Chapter 28
After washing Yomi’s clothes, Ansius hung them over a tree trunk with sparse leaves. Today was bright and sunny, and there was wind too, so they would definitely be dry before nightfall.
Yomi remained within Ansius’s line of sight the whole time. Wearing his brand-new grass skirt, he continued exploring the surroundings. As an outsider to this planet, everything he looked at felt fresh and novel to him. It was just a pity that he could not use his light-brain. Otherwise, he would definitely have taken many more photos to bring back.
This was already the second day of survival for the guest pairs after forming teams. Because most of the guests’ original forms were fairly fierce, and because going hungry for one day was not really a big problem, the sense of crisis presented by the five teams was not particularly strong to viewers. The only part that could really be called exciting was still the earlier scene where the mangy leopard had tried to steal Yomi in the middle of the night. As for the rest, they were just somewhat tiring at most, but nothing too serious.
[Prince Joseph’s group is so funny. The slime won’t move at all and completely refuses to cooperate with Joseph in going out to hunt, and he still keeps being picky… Even like this, Joseph is still smiling at him the whole time. If it were me, I would’ve lost my temper already!]
[I actually think the slime is pretty cute. That body of his doesn’t exactly make hunting easy either, and he’s being picky because Joseph brought a useless diamond necklace this time. Apparently that necklace is Joseph’s lucky charm…]
[Anyway, I still think the slime is too much. So lazy. All he knows is eating!]
[How is he too much? During the promotional period for the show, Joseph himself said in interviews that he was looking forward to getting along with a different little partner, and that he would do his best to take care of them and let them live without worries. So the slime took him seriously—what’s wrong with that? He thought Joseph would look after him wholeheartedly and surely bring something good to eat too, but instead the guy brought a necklace that’s completely useless? The slime himself brought an iron pot and the red fruit Mimi gave him! And Joseph is using his pot to boil meat and make soup! How is that not contributing? Out in the wild, how much effort would it take just to get a pot? The livestream recordings are all there, so don’t even think about misleading other people!]
[When Jane heard the mangy leopard last night, he kept clutching the red fruit Mimi gave him and tossing and turning, unable to sleep. The mangy leopard doesn’t eat slime, so he was obviously afraid Mimi would get stolen away… He’s really not heartless at all! Some people should stop trying to steer the narrative. Anyone who’s actually watched the livestream knows the slime isn’t bad!]
[The slime is so cute. If it were me, I’d take good care of him too. Who would make a slime go hunting? I think Joseph’s side is actually pretty normal, they just need time to get used to each other.]
[Holy crap, today that robot Arlo ran away from home. He said he didn’t want to sleep in a damp place with a shark because he’d rust…]
[Why is another team splitting up too?]
[The painter and the camp general have started cooperating now…]
Over here, while Yomi was picking mushrooms, he had also thought about the other four groups.
…A whole day and night had already passed. He had no idea where they had been dropped off, or whether they were safe.
He only thought about it for a little while before going back to concentrating on his own mushrooms.
There were mosquitoes and insects in the grass. At first, Yomi didn’t think much of it. But after a while, his arm suddenly became terribly itchy. When he turned to look, he realized he had already been bitten several times!
He kept scratching from the itch, hurried out of the grass, and stared at the few pink mosquito bumps under the sunlight, secretly dabbing spit onto them.
Ansius, who was picking fruit nearby, saw him acting all sneaky and knew something was wrong. In just a few steps, he came over, lifted that arm, and inspected it carefully. Sure enough, Yomi had been bitten by mosquitoes.
As someone with experience in such matters, Yomi reminded him, “There are a lot more mosquitoes over there. Let’s stay farther away.”
Ansius frowned, bent down, and picked him up right away. He began lightly fanning his wings to keep the mosquitoes from coming near. The monster’s eyes searched all around, and only after quite a while did he find a patch where mint was growing.
Ansius was very rough when dealing with the mint. With one claw, he tore down a whole large patch. But when he turned back to face the little person, he became patient again, hanging the mint one stalk at a time onto Yomi’s grass skirt.
