Too bad, Miles's objection didn't scare Tanya at all. Instead, it made her even more curious and eager to go check things out.
She used to be a big boss in the apocalypse. When had she ever been afraid?
Danger? Just deal with it. Once the problem is gone, there's nothing to worry about.
"That salty wasteland... is it close by?"
Miles didn't know what she meant, but answered honestly, "If I walk fast, I can go there and come back before dark."
Tanya did a quick calculation. "So that means it's actually quite close. Which also means we're not really safe here. If the beasts from that area suddenly feel like wandering over here, there's nothing we can do to stop them, right?"
With her usual boss-like mindset, she couldn't ignore danger right outside her doorstep.
She had even gone into her space to check her bullet count. There weren't many, but it should be enough to deal with a few beast creatures.
Seeing that she had made up her mind, Miles had no choice but to follow her quietly. He was a strong adult male, so of course he had to protect his female while out gathering.
The thought suddenly stunned him. Since when had he started thinking of her as his?
But once the idea came up, he found that he didn't hate it. In fact, it felt really good.
He admitted that he liked her. She was nothing like the weak females in the tribe who depended completely on males. She was capable, and full of strange, interesting ideas.
She was like a glowing treasure, pulling him in closer bit by bit.
The two of them walked together. Star and Moon stayed behind to watch the home.
Tanya didn't know what Miles was thinking. She simply followed the small river downstream and soon saw where the water had dried up, revealing the clay underneath.
She cleaned off the top layer of sand and started loading the clay into the baskets behind her.
They had woven these baskets together over the past few days. There were several now, and they made collecting and hunting so much easier.
Miles couldn't help admiring her cleverness as he helped dig up more clay.
He tried to comfort her, "It's hot. The river dried up from the sun. Actually, the end of the river is still a bit further away."
In other words, the salty wasteland where the beasts lived was still quite far.
Tanya felt a little disappointed. She had really wanted to see what those legendary beast creatures looked like.
But whether it was Miles's bad luck or just coincidence, as they followed the river and filled just two baskets with clay, they suddenly heard something.
A huge bug-like creature was chasing an injured phoenix with its group.
But as soon as they got close to the river, they all picked up the scent of a human female. It was tempting.
The leader bug immediately changed into human form and jumped in front of Tanya. "Aha, a human female! Smells so good~!"
Almost the second he appeared, Miles pulled out his bone knife and stood in front of Tanya, swinging his blade upward as the bug man came closer.
"Back off! It's you again, that annoying human male!" The beast was originally a mole cricket. He and Miles had met before.
Miles had stolen prey from him more than once.
And now he was even blocking him from getting close to a female?
Old grudges and new anger exploded at once. His killing intent burst out.
"Miles! You're dead!"
Tanya watched from behind with interest. This beast man was seriously ugly. He was gross as a bug and even uglier in human form. Compared to Miles, who was handsome and sharp, the difference was like heaven and earth.
Just looking at him was painful!
Without hesitation, Tanya pulled out her gun and aimed it at the mole cricket beast. "Miles, move!"
Miles glanced back and saw the thing she was holding. He suddenly remembered Star saying Tanya could kill a giant python in one shot. Right then, the mole cricket had avoided his attack and the two were momentarily separated.
That was when Tanya took the shot.
Bang!
One shot. The mole cricket beast's head exploded.
Miles held his breath. What kind of weapon is this? It's amazing!
Now he finally understood—Star and the others weren't just bragging about their sister.
The mole cricket beast had clearly been the leader. With him dead, the rest of the bug creatures panicked. They had been toying with the injured phoenix, stinging and biting it. But now they all turned and rushed toward Tanya and Miles.
"Looks like they're trying to avenge their leader."
Miles slashed away with his knife. These bugs hadn't taken human form, so they weren't too deadly. But there were so many of them that they were still annoying to deal with.
Tanya instinctively tried to gather wind blades. In the apocalypse, when faced with a swarm of zombies, she could wipe them out with a single wind blade—fast, sharp, and clean.
She focused her five fingers, but nothing came.
She almost cried.
Damn it!
She used to be a powerful ability user. Now her powers were completely gone. It was depressing!
So she just aimed and fired into the thickest part of the swarm. She kept firing until the last bullet was gone, finally blasting out a burst of fire that set the bugs on fire.
Bugs feared fire. As soon as the flames started, they scattered and fled.
Tanya felt sad. Her bullets were all gone. The gun was now useless.
She tried again to gather her power. Suddenly, she saw a tiny flicker of light.
Her ability!
She immediately focused on that light, confirming it was her wind element!
Maybe trying to use it earlier had triggered it?
Or maybe it had always been there, just too weak to notice?
Who cares! As long as the power was still there!
Even if her five-element abilities were now down to just one, Tanya was still happy!
Miles thought she was just happy because they'd beaten the beast creatures, so he smiled too. "You're not hurt, right?"
"Nope." Tanya was in a good mood. She looked at the injured phoenix that had been attacked by the bugs. She no longer felt like eating it. "The wounds don't look too bad. Let's take it back and treat it. If it gets better, we'll keep it. If not, we'll eat it."
The injured phoenix shivered all over.
"Hey, don't be scared. I'm not going to eat you yet," Tanya said with a big smile.
The phoenix: ??
What's the difference between eating it now and eating it later after it's fattened up?
She had been in this wild beast world for eight days. This was the first time Miles saw her truly smile from the heart.
She looked beautiful when she smiled. Her eyes didn't look like before ,they were full of mischief and sparkles. He couldn't stop staring.
He didn't even notice the phoenix's nervous reaction on the ground.
He forced himself to look away and tossed the injured phoenix into the basket with the clay. Then he grabbed one basket in each hand. "Let's go. It's getting dark."
Tanya walked leisurely. As they went, she quietly tried to gather wind energy again, but nothing came. Her power was still too weak.
They walked along the riverbank. Tanya wanted to try and catch some fish. She felt like eating fish tonight.
As they strolled back, they saw a slightly older male rushing toward them in a panic.