“Ugh…”
Dizziness crashed over him like waves, and the instant his senses returned, Liang Ye felt as if he had just been tumbling in the sea.
The sound of damp, sticky water, accompanied by gusts of scorching wind.
Had he passed out in the bathroom?
Before he could even sort out his thoughts, a wet, slippery, burning-hot unknown object slithered across Liang Ye’s entire body like a python, leaving a trail of slime in its wake. His hairs stood on end like porcupine quills, his heart pounded like it had a motor installed, slamming violently against his thin chest, yet his blood ran cold as ice.
Darkness and the unknown wrapped around him like a spider’s web, binding him tight. Liang Ye snapped his eyelids open, breath trembling, facing his fear head-on.
It took only two seconds for his vision to go from focused to blurred. Reflected in Liang Ye’s pitch-black pupils was a massive black wolf.
Humans—curiosity isn’t always a good thing.
Anyone who opens their eyes to a giant wolf right in their face wouldn’t be able to take it.
The wet sensation came again. The crimson tongue was like the blood that would spray when Liang Ye’s neck was bitten off, and the sharp fangs gleamed with a cold, white light.
Don’t… don’t eat me!
The plea rising to his lips never made it out as a single syllable. Liang Ye’s eyes rolled back, and he fainted dead away.
The jet-black giant wolf stood in the sunlight, majestic and imposing. Just standing there, it was like Mount Tai pressing down from above—inspiring awe and dread, silencing all who saw it, leaving no thought of escape.
A flicker of confusion passed through the black wolf’s calm gray-blue eyes. It raised a paw, ready to poke the little thing on the ground, but the contrast between its massive wolf paw and the tiny ball of fluff was too stark—one real swipe might just squash the creature flat.
After a moment’s hesitation, a long claw extended from the wolf’s broad, thick front paw. The tip was razor-sharp, sharp enough to split a hair, capable of easily gutting an enemy.
The back of the claw tapped the little cream-colored ball’s head. No reaction. As if dead.
His gaze drifted downward. The cub, lying belly-up in a dead faint, had a soft pink belly rising and falling.
Such a young wolf cub, not yet at the age of shapeshifting, couldn’t yet be identified as a Beastman or Demi-Beastman.
The black wolf lowered his head to sniff the little one, trying once more to search, but the scent of the cub’s kin had completely vanished. Carefully, he picked the cub up in his jaws, afraid that if he lost focus for even a moment, he might accidentally swallow it.
.
[It’s a doggo! If I can sniff it once, I’ll die without regrets!]
[Damn human traffickers, this kitten is clearly my long-lost child!]
[This chick is way too hyper, suspected terminal chatterbox. I’m a professional—suggest sending it to my home immediately for treatment.]
Fingers clattering away at the keyboard, passionately typing comments, a grimy-faced young man with blazing eyes wore a bizarre smile—like a fool, or more like a pervert.
Slender fingers swiped up and down the page, opening and zooming into every single image, savoring every corner and edge.
“So cute.”
Liang Ye finished his virtual fix of fluff, let out a deep breath, and all the exhaustion drained from his body.
He was a hardcore fluff addict. The goose that all the village kids feared most was his best friend—unfortunately, during New Year’s, Grandma made iron-pot stewed goose. Liang Ye was so heartbroken he ate three full bowls of rice. His best friend was truly delicious.
After starting work, he thought he could have both a cat and a dog. Reality was: a wage slave had no right to own pets.
Working overtime every day until he wanted to die, he could only survive on virtual fluff.
“Drip.”
The hour hand hit midnight. A new day began.
Liang Ye put down his phone and walked toward the break room with his empty coffee cup.
He was a game designer, previously working on an infrastructure-building farming game. Every day was spent researching materials and brainstorming content, and his hairline was receding. Just as the project was getting on track, the higher-ups suddenly had a whim—said it wasn’t making money and cut it outright, planning to jump on the bandwagon with an otome game instead.
As long as the character designs sold well, they’d definitely rake in the cash.
