Chapter 49: The Wolf Has Come

  The raging bonfire burned brightly, illuminating and warming the dark, cold cave.

  Song Wen, Song Hu and Short Brother sat around the bonfire, peeling chestnuts while chatting, enjoying themselves immensely.

  "Wooooo...... Wooooo......"

  Suddenly, a howl-like sound came from afar.

  "It sounds like a wolf is howling?" Song Wen said, his ears being more sensitive.

  "It's nothing. Now that no one is hunting, the wild animals in the mountains have increased and they cry all night long. Don't be afraid, I've blocked the entrance of the cave, even if they come, it's okay." The dwarf brother said.

  After the three of them came in at night, he blocked the entrance to the cave, fearing that some wild animals might run in while they were sleeping.

  The howling sound is getting closer and closer, and Song Hu also asked strangely: "Why does the sound seem to be right next to us?"

  "It's nothing. I used to see wolves approaching the cave entrance, and it almost scared me silly. Fortunately, there was a fire in the cave, and it ran away after taking a look. Later, I had someone buy these bows and crossbows, which cost me a lot of money. We don't need to come and harm the mountains and forests, just use them for self-defense."

  No sooner had he finished speaking than something really came walking towards the entrance of the cave, seemingly panting as it walked.

  In the pitch-black cave, scorching flames flickered.

  As they heard the slow approaching footsteps, Song Wen, Song Hu and Shorty's hearts couldn't help but "thump thump thump" jump up.

  Suddenly, a pair of dark green eyes peered out from the crevice of the cave entrance, as if a ghostly figure was walking in the darkness, extremely eerie.

  "Gurgle..."

  It was unclear who it was, but someone swallowed hard, and instantly filled the cave with a tense atmosphere.

  After a while, the thing outside the cave seemed to know that there was someone in the cave, or it was intimidated by the majesty of the fire in the cave, and retreated.

  The tense nerves of the three people finally relaxed.

  "Old brother, didn't you say it was nothing?" Song Wen looked at the short old brother in puzzlement.

  "Of course it's fine, didn't you see the stone blocking the way? Even if a wolf came, it couldn't get in." The dwarf brother said with conviction.

  Song Wen went to the cave entrance and took a look, indeed it was so, and didn't care about it anymore, continuing to peel the chestnut shells. On the other hand, Song Hu ran to the side and brought over his bow and crossbow, also carrying that so-called authentic Nepalese dog leg on his body for self-defense.

  After an unknown period of time, a rustling sound suddenly echoed through the cave.

  It seemed wrong, and the three of them hastily picked up their flashlights and went to take a look. Suddenly, they saw a wolf's head emerging from the edge of the cave entrance.

  "There is a wolf."

  Song Wen, the short brother, took a look and rushed to fetch his knife. Song Hu held a bow and arrow in his hand, took a look at the wolf, and shot an arrow over. He was too anxious and didn't aim properly, so the arrow hit a stone on one side.

  The wolf was discovered and suddenly exerted itself to dig out, digging out half of its body at once. It was anxious to get out, but the hole wasn't dug well, and its belly got stuck in the hole.

  As soon as he saw the wolf coming in, Song Hu threw down his bow and arrow, pulled out his dog-leg knife and chopped it over. The wolf hastily shook its head to dodge.

  Song Wen rushed over with a machete, and the flying knife chopped towards the wolf's head. The wolf saw that things were not going well, opened its mouth and bit forward, and Song Wen hastily dodged to the side.

  Next to Song Hu, a good crossbow arrow came over, and another arrow was shot out. This time it was aimed at the wolf's body, with fresh blood gushing out, and the wolf let out a miserable howl in pain.

  This one shouted, and those outside also started shouting.

  Suddenly a chorus of wolf howls rose up, and the three people's faces changed color in an instant. Judging from the sound, it was clear that there were wolves outside.

  Grandpa's, when did there become so many wolves in the mountains?

  Song Wen cursed in his heart. However, his hands did not slow down. Taking advantage of the wolf being shot by Song Hu and becoming slightly weak, he chopped at the wolf's neck with one knife, instantly splashing out a heap of fresh blood.

  Seeing the wolf being killed, the three of them quickly pulled the wolf out from the hole it had drilled into, then shoveled some sand and soil to re-block the entrance, and pressed stones on top. Then they made another round of inspection around, seeing that there were no more loopholes, only then did the three of them sit back down by the fire pit with a peace of mind.

  "What the... isn't it said that wolves are afraid of fire? How come there's a fire in the cave and it's still crawling inside?" Song Hu sat by the bonfire, grumbling to himself.

  "What's there to be afraid of? If you're starving, even water can make you dare to jump in. I was almost eaten by mountain dogs when I walked on the mountain road at night with a torch." said the short brother beside him.

  "What's going on?" Song Hu asked curiously.

  "That was a long time ago, when I went to sell things and came back late. At that time, I was young and didn't pay attention, just walking as usual. Who knew that behind me, several mountain dogs had followed without knowing when. Good guy, only baring teeth and looking fierce, with a pair of green eyes that looked scary. At the time, I remembered what the old man said about wild beasts being afraid of fire, so I cut off a pine branch, wrapped it in clothes to make a torch, to see if I could drive away the mountain dogs. Unexpectedly, without making a torch, those mountain dogs all pounced on me, scaring me to quickly climb up a big tree beside. In the end, it was my older brother who saw that I hadn't returned so late and brought people to search for me, that I was able to return home, otherwise I wouldn't have known if I could go back home that night."

  "Ah, wolves being afraid of fire isn't absolute, just like what you said, when one's hungry, they can do anything. I didn't expect this wolf to be so cunning, it actually knows how to dig holes from underneath. I reckon those green eyes earlier were also a wolf's, probably distracting us while the other wolf dug holes. It seems that everything in these mountains has become spirits." Song Wen said with emotion.

  Three people chatted while peeling the chestnut shells. After finishing, they found that there were only three bags left. It turned out that they had just picked nearly eight bags of chestnuts, but unexpectedly lost more than half of them along the way.

  After peeling the chestnut shells, it was already very late, and Song Wen and Song Hu came to the bed that Xiao Lao Xiong had prepared for them to sleep.

  The dwarf brother was quite handy, he went outside and picked up some soft pine needles to put under the bed, then covered it with an old quilt, making it soft and elastic, not inferior to a Simmons mattress. The dwarf brother also had a quilt here, but since the fire in the cave was so big, he didn't feel cold at all, so the quilt was useless, and he simply used it as a blanket to wrap around his body.

  Song Wen had brought a blanket over, but it seemed unnecessary now.

  After the wolf that had drilled into the hole was killed, the wolves outside seemed to have dispersed, and there was not a single movement. However, the three people were still uneasy, so much so that they couldn't even sleep soundly.

  Song Wen was nervous all night and didn't fall asleep until it was almost dawn. When he woke up again, the sky was already bright, and he found that the short old man beside him had gotten up, and the stone at the entrance of the cave had also been moved away, but he didn't know where they had gone.

  He came outside, took a breath of fresh air, and then walked down to the creek below to wash his face, and incidentally punched a bout.

  No matter whether it's exercising or practicing boxing, you can't be distracted, otherwise it will all be for nothing in the end.