Chương 45: Volume 1 Interlude ~ The Tragic Life of Ren Xuan and Ren Qingquan’s Victim

My name is Gentle Moon, a name I chose for myself some time ago. I still remember a few months ago as if it were yesterday. Back then, I was just a slightly smarter-than-average creature who was blessed with happiness, living together with my family in the forest. My family includes me, my husband, and our children. Despite the challenges of living in a dangerous forest, each day felt fulfilling.

As most of our children are nearing adulthood, with one even almost ready to live independently, we decided to move with them from our home and teach them to hunt the forest's creatures. It is a decision I will come to regret for the rest of my life. Walking side by side along the familiar path we've known for nearly half our lives, we soon spotted a suitable target for our child to hunt: a boar that was unaware of our presence. We signaled to each other as our children prepared to hunt.

Meanwhile, we stayed behind, watching over them in case anything went wrong. Before long, the boar was slain, and we simply watched our children enjoy their prey, silently from behind. After walking around for some time, looking for another suitable prey for our children to hunt, we smelled something delicious and decided to take a look. Both I and my husband decided to bring our children to take a look.

When we arrived, we saw several bipedal beasts surrounding a fire; one of them looked especially plump and filled with meat. The delicious smell came exactly from the fires surrounded by those bipedal beasts. My children and husband became especially excited when they smelled it. As usual, they tried to get closer in a stance ready to hunt those bipedal beasts. But unlike before, although those bipedal beasts seemed to be afraid, one of the smaller bipedal beasts suddenly moved at almost instantaneous speed.

With the claw from its foreleg, the bipedal beast easily dissected one of my children. Upon seeing it, grief filled my heart, but grief only existed there temporarily before my heart became entirely filled with fear. I looked at my husband and children, who were fighting, and prepared to join and help them. But when I saw the small bipedal beast draw its claw and heavily injure my husband before dashing toward me, I trembled and ran away. While escaping, I recalled the children I brought with me today.

I screamed at them to disperse and run away. But, instead of running away, I could see them trying their best to block those bipedal beasts while giving me time to escape. Even my husband pulled himself to his feet to block the beast, even though we knew we were no match for it. Yet, even with my family's sacrifice, I didn't escape unscathed. The small bipedal beast has left a large wound on my back. Its claw moved at incredible speed and slashed a large wound on my back, leaving me barely alive.

Yet, I kept dragging my feet, because whenever I turned my head, I felt I could see the bloody view of my family trying their best to buy me enough time. That was also when I came to hate my weakness. Just like that, I traveled alone in this cold, unfeeling forest with hunger and pain accompanying me. Sensing the hunger that became even more unbearable, I searched for food. For several days, I scraped by with whatever I could forage in the forest.

Until one day, I found myself attacked by a bear at the same level as me. But in my current weakened state, I have no chance of fighting against it.

'Is this how it ends?' Thinking like that, I closed my eyes as its massive paw struck toward me. Not feeling any pain even after a while and hearing the sound of fighting nearby, I opened my eyes. There, the bear is fighting against a handsome man who soon defeats it easily. As I watched the man slowly approach me, accompanied by two women, I sighed and begged him to let me join his group. I have experienced it myself and realized it's impossible to protect myself in this dangerous forest alone.

He looked at me with a cold stare before nodding and letting me join his group. Compared to my previous small family, his group is several times as big. Among his group members, I found another man whom I soon fell in love with. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. With it, peace returned to my daily life. One day, when I thought I had forgotten that terror-filled day when I lost my family, my new lover died. On that day, we went hunting as usual.

I, my new husband, and a few others. That's when we all smell something delicious coming from a certain direction. The others around me became excited and ran toward the source of that smell. But the smell reawakened that bloody memory deep in my mind. My body shuddered as my eyes became blurry from tears and fears. Instinctively, I escaped far away. The only contribution I could give is to warn my husband and his group about the impending danger. But when I turned my head, I saw it.

