and jumping on the spot. The perfect image of a girl being proposed to.


    Xi Ya seeing this could only smile while thinking of how she would beat him mercilessly after this is over. "Wang Zhao Wei..." she began while slowly bending down.


    Suddenly, the earth shook. The sky which was sparkling with stars just now almost instantly became pitch black. Rumbling could be heard from every direction.


    "Zhao Wei!!" Xi Ya was still a few steps away from him when the proposal began, but even in the distance Zhao Wei could see the fear in her eyes.


    "Don''t move!! it''s going to be fine." he tried to reassure her.


    But in the next moment the ground between them split pushing both sides further. "Xi Ya!" Zhao Wei screamed as he sprinted towards her. It all happened too fast, in the mere seconds it took him to reach the edge of the crack, the split had rapidly expanded to at least 15 meters and was still moving pushing both lovers farther from each other.


    Looking under them they could finally see what was happening around them, the earth was flooding, not with water but with mud, earth and rocks. It was like a portal had appeared in the ground and started spewing huge amounts of mass, moving like raging torrents going every direction breaking and even burying some of the smaller hills.


    Zhao Wei could only scream in desperation as the flood of earth constantly pulled his love away from him, "Xi Ya! wait for me!! I''ll come find you!!".


    "I''ll wait for you no matter what!!"


    At this instant a crack was heard from behind Zhao Wei as a balcony section from the house''s second floor broke off. Turning his head around Zhao Wei didn''t even have time to dodge as he looked up to see the mass falling towards him.


    Crash!!


    On the ground Zhao Wei could only will himself to open his eyes, part of his vision was red from the blood flowing down his left eye. In the distance Xi Ya now only seemed like a dot to him and he could only think to himself, "I will find you, I will find you. I will fin...." before it all blacked out.

 Trapper

    Upheavals happened globally causing massive amount of destruction in it''s path. From outer space the earth''s diameter would be seen growing steadily. The event spanned a whole 2 days before the earth stopped it''s rapid growth reaching a diameter half of Neptune''s causing it to have a mass of at least 5 earths.


    Areas in the equator became much hotter while those closer to the south and north poles entered subzero temperatures. Smaller countries were split so far apart that some of their regions would be brought half way across the world.


    Not only this, all manners of lifeforms evolved at a visible pace becoming stronger, faster and even smarter to survive the cataclysm. Only humans found themselves unchanged and yet thrown into a whole new world where their former comfortable lives left them almost crippled.


    After 3 days had passed, the growth and changes stopped completely. In areas where people weren''t washed away by the earth floods the people rioted and many resolved to anarchy. Pillaging, looting, murder and rape were seen everywhere. It''s true when people say that without a force of law the darkest parts of humans came out.


    In the middle of this chaos words were transmitted into every human''s mind.


    [Foolish humans, I have warned you and your predecessors of what was to come]


    [If you had let go of your greed all this could have been avoided but you insisted on your ideas]


    [Now you will find yourselves the prey of every creature that will come out]


    [But in the end, I am conscientious and will not leave you hopeless]


    [The other creatures were given their abilities from the earth itself, but your genes have been dying from the comforts and the poisons you have manufactured by yourself]


    [I will unlock this and allow you to choose a path of survival]


    [This is the last time I meddle in your world]


    [You have 30 minutes of your time to choose]


    Instantly in everyone''s mind a selection could be seen, like job classes of an RPG. Classes like, knight, warrior, rogue, mage...


    As they chose they could see status screens popping up on their left arm showing strength, speed, endurance, vitality and intelligence. With their choices, some of these statuses gained boosts.


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Meanwhile.... far away one island floated alone. Of course considering the standard of land mass in the new world this island was the size of Australia in the old world.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    When everyone was picking their classes Zhao Wei was still knocked out from the rubble. After the given thirty minutes no choice was made so the screen fizzed out. The same voice that announced it''s presence spoke to Zhao Wei.


    [Foolish human, will you really not make a choice and receive my blessing?]


    ...No response.


    [Do not be rude, even if you are frightened no one should reject strength]


    ...No response.


    [Do you want to diee!?]


    Lucky for the voice, no one was around to hear him, or else they would think, "What is wrong with this deity."


    [This is the last chance... No?... Fine I''m leaving, good luck surviving in the new world!]


    2 minutes pass....


    [Do you really not want more power!?] obviously, he was bluffing about leaving.


    [Haaaa.... It doesn''t matter what you want anyway, I have already promised to give all humans this final gift, so if you don''t choose I will just randomize it for you.]


    [Hmm? This one?... well it''s fine, but since you insist on your own way I won''t give you a path to follow, you won''t receive the same path and rapid increase in advancement as others, but at the same time your growth will not be limited by the road I set, your survival will just depend on you.]


    Although his words sounded noble and profound, the fact that it was based off a one-sided misunderstanding wholly diminished this fact. With those words it left the still unconscious Zhao Wei. However, in Zhao Wei''s mind a similar but system like voice was heard.


    [Trapper class selected.]


    [Initial physical reformation... deleted,


    Future physical reformation... deleted,


    Advancement path map... deleted,


    Advancement enhancement... deleted,


    Skill growth path... deleted,


    System skill supplement... deleted,


    System skill control... deleted.]


    [Initial skills inserted,


    Active skill <Wrap trap>attained,


    Active skill <Feeding> attained.]


    If Zhao Wei was awake, he would probably curse the voice into giving him back his benefits, while banging his head on concrete at the thought that even higher beings had such idiots.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Finally from all the noise made by the voice and the system, Zhao Wei woke up. His head was in pain from the injury but at least he kept his life. Crawling from underneath the rubble, Zhao Wei unsuccessfully tried to stand up a few times.


    The loss of blood combined with 3 days of no food or water was almost enough to kill almost anybody, much less allowing them to walk. Luckily the system entry gave him a small energy boost with it''s insert just keeping him from dying.


    With eyes still blurry Zhao Wei could only make out a small puddle of water on the ground in-front of him as he painstakingly crawled towards it. By the time he reached it he couldn''t even scoop up the water to feed himself and just dropped his face in.


    A few seconds passed without movement, abruptly his whole body erupted backwards and he took a breath as if it was the most important breath in his life. But what he saw when he opened his eyes almost sent him back to a death like state from a heart attack.


    From the hill he was perched on, it was a sea of green, almost like a large patch of rocks covered by moss except for the fact that he couldn''t see where it ended. If he didn''t happen to look down and see tree barks rising from a dark bottomless abyss, he would''ve probably tried to walk on it only to find himself falling for some time, not even knowing if his death would even make a sound in this massive forest that appeared overnight.


    From this sea of green, spires of craggy protrusions reached for the heavens, their peaks concealed above the veil of fog and mist. Separately, these structures were gargantuan. Together, they concurred into an almost crippling image to the man who had just awoken.


    What scared him the most however, was not the feeling of being in this unrecognizable world but what he saw beyond that. One of the structures he thought was a mountain, shifted. Although it no longer moved after that, Zhao Wei was sure that he wasn''t making things up in his mind.


    This must be how ants feel.

 Promise

    For at least half an hour Zhao Wei could only look and consider the world he had been thrown into. Any body who could treat an event as such normally would either be omniscient enough to know that it was coming or have something seriously wrong with their heads, Zhao Wei was neither. Luckily Zhao Wei was not a person who was prone to panicking, so he tried his best to think objectively or at least as much as the situation allowed him to.


    If the world''s rules and laws changed drastically, how much can the normal human process really help a person in their decision making. The answer was, almost none.


    First things first, consider survival, a person needed three basic things, food, water and shelter. For food the building behind him hadn''t had any food in the first place. As for water, with the shift of the earth, if water continued to be delivered up the hill by the pipelines it would be an understatement to say it was an intervention from God on Zhao Wei''s behalf.


    The broken building could still serve as a roof for shelter. Zhao Wei however, considered that if even the plants evolved to this extent, and there were moving organisms the size of what he saw before. There was no telling what else had changed, and without walls, the broken house would give him little to no comfort.


    He needed to procure all these necessities in order to survive. This meant climbing down god knows how far down the hill, find out what''s changed in order to procure the resources he needed, but worst of all he needed to face whatever unknown organisms were lurking down there.


    Having been in the modern world where everything was safe and there were laws to and officers to protect people, most people didn''t have anything to defend themselves. After looking around his accessible area, all Zhao Wei could find was a kitchen knife. For anything bought from the super market it was useful as they were dead, but even to kill a chicken in the old world you''d need a butcher knife to cleanly cut through the head.


