Apocalypse Chapter 34: Hunting Wolves

Chapter 34: Hunting Wolves

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

The recoil of the sniper rifle was significant. If one’s posture was improper when firing, the butt of the rifle could shatter the shoulder blade. The sniper rifle Guan Shao used had manageable recoil, but for someone lacking strength, they would definitely be knocked over by the recoil. However, after the first shot, Guan Shao only trembled slightly under the influence of the recoil.

The human eye cannot catch the speed of a bullet, but the scope can directly see the result. After a gunshot, in the scope, the bright spot on the head of the wolf standing on the mountain burst out. It was the sight of warm blood splashing in the thermal imaging. In the instant the blood splattered, the wolf fell straight down, stiff.

Almost in the instant the wolf fell, Guan Shao had already aimed the scope at another wolf. With a crisp sound, the other wolf rolled down the mountain.

In the blink of an eye, two wolves died in Guan Shao’s hands, but unfortunately, besides himself, no one else noticed. Jiang Rong and Chu Qiang beside him also began to pull the trigger one after another.

They couldn’t match Guan Shao, unable to aim at the critical position of the head, but they could shoot at the wolf’s body. The mutated wolf bodies were like calves, easily locked onto by the scope. Once locked on, they awaited the cold bullets.

In the night vision scope, wolves fell one after another. Before the wolf pack reached the courtyard wall, more than a dozen wolves had already fallen. The wolves that weren’t killed instantly howled in pain, causing the remaining wolves to panic, with some even stopping in their tracks, unsure of which direction to go.

The wolf pack was confused and began to flee in all directions. However, traps had already been set up around by Jiang Rong and the others. Thorn walls instantly grew to four to five meters high, with wires carrying electricity. Even if a wolf dared to climb over the thorns, it would immediately be hit hard by a powerful electric shock.

Seeing the confused wolves, Chu Qiang exclaimed, “Wow, this is exciting!” 

He had only played shooting games in the past, never expecting to experience the feeling of real shooting in his lifetime. At this moment, his face was flushed with excitement, adrenaline surging.

Compared to Chu Qiang, Jiang Rong was a complete novice. He had never even played shooting games before and was now only pulling the trigger based on the knowledge he had hastily acquired in the past two days. The wolf pack was fast, making it difficult to aim, and his shoulder was numb from the recoil of the rifle. Although he wore ear protection, his ears still rang from the gunshot sounds.

As someone who grew up in a peaceful environment, Jiang Rong deeply felt how fortunate he had been before. Although anyone could pick up a gun when pushed to the edge, not everyone could handle it. However, Jiang Rong had a strong learning ability. After a moment of adaptation, his aiming and shooting speed noticeably increased, and his accuracy followed suit.

In less than two minutes, more than thirty wolves were reduced to just ten, and the three on the roof seemed to have overwhelmingly won.

At this moment, a wolf in the pack let out a long howl. The scattered and fleeing wolves suddenly seemed to find their backbone and rushed towards the courtyard wall.

Afraid that the wolf pack would enter the dead ends where they couldn’t shoot, thorns and electric wires had already been set up outside the courtyard wall by Jiang Rong in advance. As the remaining wolves rushed forward, two wolves quickly jumped forward and landed heavily in the middle of the sloped trap.

The thorns and electric shock made the two wolves scream in pain, but despite their agony, their bodies didn’t struggle. Their companions swiftly followed suit, accurately landing on the backs of these two wolves. Using their companions’ bodies as stepping stones, they fiercely stepped on them before taking off again towards the courtyard wall.

The two wolves howled in pain, bearing the weight of their companions. With their help, the remaining eight wolves flew over the courtyard wall as if they had wings.

Seeing this scene, Chu Qiang’s hair stood on end. “Damn!” 

He had only known that people would use their bodies to clear a path for their companions, but he hadn’t expected mutated wolves to do the same.

In the blink of an eye, the mutated wolves had rushed into the courtyard. Once inside, they immediately dispersed along the wall. This brought trouble to Jiang Rong and the others. No matter how hard Jiang Rong tried, the speed of the thorn growth couldn’t keep up with the speed of the wolves running.

