Chapter Eighty-Six

Chapter Eighty-Six

"Lin An crouched in the snow, cradling a bunch of fluffy wolf pups, their surprising strength nearly pushing the annoyed Xiao Fu out, the pups snuggling him like plush toys, wagging their tails, melting Lin An's heart."

"So fluffy!"

"What’s going on here?" Xu Fang and others emerged from the RV to this scene: Little Fu had brought back a pack of, wolves?

"Do those look like wolf pups to anyone else?" Ouyang Dong was puzzled about what had happened. Wasn't Little Fu kidnapped by snow wolves as reserve food? Why was it leading a group of wolf pups? Had it been captured to raise them?

Wudo calmly pointed to a spot not far away: "There are zombie wolves over there."

Three frozen wolves stood immobile in the snow, sparkling under the sunlight. If not for the grotesque appearance of the zombie wolves inside, it would have been a beautiful sight.

"Shen Xiuzhe gazed into the distance, noticing the battle on the mountain, realizing these pups must have followed Xiao Fu."

"Now that we've found Little Fu, do we leave right away, or..." go help.

Without hesitation, everyone agreed. Although Little Fu had been kidnapped by the snow wolves, it appeared unharmed. They had been traveling for days and needed some action.

The battle between the snow wolves and the zombie wolves was intensifying. The more resilient zombie wolves held the advantage. Several snow wolf corpses lay on the ground. The zombie wolves didn't immediately feast on them but coordinated their attacks on the next targets, seemingly intent on annihilating the entire snow wolf pack.

But the enraged snow wolves were formidable adversaries. The survival of the remaining pups was in jeopardy. The snow wolves only wanted to quickly vanquish their foes and then search for their pups.

Each injured snow wolf, more ferocious than ever, launched at their enemies. Blood stained the snow as they clamped their sharp, pointed teeth into their foes, holding on until death.

If this continued, the snow wolves would be gradually overpowered as they exhausted their strength, falling one by one to the zombie wolves. But now, an RV was heading their way.

The RV couldn't climb the mountain, but the hill where the snow wolves resided wasn't steep. They switched to an off-road vehicle and sped towards the battlefield.

The off-road vehicle stopped not far from the battleground. As the doors opened, several zombie wolves immediately turned and attacked them.

Since yesterday, the meteorite had not been taken out, but the energy aura it emitted hadn't fully dissipated, making the group, emitting a fragrant aura, even more appetizing to the zombie wolves than the snow wolves.

Lin An was swarmed by the cubs. Having never seen humans at just over a month old, and influenced by Little Fu's exceptional enthusiasm, they innocently grew close to him.

Lin An, in the backseat of the car, was submerged in fluffiness.

"We'll go handle this, you and Grandma Wu stay in the car," Shen Xiuzhe said with a tender look, watching Lin An happily petting one cub after another, excited like a child.

"No, I'm going down too." How could he stay in the car, contentedly petting fluffiness, while everyone else fought zombies?

"No need, your single powerful move would freeze all the zombie wolves, leaving no chance for others to train," Shen Xiuzhe reached back to ruffle Lin An's hair, fingers brushing past his ear before stepping out of the car.

Lin An touched his ear, dumbfounded, watching Shen Xiuzhe head towards another vehicle, his lips curving into a barely noticeable smile.

"Tsk tsk tsk, youth is really something," next to Lin An was Grandma Wu, with everyone else in another car. She forcefully petted the fattest cub, which initially struggled but soon succumbed to the comfort, squinting its eyes and lying on her lap.

Little Fu jealously nudged away the cubs, firmly defending its position. Inside the car was warmth and coziness, but outside was a tense, murderous atmosphere.

Shen Xiuzhe, leading a few others, joined the battle, quickly turning the tide. Everyone wielded knives, forgoing their powers, skillfully decapitating the zombie wolves.

Shen Xiuzhe's special knife, corroded in a fight against the zombie emperor, was no longer usable. He now wielded an ordinary knife conjured from his power, made formidable by the skill and strength of its wielder.

Since leaving Chu Xi City, Wudo had grown significantly. Grandma Wu's dual blades, in her hands, were exceptionally sharp, each strike fierce and precise.

Xu Fang, unable to use his earth-based powers in these conditions, shivered in the cold. Without soil or stones to use, he grumbled about the damned zombie wolves while cutting them down with a knife.

