The air inside the hut was tighter than his lungs.
The massive orange shadow was still suspended among the branches, staring straight at the small opening called a "window."
The orangutan blinked once… slowly… as if passing judgment on him.
His entire body screamed:
Fire the shot. Now. Kill it.
But his mind clung to a thin thread of logic:
"No… one bullet… just one… this thing won't die from a bullet. It won't even feel pain."
Renji raised the Remington 783, his shoulder trembling, his finger pulling the trigger halfway…
Then he froze.
His hand shook, as if betraying him.
"Discipline… damn discipline… that's what I lack."
He whispered it through clenched teeth, trying to release the air from his chest without the beast hearing it.
The orangutan did not move.
It did not roar.
It did not open its mouth.
It simply… stared.
A silent exchange.
A massive gaze from a massive mind… reading him more than he could ever read it.
Then suddenly—
With a single blow, it violently shook the branch beneath the hut.
The entire hut swayed.
The wood creaked.
The small window rattled as if it were about to be torn from its frame.
"Daaamn—" Renji tried to grab the wall to keep his balance, but the adrenaline made his hands slick.
A second blow.
Stronger.
The branch groaned under the beast's weight.
A swift movement—
The orangutan's head drew closer to the window.
It extended its long arm, fingers covered in thick orange hair, like whips.
Only twenty centimeters separated them from grabbing him.
Renji clenched the rifle tightly.
Raised it toward the head.
The final moment… now!
But…
Something inside him stopped.
"If I fire… I'll die right after. Most likely it'll break into the hut and end it."
This world had taught him a cold lesson over ten days:
A bullet that does not kill… is a declaration of war.
As the beast lifted itself slightly and struck the branch again, raindrops clinging to its fur fell onto the bed, like an omen of something greater to come.
Its eyes… were not the eyes of a stupid animal.
They looked like a question.
"Do you deserve to survive?"
Before he could swallow his saliva, the beast's arm stretched into the window.
Renji jumped backward instinctively, his back slamming into the wooden wall, his heart leaping violently in his chest.
"Damn you! Damn you! Think… think…!"
His eyes searched desperately for anything.
A plank.
A piece of metal.
A stone.
Nothing.
The room was narrow.
The system hadn't given him a door… only a window.
A window designed to let him observe the outside.
Not designed with "a massive visitor shoving its arm inside" in mind.
Then… his mind turned suddenly.
The environment.
Not strength.
Not weapons.
The environment.
He grabbed a piece of wood beside the bed—a broken plank from the last upgrade—and hurled it out the window with all his strength.
The plank flew between the branches.
The sound of it crashing into distant limbs was loud enough to pierce the forest.
The orangutan stopped.
Its hand was still halfway inside…
But its head turned toward the sound.
A few seconds.
As if the entire universe were compressed into them.
Renji didn't waste the moment.
He slammed the hut's wall with everything he had:
"Hiiiii! Get away, you damned ape!!"
The impact echoed through the wood.
The entire hut shook.
The noise was massive, and for the first time, the hut seemed alive… screaming with him.
The orangutan stepped back half a step, its body swaying.
Its eyes shifted between Renji… the sound… then the hut.
Hesitation.
One second.
Two.
Three…
Then suddenly—
It leaped upward and grabbed a higher branch, moving through the trees with an agility that didn't match its terrifying size.
It retreated… then suddenly stepped forward again toward the window, as if testing him, wanting to be sure…
The smell of wet soil entered the hut with the beast's movement.
Renji felt his breath stop.
If that thing came one step closer…
His life would end in a very miserable way.
"Don't shoot… don't shoot… think…"
And as the beast's hand approached the window again—
Renji's mind snapped instantly… to the only thing that could make a real bone-cracking sound.
The menu.
Food.
A metal can.
He opened the system quickly, his fingers trembling.
He selected the cheapest item available.
He didn't care whether it was soup or paste.
The can appeared in his hand.
Heavier than he expected.
Solid metal… the sound of his possible death.
He raised it… and hurled it with all his strength toward a distant area of the forest, straight behind the trees.
The can struck a trunk with a hollow metallic clang:
Taaang!
The beast froze.
Its entire body stiffened.
Its hand froze inside the window, as if time itself had stopped for it.
Then—
Very slowly…
It turned toward the source of the sound.
Once again… that silence.
Then a step back.
Another.
Then it launched itself through the heavy branches, shaking them with long arms, slipping through the shadows… until it vanished completely into the deep darkness of the forest.
Nothing remained but the sound of rain.
Renji stayed standing where he was… unable to feel his legs.
Cold sweat streamed down his forehead.
His hand was still raised, clutching the air.
"I survived…"
He said it softly, barely able to hear himself.
Then he let out a short… choking laugh.
It wasn't the laugh of survival.
It was the laugh of someone who had realized something terrifying:
"This system… doesn't punish me…"
He lifted his head toward the translucent space that appeared above him.
"…it teaches me. Brutally."
He sat on the bed, his hand trembling on his knee.
"If I had more discipline… if I had focused from the start… I would've seen the solution before reaching the edge of wetting myself—or worse… dying."
He closed his eyes…
"Damn it… I need to level up fast…"
"…before it sends me something worse than this giant ape."