The wall of his house wasn’t high, but it was wide. To kill the wolves wandering close to the house, they had to stand on the wall. However, they couldn’t proficiently control the firearms yet, so standing up would only increase the danger.

At a critical moment, Guan Shao took the gun from Jiang Rong and jumped onto the wall, saying, “They’re coming up. Be careful.”

As soon as he spoke, a wolf leaped from outside the wall, snarling, and lunged at Chu Qiang. Chu Qiang was shocked. “Do they have wings now?”

The traps outside the wall were enough to stop the wolves. If not for the two wolves sacrificing themselves, the wolf pack wouldn’t have been able to enter the courtyard at all. Jiang Rong’s house, including the wall, exceeded five meters in height. How did the wolf pack get up? Could it be that they can fly?

Just as the wolf was about to bite Chu Qiang, a long leg suddenly swept in, kicking heavily at the wolf’s chest and abdomen. Looking up, Chu Qiang saw Jiang Rong blocking his chest with clenched fists, his left foot on the wall and his right foot quickly retracting.

The airborne wolf howled in pain and fell heavily downward. Chu Qiang was speechless with shock. Was this really his childhood friend? Jiang Rong was incredible now!

After the flying kick, Jiang Rong’s balance was unstable, and he almost fell off the wall. Fortunately, Chu Qiang reached out his hand in time to pull him back, saying, “Be careful!”

Because the movement was too big, Jiang Rong’s head-mounted night vision goggles were thrown off, and for a moment, he couldn’t see anything. “Oops, the night vision goggles fell off.”

Guan Shao ran a few steps towards Jiang Rong’s direction. “Stay behind me.”

In the darkness, gunshots rang out, and the wolves’ heavy breathing echoed all around. Suddenly losing sight made Jiang Rong panic. He couldn’t help but regret how he dropped the ball at a crucial moment.

Although he couldn’t see with his eyes, Jiang Rong could see the situation in the courtyard from another perspective. Anything touched by his ability could become his eyes, but each viewpoint was different, and looking at too many things could be confusing.

Jiang Rong tried to channel his ability into the thorns. If he couldn’t kill the wolf pack, he could at least trap them and create opportunities for Chu Qiang and the others. However, the wolf pack was too fast, and there was no foothold inside his yard. After struggling for a while, he didn’t manage to trap a single wolf.

The remaining wolf pack was leaping up towards his house window. Due to the unfavorable shooting angle and visibility, Chu Qiang missed several shots.

The giant wolf didn’t give Chu Qiang a chance to continue shooting. A wolf attacked Chu Qiang from the side. In the nick of time, Chu Qiang threw his beloved gun aside and turned to wrestle with the wolf.

Jiang Rong wanted to go help Chu Qiang, but Chu Qiang shouted, holding the wolf tightly, hands around its neck, “Don’t come over! You can’t see, don’t come over! I can handle it!”

Long thorns climbed up the wall, becoming Jiang Rong’s new eyes. He saw the battle was nearing its end, with five wolf corpses on the ground, leaving three wolves.

Among the remaining three, one was grappling with Chu Qiang. But… where did the other two go?

Suddenly, Jiang Rong’s back chilled. Every cell in his body seemed to alarm him as if something dreadful was behind him. He stiffly turned his head and met the gaze of the same pair of green wolf eyes.

This wolf was very cunning. It climbed up from the window to the north, evading everyone’s gaze, lurking under the solar panel, waiting for a fatal strike. If Jiang Rong hadn’t felt something wrong, his neck would have been gnawed into four bloody holes by the wolf.

Just as the wolf pounced towards Jiang Rong, a bullet accurately pierced its neck. The wolf fell heavily, smashing at Jiang Rong’s feet. The dying wolf convulsed, its bright red blood staining the concrete beneath.

Without needing to look back, except for Guan Shao, no one had such excellent marksmanship. Guan Shao scanned around and said, “Two left, it’s almost over.”

At this moment, Chu Qiang shouted, “Ah!” 

The sound of bones breaking came, and the wolf grappling with Chu Qiang’s neck drooped down. Chu Qiang spat out a mouthful of blood and cursed. Fortunately, he was a mutant; otherwise, it would have been his neck broken.

Only one left, but where was this wolf? The three searched the yard meticulously but found nothing.

Chu Qiang asked, “Is it possible it escaped during the chaos?” 

