Chapter 197: 197, The wolf king's goodwill

With Ren Xiaosu's physical prowess, flipping a bicycle wouldn't hurt him. He brushed off the dirt and snow from his body and stood up: "Unbeatable, next time something like this happens, just leave it to me. You just ride the bike, okay?"

"Oh, okay, Master!" Chen Wudi hurried back to lift the bicycle and continued riding, leading Ren Xiaosu to catch up with the group.

Ren Xiaosu glanced back at the wolf pack atop the hill, noting that the refugees' frantic escape had not stirred them. The white wolves stood motionless in the snow, as if merely idling to take a look.

Yet Ren Xiaosu could not fathom their purpose.

Chen Wudi pedaled ahead, speaking as he rode: "Master, why do people in this world seek to harm others to achieve their desires?"

"Perhaps it's the baseness of human nature," Ren Xiaosu replied absently.

"Then why do some seek to gain without effort?" Chen Wudi asked.

"Likewise, it's the baseness of human nature," Ren Xiaosu answered.

Suddenly, Chen Wudi's voice grew subdued: "Master, if I continue meddling in others' affairs, what if the person I save turns out to be wicked? There are so many villains—how can I be sure?"

Ren Xiaosu sensed the turmoil in Chen Wudi's heart, as if his heroic aspirations were wavering.

Though Ren Xiaosu himself had no desire to be a hero, he deemed this quality in Chen Wudi precious.

Ren Xiaosu said patiently, "If you wish to save someone, go ahead. Once you realize they're wicked, simply strike them down."

"Mmm," Chen Wudi nodded firmly.

A shout suddenly erupted from the refugee crowd: "Someone's stealing! Help me—he's taken my bag!"

In that moment, Ren Xiaosu grasped a realization. He leaped from the bicycle first, only to see Chen Wudi already charging forward, leaving the bicycle unmanned in an instant.

Ren Xiaosu felt a pang of melancholy; he still needed to learn to ride a bike—this wasn't a sustainable solution.

Before long, Chen Wudi returned after pummeling another man, his face tinged with embarrassment as he saw the fallen bicycle: "Master, sorry—I forgot you were on it again."

"It's fine, it's fine," Ren Xiaosu waved helplessly. "But with so many people, you can't handle them all. Dealing with every minor incident might exhaust you."

Moreover, this was only the beginning of their exile; conflicts among the refugees would only multiply.

"Then we'll handle one at a time," Chen Wudi said, troubled. "We can't just ignore them."

After fleeing a while longer, Ren Xiaosu called out to the others: "Enough running. The wolves haven't pursued us, and even if they had, we couldn't outrun them."

Yan Liuyuan and others halted, and the refugees, seeing some stop, gradually slowed their steps, each too exhausted to continue.

The only solace was that after the exertion, the cold felt less biting.

After escaping, they had to relight fires and gather firewood. Some, too weary to bother, lay down in the snow, while Yan Liuyuan, with a group of students, diligently rekindled the bonfire.

This was per Ren Xiaosu's insistence: in the snowy wilderness, no matter how cold or tired one was, the bonfire must be lit, lest a greater price be paid.

"Brother," Yan Liuyuan said, puzzled, "have you noticed how strange those wolves are?"

"You felt it too?" Ren Xiaosu asked, intrigued.

"Yes," Yan Liuyuan replied. "I keep sensing that the wolf king is watching me from afar, as if I can feel its gaze."

This surprised Ren Xiaosu, for he had felt no such presence.

As night deepened, Ren Xiaosu saw the others had fallen asleep and instructed the night watch, Chen Wudi and Yan Liuyuan, to be cautious. He ventured out alone.

Driven by immense doubt, Ren Xiaosu walked into the wilderness, toward where the wolf pack had appeared.

The snow had grown deep; the winter after the catastrophe was bitterly cold, with heavy snowfall.

He trudged forward, one foot sinking deeper than the other, while some sleepless refugees stared in bewilderment—daring to wander alone into the wilderness at this hour?

"Is he going to the bathroom?"

"Perhaps, though he seemed to have come alone from the wilderness before."

"Look how well-prepared they are. Maybe they knew this would happen."

"How could they have known?!"

A woman wrapped her face in a scarf, stealing glances at Ren Xiaosu's retreating figure, when someone beside her gasped: "You are... Fang Yujing?"

Even wrapped tightly, she was recognized. The speaker exclaimed joyfully, "It really is Fang Yujing! I'm your fan. I heard you were to attend a music festival these past few days, but who could have guessed this would happen."

Fang Yujing forced a smile: "As long as we're alive."

At that moment, she turned her gaze toward Ren Xiaosu, only to find him already far away.

Ren Xiaosu crossed a small earthen slope and beheld the wolf pack frolicking in the snow. Several she-wolves had over a dozen pups, which gazed at him fearlessly from a distance.

Ren Xiaosu dared not approach further, fearing the pack might turn violent.

He had come only to uncover the wolves' intentions, but before understanding them, he could not be certain they wouldn't see him as prey.

The pack's burly males stood in the snow, observing him. Suddenly, they parted, and the wolf king emerged from the rear, clutching a still-bloodied, massive rabbit.

Ren Xiaosu remained rooted, watching to see what the wolf king intended. The black blade in the palace buzzed with restless energy.

The rabbit was as large as a bicycle tire, its hot blood dripping onto the snow, steam rising from the droplets.

The wolf king approached and placed the rabbit on the ground before him. Ren Xiaosu asked, puzzled, "For me?"

But the wolf king offered no reply, turning instead to lead its clan away. Ren Xiaosu could only watch them recede into the distance.

This deepened his bewilderment—had the wolf pack grown so harmonious that they now offered sustenance to humans?

Yet what chilled him was the pack's swelling numbers; the wolf king seemed to be assimilating new wild wolves into its clan endlessly.

...

Today's book recommendation: The divine author Yinweizhe's new novel *Old Hutong*: In the 25th year of the Republic of China, Beiping faces impending upheaval. Behind the bustling facade, the alleys harbor traitors. Chu Mufeng, a minor constable, harbors grand ambitions.

First Sequence

First Sequence