Chapter 135: Dog Pack
Meanwhile, back in the truck, Xia the cat and Kong Zhi were waiting.
Outside, it was a wintry scene, but inside the truck, it was warm and cozy with the heater on, and the seats were soft and comfortable.
Xia the cat lay on his back with his furry belly exposed, fast asleep.
Kong Zhi sat in the driver’s seat, keeping an eye on their surroundings while listening to Xia the cat’s steady breathing.
The snow and wind were intense, making it hard to see more than a few meters ahead. Even though Xia Huo Qu and Yan Xi Nian were only about ten meters away getting fuel, their figures were barely visible, let alone any potential wild animals in the distance.
Kong Zhi wasn’t expecting to spot much in the storm but kept watch out of habit.
Suddenly, faint howls echoed through the wind, the sound of beasts, though whether they were wolves or something else, he couldn’t tell.
Kong Zhi tightened his grip on the steering wheel, ready to respond if Xia Huo Qu and Yan Xi Nian needed help.
As he focused on the outside, Xia the cat’s furry ears twitched.
In an instant, Xia the cat flipped over, sitting up straight, his bright green cat eyes fully alert. His hind legs stood on the seat, front paws on the dashboard, as he stared outside with a serious expression.
Noticing this, Kong Zhi quietly asked, “What is it?”
“Meow.” Trouble.
Xia the cat continued staring at the windshield, which was repeatedly being cleared by the wipers, his ears twitching again. Suddenly, he stretched out a paw and lowered the window.
A gust of cold wind rushed in, sweeping away the warmth from the cab.
Xia the cat sniffed the air with his pink nose. In the wind, he caught a faint but distinct wild animal smell.
The odor wasn’t strong but sharp and offensive.
Xia the cat’s eyes narrowed as he concentrated, soon realizing that the smell was likely from dogs.
Cats and dogs were natural enemies, and perhaps due to his current animal form, Xia the cat found the smell especially irritating.
“Meow!” Xia the cat turned, grabbed a pen from the dashboard, and scribbled on an open notebook: Dogs outside.
“Wild dogs?” Kong Zhi also sensed something was off, staring out into the snowstorm, unsure whether he was asking Xia the cat or himself.
Judging by Xia the cat’s behavior, though, Kong Zhi was pretty sure wild dogs were nearby.
After the disaster, most pets had turned into strays. And surviving stray animals were as dangerous as any wild predator.
Kong Zhi said to Xia the cat, “Stay in the truck. I’ll go check it out.”
“Meow.” Xia the cat swatted at him with his paw, eyes filled with concern.
Kong Zhi patted the cat’s head and whispered, “Don’t worry. I won’t go far. I’ll just take a quick look and warn brother Huo Qu.”
Xia the cat hesitated, pacing in place before watching Kong Zhi step out of the truck.
Once outside, Kong Zhi shouted toward the gas station, “Brother Huo Qu! Hurry up! We might have wild dogs coming!”
Xia Huo Qu called back, “Almost done! We’ve got some more oil to load—stay on alert!”
Kong Zhi replied, “I’m keeping watch. I’ll shout if anything happens!”
Xia the cat was also keeping watch.
With his sharp sense of smell, he soon detected that the foul odor was getting stronger. It wasn’t just from one dog, but from several. From what he could tell, there were at least three distinct scents.
“Meow!” Xia the cat let out a loud warning, both to alert his companions and to warn the lurking predators.
Back at the gas station, Xia Huo Qu and Yan Xi Nian worked quickly, each holding a pipe to siphon fuel into the bamboo tube.
The station had long been abandoned, and the pipes were mostly clogged, making the process slow and difficult.
Despite their best efforts to hurry, their efficiency was still limited.
As the smell of the dogs grew stronger, both Xia Huo Qu and Yan Xi Nian caught a whiff of it.
Xia Huo Qu handed the bamboo tube and fuel hose to Yan Xi Nian, glancing outside. “You keep filling the fuel. I’ll transform into my beast form to see if I can scare them off.”
“Wait!” Yan Xi Nian interjected, “I should transform instead. My beast form is more powerful and intimidating.”
“It doesn’t matter who transforms. I have a thick coat of fur, so I’m less affected by the cold, and I can fight at full strength. Let me do it.” Xia Huo Qu passed the fuel hose to him, adding, “This isn’t the time to argue.”
Yan Xi Nian had no choice but to take over. He watched as Xia Huo Qu stripped off his clothes in the freezing snow, his skin turning pale from the cold.
Fortunately, Xia Huo Qu moved quickly.
In just over a minute, he had shed all his clothes and transformed into a giant wolf.
“Howl—!”
The giant wolf let out a thunderous howl that echoed through the sky, far louder than Xia the cat’s earlier cry.
After the wolf’s roar, the distant area fell silent, as though the pack of wild dogs was retreating.
The giant wolf’s towering form allowed him to see far into the distance. He clearly spotted the small black dots hundreds of meters away.
There were nearly a hundred dogs, densely packed.
These mutated dogs had grown much larger, and Xia Huo Qu quickly noticed the one in the lead—a mutated yellow dog, likely the pack’s leader.
“Howl!” The giant wolf howled again, this time as a warning.
Yan Xi Nian immediately understood that the wild dogs had gotten dangerously close and were ready to attack. They couldn’t afford to linger here, or else someone might get hurt.
Making a quick decision, Yan Xi Nian hung the fuel hose back in place, picked up two bamboo tubes, and said, “That’s enough. Let’s get back to the truck and get out of here.”
