Chapter 358 - 320: This Leopard Seems a Bit Abnormal
Chapter 358: Chapter 320: This Leopard Seems a Bit Abnormal
"I’ve already eaten."
When he heard Gu Ning offer to split the food, Wanai discreetly sized up her small frame.
The two fish weren’t large. For a normal-sized Beastman, it would be barely enough to get stuck in their teeth. Although she was smaller, she should still be able to finish both fish.
He had seen how much she ate back in Zone 19. She often went to the East Wall Street Corner to buy roasted chicken and layered meat pies, and the portions of those were no smaller than his two fish.
’It seems the fish just isn’t very good.’
To Gu Ning’s ears, his words meant he had just taken a bite and was waiting for her to eat before he had more.
’Does he still want to share, taking turns with each bite?’
Gu Ning didn’t want to share it like that. She forcefully broke the wooden skewer holding the fish, splitting it in two.
With the tail in one hand and the head in the other, she held them out to Wanai. "Which one do you want?"
Wanai stared at the fish she had broken in two, a flicker of contemplation and confusion in his eyes.
Seeing him just staring at the fish, Gu Ning nudged them closer to him.
Wanai raised his hand, his fingers hovering between the head and tail. He paused over the head half—the part she had bitten into the most. He could taste her again.
Wanai quietly glanced at the little female’s expression and took the tail half.
’She doesn’t like the tail.’
Seeing him take the tail, Gu Ning’s eyes curved into crescents. She shuffled closer to Philinos with the fragrant fish head, but when she saw the still-unconscious Birdman, the smile vanished from her eyes. She began to chew on the grilled fish worriedly.
No one spoke. The human and the Leopard both focused on eating their fish, but their minds were elsewhere, and their attention was fixed on each other.
After finishing the fish, Gu Ning rubbed her slightly full stomach. Just as she was about to say something to Wanai, he placed the pot of fish soup, which she had almost forgotten, in front of her.
"It’s not hot anymore. Drink up," Wanai said. "I’ll eat the leftover fishtail later."
Gu Ning: ... ’I’m a little full already.’
She picked up the spoon in the pot and stirred the fish soup, then looked up at Wanai. "Do you have a bowl?"
Although she didn’t know why this Leopard was following them, he had saved them. He’d even caught fish for her in the dead of winter. She should at least eat a little as a courtesy.
Philinos was still unconscious and badly injured. They might need Wanai’s help later, so she couldn’t afford to be on bad terms with him.
Wanai said, "Just drink from the pot."
Gu Ning had no choice but to use the spoon and drink the soup that way.
Although the Leopard’s tone was flat, revealing no emotion, it carried an air of authority that brooked no argument. His expression was always cold and distant. He did not look like someone easy to get along with.
As Gu Ning drank the soup, she recalled her previous encounters with him. Except for the time she moved and suspected he was the one harassing her by knocking on her door, leading her to confront him at his own door, they had only ever exchanged glances. They’d had no other interactions.
Now she also wondered if he was the same Leopard from Zone 15. After all, many Beastmen had similar beast forms, and she had never seen the human form of the Leopard who attacked them.
After a moment’s thought, she asked, "Wanai, have you been to Zone 15 in the last few days?"
Wanai: "That was me."
Gu Ning: "..."
Wanai looked at her and said, "I’m a mercenary. It’s my job."
’What kind of... soldier?’ Gu Ning didn’t quite catch the word, but she understood that it was his job.
’So, he must be a subordinate of Admiral Andrew’s rival?’
Thinking about it that way, some things started to make sense.
He wasn’t an ally of the Black-winged Beastmen, nor was he on their side. He was probably tracking her to capture her and use her as leverage against Admiral Andrew.
After leaving Zone 19, there were all the incidents the convoy encountered. Then there was what the Wolf Team had told her about Admiral Andrew’s rival constantly clashing with him, tripping him up both openly and secretly. Now, she understood Wanai’s intentions.
At that thought, she couldn’t drink any more of the soup. She put down the spoon and leaned closer to Philinos. "I’m tired. I need to rest."
She had to stall for time until Philinos woke up and Alex and the others found them.
Otherwise, she couldn’t possibly stand against a Beastman soldier alone. She would have to find some other way to deal with him.
"Go to sleep." Wanai pulled the soup she had been drinking in front of himself. "They won’t find this place for a while."
Hearing the words "won’t find," Gu Ning’s heart tightened. She turned her back to him, snuggled up against Philinos, and lay down. Under the cover of the greatcoat, she hugged one of Philinos’s arms, praying silently for him to wake up soon.
But then she remembered how badly Wanai had injured Philinos back in Zone 15. Knowing the temperament of Beastmen, Philinos would definitely clash with him the moment he woke up. She hoped even more that Alex and the others would find them first.
Flustered, Gu Ning burrowed into the greatcoat. Hearing the sound of someone drinking soup, she quietly pulled down a corner of the coat and twisted her head to look back.
Wanai was holding the pot, which was bigger than her head, and gulping down the soup with wild abandon.
"..."
As if sensing her peeking, Wanai lowered the half-empty pot and turned to meet her gaze.
He narrowed his eyes slightly and licked the soup from the corner of his mouth. His green pupils glinted under the firelight, like a predator hiding in the jungle, stalking its prey in the dead of night.
His gaze made Gu Ning’s heart race, and her body tensed involuntarily.
She silently turned her head back and pulled the coat up over her.
Wanai stared for a moment at the little female huddled next to the Birdman, then went back to drinking the rest of the soup.
The little female’s scent, mixed into the soup, made it more delicious than any spice could.
After finishing the soup, Wanai picked up the spoon Gu Ning had used and licked it clean. Then he ate the fish bones she had left behind, almost greedily absorbing and experiencing her scent.
The saliva she left on the food carried a much richer scent than the one on her little panties.
It was a special, alluring scent that he found impossible to resist.
Hearing the sounds of chewing bones, sharp inhales, and sighs, Gu Ning felt her scalp tingle. She pressed herself even tighter against Philinos.
’This Leopard seems... a little unhinged.’
She had no desire to talk to him now. Her head felt heavy and throbbed with pain, and her body ached with exhaustion. With a heart full of anxiety, she fell asleep.
She didn’t know how long she’d been asleep when a sudden commotion woke her.
In a daze, she heard what sounded like arguing, followed by a dull thud.
She wanted to open her eyes to see what was happening, but her eyelids felt as if they weighed a thousand pounds, and her body, as if it wasn’t her own, refused to move.
Her consciousness struggled for a long time before she managed to force a sound from her dry, burning throat. "Barto..."
’Have Barto and the others come? Is Barto fighting someone?’
’Barto, don’t be reckless! Don’t fight! Your degeneration rate is already so high, you have to control it! We still have to go live in Zone 5. Don’t expose yourself. None of us can be exposed.’
Gu Ning thought she was speaking aloud, but in reality, she only managed a faint whimper.
The two men fighting in the cramped container heard Gu Ning’s weak voice and immediately stopped.
Philinos swung the wooden club in his hand with all his might at the distracted Leopard. The club struck Wanai’s ribs and broke with a CRACK, knocking him back a step.
After forcing him back, Philinos tossed away the broken half of the club and staggered back to Gu Ning’s side. "I’m here."
The voice Gu Ning heard was hazy and ethereal; she couldn’t tell who it was. "Barto..." ’Don’t fight.’ "Alex..." ’You have to stop him.’
Philinos’s expression faltered. He saw that Gu Ning’s eyes were shut tight, her forehead was covered in sweat, and her body was trembling. Her lips were pale and cracked. His face changed as he gathered her into his arms. "Ning, wake up."