    After thinking for half a day, Zhao Wei was no closer to a solution than he was when he first woke up. At the brink of desperation, he could only walk out from the house to get more air.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    As he walked out, he stopped in his tracks. In front of him he saw the edge of the cliff he was near when he woke up. The unnatural way it seemed to break off was making him feel like he had forgotten something, something important. Trying to recall what happened there, his head was met with an agonizing pain, almost like his head was being pulled apart slowly. After 15 minutes or so the pain subsided, in his mind however he was left with the image of the back of a person''s head turning around. He tried to recall again but no matter how many times he went through the experience it only left him with the same memory sequence.


    In his mind although he remembered his old life including his parents, family and friends, it felt like something was missing. Like a single aspect of his whole life was erased and that aspect was connected to that incomplete memory. The reason Zhao Wei kept going through the pain to see the memory wasn''t just because he felt like it was important, but it was because he felt pain in his heart every time he remembered. It wasn''t a physical pain like the headache, but it hurt so much more. To Zhao Wei, compared to the pain in his heart, he could go through the headaches 10,000 times.


    This cliff edge was the exact spot he and Xi You Ya were separated during the change even if he himself couldn''t remember it right now. Standing up, he looked for a big piece of stone. Finding one that was evenly shaped and stable he used the kitchen knife to carve an arrow forward and placed it in the direction the cliff broke off. In his heart he promised, "I don''t know who you are, I don''t remember your name, but you were a part of me, from today until I find you I will set my life in this direction, even if the world stops me I will tear a path through it until I either find you or reach this spot again, if I reach here again, I will pick another direction and begin again."


    To a man who has everything, promising something is easy. To a man who has nothing and was in the brink of despair just a few moments ago, to promise the world to someone he didn''t even remember was much more significant. But even he didn''t know, that this promise would bring him to face a much bigger world than he expected and the weight of his words would become heavier once he understood the world he was in.


    Once he was up, the desperation was gone, exchanged with a fire burning in his heart. The difference between having something to live for and not is like day and night. Even in the modern world, many of people live as if they were dead and the achievements of those with ambition would throw them far forward into success.


    With the spark ignited in him Zhao Wei began gathering everything in the house together in the courtyard. Plopping himself on a chair he took a leftover notebook and prepared to list whatever was left. as he brought the notebook to his face a shadow flashed at the corner of his eye.

 The shadow

    Noticing the shadow, Zhao Wei looked to his left and saw nothing. Turning to his book again he suddenly saw the shadow again at the corner of his eye. Turning again, he saw nothing again. He felt a chill run down his spine. "Is it because of the upheaval, did it disturb some ancient burial ground, letting out a spirit who wants revenge?"


    "It''s not me!" Zhao Wei shouted... No response.


    "I come in peace, the upheaval was caused by a natural disaster, I didn''t try to disturb your grave like those people in western movies." Zhao Wei thought that it would maybe be reasonable with his explanations... No response.


    "If you won''t be reasonable I''ll fight it out with you!! I still have someone I need to find so I can''t die here," Zhao Wei stood up from his seat challenging whatever it was.


    The pen he was going to use rolled off and fell to the floor. Clack!!


    "I''m sorry!!" Zhao Wei suddenly ducked into a fetal position his arms covering his face and head.


    Few seconds pass and nothing happened. Opening his eyes however Zhao Wei came face to face with the shadow.


    It was the status screen on his left forearm. Zhao Wei could only stare at it in disbelief. It was like wet ink coming together to form words that floated above his arm like a hologram.


    [Name: Wang Zhao Wei


    Age: 19


    Organism type: Human male


    Class: Trapper


    Status: Mental trauma detected


    Strength : 5


    Durability: 5


    Vitality: 4


    Speed: 4


    Dexterity: 5


    Mentality: 3


    Resistance:


    Heat: 1


    Cold: 1


    Toxic:0


    Electricity: 0


    Light: 0


    Dark: 0


    Skills:


    Active: Wrap Trap


    Passive: Feeding]


    Oh my God! it''s the MC cheat!! Zhao Wei thought. If one day he met other humans and found out that everyone got one and actually had more features than his did, Zhao Wei would vow never to reveal what he thought when he first saw it.


    "System, please explain the points in the status page." He said... No response. Maybe it had an on signal first, Zhao Wei thought.


    "System, turn on..." Zhao Wei became perplexed, "System, begin functions."


    ...No response.


    After 15 minutes of trying even trying to use his mind to access the system, Zhao Wei became even more misguided.


    "System, I choose you!..."


    "System, Destiny Draw!..."


    "System, I''m all fired up!..."


    Copyright laws were continually broken by Zhao Wei for another half an hour.


    Zhao Wei dejectedly looked at the screen on his arm. most of the information was pretty straightforward but the skill section needed some explaining. Wrap trap had a drawing like a flower, the inner section was empty unlike feeding which looked like a mouth was completely filled out with the inky black color.


    Focusing on [Wrap Trap], suddenly the words split apart like ink and came back together to form different words.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    [Wrap Trap:


    Detach mark from body at specific place permanently, will trigger energy vines to wrap organism in-front of it if movement is detected or contact is made. Single use.]


    Once he stopped his focus the screen changed back into the main screen again. From the description he deduced his classes function. Looking at the screen again he tried focusing on [Feeding]. The same happened again where the screen split apart and re-converged, this time with a description of the skill.


    [Feeding:


    You are what you eat. The first drop of blood of any organism killed by the user will add 0.5% of a random attribute owned by the organism to the user.]


    The skills he gained were pretty straight forward. And it seemed that the build for his class was like a jungling character in games. For Wrap Trap, basically he could set traps which only activate when stepped on even if he was not in the area. For Feeding, it was a passive growth skill which allowed him to constantly grow all his attributes. He was a little unsatisfied with his passive as looking at his own status he was unsure of his growth rate. If organisms were around his strength in general it would take at least 40 such organisms to raise any of his attributes by 1.


    Unknown to him, his current attributes were pretty good. With the comfort of humans in their last life many people were comfortable staying at home, even just a few years before the change, people weren''t even moving to look for food as they could order it online. For most people their starting attributes were around 2/3 in general. As for Zhao Wei, in the old world he loved to play sports especially basketball and boxing so his overall attributes were higher while his intelligence was average. In fact even for most professional athletes the highest points they reached in an attribute or two was 6, although some special cases had a 7 for a single attribute.


    He did however lose out on the physical reformation which granted 5 points directly to class associated attributes as well as 10 points per level. Additionally, this growth would increase further to 20, 30 and finally 50 attributes per level with their class''s advancement at 20, 50, 100 and 120. On the day he found out about this, Zhao Wei swore that if he ever found the Voice, he would wring every benefit he had lost from the voice.


    After sorting it out Zhao Wei decided to try out his skills. But he was unsure how. He tried touching the ground and saying the skill in his mind... No response.


    "Maybe it needs audio confirmation... Wrap Trap!!" He said... No response.


    "Wrap Trap activate!!... No Response.


    "Ultimate Wrap Trap!!"... No Response.


    After 15 minutes he became more misguided.


    "Gomu Gomu No!"... No Response.


    "Rasengan!"... No Response.


    "Spirit Bomb!"... No response.


    "Hulk Smash!"... No Response.


    He again continued to break copyright laws for 20 minutes.


    When he was exhausted with trying and screaming to himself he figured maybe he needed to focus for sometime to activate the skill. Closing his eyes he focused on the skill itself, a feeling like his body was being drained of small amounts of energy could be felt but nothing happened yet. After 15 his head started aching and he was sweating all over yet still nothing came out.


    When he couldn''t take it anymore he stopped and a feeling like he was regaining the energy slowly happened. But he thought, if he didn''t use the skill why was he so drained. Looking at his status screen he understood what happened. the originally empty inner section of the Wrap Trap symbol was filling up. What was originally empty was now filled up to 1/3 of it.


    It took 20 minutes for the pain to subside. Feeling there was nothing wrong with his body he repeated his actions again. The same thing happened after 15 minutes and he had to stop before he could repeat the process over again.


    When it was about to fill completely Zhao Wei''s 15 minutes were up but he pushed to finish the mark. Once it looked full he spent another 20 seconds on it then stopped. when he saw the mark a shadow was moving around the mark like a computer loading screen. After 5 seconds it stopped, no sound came out, but being used to computers Zhao Wei imagined a Ding! in his mind.


    Zhao Wei thought he could finally use it but before he could even say anything the mark became empty again. "What the heck!" he couldn''t help screaming, "this is worse than a girl giving false hope to a guy!, this is a girl giving false hope and asking the guy to do her homework before rejecting him!"


