When Lin Feng, dragging a long string of prisoners and accompanied by Wangcai, returned to the gate of the wall, covered in dust, it was already dusk.

Hearing the commotion, Qin Lan and the others cautiously peeked out.

When they saw the "wolf pack captives" behind Lin Feng, they were all terrified and almost screamed.

“Mr. Lin… these… these are…” Qian Xiaoxiao stammered, her voice trembling.

Lin Feng ignored their fear and coldly ordered, "Dig a large enough pit inside the wall, near the western corner, and reinforce it with wooden stakes to make a temporary animal pen. Go now!"

The women dared not disobey. Although they were terrified, they still picked up their tools with trembling hands and began digging according to Lin Feng's instructions.

Lin Feng dragged the horned wolves one by one into the enclosure. He selected several adult female wolves with minor injuries and relatively docile appearances, as well as all the wolf cubs, as the first batch of animals to be tamed.

As for the fierce male wolves and some seemingly untamable female wolves, he used thicker ropes to firmly tie them to several large tree stumps far from the cabin, giving them only a small amount of water and no food.

Wangcai strutted around in front of the captured horned wolf, occasionally letting out a low growl to proclaim his new status as the "wolf king."

These horned wolves all appeared timid and hesitant in front of Wangcai, clearly having already begun to accept this new ruler.

The animal enclosure was quickly excavated and reinforced thanks to the women's efforts.

It is more like a semi-subterranean enclosure, about two meters deep, surrounded by sharpened wooden stakes, and the top is sealed with crisscrossing wooden strips, leaving only a small door for putting food in and going in and out.

Lin Feng threw the chosen mother wolf and her cubs into the animal pen.

These horned wolves, entering an unfamiliar environment and losing their freedom, became restless, constantly circling and ramming around in their enclosure, emitting mournful howls.

Lin Feng ignored this. He knew that to tame wild animals, one must first wear down their wild nature.

On the first day, he gave them no food, only a small amount of water.

The next day, it was the same. The horned wolves were so hungry that their eyes were seeing stars, and their howls gradually became low and hoarse.

The wolf cubs were so hungry that they made pitiful noises.

On the third day, Lin Feng finally arrived at the animal pen carrying a small bucket of fresh animal blood and some pieces of meat.

He opened the small door and threw in the animal blood and chunks of meat.

The hungry wolves were stunned for a moment, then pounced on them like madmen, tearing at each other and fighting for a piece of meat and a mouthful of blood.

Lin Feng watched coldly until they finished eating, then slowly spoke, his voice not loud, but with a strange penetrating power: "From today onwards, I will give you food, and you must obey me. If you disobey, you will not get to eat, and you may even die."

He didn't understand wolf language, but animals are keenly aware of tone and momentum.

The murderous aura emanating from him, the overwhelming power he displayed in crushing the wolf pack, instilled an instinctive fear in these horned wolves.

In the days that followed, Lin Feng began a systematic taming process.

Controlling hunger and food is the most basic and effective method.

He strictly controlled the amount and timing of food distribution, making the horned wolves understand that he was their sole source of food.

Before feeding him, he would make specific sounds or gestures to gradually establish a conditioned reflex.

Next, he made Wangcai his "second-in-command," who would frequently enter the animal pen to "educate" the horned wolves that tried to provoke or disobey.

Wangcai's fighting prowess far surpassed that of the captured horned wolves, and after several brutal suppressions, its dominance within the animal pen was solidified.

Lin Feng, on the other hand, is an absolute being who surpasses Wang Cai.

He would occasionally enter the enclosure himself, rewarding the wolves that showed obedience with small amounts of food, while mercilessly beating the unruly ones with wooden sticks.

He soon noticed that the wolf cubs' learning and adaptability far surpassed those of adult horned wolves.

He began to consciously give "special care" to several female wolves and pups that showed high intelligence and potential, such as letting them eat first or giving them better pieces of meat.

He tried using simple commands, such as "sit," "come," and "don't move," along with gestures and food enticements, to train more docile individuals.

Although the process is slow, it is not without its effects.

Especially the wolf cubs, driven by hunger and imitating Wangcai, gradually began to understand and execute some simple commands.

This domestication process is long and arduous.

