The Wolf of the Night

Luo Jun pressed down the flaps on both sides of his fur hat to cover his ears as he spent the night on Mount Han. With his steel helmet buckled on top of his head, he could maximize the heat retention of his head.

He curled up in the cracks between the rocks. Tenacious alkali grass grew in the cracks between the rocks, and Luo Jun's body pressed it down while the tall alkali grass at both ends of the crevice happened to block the wind blowing from both sides.

Luo Jun didn't feel very cold inside. Unable to fall asleep for a while, he looked up at the pitch-black starry sky through the square skylight like a child, just as he had in the past when lying exhausted on an iron bed at the special agent base.

This was perhaps the only place where he maintained his innocence.

He was not always so rational, so bloody, so fond of playing with knives and guns either. Like other middle-aged men, he always had an immature side. When alone, he also liked to play with some interesting things and fantasize about some unrealistic things.

It seemed only then that he would feel that he was alive and not completely meaningless.

In order to scout better tomorrow, he had to rest well.

So he didn’t spend much time enjoying the pleasure of free fantasy. He began to hypnotize himself to fall into deep sleep.

In the middle of the night, Luo Jun heard the howl of wolves.

Fortunately, the land here was spacious, and the sound reached his alert ears, otherwise if the wolf had bitten him, he wouldn’t even have time to react.

He quickly took out his dagger and jumped up from between the rocks.

In the darkness ahead, a black shadow swayed among the rocks. Luo Jun immediately climbed onto the top of the rocks and shone his flashlight at the black shadow.

A large gray wolf suddenly appeared before his eyes.

“Damn it!”

At a glance, Luo Jun recognized that this was a wolf bigger than an average wolf, definitely at the wolf king level!

The appearance of the wolf king here meant that its previous howl would attract more wolves!

Luo Jun was not afraid that these wolves would bite him to death. Rather, he didn’t want to waste the bullets in his gun, and at the same time didn’t want to expose his position, although the gunshots would not reach the mothership, but he couldn't guarantee that their reconnaissance personnel were on both sides of the river channel or nearby.

So Luo Jun kept shining his flashlight at the wolf king like this.

It stood still, not knowing if it was because it couldn't see the surroundings clearly in the dark, so it didn't dare move around either.

However, Luo Jun soon ruled out this reason. After confronting Luo Jun for a while, it finally moved. Only then did Luo Jun discover that it had injuries on one hind leg and one front leg, and there was blood flowing. It was completely unable to balance when walking, staggering along, like a lonely, feeble old veteran soldier with nothing to depend on.

Only upon seeing its demeanor did Luo Jun discern something amiss.

This was an aged wolf king with no other wolves following it. It was most likely that it had just been defeated by the new wolf king and was dragging its injured body and unwilling heart to go hunting, in order to prove its status as the wolf king.

It just happened to follow the human scent here.

But who knows, when it howled, not a single wolf came along to respond to it.

The competition in the animal world is more brutal than that of humans. In human competition if you fail, at least you still have food to eat. In the animal world if you fail in competition, there is only death.

With injured limbs, it would be impossible for it to fight again. If other ferocious beasts smelled blood and came chasing to kill it, it could only become prey.

Of course, there was another possibility.

And that was that all the wolves it led were annihilated in the battle with other species, leaving only it barely surviving.

But Luo Jun believed more in the former, because when wolves act, they always measure their own strength. They seldom collide head-on but often attack when the enemy is at ease.

After another half an hour, there was still no other wolf howl responding.

Luo Jun was going to end it with a stab, but when he saw its indomitable eyes and vicissitudes, he involuntarily thought of himself.

"What a silly wolf, acting tough when it should retire now that it’s old.”

Luo Jun put away his dagger and took out a piece of fish from his pocket and threw it over. The old wolf looked at Luo Jun warily. Still, its hungry body moved towards the fish.

Seeing that Luo Jun did not move, it finally lowered its head carefully and bit up that piece of fish.

It no longer stubbornly stood there showing its nonexistent wolf might, but wearily sat down and chewed on that piece of fish.

Luo Jun also took out a hard piece of dried fish and started chewing. After eating half of it, he threw another piece to the old wolf which had finished eating.

This time the old wolf relaxed its vigilance a lot compared to before. Piece by piece, the old wolf had completely abandoned its vigilance against Luo Jun.

Humans domesticated the first dog from wolves. Obviously, this intelligent wolf knew that the human in front was the provider of its food. Now that it had lost its hunting ability, if Luo Jun did not feed it tonight, it would not survive two more days.

“Go away after you eat your fill!”

Luo Jun touched his pocket. There was only one piece of fish left inside that he had fed the wolf.

The old wolf didn’t seem to understand Luo Jun’s words at all. Instead, it lay on the ground licking its wounds while Luo Jun was not stupid enough to go wrap them. After all, it was a beast. If it bit back, that would be terrible. Wolf teeth contain too many bacteria. If bitten by them, the probability of contracting tetanus is very high.

However, with this wolf around, Luo Jun did not quite dare to fall asleep either. It looked like tomorrow’s reconnaissance mission would have to be cancelled.

Plans can never keep pace with changes.

Luo Jun looked at his mechanical watch. There were three hours before dawn.

The lonely Luo Jun had no choice but to lean against the rock watching the wolf. So the two looked at each other. The flashlight had also dimmed a lot. It seemed that it would soon run out of power.

"Strange. Why aren't the flashlight and the ship's lights affected by the mysterious metal on the island? Could it be because there are no circuit boards or chips?"

Luo Jun muttered to himself, always feeling that the observer’s words could not be fully believed, especially regarding some metal and its alleged effects on electronic products.

Although there were many bizarre events and mysterious incidents inexplicable by science in this world, those were all low probability events. It was unlikely to encounter them easily. Who knows, this could simply be a huge conspiracy.

That old wolf gradually closed its eyes and fell asleep in front of Luo Jun.

Luo Jun couldn't help but smile. This guy was really exhausted.

At this point, Luo Jun was no longer sleepy either. He turned off the flashlight. With the moonlight, he could still see the wolf’s position, no need to worry that it might pounce and bite after eating its fill.

Three hours was not long for Luo Jun. He had patience.

Gradually, three hours passed, and a red sun rose in the east. The clouds in the sky looked like they were burned, glowing fiery red.

"No rain for so long. Does that mean it's going to rain today or tomorrow?”

Seeing the blazing clouds in the morning, Luo Jun felt somewhat glum. As the saying goes, morning glow promises rain, evening glow promises fine weather. This morning glow was indicating likely rain today.

But he thought rain was good too. The temperature would drop with rain, and enemies who lived comfortably would not come out and move around. He could take this chance to scout around carefully himself, though it would be tougher.

"Goodbye, old wolf. Don't follow me."

After speaking, Luo Jun threw the last piece of meat to the old wolf then turned and left. The old wolf held the piece of dried fish in its mouth, watching Luo Jun's figure disappear before it.

"Wonder how the women are after one night away..."

On the road, Luo Jun couldn't help but think of the three women again.