In the early morning, Mary woke up in the erosion of dew.
She opened her eyes and saw a faint white light and a tall figure by the lake not far away.
The mountain-like man raised his hand and took off the white skull covering his head, revealing the hairy head underneath.
Two white round ears were on top of his head, probably folded down by the pressure of the skull cap, but they stood up again when pushed by his big palm.
The snow-white hair emitted a hazy light in the morning light and looked very soft.
His furry head lowered, the sound of water splashing, he was rubbing his hands and washing his face.
After washing for a few times, he seemed to notice her gaze, turned around and looked at her, revealing his front.
It was indeed a polar bear, with round, black eyes, a black, moist nose, and a bear mouth that was naturally upturned on both sides, making it look like a smile.
—A little bear with a round head and a smile as sweet as honey.
Mary: “…” It’s the little bear! No, I’m not awake yet.
She thought dully, closed her eyes again and turned over.
After a while, Mary suddenly opened her eyes, sat up and looked towards the lake.
Murray's tall figure was squatting there washing gloves and cloak. No one knew what material his cloak was made of. After washing, he picked it up and shook it, and the water droplets on it slid down one after another, without getting wet at all.
He tied the cloak back on his body after shaking it dry.
Mary's gaze rested on his head, where the skull was clearly visible, and she could not see what the face underneath looked like.
She really began to suspect that she was dreaming and that the scene she saw was a figment of her imagination.
Although Murri was a little scary in his height, she admitted that when she first saw him, she thought he looked like a bear when he stood up, but the way he spoke and acted over the past half month was clearly that of a human, so how could she suspect that there was a little bear under the clothes
This shouldn't be.
She ran to the lake, cleaned herself up, and cleared her mind.
The black dust on her face was washed away, revealing a beautiful face. Meili had only heard from the mercenaries that she was beautiful, but now she could see her face clearly in the lake water.
It's a strange face.
She touched her face with some confusion in her eyes. She quickly came back to her senses and braided her messy hair facing the lake and tied it tightly on her head. She found a piece of cloth from the car, tore off a piece and tied it on her face, and wrapped the remaining large piece around her body as a cloak. Except for the lack of the skull hat on her head, she looked the same as Murray.
Wrapping myself up tightly does make me feel safe.
Mary couldn't stand the gift-wrapped skirt she was wearing, but before, when she was in the cage, everything was inconvenient. Now it's different.
She was busy taking care of herself. Murray had already prepared breakfast, and the two of them were ready to set off after eating.
Mary sat opposite him and couldn't help but often cast her eyes on his head.
Is there really a cute little bear under the skull hat
"What are you looking at?" The boy seemed a little unhappy.
If a sturdy man asked "What are you looking at" in a fierce and rude voice, Mary would definitely be scared, but for this voice, she just thought that the brother opposite was about to have a tantrum.
She thought of the little bear she saw in her dream that morning and said, "I think your skull hat is very nice and looks very powerful."
Murray was a quiet man who kept silent most of the time. Mary thought that after she said this perfunctorily, Murray would not say anything more, but soon she heard him say, "This is the skull of a monster. The first monster I killed."
Although she tried her best to be steady and dignified, Mary could still hear a bit of the boyish pride.
Just from his next sentence, Mary could tell that he really liked the skull hat, so she carefully praised it a few more times.
"This beast has such long teeth and a big mouth, it must be a very powerful monster. You are so powerful."
Then he praised the cloak.
"And this cape, it doesn't seem to be made of ordinary cloth. I saw that it doesn't get wet, it's so convenient."
Muri, who had hardly spoken a word all day, was not going to say anything more after saying the two sentences today. But when he heard her mention the cloak, he couldn't help but say, "This is also the skin of a monster, which I also killed."
Meili's eyes involuntarily became kind and she smiled: "You are really amazing!"
After this brief conversation, the atmosphere became much better. Murray, who seemed reluctant to talk, taught her driving skills again before setting off.
While learning to drive, Mary was a little surprised to find that Muri was actually quite easy to please.
In fact, Muri was also thinking that this red-haired woman was pretty good and spoke nicely, which made her different from those people in the mercenary group.
He was indeed not used to talking. After all, he had lived alone for a long time. However, those mercenaries excluded him and always talked about boring topics like sleeping with women when they chatted. That's why he became more and more lazy to talk to them.
Most importantly, the red-haired woman didn't laugh at him when she heard his voice.
He thought about it and felt that this might be the difference between men and women outside. No wonder those mercenaries always said that women are better. He now also felt that women are better.
Because the large bandit group had set up camp here, there were no traces of other bandits and savages nearby, so the team of Merry and Muri were able to travel safely for a day without being disturbed.