Some horned wolves remain wild and untamed, and may even attempt to attack Lin Feng. For such individuals, Lin Feng will not hesitate to kill them and throw their bodies into the animal pen as a warning to others.

This ruthless approach further solidified his absolute authority within the wolf pack.

Every day, Qin Lan and the others could hear the howling of wolves and Lin Feng's shouts coming from the animal pen, and sometimes they could even smell the stench of blood.

Their awe of Lin Feng deepened even further.

This man can not only create incredible objects, but he can even subdue ferocious horned wolves.

Gradually, the howling in the animal pen decreased, replaced by a suppressed calm.

Some of the female wolves began to lower their heads as Lin Feng approached, indicating their submission.

Led by Wangcai, the wolf cubs began wagging their tails to welcome Lin Feng's arrival. Although their eyes still held a wild glint, their dependence on food and the strong had begun to sprout.

The will of winter has completely taken over this wasteland; every breath of air carries the chill of ice needles, mercilessly piercing the skin of all living things.

Lin Feng stood at the lookout point of his newly built wall, his gaze calmly sweeping across the snow-covered territory.

Within the walls lay the kingdom he had built: warm wooden houses, ample supplies, and a growing guard of horned wolves, all forming an impregnable barrier.

About a mile away from Linfeng Wooden House, there is a natural cave hidden in a sheltered spot in the mountain valley.

This is where six women—Qin Lan, Su Wanqing, Tang Bao, Qian Xiaoxiao, Ruan Mengtian, and Shen Jiaqi—live.

Since completely parting ways with Yang Li and her group, they have devoted all their energy to the renovation of this simple yet crucial shelter.

The cave is not very deep, but it is dry and the narrow entrance helps to prevent the cold wind from blowing in directly.

Under Qin Lan's leadership, they demonstrated amazing resilience and learning ability.

Using the discarded and broken tools that Lin Feng occasionally "rewarded" them, as well as the simple tools they made themselves from sharp stones and animal bones, they began their arduous work.

Their lives were incredibly difficult; they struggled against hunger and cold every single day.

Their hands were covered with frostbite and scars from their labor, and their cheeks were chapped from the cold wind, but their eyes remained bright, full of longing for life.

Lin Feng would occasionally have them handle some chores that he didn't want to do himself, such as collecting a certain type of plant on a larger scale, or dealing with some leftovers from hunting that he didn't care about.

In return, he would provide them with some food or urgently needed supplies. This "employment" relationship made Qin Lan and the others dependent on Lin Feng to some extent, but it also gave them a glimmer of hope.

“We are different from Yang Li and the others.”

After distributing the food "rewarded" by Lin Feng, Qin Lan said to everyone, "We don't beg for pity; we earn our living through our labor. As long as we are still useful, Mr. Lin won't let us starve to death easily. So, cheer up, winter is still long, and we must survive."

Unlike Qin Lan and her group, who gradually found their rhythm of survival amidst hardship, Yang Li and her five "loyal listeners" lived a life that could only be described as "hell on earth."

The small cave where they lived was smaller and darker than the cave where Qin Lan and the others lived, and it was located at a lower elevation, making it easier for cold air to accumulate.

Since being completely isolated by Qin Lan's faction and not daring to approach Lin Feng's "forbidden zone," their food supply has been almost completely cut off.

Yang Li continues to try to maintain her status as a "spiritual leader," using slogans that have long been shattered by reality to numb herself and others.

"We are independent women of the new era! We don't need to rely on anyone! We want to prove with our own strength that we can live better even without men!"

She was wrapped in her last relatively intact designer coat, and she screamed at the five women who were starving, their eyes green, and their spirits low.

However, her voice, hoarse and harsh from prolonged hunger and cold, was utterly unconvincing.

The five "leftover women" who once worshipped her have now seen through her true colors. At this critical juncture, any hypocritical slogans seem pale and powerless.

"Sister Yang Li...I...I really can't go on..."

The woman who used to be the fattest was now so thin that her cheekbones were high and her eyes were sunken. She collapsed weakly on the cold ground, her voice barely audible, "We...we should go find Lin Feng...beg him...even if...even if we have to be his slaves...as long as we can live..."

"Shut up! You coward!" Yang Li screamed like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. She rushed over and kicked the woman hard. "How can we bow down to that barbaric, misogynistic bastard! That's a trampling on our dignity!"

