The wounds had not yet scabbed over, and blood continued to seep out.
"What's going on?"
"Ah, I was accidentally brushed by a bear's claw. Let's finish up quickly and leave. I have a strange feeling of unease." Xu An hastily wrapped the wound on her arm with a clean silk scarf, not wanting to waste time on it.
Zhou Haimei also sensed Xu An's current tension.
"Did you discover something?"
Xu An didn't speak, only shaking her head. She forced herself to hold the knife and began to butcher the giant bear before her, all the while thinking, faster, faster.
But in reality, Xu An herself didn't know what had happened.
The moment the giant bear was on the verge of death, a voice seemed to warn her in her mind.
It took Xu An a long time to realize it was Zeyuan's voice.
However, Zeyuan at this moment sounded more like a half-awakened murmur.
He only uttered two words: "Run."
But Xu An was reluctant to give up the bear's carcass; its fur alone was a treasure.
Without hesitation, though she doubted herself, Xu An simply opened up the giant bear's body and took everything she could carry.
On the other side, Guan Shan finally saw Xu An and Zhou Haimei return safely.
As he turned back, he saw the carcass of the giant bear. Holding the four cubs in his arms, he was momentarily stunned.
When he had joined rented teams to hunt prey before, he was always the one being bossed around.
No matter what kind of monster they encountered, he was always the one who charged in first.
But now, Guan Shan felt like he was the one being protected.
After the butchering was complete, Xu An practically ran back to the camp at the fastest speed of her life.
Only upon returning to the camp did Zhou Haimei dare to ask Xu An, "What exactly happened?"
Xu An couldn't explain it herself.
It was just that under her intuition, she felt that if she didn't leave, something very dangerous would happen.
Xu An handed the four cubs she had carried back to Li Xin.
Li Xin was overjoyed to see the tiny bear cubs, completely captivated by their cuteness.
It was Li Cheng who properly handled the giant bear's fur and other parts that Xu An had brought back.
After everything was sorted, Li Cheng looked at Xu An, "You didn't return last night, did anything happen? Next time, if you can't make it back, bring more food."
Zhou Haimei interjected, "Alright, we understand." As she spoke, she gave the ingredients Xu An had previously entrusted to her to Li Cheng, saying, "Let's eat these things today."
Li Cheng glanced at the cubs Li Xin was holding, "What should we do with those? Raise them to eat?"
Li Xin heard her brother's words and ran over holding a cuddly cub, looking at her brother with a reprimanding expression.
"Hey, do you have any humanity? These cubs are so small and so cute, how can you eat them!"
Li Cheng chuckled, "Are we going to take them back to the lighthouse to raise them?"
Xu An: "Let's raise them for now. Consider them reserve food."
Actually, Xu An knew that these little ones had been fed too much human flesh by the giant bear. She wasn't sure if they could even be raised, but Xu An hadn't expected these bear cubs to actually survive.
Li Xin, on the other hand, happily asked Xu An, "What do these little ones usually eat? I want to prepare some food for them."
Speaking of which, Zhou Haimei also looked at Xu An curiously.
After all, Xu An had brought these cubs back. Zhou Haimei didn't know what they ate, especially since they had been so focused on killing their parent and now had taken all the young ones.
Xu An looked at the several ravenous little creatures and slowly said, "Human flesh."
But as soon as she spoke, everyone present fell silent.
Of course, Guan Shan was an exception, as he hadn't spoken at all.
"Human flesh?" Li Xin exclaimed, "These little ones eat human flesh?"
It was Li Cheng who spoke up, "It must be that the cubs' parent fed them human flesh. Otherwise, at such a young age, it's not like someone would specifically feed them to bite."
Li Xin looked at the tiny milk teeth in the mouths of the little bears. Although small, they already possessed the nascent sharpness of predators.
Li Cheng teased his sister, "What, are you scared? Weren't you just righteous about raising these cubs?"
Li Xin stammered that she wasn't.
After all, everyone likes cute things, but if under the cute exterior lies a terrifying soul, then it's not cute at all.
This was also why Xu An had joked about raising them for now and considering them reserve food if it didn't work out.
If they could be raised like pets, it would be fine, but the fear was that these cubs would not change their ferocity and would one day turn on their owners.
Pets like that were better not raised at all.
Xu An never thought of herself as uniquely special. Before the apocalypse, a Middle Eastern country had a penchant for keeping exotic animals as pets.
Wealthy families there almost always had a lion or tiger, or other fierce beasts.
Those wealthy individuals treated tigers and lions as their pets, even becoming incredibly close to these raptors, leaning against them intimately.
Even when those beasts occasionally revealed their ferocious teeth unintentionally, or looked at their owners with their wild eyes, a fleeting predatory glint, like seeing prey, would flash in their gaze.
But those tycoons simply mistook the ferocity of these beasts as a form of cute, spoiled behavior.
No one thought that a pet raised from a young age would attack them.
But often, what you thought was impossible was exactly what happened.
Before the apocalypse, Xu An had seen many news reports about pets raised by Middle Eastern tycoons attacking their owners.
Those people were all mauled beyond recognition by the tigers and lions they kept.
Despite this, those people were still enthusiastically raising these beasts.
Li Xin didn't realize the seriousness implied in Xu An's words.
"Then now, we can't feed these little ones human flesh, can we? Besides, where would we even get human flesh to feed them?"
Li Xin looked earnestly at the cubs in her arms.
Some of the cubs seemed genuinely hungry, following a scent and biting Li Xin's arm.
Fortunately, Li Xin was wearing the lighthouse's specially made protective clothing on her upper body, and because of the cold weather, she was also wearing a thermal suit.
Even so, that little bear left a tiny tooth mark on the clothing on Li Xin's shoulder. The exceptionally thick thermal suit was almost bitten through.
Li Cheng's expression immediately turned cold. He grabbed the little bear by the back of its neck and looked down at the palm-sized cub with a detached gaze.