    Trying to figure out what was going on he went into the skill description page. When he saw what had happened he could finally sigh in relief.


    [Wrap Trap 1x:


    Detach mark from body at specific place permanently, will trigger energy vines to wrap organism in-front of it if movement is detected or contact is made. Single use.]


    Apparently this skill was one which is charged and stored which Zhao Wei could use anytime so long as he didn''t finish the count. Once he figured it out he finally rested.

 The night comes

    When Zhao Wei first decided to go down the hill he saw that it was 3 in the afternoon so he decided it would be better to plan first and go tomorrow as there were only 3 hours to sun down. But by the time he had taken inventory of the house and tested his skills it was already 8 but the sun was still quite high in the sky.


    Deciding to watch the clock, Zhao Wei entered the kitchen to get some food. As guests, the food left by the owners were off limits, but considering the current situation he guessed that he could let this breach of etiquette slide. There wasn''t much, only some instant food to last a few days, 2 loaves of bread and some originally frozen beans and nuggets which were defrosted after the electricity went out.


    The owners had set up a barbecue outside either for them or guest to use. Considering that there must be related supplies Zhao Wei looked for a while before finding a set of lighter, lighter fluid and charcoal. Considering that he couldn''t waste any of the resources he decided not to cook with the charcoal bu to only use it to light a fire which is pretty difficult to do from scratch.


    Using dried leaves and branches Zhao Wei finally sat down to cook. Zhao Wei dropped the moist beans into a pot and let it heat up a bit.


    Once the pot began smoking a bit, he picked it up and dug in with his spoon. After the first spoon he put the spoon down and looked up around the fire, "It''s bland." He spoke these words quietly but he looked at the pot and began eating again.


    As he ate tears and snot streamed down his face. The bland and hard beans were usually disgusting, but to Zhao Wei it was the first comfort he felt since he awoke. This small comfort made him remember a time he was with his friends around the barbecue having fun, being carefree and next to him was a patch of white, probably part of the person he lost. "I''ll get it back." he thought to himself as he hunched over his meal.


    Once he finished his meal it was already 12 so he decided to rest, taking one of the beds Zhao Wei easily fell into deep sleep, around 4 the skies grew darker and the temperature dropped to 12 degrees Celsius almost instantly.


    In the bed of one of the smaller rooms Zhao Wei was awoken due to the cold. Looking at the clock, it was 4:25, the sky wasn''t too dark right now so Zhao Wei considered that 4 was around the time that night came.


    Counting by himself, Zhao Wei came to the conclusion that the days and nights were now twice as long as compared to the old days. Noticing the cold, Zhao Wei considered that it would probably become colder as the peak of the night came.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    He began preparing by covering the bigger holes in the house with larger furniture such as shelves and wardrobes. However, after setting it up he noticed that there were too many gaps and it would be impossible to cover them. So he decided to just fix up the room he was using lining up the furniture against the room where windows used to be before the change to cover the biggest hole.


    He stacked the clothes from some of his friend''s luggage in order to stuff the gaps in between. Luckily this was one of the better rooms as the damage wasn''t very large, just a few cracks here and there but no large holes to let the air in besides the window and the door was still intact. The whole house it self lost s whole section, looking like half of it slid off so it''s fortunate that one room was still relatively untouched.


    Taking some sheets, Zhao Wei draped them over some shelves before moving them into the room to line up against the cracks, this would keep the cold from seeping in. He then added a lot of clothes and sheets into the wardrobe in front of the window to add another layer against the cold as well.


    After all this was done, Zhao Wei thought for a bit and decided to push a cupboard in-front of the door. Emptying it, Zhao Wei broke the back board of the cupboard to allow access to his room door. Then he hung some clothes on it before finally entering his room. This was not to protect from the cold, but actually to cover the entrance of his room from anything hostile.


    In the room, Zhao Wei no longer slept. He began training in push ups, sit ups and jumping jacks. If the attributes reflected the state of his body, he deduced that if he trained more it would raise some attributes. When he was tired Zhao Wei did not rest, instead he began charging the wrap trap in between. When he was exhausted from that, he began physical training again.


    When it was 10 hours into the night Zhao Wei stopped for a bit to replenish himself. Luckily he wasn''t that dumb although his intelligence was only 3, he had taken some bottles to the puddle he first drank from outside to fill them. For food he chose to eat the bread because he couldn''t cook in the enclosed space. Zhao Wei thought that once the loaves had finished, he would need to cook in the day hours to prepare for the night hours.


    After eating he just charged the Wrap Trap as it wasn''t good to exercise after eating. Once 2 hours passed he began physical training again but by this time the temperature outside had begun seeping in, reaching up to 3 degrees only. He was lucky that Indonesia was originally near the equator and he had not floated that far away, in some areas, the night went below 0 degrees reaching -4/5. It wasn''t an understatement that in the first few days, more died from the cold rather than from monsters or creatures.


    When it was at 16 hours, Zhao Wei couldn''t bear the cold anymore and wrapped himself with some blankets while continuing to charge wrap traps. When he was resting between the charging Zhao Wei cut some of the bed sheets into 5 strips. He would then twist these strips and connect two together to make decent ropes. Tying each rope to the end of another he had made a few meters of rope once the 20th hour came by, after which he slept. The amazing part of this log was not how Zhao Wei had done all this without stop, but in reality he did this in absolute darkness since he did not even leave a gap for the moonlight to come through. In addition to this, during the Night hours, Zhao Wei had charged a total of 7 Wrap Traps.

 Im actually in a forest

    Once day-break came, searing heat fell upon the house. It was enough so much so that if a car was in the area you could fry an egg on top of the car in one and a half minute. However to Zhao Wei, the warmth in his bones was much more welcome than last night''s cold. He reminisced the suffering of sleeping without moving and inch so that no gaps were made in the blanket.


    In the first 4 hours of the morning Zhao Wei continued to make ropes and practice sewing. Although it wasn''t a requirement for survival, he figured if he needed to mend anything, he still could and it would be good practice for dexterity. He didn''t start with much just stitching some sheets together. Out of everything, the resource Zhao Wei lacked the least was fabrics.


    There were only 2 suitcases Zhao Wei did not open and these were Shi Di Wen''s and That of the person he forgot. He hadn''t opened Shi Di Wen''s yet was simply because he hadn''t needed to do so yet. But for the other suitcase, for some reason he always felt nervous when he thought of opening it, sometimes he felt extremely warm and his face turned crimson when he touched it.


    Today he opened Shi Di Wen''s. Out of his expectations, he actually packed a hunting knife, sleeping bag some canned food and a water flask. He remembered the day when they arrived and the guy''s face had black lines all over when he looked at the house. Apparently when he was told they were going to stay on top of a mountain he took it very literally. Checking his back pack, Zhao Wei found a flint for camp fires as well as solar charged batteries.


    He stored the sleeping bag in his room, the rest he put in a smaller back pack with some containers except for the hunting knife which he stuck to his belt. Additionally he brought a few meters of the make shift rope he had made, which he coiled around his left arm. Besides that he pulled a wagon with a larger bundle of the make shift rope tied together to a several meter cable.


    He however took off his boots, deciding to go barefoot instead. He thought if he was to keep traveling, at some point his shoes would break. At that point if he had no shoes to replace them it''d be harder for him so might as well get used to going barefoot and make more calluses on the bottom on his feet. At night, he could just wrap them in cloth and continue as the sport shoes he and the others brought didn''t give much better insulation either. Additionally, he read in a story that by being barefoot a person would leave less footprints.


    Moving out from the driveway area, he went down the slope which usually circled around the hill. After moving a few tens of meters he was met with a break in the same direction as the split on top. Stretching for a few minutes Zhao Wei breathed deeply to calm himself. He tied the cable around a tree and pulled while leaning back to see if it would hold his weight. Once satisfied, he took the rest of the cable and ropes and threw it down the side.


    He stepped on the edge and looked down, he couldn''t see the bottom yet or even where his rope stopped. Turning around he looked at the small safe haven and said "See you tonight."Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    Picking up the rope, he pushed off the wall slowly moving down. There wasn''t much to see yet, but Zhao Wei could smell the forest, the thick aroma of wood, leaves, mud and humidity intermingled together to overload his senses. But there was one more scent which he didn''t want to think of. Blood.


    As he moved downwards he could constantly feel the the light from the top getting dimmer. And although it was almost 34 degrees when he left around the 6th hour, in the middle section where Zhao Wei was currently at, it was around 21 degrees at room temperature. Worst of all, moving downwards, the forest became quieter. It wasn''t like those depicted in movies where all the animals were chirping and singing, down here it was every living beings hunting ground and if anything made noise they were the prey.