Looking at the mint hanging across his chest, Yomi took down a leaf and sniffed it. Under the monster’s gaze, he then quickly stuffed it into his mouth and chewed. “…It really is mint. Is it for repelling mosquitoes?”
Ansius gave an mm in confirmation.
Yomi said, “That’s great. Once it’s done repelling mosquitoes, we can even take it off and use it to plate fruit!”
“……”
[Hahaha, the grass skirt piled full of mint has turned into a lace skirt now?]
[Plating? Teacher Mimi, you are the little dessert on the plate—you’ve already been plated up!]
[Yomi, don’t eat everything you see! Be careful you don’t poison yourself!]
[Why be scared of mint? It’s not like anyone sprayed pesticides here. Relax.]
In a place with no internet, time passed very slowly. Yomi and Ansius had already brought back one batch of wild fruit to the cave, and the sun outside was still blazing high.
Unlike meat, wild fruit and mushrooms could be stored for several days. And since Ansius was so large, he naturally had to eat more. Yomi decided that since today was relatively relaxed, he should use the opportunity to gather as much edible stuff as possible. The problem was that he could only carry so much… and this was when the importance of a backpack really showed itself.
Still, where there was a will, there was a way. Yomi took out his knife and asked Ansius to help him cut a large leaf to use as a container.
Ansius stared at his little knife for a moment, then simply led him back to that familiar little forest. After breaking off several big leaves, he wove them into a small green pouch for him right on the spot.
Yomi: “?!”
The thin stems of the leaves were tied around Yomi’s waist, and suddenly there was a large pouch hanging in front of his belly!
Yomi was delighted. “You can weave it like this too?”
Ansius crouched behind him, using his claws to adjust the vines on his grass skirt.
Yomi felt that his grass skirt had been tightened a little, and it even seemed as if the mosquito bites on his arm had been gently blown on. He obediently stood still, his two idle hands touching the little grass pouch. The moment Ansius said, “Done,” he immediately picked up the cluster of mushrooms he had long had his eye on and put them into the pouch, his eyes filled with satisfaction.
By the afternoon, the cave already had a whole stockpile of wild fruit and mushrooms. Ansius glanced at the cave and prepared to make a simple door using crisscrossed branches. Once there was a door, even if beasts like the mangy leopard came close at night, Yomi at least would not see them. With that sense of safety, he would be able to sleep well and not have nightmares.
When Yomi learned that Ansius was going to make a door, he raised both hands in support and even picked up his knife to help.
“……” Ansius pointed at his little pouch. “Will cut it.”
In order to protect his one and only precious little bag, Yomi had no choice but to sit on the monster’s neck and gaze into the distance.
Not long after, Ansius brought back a whole pile of branches, plus the little person sitting on him, and successfully returned to the stone cave. At the entrance, he began making a simple wooden-slat door.
With nothing much to do, Yomi took his knife and wandered back and forth nearby like a little patrolling guard.
Ansius could smell the presence of wild beasts within a certain range, and he knew the area was very safe right now. Even so, he still lifted his head from time to time to make sure the little person stayed within his sight.
Patrolling Yomi found no “enemy activity.” The only thing he spotted was a line of ants moving house in orderly formation. He crouched down and watched them march away, then stood back up and continued looking all around.
Before long, Yomi noticed a short little tree behind the lower stretch of stone wall. Curious, he ran to it and unexpectedly found several beautiful white birds sitting in the branches.
Those little birds showed no reaction at all to his arrival. After giving him a quick glance, they simply went back to chirping among themselves.
Because the tree was short, Yomi was tempted to climb it.
He put down the knife, felt around the trunk, and was just about to start climbing when one of the birds on the branch suddenly seemed alarmed and flew straight down at him.
Yomi quickly raised an arm to shield his face, and in the next moment felt a weight land on his shoulder.
That little bird had actually boldly perched right on him!