After all, their battle line was in the northeast corner, and Jiang Rong’s yard was so big; there were always blind spots. With such advanced thermal imaging capabilities, it was impossible for any living creature to escape their eyes.

After pondering for a while, Guan Shao agreed, “It’s possible.”

After Jiang Rong scanned the entire yard inside and out, including the roof, through the thorns and confirmed there were no living creatures, he suggested, “It might have escaped. Let’s go down.” 

The situation was already lost; what storm could a lone wolf stir up? If that wolf was smart, it should have fled far away and never returned.

For the convenience of replacing the solar panels, Jiang Rong installed a retractable ladder at the southwest corner of the house. After pushing the wolf carcass off the roof, the three walked towards the ladder, carrying their guns.

Chu Qiang was excited, “Today’s battle was really exciting. Who would have thought we’d wipe out such a big pack of wolves in less than half an hour? Thanks to the equipment provided by Guan Shao, without you, we wouldn’t know how to fight.”

With a gun on his back, Guan Shao descended the ladder, “Both of you handled real guns for the first time, and you did quite well.”

Following Guan Shao down the ladder, Jiang Rong said embarrassedly, “Chu Qiang did fine; I didn’t hit many.” 

He was just a logistics officer, and the real contributors were Guan Shao and Chu Qiang.

Chu Qiang praised, “Nonsense, Guan Shao, you didn’t see just now, my little Jiang’s kick was so cool! Little Jiang, when did you learn martial arts? Impressive.”

Guan Shao murmured softly, “I saw it; he’s trained well.”

As the three descended the folding ladder, Little Fairy suddenly moved, all its spikes erect.

“Ah—” Little Fairy, silent for most of the night, suddenly screamed, startling the three almost off the ladder.

Countless spikes shot out from Little Fairy, all aimed at a spot below the ladder. Some spikes bounced off the cement ground and rolled to the floor, while more remained suspended in the air, seeming to have hit something.

Gradually, the spikes started dripping with crimson blood. In the gathering spikes, a blood-red-eyed giant wolf gradually emerged.

It staggered forward a few steps, then raised its head and let out a final howl, “Awoo—awoo—”

In this howl, there was unwillingness, reluctance, and indescribable emotions. In the dark night, the wolf’s howl carried far. Then, from the distant mountains, came a childish response, “Woo—”

Red blood slid down the spikes and the giant wolf, breathing heavily, looked resentfully at the three. But before it could make a move, Little Fairy launched a second attack, “Cartoon—”

The spikes shot out again, this time deeper, with several piercing through the wolf’s body. Turned into a hedgehog by the spikes, the giant wolf staggered a few times, then collapsed to the ground, twitching twice before ceasing all movement.

Seeing the wolf fall, the three fell silent. That was close; they almost fell victim to this wolf’s ambush. Who would have thought this wolf had awakened the ability to turn invisible? Such a terrifying ability, one couldn’t guard against it.

As they descended the stairs with their backs to the wolf, if Little Fairy hadn’t detected it, one of them would surely have been seriously injured by now.

Little Fairy hummed the Meow Meow Squad’s theme song triumphantly, every spike on its body proudly raised. Who said it was a useless Eyries cactus? It had finally figured out how to pierce through bad things.

In a great mood, Little Fairy sprouted a circle of flower buds on its head, forming a beautiful floral wreath. If it had a chest, it would surely be swelling with pride now.

Jiang Rong applauded, praising repeatedly, “Little Fairy is amazing! You saved us, you’re great! You’re the cutest Little Fairy in the world~”

Little Fairy laughed happily, shaking its head with the flowers, “Got a problem got a problem~”

Little Fairy had saved their lives and deserved a reward. Jiang Rong asked, “Little Fairy, what reward do you want?”

Little Fairy leaned against the courtyard wall, its round little body swaying, filled with anticipation, “Cartoon~ cartoon~”

Jiang Rong was speechless. He didn’t know whether to congratulate Little Fairy for learning new words or worry about its addiction to TV. Did it just shout that when it shot out its spikes earlier?

Soon, the light-hearted opening song of a cartoon sounded from the courtyard wall, and Little Fairy hummed along with it. Guan Shao smiled wryly, “Little Fairy is easily appeased.” 