    Zhao Wei''s hands began to bleed a little because he kept sliding down using the rope and he felt them losing strength from the pain. He was only keeping from letting them go to avoid dying altogether. The palms of his feet were losing skin layer by layer as it scraped against the cliff wall.


    Finally he reached the end of his rope, this was when the real climb began. He pulled himself towards the cliff face and with one hand, he gripped a jutting rock with one hand and found a grip with the other. Moving his legs downward he started moving down like climbing down a ladder.


    After just 4 minutes of climbing, Zhao Wei was exhausted. With his bloody palm each move downwards became harder as it made the grips slippery and stretched the wounds. His legs were on the brink of slipping almost every second. By this time he could see the forest floor, what he saw from above shocked him. The sunlight was filtered by the leaves at the canopy on top of the trees turning it emerald which brought the same hue to the forest floor. Plants more bizarre than any he had ever seen in any country''s exhibitions lined the forest floor. The roots of the trees were as tall as trees were as tall as trees in the old world and the grass grew to at least 2.5-3 meters.


    The forest floor was so beautiful that Zhao Wei''s focus momentarily lapsed for a split second. But, this split second was nearly fatal as Zhao Wei had gripped a rock which wasn''t stable which pulled away from the cliff face. With how slippery his hands and feet were, Zhao Wei couldn''t recover back and just tumbled backwards, falling from a height of 2 floors high. Whether it was pure luck or plot shield, his fall was slowed by two branches which pushed out under him but this still wasn''t able to slow his decent much. However when he reached the ground it wasn''t a thud! but a plop! which was heard.


    Zhao Wei had landed on wet mud instead of tough ground. He was extremely disoriented from the fall, but at-least he wasn''t dead. Gathering himself, he took some of the mud and smeared it on his palms and feet to cool the inflammation as well as mask the smell of blood on them. After scouting his area, he tried to mark a few trees with his knife to make sure he didn''t get lost. But to his dismay, the trees were tough like iron, compared to it, the knife was like nothing as Zhao Wei couldn''t leave a single scratch but instead chipped the edge a little. While the knife was ruined the trees only had lost a layer of dirt.


    Zhao Wei decided to smear mud on a section of it instead. After he was done he finally had time to breathe and think, but the only thoughts that came o his mind was, "Dear God, I''m actually in a forest."

 First catch

    Even though he was an athletic guy, Zhao Wei wasn''t a nature lover so this experience was completely new to him. His original plan was that once climbing down, he would set the wrap traps around and climb up some of the trees by circling it with a rope and pushing off it with his legs to gain leverage climb up and perch on a branch and wait for any animal to get caught by the trap.


    Obviously, Zhao Wei did not consider the toll the climb down would have on him. By the time he reached down it was already half past the 8th hour, after he had scouted his surrounding and marked the area the clock told him nearly ten hours had passed in total for the day half. With his hands and feet in the state they were in now he thought he''d at least need 6-8 hours to climb back up compared to the climb down which was only 2 hours or so. This left him with 14 hours down here at best with limited movement so that the wounds don''t get worst and have time to dry up a little.


    After thinking for sometime, Zhao Wei stood up. He started pacing around his area and decided on a spot with more compact spaces between the tree barks jutting out from the ground. For today, instead of spreading his traps out he decided to use only 3 in this area. When he decided on a place he came over and put his hand on the surface, once he thought of the Wrap Trap a blue Rune with the Wrap Trap symbol would flash before turning invinsible. The reason for this plan change is because in the first place he hadn''t tested his skill, therefore he did not know how strong it was. If he jumped in once something was caught and it broke free, he was unsure if he would even be able to defend himself, much less kill it. Even if he had killed it by struggling it would take too much of a toll on his injuries requiring him to take a longer time climbing if he could even move at all by that point.


    Secondly, instead of jumping from above to fight it, Zhao Wei decided he would use a surprise attack. So after he had set 3 Wrap Traps near him Zhao Wei smeared mud allover himself and his stuff, making sure to grab some pebbles and grass in the process. Once he has satisfied, he sat by one of the tree barks. This way Zhao Wei could observe whatever was caught before making a decision to attack it. Even once he initiated an attack, it''d be too close for a creature to react as he''d be right next to them.


    For now he opened some canned food which tasted like slop, finishing most of it he left some bits and pieces in the can and left it in the middle of the trap. He was actually pondering if he should use blood instead but considered that if he used blood, he''d definitely be attracting a carnivore. Although to say that herbivores were weaker than carnivores wouldn''t be true, it was brought down to their instincts. Herbivores, except for those with bad tempers generally run in the face of danger. Carnivores instinctively decide on the opponents strength first to decide whether or not it would fight. Although Zhao Wei wasn''t a weak person, he was pretty sure he was still at the bottom of the food chain in this jungle.


    After covering his hands from the smell of canned food with mud, Zhao Wei decided to charge Wrap Traps. However, he didn''t follow his usual routine of putting himself through to exhaustion as he needed to be sharp at any critical moment. If he was mentally unprepared due to exhaustion from charging he might make a flaw which in life and death situations were fatal regardless of how small.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Doing so Zhao Wei was depressed as he had minimized the time to 10 minutes, but his recovery to optimal condition only cut down 1-2 minutes. Although the condition he had to come-back from wasn''t as bad, the charging duration was significantly slowed.


    In between he''d dream a little, about his parents, grandparents, siblings and friends. Most of all, he dreamed of that head of black hair for whom his heart yearned. Although he couldn''t push his memories to remember further, he could cherish the little sliver he had left. And although it brought him endless sorrow every time he tried to remember, it also brought him endless strength to go through all the pain he had to face now.


    5 hours pass by and he had restocked on the traps he had used, Zhao Wei was beginning to have a hint of something on the usage but he it still felt so far. There were no guides on how he used his skills or a skill tree like everyone else, there wasn''t even anyone with whom he could trade advice with. For Zhao Wei, this might be a pain he had to bear all his life. For those who got to pick their class, Trappers were at the bottom of the list as this wasn''t a game. There were no guides on classes given by beta testers to tell a person which classes had advantages where. And in game, if you picked a class for fun or just to be eccentric, worst comes to worse you delete your character to start a new account. Here, failure to reach a better standing with a class meant probable death or forever being under the thumb of stronger people.


    In the whole world with billions of people, even with it''s reduced population. There were more or less a 100 trappers, much less after monsters ravaged the human population, but even more-so because of humans. The unfortunate truth is humans were dark in general, the laws and regulations were not meant to guide them but to bind them. That''s why many felt oppressed or burdened under the law. These years of oppressing their inner desire flooded out with the introduction of classes. In fact, criminals before the change could be considered a normal person after it as they had already released their urges.


    The ones people had to look out for were those who were model citizens before the change. In normal civilization, they were the cream of the crop, the class president, the head CEO. Regardless of how humble they acted, this would build a level of superiority in them. Believing everything they did was right, every action was justified so long as they thought so. Bad kids were smart. when they did something, they knew their limit, they knew how to cover for themselves. Good kids when they had a taste, they always went too far.


    Another 3 hours passed for Zhao Wei, he was beginning to become impatient. Although he gained another 2 traps in this time, he still considered this trip a loss as he could''ve been more productive on top where he could move freely to do other productive activities. He had at most 6 hours left before he had to begin ascending the cliff but besides procuring materials for food he still had to get water. Additionally, seeing how tough the trees were, he had thought to collect some of the fallen branches to make something out of it. The only reason he hadn''t done so was so that he did not leave a lot more tracks that animals would notice and avoid or stalk him with.


    Another hour passed, finally Zhao Wei was ready to give up. Just as he was about to move he heard a Whoosh! following the sound of crackling as well as an astonished animal''s squeal. He was both dumbfounded and exhilarated, he had his first catch, and yet he wasn''t sure where to go from here. In his head he had practiced the maneuver many times to go straight into the attack, when it was here however, he froze.

 Trappers shame

    It took him a few seconds to finally regain himself and look at his adversary. All he could see was a white, round, furry creature with a bulge on it''s forehead as well as a round mouth right under it. He couldn''t make out the rest of it as it was wrapped under some vines of blue light released by the Wrap Trap. "What kind of creature was this!" He thought to himself, "Has everything changed and grown so much in so little time?"


    Zhao Wei thought that this was probably a caterpillar judging by it''s fur exterior, round shape and the lack of eyes. It was about the size of a basketball and seemed harmless enough. Although Zhao Wei was here to look for food resources he wasn''t heartless, looking at it so small and helpless Zhao Wei was very conflicted on killing it. Additionally, he thought he wasn''t sure if he could eat bug flesh.