“Woof,” the giant wolf nodded. He growled once more, grabbed his clothes in his mouth, and walked back toward the truck with Yan Xi Nian.
Carrying the bamboo tubes, Yan Xi Nian told Kong Zhi, who was guarding the truck, “Kong Zhi, you drive. Huo Qu and I will secure the fuel in the back. We’re changing our destination and finding somewhere else to spend the night.”
“Got it!” Kong Zhi replied. “You two get in. I’ll start the truck right away.”
Yan Xi Nian climbed into the back of the truck and secured the two fuel-filled bamboo tubes in a wooden crate, fastening the lid. Then he turned to check on Xia Huo Qu.
Xia Huo Qu had already returned to human form and gotten back into the truck.
He had only managed to put on his pants, and his bare arms were covered in goosebumps, his pale skin turning purple from the cold.
Yan Xi Nian hurried to help him put on his shirt, pulling out some heat packs and sticking three of them onto Xia Huo Qu in one go. He tried to apply more, but Xia Huo Qu refused. “Save them. A cup of hot water will do.”
Up front, Kong Zhi had already started driving.
Hearing the conversation in the back, he called out, “Brother Huo Qu, are you guys alright back there?”
“We’re fine, everything went smoothly,” Xia Huo Qu replied. “How’s the situation up front? Can you see the wild dogs?”
“Yeah, I can see them. They’re watching us from a distance, but I’m going to speed up a bit. If we don’t move fast, these mutated dogs might ambush us.”
Xia Huo Qu nodded. “Be careful.”
With the roads covered in ice and snow, and the threat of wild dogs lurking nearby, Kong Zhi drove with extreme caution, his muscles tensed as he kept full focus on the road.
Xia the cat sat beside him, equally alert, his ears twitching now and then as he analyzed the sounds outside the truck.
As the truck moved forward, they found themselves getting closer to the pack of wild dogs.
Xia the cat had expected the mutated dogs to look vicious, but to his surprise, although they were dirty and mutated in various ways, their eyes appeared calm.
The difference between a rabid dog and a normal one was obvious from their gaze. Xia the cat could tell at a glance that these wild dogs didn’t seem particularly aggressive.
Most of the wild dogs outside were breed dogs, with the majority being medium-sized.
Xia the cat thought back to the neighbor’s dog before the disaster.
These wild dogs had a similar look in their eyes to those pets from before the disaster, almost friendly.
“Meow?” Xia the cat pondered for a while, then tilted his head, looked at Kong Zhi, jumped onto the dashboard, and wrote: Dogs not hostile?
Kong Zhi stole a quick glance at the note while driving. “What do you mean, ‘dogs not hostile’?”
Xia the cat wrote: Eyes don’t look fierce.
Focused on driving, Kong Zhi couldn’t engage much in conversation, so he shouted back to the truck bed, “Huo Qu, Xiao Nong says these dogs blocking our way don’t seem aggressive. It looks like they want to communicate!”
Xia Huo Qu and Yan Xi Nian exchanged glances.
Yan Xi Nian knocked on the truck wall and asked, “What does ‘communicate’ mean? In this freezing weather, animals only come out to hunt. Would they really gather here for no reason?”
Kong Zhi looked at Xia the cat.
Xia the cat shook his furry head. He wasn’t sure either.
Xia Huo Qu suggested, “After the disaster, mutated animals became smarter. Dogs were already known for their intelligence, so they might understand us now. Maybe I should go out and talk to them?”
Yan Xi Nian objected, “That’s too dangerous! What if Xiao Nong is wrong? At most, let’s slow down, and we’ll try shouting at them to see what they want.”
Xia Huo Qu agreed, “Alright. Kong Zhi, slow down a bit and drive closer to the mutated dogs. I’ll try talking to them.”
“Got it!” Kong Zhi replied. “Be careful, though. If anything goes wrong, I’ll hit the gas right away.”
“Meow!” Xia the cat chimed in.
Xia Huo Qu, hearing his brother’s warning growl, reassured him, “Don’t worry too much. We have the upper hand. As long as we don’t get surrounded, we should be fine.”
“Meow.”
That was Xia the cat’s way of reminding them to stay cautious.
Xia Huo Qu leaned out of the truck, looking at the dogs just a dozen meters away.
With the snow falling and visibility low, it was only now that he noticed how skinny the dogs were—their ribs were clearly visible.
A shiver ran down his spine.
In winter, the last thing you want to encounter is a pack of starving wild animals.
Starving beasts lose all sense of reason. No matter how outmatched they are, they dare to attack humans.
Xia Huo Qu spoke through the truck panel to Kong Zhi in the driver’s seat, “These dogs are probably starving and desperate. Be careful, don’t get too close.”
“Don’t worry, Huo Qu. I’ve mapped out the route,” Kong Zhi’s voice came from the cab. “Xiao Nong said these dogs’ eyes look calm, so it should be fine. Try calling out to them.”
Yan Xi Nian took over, “I’ll do it.”
Since Xia Huo Qu wasn’t much of a negotiator, he stepped back to give Yan Xi Nian room.
Yan Xi Nian leaned out, braving the wind and snow, and shouted to the surrounding mutated dogs, “Do you have something to say to us? If so, step back a bit! Don’t surround us! We’re scared!”
The pack of mutated dogs stirred.
After a moment, several dogs started moving their paws. Barking echoed around them, and then, under the leadership of a few dogs, the entire pack retreated and gathered together.
In the snowy landscape, over a hundred mutated dogs formed into a moving mass.