I saw the small bipedal beast responsible for the death of my previous husband. That bipedal beast easily killed my husband, who almost successfully killed one of the bipedal beasts. I took a deep look at my husband's corpse, the bipedal beast that fought my husband, and finally the small bipedal beast that killed my husband with its claw. I etch their appearance thoroughly on my memory as I run away once more. This time I ran so much in a panic that I didn't even realize where I was going.

While running, I stumbled onto a branch and accidentally fell into a hole. The wall around this hole is built of strong, smooth stone, with no gaps between the stones. Even after trying to climb with all my might, I couldn't reach halfway through the opening. Leaving my life to fate, I just sat there in a daze while looking around. A day passed, and I could no longer hold my hunger. Glancing around the depth of this hole, I could only see a plant glowing with a vague silvery light.

Without caring whether it was poisonous or not, I ate it before slowly falling asleep. When I woke up, I didn't know how long it had been. But I could feel the power flowing throughout me. Not only that, but I feel a bit weird as something awakened inside me after eating that plant. Whether it is a curse or a blessing is unknown. But, at that time, I gained something called sapience. I gained increased intelligence. I realized the concept of myself.

I finally truly realized the concept of grieving and losing my loved ones. With that additional emotional burden, I looked up at the opening far above me and tried to jump with all my might. Somehow, I actually managed to escape that hole thanks to the power I gained after eating that weird plant. I glanced around the place and tried to return to the remaining member of my new group. But when I arrived at the location where we usually hunted, I saw that everyone I knew had died.

They are being mauled by a massive serpent several times my size. Red-eyed, I stared at that serpent and clawed it. I slashed every single part of that serpent until only blood and minced meat were left. After eating that plant, even this dangerous serpent is no longer my opponent. Right now, I! AM! POWERFUL! I madly fought my way around the forest to relieve my grief until I arrived at a mountainous terrain where the surrounding beasts became even stronger.

When I am in danger from fighting against a beast beyond my current ability, a lone man arrives. Together, we fought against that beast and successfully killed it. As I looked at the lone man who had helped me, I could sense the same aura coming from him.

'We have both experienced similar things.' We decided to travel around the mountains together, and slowly I opened myself to him. I want revenge! I know those bipedal beasts are definitely still alive. I'll definitely find them and kill all of them! As if to give me his support, the man looked at me with a gaze that barely showed a trace of warmth. Together, we traveled around the place. One day, we even found a gathering place of those bipedal beasts, and in anger, I killed everyone in that place.

I wanted to continue killing, but when rationality returned to my mind, I recalled that small bipedal beast, and fear enveloped me. Thus, I chose a more cautious approach. Hiding myself in a forest area with thick enough plants to hide me, I started looking around a nearby bipedal beast group. Near my location, there are many bipedal beasts busy hunting or cutting trees.

Powered with my increased intelligence due to that plant, and my increase in strength, I secretly started to learn how those bipedal beasts spoke by hearing their conversation from far away. Merely several days later, I could already speak just like them. I also learned what those bipedal beasts called themselves - humans. Although I utterly hate those bipedal beasts, I must acknowledge that they have many tricks and have tried my best to secretly learn them.

Slowly, watching those humans' lives became a pastime of mine. One day, while I had just returned from my observation and felt I'd gathered enough information to launch another attack on a human village, I heard loud explosive noises from the place my husband usually hunted. I ran with my full power, but the only thing I could see was a bipedal beast standing near a crater, with minced meat that had my husband's smell scattered around it. Once again, looking at the minced meat that was once my husband.

Tears well up in my eyes. This time, I will not run away like a coward. Chasing after the killer, I activated the power I gained from eating the unknown plant in that hole to help me keep an eye on the bipedal beast called humans. Suddenly, that human threw several trinkets. Once those trinkets hit my body, I felt myself become weakened.

"Human! I will kill you! I WILL KILL YOU!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. I chased after that human. I kept running while ignoring the pain filling my body from that human's tricks. When I saw him again, he had jumped into a dark hole that floated in mid-air. In my anger, I followed after that human and suddenly found myself floating in a dark space. After a few minutes of floating, I saw a shining wall in the distance. When I came closer, a small hole appeared in the wall and sucked me inside.

When I regained my senses, I found myself in a deserted mountain. The human I chase after is nowhere in sight.