It was a huge cave about 50 meters high.Outside the cave were a few strange-looking trees. The trees were full of cracks and looked really weird. On the trees were strange little fruits that had a fragrant smell.
However, Hong Dali and the rest did not dare to eat the fruits here. They did not know what kind of effect the fruits might have.
"Wuwu…" The little black bear cried out into the cave after bringing Hong Dali and the others here. Then, its little beady eyes stared intently at Hong Dali and opened its mouth to make a sorrowful sound.
It seemed the little guy had some problems.
"Xiao Hei, what"s wrong?" Hong Dali patted the little black bear"s head and asked softly, "Do your Mummy and Daddy live inside? If they do, why aren"t you bringing us to them?"
"Wuwu…" Strangely, after it heard what Hong Dali said, the little guy wrinkled its nose, then stretched out its paw and caught Hong Dali"s sleeve. It then pulled him insistently inward. The others saw what was happening and hurried to catch up.
Soon, they were in the cave.
s.p.a.ce here was much bigger then it looked outside. The air in the cave was dry and it did not have any strange smells. It seemed the ventilation in here was quite good.
The cave was about 20 meters deep. It was a little dark inside, but the little star-like streams of suns.h.i.+ne that came in through the top of the cave illuminated the cave enough that they could just look in it.
Soon, everyone saw a huge black bear crouched in a corner! It was an enormous creature about twelve or thirteen meters tall covered in tough black fur and glossy burly limbs. It had huge claws one foot long and a gigantic head that was one meter wide.
By right, people would be terrified to see such a ferocious creature lying there, but for some reason, no one was scared when they saw the big bear. Instead, they were able to sense that it was in a really bad state.
It was not due to Hong Dali"s presence. Everyone could sense that this big bear here, who was either Xiao Hei"s father or mother, was really very weak.
"Owu…" When it saw that Xiao Hei had returned to its side, the big black bear huffed and with much difficulty, got up. At the same time, it pushed a piece of rotten smelling meat which was in the corner towards Xiao Hei.
The meat looked old and most of it was bones. It was obvious that with the state the big bear was in, it was unable to hunt even if it wanted to. The meat was probably scavenged from some other animal"s leftovers.
Despite that, it could not bear to eat the meat. It wanted to leave the meat for its beloved child, even though it was already so weak it could barely stand.
"Dali, this big bear…" Tang Muxin felt a sob coming on as she watched it. She said softly, "Is it sick? Poor thing…"
"Wuwu…" At this time, the little black bear wailed sadly and pushed the meat back at the big bear. It had tears in its eyes and resolutely refused to eat the meat.
"Growl!" The big black bear was livid. It lifted its claws with much difficulty, wanting to punish Xiao Hei, but when it saw the tears br.i.m.m.i.n.g in Xiao Hei"s eyes, it could not bear to do it.
A scene like that would cause anyone who was kind-hearted to choke up.
In the universe, the deep affection between a mother and child was unbreakable, whether they were humans or animals.
"Xiao Hei." Hong Dali stepped forward a few steps, looked at Xiao Hei, and whispered, "What"s wrong with it? Why is it so weak?"
"Wuwu…" Xiao Hei held Hong Dali"s hand and led him forward. When they got nearer, Hong Dali finally understood why the big black bear was so weak.
For an unknown reason, there was a huge lump on its back. It was probably a tumor. On its 12- or 13-meter tall body, judging by the proportions, the huge tumor was about half a meter in diameter.
Such a huge tumor growing on its body must be really painful. Only animals like this which had relatively lower intelligence would be less fearful of death and thus was able to hold on for such a long time.
If it were on a human, he would probably have already given up.
Even though it was still alive, it was trembling non-stop. Such a huge tumor growing on one"s body was not something easily borne—it must hurt.
Everyone finally understood why it was so weak.
In its current state, it was a miracle that it was even alive, not to mention going out to hunt. It was probably able to sense that its days were numbered, so it refused to eat anything. It wanted to leave the last bit of food for its child.
Even if its child could live for just one more day, it was enough.
