Chapter 37: Chapter 37: Extreme Heat, White Tiger

The White Tiger stretched out a paw, and before Jiang Si could react, she found herself pressed against its fluffy chest. It was a clear, unspoken message: it didn’t want to eat anything, it just wanted to be close to her.

Jiang Si sighed helplessly. "I’m fine, don’t worry," she told the others. "It won’t hurt me. Go check on those two bodies—you should be able to grab two guns and some grenades." She glanced toward Qin Shen’s house. "And check on Qin Shen. The tiger rushed out of his house. If he’s still alive, try to save him."

As Jiang Si focused on signaling to the others with her eyes, she failed to notice the White Tiger lowering its gaze to look at her, its complex expression strikingly human.

Jiang Chengwu went downstairs with his gun and returned a short while later.

His expression was grim as he let out a deep sigh. "I didn’t see him."

The White Tiger was swift and its attacks powerful. Qin Shen’s chances of survival were slim.

And yet, for some reason, Jiang Si had a nagging feeling that he wouldn’t die that easily.

It was now nighttime, but the outdoor temperature was still sixty degrees Celsius.

Jiang Si found the heat unbearable, especially with a big, fluffy furnace clinging to her.

Jiang Si gently squeezed one of its huge, squishy paws and tried to reason with it. "Hey, big guy, how about we go inside? It’s too hot out here. You might be able to take it, but I’m just a mere mortal!"

The White Tiger must have been hot too, judging by the constant, irritated flicks of its tail.

The moment Jiang Si made the suggestion, the tiger stood up and gently bit the collar of her shirt. The world spun, and in a dizzying instant, Jiang Si found herself sitting atop its broad, steady back.

In her past life, she had envied those who owned an Exotic Beast—not just as a mount, but as a partner and a comrade-in-arms. She, on the other hand, had always been alone.

Now, in this life, she had earned the affection of a great white tiger.

Jiang Si couldn’t resist giving its soft neck a good, vigorous rub before guiding it into a room in the attic.

With its steady gait and overwhelmingly majestic presence, Jiang Si, perched on its back, was suddenly filled with a strange sense of delight.

Jiang Si took ice blocks from her storage space, both to cool down the room and to give the tiger water to drink.

While the White Tiger buried its head to drink, Jiang Si took the chance to stroke its furry head. "Do you want to stay here?" she asked. "As long as you don’t make a mess everywhere, behave yourself, and guard the house, I’ll let you stay."

The White Tiger lifted its eyelids, its indifferent gaze clearly saying, ’I’m staying whether you like it or not. Do you think I’m some uncivilized beast?’

Jiang Si’s expression faltered. She had the distinct feeling she was being scorned.

’But it’s so intelligent,’ she thought. ’I probably don’t need to worry about its... business.’

Big cats are still cats, after all. They like to be clean.

Jiang Si glanced around, wondering if the adjacent room could be set up as a litter area for it.

The moment she got up, the White Tiger rose as well, insistent on following her.

It was supposed to be a supremely cool and aloof tiger, yet it was acting even clingier than Big Black and Little Black.

Seeing this, the rest of the family, who had been on edge, finally began to relax a little.

They concluded that the White Tiger had accepted Jiang Si as its master.

Jiang Linhai, on the other hand, was delighted. "Sisi, do you want to give it a name?"

Jiang Si turned to the tiger and asked tentatively, "Big White?"

The White Tiger gave her an aloof look, its deep gaze clearly showing its dissatisfaction.

Jiang Si suppressed a smile, taking advantage of the fact that it couldn’t talk back. "Then you’ll be Big White from now on." She affectionately rubbed its soft, fuzzy jowls. "This whole attic is yours. This room is for sleeping, and the one next door is for your bathroom. If you can hold it, you can go outside at night. Otherwise, stay inside during the day. Do you prefer cat litter or soil?"

