Chapter 2
On the grassy bank beside the stream, Xia Mingyu was facing three enormous wild wolves.
Of course, calling it a standoff was giving him far too much credit.
A more accurate word would be surrounded.
The three wolves stood more than half a meter tall at the shoulders. Their muscles were tense as they formed a semicircle around him.
The largest and strongest wolf, clearly the leader of the pack, lowered its body slightly. A deep growl rumbled from its throat as it slowly stepped forward, testing Xia Mingyu's reaction.
Faced with such a dangerous situation, Xia Mingyu was so nervous that his face had gone pale. Beads of sweat had already appeared on his forehead.
He knew very well that an adult human still had a chance against a single wolf while unarmed.
Humans were large animals too, after all.
But fighting three wolves at once—wolves that knew how to coordinate and were almost as large as North American gray wolves?
Even if Tyson himself were dragged over here, he would probably end up inside their stomachs today.
And Xia Mingyu was nothing more than a university student who spent most of his time sitting at a desk studying.
Worse still, he had even been trying to lose fat.
"What do I do?! What do I do?!"
Xia Mingyu's mind raced furiously.
The only solution he could think of was to retreat into the stream behind him and hope the flowing water would make the wolves hesitate.
Unfortunately, that wasn't very realistic.
The stream was far too shallow.
The water only reached his knees.
There was no way something like that would convince three starving beasts to give up food that was already right in front of them.
Awooo—!
As though sensing that Xia Mingyu's fierce appearance was nothing more than a bluff, the three wolves raised their heads and let out shrill howls together.
Startled birds burst from the surrounding forest.
Then the wolves stopped waiting.
They bared their fangs and slowly approached Xia Mingyu from three different directions.
"Ahhh!"
There was no longer any time to think.
Even if he was going to die, he was determined to drag at least one of these beasts down with him.
Xia Mingyu roared and curled all ten fingers like claws.
The moment the wolves jumped at him, he planned to stab his fingers straight into their eerie green eyes.
Whoosh!
Just as the battle was about to begin, an arrow with feathers attached to its tail suddenly tore through the air from the distance at incredible speed.
Its sharp arrowhead struck with terrifying precision—
Straight into the left eye of the pack leader.
Awooo—!
For a moment, time seemed to freeze.
Accompanied by a dull and agonized howl, the huge wolf's body violently trembled.
It staggered several steps in random directions before collapsing helplessly onto the ground.
The spark of life quickly faded from its remaining right eye.
Only deathly stillness remained.
The other two wolves had been preparing to leap at Xia Mingyu and tear him apart.
But the instant they saw their leader fall, they immediately stopped attacking.
Panic replaced their aggression.
Like frightened dogs, they turned around and fled.
In the cruel world of nature, beasts had no concept of revenge.
Survival came before everything else.
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"Huff... Huff..."
Having narrowly escaped death, Xia Mingyue finally relaxed after being under such extreme mental pressure.
He bent over and gasped heavily for air.
However, when he looked at the enormous corpse of the pack leader in front of him, killed by an arrow that had entered through its left eye and pierced its brain, he quickly realized something.
This was definitely not the time to relax.
Whoever had fired that arrow had managed to hit the left eye of a wolf while it was moving at high speed.
That person could probably put an arrow through Xia Mingyu's head just as easily.
Realizing this, Xia Mingyu didn't dare to hesitate.
He immediately turned toward the direction the arrow had come from and raised both hands high into the air like a heroic French soldier.
"Thank you! Thanks! Merci! ありがとう!"
He expressed his gratitude in several different languages in a row, doing everything he could to show that he was harmless.
Under Xia Mingyu's nervous gaze, a figure stood up from behind a bush and slowly walked toward him.
It was a young boy.
He wore old, worn-out clothes that looked as though they had been made from rough linen.
A quiver was strapped to his back, and he carried a bow in his hand.
His face was thin but determined.
His eyes were sharp, and his expression was cold, giving off the impression that he wasn't someone easy to approach.
Other than that...
