C14 The Hungry Wolf Attacked the Villagers

Lin Xiaoqiang swiftly carved out a passage and headed in the direction of the recent cries. As he approached within about ten meters of the source, he activated his Precognition.

With Precognition at his disposal, Lin Xiaoqiang surveyed the outskirts of the village, which remained an unbroken stretch of white. Concerned he might overlook a vital clue and with the villagers' safety in mind, he resolved to make a thorough circuit of the village.

As he circled the perimeter, Lin Xiaoqiang employed Precognition to scan his surroundings. Despite his efforts, he discovered nothing out of the ordinary.

Meanwhile, the eerie cries had roused many villagers from their slumber. Without turning on any lights, they hastily dressed in a state of alarm and peered out their windows toward the direction of the village entrance.

Several villagers noticed Lin Xiaoqiang pacing the village's edge, knife in hand, and wondered what he was up to.

Lee Erhei got dressed and went to his neighbor's window, whispering a call.

"Old Deng, Old Deng, are you folks still asleep? Haven't you heard? There's been a major disturbance in the village."

The Deng family next door was already up, the entire household glued to the window, watching the unfolding scene. With such a ruckus, sleep was the last thing on anyone's mind.

Old Deng cautiously cracked the window and whispered back, "Lee Erhei, what are you yelling about in the dead of night? Didn't you hear that animal cry earlier? Are you trying to attract it here?"

Lee Erhei flashed a toothy grin and retorted, "You're out of the loop. It wasn't just an animal; didn't you see there was a person too?"

"Another person? How come I didn't know about another person?" Old Deng asked, puzzled by Lee Erhei's implication.

"Didn't you notice Lin Xiaoqiang eerily pacing around our village in circles just now?"

At this, Old Deng and his family had a moment of realization.

"Indeed, I did see Xiaoqiang circling the village several times, looking rather secretive. But what of it?"

Lee Erhei's eyes twinkled mischievously as he replied, "Old Bro, didn't you notice the pack of wolves trailing Lin Xiaoqiang? I can't fathom where he's drawn such a crowd from."

Old Deng felt a cold shiver run down his back as Lee Erhei spoke those cryptic words from the shadows of the window.

"What on earth are you babbling about? I just saw Xiaoqiang strolling around. How come I didn't notice any wolves trailing him like you mentioned?"

"Look, Old Deng, I was just trying to do you a favor by giving you a heads-up to be extra cautious. Why can't you appreciate that and instead lash out at me? If you didn't see anything, maybe you're the one who's blind. We'll settle this tomorrow."

With a sly grin, Lee Erhei stopped arguing, closed the door, and retreated to his room to sleep.

Lin Xiaoqiang, having made several rounds through the village without any new discoveries, decided it was time to head home.

Upon entering, he reassured Zhang Lili, "Tell the child to sleep tight. I've been around the village a few times and found nothing. It must've been some animal passing through; it's gone now."

Lin Xiaoqiang then returned to his room and promptly fell asleep.

The village fell into silence once more after Lin Xiaoqiang's return. The moon continued its descent in the east, casting a ghostly pallor over the land with its luminous glow.

In the woods on the outskirts, the rustle of footsteps could be heard as a pack of more than ten famished wolves emerged, moving with stealth. The alpha wolf paused to look at the moon and let out a soft grunt, prompting the rest of the pack to close in.

Led by the alpha, they silently made their way into the village from the western entrance, where two households resided. One was a family of three with a young girl, and the other was a man living with his elderly mother.

They had watched from their windows as Lin Xiaoqiang patrolled the village. But as quiet returned, they thought little of it and went back to sleep.

Their slumber was abruptly interrupted by the sound of the courtyard wall collapsing with a thunderous crash. The noise jolted the first household awake. The man's eyes snapped open, while the woman, clutching her daughter, asked anxiously, "Honey, did you hear that noise outside again?"

The man sat up, alert, but before he could utter a word, an enormous shadow loomed over the window.

The next instant, the shattering of glass shattered the night's stillness. A massive wolf, weighing between three to four hundred pounds, burst through the window and fatally twisted the man's neck with a single bite.

Blood sprayed in all directions, soaking the wolf's fur until it was dripping wet with gore.

The woman nearby let out a series of terrified screams. She rose to flee, but another wolf had already leapt through the window.

This wolf tore open the woman's abdomen, and within moments, her viscera were devoured.

The little girl was too shocked to react and passed out from fear, just as a third wolf barreled in and swallowed her whole.

The room echoed with the gruesome crunching of bones in the wolves' jaws.

The woman's screams roused the neighboring villagers, who came out to investigate, only to find an eerie calm; the pack of ravenous wolves had vanished without a trace.

Lin Xiaoqiang, disturbed by the commotion, didn't bother getting up but instead grumbled, "Damn if I know what kind of beast this is, choosing our village to raise hell every night."

After his complaint, he listened again, heard nothing further, and simply closed his eyes to sleep once more.

By 5 a.m. the next day, the village entrance was crowded with villagers. They had come together to clean up the site where a family had met their tragic end the day before.

In this age, death was all too common; there were no formal rites, no one to mourn the living or the dead.

Lee Erhei was up unusually early, standing amidst the crowd, recounting the tale of Lin Xiaoqiang with a pack of wolves trailing him.

"Last night, I saw Lin Xiaoqiang sneaking out of his house. After he emerged from the woods, there were more than ten wolves on his heels. For some reason, they didn't attack him. Once he had made his rounds through the village, the wolves just disappeared."

An elder villager, surveying the footprints and the carnage of the two households, drew on his dry pipe and shook his head in resignation. "Before the Ice Age, our village never saw such ferocious creatures, even though the mountains are close. We lived in peace. But why have they descended to prey upon us now?"