When the last zombie wolf fell, the few remaining snow wolves, barely hanging on, also collapsed.

The alpha, the strongest in the pack, surrounded by three zombie wolves, was unharmed. Drenched in blood, it watched Shen Xiuzhe and the others with a wary, cold gaze.

Before the apocalypse, snow wolves were the dominators of this snowy land. Humans and snow wolves coexisted without interference, avoiding each other. But if someone dared harm a snow wolf, its kind would relentlessly seek vengeance.

"The alpha wolf, acknowledging the humans' help, remained wary and vigilant due to its longstanding distrust of humans."

A low, mournful howl reached the alpha's ears. It flicked its ears, confirming the humans had no intention to attack, and then dashed towards another direction.

Its mate was injured, and the wounds were severe.

The female, cornered by two zombie wolves, had fought desperately to distract them from pursuing her offspring. Despite her body being covered in wounds, she fought bravely and fiercely.

It was not until Shen Xiuzhe killed those two zombie wolves that she collapsed.

Struggling to get up, but unable to rise, she didn't know how her child was, lying on the snowy ground whimpering softly.

The alpha wolf circled around it, looking at the bleeding wound, extending its tongue to clean it, but the wound was too large and the blood kept flowing.

Seeing that the surrounding zombie wolves were dead, Lin An finally opened the car door and let the wolf cubs out. The cubs, who had been clinging to Lin An's feet, smelled their parents' scent and immediately howled as they ran down the car towards their parents.

Only when they reached their parents did they realize that their mother was lying on the ground, covered in blood.

"Howl?" The little wolf tilted its head and leaned beside its mother, trying to lick her like its father did.

The mother wolf tried to lift her head to see her cubs but couldn't, lying on the ground with her body heaving, unable to move.

The alpha wolf sat helplessly in the snow, lowering its body to nudge the mother wolf up, but ended up rubbing its face in blood. The alpha, which had been fiercely fighting the zombie wolves just a moment ago, now seemed particularly helpless and panicked.

Xu Fang couldn't bear to see such a scene and turned his head to ask others, "Do we have any medicine?"

"Plenty," Wuduo pulled out gauze and other medications for external injuries from her space.

Lin An and Granny Wu were already walking straight towards them, with Shen Xiuzhe following closely, on guard for a sudden attack from the snow wolves.

Ouyang Dong, carrying the medicine, joined Xu Fang in assisting the other injured snow wolves.

When Lin An and Granny Wu approached, the alpha wolf suddenly stood up, blocking the mother wolf and the cubs, baring its sharp, knife-like fangs fiercely.

Before Shen Xiuzhe could step forward, Xiao Fu suddenly dashed out, barking fiercely at the alpha wolf.

Lin An was deeply moved, amazed by Xiao Fu's bravery, standing up to such a large wolf. Of course, he hadn't seen how timid Xiao Fu had been in the cave when facing this wolf.

Now, with support behind him, Xiao Fu was not afraid of it.

The alpha wolf, looking at Xiao Fu baring its teeth, and then at the two with the medicine, let its tail droop, as if it had lost all will to fight, and silently stepped aside.

Lin An and Granny Wu immediately stepped forward to examine the mother wolf's wound.

"The wound is too large, it needs stitching," Granny Wu remarked after a glance, bending down to look for the necessary tools. Lin An, also knowing some basic medical knowledge, worked with her to disinfect, stitch, and bandage the mother wolf's wound.

During this time, the wolf cubs were constantly moving around, unaware of the meaning of injury, not knowing they almost lost sight of their mother, just staying close to her affectionately.

Xiao Fu strutted proudly, seeing such a big wolf scared off by itself, extremely pleased, guarding beside Granny Wu and Lin An, baring its teeth whenever the cubs approached.

Lin An repeatedly brushed the wolf cubs off as they tried to climb onto their mother, prompting Xiao Fu to bark at the cubs when it noticed its owner's actions.

Having previously fought three zombie wolves and just scared off the alpha wolf, Xiao Fu's actions were noticed by the cubs. When Xiao Fu barked at them, the cubs, not understanding, obediently sat on the snow and watched it.

Xiao Fu was immensely pleased with itself.

After the mother wolf's wound was bandaged, and the other snow wolves were also tended to, two had already died before they could be bandaged.

The mother wolf's injury was severe, and it was uncertain whether she could survive.

