บท 5: Chapter 5：Surviving Alone: Seraphina's Thrilling Journey after Leaving Auris

No Signal...

Seraphina was sitting on the haystack, looking at her mobile phone with only 3% battery left. Soon, it would turn into a useless piece of metal.

Since she had determined that this place was not her own dimension, Seraphina had always had an indescribable feeling.

She had always hoped that this was another civilized world and that there were humans on the other side of the forest. Maybe one day, someone would suddenly pop up beside her and tell her that the tree she had named the Broad-leaf Coconut wasn't actually called that.

So she had been waiting, but the things she had been hoping for never happened. There was no sign of human habitation or activity here. And the wolf king in her dream, herself transformed into a bird, everything in the unseen seemed to be predestined.

She couldn't break free or go against it.

From that day on, Seraphina began to try to understand this world. Although she still often hoped for the appearance of humans, she had buried that hope deeper and deeper in her heart. It was like planting a seed that would never germinate. But when it did break through its shell one day, it would bring about earth-shattering changes.

And the quickest way to understand this world was through Auris.

She obeyed it, was wary of it, and observed it.

Seraphina didn't consider herself the type of woman who relied on others like a dodder. But in this dangerous wild jungle, without fur or weapons, all her hopes of survival depended on this animal, an animal about which she still knew nothing.

'Hu hu' The huge beast was lying comfortably at the entrance of the cave. The sun was shining on its satin-like fur, giving the illusion that it was harmless. But she would never mistake it for a dog because even when it was resting, its paws were still tensed. Once any danger approached, it would immediately tear it to pieces.

She had once seen Auris, while lying there feigning sleep, instantly catch a little bird that had flown close to peck at the fruits on the cave wall and immediately tore the bird apart alive. When Seraphina saw the pile of flesh and feathers, she was shocked inside.

This grey wolf possessed astonishing strength. Besides that, it even had extraordinary camouflage abilities and patience.

Seraphina guessed that Auris was probably a top predator like a lion in this world. There might be other large carnivores, but it definitely wouldn't be weak.

But it was this fierce beast at the top of the food chain that had a strange attitude towards her.

It would hunt for her, forcefully chew up the prey and feed it to her. And no matter how much Seraphina refused the raw meat that was offered to her, it would always stubbornly force it into her mouth. Only when it felt that she was full would it eat the remaining prey itself.

No animal would let another species sleep beside it without any precautions, nor would it give precious prey to other animals for no reason. Seraphina had thought of many possibilities, but this was the only explanation.

It regarded her as a cub.

And it was only like this towards Seraphina. Any other animals, whether adult or not, would be bitten to death mercilessly by it.

"Regarding a humanoid creature as a wolf cub or something like that doesn't make any sense at all."

Seraphina watched as Auris came over. It was obviously interested in the shiny mobile phone in her hand. She couldn't stop it in time and watched helplessly as the fragile smartphone died a heroic death under the sharp claws of the giant wolf after lasting only a few seconds.

'Hu hu' It looked at the shattered mobile phone under its paw with confusion. Before she could react, it quickly pushed the phone fragments into the corner of the cave and then continued to lie at the entrance of the cave, basking in the sun as if nothing had happened.

Seraphina was on the verge of crying. If she didn't have to obey this wolf, she would definitely have rushed up to fight it.

Although Auris was a wolf, its habits were somewhat different from those of ordinary wild wolves. It wasn't a nocturnal animal and wouldn't go out for activities after the sun went down.

And from the prey it caught, the giant wolf preferred herbivores with plump flesh. Although it would occasionally catch some small birds, that was the difference between a main meal and a dessert.

And judging from the size of its prey, only the giant wolf had a rather special body size. Those strangely shaped sheep and deer were all of normal size.

Yes, that's right. Seraphina had always thought that the meat it fed her was deer meat. But later, when she was cleaning up the remains in the cave, she found that it wasn't deer at all.

It was a herbivore that looked like a mishmash of different animals. It had horns like a cow, but its head shape and body were more like a deer. And from the fur left by Auris after eating, its tail was in the shape of long hair like a horse's.

Seraphina admitted that she was not very knowledgeable and had no idea what kind of animal this was. Later, when Auris brought back a prey that wasn't completely dead, she finally got to see a complete living specimen.

"Let's call it the Horned Deer." Seraphina was about to take a closer look when Auris, thinking she wanted to eat it, tore the prey into pieces in a few strokes and pushed the raw meat in front of her.

Seraphina looked at the bloody meat in her hand. Due to extreme hunger and fear in the first two days, her body could still accept this kind of emergency meal. But now, looking at this thing full of the stench of wild animals, her only reaction was to feel nauseous.

'Hu hu' Auris thought she didn't want to eat again and stepped on the ground in front of her with one paw. Seraphina quickly dodged and scurried to the entrance of the cave.

"Don't come out." She stood at the entrance of the cave, looking at the slightly puzzled Auris. It might have thought she was throwing a tantrum or playing. Then it put down the meat in its mouth and came over to rub against her. Seraphina pushed away the wolf face that came close to her, "I just want to make a fire." Living a life of eating raw meat and drinking unboiled water was just like that of a primitive man.