"Dali, it"s really pitiful." Tang Muxin had tears in her eyes. She hung on tightly to Hong Dali"s s.h.i.+rt and pleaded. "You must help it, ok? You must help it! It"s really in too much pain…"
Everyone else nodded vehemently.
In the natural world, the survival of the fittest was the usual case. Since they encountered it, they naturally had to help if they could. For food hunting, that was part of the normal food chain structure, after all, and had nothing to do with this.
"Of course I will help, but I have to see what it wants first." Hong Dali thought about it and decided to simply use the Soul Connection ability he had obtained on Earth. It had been a long time since he had used this ability. As this ability was part of the Animal"s Best Friend t.i.tle, it had not been canceled by the system.
When the Soul Connection connected, everyone was instantly stunned.
"Pain… I am in so much pain…" It was a gentle motherly voice. Her voice was trembling and from her voice, everyone could feel the immense pain she was in.
After all, no matter if it was a human or an animal, it was not a good thing to have such a huge tumor growing out of you.
"You are Xiao Hei"s mother?" Hong Dali asked softly.
"Yes… yes, I am…" The big black bear, which was Xiao Hei"s mother, breathed laboriously as it answered Hong Dali"s question. She said, "Little lad… I sense… sense kindness… from you… I, I won"t last much longer… my child, I hope you… I hope you can take care of him…"
The mother bear was on the brink of death and yet the only thing in her thoughts was her child.
The greatness of a mother"s love could be seen thus. It was not affected by factors such as time and place.
No matter what happened to herself, the only desire of a mother was that their child would be able to go on living.
"Mother Bear, don"t worry." Hong Dali thought about it. Actually, at a time like this, he should just agree to her request. But he felt that since it was a tumor and she was about to die anyway, they should at least try to save her. At least if they tried to cut the tumor off, then feed her some Dali beans, perhaps a miracle might happen.
"Mother Bear, let"s discuss something." Hong Dali sat down in front of Mother Bear and said carefully, "Look, you are almost dying. Why don"t we try to treat you, right? Anyway, if it works, you will probably live. If it does not, you"ll die anyway. In which case I will help you take care of your child, okay?"
Hong Dali"s intention was simple.
If they gave it a try, they at least had some hope. If they did not try, the only outcome was death…
"You… you really promise to help me… take care of my child…" Mother Bear did not have much on her mind. This was the only thing she cared about. This miraculous youth in front of her who could communicate with her had agreed to take care of her child. In that case, she would allow him to try and treat her if that was what he wanted to do.
It did not matter what happened to her. The important thing was that her child would survive.
"Yes. If you really do not make it, I will take care of Xiao Hei. However, we have to at least give it a try." Hong Dali nodded. "Otherwise, look, aren"t you in so much pain like this?"
"Okay… okay…" Mother Bear immediately agreed and slowly laid down. "Go ahead, then…"
"Okay." Seeing that Mother Bear had finally been rea.s.sured, Hong Dali said to everyone, "Who has a knife? And anesthesia, these are all things necessary for an operation, who brought those? Yes, also, who will perform the operation? This is a very important question."
"I have a knife." Jiang Qianxue took a close look at Hong Dali. She had indeed not expected that Hong Dali would have the ability to communicate with animals. This was miraculous. However, it was not time to talk about that. Jiang Qianxue drew the sword she carried out. "This is quite a good sword, it should be usable in an operation. Other knives might not be able to cut through her outer skin. But anesthesia… who brings anesthesia around for no reason?"
She had a point. Who would bring anesthesia around with them?
"Then… then we will do without it." Hong Dali looked at Mother Bear. "Mother Bear, bear with it, we will try our best to be fast. We can"t let you be in too much pain." Here, Hong Dali looked at everyone else. "Right, who will perform the operation?"
They had the surgical knife, which was Jiang Qianxue"s sword, and no anesthesia. What was left was to decide who would perform the operation.
Everyone looked toward Zhang Yi in unison. Zhang Yi"s face instantly turned red and she said in a small voice, "That… that, I can dissect bugs, but large animals like this, I, I can"t. The sight of blood makes me feel faint…"
Everyone: "…"
"Oh, I"ll do it." Lin Chuyin volunteered. "I am not averse to blood."
Hong Dali agreed immediately. "Set, let"s start now!"