Liang Ye instinctively wanted to rush out and claim kinship, but abruptly collided with a pair of gray-blue eyes—like ghostly blue flames in the darkness, eerie and beautiful.
His heart suddenly constricted, as if vacuum-sealed.
Eyes that felt familiar.
Eyes that looked at prey.
Eyes exactly like Black Wolf's. His brain instantly turned into a muddled mess.
What was going on?
Why would a man and a wolf share such similar eyes?
His tiny mind couldn't process the answer.
Liang Ye stepped backward, fleeing the spot in a panic. His joyful mood receded like the tide, and he dared not approach recklessly.
Calming down and thinking carefully—in the dead of night, in absolute silence, a human appearing out of nowhere in the primeval forest, and such a beautiful human at that, descending like a god from heaven, flawless from face to figure.
The little pup's hopping escape came to an abrupt halt, his fluffy body instantly puffing up like a dandelion.
Oh my god! A ghost!
At this moment, he actually found himself missing Black Wolf. Though dangerous, the wolf also radiated a sense of security.
"Hey, there's a little cub here!"
"A white wolf pup too—grab him!"
The voices came out of nowhere. Liang Ye twitched his triangular ears, not realizing for a second that they were talking about him.
The moment the words faded, a gust of wind howled toward him, accompanied by a flash of cold light. Liang Ye tumbled onto his haunches, the baby fur on his head snapping off and fluttering down before his paws.
His small body trembled uncontrollably, like a dying candle flickering in the wind. He looked up in terror and saw two hyenas—one licking its claws smugly, the other staring at him with malicious glee.
At the hyenas' feet lay a beast's corpse, bloody and mangled, torn apart and half-eaten. Blood pooled across the ground, soaking the surrounding grass blades red.
This was Liang Ye's first time confronting the horror of the wild so directly. Compared to the two hyenas before him, Black Wolf was practically gentle.
"Hahahaha, little cubs are so easily scared. Don't tell me it's about to cry."
"No worries—once it's in my belly, it won't be crying anymore."
"You can't hog it all. We found the cub together."
"Tsk, this little scrap of meat isn't even enough to fill my teeth. And I have to share it with you?"
The two hyenas started fighting over the uneven split. Liang Ye stared in disbelief, too stunned to even wonder how hyenas could speak human language. He seized the moment while they were locked in their brawl and tiptoed away.
A searing pain shot through his tail as claws pierced it. Liang Ye's strength drained from his body, and he collapsed to the ground with a whimper.
"Pretty bold, huh? Trying to run—I'll eat you!" The larger hyena opened its jaws and lunged for Liang Ye's head.
The cub was so small that the hyena didn't need to bite through its neck like it usually did with prey. Biting the head off directly would do—easier to eat that way.
The gaping maw and fangs were inches away. The overwhelming stench of blood and gore made Liang Ye squint, catching a glimpse of flesh and blood stuck between the hyena's teeth.
Death felt like a suffocating net closing in around him. His blood ran cold, as if he'd been shaved bare and thrown into an ice pit in the dead of winter. His heart nearly stopped.
Face to face with death, terrified to the extreme, Liang Ye's mind suddenly became clear instead.
He abruptly realized—the one threatening his life had never been Black Wolf. If the wolf truly saw him as prey, it would have treated him cruelly and eaten him quickly, just like these hyenas.
Even though the two hyenas had already fed, that didn't stop them from having Liang Ye as a snack. It's like—just because you've finished a full meal, does that stop you from having dessert?
Liang Ye had also overlooked the most important point: the weather was warm now, not the brink of winter. There was no need to stockpile food for hibernation.
Besides, Black Wolf most likely had no concept of raising livestock. He brought Liang Ye back to his den, gave him food, came looking for him after he ran away, eliminated dangers for him, and even went out of his way to find sweet berries when he saw Liang Ye struggling to eat.
This wasn't raising him like livestock for slaughter—this was raising him like a child!
