Rubbing his chin gently against Little Grace's forehead, he caught sight of a string of pink little fruits hanging on the wall nearby—five in total, each about the size of a cherry. Hmm, this thing... he really couldn't tell if it was good or bad...

Volume One

Chapter Seven: Never Apart

Besides the few things mentioned earlier, there were several other items that had been discovered to be usable. For example, a plant with veins tough as iron, which, when carefully stripped, could be used as thread for mending things. There was also a strangely flavored fruit, which for now served as a jam substitute for the salt that had already run out. The only drawback was the complete lack of a proper cooking pot. There was a broad leaf that could hold water and be placed over the fire, but it could only be used once for cooking. William Carter had once thought about firing some clay pots to hold water, but after more than half a month of experimenting, he could only manage to make some concave clay molds to use as stoves.

For the past half year, aside from the fixed routine of going to the underground palace with Little Grace every full moon, William Carter was mostly idle—building shelters, making fires, tinkering with various useful and useless things. Occasionally, he would go out with Little Grace to play, collecting some peculiar plants to meet their daily needs. It felt as if they were primitive humans, step by step developing their own civilization.

Several items in the backpack had already lost power and stopped working. Apart from the lighter, which still worked due to infrequent use, only the compass was semi-permanent. The rest of the clothes and towels had mostly been taken apart for other uses. Little Grace had learned the language and gradually mastered the use of the Damascus military knife. She had originally been somewhat afraid of this sharp object, but after William Carter had half-forced her to try it a few times, her keen instincts, honed by over a decade of forest life, quickly allowed her to master the weapon's characteristics. Now, it had become Little Grace's exclusive weapon.

Although William Carter's athletic abilities weren't bad, he was far inferior to Little Grace, and this was unlikely to change. Every time he went out with Little Grace, it was a pleasant experience. By now, except for certain areas fiercely guarded by territorial beasts, he had explored nearly every part of the forest within a radius of over twenty li. Truly dangerous situations had only occurred once or twice, but fortunately, he had always managed to escape unscathed. Afterwards, William Carter had thought about improving his self-defense skills, but those techniques were usually learned through life-and-death experiences. Little Grace always protected him with meticulous care, unwilling to let him suffer even a scratch, even if it meant injuring herself. And even when Little Grace wasn't around, one of the two wolves was always by his side. In the end, all he could do was run and jump to build up his physical resistance.

Each time they went to the underground palace, Little Grace would play with the temporarily re-energized, lively furball, while William Carter would go to look at the statue of the naked female warrior. He tried several outlandish methods to break the petrification, but none worked. After a few attempts, he brought a large amount of vines and leaves and fashioned clothes directly onto the statue. Piece by piece, William Carter dressed her, eventually making her look like a saintly warrior. With the woman's pose, she looked quite imposing. However, gazing at the leafy clothes, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly. He had made her an outfit on a whim, but who knew when she would come back to life—if ever. In the endless river of time, what meaning did this leafy garment, which would last only a few years, really have? Thinking this, he felt a mix of emotions.

The snow seemed endless. On the day when the cave walls were covered with over forty tally marks, he turned on the phone he had shut off soon after realizing his predicament. Checking the time, he saw it was New Year's Eve.

The phone battery was nearly dead, and of course there was no signal. He stood on the porch of the house, facing the great waterfall and towering cliffs, and opened the text message editor.

"Goodbye."

Two messages, sent separately to his father's and mother's numbers. Everything seemed to sink into a pitch-black abyss. After the "out of service area" notification, the phone played the shutdown chime due to low battery, and it was never turned on again.

Little Grace stood by, watching him raise the phone high. Snowflakes drifted down from the gray sky. She timidly moved closer, squeezing into William Carter's arms and hugging him tightly.

Time slowly passed. After the snow stopped, the forest was immersed in a silver world. Then the weather gradually warmed, the snow melted, and spring brought everything back to life, followed by the approach of summer.

That day, they passed through the long jungle, riding on the backs of two giant wolves, weaving through forestland still unfamiliar to William Carter, heading in the direction opposite the great cliff.

"What are we doing? Little Grace, you're acting really strange today."

Sitting on Nu Jia's back, William Carter looked at Little Grace in puzzlement. As they sped along, her silver hair streamed out behind her, and her beautiful little face was set with a crystalline determination. William Carter had only ever seen Little Grace wear such an expression when facing powerful enemies, so it was odd to see it now.

"Going to the place you've always wanted to see, Ah Yi..."

After this brief reply, Little Grace turned her head to look forward, avoiding his gaze, her pearly teeth biting her lip as if struggling to suppress her true feelings. William Carter responded with an "oh," but then, he began to grasp the truth of the matter.