Chapter 8 Raw Meat His startled reaction clearly pleased him…
Catherine didn't fully understand Tarasco's emotions, but his startled reaction clearly pleased her.
A smile crept onto her face.
Before Tarasco returned, Catherine thought he had done more than enough to fulfill her request, but she never expected him to do so much more. Just as she had hoped, he brought her good news.
Catherine said shyly, "I'm hungry..."
Tarasco was pulled back to reality by her voice. He decided to stop thinking about problems he couldn't solve; "thinking" wasn't really his thing. The beasts of the Devil's Forest preferred to resolve problems with force.
He lifted Catherine down, then tossed the giant fire rat to the ground and began cutting it. Its sharp legs quickly processed the food, its excellent "knife skills" ensuring each piece was of uniform thickness.
This was the first cooked meal Catherine had eaten since entering Devil's Forest.
So even though it had little flavor, let alone tasted good, Catherine slowed down her eating, savoring each bite slowly and deliberately. A look of emotion involuntarily appeared on her face—emotional for this rare piece of cooked meat.
However, there was only a small amount of cooked meat available, so even though Catherine had deliberately slowed down, the roasted rat meat was quickly devoured. She was patting her belly contentedly when she heard a noise beside her.
Catherine turned her head, only to see that Tarasco stopped in his tracks the moment he saw her face.
For a fleeting moment, a look of confusion and bewilderment crossed his face. He seemed not to understand why she was so calm after eating today, without the usual commotion.
Tarasco walked over and stared at the remaining bits of flesh below, lost in thought. Perhaps the snake was right.
He seemed to have grasped a little about how humans were raised.
Just then, Tarasco suddenly felt a tingling sensation on his arm. He looked down and saw that Catherine was cleaning and bandaging his wound.
The wound wasn't deep, so even Tarasco himself couldn't remember when he'd been injured. Perhaps it was during the fight, or maybe while cleaning the fire.
She noticed even the smallest wound and treated it very carefully.
Perhaps, keeping a human as a pet wouldn't be so bad? Tarasco frowned, a hint of doubt creeping into his mind.
...
Ever since that fire rat feast, Tarasco has brought back roasted meat every time. Catherine happily accepts it all, regardless of how well it's cooked, but occasionally she'll make some requests, such as:
"This is a great baked product! It would be even better if the baking time were shorter."
"Wow, Tarasco, your 'cooking skills' have improved again! But did you encounter an enemy at the end? It seems like this one wasn't cooked through..."
Her words carried a deceptive undertone, and her expression was sincere enough to make it seem as if Tarlasco truly was a genius who had unlocked the full potential of his culinary skills.
So, the fierce and cold-blooded alien spider, under the sweet words of the weak human, finally managed to grill the meat to perfection, and in order to win her praise, he diligently controlled the grilling time every day.
Seeing Catherine's satisfied smile, he thought it was all of his own free will.
And so, Catherine spent two rare peaceful days, but the change occurred on the evening of the third day.
That day, Tarasco, as usual, left the cave to hunt during the day. Catherine woke up and looked at the empty nest, her face showing no surprise.
These days, Tarasco has been going out hunting and returning to the cave on time every morning, which has unknowingly earned Catherine's high level of trust in his fighting abilities.
But this sense of security began to crumble as night fell, the Devil's Forest outside the cave was completely dark, and Tarasco still hadn't returned.
She lost count of how many times she looked towards the cave entrance, only to lower her eyes in disappointment. A sense of unease gradually spread deep within her.
Catherine pursed her lips, praying in her heart that Tarasco would return safely.
After all, if he died outside, Catherine couldn't be so sure that she could find another "owner" as easy to fool as him before she died.
Meanwhile, hundreds of kilometers away, Tarasco was trapped in the lair of another ferocious beast.
He made the slightest movement, carefully inching forward. Deep within the cave lay a formidable opponent of equal strength, and he dared not harbor any illusions.
Just hours earlier, Tarasco had finished his hunt for the day. But as he carried his spoils and prepared to return to his cave, he suddenly heard a familiar language carried on the wind—the language often spoken by the humans in his cave.
Tarasco hesitated for a moment, his pacing revealing his inner anxiety.
