By the first light of the day hours, Zhao Wei was already out the door. Outside however, Panda was waiting for him. Maybe it had noticed his restlessness in his sleep last night and felt something different was going to happen.

Nonetheless, Zhao Wei was unsure of what to do in this situation. On one hand, he'd never thought of Panda as his own, considering it as an individual. On the other, having it at his side would comfort Zhao Wei In his search as he was still weaker than it.

Somehow noticing Zhao Wei's state of mind, it moved into Zhao Wei's bag, it's head and horn poking out from the opening. Zhao Wei was a little touched but decided to just walk over and pick the bag up to begin his trip.

Moving to the descent spot, he saw the roll of rope, it was yellowish brown right now from the blood drying up. Picking the end of the rope, he connected a few meters of rope more to cover the distance he had to climb down in his last trip. By his count, it should just barely hover above the forest floor.

Picking a particularly heavy rock, he tied it to the end of the rope he wanted to drop to stabilize it for his climb down. Throwing it down he began his descent back into the forest.

It was a little easier this time, his hands only lost a little skin and he could grip the cliff with his toes a little making sure they are not scraped off.

He didn't have food left and therefore didn't have the time to take his chances like the last time with Panda. As soon as he reached the forest floor he untied one of the short spears and held it near the point, almost as if he was holding a stiletto knife instead of a spear.

In his spars, he found that although using it normally gave him better range, he reacted better to surprise attacks this way as the knife length was like a short extension of his fist. The rest of the spear would cover his fore-arm, where as in comparison using the whole spear was like maneuvering a whole other limb.

Panda who had left his bag started moving on the forest floor, scuttling here and there to find it's bearings before dashing from one direction to the next. As he had only been here once, Zhao Wei decided to follow Panda since the forest was the creature's home. He regretted this decision almost instantly.

The rabbit's ridiculous speed combined with its knowledge of the forest ensured that Zhao Wei would end up being left behind. He rushed as fast as he could, left, right, under over-hanging roots and over mounds but he was still lost after a kilometer or so into the woods. Looking back he didn't even remember which direction he last came from.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"Damn rabbit!! So this was what it was planning!!" He was a little frustrated thinking he'd been purposely stranded. But there's something about men's egos that doesn't allow them to believe they are actually lost, many family trips have suffered the 2/3 hour detour due to their inability to ask for directions. So Zhao Wei decided that he knew the way back,

He felt like he recognized that tree, and that low hanging branch, as well as that little mound on the ground. Even when he'd entered new areas, he was sure he was going the right direction.

After 2 hours of running, Zhao Wei relented a bit. "Haaa, I knew I should have turned left on that tree instead of a right." He said in a fores full of such trees.

A ways back where Zhao Wei came from, Panda was sniffing around, wondering how stupid the human was to not even be able to follow it's tail.

Zhao Wei decided that he was closer now and took a break to drink. Just as he was about to take a sip from his flask, a huge rustle could be heard coming from the south of his position. Looking around, Zhao Wei became a lot more cautious. While he was running around in search he was complacent, but now it was as if he was reminded he was in the jungle, all the weakest things here could probably kill him ten times over.

Following the sound, Zhao Wei moved slowly, bending his body down so he was always behind the overgrown roots of the trees. Ducking from cover to cover while surveying his surroundings every few seconds, Zhao Wei moved this way until he found his mark.

30 meters in-front of him, beside some undergrowth, a massive body heaved up and down unsteadily. This mountain of flesh was covered in dark brown fur and black stripes on it's back. It looked like a wild boar, except it was at least one and a half times as tall as Zhao Wei if he was standing while it was lying down. It's tusks, long enough the pierce and carry 9 to 10 men each, making it like a bulldozer ready to uproot mountains.

Zhao Wei was so astounded by the sight, he forgot to check his other senses. If he did he'd smell the lingering smell of blood.

Moving closer and closer, Zhao Wei propped his spear so his wrist was facing him. He was in his throwing stance, but he needed to get close to make sure he got a good one in, else he wasn't sure he'd be able to penetrate the wall of flesh, muscle and bones of this beast in-front of him.

He inched forward, making sure his steps were slow enough so the grass under him didn't snap.

For some reason, the beast didn't seem to notice Zhao Wei until he was only about 3 meters away. Zhao Wei himself hadn't realized himself that he'd entered the proximity of the beast's range, If it swung it's massive tusks towards Zhao Wei right now, there's a low chance he would make it.

But these judgements only came from experience which Zhao Wei did not have, and for them people usually had to pay dearly.