Chapter 280: The Wolf Pack in the Night

Baifeng did not sleep very soundly all night; ever since the city wall was built, he had never felt so uneasy. He spent the night drifting between sleep and wakefulness. Every time he opened his eyes, he would first cautiously check if there were any beasts staring at him nearby, then turn over to see if any beasts were waiting under the tree.

Every time he was startled awake, it was like this; after a night's sleep, he still felt extremely exhausted upon waking.

As soon as the sky brightened, they hurriedly climbed down from the trees, packed their things, and continued on their way.

That Soldier with the broken arm, although unable to climb very tall trees, found it not too difficult to climb lower ones using one hand and both legs. It was just that every time he moved his wound, he would grimace in pain.

The closer everyone got to the Xinchengqu, the more anxious they felt. They kept feeling that something was tracking them from behind. Baifeng felt that these people would likely find it hard to be qualified hunters again after returning, as they had already been scared out of their wits.

In the past, hunters scared out of their wits by beasts would not appear, because they could not have returned alive. Fortunately, the Weapon of the Baifeng tribe was effective; otherwise, not a single one of them would have survived.

In fact, their intuition now was not wrong, because there really were beasts trailing them. Although the distance was great, after they had a full meal, they would still follow that strong, bloody scent to continue forward. After all, to survive, it was impossible to eat only one meal.

After repeated consideration, Baifeng decided to abandon that bear skin for now and hung it on a high tree trunk. It was estimated that only some birds of prey could enjoy the fat inside, while other animals could only watch.

Baifeng would send a Large Team to retrieve this bear skin once he returned safely to the tribe. It was fortunate that Baifeng left the bear skin behind; otherwise, this bear skin would have brought him fatal trouble.

The mountain king left temporarily after enjoying a meal; after all, it could not monopolize this thing, and such a large bear was too much for it to finish.

After the feast, what remained was a banquet for various beasts and birds; two charred people were just a single meal for the wolf pack.

They were full, but there were still some beasts that had come from afar to attend the banquet; they only caught some scraps and were naturally unsatisfied.

The wolf pack had eaten their fill but wanted to eat again, so they followed the scent and searched all the way, finding their campsite more than half a day after Baifeng and his group had left.

The bear skin hanging on the tree attracted them, but they lacked the ability of felines and could only sigh at the tree.

The lynx that came to the banquet finally got its first bite. Climbing this tree was easy for it, and it then lay on the wide bear skin, happily tearing at the bear fat. The scraps that occasionally fell from its mouth were enough to cause the wolf pack to scramble for them.

After it was basically full, the Eurasian eagle-owl also arrived. Two large Eurasian eagle-owls drove the lynx away with a single flap of their wings. The lynx was also full, so it did not stay.

Seeing that there was indeed no share for them, the wolf pack stretched out their long noses again and continued to track the scent of the prey.

Their speed was much faster than that of Baifeng and the others. Baifeng and his group had to stop at noon because their long-term regular diet meant that if they did not eat something at this time, they would feel exhausted and weak all over.

They had no Dry Rations left, so they could only catch something on the spot. Just as the fire was set up, an unlucky grouse became a soul under an Arrow.

With no other conditions, they could only pluck the feathers off roughly, remove the internal organs, and even keep the chicken heart and lungs, throwing away only the intestines. They had never felt that their life had been so difficult before.

Once roasted, of course, the Tribal Chief ate first. Baifeng would not be polite at this time, so he directly took two legs. As the Tribal Chief and the strongest Soldier at present, he had to ensure the most sufficient physical strength to deal with all emergencies.

The subsequent food distribution naturally had to be done by Baifeng as well. The entire chicken body was chopped up and divided into equal portions of roughly the same size, one for each person. Only the wounded man received the chicken head and chicken giblets.

Now was not the time to talk about unity, friendship, or mutual concession. Only by letting those with combat capability eat their fill first could they talk. With a broken arm, he no longer had combat capability and was basically a burden. All Baifeng could do was bring him back alive.

After eating, they casually scooped up a handful of water from the river to drink, then continued on their way. Now they could not be particular about anything and could only make do.

If there were no accidents, they would rest for one more night tonight and would be able to see their tribesmen tomorrow morning.

The night was the same approach: light a fire and spend the night in the trees. Everyone carried their Weapon on them, including the wounded man, who also carried a Crossbow. The advantage of the Crossbow was that it could be operated with one hand; when cocking it, one just needed to coordinate their hands and feet.

When he was drowsy at night, Baifeng felt some scratching sound, and there was a bit of vibration.

It took Baifeng one second to go from opening his eyes to being clear-headed. Then, he stiffened his neck and scanned the surroundings with his eyes, confirming that there were no beasts beside or above him.

When he looked down, he found that the fire was about to go out, and a large circle of beasts had surrounded the tree.

Baifeng started sweating at that moment. By the faint firelight, Baifeng saw that below was a pack of wolves, still trying to climb up the tree.

If they were on the ground, they would probably have been turned into minced meat by now.

Baifeng could not care about much else and hurriedly shouted to wake up the people in the surrounding trees.

Hearing the noise, the wolves stopped being sneaky and began to claw at the tree even more frantically.

After trying for a long time and feeling it was impossible, they gave up on climbing the tree. However, they did not intend to leave and kept circling below, as if waiting for Baifeng and the others to lose their stamina.

Looking at the sky, it was estimated that it would still be more than two hours before dawn. Baifeng was now completely devoid of sleepiness and could only watch the pack of wolves wandering below.

A wolf pack of a dozen or so was not large, but it was not small either. Baifeng was not too afraid of this; although they were numerous, they were small in size after all. Let alone one-on-one, even one-on-three, Baifeng, holding a long Weapon, was not afraid.

Baifeng arranged for everyone to get their Crossbow ready. After dawn, they would first fire a few volleys; if they could kill a few, so be it, and if they could scare them away, that would be best. If they could not be scared away, they would have to come down from the trees for close-quarters combat.

The Arrows everyone brought were basically unused, with about twenty each, which was already quite abundant. Baifeng wanted everyone to shoot all their Arrows, at least to take down half the wolves.

When the sky was fully bright, Baifeng knew it was time for them to take action. The wolf pack was still waiting for an opportunity, but the opportunity for Baifeng and his group had arrived.

Consequently, Baifeng directly picked up the Crossbow, aimed at the resting alpha wolf, and fired.