His boss patted Liang Ye on the shoulder, smiling like a Maitreya Buddha. “Little Liang, I heard you’ve been studying for the senior designer certification. The company really values ambitious young people like you. I’m putting you on the new project for some hands-on experience. Work hard.”
Wage slaves had no rights. Even with a mouth full of curses, Liang Ye had to hold it in, forcing a stiff smile and accepting.
Liang Ye was forced to swap the contents of his brain from “Postpartum Care for Sows” to “How to Conquer Handsome Young Men,” “108 Tips for Love,” and so on.
Twenty-six years of being single since birth—Liang Ye had no clue about romance. He was going bald from working overtime at the company until late into the night.
Picking up his freshly refilled coffee and walking back, the vast office was dead silent. Only Liang Ye’s footsteps cut through like a stone striking a lake’s surface—jarring and strange.
In the office, only the computer at his desk cast a blue glow, inexplicably adding a chill to the watery night. The light spilled across the floor tiles like a gateway to another world.
Taking a sip of his Americano, Liang Ye pulled out his chair and continued working. Suddenly, a piercing, bone-deep pain struck his heart. In an instant, his mouth and nose felt as if covered by an invisible hand—airtight, impossible to escape. Time stretched endlessly, the pain clinging like a stubborn bone-marrow parasite. The young man’s thin body drifted down like a sheet of paper, dissolving into the neglected night breeze.
Before consciousness slipped away, Liang Ye sighed—at least he died at his workstation. Then he suddenly remembered that the people he loved were long gone, and the compensation would only fall into the hands of his worthless parents.
Liang Ye snapped his eyes wide open, successfully angering himself back to life.
The surrounding light was dim, with faintly visible gray stone walls. Beneath him came the fresh scent of dried grass, and in the air lingered a subtle, elusive smell of blood mixed with a strong wild beast odor.
It jolted him into a frozen statue in an instant, the events before he passed out replaying in his mind like a lantern show.
What’s going on?
If he wasn’t dead, shouldn’t he have woken up in a hospital?
If he was dead, did the King of Hell give him a VIP passage? Reincarnation this fast.
And where the hell did they drop him off?
Cautiously scanning his surroundings, there was no sign of that wolf. Liang Ye was overjoyed—why wait to run now!
However, the moment he took a step, he fell flat on his face.
What’s wrong? His limbs weren’t listening to him?
Liang Ye hurriedly looked down to check his body—could he have become disabled? He wouldn’t have known unless he looked, and when he did, he was shocked.
Pink, tender paw pads, round and tiny, with the backs of his paws covered in soft, fair, fine fur. There was no way these were human hands, and besides, he had four of these adorable little paws!
His breathing unconsciously grew lighter, and the beat of his heart slowed along with it, as if afraid of disturbing something, that a moment’s carelessness would shatter the illusion.
Liang Ye looked around. About a meter away, beside the stone wall, there was a basin of water. Using the daylight from outside the cave, he noticed the basin appeared to be made of stone.
Liang Ye had no time to study the stone basin that was bigger than his own body. He scrambled over in a clumsy, pathetic manner, and the water was very clear—it looked like ordinary clean drinking water. His throat unconsciously bobbed.
The unfamiliar environment made him wary, and he didn’t dare drink water of unknown origin.
Liang Ye leaned down and got close. The water’s surface reflected a round, fluffy head with snow-white, puffy fur, dark, glossy, watery almond-shaped eyes with slightly upturned corners full of smile, and lips naturally curved upward—friendly and approachable.
Liang Ye couldn’t believe it and pulled his head back, standing frozen in place for a long moment. He leaned toward the water again, and even though the surface wasn’t as clear as a mirror, he could still make out his own appearance.
Baffled, he tilted his head, and the milky-white ball of fluff on the water’s surface tilted its head too, with innocent, naive puppy eyes and soft, triangular ears that twitched. Liang Ye gasped and opened his mouth wide.
Great, it’s a Samoyed! Let me inhale a billion times!
Too, too, too adorable!
