Zhu Feng woke up at the smell of roasted meat filling his nostrils, taking a long drawn out whiff of it he opened his eyes.

It was dark everywhere save for the glittering glow of the sprinkled stars at the sky and the vague impression of a moon being blocked by some gloomy looking grey-black-ish clouds, wincing at the pain on his back when he tried to move and raise his body up Feng tried to take a look around instead and first thing he saw was red lantern-like eyes lurking in the shadows, then a few silhouettes moved in the dark edge of his sight.

"Ughh.... Fuck, this hurts like hell. Still, what's that moving over there? I'm not safe at all like this, I should get closer to the fire." Feng made up his mind and started crawling towards the fire.

Huff.... Huff....

"Damn these are.."

"Awooo..."

Zhu Feng saw one of the wolves stand on top of a small sand dune, then raise it's head towards the moon which finally escaped the clouds and shined it's light on the ground and give a long drawn out howl.

With his shivering fingers and his lacerated back, once he heard that sound Feng resembled an agile lizard and increased his crawling speed to 120% as he dug these shaking fingers deep in the sand with each stroke.

He wasn't even aware during his desperate attempt of widening the distance between him and these wolves that his hands are hooked into the string of one gourd and the other is holding the end of a small bundle filled with rations while one of the blankets got entangled on one of his feet, all Feng's eyes saw was the fire over 100m away, all his mind thoughts were focused on going faster and getting closer.

Somehow he subconsciously knew that standing up on his feet will be a miracle in his current state, not to mention walking or running.

The corner of his eyes caught the sight of a wolfpack gathering around that howling wolf, their red-lantern eyes glowing in the darkness almost made Feng piss himself out of fear.

Still, no matter how fast Feng crawled in his miserable state, compared to any four legged animal he was nothing but a snail.

......

"Ah..... How can I forget such a thing, shit, shit, shit. Hey, old Ba, did you scatter any monster repellent powder around that young man?" Someone from the seventh company which is led by captain Li Canglai suddenly jumped from his bed and asked his partner on the bed next to him while shaking the short man by the shoulders, his voice had a touch of panick in it and a shade of worry.

"Humph, of course I did. Unless a demonic beast arrived, that would be his misfortune. The same goes if he moved from the area I scattered the powder in, his life and death has got nothing to do with us anymore. Now get back to sleep, our watch starts in two hours." His partner slapped him at the back of the head and returned to his sleep, he was startled by his friend's sudden panic and thought they were under attack by an enemy of some sort.

.....

"Move.... Huff...."

Feng was way beyond his limits, his arms, chest, stomach, thighs, practically every part touching the surface of the ground got scratched during the earlier long hurried crawl.

When he finally reached the bonfire these scary wolves were only 10m away from him, scared out of his wits Feng didn't hesitate to crawl inside the burning remains of human bodies to avoid getting eaten by the wolfpack, as he moved deeper into the scalding zone his hands made a narrow path by pushing a layer of the ground away with whatever burning remains on top of it.

The only reason these wolves didn't attack him first before surroundings this one big burning meal was because Feng got lucky, the concentrated smell of roasted meat and the residue from the monster repellent powder on his body plus his position being against the wind were coincidentally the reason he escaped the wolfpack.

Delayed, the wolves noticed this wounded and weak two-legged prey too late and by the time they got close to the cluster of delicious smelling roasted meat and saw Feng, he was suicidal enough to choose venturing into the fire than getting dismembered by their fangs.

"Hot.... Hot...."

Feng's face was close to the burning remains or what's left cindering after the fires went out, he made sure to be quick in pushing them away from his path after wrapping his hands in his sleeves once the ground itself became unbearably hot for him to sweep away.

One of the blankets was still on his leg and didn't fall in his previous crawling marathon, even he was surprised when his mind cleared up after the adrenaline rush was scattered away by the effects of heat and smoke.

He felt the parts of his body touching the ground getting scalded more and more by the second, the lack of oxygen and the black smoke from the burning bodies made his vision zoom in and out as he struggled to breathe.

Feng looked back and noticed that he was 15m inside the bonfire, only the center point where the split in half scorpion body was, was still raging in orange-green flames.

The outer area had charred black human bodies with eerie white smoke coming out of them, some of them were burnt out completely and all that remained was the unmelted skeletons or the partly melted bones.

Covering his body completely in the blanket, shredding a piece of his sleeve and pouring some water from the gourd on it.

