Chapter 65 - 58: Wolf

Chapter 65: Chapter 58: Wolf

’A trap...’ Xu Mo stood by the second-floor window, a plan rapidly forming in his mind.

His goal wasn’t to inflict major casualties on the pack with the trap. After all, the wolves were agile, and a simple pitfall would struggle to kill or even contain them. What he needed was an obstacle that would make them pause, even for just a moment. With that single moment of hesitation, the firearm in his hands could unleash its lethal potential.

Putting his plan into action, Xu Mo first needed to determine the trap’s location. He chose the spot directly below the window where he’d found the most concentrated bite marks, as well as any nearby areas the wolves might use to climb. With the location selected, the next step was digging.

For an ordinary person, digging into the hard-frozen snow would have been an arduous task. But for Xu Mo, who had entered the Cowhide Realm, it was not difficult at all. As his qi and blood circulated, he felt a surging power fill his limbs.

Grabbing an entrenching tool he had scavenged earlier, Xu Mo took a deep breath. The tool whistled through the air as it plunged into the frozen snow.

CRACK!

Before the immense power behind the entrenching tool, the hard-frozen snow shattered like a brittle cracker. Xu Mo’s movements were swift and steady. Shovelful after shovelful, he rapidly cleared out chunks of ice and packed snow. Bolstered by the stamina of the Cowhide Realm, he felt almost no fatigue. Soon, a rectangular pit—roughly six and a half feet long, over three feet wide, and more than five feet deep—began to take shape.

As he dug, Xu Mo couldn’t help but wish he’d gathered some trap-making supplies during his earlier scavenging runs.

’If I’d known it would come to this, I would’ve paid more attention to those military surplus and outdoor stores,’ Xu Mo mused. ’I could have grabbed some professional hunting traps, barbs, or at least a few more sharp daggers and Triangular Spikes.’

A trap made with proper equipment would be far more effective than this improvised setup. Xu Mo did have an excellent-quality Triangular Spike, but he was quite fond of it. It was a deadly weapon for close-quarters combat; burying it in a pit seemed like a waste. Besides, he couldn’t be bothered to go get it.

Once the pit was dug, it was time to prepare it. Xu Mo took out a few rusty nails and some broken metal parts he had originally planned to throw away.

He had originally planned to throw these away, but now they had a use.

Xu Mo arranged the scraps with their sharpest points facing up, using what little wire he could find to secure them to the bottom of the pit. It was crude, but if a wolf fell in, it would at least slow it down and keep it from immediately leaping out.

With the base layer set, Xu Mo found a few pieces of stiff cardboard torn from discarded packing boxes. He carefully placed them over the opening, ensuring they could support a layer of snow without collapsing right away. Then, using his shovel, he evenly sprinkled the freshly dug snow over the cardboard, smoothing it meticulously until it was indistinguishable from the surrounding ground.

After finishing, Xu Mo stepped back to inspect his work in the dim light. The camouflage was excellent. In the gloom, it was nearly flawless. As long as the wolves followed their previous path, the chances of them falling for it were extremely high.

Returning to his observation post on the second floor, Xu Mo took a deep breath and switched off the LED desk lamp.

CLICK.

The light vanished, and darkness instantly engulfed him like a tide.

Though he had grown somewhat accustomed to it, the suffocating sensation of being visually deprived, as if adrift in nothingness, still sent a wave of anxiety and discomfort through him. His ears filled with the sound of his own magnified breathing and heartbeat. All outside noise seemed to vanish, yet at the same time, it felt as though something was lurking within that dead silence, waiting for the right moment to strike.

Xu Mo didn’t panic. He had long anticipated this. He slowly regulated his breathing, and with a flicker of his will, the qi and blood in his body began to circulate according to the Dharma Gate of the Thirteen Grand Protectors’ Cross Training.

As his qi and blood circulated, the sense of oppression and agitation brought on by the darkness began to subside, as if washed away by a warm current. His mind cleared, and his senses of hearing and touch seemed to grow sharper.

He could clearly feel the cold draft of air and hear the faint creak of snow shifting under its own weight. This was one of the benefits of the Cowhide Realm; not only was his body tougher, but his environmental awareness and self-control had also reached a new level.

Xu Mo held his AK-47, muzzle pointed slightly down, his finger resting just outside the trigger guard. He stood like a statue, hidden in the shadows by the window, blending into the darkness. After his eyes adjusted to the pitch black, he could just barely make out the faint light reflecting off the snow outside.

Time trickled by in the silence. Ten minutes, then twenty...

Suddenly, Xu Mo’s highly focused hearing caught a faint, rustling noise.

It was incredibly faint, like the sound of paws treading lightly on snow, drawing closer and closer to his shelter. The sounds were scattered, which meant there was more than one.

’They’re here!’ Xu Mo thought, his nerves instantly pulled taut. He quietly adjusted his breathing and lowered his center of gravity, settling into the optimal stance to spring into action.

A few breaths later, the rustling grew clearer. Xu Mo could even hear the sound of suppressed panting, a low noise rumbling deep in their throats.

Just as the lead shadow was about to touch the wall—

THUMP!!

A heavy thud, accompanied by the splintering of cardboard and the crunch of snow, shattered the silence. It was immediately followed by a fierce, startled howl that ripped through the night sky.

The trap had sprung.

An opening!