At first, Yomi was a little scared. But after remaining stiff for a while, he realized that the bird was not confronting him at all. It had simply taken him for a footrest and stood on his shoulder the whole time, preening its feathers without paying him the slightest bit of attention!
Yomi reached out, trying to scare it away. But the moment he touched the bird, it turned and chirped angrily at him, sounding as if it were cursing him out.
He failed to scare the bird and was the one who got scared instead, so Yomi no longer dared touch it. Anyway, it wasn’t heavy, and the bird was very cute, looking a bit like a budgie, so he thought he might as well just let it stay there.
Picking up his knife again, Yomi looked up at the short tree once more. This time, he unexpectedly noticed that there was a bird’s nest up there.
No wonder. This bird must have thought he was going to climb up and rob the nest, which was why it had risked itself to stop him.
Yomi cast an admiring glance toward the brave little white bird on his shoulder and walked away with his knife, putting distance between himself and the tree.
The little white bird seemed very pleased by how sensible he was. Spreading its wings, it flew off toward a small path opposite the short tree. In the end, it landed on a bush more than ten meters away and turned back to look at Yomi.
Yomi rubbed his shoulder and waved at it.
Goodbye, little bird.
The little bird, however, did not say goodbye. Seeing that he was about to leave, it lifted its head and chirped loudly!
Yomi looked puzzled.
The little bird flew back onto his shoulder again and pointed one wing toward the bush where it had just been.
Yomi said awkwardly, “I’m not robbing your nest, so stop riding on me.”
The little bird glared. “…Chirp chirp chirp chirp!” It flapped its wing again.
Only then did Yomi understand: the bird wanted him to go over to the bush.
Confused, he walked over and pushed aside the leaves with his knife to take a look. There was nothing in the bush.
Yomi turned his head to look at the little white bird.
The little bird quickly flew up into the air again, then headed toward a patch of open ground behind the bushes. It landed by a grassy patch, lowered its head to peck at the grass, then lifted it again to look at him after every few pecks.
“……” Yomi turned back to glance at Ansius, who was still making the door over there, then cautiously walked over.
When he got close, he saw a metal ring sticking out from among the lush green grass.
The very first things that came to Yomi’s mind were scenes from all kinds of dramas and movies: the protagonist accidentally discovering some evil cursed container buried in the ground, or pulling up a divine sword, or something like that…
Leia Continent was not ordinary wilderness to begin with. If something like this appeared here, maybe it wouldn’t even be that strange.
Not daring to touch it, he thought of Ansius. After taking a few steps back, he suddenly turned and ran toward the cave—
[Oh my god, that metal ring looks like…]
[If I’m guessing right, that should be the ring handle for an underground hatch door!]
While Yomi was running back, Ansius at the cave entrance also noticed the abnormality on his side. He immediately put down the branches and ran wildly in Yomi’s direction as well.
Yomi had barely taken a few steps before the rushing monster scooped him up. “What happened?”
“Over there, in the grass—there’s, there’s something!” Yomi pointed behind him and said loudly while still panting.
The little white bird, still lingering there, gave a start the moment it saw Ansius appear and immediately fled in a flap of wings.
Not long after, Ansius reached the grassy patch Yomi had been talking about. He set the little person down, then stared at that metal ring for a moment. His expression shifted slightly, as if he already knew what it was. Without hesitation, he seized the ring and yanked it upward hard.
Yomi saw cracks appear in the ground, and with several heavy booming sounds, that metal ring was actually pulled up together with an iron door!
…What appeared before him was an entirely new space.
Below, the light was dim, and all he could make out was a stretch of stone stairs.
Yomi craned his neck over it, unable to believe his eyes.
Ansius held him in his arms and, after a brief inspection, walked inside.
The deeper they went, the darker it became. But by relying on the light from the opening above, they could still vaguely make out the blurred outlines inside.
Yomi saw all kinds of everyday objects that should not have been here at all. There were even capsule rooms!
He pressed his lips tightly together, trying to suppress his excitement… but in his heart, he had already guessed what this place was!
