“You’re called what?” On the run, Muli finally asked this question that was very late.

At first, he hadn’t thought about what the person in the cage was called. Later, when the two of them traveled together, he just directly called her “you.” More often, he called her Red-haired Woman in his heart, because compared to others, that head of red hair was truly too eye-catching, and in his eyes it was becoming more and more vivid.

The question slipped out naturally. After he asked, he didn’t show any reaction, as if it was just a casual question.

Meili froze for a moment, and casually replied: “I’m Meili, you can call me Lili.”

“Oh.” Muli nodded to show he understood, but afterward he still behaved the same as before, still not calling her name.

They were on the run. Around them, aside from sparse blades of grass, there were no other animals or plants in sight. Ever since the first encounter with those black-robed men, they had run into another encirclement — also a combination of black-robed priests and Holy Hall warriors.

The first time, Muli suffered a loss. The second time, he simply didn’t give them a chance to surround him. As soon as he saw them, he ran, dragging that group all night. The horses were all exhausted to death; those people abandoned their horses to chase after them, but in the end, they were drained of strength, watching helplessly as Muli drew distance from them, even turning his head to let out a mocking hum.

Meili obediently curled up in Muli’s arms the entire time, not causing him any trouble, and gave him a little water midway.

“Are you tired? We’ve been running for a long time already.” Halfway through, while feeding him water, Meili asked him.

Muli pushed his skull helmet up to the top of his head, revealing half of his fluffy, white, round face. His tone was proud and unconcerned, “I used to run for three days and three nights straight, it didn’t scare me. They can’t catch me.”

Indeed, those who chased them were exhausted to a halt midway, not even getting a chance to make a move, so furious that they cursed helplessly behind them.

After shaking them off, Muli stopped and found a safe place sheltered from the wind. He crossed his arms, lay down on the spot, and began snoring away — he was still tired after all.

Meili had slept in his arms before, so she wasn’t tired. She opened up his skull helmet, wanting to wipe his face. But she found that although he was covered in fur, he didn’t sweat at all. Only the white fur pressed flat under his clothes and helmet could be brushed and smoothed.

Because being groomed felt comfortable, Muli didn’t pull away. His moist black nose twitched, and he even let out two hums. But very quickly, he realized that was immature, and immediately restrained himself, refusing to make any more sound.

Meili helped smooth the fur on his head a bit, then checked his wounds. In such a short time, the wound was already almost healed. This speed of recovery was truly shocking. Meili, surprised, also felt relieved.

She stood up and looked around, wanting to find something to eat. After going around once, she found nothing.

The hunting that looked so easy in Muli’s hands became extremely difficult for her. Those prey — even the smallest animals — were extremely vigilant. Before she could even clearly see them, they ran away.

As for bigger animals, she had no way at all. Either they ran too fast for her to catch, or she didn’t dare to approach to hunt. If she really went forward, she feared she would become their food.

Meili thought of how Muli used all sorts of weapons and also felt the desire to learn weapon skills. Even if she couldn’t be as powerful as Muli, it would still be good.

Not far away, Muli suddenly jerked up from the ground. Meili heard the movement and turned around. She saw him sprint toward her. In the blink of an eye, he leaped past her and pounced on a small beast that had just wandered over. In no time at all, he brought dinner back.

Having eaten nothing all day, Muli devoured it with great enjoyment. Hearing Meili ask about learning to use weapons, his round eyes blinked. He raised his hand and grabbed Meili’s arm.

Meili felt her arm was completely enveloped in his hand. He didn’t even use much strength and she already felt like her arm was about to fall off.

“Hiss—”

Hearing her suck in air, Muli jumped in fright, quickly letting go of her arm like he had touched something burning.

“Your hand is so thin, and you have no strength. Even if you know how to use a weapon, you still wouldn’t beat others… You can’t even lift a sword.”

Meili drooped her head in disappointment and rubbed her reddened arm, “Then what can I learn?”

Muli kept watching her while taking big bites of meat. He didn’t say anything more. Meili also didn’t ask again, only troubled herself with worry.

They encountered the Holy Hall’s warriors for the third time, and this time there were fewer people, only a few of them.

Muli wrinkled his nose, still not going up to fight them, preparing to avoid them.

But this time, there was an archer among them. The valiant female archer rode at full speed at the very front. Once she saw the target appear, she straightened and drew her bow, shooting an arrow.

The sound of the arrow tearing through the air was very distinct in Muli’s ears. He raised one hand and directly caught that arrow, making several of those warriors question life.

Not only was he uninjured, he caught it just like that — the power in that arrow was not something that could be casually taken head-on!

The archer who shot the arrow also began to doubt herself. Were people joking when they praised her as a divine marksman?! That guy catching her arrow looked like he was playing!

Muli turned his head to glance at those few people. Seeing the female archer at the front, he suddenly spun around sharply and ran toward them.

They didn’t expect him to be running well only to suddenly turn around and charge at them, and were caught a little off guard.

—This magical beast half-breed’s record had already been reported to all the Holy Halls in the nearby cities. He alone had crippled over a dozen warriors, and even the elite warriors they revered had suffered at his hands.

The few subconsciously pulled on their reins, but couldn’t stop immediately. Muli’s running speed was faster than the horses, and the two sides approached rapidly. Muli ignored the others and kicked the horse at the very front down with one kick.

