The thick tanned pelts were piled in a corner of the lighthouse. Meili worked hard to use a knife to cut open the thick fur, dividing a large hide into pieces to make mattress cushions, quilts, and clothes and shoes.
Making clothes was a very simple matter for her. No problem in daily life could stump her. It was just that the tools were lacking, so she could only make things very simple—yet this “simple” already counted as exquisite in Muli’s cognition.
He was still wearing the clothes that the holy knights had slit with many small cuts. After Meili had slightly adapted to the polar cold, she thought of a way to mend them for him. Unfortunately, that cloak he had once bragged about was truly tattered beyond recognition, missing a large piece, and could no longer be mended.
I’ll catch another Ice Cave Beast and then I’ll have a new cloak. Muli thought to himself. She had also liked that cloak before. This time he had to catch two Ice Cave Beasts and make two cloaks—one for him, one for her.
Thinking of this, he felt a little annoyed as to why he didn’t catch more Ice Cave Beasts before.
Ice Cave Beasts weren’t difficult to kill, but finding and catching them was very troublesome. They lived under the ice all year round, and even through thick layers of ice they could hear movement on the snow above. At the slightest sound they would run far away, rarely emerging from the ice holes. In the water they were even more agile—jump into the water and you still wouldn’t be able to catch up.
Catching that one before had been very difficult. At that time he was still young and curious about other magical beasts. Whenever he encountered a beast he hadn’t seen before, he always wanted to pin it down and take a clear look. The first time he saw an Ice Cave Beast, when it was about to run, he directly jumped into the ice hole to chase it, almost being swept away by the turbulent water under the ice.
Later, once that freshness wore off, he couldn’t be bothered to put in the effort to catch more. Having one trophy was enough.
But now it was different. When talking about cloaks with Meili, he immediately wanted to go out and catch two Ice Cave Beasts to bring back, no longer finding it troublesome in his heart.
Meili held his discarded clothes, sewing up the tears for him. “Next time we run into one, I’ll make you a new cloak—double-layered, slippery inside and out, so it won’t get wet.”
Muli felt even more expectant. If it weren’t dark outside and it would be bad to leave Meili alone, he would go out to find one right now.
The little bear who wanted to wear new clothes was just thinking about his new cloak, when Meili already shook out the mended top and hung it by the fire to dry.
“Give me the pants too, the knees are all worn through.” Meili said casually, and Muli casually took off his pants and handed them to her.
Right now, he was a completely unclothed little white bear. His whole body was covered in soft, snow-white fur. When he sat there in the same posture as a human, he only made people think he was adorable, not feel embarrassed.
So Meili looked at him many times. Cute things are always hard to refuse.
Muli didn’t feel anything about it either. He had learned to wear clothes from a young age because Grandpa taught him. He wasn’t purely human—he was only subconsciously mimicking them, and in truth he didn’t have much shame about exposing his body. None of the magical beasts he met wore clothes; only he did. He was the strangest one.
When he was first picked up by Grandpa, Grandpa taught him to talk and to wear clothes. Muli had been very unwilling to wear them, feeling that the clothes bound his body and were uncomfortable.
At that time he didn’t have any suitable clothes either. Grandpa had modified a piece of clothing for him, which was too big and always dragged on the ground. Wearing it while climbing the lighthouse’s narrow stairs, one careless step would cause him to trip on the hem and roll down like a ball, knocking himself dizzy.
He also liked to run around everywhere, picking fights with passing magical beasts. In no time at all, a piece of clothing would become torn and ragged.
Grandpa would sigh while mending his clothes, not skillfully at all. Muli would sit by the fire shaking his white fur, watching, and even making trouble while watching—just like now.
It had been a long time already. That was a scene from deep in his memory.
Meili lowered her head as she mended clothes. When she spoke, she was always smiling, unlike Grandpa in his memory who would nag and blame him. Grandpa had passed away long ago. There were only a few scenes like that in his memory, and as too much time had passed, those scenes had become blurry and dim, like a fire dying out.
Now, the light in the lighthouse was shining again. Bathed in that warm orange glow, Muli felt warm and drowsy all over.
Meili was mending his pants, casually responding to Muli’s talking from across the way, when she suddenly noticed that Muli had scooted over to sit beside her. The white soft fur brushed against her. Meili lifted her head and saw him sitting upright, hands on his knees, standing up like a little mountain by her side, suddenly looking very serious.
She also quietly leaned a little closer toward him.
It was truly wonderful — soft and warm to lean against.
The newly made fur cushions were stacked up layer by layer. Lying on them made a person sink right in, and with another layer covering the body, cold hands and feet could finally warm up. Meili fell asleep.
But Muli wasn’t used to her not lying on him anymore. Seeing that she was asleep, he quietly rolled her and the long fur blanket together, wrapping her tightly and placing her on top of himself, then hugged this long “body pillow” like a bear and went to sleep.
Meili woke up with her face burning red, discovering she couldn’t move at all.
She gave up the new bed and returned to sleep on the little bear-shaped cushion that would automatically heat up, then covered herself with two layers of fur blankets.
Every morning when she woke up, Muli would see her loose red hair spread across the white fur on his chest.
It looked so nice… he wanted clothes that were this red. Muli thought.
There were no red clothes, so he actively searched for traces of the Ice Cave Beast, wanting to get a new cloak as soon as possible. He searched for cracked ice holes on the snowy plains and waited by them. He waited for many days yet didn’t see the slightest shadow of an Ice Cave Beast.