[Oh my god, an underground shelter! They’re unbelievably lucky!]
[I just looked it up—Leia Continent did have a small number of Sna residents two hundred years ago. At the time, warfare spread here too. This should be a shelter built by locals back then. After the war ended, all the residents of Leia Continent moved to the main city district…]
[Yomi is amazing. He actually discovered an underground passage here!]
[That bird led him here. It’s hard not to suspect it’s a bird with an appearance fetish!]
[Everyone, those are snowbirds, known as the nannies of the forest. They love all animals in juvenile form. When they see a young creature wandering alone or lost in the forest, they do their best to lure it back to a nest… Clearly it thought this underground shelter could serve as a nest for Yomi. It really worries itself sick over all the babies!]
[So Mimi got mistaken for a baby again?]
[Not just animals. Today I posted a screenshot in my social feed of Louis holding Mimi, because I wanted to get people into the show, and my dad commented asking what kind of parent-child adventure program it was…]
[???]
Inside the underground passage—
After the initial shock of seeing this new discovery, all that remained in Yomi was happiness.
Happy. So happy!
He almost bounced right up in Ansius’s arms. “Louis, forget making the door. Let’s live here. This is much safer!”
“Mm.” Ansius looked much calmer. Familiar with the inside of shelters, he quickly found the solar lamps and first took them outside to absorb sunlight. Afterward, he also carried out some relatively well-preserved old clothes from a storage cabinet, washed them, and hung them all up in the trees to dry.
After Ansius finished hanging the clothes, he saw Yomi running up and down excitedly. He had found a set of clothes inside that seemed to fit him and carried it out, originally planning to try it on in the sunlight first. But the moment he stepped outside, he realized this was actually a child’s outfit—and it had an open crotch…
Yomi sighed.
Ansius was visibly stunned for a second.
The livestream comments were nearly dying of laughter.
Still, this was not the time to be picky. There were needles and thread in the shelter, and he could always sew it shut later, couldn’t he? Yomi copied Ansius and prepared to take the open-crotch clothing over to wash too, but before he even reached the river, Ansius took the job over.
Yomi simply could not keep still. Right now, his mood was the same as when he had moved house as a child—full of endless expectation and enthusiasm for a new home. In no time at all, he had already dragged many household items from inside out into the sunlight.
A new home that had a door and was underground—how could he not love it? At night, once the door was shut, the mangy leopard wouldn’t be able to get in at all!
The safety factor had skyrocketed!
After Ansius finished all that, he moved the fruit and mushrooms stored in the cave over here too, and by evening, he used the shelter’s pot to make mushroom soup for Yomi.
Yomi drank until he was pleasantly full, then ate some wild fruit too. After that he stood up, ready to help Ansius collect the clothes—and, regrettably, Yomi couldn’t carry enough, so he could only take his own little bowl back into the underground shelter.
Night fell, and Ansius, carrying the now-lit solar lamps, shut the iron door above them tightly.
With the solar lamps now lit, the inside became much clearer. In order to give the audience a better view of the place, the cameras switched to night vision and filmed the interior of the shelter in detail.
There were four bunk beds in the underground passage, along with several tiny capsule rooms. The capsule rooms were cramped and clearly meant for children.
Yomi chose one of the capsule rooms for himself. After tidying it up a little, he stood in the doorway and called for Ansius to come look.
The capsule room was far too small. Ansius could not go inside at all and could only lower his head and peer in through the entrance.
There was nothing especially novel inside, really—it just barely looked fit to sleep in.
Yomi said, “I’m planning to sleep here tonight.”
Ansius’s brows drew together slightly. He didn’t like the idea very much, but he also didn’t want to dampen Yomi’s excitement. So he turned around, took an old piece of clothing as a rag, and used his claws to clean the capsule room thoroughly.
He cleaned it until it was spotless, spread some dry grass inside, and then took out one of the clothes that had dried in the sun during the day and laid it down—after all, for Yomi, a Snaran’s clothes could completely serve as bedsheets.
In that way, he made the bedsheet, blanket, and pillow all out of old clothes.