Black Wolf wasn't going to eat him. He was protecting him, caring for him.
Too bad he'd realized it too late.
A single transparent bead of water slipped silently from the corner of Liang Ye's eye.
If only he'd understood sooner—how satisfying it would have been to snuggle that big wolf! That was a wolf, a majestic, awe-inspiring wolf, and he'd never even gotten to nuzzle him.
Regret festered wildly in his heart.
"OWWW!"
A blood-curdling scream suddenly exploded by his ear, followed by the heavy thud of something slamming into the ground.
Liang Ye looked over in confusion. The hyena that had just been opening its jaws to eat him was now sprawled on the ground, howling in agony, body convulsing continuously—more breath out than in.
A man of striking vigor stood there, bare-chested with a solid, muscular build, a skirt made of black fur wrapped around his waist. His bones were strong, his sinews powerful, his physique perfectly proportioned—radiating a wild, untamable arrogance.
It was he who had kicked the hyena flying two miles away with a single blow.
The man bent down and scooped up the dazed cub with one hand. His long, slender fingers gently tapped the little puffball's head, and his voice came low and mellow: "Running around again."
For the first time, Liang Ye was held up in someone's palm, rising farther and farther from the ground. He caught the fresh, crisp air of the heights, and his four stubby little legs trembled like they'd hit an electric wire, shaking like a sieve. The pristine white wolf tooth hanging from the man's neck swayed before Liang Ye's eyes with every movement.
It snapped the little pup back to his senses.
Wait a second—it's warm!
It's really a person, not a ghost!
Liang Ye's frozen body slowly warmed up. The sky cleared, the rain stopped, and Ye felt capable again.
He opened his mouth to say something, but as he turned his head, he witnessed another hyena undergoing a dramatic transformation into a human!
Yes, a dramatic transformation into a human, right before Ye's eyes.
Yeye's already round eyes bulged like brass bells.
After the hyena became human, he looked like a minor—young-faced, but surprisingly tall. His entire body was strung taut as a bowstring as he cautiously crept toward his groaning companion.
"Shan Cang, we found the prey first."
Despite his efforts to hide it, his voice still trembled. What should have been a threatening accusation came out sounding pitiful and aggrieved, like a grade-schooler being bullied by an upperclassman.
The man didn't even bother to explain. His fingertips touched the cub's tail, where the blood was still fresh. The little one whimpered—sharp, thin cries that sounded utterly pitiful.
Shan Cang moved like lightning, appearing before the youth in an instant. The youth's pupils shrank to pinpricks, but before he could react, he was slammed to the ground. The world spun, heaven and earth flipped, and his head rang like a struck bell.
"Ugh—" Blood sprayed from the youth's mouth onto his companion's face.
The stammering hyena immediately shut up, not daring to breathe, terrified that Shan Cang would finish him off.
But his companion was clearly a reckless fool, spitting blood while hurling threats at the man.
"Shan Cang, just you wait. I'll report everything that happened today to the chief!"
The man's gaze was cold and sharp as he looked down at him from above. He lifted his leg and casually crushed the other's arm, his voice flat and unperturbed, yet it pierced like an ice pick through the lungs.
"I'll be waiting."
"Ahhh—" The youth's heart-wrenching screams startled the birds returning to their nests.
Withdrawing his foot, the man cradled the dazed little cub and left calmly, ignoring the miserable state of the two hyenas behind him.
Only when Shan Cang's presence had completely dissipated did the companion dare to hoist the youth onto his back. "Sub-adults really have nerve, daring to challenge the Wolf King."
"That's Shan Cang—the youngest Wolf King ever. He solo-killed the Golden Eagle Tribe's chief at sixteen. Even our chief fears him. You really have a death wish."
Shan Cang's kick had not held back. The hyena felt like his organs had been knocked out of place. If not for the Beastmen's hardy constitution, he'd probably be dead by now.
