"Be careful..." Ning Yu whispered, his voice trembling slightly. He shoved Mu Xue against the boulder, and at the same time, a dark shadow darted out from the bushes... Ning Yu wanted to help, but just then, the other wolves seemed emboldened and began to slowly surround them. Pairs of green eyes flickered in the darkness, like will-o'-the-wisps, sending chills down their spines. Ning Yu's heart tightened; he knew that being surrounded by the wolves would be disastrous.
Mu Xue pulled the wooden spear sharply from the wolf's mouth, simultaneously slashing its face. The wolf howled in pain, blood flowing from the wound and staining its gray fur red. It roared angrily, but dared not advance. Mu Xue did not back down; she brandished the spear, trying to scare the pack away.
"Don't come any closer! Get out of my way!" Mu Xue shouted, her voice sounding particularly sharp in the quiet night.
The wolves seemed intimidated by Mu Xue's imposing presence. They stopped and surrounded the two, emitting low growls. Their eyes were fixed on Ning Yu and Mu Xue, seemingly searching for an opportunity to attack.
Ning Yu looked around, searching for usable terrain. The cave entrance was narrow, easy to defend but difficult to attack, but if the wolves swarmed in, they would have a hard time holding them off. His gaze fell on a huge rock deep inside the cave. The rock had a peculiar shape, narrow at the bottom and wide at the top, like an inverted umbrella. If he could climb onto the rock, he might be able to temporarily escape the wolf pack's attack.
Mu Xue followed Ning Yu's gaze and understood his meaning. She nodded, and the two carefully moved towards the boulder, trying not to make a sound. The wolf pack seemed to sense their intentions and began to stir restlessly, their low growls rising and falling.
Just then, the wolf closest to them suddenly attacked, pouncing on Mu Xue like an arrow released from a bow. Mu Xue reacted quickly, dodging the wolf's attack to the side, and thrusting the wooden spear in her hand fiercely into the wolf's belly.
"Awooo!" The wolf let out a shrill howl and collapsed to the ground, convulsing uncontrollably.
Seeing this, the other wolves pounced on the two even more frantically. Ning Yu pushed Mu Xue behind a boulder, then stood in front of her, using the stones in his hand to fend off the wolves' attacks.
"Hurry up!" Ning Yu shouted to Mu Xue.
Mu Xue didn't dare delay; she quickly climbed onto the boulder. Ning Yu followed closely behind, climbing up as well. Standing atop the boulder, the two looked down at the wolf pack below. Unable to attack them, the wolves could only pace around the base of the boulder, emitting low growls.
Ning Yu breathed a sigh of relief, temporarily free from the threat of the wolves. However, his unease did not lessen in the slightest. He felt as if something was watching them from the shadows, a feeling that made him feel uneasy.
Suddenly, he felt a slight tremor in the ground behind him...
"Mu Xue..." Ning Yu's voice was low and urgent. "Mu Xue..." Ning Yu's voice was low and urgent, with a hint of barely suppressed tension. He felt the tremors behind him growing stronger, as if some enormous creature was breaking through the ground.
Mu Xue also sensed something was wrong. She followed Ning Yu's gaze and saw that behind the boulder, the originally flat ground was now slightly raised, dust was flying, and some gravel was rolling down with the vibration.
"What is that?" Mu Xue's voice trembled slightly as she gripped the wooden spear in her hand and stared warily at the ground.
Ning Yu didn't answer, his brows furrowed, his gaze flickering. He could feel the oppressive force of the tremor far exceeding that of a wolf pack; this was definitely not an ordinary wild beast. Could it be some kind of mutated creature? Or… other survivors?
The wolves seemed to sense the powerful aura as well. They stopped howling and paced back and forth uneasily, their green eyes fixed on the direction from which the vibrations were coming.
The ground was rising faster and faster, and the area it was covering was expanding, as if something was about to burst forth from the earth. Suddenly, a deafening roar came from underground, making Ning Yu and Mu Xue's eardrums ring.
Immediately afterwards, a huge black shadow emerged from the ground. It was a massive monster, its body covered in thick scales that gleamed with a metallic sheen. It had a huge head and sharp claws, and its scarlet eyes shone with a ferocious light.
“Mutant pangolin!” Ning Yu recognized the monster at a glance. Before the nuclear war, pangolins were just ordinary animals, but in the post-nuclear world, they mutated, becoming enormous and extremely aggressive, making them one of the most dangerous creatures in this wasteland.
The appearance of the mutated pangolin exacerbated the already tense situation. The wolf pack, terrified by this sudden turn of events, scattered and fled, but the mutated pangolin's target was clearly Ning Yu and Mu Xue. It let out a deafening roar and charged towards the boulder.
The boulder shook violently, and Ning Yu and Mu Xue were nearly shaken off. They realized that the boulder was no match for the mutated pangolin's attack.
"We have to get out of here!" Ning Yu made a quick decision. He grabbed Mu Xue's hand and prepared to jump off the other side of the boulder.
"But there are wolves down there!" Mu Xue's face showed a look of horror.
"There's no time to worry about that now!" Ning Yu gritted his teeth, leaped off the boulder, and jumped down. Mu Xue followed closely behind, jumping down as well.
Upon landing, the two were immediately surrounded by a pack of wolves. The wolves did not attack immediately; they seemed intimidated by the appearance of the mutated pangolin, and simply circled Ning Yu and Mu Xue, emitting low growls.
Ning Yu looked at the gradually closing wolf pack and the mutated pangolin approaching from behind. He took a deep breath and said to Mu Xue, "We must break through the wolf pack's encirclement first."
Mu Xue nodded, and the two stood back to back, warily watching their surroundings.
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