Chapter 368: Warmth on a stormy snowy night
“He’s behind the building,” Ning Xiaoyao pointed at the dilapidated house in front of them. Shadowgale didn’t say anything aside from placing Ning Xiaoyao behind him. Peeking from behind Shadowgale, Ning Xiaoyao saw the door of the wooden house was left ajar and a lady with an extremely dirty face was staring dazedly at them.
“We’ve been discovered,” Ning Xiaoyao muttered. A few of the Dragon Guard nocked their arrows and got ready to shoot the old lady before she could shout for help. The old lady fiercely retreated and slammed the wooden door shut.
“You, take a few people and stay here,” Shadowgale ordered Shadowrain, “If anyone shouts, kill them immediately.”
“Yes,” Shadowrain accepted the order. Ning Xiaoyao could only hope that the people in the wooden house wouldn’t shout, while diligently running to the back of the wooden house with Wu. There was a torch lying in the snow and Wu stopped beside this torch. “It’s here.” Ning Xiaoyao quickly swept all the snow away and a stone slab appeared.
“There should be a mechanism to open it right?” Shadowbolt squatted beside Ning Xiaoyao and questioned. Ning Xiaoyao pursed her lips and reached into a small gap on the slab before pulling the entire slab out and throwing it to the side.
The Dragon Guard:... Every time they witness His Majesty’s incredible strength, they feel ashamed of themselves.
After the slab was removed, there was a hole where it used to be. It was dark and unlit, and cold air could be felt from the deepest part. “How the f*ck could this be a place be suitable for a human to live in?!” Shadowthunder cursed. Ning Xiaoyao turned her head to listen into the hole. “There’s someone inside.” “I’ll go first,” Shadowgale said and immediately headed into the chasm.
“I’ll go instead,” Ning Xiaoyao climbed down the wooden steps in the hole and jumped directly into the abyss. Wu laid on the snow-covered ground and waited for Xiaoyao to save the slave. He still has to lead these humans back out later.
The stench in the abyss was unbearable but Ning Xiaoyao was unaffected as she was someone who had experienced the smell of zombies. Ning Xiaoyao’s attention was solely focused on a corner of the stone wall. A tall and incredibly skinny man was sitting with his body scrunched up against the corner. Ning Xiaoyao purposely stamped on the ground twice but the man in the corner didn’t react.
Is he also deaf?
Ning Xiaoyao ran towards the man and pushed aside the hair covering his face. After seeing his face, Ning Xiaoyao bit her lip. His face was burnt beyond recognition and all his skin had regrown after the fire. As a result, his skin was black and his facial features were also distorted as his lips were burnt away and teeth were exposed. His current condition was worse than some zombies she had seen in her previous life.
Just then, the man moved slightly but still didn’t make any sound. “Big Bro Lou Jing!” Ning Xiaoyao yelled. Hearing his name, the man’s body violently shook.
“I am a Yongning citizen. I’m here to save you!” Ning Xiaoyao said while spreading out the quilt she brought along and wrapping Lou Jing with it. Lou Jing slightly moved in the blanket. Perhaps he wanted to speak but he was currently too weak to say anything.
Since Ning Xiaoyao was pregnant with a baby, her superpowers were weaker than usual. With difficulty, she managed to use some power to heal Lou Jing’s face a little. But even after Lou Jing’s face absorbed the pale green light, it didn’t react like the previous wounds under Ning Xiaoyao’s hands and began healing immediately.
“It will be okay,” Ning Xiaoyao carried Lou Jing and looked up towards the light above the hole before she continued, “Everyone experiences some difficulties throughout their lifetime. Big Bro Lou, you can rest assure. With me around, there are no wounds that can’t be healed.”
Lou Jing remained silent on Ning Xiaoyao’s shoulders. After hearing his heartbeat, Ning Xiaoyao wasn’t too worried about something happening to Lou Jing. Taking a deep breath, Ning Xiaoyao jumped towards the entrance of the hole.
Shadowgale and the others were waiting outside the chasm and upon seeing Ning Xiaoyao bring up a person wrapped in a quilt, they fell into a frenzy. “Is this Lou Jing?” Shadowthunder asked. “Is he still alive?” a Dragon Guard asked.
“Mhm,” Ning Xiaoyao simply made a sound and decided that she answered both questions, “Let’s leave quickly.” The group ran back towards the fence they came from. However, by the time they got to the wooden house, they came across a group of guards from the hunting ground.
“Who are you people?!” the leader of the guards shouted. He was stunned to see Ning Xiaoyao and her group. Wu made a low growling sound. It was difficult to spot a white wolf in the snow. These guards were focused on Ning Xiaoyao and didn’t realise that there was a huge snow wolf standing in front of them. “Wolf.. The wolves have broken in!” one of the guards shouted and turned to run off. Ning Xiaoyao couldn’t understand the Northern Hu dialect but knew that he man had ran off to alert more people.
Wu lept and gave chase to the escaping guard, wanting to bite him. Shadowgale and the others also reacted and immediately caught up with the guard.
Both sides started fighting and Ning Xiaoyao stood at the side watching. She was still carrying Lou Jing and couldn’t really join in the fight. Just then, she saw a large group of people carrying torches and making their way towards them. Ning Xiaoyao could no longer just watch from the sidelines.
“You should leave first,” Shadowgale saw light from the torches coming from afar and turned to shout at Ning Xiaoyao. “Help me carry him for now,” Ning Xiaoyao passed Lou Jing to a Dragon Guard next to her and ran towards the back.
The Dragon Guard carried Lou Jing and turned to see His Majesty studying the wooden house. “Everyone.. Everyone move away ah!” the Dragon Guard frantically warned all his bros.