"Oh, right, I forgot you can’t talk. You’d need way too much cat litter, anyway. I’ll get you some soil later; you’ll probably prefer that. Oh, and remember to bury your business, okay?"

Jiang Si spoke to it as if she were house-training a new, very large cat.

Big White listened, its tail starting to thump irritably against the floor. Its displeased expression made it look as if it understood every single word.

Jiang Linhai marveled at how clever the almost-sentient White Tiger was. Shen Baoying, who had been terrified of it, had recovered enough to ask, "If it doesn’t eat dog food, what do we feed it? With a body that big, can we even afford to keep it?"

Tigers are carnivores. All the canned meat in Jiang Si’s storage space, even when added together, probably wouldn’t be enough to feed it for a few years.

Jiang Si pulled out some cans of meat from her storage space and placed them in front of it.

Big White didn’t even spare them a glance. Jiang Si looked toward the forest. ’This guy can probably hunt for itself.’

The only thing she didn’t understand was why a creature with such an even-tempered personality would suddenly ambush those two men.

Jiang Si guessed that they had probably attacked it in the forest before.

It had waited for a chance to retaliate, and in the process, had happened to run into Jiang Si and sense the energy stone within her.

For now, Jiang Si didn’t dare let her family get too close to the tiger, so she ate her meal alone with it in the attic.

She had a bowl of steaming instant noodles, and the tiger stared at it intently, as if it wanted some.

Noticing its gaze, Jiang Si held up the noodle cup. "You want a bite?"

The tiger was so massive it could probably swallow Jiang Si’s head in one gulp; the contents of the noodle cup wouldn’t even be enough to get stuck in its teeth.

Still, Jiang Si generously pulled several more noodle cups from her storage space, gesturing that there was more than enough if it wanted some.

’I just have no idea if instant noodles will give a tiger diarrhea,’ she wondered.

Big White glanced at her, then suddenly stretched out a paw and gently tapped the little plastic fork, as if it wanted to learn how to eat noodles like she did.

But its paw was too big. The furry appendage closed around empty air, grasping nothing.

Jiang Si couldn’t help but want to laugh. Big White shot her a cool side-eye, its expression uncannily human.

She managed to stifle her laugh, twirled some noodles onto the fork, and held it to the tiger’s mouth. "I’ll feed you."

Big White proudly turned its head away. From the back, its fluffy form seemed just a little bit sulky.

Jiang Si hid a smile, leaned against its sturdy back, and began to slurp her noodles with relish.

’Honestly,’ she thought, ’with this big guy around, even just eating instant noodles doesn’t feel so tense anymore.’

After she finished eating, Jiang Si worried the tiger was starving with nothing to eat, so she took out the wild boar carcass that Qin Shen had given her.

The tiger gave it a single glance; it seemed less appealing than the instant noodles.

Unable to figure out what it wanted, Jiang Si pulled a random assortment of other foods from her storage space and placed them in front of it. "Eat if you get hungry. And if you want to go out, remember to close the door." She then stood up, walked to the attic door, and demonstrated how to open and close it.

Big White watched her in silence. Jiang Si got the feeling it understood.

"Okay, I’m going to bed now?"

’It’s been clinging to me for this long... surely it won’t follow me to bed, right?’

’It’s not that I mind, it’s just too hot. Even with the ice blocks, the room is still over thirty degrees.’

Jiang Si took a tentative step toward the door, but Big White shot out a paw and hooked her clothing, refusing to let her go.

With a sigh of resignation, Jiang Si pulled a mattress from her storage space and laid it on the floor. "Fine, I’ll sleep here, and you can sleep next to me. Is that good enough for you?"

Jiang Si lay down, but Big White suddenly seemed to forget how to understand human language. It stepped onto the mattress and curled her up against its soft belly.

Jiang Si felt like she was suffocating and couldn’t break free. She angrily poked its huge face and made a deliberate threat, "If you dare follow me into the shower, I’ll have you neutered!"