(9) Saving the Tiger

After a brief nap, she opened her eyes again to find the sun high in the sky.

“What a beautiful day~”

Despite the forecast warning of scorching heat, Liu Yi felt nothing of the sort. Instead, the blazing sunlight on her skin was wonderfully comfortable, lacking any sting of harsh radiation.

Could it be that the disasters she feared in the apocalypse were merely her imagination? Perhaps there was no food crisis, and everything had returned to normal after the earthquake…

Eager to confirm, she pulled out a thermometer and tested the temperature in the sunlight. Fifty-two degrees Celsius, fifty-seven, sixty, sixty-seven—the ground temperature soared straight to seventy-three degrees and then began to increase more steadily.

“Is this thermometer broken?” Liu Yi couldn’t believe her eyes. She dug out several more thermometers from the manor’s storeroom to test again.

Indoors, the temperature read fifty-two point six degrees; outdoors, the surface measured eighty-five point seven.

By rights, such furnace-like heat should have roasted her mad, yet she felt perfectly comfortable, utterly unbothered by the swelter.

Worried she might be ill, she checked her own temperature: arm, mouth, armpit, forehead—again and again, the results barely changed.

It was hopeless. Her body temperature hovered between twenty-three point five and twenty-eight degrees—almost cold enough to rival a corpse!

At least her heart was still beating.

After an hour of gloomy contemplation, Liu Yi rallied herself.

She turned her sorrow into appetite, boiled three packets of instant noodles, but was only half full. Two more servings of self-heating rice and hotpot followed.

Truth be told, she could have eaten more, but she couldn’t bear to dip further into her stockpile.

A sense of crisis gnawed at her, making it impossible to simply lie back and do nothing. She rummaged through the manor’s backyard warehouse for farming tools, weighed a metal shovel, and placed it in a bamboo basket.

She planned to head to town for more supplies, and if nothing else, dig up some dried fruit to use as seeds.

But plans are always overtaken by events.

Just as she strapped on her basket and hopped onto her little electric scooter, ready to head for town, a white blur came stumbling down the rugged mountain path, howling plaintively as it ran.

The sound struck Liu Yi as a sobbing plea for help, the voice soft and childlike.

Had someone’s child wandered off?

Though Liu Yi was fond of animals, she had little patience for human children, thanks to the havoc wreaked by her half-siblings. The mere sight of kids made her inwardly recoil.

But when the fluffy white figure halted before her and she looked closely, she was stunned.

This was no human child!

It was clearly a white tiger cub.

Barely half a meter long, its fur was white with black stripes, faintly gleaming, its body plump and healthy. It kept crying out in distress.

“Aw woo aw woo~” Great-grandma, save my mom, help, great-grandma~

Seeing her frozen in shock, the tiger cub urgently reached out with its soft, pudgy paw and tugged at her leg, urging her to help.

Liu Yi wondered if she truly was ill.

She could actually understand the cub calling her great-grandma!

Half-dazed, she followed the little white tiger into the forest.

At first, she walked, but when the cub seemed about to burst into tears with anxiety, she ran after it, barely slowed by the toppled vegetation.

By the time the sun was near setting, they reached the wildlife reserve.

There was nothing but desolate plants and barren gravel.

Vultures circled overhead like hungry wolves, their massive, hard beaks glinting coldly. Their keen eyesight and sensitive noses locked onto the large white tiger lying trapped in the marsh below.

A grown white tiger, sunk deep in the mire, was already half-unconscious.

“Mom, mom, wake up! I brought great-grandma to save you!” The cub pounced at its mother with a cry.

The mud in the marsh was thick and sticky, pulling both mother and child deeper.

The tigress’s body was impressively strong, all muscle and sinew, built for explosive power—especially those sharp, long teeth.

Liu Yi’s courage drained away, icy fear flooding her veins. She dared not move, her hair standing on end.

This was a tiger; if she saved it, it could just as easily turn and devour her.

Her heart thudded wildly, every pore open, hair and skin tingling with terror.

The tigress heard the cub’s voice, lifted her eyelids, and cast Liu Yi a glance—her pale blue eyes chilling and bloodthirsty.

A single roar shook the air, not only scaring off the vultures but terrifying Liu Yi to her core. She was about to bolt when she heard the tigress murmuring last words to her cub: warnings to stay away from humans, avoid wild beasts, run from danger, beware of guns and ammunition.

Since when had wild beasts grown so human?

Liu Yi craned her neck to peek and saw the tigress licking the cub’s fur.

The little thing had run so frantically that its paws were raw and bloody.

The tigress’s icy gaze softened with tenderness as she cleaned mud and blood from her cub, then seized it gently by the scruff and tossed it a short distance away.

Yet as she did so, she sank deeper into the mire.

Though nearly spent and powerless, the tigress still cherished her offspring.

Some humans aren’t even as humane as this.

“Aw woo~” Great-grandma, save my mom! She’s a good tiger, the greatest tiger in the world!

The cub’s childish voice pleaded with Liu Yi.

It could call her mom, even call her great-grandma…

She decided to take a chance.

From her storage, she pulled out a rescue rope, knotted one end into a loop, and swung it a few times in her hand before approaching the marsh.

With every step closer, her fear mounted. Her heart raced, pores opened, hair bristled, her body trembling uncontrollably.

When she was close to the tigress, even her teeth chattered with nerves.

She had no idea why the cub called her great-grandma, but if she made one wrong move, its mother might send her to meet her ancestors.

“Here, bite the rope. I’ll pull you out.”

The tigress, surprisingly intelligent, clamped the rope between her teeth.

Liu Yi gripped the rope tightly, her expression set with determination, sweat dampening her brow, every muscle taut.

Her grubby white sneakers pressed into the sand, each step leaving a deep imprint.

She didn’t know her own limits, but for now, she felt stronger than a wild boar.

Everything was uncertain, but at least she seemed to be evolving for the better.

The cub was clever, too, biting the loose end of the rope on her side and helping to pull its mother.

The rescue rope stretched taut, gradually lifting the tigress out of the mire.

A triumphant roar echoed across the valley as the tigress regained her freedom.

“We did it!” Liu Yi let out a heavy breath, glanced at the tigress, and, taking advantage of its exhaustion, slipped away without a word…

“Aw woo~” Mom, why did great-grandma leave? Little Tiger hasn’t thanked her yet!