    Slap!, "No!, to survive, I have to be able to stomach everything! No mercy!" Zhao Wei shouted at himself probably forgetting he was in the forest.


    Looking at it again with it''s mouth twitching and the bump on it''s forehead wiggling he couldn''t help but feel convicted of thinking of eating it.


    Slap!, "I need to prioritize resources first...."


    "But I think..."


    Slap!, "I have to ensure my own..."


    A series of back and forth tug of war between Zhao Wei''s conscience and his realistic side began, he slapped himself every time he got soft to bring himself to his senses. By the time a decision was made, Zhao Wei had slapped himself swollen like he had stuck his head into a bee-hive.


    Finally he thought of the head of black hair in his memories and thought. "She liked cute things, she probably wouldn''t be too happy to know I killed something like this."


    If people were around and knew what he was thinking, they''d stone him to death for being so shameless. "You can''t even remember her! and yet you want to blame your actions on her character!? such thick skin!! why don''t we make make it thinner with some rocks."


    Even though he decided to release the trap, he''d never actually practiced before, so he had no idea how that was going to work and decided to go the easy way. Whenever intelligence is not enough, physical strength can usually be of help, like a person smacking a TV to fix it because he doesn''t know how it works.


    Zhao Wei took out his knife and slid it between the creature and the wrap trap. Once his fingers touched the Wrap Trap however, the vines suddenly slid back into the Wrap Trap Runes on the ground. Zhao Wei was too dumbfounded when he realized this function to notice the creature turning. After the second of shock, Zhao Wei finally regained himself and looked at his catch but he was bound to be shocked again. Where was the cute animal!?


    In front of him was not the creature he''d been so conflicted to defend. Instead, there was a peculiar rabbit in front of him the same size as the creature he released. Besides the fact that it was a rabbit, what surprised Zhao Wei more was actually the fact that there was a horn on it''s forehead, like an obsidian crystal, shining with black luster. It''s two front legs were thick and fluffy looking like two round earmuffs.Besides that, this rabbit seemed to have only one back leg. Not as if it has lost one leg, but as if it''s 2 back legs had merged into one stronger leg. It''s body was completely white except for it''s horn and a circle on it''s left eye.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    The rabbit itself was staring at Zhao Wei with mouth wide open. When it had turned, it had expected some carnivore waiting to rip it to shreds, but what it found was a humanoid poop with eyes looking at it. As much as it had wanted to run away it was stunned by the sight.


    In fact both Zhao Wei and it had snapped out of it together. However, Zhao Wei was bound to be stunned another time as when it turned to run away Zhao Wei wanted to spit up blood. The cute creature he was so conflicted about killing and thinking of releasing was this rabbit''s butt. The small moving bump on it''s head was the tail and obviously the part he thought was a mouth was where it''s feces came out from.


    That was the darkest black mark in Zhao Wei''s history. It was good for Zhao Wei as, if in the future he ever made any stupid decisions in a fight, he could always look back at this moment and forgive himself.


    By the time he was done, the rabbit had bolted more than 5 meters away. It was ridiculously fast and agile despite having one back foot. It did not run like normal rabbits bounding about on 4 legs, instead it disappeared and reappeared like a ghost. This was because it was switching between rapid instant movement and stationary positions with every step. When it was moving Zhao Wei''s eyes could not follow it at all, only finding it every time it came to a stop. After a few seconds Zhao Wei noticed that it only used it''s back leg to launch itself forward. In fact it''s front legs weren''t used much in it''s running, only tapping the ground once in a while to stabilize it before it launched itself again.


    Zhao Wei felt like something was wrong with the situation. At it''s speed, even with the intervals between it''s movements, if it had escaped in one direction, Zhao Wei wouldn''t even be able to notice anything before it became a white dot with a tail in the distance. Instead it had dashed around here and there in the forest without going too far from where Zhao Wei was. Zhao Wei on the other hand didn''t notice this part, instead making his decision purely based on intuition.


    While watching the rabbit move, Zhao Wei focused purely on 2 aspects, distance and direction. Zhao Wei tried to focus on the distance it moved with every jump, more or less measuring it''s farthest jumps in his mind. Once he thought he had a pretty good measurement he used the distance to make a mental image of a circle around him, increasing it every time he saw it jump further.


    Other than that, Zhao Wei tried to focus on it''s posture between jumps to try and predict where it would jump next. His back was sweating and he braced his legs to jump at the moment it jumped into the circle. It''s speed was negligible to Zhao Wei simply because it was way too fast for him. If Zhao Wei moved after it had moved, the only scenario that would occur would be him being impaled by the black horn.


    The circle was the farthest the rabbit could jump to reach him, making it a high possibility that it would only attack after it reached the circle. The plan was right after it had first stopped inside the circle, Zhao Wei would jump while placing a Wrap Trap exactly where he was standing. He did not place it earlier as he was afraid the flash from the skill activation would alert it.


    A few seconds pass, the rabbit was closing in with each jump. His back was drenched now and it felt like his heart stopped a little every time the rabbit left his vision. However, as it got nearer to the circle he became visibly more relaxed, his theory was proving to be effective.


    One dash.... Appearing in the left.


    Two dash.... Touching the circle''s perimeter in the middle.


    Third dash... It had entered!


    Luckily, Zhao Wei had focused on it''s jumping position, or else he wouldn''t have noticed the rabbit was facing the right instead of him. Another jump, this time it was within half it''s farthest jump distance on Zhao Wei''s left. His sweat was mixing with the mud making it drip down a little bit he didn''t dare to wipe it off.


    One more jump. This time it had landed right in front of him less than 3 meters away, but he had waited for this exact moment as the rabbit was facing him.

 Man and Rabbit

    It was just Zhao Wei and the rabbit now. The rest of the world was blurred out. Somehow he felt a lot more sensitive to everything, his breathing, muscle tension and even the feeling of sweat was flooding his senses. Not only his, but even the rabbit''s as he could notice it''s each breath, he could even notice down to the twitch of it''s muscle. It was only a small gap between the rabbits back foot and the ground, it would not even take a quarter of second for it to launch itself again.To Zhao Wei however, this split second felt like eternity.


    For every breathe the rabbit took, he took a breathe, as it tensed it''s leg to launch itself, Zhao Wei had tensed his legs to dodge out of the way. As his fingers were going to to brush against the ground to set his skill, he felt a small sense of urgency and decided to just initiate the dodge. The rabbit had disappeared from his sight, already covering the distance between them. He was already halfway through the dodging motion when he felt something go missing.


    In his mind, he knew that he''d been hurt somehow. But at the same time it happened so fast that it felt felt like his body did not register that it had happened. Zhao Wei eyes turned towards where he thought he got hit, noticing the rabbit had already passed by him. A line of crimson were floating like a trail of breadcrumbs to the rabbit''s position.


    Almost as sudden as it had slowed down, time seemed to reenter it''s original pace. Two bumping noises were heard, one obviously being Zhao Wei falling to the ground. He frantically checked his body to find out what had happened, only to feel a searing pain on his right abdomen. He had been hit right under his ribs, luckily it just scraped off a two finger thick amount of flesh from his belly in that area. If he had been a second slower, or even decided to complete the skill activation before completing his jump, he would now probably have had a basketball sized hole in his belly.


    It felt like someone had used sand paper to rub off his flesh. Although the rabbit looked quite fluffy, rubbing against it''s fur a such a high speed alone had caused a flesh wound. Zhao Wei shivered at the thought of getting hit by the horn.


    A couple seconds passed before he realized that the battle was not over and he had left his back open for so long. While turning back he wondered why the rabbit didn''t just bounce around and launch itself at him again while he was in this state.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    Looking behind him, he understood why. The rabbit had impaled it''s horn directly into one of the iron like trees which he couldn''t even make a mark on with his knife. But that was the end of it as it couldn''t pull itself out of the hard tree bark.


    Zhao Wei laid on the ground and let out a breathe. He chuckled abit at the way things turned out but immediately regretted it as his sides began to sting even more. As he was contemplating his victory by sheer luck he heard several impacts behind him.


    Turning to look at the rabbit, it was apparent it hadn''t given up. Using it''s fluffy front legs it was hitting the tree with several punches, almost like a boxer beating on a sand bag. What made Zhao Wei sweat again was the fact that it''s punches was shaking the tough tree, Where as Zhao Wei doubted that he would be able to even make an effect if he had dropped kicked the tree.