They only encountered a long-horned beast on the way. As soon as it rushed to the side of the road and raised the horns on its head provocatively, Murray jumped out. By the time Mary discovered the small accident ahead, the long-horned beast had been killed by Murray and put on the car, and then became their dinner.
They only ate two meals a day and stopped at a place with water to rest at night. Murray mentioned the unfortunate beast to skin and dismantle it.
After yesterday's buffer, Meili was in good condition today. Her hands and feet were a little weak and sore, but she was not paralyzed. She took the initiative to move to Murray's side, wanting to help him deal with the prey.
Murray never had the intention of asking her to do any work. He was used to doing everything himself and doing it well.
Mary watched him cut the flesh of the prey with two cuts, tear off a complete piece of skin, and then use the knife to cut the front hooves and hind legs into pieces. His movements were clean and neat, without any unnecessary movements, and he was so skilled as if he had cut thousands of such beasts before.
Mary was unable to help and could only stand by and watch him. She saw the blood splattering on his white bone mask, which showed his naturally brutal temperament.
—The way he chopped his prey was no different from the way he chopped monsters and bandits before.
Mary reached out and wiped the blood off the skull.
Murray stopped his quick movements and glanced at her.
The eyes in the skull were dark and I couldn't see his expression, but he was probably not angry.
The most crude way to cook meat is to grill it over a fire. Meili thought of the cooking skills she had seen yesterday from Murray, and said to him, "I can grill meat, can I do it?"
There were only the two of them left, and Murray was easier to get along with than she had initially thought, so perhaps she could have other options. She had some small plans in mind, and decided to build a good relationship with Murray.
Meili has taken care of her daily life since she was young. In order to please her indifferent mother, she tried hard to learn many things when she was a child and wanted to make delicious food... Compared with Murray, she is capable in another sense.
Rolling up her sleeves and taking out the kitchen utensils and some seasonings she had found in the car, Mary regained some of her familiar feelings.
Life is her battlefield.
Survival is Murray's battlefield. He grew up in a harsh polar environment and would eat anything he could get. The food he ate along the way was simple and not very different, but the meat he ate today was so fragrant and delicious!
He held the plate, picked up the roasted steaks, which were cut into small pieces, and stuffed them into his mouth without even pausing. He ate so much that he couldn't even raise his head.
Mary turned the roasted steaks over and added the cooked ones to the large plate that Muri was holding.
"Is it delicious?" she asked.
As if there was no need to ask, the fact that he ate faster than ever before was enough to tell it all.
The boy replied in a vague voice: "It's delicious... Well, it's delicious."
It sounds very endearing.
It's like a poor little thing that has been hungry for a long time and can never be full.
The meat from the two hind legs was cut and roasted, and almost all of it was stuffed into Murray's stomach. She could even hear him making "ah-wu" and "wa-wu" sounds as he ate happily.
The meal took a long time and Murray looked full. He patted his slightly bulging belly with his big gloved hands.
Suddenly, he lay back in satisfaction, not moving a muscle.
Mellie was startled by the noise of him falling, and then realized that he was just sleeping.
She packed up her things, wrapped in a cloth cloak and sat next to Muri. After sitting for a while, she felt that the oily light around the big mouth of Muri's skull mask was flickering in the light of the flame, which was a bit uncomfortable to see.
She leaned over and gently wiped the oil from the skull's mouth with the cloth.
Murri was not actually asleep, he was just very full and was resting, feeling lazy and not wanting to move.
The red-haired woman seemed very weak to him, so he didn't react when she came close to him. A well-fed beast wouldn't care about the small animals around it.
But when she wiped his mouth... it felt weird. It was just the skull cap, not his body, so why did his mouth feel a little itchy
He didn't move, staring at the red-haired woman through the eye sockets of her skull, as if now he was seeing clearly for the first time what she looked like.
—She is alive now, unlike those days in the cage when the red-haired woman was dead.
Mary carefully wiped the skull, moved back to her seat, hugged her knees and slowly fell asleep.
In the quiet night, the fire went out. Mary, feeling cold in her sleep, squirmed and found a nearby heat source.
She rested her head on Murray's arm.
The bushes in the woods moved, and the sound of light breathing approached two large vehicles. Someone was stealing things from the vehicles, and there were also sounds of knives being taken out.
Muri, who seemed to be asleep, moved his ears, raised his arm, touched the bone spur on his waist, and shook it off.
After a muffled groan, there was no other movement.
Early in the morning, Murray had rested enough, opened his eyes, got up quietly, walked past Mary who was still sleeping, walked to a corpse next to the cart, pulled out the bone spur from the corpse's head and put it back around his waist, dragged the corpse into the woods, dug a hole and buried it.