Finally, he found a secluded spot to hide his prey, covering it with several layers of camouflage soil and withered grass. Only after making sure everything was safe did he head towards the direction from which he had heard the sound.
As the distance closed, the scent of another wild beast gradually filled the air. Tarasco's expression turned serious, for he could sense that it was a formidable opponent.
However, his original plan was just to sneak a peek and he didn't want to have any conflict with the "aboriginal people," so as long as he was careful, nothing should go wrong.
An untimely image of a frail figure appeared in Tarasco's mind.
He shook his head, thinking that if he died out there, the fragile human race probably wouldn't survive more than a few days. In order to see her again, he had to be even more careful.
The wild animals inside the cave were fast asleep, their snores echoing through the cave.
The humans, who had just been captured by wild beasts, were cowering in fear in the most inconspicuous corner of the cave.
He had just woken from his coma and it took him a while to remember what had happened. Now, he stared in horror, holding his breath as he scanned his surroundings. He saw that the withered grass all around him was littered with broken human limbs, scattered haphazardly, covered in a thick layer of dust, and looked quite old.
This horrific scene was clearly a significant shock to this poor human being. At this moment, even the slightest disturbance could easily shatter his already extremely fragile nerves.
A sharp crack suddenly came from the haystack near the cave entrance, startling him so much that he jumped. His eyes slowly turned, and he saw a flash of white light.
White light? Where is this white light coming from?
His nerves, almost completely corroded by terror, twitched slightly, sensing something was wrong. However, his numb emotions quickly overwhelmed him, burying this slight vigilance deep within his mind.
He lowered his eyes cautiously, not daring to look at the cave entrance again. He thought to himself that whether there was anything or not was none of his concern. If something did come, so be it; they could all die together in this cave! Anyway, he didn't think he had any hope of surviving in this beast's cave.
This is the scene that Tarlasco encountered when he entered the cave.
The humans, clearly terrified, huddled in a corner. The beast deep within the cave, overconfident in its strength, was still fast asleep. He quickly glanced around, then stepped as quietly as possible into the dangerous cave.
-
Catherine, exhausted both physically and mentally, fell into a deep sleep. She didn't know when she lost consciousness, but when she woke up again, it was already evening.
She was lying on the bed, her body carefully covered with animal fur. But she vaguely remembered that she had been sitting at the entrance of the cave before she fell asleep.
She propped her head up and looked towards the cave entrance, where the stone walls were reflected with the flickering, warm orange glow of firelight. She peeked out and saw that Tarasco was outside baking food.
Catherine noticed with her sharp eyes that a small piece had been cut off from the unknown beast.
Recalling the faint taste of roasted meat in her mouth when she first woke up, Catherine roughly knew where the missing piece of meat had gone.
She carefully jumped off the bed, during which time Tarasco, who was baking food underground, only glanced up at her.
Catherine smiled shyly at him, then prepared to approach the cave entrance.
It was now late at night, and the sun had long since sunk below the horizon. The thick vegetation of the Devil's Forest obscured the already dim moonlight, and apart from the area illuminated by the campfire at the cave entrance, it was pitch black.
However, Catherine had already been living in the cave for several days. During these days, she couldn't leave the cave and could only walk around inside to relieve boredom. Therefore, she knew the arrangement of the stones in the cave very well, and even with her eyes closed, she should know how to get around.
But this is only right...
After walking a few meters, Catherine felt herself kick something heavy, her center of gravity shifted suddenly, and she uncontrollably moved closer and closer to the ground.
She heard the sound of something falling to the ground, followed by the whooshing of the wind. Just as her face was less than a finger's width from the ground, Tarasco pulled her back.
That was close...
Looking at the ground so close at hand, Catherine belatedly realized that her heart was racing.
However, she trusted her memory; the path she had just walked should have been flat. There shouldn't have been anything protruding that could trip her.
After regaining her balance with Tarasco's help, Catherine subconsciously glanced behind her.
But then she noticed that something had appeared where she had just fallen.
In the darkness, she could only make out a vague, square shape. But it didn't seem like something that could appear in the Devil's Forest—such a regular square shape didn't look like the bones of anything.
Catherine stared at that spot, lost in thought, and an idea slowly rose in her mind.
Just then, the firelight from the cave entrance scorched the stone wall beside her. The campfire crackled, and she finally saw what it was.
A note from the author:
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