Saving three lives for three cartoon episodes, there couldn’t be a more perfunctory reward in the world. Jiang Rong disagreed, “Isn’t this a bit advanced for a prerelease? Xiaoheng hasn’t even seen it.”

Little Fairy happily repeated Jiang Rong’s words, “Master Jiang~ prerelease~” It couldn’t say the word “release,” but that didn’t matter; the cartoon was starting.

Chu Qiang finally came to his senses, pointing at Little Fairy, “It… it… it talked… Xiao Jiang, your Little Fairy has become sentient, it can talk, did you hear that?”

Jiang Rong glanced at Chu Qiang, “Isn’t that normal?”

Chu Qiang squatted down, scratching his head, “How can it be normal? How can Little Fairy talk? Can this world still be okay?”

Seeing his buddy fall into his usual foolishness, Jiang Rong sighed and squatted down in front of the giant wolf. The wolf died with its eyes wide open, its pupils dilated. Jiang Rong empathized; if he died like this, he would also feel extremely unwilling.

The bodies of more than thirty giant wolves were neatly arranged in the yard, giving a profound visual impact. Guan Shao pulled out a small knife and stabbed it into the wolf’s head, “It seems that the reproductive ability of the wolf pack has also become stronger after mutation.”

Summer wasn’t the season for wolf packs to breed, but they unexpectedly left behind pups. Fortunately, they killed the alpha wolf today; otherwise, it wouldn’t be long before this area became the territory of the wolf pack. What to do with the remaining wolf pups? Wolves were good at hiding their tracks. If left unchecked, they might regroup in a while.

However, without the protection of the alpha wolf, the survival of the pups would be very difficult, and whether they could grow up normally was also uncertain. Jiang Rong decided to ignore them. If they grew up and formed a new pack, he wouldn’t mind fighting wolves again.

Chu Qiang lifted one of the wolf pups, weighing it, “So heavy, this weight is almost as heavy as a pig. What did they eat to grow this big?”

Jiang Rong pondered for a moment, “They eat living things.” 

They ate anything they could catch, and humans were also on their menu.

Seeing Guan Shao poking the wolf’s head with a knife, Chu Qiang approached curiously, “Guan Shao, what are you doing?”

Jiang Rong and Guan Shao weren’t planning to hide the matter of the crystal nucleus from Chu Qiang. Seeing him ask, Guan Shao stretched out his hand. In the palm of his hand lay a pale yellow crystal nucleus. Seeing this crystal nucleus, Chu Qiang’s eyes widened immediately, “What… what is this?”

Once Chu Qiang understood the purpose of the crystal nucleus, he stood dumbfounded in the courtyard. It took him a while to come to his senses, “This world has truly become mystical.”

Once other espers discovered the secret of the crystal nucleus, competition would begin. The future world would be dominated by high-level espers. The more crystal nuclei one possessed, the stronger their abilities, and the more invincible they would become.

Realizing this, Chu Qiang immediately joined the ranks of harvesting crystal nuclei. At this moment, he only wanted to thank Xiao Jiang for telling him this secret. Otherwise, he didn’t know when he would have discovered it on his own. Now that the Great Crisis had just begun, it was the perfect time to pull ahead of other espers.

With Chu Qiang’s help, they quickly obtained more than twenty crystal nuclei. Most of these crystal nuclei were transparent, with only five or six of them having colors.

The crystal nucleus extracted from the last wolf’s skull, although not the largest, had the most beautiful color. It was a light purple with vertical stripes resembling cat’s eyes in the middle.

Jiang Rong placed the cleaned crystal nuclei on the table and called Chu Qiang and Guan Shao over, “Take a look, see which one you like.”

Chu Qiang obviously had an esper’s instinct. He reached out and grabbed a pale yellow crystal nucleus, “I’ve been wanting to hold this one since earlier.” 

If he wasn’t mistaken, this wolf took two shots from Guan Shao before it died. It was very likely that, like Chu Qiang, it awakened an enhancement ability.

Guan Shao’s gaze was fixed on the light purple crystal nucleus, “I think I can use this one.”

Jiang Rong picked out the light purple crystal nucleus and handed it to Guan Shao. He was somewhat curious, “After absorbing this crystal nucleus, will you be able to turn invisible in the future?”

