Zerra stumbled down, her hand still holding the cloth filled with the mutated plant tightly. She couldn’t touch its leaves directly. The tiger stared at her, then it began to walk in her direction with a predatory glint in its eyes. She hissed slightly, gradually falling silent at the sight in the tiger’s eyes. Until a baby tiger popped out of the gigantic tiger’s head. It climbed down and ran toward Zerra. Its mother bit the scruff of its neck and jumped toward her. The baby tiger fell into Zerra’s embrace while its mother licked her face. She snapped back to her senses. Her eyes lit up. "You still remember me?" She held the baby tiger on her lap, not allowing it to fall down. Just like its mother, the baby tiger also licked its hands. The tiger let out a low growl, as if it was acquiescing to her words. After a while, they stopped licking her and stopped beside her. "Oh, no, no, don’t touch it." She hurriedly pulled the cloth from the baby tiger’s mouth, scared it might get poisoned because of the leaves. When she saw the leaves intact inside and the baby tiger’s small fangs didn’t reach it at all, she was relieved. She playfully flicked the baby tiger’s nose. "Naughty little thing!" The baby tiger let out a small roar, not understanding her words. The tiger used its claw to hold down its playful cub, making the baby tiger roar in protest. "How can you be here?" Zerra turned to the tiger and asked. She couldn’t help but trace its fur, shining gold, and it looked like it was glowing under the sun. The tiger shouldn’t be here. This was the Capital, and not the forest they had once passed in order to arrive at the Capital. The tiger let out a soft growl. It took Zerra a while to interpret what it was trying to convey. Brain wave communication was still difficult because although the tiger had gained intelligence, the level wasn’t high enough. The message it could deliver to her was like a baby trying to speak, not clear enough. "Huh? You had randomly appeared here?" She repeated the message she got from the tiger in bewilderment. "How did you get here?" She asked again, and her eyes widened when she got the answer. The tiger said that it had met some kind of hole in the ground! The hole had dragged it, and after some unknown time had passed, it appeared here. "How long since you appeared here?" The tiger tilted its head, growling softly. It didn’t understand her question or perhaps how to answer. Zerra smacked her own forehead. Of course, a tiger wouldn’t understand the concept of time using human measurements! She just wanted to make sure whether the mutated animals had come from another place or were already here from the start. The time when the tiger appeared here would tell, but the tiger had no sense of time like a human did. "You were the only one who got transported here?" The tiger licked her face again, and then threw the confused baby tiger into her embrace, as if to tell her only the two of them found the hole and appeared here. Zerra brushed the soft fur of the baby tiger, frowning deeply. Such a thing could happen here too, eh? Her heart became restless. She bit her lip hard until she tasted blood. The space and time tear... it didn’t happen because of the disintegrating plot, didn’t it? She was truly worried. What had happened to the tiger sounded like the space and time tears she had heard in some places of the celestial realm. Most space and time tears were dangerous because it was unknown where they could lead . The tiger had experienced it on a small scale, but it was also a sign of how unstable this world was. In other small realms, she even heard her master say such tears had caused them to be shattered. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel fire.net She didn’t want such a thing to happen here. The tiger licked her again, throwing her on its back. Oh, she had turned into a fox again because of her anxiety! The baby tiger stared at her in confusion before it sniffed her. Its eyes flashed with recognition, and it licked her in excitement. Zerra’s tiny figure shook a bit, hoping that the baby tiger wouldn’t bite her. Thankfully, it didn’t. After putting the cloth filled with poisonous mutated plants in her space, the tiger walked around the forest with her. "How did you find me?" She asked the tiger again through the brain waves. "Huh? My scent? You thought I was in danger?" Zerra muttered, a little touched. It must have been because of the octopus monster scent. The scent mixed with hers, causing the tiger to worry she had been attacked by a beast. "Thank you," she muttered to the tiger. Her little paw brushed against the soft fur, sending some vitality to it. Alas, the vitality she could send to the tiger was limited in her current form. The tiger growled, asking where they should go. She pondered it and decided to tell the tiger about the cave. Now that she knew the tiger was a familiar one, she didn’t need to worry anymore. "Oh, I almost forgot." Zerra tapped her forehead with her paw. "I heard that you and Derek fought... why did you attack him?" She proceeded to tell the tiger about how Derek looked, hoping it would recall him. "Huh? So you thought he was dangerous because of his scent?" Her eyes widened. It was indeed because of that stinky, nauseating liquid! "But now, don’t worry. He is my friend! I will make sure he won’t hurt you..." Zerra reassured the tiger. While they were conversing, the baby tiger seemed to have found it fun to lick Zerra’s snow-white fur occasionally. She almost became all wet because of its saliva! Just as Zerra’s paw held the baby tiger’s nose in exasperation, she heard human voices. "Are you sure this place is safe? There are no dangerous animals or–" The words were cut off, and an arrow embedded itself in the tree beside the tiger’s gigantic form, missing its target. "Who is it? Come out!"