Chapter 51: War Wolf

Baifeng quickly closed the door, not daring to go out rashly. With so many footprints, they could not have been made by a lone beast; a large pack of some kind of beast must have come to the Baifeng Tribe in the night.

He held the Knife in his hand, but felt no sense of security; it was too short and lacked sufficient lethality. After a moment's thought, he handed the Knife to Sui, who still did not understand what was happening, while Baifeng himself picked up his bow and nocked an Arrow; a ranged Weapon could give Baifeng more courage.

Sui held the Knife with trembling hands, standing behind Baifeng, thinking that the large tribe they had offended earlier had come for revenge. She kept crying and shaking, but her grip on the Knife only tightened.

Baifeng gently pushed the door open a crack and looked left and right. He did not see anything nearby, but still hunched his waist, preparing for an attack. Only after looking around to confirm it was safe did Baifeng dare to squat down to see exactly what kind of animal had left the footprints.

They were plum-blossom shaped and relatively small. Baifeng estimated they were wolves, because among beasts of such size, only wolves would travel in packs. As for jackals or the like, Baifeng had truly never seen them here.

As long as they were wolves, Baifeng was not so afraid. He had once fought a wolf alone; although it was just a thin, old wolf, it still left Baifeng full of confidence when it came to dealing with wolves.

Wolves do not ambush and charge out to attack instantly like lions or leopards. Canines prefer to live in groups and are accustomed to using human-wave tactics, so even if they encounter a lone prey, they will test it back and forth before truly attacking.

He had not heard any warning sounds from his tribesmen. Either everyone in the houses had been wiped out, or the wolves had not managed to break into the houses at all. Baifeng felt the latter was more likely; no matter how powerful a wolf pack was, it was impossible for them to prevent over a dozen prey from making a single sound.

He softly called for Xiaoniu, and it mooed in response to Baifeng. It was likely just terrified, as its voice was not loud and was somewhat shaky. Aside from being made of pure wood and letting in the wind, Xiaoniu's house was completely secure. It was likely the wolf pack wanted to attack Xiaoniu but could do nothing about the house.

Baifeng did not let Sui come out, only having her stand inside so that if she saw a wolf coming, Baifeng could close the door immediately upon entering. Now, Baifeng stood under the eaves and shouted loudly to warn all the tribesmen.

Most of the tribesmen were awake, but knowing the Snow was still very thick, they thought they did not need to work, so they stayed in their houses and did not go out, thus failing to discover that a wolf pack had entered.

Under Baifeng's alarm, all the able-bodied men, after confirming it was safe, crept out of their houses with vigilance, while the women held Weapons and guarded the doors.

Over a hundred people gathered in the open space in front of Baifeng's house, with people guarding both the front and back. There were footprints everywhere on the road; they must have found their way here after the Snow stopped, though it was unclear if they had left yet.

Dozens of people were divided into teams, searching in different directions. If they discovered anything, they were to shout loudly so others could rush over to support them. Because of constant expansion, the Baifeng Tribe's territory was already three or four hundred mu in size, though it was densely populated and had no fields.

Baifeng led people to search forward continuously. The footprints were terrifyingly dense; Baifeng could hardly imagine how many wolves had come. There was even gray-yellow fur they had shed on the Snow.

It was quiet; no one dared to speak loudly. There was only the crunching sound of feet in the Snow and the heavy breathing of the tribesmen. Because they had no shoes, their feet were frozen red, but they were too nervous to notice it now.

There were none in the residential area, so Baifeng walked toward the warehouse. While still far from the warehouse, Baifeng and his group vaguely heard scratching sounds, thumping sounds, and some sharp vocalizations.

Everyone immediately entered a combat state, leveling their Spear tips, bending their waists to stabilize their stances, and began to gradually continue approaching the warehouse.

Before turning the corner of the wall, Baifeng had already seen many wolf hindquarters. Perhaps they felt humans posed little threat to them, or perhaps they were numerous and felt secure in their numbers. They must have discovered Baifeng and his group approaching, but not a single wolf turned around.