The fully armed Xu Mo exploded into action like a cheetah that had been lying in wait. He sprinted for the stairs to the third floor, unleashing his full speed. Propelled by the power of the Cowhide Realm, he shot up the steps and, without a moment’s hesitation, vaulted through a window he had cleared of snow beforehand.

His powerful core and resilient frame easily absorbed the impact, leaving only two deep footprints in the snow. The instant he landed, Xu Mo’s sharp gaze swept his surroundings.

In the darkness, Xu Mo saw six or seven pairs of glowing, eerie blue eyes, hovering in the inky blackness like will-o’-the-wisps. They were all fixed on him—the intruder. Their light was filled with savagery, ferocity, and a hint of stunned surprise at his sudden appearance.

"Reckless beasts!" Xu Mo snarled.

The words had barely left his lips before the automatic rifle in his hands spat tongues of fire.

RAT-TAT-TAT! RAT-TAT-TAT!

Short, precise bursts sent bullets like deadly Sharp Swords hurtling toward the eerie blue lights. The brilliant muzzle flash momentarily lit up the area, revealing the blurred yet agile silhouettes of the wolf pack.

Agonized howls erupted immediately. At least two wolves were hit in the initial volley, tumbling into the snow and sending up sprays of blood and slush.

At the same time, Xu Mo’s left hand was already moving. He whipped a portable light out of his pocket, flicked the switch with his thumb, and, without even looking, hurled it toward the densest part of the pack.

VMMMM—

The portable light landed in the snow, casting a brilliant glow that instantly bathed the area in light as bright as day.

AWOOO—!

The moment the light flared, a chorus of panicked howls erupted from the pack. Just as the broadcast had warned, they had an extreme aversion to light. Under the intense glare, the eerie blue eyes shrank back in confusion. He could even see some of the wolves instinctively turning their heads and shielding their eyes with their forepaws. Their attack formation fell into complete disarray.

With the area now illuminated, Xu Mo finally got a clear look at the true appearance of these wolves, corrupted as they were by the darkness.

They were a size larger than normal wolves, with shoulders that nearly reached a grown man’s waist. Their muscles bulged, making them look exceptionally powerful. Their once grayish-brown fur had darkened to an inky black, with only a few patches of gray-white remaining on their underbellies and inner legs. Most striking were their eyes. The eerie blue glow was not a reflection but emanated from the pupils themselves, burning like two ghostly flames in the dark, filled with an eerie and foreboding quality.

The sudden light threw the pack into a brief panic, and their instincts screamed at them to flee the illuminated area.

’Trying to run?’ Xu Mo’s eyes turned icy, his killing intent flaring. He wasn’t about to let this perfect opportunity to thin their ranks slip away.

He swapped magazines with a fluid motion, as if he’d practiced it a thousand times. Gunshots rang out again, but this time they were calm, precise, single shots.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Nearly every shot was met with a wolf’s pained cry. Aided by the light and his own sharp senses, the fleeing wolves became perfect live targets. Another three were cut down as they tried to escape, staggering before they collapsed.

Just as Xu Mo was picking off the fleeing pack, an exceptionally swift and ferocious black shadow shot out from the shadows to his side like an arrow loosed from a bow. It lunged straight for his neck, its speed astonishing as a foul stench washed over him.

It was the Wolf King—the largest and most powerful of the pack, the one that had been commanding from the rear. It had suppressed its aversion to the light to launch its attack.

Startled but not panicked, Xu Mo’s reaction speed, enhanced by the Cowhide Realm, was far beyond that of an ordinary person. Seeing the pouncing Wolf King, he simply slung his rifle over his back. His left hand shot out like lightning, precisely gripping the hilt of the Mountain-Cutting Saber at his waist.

SHIIING!

The thick-spined Mountain-Cutting Saber leapt from its sheath, carving a cold arc through the air in the glow of the portable light.

At the same time, the qi and blood in Xu Mo’s body roared to life, circulating at maximum power.

Facing the Wolf King’s inescapable lunge, Xu Mo neither dodged nor retreated. A vicious glint appeared in his eyes as he twisted at the waist and hips, channeling his full strength into a single, brutally simple horizontal slash with the Mountain-Cutting Saber. The whistling blade met the Wolf King’s gaping maw head-on.

SCHLICK—!

A gut-wrenching sound of blade tearing through flesh rang out. In a flash of cold steel, blood erupted like a fountain. The Mountain-Cutting Saber, imbued with the full force of Xu Mo’s Cowhide Realm strike, was so devastating that it cleaved through half the Wolf King’s neck and a portion of its skull.

The Wolf King’s charge came to an abrupt halt. Its massive body slammed onto the snow like a sack of bricks, twitched a few times, and then fell still. The eerie blue light in its pupils quickly faded.

Seeing their leader slain, the two remaining wolves were terrified out of their wits. They howled in terror and scrambled desperately back into the darkness. Xu Mo wasn’t about to let them escape. Two more shots sent them on their way out of this cruel, apocalyptic world. Whether they made it to heaven, he neither knew nor cared.

After dealing with the two runners, Xu Mo walked over to the trap and peered inside. At the bottom, two wolves were still struggling. Their bodies were riddled with cuts from the sharp metal scraps and rusty nails. They tried to leap out, but the slippery walls and their injuries made it impossible.

Xu Mo expressionlessly raised his rifle.

BANG! BANG!

Two clean shots ended their suffering, bringing the nighttime hunt to a decisive close.