However, so-called "dignity" is so vulnerable in the face of hunger that can drive a person mad.

They tried to find food themselves. But these "delicate" women, who couldn't even open a bottle cap in the city, had no idea which plants were edible.

They picked things haphazardly, and as a result, they either got sick from eating bad food, vomiting and having diarrhea, almost collapsing and dying, or they couldn't find anything to fill their stomachs at all.

They also tried to fish in the river like Qin Lan and the others, but not only did they not catch a single fish, two of them fell into an ice hole and almost froze to death.

In the end, Yang Li reluctantly pulled them up, which exhausted her already limited strength.

The conflict between them intensified. They would fight like mad dogs over a piece of moldy food scrap that had been found somewhere.

The former "sisterly affection" has vanished. Yang Li's authority has also been completely lost; no one listens to her anymore, and she even attracts resentful curses.

"It's all your fault, Yang Li! If we hadn't listened to your lies, we wouldn't be in this mess today!" A disheveled woman pointed at Yang Li's nose and cried out, "You're the one who killed us! You liar! You good-for-nothing who only knows how to spout empty words!"

Yang Li was trembling with anger, but she was powerless to refute it. She was hungry, cold, and desperate.

But her inherent stubbornness and arrogance prevented her from admitting her failure.

They began to wander the snowfields like ghosts, hoping to find scraps left by wild animals or some abandoned food to fill their stomachs.

Their clothes were already tattered and could not keep out the cold at all. Several of them had developed severe frostbite, which was festering and oozing pus, causing them great pain.

Once, they saw from afar that Wangcai was leading several horned wolves to tear apart a snow rabbit that had been hunted.

After the wolves left, they rushed over like a pack of starving vultures, fighting tooth and nail for every last bit of flesh and entrails left on the bones.

The scene was uglier and more disgusting than any wild animal's feeding.

Their bodies and minds are rapidly collapsing.

One of the women, who was the weakest, died silently in a cold cave on a snowy night.

It wasn't until the next morning that the others discovered her already stiff body. Fear and despair spread like a plague among the remaining few.

They didn't even have the strength to bury their companion's body, leaving it to stiffen in the cold wind.

Yang Li stared blankly at her companion's corpse. The pride and stubbornness within her finally began to crack in the face of death.

For the first time, she began to doubt whether the "beliefs" she had always held onto were truly wrong.

But the instinct to survive, and her resentment towards Lin Feng and Qin Lan and their group of "good-natured" people, still sustained her.

She gritted her teeth and said to the remaining four women, "We can't just die like this! We have to live! We have to see what happens to that man and those traitors!"

Lin Feng wasn't entirely unaware of the living conditions of the two groups of women outside the wall. He would occasionally observe their activities through the lookout points in the wall or when leading the wolf pack on patrols.

He saw Qin Lan and the others' resilience and hard work, but he did not feel any extra sympathy or desire to help them.

In his view, their survival was due to their own abilities; their failure was simply their fate.

What he provided was merely a very basic platform based on the principle of "equivalent exchange".

As for Yang Li and her group, Lin Feng felt it was a waste of time not to even glance at them.

To him, their stupidity, laziness, and infighting were nothing more than a bunch of trash destined to be eliminated by the laws of nature. What did their lives or deaths have to do with him?

He devoted all his energy to the security of his territory and the improvement of his quality of life.

After the wall was built, he was not satisfied. He then dug a trench about one meter deep and two meters wide inside the wall, and filled the bottom of the trench with sharpened wooden stakes and hard animal bones. In this way, even if someone managed to climb over the wall, they would fall into this deadly trap.

He further upgraded the cabin's defenses. The windows were not only fitted with crossbars of ironwood, but the interior was also covered with a layer of tough tanned animal hide, which could not only keep out the wind and keep warm, but also protect against arrows or projectiles to some extent.

The pack of horned wolves was his most relied-upon defensive force.

Through continuous domestication, selection, and brutal "survival of the fittest," his "Horned Wolf Guard" has begun to take shape.

Besides Wangcai, the absolute "wolf king's second-in-command," he also successfully tamed four adult female wolves and five young horned wolves that had grown up rapidly.

Under his iron-fisted methods and the lure of food, these horned wolves have largely lost their wildness and show absolute obedience to him.