Guan Shao didn’t give a definite answer, “It’s unclear. We’ll have to wait until after absorption.”

The remaining crystal nuclei were piled on the table by Jiang Rong, “If we distribute them according to the number of wolves killed, Guan Shao should get the most crystal nuclei, followed by Chu Qiang, and I’ll get the least. You two take yours first.”

Guan Shao glanced at Jiang Rong and pushed the crystal nucleus in Jiang Rong’s direction, “You take mine. I only want this one.”

Chu Qiang was even more indifferent, “Isn’t that being too formal? If it weren’t for you, I would’ve been dead. Why bother about a few crystal nuclei?”

Although both insisted that Jiang Rong take the remaining crystal nuclei, Jiang Rong still divided them into three parts. He handed the crystal nuclei to the two, “This is what you deserve.” 

Even with close relationships, one should be clear in critical matters. After distributing the crystal nuclei, they had to discuss how to deal with the wolf meat. The weather was too hot, and they didn’t have enough space to store the wolf meat. If they couldn’t process it promptly, it would soon spoil.

Chu Qiang scratched his head in distress, “Wolf meat is delicious, but even if we try our best to eat it, we can’t finish so much meat all at once.” 

If only they had space; he heard that some spatial espers could store living things in their space, and whatever went in would come out the same.

Jiang Rong suggested, “Sell it.”

Chu Qiang’s eyes widened in surprise, “Sell? Sell it to whom? Don’t tell me to sell it to those few people in our village; that’s out of the question. You know, money isn’t worth much now; goods are the real currency.”

Those with the means had already left to seek a new life, leaving behind those who could only endure. A few days ago, a family ran out of food, and the whole family had to go up the mountain to pick wild vegetables to fill their stomachs at dawn and dusk.

If Jiang Rong said to give some wolf meat to them, Chu Qiang could understand. But to sell the wolf meat to them… what would they use to buy it?

Jiang Rong explained, “Calling it selling is just a formality. It’s actually bartering, exchanging our surplus items for what we need. I believe that as long as people work hard, even if they go up the mountain to pick wild vegetables, they can find things to exchange.”

After the Great Crisis, there was no place for idlers or lazy people. While distributing the wolf meat might earn them some praise and followers, it would only consume their time and energy, providing Jiang Rong with no benefit.

He wanted to establish a base where everyone could live in peace. Although he didn’t want it to become a purgatory like the Peace Base, where ordinary people were exploited to maintain daily operations, he also didn’t want to be a fool charging ahead in battle.

To build a base, manpower was essential. His base wouldn’t accommodate freeloaders. If someone wanted something, they had to contribute labor.

Chu Qiang fell silent for a while. Jiang Rong’s words reminded him of when he and Bobcat set out at the beginning of the Great Crisis. At that time, he had a kind heart and gave away his belongings to those people for free. What he got in return was resentment and betrayal. If he had another chance, he would go back and slap his past self: what time was it, and what was he being a good person for?

After a while, Chu Qiang nodded heavily, “Yes, you’re right. No work, no food. They haven’t paid or worked; if they want to eat meat, they’ll have to give something in return.”

But another problem arose. There were only about thirty or forty households in Chu Qiang’s village, and after the main force left, there were only forty-something people left, including Chu Qiang’s family. They had more than thirty wolf carcasses, almost more goods than people.

Chu Qiang was troubled, “Supply exceeding demand is troublesome. If we can’t sell it, the wolf meat will still go bad.” 

He really didn’t want to waste the wolves they worked so hard to kill. Jiang Rong smiled slightly, “It’s simple. Visit a few more villages and call on more people.” 

Although there were few people in the valley where they lived, there were several villages near the Lingshan Reservoir. There must be people left in those villages, and he could see how many ordinary people and espers were around.

Chu Qiang slapped his forehead suddenly, “Right, why didn’t I think of that? You can trust me with this; I’ll go and finalize it before dawn.”

Jiang Rong agreed, “Then I’ll try to cool down the wolf carcasses and try to keep them for a little longer.”

Guan Shao relaxed in his chair, leaning back and looking at Jiang Rong, who was talking with Chu Qiang, with a glint in his eyes.

 

 

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