Yomi crawled in and rolled around once. The “bedsheet” was full of the smell of sunlight, and he felt so happy he could bubble over. “It’s so comfortable, just like sleeping at home!”
Looking at his smiling face, Ansius hung the solar lamp overhead, then took another dried piece of clothing and tore it open. He pulled out a rusty needle and began making properly fitted clothes for him.
Once Yomi had thoroughly enjoyed himself in his little nest, he came back out, wanting to see Ansius’s bed.
This underground passage felt cramped for Ansius, but to Yomi it was like an underground palace—very spacious.
Yomi walked over to the four bunk beds and studied them carefully, then turned and asked Ansius, “Which bed do you want to sleep in?” He was prepared to help him make the bed too.
The monster, threading the needle, cast a glance at the beds and shook his head. “Not sleeping on a bed.”
Yomi paused. But when he looked at that large body, he did feel that those bunk beds might be a bit cramped for him.
“You’re going to sleep on the floor? Do you want me to help?” Yomi walked over and asked.
The monster lowered his eyes and sneakily glanced at him. His claws kept on sewing the clothes, and he shook his head again.
Yomi had nothing to do, so he sat beside him eating wild fruit. After a few bites, the monster picked him up and set him on his lap, then took the cloth and measured it against his body.
Yomi instantly stopped moving.
The cloth was wound around him in a circle, then tied in a knot in front of his chest.
Yomi lowered his head to look. The piece of fabric wrapped around his body looked rather like a bathrobe.
“Pajamas,” Ansius said.
Yomi froze, then immediately reached out to touch the cloth. He couldn’t believe that out here in the wilderness, he would still get to wear pajamas!
[What pajamas? That is clearly a short dress with a bow on it!]
[Is Louis really not just dressing up a doll?]
[Still, his hands are pretty deft. Just now he even sewed the crotch shut on those open-crotch pants, hahaha!]
[So cute, so cute, Yomi is way too cute!]
Besides the pajamas, Ansius also made him a simple set of long sleeves and long trousers.
Yomi took that outfit into the capsule room to try on.
The cameras naturally did not go inside. Once he had put it on, Yomi hesitated for a while before opening the door and walking back out.
The monster looked up, and his movements paused.
It was just like a child wearing an adult’s clothes. The sleeves were too long, so long that even his hands couldn’t come out.
Rolling up his sleeves, Yomi said, “This is nice too. It can keep mosquitoes away.”
Ansius shook his head. He came over to take a look, then bent down and folded both sleeves properly so that his wrists were exposed.
With those two little hands in his grasp, Ansius finally looked satisfied.
Although the sky over Leia Continent had already gone dark, it was still early, and now that they had a safe shelter, neither of them felt sleepy. Ansius continued making the clothes Yomi would wear in the coming days, while Yomi scurried up and down like a little mouse, “searching for treasure.”
Half an hour later, Yomi found a box of playing cards hidden inside a moisture-proof pad!
Holding the deck of cards, which was almost as big as his face, he ran over to Ansius. Wanting to surprise him, he deliberately tapped on his scales from behind.
Ansius’s body stiffened slightly. He slowly turned around, his gaze moving from Yomi’s face down to the cards in his hands, seemingly unsure of what he meant.
“There’s nothing to do tonight. Let’s play cards together.” Yomi placed the deck into his claws and went to sit down across from him.
The monster held his breath for a moment.
[Confirmed. Teacher Mimi is definitely in a camping show!]
[I suggest the production team change the title to ‘It’s Fine to Take It Easy on Leia Continent’!]
[I want to play cards with Mimi too! But can Mimi really hold that many cards?]
The truth proved that Yomi really couldn’t hold them.
A pile of cards as big as his face was naturally hard to grip in one hand. But where there was a will, there was a way. Just as Ansius was preparing to hold his cards for him, Yomi cleverly shook his head, stood up, and dragged over the foam box sitting nearby. He placed it between them and used the knife he had brought with him to carve a narrow groove into the foam, then calmly inserted the cards into it one by one.