    If it had decided to fight Zhao Wei close range, he wouldn''t even be able to make a plan, let alone putting up a fight. When it confirmed that it''s punches weren''t having an effect, it braces both it''s forelimbs on the tree and raised it''s back leg infront of it and used it''s explosive kicks to shake it even more violently.


    Zhao Wei couldn''t continue watching any longer as he could see that the horn was slowly being inched out with every kick. Problem was even if he wanted to kill or capture it, he didn''t dare come near it as he was sure he wasn''t rocky balboa and wouldn''t get back up after the first hit. Secondly, he felt what it''s fur felt like, although it looked fluffy it was tough as steel. If his first strike couldn''t kill it, there would be hell to pay. Additionally, he aldo didn''t have anything that was as strong as the tree which could catch it. The wrap trap was something he needed a base to activate so even if he caught it, he would have to leave it here.


    As he was rapidly considering his options, the rabbit''s kicks had broken off some of the bark on the opposite side of the tree. Seeing this, he got a little inspiration. Picking up the fallen off section, Zhao Wei activated his WrapTrap on the section. He was gambling on what he could use his skillls on but it seems this time he had won.


    Walking slowly towards the rabbit, he held up the bark section like a shield, the trap part facing the rabbit''s direction. The rabbit kicked even harder, worried over what Zhao Wei was doing, it was just a few kicks away. Zhao Wei had positioned himself to catch it once it jumped off.


    One kick... Two kick... And it was off.


    Zhao Wei accounted for where the rabbit would be flying once it dislodged itself. What he didn''t account for was that the momentum would throw it horn first towards him!!


    He ducked under the shield as the rabbit hit it. Man and rabbit flew 3 meters before dropping. Looking up, Zhao Wei saw the horn piercing the bark just an inch from where his head was.


    On the bark, the rabbit''s body was wrapped up like a cocoon while it''s horn was stuck again, this time without leverage to pull itself off.

 Healing

    Two sets of eyes stared at each other, one black and beady, the other hazel and bloodshot. Zhao Wei was seriously contemplating what to do with this creature. For one thing he had already decided to set it free before and he still didn''t feel like killing it. He couldn''t release it again as he wasn''t sure he wouldn''t survive another altercation with it if it decided it wanted a round 3.


    Finally, Zhao Wei decided to bring it up with him. It couldn''t fight back anymore anyway and if worse comes to worst he could always kill it later on.


    After he moved the rabbit next to his stuff he began foraging for everything else. He didn''t find any animal besides the rabbit near his area but didn''t dare to go further because he didn''t have much time left. Looking at the fruits and vegetation, he didn''t see a single one he recalled from the old world and decided against using himself as a human test subject.


    The only real benefit he earned today was some water he collected from some puddles as well as some fallen branches from the trees. Considering how tough their trunks were, he might be able to turn the branches into some tools.


    Once he was done, there was only 7 hours left in the day hours, the gashes on his palms as well as on his feet were dried up by now showing only brownish etches where his flesh used to part. He tied all the stuff he collected with the rope he hung on his arm and connected it to his waist. This way if he was hindered upward he could just cut it all down.


    Starting his climb, he could already feel his arms aching in his first step. It was only about 3 floors up to reach the bottom of the rope he had left hanging from the cliff, on the other hand it was also the hardest stretch he had to go through. He didn''t think a little bit of weight was going to change the situation that much, but by the time he had reached the bottom of the rope 45 minutes had gone by.


    Taking the end of the rope he tied the items he was bringing to the rope instead and cut it from his waist. Because of the weights, the line actually became taut which made it easier to climb since there wasn''t so much swinging he had to adapt to.


    This did not mean the climb up was easy by far. Combined with the climb down, by the time Zhao Wei reached the top, the whole rope which was made of sheets was dyed red. Even when he reached the top he couldn''t rest as it was a race against time. He had an hour of the day left, three hours if he combined it with the hours of the night where he could withstand the temperature. Now he had to pull the stuff he collected up, compared to the climb though, this was cake walk for Zhao Wei, merely a little time consuming.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Once he was done he was already way beyond his limits. At this time, he took his first baths in one of the adjacent rooms. Even though the situation was like this, at the end of the day Zhao Wei came from the old world, and this came with certain habits. One benefit of this was that he could check the condition of the different wounds on his body.


    The worst was actually on his hands as it had never been used to do such a thing in the old world. The webbing between his thumb and pointer on both hands were completely torn. Compared to this, the wound on his body wasn''t that bad much less his feet which only lost some skin and a bit of flesh.


    Zhao Wei started a small fire with some of his left over resources. Taking a sewing kit left by the owners, he sat by it. A small sheet was folded and stuffed into his parched mouth, taking two sides of skin on the wound under his ribs, he crunched his body down to keep them together. His hands shook a little at the thought of what he was about to do, but his eyes didn''t waver.


    What hurt him the most wasn''t when the needle pierced the flesh, instead it was when he had to pull it together to tie each section. With every tightening a muffled scream would leave his throat and he would slam his fist against a table to distract himself from the pain for a few seconds.


    Once he was done with that, he started on his hands. Doctors say the palms are some of the more sensitive parts of the body because of the number of nerve endings going through it. For every cut he would rush through the stitching, through the pain. Once it was done, his body would buckle from the pain as his other hand gripped the table. His veins bulged and his fingers had made craters on the table''s edge.


    Three hours had gone by and it was the 5th hour into the night. The cold was seeping into his bones, yet he was still sweating profusely from the pain.


    After everything was stitched, the fire was almost out. Zhao Wei picked himself up and staggered over, only a small flame the size of a candle was left. Picking his feet, he kicked the ash under the sliver of flame and planted his feet in. The embers began to smell of burning flesh. He didn''t even have the strength to scream and the cloth in his mouth had already been bitten through.


    With blood shot eyes, he bent down and ran his hand through the ash, picking some up with him. As it dried his hands, he brought it down towards his side, bringing out another final scream as he walked out of the fire pit.


    He took his weary body to his room but couldn''t even reach his bed. Throughout the process he had repeatedly entered in and out of consciousness but as soon as he arrived in a safe place his willpower which was the only thing keeping him standing had left him and he crumpled like a puppet without a string.

 Eyes in the dark

    Zhao Wei had forgotten to close the door, letting all the cold in. His body was quickly losing temperature and turning paler by the second. His heart slowed down to a dangerous level, frost bite forming on the top layer of his flesh. His breathe barely making a fog infront of his mouth.


    Unbeknownst to him, in the dark, a pair of beady eyes were watching his struggle.


    Even in his exhaustion he had moved the rabbit into his room, afraid it would freeze to death outside. What he didn''t count on was the fact that it had already broken through the wrap trap as he was pulling it up. Zhao Wei didn''t notice this as he had wrapped the rabbit under another sheet to avoid touching the wrap trap and deactivating it.


    It looked at the door and at the living thing lying on the floor. It had actually been caught twice by the creature and if it decided to settle it here and now there wouldn''t ever be any trouble. It started stepping towards the door.


    Once it had taken two steps out, the stench of blood permeated the air. But it was the blood of that living thing inside the cave. Maybe it was because it was spared twice despite having even injured the thing. Or maybe it wasn''t anything at all. Either way, it stepped back into the room, taking two steps before being an inch away from the body.


    Zhao Wei''s heart was barely beating anymore, his body parts were becoming more rigid, it would take less than a few seconds for him to die.


    The rabbit, tapped it''s feet a few times, looking like a person making a decision. It bent down, forelegs stretched, it''s body balanced on it''s leg. Coming back into a normal position, a high pitch vibrating sound came from the creature''s belly spreading towards the rest of its body. It''s fur stood up, making it look like a ball of fluff, it''s body was generating a lot of heat from the constant vibration whilst It rubbed it''s body against the body.


    After a few minutes, it didn''t exactly save him yet but it would save his limbs from needing to be amputated from frostbite. The issue now was that although his body was warmer, his heart was still slowing down, without the heart pumping there wouldn''t be a point to the blood being unthawed anyway.


    It seemed to have noticed this fact, stepping up on the torso, it started vibrating over where his heart was. As it continued to do this, it seemed to get weaker, it''s vibration had longer pauses in between and it''s eyes was halfway closed. At some point it could no longer go on and just curled up into a ball on Zhao Wei''s chest.


    On the 12th hour of the night Zhao Wei slowly regained consciousness. He felt throbbing pain from all his injuries and biting cold in the room. Looking down he saw the rabbit on his chest, it''s body was cold and rigid. Zhao Wei didn''t know why he knew, but this creature has expended a lot of energy to take care of him. He picked himself up whilst cradling it in his arms.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Closing the door on the blockade as well as for his room, the room became quiet. There was still some lingering cold in the room, but the wind wasn''t entering anymore. Picking up another blanket he added it to the bed and entered the covers with the rabbit in his arms. Despite their meeting being quite rough, both man and rabbit had taken care of each other. And through the 20 hours of the night hours, they both slept.


