Chapter 214 Chen Wudi’s adaptability
After several days of the Wolf King’s fornication, Ren Xiaosu suspected their community would expand even more after the next two months.
When the wolves went out hunting today, he realized that their numbers were much lower than usual. Perhaps it was all female wolves that were missing.
Based on the known gestation period, it would take about 63 days for a female wolf to give birth after getting pregnant, which was a duration that was too fast for humans. Furthermore, no one knew if there were any changes to this natural cycle after the evolution of these wolves.
He followed the tracks left behind by the wolves into the mountains. Ren Xiaosu deduced that the wolf den should not be located too far away from the outpost since the howling he heard the other night sounded like it had come from nearby.
But before Ren Xiaosu could walk far, the Wolf King suddenly appeared at the end of the mountain path and blocked his way.
Ren Xiaosu somehow felt that the Wolf King had also come out to look for him.
When he heard the Wolf King letting out a whimper, Ren Xiaosu pondered it for a moment. “Are you looking for me to help you treat the wounds of your packmates?”
Animals in the wild were extremely cautious when they were hunting. That was because they could easily die from an infection caused by a small wound. Even the most powerful species would find it difficult to survive a bacterial infection. It had been proven that bacteria was one of the toughest living organisms in the world.
Even after the world went through repeated cycles of destruction and rebirth, some types of bacteria still managed to survive each time.
When Ren Xiaosu finished asking, the Wolf King actually nodded in response.
Ren Xiaosu took out the black medicine and said, “This medicine can treat wounds. I know that some of your packmates have gotten injured, but I can help you treat their wounds.”
The puzzled expression on the Wolf King seemed to be suggesting, “This thing can even be used to treat wounds?!”
Earlier, Ren Xiaosu was thinking that humans could just use their fingers to apply the medicine on their wounds, but what about wolves? Wolves usually treated their wounds by licking them. So if the wolves relied on their tongues to apply the black medicine, wouldn’t there be trouble?
The Wolf King seemed to hesitate for a moment. Then it turned around and led Ren Xiaosu into the mountains.
When Ren Xiaosu arrived at a valley downwind, he saw dozens of wolf cubs rolling around on the gra.s.s. They were not afraid of him as they had seen him when he was escaping. Though now the number of wolf cubs had increased by quite a bit. It looked like the wolves had not been idle either along the journey.
Of course, Ren Xiaosu understood. After all, the wolves had such a readily available source of food, and they couldn’t read books, play cards, or do any other recreational activities.
When the wolves saw that Ren Xiaosu was here, they slowly made way for him. Ren Xiaosu was terrified as he walked through the wolf pack, but he endured his fear as he continued moving forward.
He was a daredevil. If it were someone else, they wouldn’t have ventured so deep into a wolf den. It was not without reason that he could live such a comfortable life in town by relying on hunting.
As Ren Xiaosu walked further in, he saw seven wolves lying on the ground and gasping for their lives. The scent of blood filled the air around them.
Although the bullets that pa.s.sed through their muscles were not enough to cause them fatal injuries, the long-term pain and bleeding would slowly drag them into the abyss.
Ren Xiaosu glanced at the Wolf King beside him and said, “I have to remove the bullets from their wounds first. It will definitely be very painful, so I’ll need you to tell them not to bite me…”
The Wolf King swung its head in the direction of the wounded as though to say, “Hurry up!”
Ren Xiaosu crouched down next to a wounded male wolf and took out a pair of pliers from his storage s.p.a.ce. He didn’t have the luxury to worry about sterilization in this moment. In any case, the wolves would not understand what sterilization was.
Honestly, this was his first time attempting something like this. As Ren Xiaosu used the pliers to probe the wound, he kept an eye on that wolf next to him in case it reacted to the pain and tried to bite him.
But Ren Xiaosu was surprised that the wolf did not make a single sound even though it was rolling its eyes in pain.