Finally, under the monster’s darkened gaze, he seriously slapped down one card. “Spade!” Then, remembering that there was no such term on Sna Planet, he hurriedly added, “I mean Ace!”
Who could possibly make playing cards look like a game of mahjong?
In the first round, Ansius lost.
Yomi happily took back the little wild fruit he had won. “It’s okay, Louis. I’m just lucky. Let’s play another round!”
Then Yomi won again.
Perhaps fearing that letting him win too obviously would be suspicious, Ansius finally won the third round. Pinching the little green wild fruit he had won from Yomi, he rubbed it between his claws for a long time before finally putting it into his mouth and swallowing it.
The next round, he lost again.
[Teacher Mimi is officially the king of gamblers!]
[I want to play cards too. If I win, I don’t want wild fruit—I want sweet little Mimi!]
[Calm and unhurried at the card table, Brother Mimi has the bearing of a true king!]
Playing cards really did eat up time. After laying down a card, Yomi took a glance at the giant phone, only to realize that without noticing, they had been playing for almost two hours.
It was time for bed now. Yomi yawned and was just about to gather up the cards when Ansius had already collected the messy cards and wild fruit, then carried him to the water storage area to rinse his mouth.
While Yomi rinsed, Ansius used the little handkerchief he had just rushed to make to wipe his face clean. Once he had wiped his entire face, the monster’s expression visibly brightened.
After this very simple wash-up, Yomi crawled into the little capsule room.
Because he needed to change into his pajamas, he shut the door, so all that could be seen from outside was the dark shadow of someone changing clothes.
The monster stared at the shadow, and his ears turned red in an instant.
As soon as Yomi had changed into the pajamas, he opened the door and said, “Good night!”
Then he climbed beautifully into the bedding.
He slept across the width of the bed, with his head facing the doorway. The blanket covered half his face. Once he closed his eyes, his fluffy eyelashes quivered ever so slightly.
After a long while, the monster finally withdrew his gaze. He pulled the mattress from the bunk beds and spread it beneath the capsule room, then lay down with his massive body like some beast crouching on the ground. Even then, he kept lifting his eyes to stare at the capsule room above him, staring for a full hour.
In the air came the faint sound of the little person’s breathing. He had fallen asleep.
At that moment, the huge black shadow rose up inside the underground passage—the monster had stood up.
Lowering his head, the monster brought his face close to the door of the capsule room, then looked toward the arm Yomi had pushed out from under the blanket.
“……”
Two seconds later, the monster bent down closer and gently licked at the mosquito bite on that arm.
[What is he doing? I want to complain to the production team! Why did you pair Yomi up with a man-eating monster? He obviously wants to eat people, aaahhh!]
[Calm down! Experts say that after being bitten by mosquitoes, putting saliva on it can actually help! Everyone, stop overthinking it!]
[The person above you looks really familiar…]
[Condemnation! Strong condemnation of Louis for humiliating Yomi with his saliva!]
[Which gossip account has shown up now?]
In the silent space, the monster secretly licked Yomi’s mosquito bites several times before finally, reluctantly, pulling away. Just as the audience let out a breath of relief, the monster suddenly lifted a claw and, incredibly, very gently picked up the entire capsule room!
A few seconds later, the monster carried the capsule room down to the ground beneath his arm. He carefully lay down, wrapped his massive wings around the little capsule, lowered his head, and peered through the small door at the little person inside. After confirming that Yomi still had not woken up, he rubbed against the two little ram horns with intimate affection, then, satisfied, closed those golden eyes.
[Brother, are you incubating an egg?!]
[…There is definitely something wrong with Louis!]
[Wuwuwu, I want to incubate a Mimi egg too!!!]
[Everyone, I have some bad news to tell you. I checked the forecast—there’s going to be a huge rainstorm on Leia Continent tomorrow!]
[Ah? I hope all the guests can get through it safely!]
[Apparently on Leia Continent, when it rains, rain dragons show up…]
