Chapter 207 Birth of the Lord of Wolves
The howling of wolves seemed to have struck some fear into the recruits at the outpost. A soldier asked, “Platoon Commander, what should we do? Why don’t we run away!”
Li Qingzheng was in a dilemma. “But we’ll become deserters if we run away now.”
“It’s better than getting eaten by the wolves.” An escapee said, “You haven’t seen how huge those things are, but we encountered them when we were escaping. They’re even bigger than bison!”
“Are you serious?” Li Qingzheng had not seen any wolves in a long time. When he heard about how big the wolves were, he couldn’t help feeling a little nervous. But as the platoon commander, he had to reassure everyone. “Don’t be afraid. I did not train in martial arts for nothing. Besides, aren’t we also equipped with guns?”
When the escapees heard the word “guns,” they suddenly remembered that Ren Xiaosu and his group also had guns on them while fleeing from Stronghold 109. Moreover, their group was extremely intimidating at that time too.
Just as they were about to say something, they noticed Ren Xiaosu staring at them with an ambiguous smile. The escapees realized if they snitched on him, they would have nowhere to escape to! So they held back from speaking.
Furthermore, Li Qingzheng obviously disliked them as they used to be stronghold residents, so there were also no obligation for them to remind him.
For some reason, the escapees suddenly did not feel so scared anymore when they realized they were in the same outpost as Ren Xiaosu’s group.
Eventually, Li Qingzheng and his original batch of soldiers were the only ones who were still afraid.
Li Qingzheng and his men held their guns for a long time and waited, but the wolves did not show up. He slowly felt more at ease and said, “Let’s clean up the place first. I think those wolves are also afraid of us since we have more people and guns as well, so they don’t dare to come here.”
It looked like the outpost had been abandoned for a very long time. The pots and pans inside were all covered with a thick layer of dust. It would require a great deal of effort for them to clean up the place if they wanted to live in it.
The escapees did their chores in a trance. Li Qingzheng’s attitude towards them made them feel inferior to refugees. It felt like they had become the lowest class of humanity in this world.
Ren Xiaosu had no sympathy for them, but he would not deliberately ostracize them either. The escapees knew he was a ruthless person, and they subconsciously wanted to get on better terms with him. Since Li Qingzheng did not like them, they would have to find another backer somehow.
Everyone was harboring their own thoughts in this small outpost out here. Only the students were busy working with great enthusiasm and performing their tasks with great efficiency.
Li Qingzheng was still a little unsettled because of the howling from the wolves. He kept considering whether he should call the private army’s headquarters to ask for reinforcements. But when he finally made the call, he did not receive any help he was expecting even after being ridiculed by them. The person on the other end of the line also warned him not to make false reports of the enemy. Otherwise, they would court martial him.
When Li Qingzheng saw Ren Xiaosu continue cleaning with the students like nothing had happened, he asked, “Aren’t y’all scared?”
Ren Xiaosu hesitated for a moment before saying, “Oh yes, I’m so scared.”
The students nodded quickly in unison. “Yeah, we’re really scared.
Li Qingzheng felt that Ren Xiaosu and the students were just mollifying him. In reality, Ren Xiaosu had already told the students in private while they were escaping that the wolves would not attack them. Although the students did not know why Ren Xiaosu said that, Ren Xiaosu was proven right.
Since Ren Xiaosu was not worried, what was there for them to be worried about?
Ren Xiaosu asked Li Qingzheng, “Platoon Commander, why did you choose to be a soldier?”
“For the pay, of course!” Li Qingzheng explained, “If I were rich, who would be willing to come to this godforsaken place and be a soldier? Have you heard yet? The Pyro Company is offering to buy the blood of supernatural beings. You can get 1 million yuan in exchange for a drop of blood! If I were a supernatural being, I would sell my blood every day until the Pyro Company goes bankrupt!”
Ren Xiaosu did not know whether to laugh or cry. Who in the right mind would risk selling their blood just to earn some money after becoming a supernatural being?
After cleaning up the place, everyone stared at each other blankly, as they were unsure of what to do next. But in actual fact, this was just how it was in a remote outpost like this. Boredom was simply a part of their daily lives.
At this moment, Li Qingzheng let out a sigh and said, “To be honest, it’s such a pity for you stronghold students to come here to be sentries. With all the knowledge that you have, there’s nowhere you can apply it to. Y’all have studied for over a decade for nothing.”
Ren Xiaosu was taken aback. He had heard from Jiang Wu before that she hoped the students could further their studies in the future, and that these children were all fine saplings who studied very hard and were also very smart.
He looked at the remaining eight students and suddenly said, “I have some textbooks with me. Starting from today, y’all can study by yourselves whenever you have free time. If there’s a chance, I’ll buy some advanced textbooks from town for y’all. Even though we’re now in a place like this, you can’t fall behind in your studies.”
The students were stunned. “We’re going to self-study here?”
They were more interested in learning how to hunt, how to protect themselves, and how to protect others now, rather than continue their education.
After experiencing the cruelty of this world, the students’ thoughts on education had started to waver. Sometimes, they would wonder if education was even useful at all.
Ren Xiaosu explained patiently, “I’m your class monitor. Back then, the student councilor said that it’s the duty of the monitor to ensure that everyone studies hard.”
The students could not find any words to refute him with. Then Ren Xiaosu continued, “In life, your friends might betray you one day, or your lover could betray you; but math, physics, and chemistry will not.”
The students were dumbfounded. What kinda nonsensical crap was that!
Ren Xiaosu whispered to them a promise. “Study hard, and I’ll take y’all to the mountains to practice shooting firearms tomorrow!”
This time, the students broke out with smiles.
Looking at these students, Ren Xiaosu got the thought that the Yang Consortium was probably also making use of this time to research the nanomachines. If there were no repercussions from its usage, it might be a good idea to give these students some self-protection abilities using the nanomachines.
The next morning, Ren Xiaosu was still sleeping in the house when he heard Li Qingzheng shout from outside, “Quick, come out and have a look!”
Ren Xiaosu put on his clothes and went outside to have a look. He saw a goat lying at the door of one of the houses in the outpost. He also noticed some packed snow in front of the door where a neat row of large wolf prints could be seen.
Ren Xiaosu immediately looked around and saw the Wolf King up on the summit of the mountain again. When it saw Ren Xiaosu looking over, it turned around and disappeared into the wilderness. It was as though it had stood there just to greet him.
This goat was as large as a domesticated cow, and it would probably take several days for everyone at the outpost to finish eating it.
Even though there were some changes to domesticated animals nowadays, they were not as great as the changes seen in the wild. The wolves must have hunted this goat in the mountains.
While Ren Xiaosu was thinking about that, Li Qingzheng was belly laughing. “I never expected the wolves would offer tribute and bow down before me after I arrived at this mountain. Don’t address me as Platoon Commander Li anymore. Call me the Lord of Wolves instead!”
Ren Xiaosu’s eyes twitched. This fellow was too good at elevating his own status.
Off to the side, Chen Wudi was wondering if he should beat up Li Qingzheng since the title “Lord of Wolves” sounded like a demon name.