“What a brave wolf.” Ren Xiaosu felt a little emotional when he saw this. He located the position of the bullet with the pliers. He found the bullet in a much shallower position than he thought it would be. This meant the muscle density of these wolves was even greater than he had imagined. Ren Xiaosu threw the bullet he removed from the wound at a nearby rock, and it landed with a clink. All that was left was just to apply some black medicine to the wound.
The moment Ren Xiaosu applied the black medicine to the wound, he noticed the wolf whose muscles were trembling from pain start to relax slowly.
At this moment, the way the Wolf King was looking at the black medicine in Ren Xiaosu’s hands changed!
After Ren Xiaosu finished treating the seven wolves, he was sweating profusely. He had also overcome his fear of wolves. Ren Xiaosu wiped his sweat away and remarked, “Remember to send us more meat after they’ve recovered from these injuries. We’re planning to sell some of it in the stronghold and make some money so that we can enjoy the Lunar New Year. It’s also time to buy some new clothes for Big Sister Xiaoyu and Liuyuan…”
Next to Ren Xiaosu, the Wolf King listened quietly without interrupting as both human and wolf walked out of the wolf den.
Ren Xiaosu had never imagined that one day, he would pa.s.s through a wolf’s den at will, especially as he regarded wolves as enemies some months ago.
“Alright, you don’t have to see me out,” Ren Xiaosu said as he walked outside. “Remember not to let them eat any spicy food, onions, ginger, garlic—”
Ren Xiaosu suddenly stopped mid-sentence. He stared into the snowy landscape of the wilderness and lamented being too professional. Like the wolves would eat spicy food!
He had barely been a doctor for more than a few days, yet he thought he really was one now…
Back at the town outside of Stronghold 113, he was the only doctor in the entire town. That somehow made it sound like he was the “hope of the entire village.” But as he kept performing his physician duties, he somehow turned into a vet.
“But the wounded wolves should eat as little goat meat as possible. You have to listen to a doctor’s advice, OK?” Ren Xiaosu then took a deep breath while looking at the Wolf King and said, “Remember to send over more of those pheasants that have green tail feathers. Those are much more delicious than goat meat. They’re delicious!”
The Wolf King was getting disinterested in what this chatterbox was saying. It turned around and padded back to the wolf den.
While on the way back, Ren Xiaosu thought that living such a life was actually quite nice. At least it was much better than receiving cold looks from residents inside the stronghold.
But when Ren Xiaosu almost reached the outpost, he suddenly heard something at the outpost that sounded off. At this time, everyone should be asleep, so why was such a strong campfire still burning?
When he went over to have a look, he saw everyone sitting around the campfire and barbecuing some meat. An old man with gray hair stood out among the crowd.
When the old man saw Ren Xiaosu coming back, he said with a smile, “You’re Ren Xiaosu, aren’t you? They told me that you were suffering from diarrhea. It looks like you were taking a really long time to clear your stomach, eh?”
Ren Xiaosu’s instructions to Chen Wudi earlier was to improvise if an unexpected situation arose. He could deal with it by saying that Ren Xiaosu had diarrhea or something and try his best not to say anything conflicting.
From the looks of it, Chen Wudi was quite adaptable at making up excuses. Ren Xiaosu called Chen Wudi over and asked him, “How long have I had the runs?”
Chen Wudi counted on his fingers. “Six hours.”
Ren Xiaosu was dumbfounded and did not know how to carry on the conversation. He asked Chen Wudi again, “And who is that?”
Chen Wudi thought for a moment before saying, “He’s the Earth Deity[1]!”
Ren Xiaosu felt he was very stupid to have asked Chen Wudi such a serious question…
At this moment, Li Qingzheng hurried over to get Ren Xiaosu to sit down when he saw him still standing there. At the same time, Li Qingzheng whispered, “He’s from the Li Consortium and is also here to investigate the disappearance of the two officers. We didn’t mention that we saw wolves during the day, so don’t bring it up.”
Ren Xiaosu raised his eyebrows slightly. An old man dared to come here by himself to investigate the case?
[1] A tutelary deity of a locality and the human communities who inhabit it in Chinese folk religion.