After making sure that there weren’t anyone in the house, Ning Xiaoyao lifted the little wooden house and threw it towards the Northern Hu guards. Wu was scared to death and loosened his jaw before jumping and running towards Shadowgale and the others.
The Northern Hu didn’t react as quickly as Wu and could only be flattened by the wooden house. Many of them had no clue what happened. “Quick quick quick!” Ning Xiaoyao urged, “We have to retreat quickly ah!”
The group and Wu sprinted to the fence. By the time another platoon of Northern Hu soldiers rushed over, they were greeted with a pile of wood debris.
“Check the underground prison!” Rather than instructing his men to rescue the victims, the Northern Hu leader commanded this instead.
Ning Xiaoyao took Lou Jing from the Dragon Guard. Then, she flipped over the high fence without using her arms and legs. Wu used Shadowgale as a support and started climbing the fence before leaping into the deep pit outside the fence.
A few moments later, they heard loud shouts from the Northern Hu coming from where they were. The slave in the underground prison is gone! “The people of Yongning entered from the back of the hunting ground?” the manager of the place was stupefied by this piece of news.
“Aside from a Yongning citizen, who else would come all the way here to save the Yongning slave?” a Northern Hu warrior frantically exclaimed next to him, “The Wolf King isn’t going to let us off if this slave escapes!”
There was a wolf pack in front of them and the Yongning people behind them. The manager was so anxious that he got himself a lip blister. What is he supposed to do now?!
“Chase them,” the manager forced himself to stay calm and commanded, “Bring the slave back here!” The Northern Hu men didn’t say a word but pointed ahead for the manager to see.
Right in front of them were people and wolves fighting with each other. They were so desperate that children who could pull bows were dragged into the fight as well. Where would they find people to seize the Yongning men? If they remove anyone from here, the rest will end up in the wolves’ bellies!
The manager was at a loss for words. “We’re already short of a platoon,” a few of the older Northern Hu men told the manager, “If we send another platoon to chase the people, even if we do manage to catch up, there is no guarantee we can defeat them. Is it really worth it for a dying slave?”
The answer was obvious. It was obviously not worth it.
“Why don’t we report that the slave died of an illness,” a Northern Hu warrior cautiously suggested. “You dumbass!” the manager exploded. He swung his sword at the guy who dared to lie to their Wolf King.
After the warrior received a kick from the manager, he continued standing at the original spot without moving. Protecting his neck, he exclaimed, “Then what should we do?” the warrior asked before immediately running off to fight with two grey wolves. Since the one with the ideas ran off, the other Northern Hu men could only stare at each other. Instead of speaking, they all used their eyes to communicate with one another.
“Do we feed all our family members to the wolves just to catch this slave?” another Northern Hu warrior blurted. “The Wolf King isn’t back yet,” another warrior mumbled. The manager clenched his teeth and decided, “Let’s just say that the slave died of an illness and his corpse was eaten by the wolves.” All the decision makers of the hunting grounds nodded their heads.
“Wolves.. More wolves are coming!” While they were having their meeting, someone shouted from the fence. Another pack of wolves had charged in and their glowing green eyes stood out in the snowy night. The wolves densely covered the entire plain of snow.
The manager hurriedly sprinted to the fence. The manager had already stopped thinking about the matter of the escaped slave. Right now, he only cared about whether the pack of wolves could break through the fence.
“The wolves have broken in——” Right after the blood-curdling screech, a grey wolf broke through the fence. Behind him, thousands and thousands of wolves followed.
“Don’t bother with the humans!” Wei commanded from the back of the wolf pack, “Our preys are the cows and sheep!”
The pack of wolves dashed to the farm of the hunting grounds. They were incredibly familiar with the route. Clearly, this wasn’t their first time inside these hunting grounds. “White wolves!” one of the Northern Hu men standing at the fence pointed towards Wei and shouted at the manager, “I see white wolves!”
“Kill! Slaughter these white wolves for me!” the manager shouted hysterically, sounding worse than Wei’s howling.
Ning Xiaoyao and the rest ran all the way to the entrance before stopping to catch their breaths. Walking to the front of Ning Xiaoyao, Wu barked, “Let’s go inside the cave first.”
Ning Xiaoyao looked towards the hunting ground and thought, the sounds of battle between the wolves and humans sound horrible.
“Vultures,” Shadowrain pointed upwards. “They must have smelt the scent of blood,” Wu raised his head to look to the sky before urging Ning Xiaoyao, “Quickly leave, Xiaoyao. Those from the hunting grounds may chase after us.”
“Let’s go,” Shadowgale lowered his voice, “This is a matter between the Northern Hu men and the wolves of the plains. We shouldn’t meddle with it.” Ning Xiaoyao stamped her feet and said to Wu, “We’re leaving.” Wu lead Ning Xiaoyao out of the Snow Wolf Valley.
Shadowbolt lowered his voice from behind, “We’re going to the Wolves’ den?” Shadowgale turned to glare at Shadowbolt. Shadowbolt shut his mouth, Wolves’ den it is. Anyhow, it seems like His Majesty has a good relationship with the wolves. Shadowbolt also pulled to loosen his collar. It seems like His Majesty could really communicate with the wolves ah!
At this moment, Ning Xiaoyao brushed against Lou Jing’s face. A pale green light appeared at her fingertips before being completely absorbed by Lou Jing’s skin.
Snow swirled in the roaring wind. The snow on the ground piled up to everyone’s knees. Despite the weather, Lou Jing felt warmth instead. He hadn’t had this feeling in many years.