She broke free from Auris and climbed down from the cave. Actually, she had already noticed that there was lush thatch growing below. Just grabbing a bundle would be enough to start a fire. There were firewood everywhere in the forest. She needed to pick some dry and thicker ones to build a fire pile.

While Seraphina was doing these things, Auris was sitting there watching her. Maybe it was a wild beast that was very tolerant of its cubs, but all this only lasted until she opened her lighter.

"Roar!" Seraphina was suddenly pounced on by a gust of strong wind. She didn't know where the lighter in her hand had fallen. She could feel that Auris, in a frenzy, kicked over the firewood pile she had just built not long ago and quickly crushed the grass that had just started to spark.

She lay on the ground, hugging her head and curling up. In her ears was the crazy roar of the giant wolf. There was a commotion in the cave as the giant wolf jumped around, with broken stones, thatch, and bones flying everywhere. She didn't even dare to open her eyes.

Until the commotion in the cave gradually died down, she could still hear the warning growl of the wild wolf, which was different from its previous voice and was full of anger and panic.

Seraphina felt that in Auris's eyes, she was a naughty and mischievous brat who had almost burned down the house. It was very angry. Maybe to punish her, it didn't share today's prey with her anymore.

'Roar' It growled softly at her and then turned around and jumped out of the cave.

After a while, Seraphina gradually regained her senses. When she put her arms down from above her head, she found that her whole body was stiff from the shock.

"I'm asking for trouble." She lay weakly on the scattered haystack. The cave was in a mess, with firewood, grass scraps, and bones scattered everywhere. Not far away, there was a wet patch of deer skin on the ground.

Seraphina began to reconsider her position with Auris. No matter how close its attitude towards her was, it was a wolf and she was a person. She couldn't eat raw meat and drink unboiled water like an animal, and Auris was naturally afraid of fire and couldn't allow a fire to appear beside it.

If this continued, there was only one outcome for her. She would die.

After thinking this through, Seraphina got up and quickly tidied up the cave. She threw out all the messy garbage and took out her small bag from the corner and put it on her back. She ignored the shattered mobile phone but picked up the lighter and a sturdy enough animal leg bone.

Besides that, she also took a few of the previously picked Broad-leaf Coconuts. The shell of this fruit was very hard. She used her Swiss Army knife to cut around the top and then polished it for a while before cutting out a small opening. After cleaning out the pulp inside with a branch, it became a good water storage tool.

She strung a few coconuts together with thatch and carried them on her back, using them as water bottles.

It was still bright outside. Judging from the sun, it should be around two o'clock in the afternoon. Seraphina chose to enter the forest in the direction opposite to Auris's usual activities. If she was lucky, she hoped to find a water source.

She had been surviving on animal blood and a few scattered fruits these past two days. She felt that she was getting closer and closer to a wild man. Her head and face were dirty beyond recognition. In just a few days, her camel-colored coat could no longer be seen for its original color.

'Papap' She used the sharp thigh bone in her hand to hit the grass to drive away snakes. Maybe because she was carrying Auris's smell, she didn't encounter any fierce beasts along the way. A few lone Horned Deer saw her from a distance and quickly ran away.

"At least I don't have to worry about safety issues like this." Seraphina comforted herself.

Perhaps it was predestined. The monotonous forest suddenly had a different scene. She found water.

It was a small stream, flowing out from the pile of stones on the hillside. There wasn't much water, so it hadn't converged into a small river.

The moment she saw the water, she immediately threw away the bone in her hand and threw herself down by the stream. After drinking a few big gulps and washing her face vigorously, Seraphina really felt alive again.

"Hi, primitive man, hello." She looked at her reflection in the stream. Under the wet hair was a face red from the cold water. The collar was dirty and stained with blood. A homeless person would look more presentable than her.

"It'll get better. There'll be a way." Seraphina took off her coat and rolled up her sleeves. She used the stream water to wash her hands. There were ripples in the stream water. She wiped her eyes, "When I find a place to live, I can make a fire. I can go and pick wild fruits and wild vegetables and catch some small animals." She buried her face in her palms and sobbed as she comforted herself, "I'll survive well."

The sound of the stream water flowing was in her ears. Seraphina cried for a while. Then she silently filled the few coconut fruits with water, picked them up and was about to continue on her way when she suddenly heard the sound of footsteps on the grass behind her.

She turned around in a daze and saw a black shadow slowly walking out of the shadows. 'Hu hu' A grey wolf walked out.

"Auris..." No, it wasn't Auris. Although it looked similar on the outside, this grey wolf was much smaller in size, about the size of a normal wild wolf. It stared at Seraphina with its eyes, panting heavily.

She groped to hold the bone spike in front of her and moved her feet back little by little. "Ha!" Seraphina shouted loudly in an attempt to scare the grey wolf away, but it had little effect.

The last bit of Auris's smell on her had almost been washed away by the running water. The grey wolf was hesitating a few steps away from her. Seraphastina watched the saliva dripping from its teeth. When its patience was finally exhausted.

That would be her death.