    Once the day hours came the rabbit quickly awoke, but Zhao Wei slept another 2 hours. As his eyes flitted open, he was shocked awake as he saw the rabbit staring at him right on top of his chest. Instantly Zhao Wei felt awkward and the rabbit looked away as well.


    It seemed that both were a type of tsundere, only showing compassion when one or the other was unconscious. In truth, in Zhao Wei''s heart he was going, "I want to pet it, I want to pet it, I want to pet..." repeatedly without end.


    Zhao Wei decided to go out to get some air, today he thought he would rest to let the injuries recover before foraging again. Starting a small fire, Zhao Wei decided to cook some of the leftover food. As he was cooking, the rabbit same out and walked next to him. There was further awkward silence, Zhao Wei let out a sigh followed by a squeaky breathe from the rabbit. Both turned to each other, seemingly wanting to communicate something and turned back to watch the food cook.


    They acted like two people who met the night before, got drunk and slept together. But in the morning both didn''t know each other''s name.


    "So uh... I um... thank you, for last night" Zhao Wei began.


    "Chi Chi Chi.." it squeaked back while shaking it''s head, as if telling Zhao Wei, it''s fine.


    Zhao Wei nodded, "Well thanks anyway".


    "Chi Chi" It replied.


    Only after a few minutes of looking at the food did Zhao Wei realize he''d been talking to a rabbit. He picked up an empty can and threw it at the rabbit.


    The rabbit dodged in time, but it looked at Zhao Wei like it had been wronged. "Chi Chi Chi!!...Chi". If Zhao Wei spoke rabbit he would probably hear something like ''What the hell is wrong with you!? do you have PMS? Is that what is causing all these mood swings!?''.


    All Zhao Wei heard were rabbit squeaks but he felt like he knew what the rabbit was saying which made him even more annoyed. Remembering that his life had been saved by said rabbit, he decided to let it go.


    The rabbit, feeling Xhao Wei''s mood has gotten better stepped close to him until it was just infront of him. Suddenly it turned around as if something startled it, Zhao Wei noticing this reaction looked up.


    He tried to notice what was going on, a few seconds pass until he felt something warm knock against his toes. Looking down, he saw 6 to 7 brown marbles on his feet. The smell hit him before he realized what it was.


    "#%!?" Zhao Wei closed his mouth and wanted to puke.


    Even after his reaction, the rabbit continued its process as it had started and couldn''t seem to stop. Zhao Wei took this moment to kick it flying.


    "Squeeee!!!"


    Down below the cliff, a few other creatures passed by, suddenly they all heard a high pitched squeal before dispersing in all directions.

 New Tool

    In a small puddle, two creatures cleaned themselves on opposite sides. On one side a human scrubbing his feet with the water, every few minutes he''d bend down to smell his feet before scrubbing again. On the other side, a rabbit with a horn cleaned mud from its fur.


    From time to time they would make eye contact and have a staring contest with each other. In these exchanges Zhao Wei would always lose as the smell would always cause his eyes to tear up.


    After 30 minutes of constant scrubbing, Zhao Wei suddenly threw down the cloth he was using to scrub.


    "$@&?#! What do you eat!? How come no matter how hard I scrub it never comes off!?" Zhao Wei pointed at it.


    In retaliation it held it''s paw up at Zhao Wei. "Chi Chi Chi, Chi Chi Chi...", it started scolding, pointing at it''s body parts where it had lost clumps of fur.


    "Well you started it!!"


    "Chi Chi Chi Chi CHII!!" Apparently, they''ve had this argument a few times before causing the rabbit to lose its cool.


    "I did no such thing, I just thought I saw something moving in the can and was startled into throwing it."


    The rabbit''s mouth gaped at the shamelessness of the human. If it had a mouth it''d say ''$&!%#, you''re arguing with a rabbit, a frickin rabbit!!"


    "And I don''t think I can call you you all the time, so I have to find a name." Zhao Wei said, looking superior.


    "Chi Chi Chi Chi Chi."


    "Unless you didn''t catch it! I don''t speak rabbit!! How am I supposed to know how to say your name!?"


    "ChiiChiChiii," It squeaked while pointing at itself.


    "ChiChiChi?" Zhao Wei tried to imitate.


    It shook its head. "ChiiChiChiii."


    "ChiiiChiiiChiii?"


    "CHIICHICHIII!!" It snapped.


    "Screw this!, I don''t speak rabbit and you''re scolding me!?"


    " Chi Chi Chi Chi Chi Chi"


    "I''ll have you know I did well in school, the teachers just didn''t like how smart I was and knocked my grades down." Although Zhao Wei sounded confident, he couldn''t look straight at the rabbit.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    "That''s it, from now on I will call you Panda, maybe you''d calm down a little."


    "Chi Chi Chi Chi!?"


    "Well with that black eye you look like a panda anyway." Zhao Wei said as he walked away laughing.


    While he walked he did not feel the evil intent approaching him.


    Under the cliff, the animals that were spooked gathered again. But they were destined not to gather here as a human scream rang out this time causing them to disperse in all directions again.


    Half way through the morning Zhao Wei was training on the hill. He couldn''t go down again today so he waited to recover fully before attempting to again. The high heat beat against his body, making him sweat by the buckets every minute he trained under it. With every training, he exerted himself as much as he possibly could before he fell out of strength, charging when he was recovering his breathe. He could probably be in a movie training montage if not for his swollen left eye.


    Despite taking a beating, whenever the rabbit came by he still called it by the name panda. Even it was astonished by the human''s perseverance at making fun of it.


    If Zhao Wei was honest, he''d actually enjoyed having the rabbit around. Although he''d pushed himself, he was still within the first stages of affecting the changes in his world, it''s presence was a little comforting to him.


    Additionally Zhao Wei got a little practice everytime it tried to beat him. After everytime they fought, Zhao Wei would get a little bit better and last a little bit longer. Sometimes he would even be able to dodge a one or two hits.


    By the 20th beating or so, it no longer beat Zhao Wei because of the name, it had become interested by the human''s progress. After some time, Panda even needed to put in some effort as it could no longer just rush forward while Zhao Wei would wait for it.


    What it couldn''t comprehend was that despite being beaten blue and black, the human still continued to challenge it, even provoking it purposely just so he could fight with it. Additionally, after every match he would pick himself up after a few seconds and start training again.


    After a particularly harsh match. Zhao Wei didn''t stop to recuperate instead he stood up and shouted, "$&@*! You must definitely have panda blood in you, else how would your hits be so heavy."


    Panda was baited by this and rushed him thinking he was still weak from their last match. When it was about to reach him however, a familiar blue light shone from under it. On an instant it''s lower body had been wrapped like a dumpling.


    It took a toll on Zhao Wei when he needed to charge the trap, so he never used it unless he was sure he would catch it. He wrapped it in cloth and prepared to dish out his revenge[1]. As he was prepared to do so he focused on its horn.


    Through their spars it hadn''t used it''s horn, else after several spars there wouldn''t have been meat left on his bones. Turning around he looked at a specific pile he brought up the day before. Panda turned its head as well to look at what Zhao Wei was looking, a shiver suddenly went down its spine.


    What it saw was a pile of sticks Zhao Wei had collected the day before. Of course in the new world with trees the size of scyscrapers, the sticks that fell were one and half arms thick and were at least as tall as a man.


    He''d tried to make them into something by carving with his knife, but to no avail.


    Like the tree, the sticks were tough as iron, all Zhao Wei could do was shave an inch of its outer layer after an hour of effort.


    But looking at its horn, Zhao Wei had an idea. Yesterday when they had their first fight, this same horn had actually pierced the tree bark. Although speed played a role, it still meant the horn was sharp and tough enough to match the tree, while his knife had a few chips in it just making a mark. If he rushed a tree with the knife it''d probably bend first before he could even make a dent.


    He walked over to Panda and held it to his head level, smiling very nicely.


    But to Panda it might as well have signaled its doom.

 The pole

    It was 6 hours left in the day hours, in front of Zhao Wei were a few short spears he had made from the branches. Originally he wanted to make them longer, only to find they were really hard to control and throw. So he carved them much shorter into short spears he would use mainly for throwing.


