Chapter 88: Chapter 88: Brain Waves Communication
A glistening, translucent crystal was in its mouth. A crystal core! And it was one from a mutated reptile with unknown grade–possibly above fourth level since they wouldn’t be able to beat it in the reptile’s peak form.
Then, Zerra sensed something weird.
The tiger’s brain waves! It was talking to her through brain waves. Well, they were both not human, so it was feasible considering all kinds of unbelievable things could happen in the apocalypse.
"What do you want?" She suppressed her shock and communicated with it through brain waves.
She crouched down.
"Zerra...?" Cassias walked beside her. His lips pressed together. "Be careful."
"It’s alright." She lifted her head, noticing his wariness of the tiger. She had sensed no malice from it, so she concluded that it was trying to convey something to her.
Its breathing was very weak, like it was on its last breath. She was getting worried when she saw this. Taking a towel from her space, she anxiously wiped the traces of the snake’s gastric juices on its fur.
"Isryn, can you help this tiger?" She suddenly asked, which may have sounded a little crazy.
At this moment, Zerra really envied Isryn’s healing power. "I think it’s trying to ask us for help in exchange for this crystal core."
The tiger let out weak whines, followed by labored breathing. Its fur showed signs of burning, shriveling on some parts that the skin became exposed.
When one towel wasn’t enough, she took another. Sensing no movement for a while from the car, she thought Isryn was reluctant.
"Don’t let the gastric juices touch you." Cassias crouched down beside her. He took out a bottle of spring water and poured it onto the tiger’s body.
Then, he dripped some into the tiger’s slightly opened mouth. Its tongue twitched, and the burning visibly slowed down.
He turned to Isryn, who had just exited the car after handling the last patient. He took out another water and handed it over to her. "Drink before you use your power."
Isryn was surprised. She took the bottle from Cassias’ hand and began to drink it. The paleness on her countenance visibly receded: rosy color returned to her cheek. She became fresh again.
A faint shock crossed her eyes, but she said nothing. After she adjusted her emotions, her attention shifted to the tiger.
"Use this cloth, Isryn." Zerra gave her a clean, brand new napkin.
"Alright." Isryn turned to the whimpering tiger; her eyes flashed with pity. She was quite scared after witnessing its ferocity, but when she saw the once majestic tiger reduced to this state, she had an urge to heal it.
She channelled her wood power into the tiger’s figure, and dense vitality flowed out.
"Miss Zerra, Miss Isryn, what are you two doing, eh?" A team member asked in doubt. He originally thought that they were trying to dig out the tiger’s crystal core.
To his horror, he saw Isryn trying to heal it instead. He stuttered, "Is it alright? What if the tiger attacks us?"
"The tiger never once tried to hurt us. If anything, didn’t it help us to get rid of that python? Without it, we might have more casualties." Zerra explained.
She had determined from its brain waves that the tiger was asking for help from them. Most likely, it had sensed the dense vitality from the car. Thus, witnessing what Zerra had done, it came to ask for help.
"Look at this crystal core." She held up the translucent colored bead with a napkin. Now that it was in her grasp, she noticed the crystal core was bigger than normal ones.
As for what kind of attribute it held... her heart pounded in her chest. It was a space attribute! Just like the power the snake possessed.
She wiped the crystal core. "The tiger gave it to us as repayment."
It was also some kind of irony that animals knew how to repay a favor, but most humans couldn’t. The animals’ behavior was predictable. On the contrary, humans’ hearts were the most terrifying because they wouldn’t know what was hidden beneath.
The man fell silent. He trudged out of the car to watch Isryn, who was in the process of healing the tiger.
The tiger let out heavy breaths. It whimpered weakly, and its eyes gradually fluttered open. Yet, it only lay there, unmoving as if it had no energy.
"Why did you attack the snake?" Zerra asked it through brain waves. Actually, she wasn’t sure whether the tiger could understand her.