The archer on horseback let out a cry as she tried to steady herself. Muli yanked her hair and pulled her off the horse, directly snatching away the bow in her hand and the quiver on the horse. Then he swung around fiercely again and continued running ahead, shaking them off.

This move stunned everyone. In the sudden chaos, several of them checked the archer who had been robbed and thrown off her horse, and didn’t catch up in time.

Meili held onto Muli’s neck to steady herself and also looked back over his shoulder.

“Grass! He stole our stuff!”

“My bow! My bow! That magical beast stole my bow! That bow was expensive, I only bought it not long ago!”

Muli handed the bow and arrows he had snatched to Meili.

“That woman just now had thin arms too. She used this, you can also use this.”

Meili realized he was solving the problem she had mentioned two days ago. Holding the bow and arrows, she stared in a daze at his furry chin.

Since birth, this was the first time she had received a gift. She felt cared for by someone, loved by someone.

…So this is what it feels like.

She suddenly reached out and wrapped her arms around Muli’s neck, and gently kissed his moist nose.

The agile Muli stumbled, falling forward with a thud, face-first into the ground.

He quickly climbed up covered in dirt. Meili was still in his arms, so she didn’t get hurt much, but the bow and arrows had fallen to the ground. He stiffly and quickly picked up the bow and arrows, threw them into Meili’s arms, kept a stiff face, and ran forward again, stomping loudly on the ground.

Meili: “…” She held back her laughter, burying her face in her arms.

Muli little brother’s clumsy falling look was extremely cute.

She leaned in, wanting to pat the dirt off his face. Muli suddenly leaned back to dodge, saying with lingering fear, “You can’t do what you just did again!”

Meili saw his alertly pricked ears and hurriedly put her hand down, “No no no, I won’t, don’t be scared.”

Muli refused to accept that: “I’m not scared!”

After saying that, he silently put his skull helmet back on properly, returning to that fierce and mysterious appearance, unwilling to show his face.

Meili had gotten a good bow. When they stopped to rest, she tried drawing the bow and shooting. She had to use great strength just to draw it open. Her arm soon became sore and painful, and her hand hurt as well. She didn’t even manage to successfully shoot a single arrow.

“It’s okay, with more practice you’ll get better.” She tried to think in an optimistic direction.

By the time Meili managed to draw the bow and shoot out a crooked arrow, they had arrived at a cold wasteland.

The weather was clearly getting colder and colder.

The black-robed priests and knights relentlessly chased Muli, almost driving him here.

Muli no longer continued forward. He looked somewhat hesitant.

“They’ve been chasing me all along, I have to go back first.”

Meili skillfully lit a fire and asked while sitting beside the flames, “Go back… back to the Polar Region?”

She had heard him say that he had always lived in the Polar Region in the past. It was said to be very cold there, and there were many magical beasts — basically the territory of magical beasts.

“Mm, you should go. Humans can’t survive in the Polar Region.” Muli said seriously.

He thought of Grandpa.

From the moment he was conscious, what surrounded him was endless icy snow. Hunger was the most vivid feeling in his body. When he was about to starve to death, Grandpa picked him up from an iceberg.

Grandpa was a human in a black robe, who called himself a penitent monk. For some unknown reason, he lived alone in the Polar Region. He raised Muli for a while and taught him some things.

Muli didn’t quite understand some of the words he said. Before he grew to understand, Grandpa died. From then on, only he remained there.

Humans in the Polar Region would die very easily, they were too fragile.

Muli looked at Meili again. She had no thick fur, no claws or sharp fangs, weak strength; she couldn’t even beat the weakest magical beast cub in the Polar Region.

She would definitely die even more easily.

“But… I don’t know where else I can go.” Holding the bow and arrows, Meili’s eyes shimmered in the firelight with confusion and sorrow.

Muli also thought, if he left her here, she might immediately be carried off and eaten by a wild beast.

He hesitated, then said: “Why don’t I send you to a city?”

After saying that, he began calculating a big detour, planning to send her to a city.

Meili: “You can’t get close to a city with people. You’ll be discovered by the Holy Hall’s knights.”

Muli emphasized again: “I’m not afraid of them, I just don’t want to kill them!” He refused to admit defeat even a little.

Meili couldn’t hold back a small smile, but it quickly fell again.

“I don’t want to go to a city.” Hope glittered in her eyes as she stared at Muli. “Can’t I go back with you?”

Muli was still hesitant. “But the Polar Region is really cold, you’ll freeze to death.”

Meili said: “If I leave you, I’ll die very soon. If that’s the case, I’d rather freeze to death in the Polar Region.”

She had already seen clearly the chaotic and lawless world, and had clearly seen her own miserable future if she were alone. She didn’t want to become a beautiful piece of cargo and toy, nor the meat for bandits along the road.

Putting down the bow and arrows, she walked in front of Muli and grabbed his big hand. “Don’t leave me here.”

Muli felt the fur on his body stand on end. If he weren’t wearing clothes, his entire body would look one size rounder right now.

Seeing Meili get closer and closer, he moved a little, stammering, “O-okay.”

Realizing his voice was too soft, he instantly straightened up and said stiffly, “I will try my best not to let you die.”

Only then did Meili smile. She shook his big hand. “I will also try my best to stay alive.”