Limping painfully back toward the tribe, the youth on his back had a face twisted in agony, his eyes dark and venomous.
For a Beastman, losing an arm or leg meant losing the ability to hunt. A Beastman without value would eventually be cast out by the tribe, becoming a wandering Beastman, returning to the embrace of the Beast God.
What had been crushed wasn't just his future livelihood—it was the dignity of a Beastman warrior. Next Breeding Season, he would have come of age. He would have become the tribe's fiercest warrior.
But now, it was all ruined!
All because of that white wolf cub. All because of Shan Cang. All because of the Wolf Moon Tribe!
.
Shan Cang returned to the cave and set the cub down in the pile of dried grass. His tall figure transformed into a massive black wolf.
The Black Wolf approached the cub and carefully licked his bloodied tail.
Saliva soaked the wound, bringing a sharp sting, and Liang Ye's long-frozen brain slowly began to reboot.
Wait, wait, wait!
Let him sort this out first.
His head was a mess—stir it up and you could drink it.
So the human he thought he saw was actually the Black Wolf. The Black Wolf could talk. The hyenas could talk too. They could all turn into humans?
And what about him?
Could Ye do that?
Setting aside whether a dog could turn into a human—this familiar setup was way too similar to his last project that got axed, wasn't it?
That game was called Beast Continent. It was set in a primitive world where Beastmen of various species lived. Beastmen were divided into Beastmen and Demi-Beastmen, and regardless of gender, they were similar to the A/O in an ABO world.
Beastmen had strong bodies and could freely switch between Beast form and human form. Demi-Beastmen were physically weaker—they could also transform into Beast form, but it consumed more stamina, so they usually preferred Partial beastification in daily life, like claws, tails, or ears.
Additionally, Demi-Beastmen could bear offspring, even if their physical appearance was no different from Earth men.
Could it be that he hadn't been reincarnated, but had transmigrated? That he wasn't even on Earth anymore?
What a terrifying conclusion. Give me back Mother Earth!
Starting the game in hell mode—Liang Ye's vision went black, then black again.
The Black Wolf, completely unable to guess what wild thoughts were running through the cub's little head, studied the white puffball that looked like a tiny ornament one could toy with. He assumed the cub was scared senseless—after all, the little one had a pathetically timid disposition.
"Slurp."
One lick from the Black Wolf, and Yeye was instantly sucked into a shriveled mango pit. The scruffy little dog turned his head, eyes dazed.
The Black Wolf couldn't read the cub's needs. He pawed over the food he'd brought back during the day, pushing it in front of Yeye. "Eat."
The dim almond-shaped eyes gradually sparked to life, burning brightly.
So he was hungry after all.
The Black Wolf figured he was pretty good at taking care of kids.
Then a little furball slammed hard into his chest—a spot of white amid endless black, like a pearl necklace.
Forget everything else—my Black Wolf, I'm sniffing him first!
Liang Ye's paws scrabbled desperately as she clung to the fur on Black Wolf's chest, inhaling with all her might like her life depended on it. Her little tail trembled nonstop while she burrowed her head back and forth.
Perhaps because he had just bathed, Black Wolf didn't carry the wild, rank smell of beasts like the hyenas. Instead, there was a faint scent of fresh grass—dry, warm, and reassuring. As she sniffed, her eyelids gradually grew heavy, and her "pearl necklace" began to slip.
Even as drowsiness came knocking and yawns followed one after another, Yeye's little paws kept their silent grip.
Never leaving the big doggy!
Black Wolf was nearly amused into laughter by the little one. In the entire pack, who would dare sleep on top of him? This cub's courage truly fluctuated between timid and bold.
Black Wolf lowered himself to lie down, and the cub dove into his fur without hesitation, vanishing from sight in an instant.
So tiny—if he rolled over, he'd be afraid of crushing her.
Black Wolf raised his head and twitched his nostrils. The moisture in the air was thickening; the storm season was approaching. They had to set out back to the tribe tomorrow.