But the fact that it had sent her its intention through brain waves meant that it had gained a sliver of intelligence.
Her pupils dilated when she received a response. She lowered her gaze. The tiger’s eyes had squeezed shut again, as if it was sleeping.
The tiger was too tired because of today’s battle, and had lost its consciousness, yet she still heard its last plea.
Zerra stood up and walked toward the area where the snake’s carcass lay still. Darren and others were still around there; their actions told her they seemed to be looking for something.
Her eyes briefly glanced at the snake’s torn stomach, bloody and grotesque. It must have died the moment that tiger broke free after digging its crystal core out.
"What are you people looking for?" She asked curiously.
"The snake would spit out some kind of items." Darren told her with suppressed amazement. He held the items in his hands. "We found crystal cores, and the quality is pretty good too."
Zerra scrutinized the colorful beads in his hand and found that they were really crystal cores.
"It came out of the stomach? This torn flesh?" Her eyes were fixated on that spot.
Darren nodded. As if on cue, another item appeared, but it seemed to be the carcass of a squirrel.
They examined the carcass and found a small crystal core in it. Those were the snake’s prey. Some were even still alive, on the verge of death.
Zerra kept looking at the snake, waiting and searching for something. Carcasses and crystal cores kept popping up, even a complete human corpse.
The members around also waited in anticipation, keeping track of who the next item would belong to. Each of them at least got a small share.
Then, Zerra saw it. A small furry head covered in gastric juices.
"I will take this one!" she muttered and hurriedly scooped the tiny figure onto the towel she had prepared before.
"What is that, Miss Zerra?" They stared at the bundle curiously.
"A baby tiger," she told them before dashing off to the spot where the tiger was laying unconscious.
"Baby tiger?" They were taken aback. They glanced at the weak tiger in the distance and muttered, "The baby tiger must have been eaten by this damned snake, right? That was why the tiger was hell-bent on fighting a life and death battle with it."
"Isryn!" She called urgently.
The female doctor was ready, solemnly looking at the unmoving baby tiger. Zerra could barely detect life in the baby tiger, and she was worried.
However, once Cassias poured spring water gently on it and Isryn’s power seeped into the small furry head, she heaved a sigh of relief. She sensed its beating heart, meaning that it could be saved.
Not long after they finished treating the small tiger, its mother woke up. It actually could already stand up, trotting closer to pick up the baby tiger in its mouth.
The tiger let out a small roar and some whimpering sounds before it turned around and walked toward the forest. As though it was expressing its thanks.
After a while, the snake also stopped popping out items.
"Let’s go. In another hour, we should get out of this forest." Darren urged them.
They all followed his order, scrambling to the car, fearing that another gigantic python would show up. They were still in the forest after all.
Along the way, they encountered a few more fallen trees blocking the road, and some mutated animals, but they were easily solved by the members.
No mutated animal was as terrifying as the two they had witnessed before.
After they were finally out of the forest, they decided to take another rest. People have spent a lot of energy and were also traumatized. Darren found the nearest abandoned house.
"Isryn, this should be yours." Zerra held the crystal core to her. Even though it was the first space attribute crystal core she had ever seen, it was ultimately not hers.
Isryn took a glance at the crystal and shook her head. "The crystal core’s attribute should be more suitable for you. Take it."
Zerra looked somewhat hesitant. "But..."
"Think of it as repayment for saving Eryx." Isryn had a flash of irritation, then smiled after she controlled her temper.
"Alright. Thank you." Zerra smiled, clutching the crystal core tightly, and no longer dared to annoy the doctor anymore.
She and Isryn were in the same room. Isryn had gone to check on Eryx for a while, and when she came back, she saw a fluffy tail sticking out from under the bed.
Isryn crouched down, gently pulling the fox out of its hiding spot. "Eh, where did this fox come from?"
"Zerra? Where are you?"
At this moment, shivering in Isryn’s arms, Zerra was incredibly scared that Isryn would inform others and conduct a search party on her.