Saggi hugged the little tiger cub, and the girl also held one. The two of them nuzzled and petted the cubs, seeming to like them very much.

"Women are always like this..." Zakarli complained, "You were the one clamoring to kill the tiger and wear a tiger skin coat, but now you're holding the cub and can't bear to kill it, eh!"

"So what, these little tigers are so cute, I like them!"

"But the big tiger ahead, it's probably the mother of these cubs. We killed it while tiger hunting, and now its litter will starve without their mother. We might as well kill them now, to get another tiger skin."

Upon hearing this, the girl became anxious: "Then I don't want to kill the mother tiger! I don't want the cubs to starve!"

"Ah..." Zakarli heaved a long sigh, plopping down on the ground, "Women, your minds change as quickly as you change clothes."

The girl glared at him and gave a soft kick, though probably without much force. Zakarli said sarcastically, "My injury today was for nothing!"

"Saggi, do you want the tiger cub?" Garlande asked him.

"No, no. The little tigers are so cute. Let's put them back," Saggi happily replied, "If we hold them too long, their mother won't recognize them anymore."

After saying this, he put down the cub and climbed down from the crevasse.

"Let's go home," Saggi said to his brother, "Ah no no no, let's continue on our way!"

"You almost died yet still want to go out and play, I'm at a loss with you."

"Little brother, earlier you said the tiger ran inside, right?"

"Yes. After the big tiger dragged me in here, it seemed to hear something from inside and ran further in."

"Hmm..." Zakarli thought for a moment, "I feel like, since the tiger ran inside, there must be a passage. The tiger is bigger than us - if it could go in, we should be able to as well. And there's wind blowing through this cave, so the other end should also be open."

"You want to go further inside?" Garlande asked.

"Hmm..." it seems Zakarli wasn't quite ready to give up on the tiger.

"Big brother, I'm hungry..." Saggi said, "I fed all my jerky to the little tigers earlier."

"You..." Garlande patted his head, "It's because you reeked of jerky that the tiger eyed you in the first place!"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

It seems by the time they finished wrestling with the tiger, the sky was already dark, and it was nearing pitch black when they entered the cave. At this time of night, it would be very dangerous to head out again through the thorn bushes back to where they came from.

After discussing, they decided to eat a simple meal, then explore further into the cave!

Garlande took out all of his hardtack. Saggi stuck out his tongue, complaining how unappetizing it was. But it was his own fault for feeding his tasty jerky to the tiger cubs! Still he didn't regret it, happily saying how delighted he was to see the cubs enjoy the jerky.

The Zakarli siblings had brought a lot of delicious dried meat, which they shared with the brothers. Just as everyone was about to eat, Zakarli noticed, "Oh, it seems my torch is about to go out."

Sure enough, the torchlight was growing increasingly faint, clearly about to expire.

"What should we do?" his sister asked.

"I still have a piece of oilcloth in my pocket," Zakarli replied, taking out a dark greasy strip of cloth with two cords attached, "With this, we can keep it burning for about another hour."

"Let me help you," Garlande held up the torch while Zakarli carefully lit the oilcloth and tied it around the expiring torch fabric.

At this time, the sister kept feeling something sneakily touching her backside, "Hey, who's groping me?" she blurted out.

Garlande and Zakarli were surprised, both looking at the girl - their hands were on the torch, neither had touched her.

Seeing this, Saggi hurriedly threw down his jerky and held up both hands, "It wasn't me!"

The girl was confused. There was clearly something arm-sized feeling around her bottom, rubbing and wriggling about. She reached behind, touching something thick and cool, like a shelled creature. Gripping it firmly, she flung it out towards the others.

At first glance, the girl's own eyes rolled back and she promptly fainted.

What she had grabbed was an arm-sized, two-foot long fat worm, with a glossy black shell and countless little feet writhing below, making rustling sounds. The sight made everyone's skin crawl.

After the girl collapsed, the worm crawled onto her chest, circling around.

Seeing this, Zakarli panicked, his injured shoulder starting to ache, involuntarily crying "Ow!"

Noticing the brother was also hurt, Garlande rushed forward to grab away the worm. Just then, Saggi held up the torch, and they realized swarms of worms had emerged beneath their feet without notice.

Probably attracted by the smell of jerky, all kinds of worms, big and small, round and long, black, yellow, and bright red, were gathering in greater and greater numbers.

"This is bad!" Zakarli hurriedly removed his headscarf to wrap around his face. Garlande and Saggi had no such scarves or handkerchiefs to cover their faces.

"Keep your mouths shut, don't let the worms get in!"

Garlande nodded, not daring to speak. He also checked his little brother carefully, making sure no worms had gotten on him.

"It seems night has fallen, and the venomous bugs are all coming out to hunt," Zakarli said, shining his torch at the cave walls, "Oh no, some of these crawlers are poisonous!"

"Look at this one," he illuminated a small, footless red worm, spinning silk webs across a cave opening. The webs were dotted with glistening droplets. Further away, countless more of the little worms were emerging and weaving their webs, heavily barricading the exit.

"These are extremely toxic - ingesting even one drop of their venom is enough to kill."

Garlande was also afraid, Zakarli had warned them earlier not to open their mouths, so he could only nod, not daring to speak. At this time, he took another careful look at his brother, confirming there were no worms on him.

"It seems with nightfall, these venomous creatures are all coming out to hunt," Zakarli said, "It'll be very difficult to pass through here. Let's check the other end of the cave."

So the group turned around, heading deeper into the cave.