allendalepharm Chapter 58 Wolves
Chapter 58 Wolves
"A trap..." Xu Mo stood by the second-floor window, quickly sketching out a plan in his mind.
His goal wasn't to inflict significant damage on the wolves with traps; after all, wolves are agile, and simple traps are unlikely to kill them outright. What he needed was an obstacle that could make them pause for a moment. Even that brief hesitation would allow his firearms to have a lethal effect.
Without further ado, Xu Mo first needed to determine the location of the trap. He chose the area directly below the window where the most concentrated wolf bite marks had been found, and the adjacent area that could potentially be used as a climbing point. With the location chosen, the next step was digging.
For ordinary people, digging through the frozen, hard snow would undoubtedly be a strenuous task. But for Xu Mo, who had entered the "Taoist Realm," it was no difficult task. With a slight circulation of his blood, Xu Mo felt a surge of power filling his limbs.
Finding an entrenching tool he had previously scavenged, Xu Mo took a deep breath and plunged the entrenching tool into the frozen ground with a whooshing sound.
"Sizzle!"
The hard frozen ground was easily broken apart like a crisp biscuit by the powerful entrenching tool. Xu Mo's movements were swift and steady, shovel after shovel, quickly clearing away clumps of frozen soil and snow. Supported by the stamina provided by the Bull Leather Realm, Xu Mo felt almost no fatigue. Soon, a rectangular trap about two meters long, more than one meter wide, and over one and a half meters deep was taking shape.
During the excavation, Xu Mo couldn't help but miss the things he hadn't collected to set traps when he scavenged resources using the "marking" rules before.
"If I had known this day would come, I should have paid more attention to those military surplus stores or outdoor stores back then, and gotten some professional animal traps, barbs, or at least a few sharp daggers or triangular spikes," Xu Mo thought to himself.
Using those things to set up a trap would definitely be much more effective than making do with what we have now. Xu Mo does have a high-quality triangular dagger, but he quite likes it. It's a powerful weapon for close combat, and using it to bury in the ground to make a trap seems a bit wasteful. Besides, Xu Mo is too lazy to retrieve it.
With the pit dug, the next step was to set things up. Xu Mo took out the rusty iron nails and some broken metal parts that he had originally planned to remove.
He had originally intended to throw these things away, but they came in handy at this moment.
Xu Mo used the few pieces of scrap metal, with the sharpest parts facing upwards, to barely secure them to the bottom of the pit with the small amount of wire he found. Although rudimentary, it would at least effectively prevent wolves from jumping out immediately if they fell in.
After setting up the "base," Xu Mo found several pieces of cardboard salvaged from discarded packaging boxes. He carefully covered the hole with the cardboard, ensuring it could withstand the weight of the accumulated snow without collapsing immediately. Then, Xu Mo used a small shovel to evenly spread the freshly dug snow from the side onto the cardboard, carefully smoothing it out so that it looked indistinguishable from the surrounding ground.
Having done all this, Xu Mo stepped back a few paces and carefully observed the trap in the dim light. The trap was camouflaged quite well; in the dim light, it was almost impossible to spot any flaws. If the wolf pack followed the previous route, the chances of them falling into the trap were extremely high.
Back at the observation point on the second floor, Xu Mo took a deep breath and reached out to turn off the LED table lamp in the room.
"Smack."
The light vanished, and darkness engulfed him instantly like a tidal wave.
Although he had adapted somewhat, the suffocating feeling of being completely deprived of his vision and as if he were in a void still brought Xu Mo a pang of palpitations and discomfort. All he could hear was his own amplified breathing and heartbeat; all external sounds seemed to have disappeared, or perhaps they were hidden beneath this deathly silence, waiting for their chance to strike.
Xu Mo remained calm; he had anticipated this situation. He slowly adjusted his breathing, and with a slight thought, his internal energy began to circulate according to the Thirteen Bodyguards' external martial arts techniques.
As his Qi and blood circulated, Xu Mo felt the oppressive and irritating feeling caused by the darkness gradually subside, as if washed away by a warm current. His mind became clear, and his senses of hearing and touch seemed to become more acute.
He could clearly feel the cold flow of the air and hear the extremely faint "creaking" sound of the snow bearing weight. This was one of the benefits of the cowhide barrier; not only did it strengthen his physical body, but it also elevated his perception of the environment and his control over his own will to a new level.
Xu Mo held the AK47 with the muzzle slightly lowered, his finger resting lightly on the trigger guard. He was like a sculpture, hidden in the shadows by the window, blending into the darkness. Only his eyes, after adjusting to the extreme blackness, could vaguely catch the faint reflection of the snow outside the window.
Time flowed slowly in the silence, ten minutes, twenty minutes...
Suddenly, Xu Mo's highly focused hearing caught a faint rustling sound.
Extremely faint, like the sound of claws lightly stepping on snow, it came from afar, heading towards his shelter. The sound was scattered, indicating that more than one was approaching.
"Here it comes!" Xu Mo thought to himself, his mind instantly tensing. He gently adjusted his breathing, lowered his center of gravity, and ensured that he was in the most advantageous position to exert force.
After a few breaths, the rustling sound became clearer, and Xu Mo could even hear suppressed low moans coming from deep in his throat.
Just as the leading dark figure was about to touch the wall—
"thump!!"
A muffled, loud crash, accompanied by the sound of snow and cardboard shattering, suddenly rang out, followed by a piercing and furious wolf howl that tore through the silent night sky.