It was too cold outside, so they moved the injured wolves back to the cave. The cave was not large, more like a temporary shelter than a den for a wolf pack.

The bodies of the zombie wolves were burnt to ashes, while the dead snow wolves were dragged away by the others, seemingly to their own burial grounds.

"What do we do now?"

After being rescued, the snow wolves knew these humans were helping them. They didn't attack but also didn't get close, just watching them from a distance.

Ouyang Dong looked at the snow wolves lying all over the cave, many fully wrapped in gauze, half-dead and immobile.

"We can't possibly wait for all these snow wolves to heal before leaving, but it doesn't seem right to just leave like this either. Ah, it's so troublesome. If only our team had a healer," Xu Fang said, touching the slight stubble on his head, finding it prickly, unlike the smoothness of being bald.

In Chuxi City, they had never seen a healer, or rather, the existence of such a healer was still unknown.

Lin An also couldn't bear it; if the mother wolf died, these carefree cubs would lose their mother.

"Let's stay a few days until the mother wolf is out of danger before we leave."

"Eventually, Shen Xiuzhe made a final decision."

They parked the RV at the base of the mountain, checking on the injured snow wolves periodically and feeding them, using Xiao Fu's canned food and snacks.

Xiao Fu had a lot of food and toys, most of which were unopened and stored in their space. Now that the wolves were injured, Lin An decided to distribute this food to the injured snow wolves. Of course, they didn't take care of the other uninjured wolves.

The injured snow wolves cooperated and finished the canned food while lying on the ground.

Xiao Fu's eyes widened when it saw its canned food being given to other wolves, but after Lin An personally fed it a can, it happily wagged its tail, leading its little followers to play in the snow.

The wolf cubs played with Xiao Fu for a while, then ran towards the cave, and upon entering, they climbed straight onto their mother.

They were hungry.

Then, the alpha wolf, who had been vigilantly guarding its mate, swatted them away with a few swift paws.

The wolf cubs, rolled out of the cave, looked bewilderedly at their irritable father, not understanding what had happened. They were so hungry.

Xiao Fu realized this, or rather, it had already heard the cubs' stomachs growling, so it led its little companions down the mountain to find Lin An.

"What's up?" Lin An asked, seeing Xiao Fu carrying an empty food bowl.

They had just eaten, so their stomachs shouldn't be hungry yet.

Somehow, Xiao Fu had communicated with the wolf cubs, who now sat in a row inside the RV, wagging their tails and sticking out their tongues eagerly at Lin An. Xiao Fu, meanwhile, placed the bowl it was carrying in front of the cubs.

Little wolves: Chow down, chow down.

Lin An: ...He understood.

The wolf cubs were still very young, and Lin An had bought a lot of sheep milk powder when he first found Xiao Fu. Because he bought so much and Xiao Fu hadn't finished it, the rest was stored at home, and now in Wuduo's space.

"Each member of Shen Xiuzhe's team held a wolf pup, cradling the plump cubs and feeding them with small milk bottles."

This time Xiao Fu didn't compete with the cubs for attention from their owners, as it was a big dog.

Xiao Fu felt proud.

The others were also happy, after all, the sight of the wolf cubs eagerly drinking milk was adorable.

Shen Xiuzhe held a milk bottle indifferently, wondering why he was feeding a wolf here. Weren't they in a hurry? And this cub was eating too much, already on its second bottle. Wasn't he worried about overfeeding it? He looked disdainfully at the cub in his arms, not finding it cute at all.

"Two bottles should be enough. Cubs don’t know when to stop eating and might vomit if they eat too much," Lin An said, recalling the extensive research he did for raising Xiao Fu.

"Hehe," Xu Fang watched the cub in his arms, his smile slowly turning a bit weird.

Ouyang Dong was curious: "How come you stockpiled so much dog food, sheep milk powder, and various dog toys and supplies? Were you planning to open a pet supply store?"

When they first met Lin An, he had already become a zombie and couldn’t communicate, so the reason behind his large stockpile of dog supplies remained a mystery to everyone.

"And all that wilderness gear. If it weren't for Xiao An's thorough preparation, our journey wouldn't have been this smooth," Wuduo knew best what was in Lin An's house, as everything that could be moved was in her space.

Lin An: "......"

Everyone looked at him curiously, but Lin An didn’t know what to say. Had he bought all this because he was coerced, or because he was too shy to refuse?