    Lined up next to these spears was one particular stick. He''d tried to carve it, but even with Panda''s horn he couldn''t even leave a mark. Zhao Wei rubbed the rough cold surface, it''s pattern seemed almost hypnotizing. Besides it''s toughness, Zhao Wei hadn''t noticed anything different about it which was why he''d collected it with the rest, only now did he notice its peculiar nature. Standing at 170 cm it didn''t look that big, but this pole gave off a feeling of stoutness.


    Once he had all this done he prepared to take his penance. Throughout the process Panda was constantly regretting how it had saved the human, mostly it felt violated, like it had been used forcibly. Zhao Wei couldn''t hold it in the trap forever as he knew that even the skill had a limit and after putting in a certain level of strength or struggling for a long time it would break.


    Calculating from its escape, Panda should be able to escape right about now.


    As soon as he thought that the trap dissipated. "Dear Panda, lets not take this too far..."


    Before he could continue, Panda already dashed towards him. With the pole in hand, Panda didn''t want to hold back from using his full speed. In their spars Panda could never use his full speed for caution against impaling Zhao Wei. Everytime it''s have to slow down to focus on using its limb, or to turn to deliver a kick with its back leg. Now however there was no mercy.


    Within 45 seconds into the fight Zhao Wei had 5/6 cuts on him, it was no contest. Although it couldn''t use its full speed in close combat, Panda still jumped circles around Zhao Wei who in comparison could only swing the stick around like a baseball bat.


    As Panda noticed that the strikes were simple, it moved faster, even anticipating gaps in defense. Zhao Wei on the other hand became more sluggish the more the fight progressed as the weight of the pole bore down on him. His lack of control and experience with the equipment made it extremely difficult for him even if he could see Panda''s pattern.


    At the end, Zhao Wei was panting on the floor after a whole hour against the rabbit. It had actually been more lenient with the force as it knew if it beat him quickly, the human would just be back up after some time, opting instead to tire him out.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    As Zhao Wei sat, he tried to review the fight, why his reactions were slower, how his reactions were off, the way he handled his weapon. All these were thought through. Standing up, he held the pole in the middle and started spinning it left and right.


    Thinking he might''ve had something, he challenged Panda again. Without any suspense, he lost again. Reviewing it, he noticed that although it let him swing much more comfortably, every swing left him open and to reverse it for defense actually took more effort and time.


    While thinking about this night had fallen. In the cold Zhao Wei ran for another 2 hours before it reached its peak outside the house. Panda just sat in front of the entrance while watching this human maniac.


    Animals never had a sense for training, their lives are built on surviving, if they died it was merely part of the process of nature. Humans even start weak, being the only species to gestate outside the womb. As they grow, the lack of need to fight to survive limited their development.


    Naturally to challenge the world Zhao Wei knew he needed to match not only humans but also beasts, he had a lot to catch up with. Slowly but surely he needed to push, if he couldn''t handle the cold at all, how would he travel away where there was the possibility of no shelter to keep himself warm.


    After his run, he wiped himself with a wet cloth in his room before charging his skills again and training in between. Through all this, Panda watched him silently.


    When day came, Zhao Wei did not go down again, he still had 2 days worth of food and decided to make sure he could survive down there. In the day hours he''d train with Panda, improving himself slowly, his skills were non-existent but his judgement gave him little insights in every spar. This was coupled with physical training in between. At night he''d do physical training mixed with charging.


    He was getting faster and stronger at it too, At the start he''d need the whole night hours to make 5/4 but slowly he was sure he was completing them by seconds and minutes faster with each trap he charged.


    It might seem quick, but with a day and night totaling over 2 days he''d trained 8 days in total. 7 if the night he took to recover was taken out. His hands were in patches and his feet was constantly scabbing and breaking from the continuos exercise.


    Waking up the day his food would finish, Zhao Wei didn''t train, he focused on charging his skill and reviewing his spars with Panda. The last climb down had taught him alot, by next morning, 2 days in normal world time would passed before he started his climb.


    Picking 2 short spears he''d prepared as well as the pole, he bundled them together and tied it to the side of his back pack. One of his last few canned foods were stuffed in as well as a flask of water in preparation of an early departure the next day.


    Finally night came again.

 Hunt

    By the first light of the day hours, Zhao Wei was already out the door. Outside however, Panda was waiting for him. Maybe it had noticed his restlessness in his sleep last night and felt something different was going to happen.


    Nonetheless, Zhao Wei was unsure of what to do in this situation. On one hand, he''d never thought of Panda as his own, considering it as an individual. On the other, having it at his side would comfort Zhao Wei In his search as he was still weaker than it.


    Somehow noticing Zhao Wei''s state of mind, it moved into Zhao Wei''s bag, it''s head and horn poking out from the opening. Zhao Wei was a little touched but decided to just walk over and pick the bag up to begin his trip.


    Moving to the descent spot, he saw the roll of rope, it was yellowish brown right now from the blood drying up. Picking the end of the rope, he connected a few meters of rope more to cover the distance he had to climb down in his last trip. By his count, it should just barely hover above the forest floor.


    Picking a particularly heavy rock, he tied it to the end of the rope he wanted to drop to stabilize it for his climb down. Throwing it down he began his descent back into the forest.


    It was a little easier this time, his hands only lost a little skin and he could grip the cliff with his toes a little making sure they are not scraped off.


    He didn''t have food left and therefore didn''t have the time to take his chances like the last time with Panda. As soon as he reached the forest floor he untied one of the short spears and held it near the point, almost as if he was holding a stiletto knife instead of a spear.


    In his spars, he found that although using it normally gave him better range, he reacted better to surprise attacks this way as the knife length was like a short extension of his fist. The rest of the spear would cover his fore-arm, where as in comparison using the whole spear was like maneuvering a whole other limb.


    Panda who had left his bag started moving on the forest floor, scuttling here and there to find it''s bearings before dashing from one direction to the next. As he had only been here once, Zhao Wei decided to follow Panda since the forest was the creature''s home. He regretted this decision almost instantly.


    The rabbit''s ridiculous speed combined with its knowledge of the forest ensured that Zhao Wei would end up being left behind. He rushed as fast as he could, left, right, under over-hanging roots and over mounds but he was still lost after a kilometer or so into the woods. Looking back he didn''t even remember which direction he last came from.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    "Damn rabbit!! So this was what it was planning!!" He was a little frustrated thinking he''d been purposely stranded. But there''s something about men''s egos that doesn''t allow them to believe they are actually lost, many family trips have suffered the 2/3 hour detour due to their inability to ask for directions. So Zhao Wei decided that he knew the way back,


    He felt like he recognized that tree, and that low hanging branch, as well as that little mound on the ground. Even when he''d entered new areas, he was sure he was going the right direction.


    After 2 hours of running, Zhao Wei relented a bit. "Haaa, I knew I should have turned left on that tree instead of a right." He said in a fores full of such trees.


    A ways back where Zhao Wei came from, Panda was sniffing around, wondering how stupid the human was to not even be able to follow it''s tail.


    Zhao Wei decided that he was closer now and took a break to drink. Just as he was about to take a sip from his flask, a huge rustle could be heard coming from the south of his position. Looking around, Zhao Wei became a lot more cautious. While he was running around in search he was complacent, but now it was as if he was reminded he was in the jungle, all the weakest things here could probably kill him ten times over.


    Following the sound, Zhao Wei moved slowly, bending his body down so he was always behind the overgrown roots of the trees. Ducking from cover to cover while surveying his surroundings every few seconds, Zhao Wei moved this way until he found his mark.


    30 meters in-front of him, beside some undergrowth, a massive body heaved up and down unsteadily. This mountain of flesh was covered in dark brown fur and black stripes on it''s back. It looked like a wild boar, except it was at least one and a half times as tall as Zhao Wei if he was standing while it was lying down. It''s tusks, long enough the pierce and carry 9 to 10 men each, making it like a bulldozer ready to uproot mountains.


    Zhao Wei was so astounded by the sight, he forgot to check his other senses. If he did he''d smell the lingering smell of blood.


    Moving closer and closer, Zhao Wei propped his spear so his wrist was facing him. He was in his throwing stance, but he needed to get close to make sure he got a good one in, else he wasn''t sure he''d be able to penetrate the wall of flesh, muscle and bones of this beast in-front of him.


    He inched forward, making sure his steps were slow enough so the grass under him didn''t snap.


    For some reason, the beast didn''t seem to notice Zhao Wei until he was only about 3 meters away. Zhao Wei himself hadn''t realized himself that he''d entered the proximity of the beast''s range, If it swung it''s massive tusks towards Zhao Wei right now, there''s a low chance he would make it.


    But these judgements only came from experience which Zhao Wei did not have, and for them people usually had to pay dearly.