The trap has been set in motion.
opportunity!
Fully armed, Xu Mo, like a cheetah that had been lying in wait, suddenly sprang into action. He rushed straight towards the stairs leading to the third floor, unleashing his full speed. Supported by the strength of his Bull-Hair Realm, he leaped up to the third floor in a few steps and jumped out of a window that had been cleared of snow without hesitation.
His powerful core strength and resilient bones easily absorbed the impact, leaving only two deep footprints in the snow. The moment he regained his footing, Xu Mo's sharp gaze immediately swept around.
In the darkness, Xu Mo saw six or seven pairs of eyes shimmering with a ghostly blue light, floating like will-o'-the-wisps in the inky blackness, all focused on him, the uninvited guest. The light was filled with wildness, violence, and a hint of surprise at being disturbed.
"You ungrateful wretch!" Xu Mo hissed.
Before he finished speaking, the automatic rifle in his hand was already spitting out blazing flames.
"Da da da! Da da da!"
Short, precise bursts of fire sent bullets hurtling like deadly swords towards the location of the eerie blue light. The dazzling muzzle flash instantly illuminated a small area, revealing the blurry yet agile silhouettes of the wolf pack.
A bloodcurdling scream immediately rang out, and at least two wolves were hit by bullets in the first moment, rolling and falling on the snow, splattering blood and snow.
At the same time, Xu Mo's left hand was not idle either. He quickly took out a portable light source from his pocket, pushed the switch with his thumb, and threw it directly towards the direction where the wolf pack was most concentrated without even looking.
"Buzz—"
The portable light source fell on the snow, scattering its light and instantly illuminating a small area as if it were daytime.
"Awooo—!"
The instant the light appeared, a chorus of panicked howls erupted from the wolf pack. Just as the broadcast had stated, they were extremely photophobic. Under the intense light, their several pairs of dark blue eyes instantly became fearful and confused; they could even be seen instinctively turning their heads away and shielding their eyes with their front paws, their attack formation immediately thrown into disarray.
As the light cooled, Xu Mo finally saw clearly the true appearance of these wolves corrupted by darkness.
They were slightly larger than before, their shoulder height almost reaching the waist of an adult, their muscles bulging, making them appear exceptionally strong. Their originally grayish-brown fur had turned dark, almost jet black, with only a few grayish-white remnants remaining on their bellies and the insides of their limbs. Most striking were their eyes; the eerie blue light was not a reflection, but originated from the pupils themselves, appearing like two burning will-o'-the-wisps in the darkness, filled with an eeriness and foreboding.
The appearance of light caused the wolf pack to panic briefly, and they instinctively wanted to flee the illuminated area.
"Trying to run?" Xu Mo's eyes were icy cold, filled with murderous intent. He would never let go of such a golden opportunity to weaken their forces.
He quickly changed magazines, his movements as fluid as if he had practiced a thousand times. Gunfire rang out again, this time a calmer and more precise single-shot burst.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Almost every bullet fired was accompanied by a wolf's howl. Fueled by the light and their own heightened senses, the wolves attempting to turn and flee became easy targets. Three more wolves were pierced by bullets during their escape, staggering and collapsing to the ground.
Just as Xu Mo was calling out the names of the fleeing wolves, an exceptionally swift and ferocious black shadow, like an arrow released from a bow, suddenly pounced from the shadows on his side, aiming straight for his neck. A foul stench filled the air, and the speed was astonishing.
It was the wolf king, the largest and most powerful of them all, who had been directing from the rear, that launched its attack on Xu Mo, despite its aversion to the light.
Although startled, Xu Mo remained calm, his reaction speed, enhanced by his superhuman abilities, far surpassing that of ordinary people. Seeing the wolf king charging at him, he simply swung his rifle behind him, his left hand flashing out to precisely grab the hilt of the machete at his waist.
"Clang!"
The thick-backed machete was drawn from its sheath with a snap, tracing a cold arc in the afterglow of the portable light source.
At the same time, Xu Mo's blood and qi surged and circulated at full power.
Facing the wolf king's determined attack, Xu Mo neither dodged nor evaded. A fierce glint flashed in his eyes, and he exerted force from his waist, twisting his body and turning his hips. With the full power of his body and the whistling sound, he delivered a simple horizontal slash with his machete, meeting the wolf king's open, blood-red maw.
"Pfft—!"
A sickeningly sharp sound of a blade piercing flesh rang out, a flash of light, and blood gushed out like a fountain. The cleaver, imbued with the full power of Xu Mo's superhuman strength, was incredibly ferocious, severing half of the wolf king's neck and part of its skull.
The wolf king's charge came to an abrupt halt, its massive body crashing heavily onto the snow like a tattered sack. It twitched twice and then fell silent. Its deep blue pupils quickly dimmed.
Seeing their leader killed, the remaining two wolves were terrified and howled as they desperately fled into the darkness. Xu Mo wouldn't let them escape; two bullets sent them away from this terrible apocalypse. Whether they went to heaven, Xu Mo didn't know.
Having dealt with the two wolves that had escaped, Xu Mo walked to the trap and peered inside. At the bottom of the trap, the two wolves were still struggling. They had many cuts on their bodies from broken glass and nails, and they tried to jump up, but they could not succeed because of the slippery pit walls and their injuries.
Xu Mo raised his rifle expressionlessly.
"Bang! Bang!"
Two crisp gunshots ended their suffering and brought this hunt in the dark to a complete close.