He felt quite embarrassed.

Lin An was awkward; he didn’t want to talk about those days when he bought all sorts of useful and useless things out of fear. If the pet store owner hadn’t been eaten by zombies, he wondered what he might have become.

"I've finished with this bottle. There are plenty of dog toys in the space. Why don't you all play with these cubs to burn off their energy? Otherwise, they'll be noisy at night without their parents," Shen Xiuzhe, holding a wolf cub by the nape, tossed it to Ouyang Dong.

Ouyang Dong, already holding a cub, hurriedly caught the one flying towards him in a fluster.

"Where are those toys?" Shen Xiuzhe asked Wuduo.

"All here," Wuduo immediately took out several cardboard boxes from her space, filled with dog toys.

Xu Fang came over with a wolf cub, and they all squatted there, choosing toys, with Xiao Fu also peering into the boxes.

In the afternoon, the area outside the RV was filled with laughter and joy, with Xu Fang, Ouyang Dong, and Wuduo using various toys to amuse the wolf cubs. These cubs had been hiding with their pack since birth, their only playthings being their siblings. Now, with so many fancy toys, they were having a great time.

Even Xiao Fu, usually by its owner’s side, couldn’t resist the temptation and ran out to play.

"Thank you," Lin An said softly, standing at the RV door.

Shen Xiuzhe stood next to him, taking his hand.

"You can talk to me about it anytime you want."

"Okay."

Xiao Fu, wagging its tail, excitedly picked up a green ball, its favorite toy that it hadn’t played with in a long time. Then it looked up and saw Lin An and Shen Xiuzhe standing together.

Xiao Fu: !!!

Startled, the ball dropped from its mouth. Xiao Fu then remembered its duty to stay by its owner's side, to be wary of Shen Xiuzhe.

Forgetting about the toy ball, it immediately ran towards its owner, and because of its low viewpoint, even saw the two holding hands.

"Woof woof woof." Let go of the hand!

Today, Xiao Fu is feeling quite inflated. After all, it's a dog that has battled three zombie wolves and even scared off the alpha. Dealing with an annoying human is nothing for it.

"Hm?" Shen Xiuzhe, looking at the daring dog that barked at him, narrowed his eyes and stared.

The dog cowered, its inflated ego deflating under his threatening tone, recalling the fear of being dominated by Shen Xiuzhe.

Quietly, with its tail drooped, it walked to the other side of Lin An and squatted there, leaning against its owner's leg, not daring to bark or puff itself up again.

"Humph!" Truly a coward.

Shen Xiuzhe sneered, slightly shifting his posture to clearly show Xiao Fu their clasped hands, signaling who was truly closest to Lin An.

Shen Xiuzhe vs Xiao Fu.

Xiao Fu utterly defeated.

For the first time, Lin An saw Shen Xiuzhe acting so childishly, with the defeated Xiao Fu whining pitifully.

"Don't bully it," Lin An said, half laughing, half crying.

"It barked at me just now."

"So what?"

"You can't always spoil it. If it dares to bark at people today, it might bite someone tomorrow. It needs early education to know what should and shouldn't be done."

Lin An: "..." It's just a simple dog, why does it need to know so much?

Granny Wu, sitting on the sofa behind, draped in a blanket, was too cold to move much with her old bones. Listening to their conversation, she struggled to suppress her laughter, her face turning red.

"You two sound like you're educating a son."

Lin An's face turned red.

Shen Xiuzhe, thick-skinned, joked in response: "Pretty much, though I suppose I'm more like a stepfather?" After all, Xiao Fu was raised by Lin An, and he came into the picture later.

"Hahaha~" Granny Wu couldn't contain her laughter at this remark, laughing until tears formed.

The family of three all looked at her. Shen Xiuzhe's eyebrows slightly raised, Lin An's eyes darted away, and Xiao Fu, not understanding why Granny Wu was laughing, looked bewildered.

*

The snow wolf's recovery was remarkably fast. After a few days of care, the mother wolf was out of danger, able to struggle to her feet and eat a lot.

The stitched wound didn't get infected and had started to heal, so changing the dressing was no longer necessary.

Shen Xiuzhe and his companions were preparing to leave.

The snow wolf, as usual, showed no affection towards them, but all six wolf cubs had defected, showing great warmth to these humans.

As the RV started moving, the little wolf cubs, realizing they were leaving, instinctively chased after it.

