The Tough Girl and Her Beast King Lovers novel Chapter 2

Laurel ate as she thought to herself.

"The man in my dream was surrounded by darkness...

"I was half unconscious, so I don't even remember what he looked like.

"But I think he mentioned something about a 'precious scale.' Does that mean he was some kind of half-man, half-snake monster?"

But then she looked around. The plants here were huge, even the leaves were several times bigger than normal. If half-beast creatures existed, maybe it wasn't that strange.

"Maybe I wasn't reborn. Maybe I was transported to another world."

Laurel quickly stood up, shook the leaves off her body, and suddenly felt like being in another world wasn't such a big deal.

"At least I have a special power now. I can tell which plants are safe, so I won't starve!

"Yes! The first step of survival is gathering supplies!"

She wove some dry grass into a small backpack, placed the giant scale inside, and began wandering through the forest like a curious little deer.

Small trees were covered in oversized fruits—yellow ones that smelled sweet, green ones that looked crisp, and red ones that seemed spicy.

"Wait, aren't these basically bell peppers?"

She wanted to take the whole plant, but the branches were too thick. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't break them.

"Ugh ... I don't even have a proper tool."

Frustrated, she suddenly remembered the hard scale.

She pulled it out of her pack and lightly sliced the tree branch with its sharp edge.

Crack!

The branch snapped in two instantly.

Her heart jumped with excitement. She tried digging at a rock nearby, and after only a few strikes, a small hole appeared.

"Wow! This is even better than a Swiss Army knife! What a treasure!" she thought proudly, hanging the scale at her waist.

That day, Laurel gathered tons of oversized supplies.

She found root vegetables that looked like potatoes and sweet potatoes, round juicy fruits shaped like coconuts, giant green onions nearly 10 feet tall, mushrooms as big as soccer balls...

She even collected every herb she saw, dragging and carrying everything back to the hot spring.

She even discovered a small stream near the edge of the snowy land.

Fat fish swam in the water, and nearby she found chunks of rock salt and flint stones.

That night, after eating red berries and coconut fruit, she leaned against an ancient tree by the spring and fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, Laurel ran straight to the stream to catch fish.

She wove thin vines into a fishing net and stretched it across the water to trap fish coming downstream.

After several failed attempts, she finally caught two big fish. She happily enjoyed a feast of grilled fish.

In the blink of an eye, more than a month passed. Laurel was actually having fun surviving in the wilderness.

Now her little area truly looked like a "hot spring yard."

She built a fence from vines and branches around the spring, leaving only a small gate to enter.

She carved out a hollow space inside the ancient tree to sleep in, lining it with dry grass for a soft bed.

Purple vines hung at the entrance like curtains, and when morning sunlight poured in, it painted the space with pale violet shadows.

Outside the tree, she built a simple straw canopy. That became her cooking "kitchen."

She made a stone firepit and even crafted a few rough dishes.

Extra food was dried and stored in small containers woven from pine needles.

The only annoying part was getting water.

She made a small wooden bucket with a handle, but she still had to walk back and forth to the stream four or five times a day just to store enough water.

Even so, Laurel loved this life.

Living here healed the wounds the war had left in her heart. During the day she worked hard to survive, and at night she soaked in the hot spring as her reward.

Collecting supplies and inventing simple recipes made her feel completely absorbed in this new world.

There were no bombs here. No oppression.

She didn't have to starve herself to stay thin, and she wouldn't be punished just for making one mistake in dance class.

Sometimes she missed her parents and brother, thinking that if they were still alive, they would have loved this quiet, peaceful, self-sufficient life too.

Lately, maybe because of the clean air or the spring water, Laurel noticed her skin looked even brighter, and her hair was smoother and shinier than ever.

Her skin had always been fair and radiant, but now, nourished by the hot spring, it glowed even more clearly and beautifully.

Night fell, and moonlight shimmered across the hot spring.

As usual, Laurel ate her fill, then lay on a tree branch and stared at the stars. It was her nightly routine.

Splash!

A sudden loud sound exploded, like something had fallen into her hot spring.

Laurel jerked in fear, almost tumbling out of the tree.

She lowered herself onto the branch, hiding behind a huge leaf, and carefully peeked toward the water.

"Please don't tell me it's a wild beast..." she whispered nervously.

"But that can't be right. I've lived here so long, and I haven't even seen a rabbit.

"Wait, why do I smell blood?"

Seriously? I'm this far away and you can still hear me? Are your ears like a dog's?

How could a female make fire? Is she alone? How did she enter the Wildborn North?

And why is she so small and delicate? Is she a fox? A rabbit? Or maybe some kind of bird?

Laurel thought, White hair! Blue eyes! Did this guy walk out of a comic book?

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