His presence was too dangerous. Even if he guarded the hole, the Ice Cave Beast wouldn’t dare surface.
The harder it was to catch, the more unwilling he was to give up. He found more than a dozen ice holes and wandered back and forth every day. Finally, one day, he saw an Ice Cave Beast moving near an ice hole in the distance.
The magical beasts that lived in the water under the ice were round and plump, with gray fur, which looked extremely conspicuous on the ice.
Muli excitedly ran over as fast as he could, only to watch it drop into the water with a plunk at the last moment.
He was so angry that he raised his fist and smashed through the ice layer, jumping straight into the water to chase.
Of course, he didn’t catch it in the end. Even though he was much stronger than when he was a child, turbulent waters were not a place where he could reign.
He surfaced from the water, poking his head out of the ice hole, dejectedly spitting out a big fish he had bitten.
He hadn’t caught the Ice Cave Beast. When he opened his mouth to roar, a big fish happened to bump into his mouth, so he just grabbed it.
Climbing out of the water, Muli was soaked all over. After taking off his clothes, he shook his body hard. The fur on his body stood straight, and in a blink it froze into ice, like hard ice needles. His whole body turned into a crystal-clear little bear made of ice needles.
He didn’t care. With a strong shake, those icy needles clattered loudly, turning into snowy debris that he shook off, and he became a clean and refreshed white bear again.
Having failed to catch an Ice Cave Beast again, Muli gloomily brought back a big fish — earning a surprised look from Meili.
“What a big fish! You caught a fish, that’s wonderful. I haven’t eaten fish in so long.”
Muli’s heavy steps gradually became lighter. His drooping head slowly lifted. “You like eating fish? They’re very easy to catch. I’ll catch more tomorrow.”
Sure enough, the next day he dragged back a pile of fish. Meili looked at the long fur on his body, not knowing how exactly he managed to catch so many fish.
“How did you catch them? You jumped into the water to catch them?” Meili said.
Meili widened her eyes. “In the water… you jumped into the water? Isn’t it cold?” She stepped forward and worriedly touched his arm, as if to check whether he was frostbitten, but what she touched was still warm fur.
Muli tilted his head in confusion, feeling strange about her anxiety. “I’m not afraid of the cold.”
In a place this freezing, he was actually the most comfortable.
Seeing him tilt his head adorably, Meili’s tone softened. “As long as you’re not cold. Because I’m too cold, so I always worry that you’re also cold.”
Hearing her tone and feeling the gentle pressure of her hand on his arm, Muli suddenly felt his knees go weak. He looked down at his knees in confusion, not knowing what was wrong with them.
The two of them handled the big pile of fish together. Since they couldn’t finish eating them, they hung all of them outside the lighthouse. In a short while, even the bloodwater froze along with the fish, and when the cold wind blew, they clattered against the lighthouse walls.
Finding enough food was very easy for Muli, but not so easy for many other creatures in the polar land. With the food hanging outside, that very night there were “thieves” coming to steal fish.
Muli was sleeping when he suddenly opened his eyes. He stared at the door, and the cute, sweet bear face inexplicably showed a ferocious expression. The dying fire in the hearth reflected in his eyes, flickering eerily.
He silently set Meili down, stood up, opened the door, and pounced out.
Meili was awakened by the roar of a beast. She climbed up and looked toward the door, just in time to see Muli walking back, with a fresh circle of blood around his mouth.
It was quiet outside again.
He came back and lay down, and one second later he was softly snoring again. Meili couldn’t quite tell if he had been awake just now, perhaps he had relied purely on instinct to fight.
She was fully awake, and sat up to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth with a damp cloth. Muli opened one eye from being wiped, cast her a ghostly glance, then quickly closed it again.
Meili found it amusing and took out a small bit of sugar crumb, stuffing it into his mouth.
Muli smacked his lips, tasting the sweetness. Very quickly, that frightening air about him disappeared, melting into a soft fluffy bear blanket. No matter how Meili wiped, he didn’t move, only letting out a couple of unconscious whimpers.
Meili rubbed his head.
In the morning, seeing two frozen prey outside the tower, Meili knew they were the ones stealing fish last night. Since there were ready-made prey, Muli didn’t hunt. Instead, he went out to guard the ice holes, waiting for his cloak materials to appear.
Left alone in the lighthouse, Meili wore thick fur-sewn clothing, hats, gloves, and so on, practicing archery again and again. With persistent practice, she had achieved some results, and she felt that she seemed to have quite the talent for archery — her progress excited her.
During her time in the polar land, aside from the cold, there had been no other danger. But on this day, alone in the lighthouse, Meili heard the roar of a beast outside.
It was very close. Meili was startled, then quickly understood — the frozen prey outside must have attracted a wild animal searching for food.
She looked toward the door but did not dare approach recklessly to check. She grabbed her bow and quickly ran up the stairs, panting as she reached the platform at the very top of the lighthouse, leaning out from the broken window opening to look down.
Below, sure enough, there was a wild beast, a bit larger in build than Muli. It had already eaten half of the frozen prey and was poking its huge nose around the lighthouse door, seemingly attracted by something inside but too wary to enter.
Meili grew tense, then realized she must drive it away.
Pulling back the thick fur hood tightly covering her head, she raised her bow and aimed down at the beast. Her bare hands and face were chilled by the wind, but she endured the ache in her arms, holding steady without moving as she aimed at the beast. She waited for a while, and when it finally raised its head, exposing eyes and nostrils, Meili instantly released the bowstring.