They ran and howled as they followed.

Xiao Fu, lying at the rear window, looked back at its little siblings with reluctance, humming, and then immediately ran to Lin An, tugging at his trouser leg to draw his attention outside.

Lin An was well aware that the wolf cubs were following, but they couldn't stay there forever; they had things to do.

"Xiao Fu, the wolf cubs belong here. We can't stay, nor can we take them with us." Even though Xiao Fu might not understand, Lin An explained patiently.

They thought the cubs would give up if they couldn't keep up, but they underestimated the endurance of the snow wolves. Even as cubs, their speed and stamina were extraordinary.

"If we keep running, these cubs will exhaust themselves to death. Think of something," Xu Fang urged, watching continuously from the rear window.

Soon, the RV stopped, and the occupants got out.

The excited wolf cubs caught up, but they were not greeted with human embrace but with stones and guns.

Xu Fang threw stones at the cubs, cursing as he did so: "Get lost, or we'll be having wolf hotpot for dinner!"

Ouyang Dong held a gun, firing into the snow, each shot landing precisely near the snow wolves.

The cubs, frightened by the gunshots and stones, backed away timidly, looking at the humans who had recently been cuddling with them.

Xu Fang and Ouyang Dong, naturally menacing in appearance, looked particularly intimidating now, enough to scare not just wolves but even humans.

"Howl?" The wolf cubs howled towards the RV, hoping their leader and the others would come back.

"But no one else got out of the car."

Suddenly, a fierce fire blazed around the wolf cubs, blocking the way forward and on both sides. The size of the fire was unusual in the snowy landscape, and for the cubs, barely a month old, the sudden inferno was terrifying enough to make them turn tail and run.

After this journey, Xu Fang and Ouyang Dong had greatly improved their skills; their shots outlining the wolves were incredibly precise, ensuring that neither stones nor bullets hit any cub.

Watching the frightened little wolves flee, Xu Fang felt so upset he almost cried.

"Boss, if you were going to start a fire, you should have told me earlier. I wouldn't have played the villain."

Shen Xiuzhe snorted coldly: "Not getting on the bus? Then I'll leave first."

"The RV started up, and without further complaint, they quickly boarded."

Granny Wu, sipping tea on the sofa, saw their downcast appearance and explained: "Getting the snow wolves to be close to humans was a mistake. If these cubs grow up thinking all humans are good, what if poachers come next? The wolves might approach them and end up as fur cloaks. So what you did was right."

"They understood this necessity; otherwise, they wouldn't have acted so fiercely earlier, but it still pained them to suddenly play the villain after finally bonding with the wolf cubs."

"It's okay, you still have Xiao Fu. Xiao Fu likes you," Lin An consoled them, then pushed Xiao Fu into Xu Fang's arms.

Xiao Fu, with a mission, blinked its bright black eyes at Xu Fang. Indeed, small animals are the most healing. Xu Fang and Ouyang Dong cheered up and began playing with toys alongside Xiao Fu.

It seemed they were even more enthusiastic than Xiao Fu.

The snow wolf remained wary of them, never showing any signs of affection, but every morning they found freshly killed animals nearby, each with a fatal blow to the throat and no other injuries.

This happened daily, but they never saw the snow wolf.

Only when they left the territory, leaving the domain of the snow wolves, did these gifts cease to appear.

It seemed these snow wolves had a clear sense of love and hate; they disliked humans and kept their distance but knew how to be grateful, staying cautious and hidden the whole time, never revealing themselves.

Everyone was melancholic for a while but soon calmed down. They were approaching the seaside, with the Ice Snow City near the coast and even colder than the snow wolves' territory.

Xu Fang didn't know whether to be happy about reaching the next city soon or to despair that it was even colder there.

He sighed worriedly, going inside the RV to call Granny Wu for dinner. They had been eating the prey provided by the snow wolves; today, they made a delicious lamb stew, flavorful without any gamey taste, seasoned only with salt.

"Granny, dinner's ready." Lifting the curtain inside the RV, Xu Fang thought of the lamb soup he had just smelled, swallowing eagerly.

It would probably be very warming to drink... if only they could have it every day...

Before he could finish his thought, Xu Fang was suddenly kicked to the ground by Granny Wu.

Xu Fang, almost spitting blood, exclaimed, "Huh?"

"Why hit me?"