Baifeng drew his bow and shot an arrow at the belly of a wolf ten meters away. Unfortunately, the arrow went wide and hit its spine. That wolf twitched and fell to the ground on the spot, not even struggling. By a stroke of luck, Baifeng had pulled off a master shot.

After that wolf fell, the wolves beside it tucked their tails and ran a bit further away, then a few gathered around to observe their companion's state before one by one they looked squarely at Baifeng and the others.

The thumping and scratching at the door also stopped. This was the warehouse where the Beef was kept; they were likely attracted by the processed Beef, which was why they had not attacked Baifeng's tribesmen. However, the warehouse door was very thick and heavy, and they really had no way to open it with their claws, though it was unknown how long they had been struggling.

Seeing the wolves gathering in greater numbers, with forty or fifty appearing in his field of vision alone, and more hidden behind the wall, it was hard to imagine there would be such a massive wolf pack. But perhaps for this very reason, a heavy Snow had forced them to come out to find food as soon as it stopped.

Baifeng had more people here, but facing a large group of eager green eyes, Baifeng and his men were still a bit nervous. Humans all wanted to hunt without getting hurt, and infection after an injury was very troublesome. If there was rabies, Baifeng feared he would only be able to have them cremated.

Baifeng shouted loudly for the other team led by Xiong. The wolf pack retreated briefly after hearing the roar, but immediately tested forward again. Baifeng's arrow was already nocked, but he did not know if this arrow, once shot, would scare them off or provoke them into attacking immediately.

The men led by Xiong ran over quickly and were also shocked to see such a large number of wolves. Seeing the increase in the number of humans, the wolves were not afraid but rather even more excited, as if the silver-glinting items in Baifeng and his men's hands were merely ordinary tree branches.

Xiong did not think; he directly drew his Long Bow, squatted low, and fired. The arrow, tipped with an Armor-Piercing Arrow head, whistled as it flew out, piercing through the belly of the first wolf and then the chest of the second, pinning the wolf firmly to the ground.

The wolves did not pay attention to the life or death of their companions. Stimulated by the scent of blood, they only let out several howls, and then all the wolves rushed over like a tide.

The tribesmen were frightened into retreating, but the Spears in their hands were not idle, stabbing wildly back and forth. Most of the wolves were pierced by a Spear and fell to the ground struggling, but some scrambled along the Spear shafts or squeezed through the gaps under their legs to pounce. Some people were scratched, some were bitten; although it was a minority, the screams were still terrifying.

Those with bows kept drawing and firing. At such close range, the hit rate was extremely high, but most did not hit vital points, and many wolves kept charging while bristling with arrows.

After fighting like this for three or four minutes, wolf corpses were scattered everywhere, and some that were not quite dead were still twitching and struggling. They finally regained some reason, or perhaps they were summoned by the howling of the hidden Wolf King, slowing their offensive, then slowly distancing themselves from the humans, baring their teeth in a standoff once more.

Not a single person from the Baifeng Tribe had died, though many were injured. The most serious one had a large gash torn into the flesh of his lower leg, with the meat hanging from the leg by the skin; if it had been any deeper, the bone would have been visible, but he still stood firmly.

The Wolf King, with its shimmering gray fur and a body size significantly larger than the other wolves, took the remaining sixty or seventy wolves, jumped over the wall one by one, left the Baifeng Tribe, and ran toward the forest.

A wolf that had an injured leg and could not jump had its neck bitten through by the Wolf King, then was tossed casually onto the snowy ground. Xiong glared at the Wolf King, pulled the last arrow from Baifeng's Arrow Quiver, drew it to full tension, and shot it at the Wolf King.

The Wolf King just gave a light leap and avoided the arrow shot by Xiong. It stared at Baifeng and Xiong as if to carve them into its memory, let out a long howl, and was the last to jump over the wall into the Wasteland.

Baifeng and the others did not dare to pursue, mainly because their own injured needed immediate treatment. Seeing the warrior with his lower leg torn open, Baifeng hurriedly shouted: "Quick, find a clean house and get them inside! And where is my medicine box? Medicine! Medicine! Quickly bring my box!"