Thanks to the dog’s remarkably resilient body, Liang Ye buried his face into the soft, plump belly with no effort at all, his nose filled with the scent of a little puppy.
What’s this? Why is it moving on its own?
Liang Ye stared intently at the small feather duster wagging back and forth in front of him. Oh, it’s his tail.
Hug it! Inhale deeply!
No wonder they always say dogs and tails don’t get along—chasing your tail and biting it is way too fun!
This was Liang Ye’s first time being a dog, and a smiling angel Samoyed at that. Once he started inhaling, he went wild, forgot himself, and lost all sense of restraint!
The thick smell of blood shot into his lungs like an arrow, abruptly cutting off all of Liang Ye’s excitement and joy, turning him into a lamb awaiting slaughter under the butcher’s knife. All the happiness from before was nothing but delusion.
No life left. This time, he really was going to lose his life.
Fresh animal meat dripped blood as it hung, staining half the sky red. The Golden Crow sank in the west, weary birds returned to the forest, and time seemed to take on the rust of iron, growing heavy and gloomy.
Black Wolf’s massive body cut off the last thread of light like a mountain, and the temperature inside the cave plummeted. Even with fur to ward off the cold, Liang Ye couldn’t stop trembling uncontrollably.
He hadn’t even gotten his fill of sniffing himself yet!
Liang Ye wanted to cry but had no tears. Reincarnation this fast—even Black and White Impermanence would remember him by now.
“Thud!”
An arc of something landed heavily right in front of him. The dull sound startled Liang Ye into tucking his tail tightly and curling himself into a tiny ball.
The smell of blood rushing at his face made him nauseous. Even though he was a dog now, he’d been human for twenty-six years and couldn’t change his eating habits overnight—he really couldn’t bring himself to take a bite.
When Black Wolf saw he wasn’t moving, his gaze darkened. His already formidable presence immediately made Liang Ye flatten into a puppy pancake with a splat.
He hadn’t been sure before, but now Black Wolf had solid proof: the cub’s fainting wasn’t from hunger or sickness—it was purely cowardice, scared senseless.
Glaring at the cub with frustration, Black Wolf resolved to train him well from now on. The smaller the courage, the harder survival would be.
Black Wolf nudged the meat to the cub’s mouth, commanding him to eat through action. A cub that didn’t eat properly would die.
In Black Wolf’s simple worldview, being able to eat meant being able to live, so food was extremely important and never casually shared with others. If what he’d found hadn’t been a wolf cub, Black Wolf would never have given the food away.
Liang Ye naturally had no idea how hard-won this bloody hunk of meat was. Under Black Wolf’s oppressive pressure, he forced down his disgust, closed his eyes, and took a bite—the meat only suffered a scratch.
Too weak.
Black Wolf’s already dark face darkened a few shades more. Based on past experience, he could tell a cub like this would be very hard to keep alive.
No wonder it had been abandoned by its pack.
A pack’s food was limited. When danger came, weak cubs who couldn’t keep up with the group would be left behind.
Black Wolf didn’t keep staring at Liang Ye. He found a comfortable spot near the cave entrance, lay down, and dozed off.
Liang Ye stole a nervous glance, then quietly let out a breath of relief. Actually, once you get past the initial psychological hurdle of eating raw meat, after a few more bites you realize the flesh is tender and fresh, soft and smooth. If it were roasted over charcoal, the flavor would surely be absolutely exquisite.
Just thinking about it made his mouth water. Liang Ye fantasized while eating until he hiccupped, his little belly puffing up like a ball. His peripheral vision swept over the chunk of meat—good heavens, he’d been chowing down with all his might for quite a while, yet its size hadn’t changed much at all.
With his stomach full, Liang Ye’s brain started whirring.
Black Wolf had dragged him into the cave, but instead of eating him, he’d given him food. Why?
Put yourself in his shoes—if you caught a piglet, why wouldn’t you eat it?
One: keep it as a pet. Two: fatten it up for the New Year’s slaughter.
Liang Ye shot to his feet. No way was he becoming the New Year’s pig!
Run, he had to run—tonight, right now!