Feng covered his mouth with the wet piece of cloth then tied it on the back of his neck and moved closer to the fire carefully, once he got there he positioned himself with the wind at his back and the fire in front.

After struggling for 15 minutes to clear a space of 2m, he shamelessly pissed all over the scalding hot ground to cool it off then rested face first on the wet soil.

"Huff.... Just what kind of sick joke is this!.... Wheeze.... What did these assholes do to me after.... Huff... Knocking me out." Until this moment, Feng is still under the impression that this is a dream of some sort.

Whenever the water on the piece of cloth covering his face evaporated, Feng would add some more and take a small sip to keep himself dehydrated.

He didn't move much and only his mind didn't stop thinking about what happened since he opened his eyes, first he found himself in a strange body that was similar to his body but had some slight differences.

Standing amidst a group of soldiers holding cold weapons, scorpion the size of a few trucks!

Demonic beasts, sects, kingdoms.

Even a fool would notice that this isn't the same era, yet, Feng had a hidden feeling in his subconscious mind.

This isn't even the same world!

Why? Just take a close look at the exoskeleton of that exaggeratedly sized scorpion.

Even in Feng's memories of dinosaurs, the famous T-Rex wasn't that big and intimidating.

Soon the orange-green fire burning the scorpion's body calmed down, Feng started to smell a very delicious aroma from the scorpion.

"Awooo...."

As Feng was licking his lips while enjoying the sweet smell, he heard the sound of the alpha wolf and his wounded back shivered in fear.

"The smell will surely attract them to this scorpion, shit, they're everywhere."

Feng did his best to raise himself up and look for a way out and discovered the wolves circling the whole area, some courageous ones were inside the smoky spots and feasting on the roasted meat that escaped getting completely burned to ash.

If he tried getting out his fate will be getting shredded by these scary looking fangs.

These wolves were not the size of regular wolves at all, each one was a size bigger, the courageous wolves were even larger, the alpha was like a freaking horse and reached almost two meters tall.

Gritting his teeth, Feng quietly moved closer to the scorpion's body, his last hope was to hide from this wolfpack somewhere around this scorpion.

During the couple hours since he awoke, Feng used half the water in the gourd and the bundle of rations was completely eaten in his deep moments of thought.

He was famished and exhausted after crawling into the bonfire area, once he felt safe temporarily from the wolfpack Feng's hunger was triggered and that made him eat like a ghoul as he layed down on a buddle of his own piss.

As he got closer to the demonic beast's body, Feng saw the cut clearly severing it in two.

The little girl in faint blue clothes came up in Feng's mind once he saw the split body, even though he didn't see her do it with his eyes.

Feng felt the small sword in her hand was the cause, the scorpion was severed into two parts one consisting of the head, pincers, and two legs. The other consisting of the remaining legs, the rest of it's body with the long and curved stinger.

Underneath the scorpion's body where the cut happened Feng saw blocks of white meat swimming inside the smoky liquids that fell from inside it's body with the innards.

Like a big broth with fragrant smell, the fire burning around it kept making it bubble and gave the surface a very tempting glitter.

Looking around for a place to hide, Feng noticed a hole in the ground that seemed to result from the scorpion's pincers hitting the earth and digging deep into it, somehow he saw the image of the scorpion attacking the little girl and she evading to the side then cutting the scorpion's body in half with her sword in a single upward slash.

Feng didn't hesitate to enter the hole and cover his body with ash from the burnt bodies, he kept rubbing the ash all over him to hide the smell of his piss from earlier.

He even took his clothes off and threw them alongside the blanket to the side and endured the heat of the ground, only the wet cloth covering his face was kept to ward off the smoke and the water gourd.

Staying completely still after adding another layer of soil on his body, Feng watched as the wolfpack gathered near the delicious smelling meat of that scorpion.

The fire died slowly around the large scorpion and the glowing eyes were reflecting the excitement of the wolves who tightened the circle around it, from time to time one stupid wolf would try licking some of the bubbling broth and would wail for a few seconds then tuck their tail and distance themselves from it.

Thump.... Thump.... THUMP....

'Calm down.... Calm down....' Feng was only ten meters or so away from the wolves, the hole he's in was in an elevated ground compared to the area around which enabled him to get a good view of the ongoings.

However, for someone like him this wasn't really an advantage in this situation especially with his condition, because of his nervousness his heart was pounding loudly in his chest as he watched as more and more wolves gathered around the big-ass scorpion broth.

"Step.... Step.... Sniff...."

Once then twice he heard the sound of weight bounding on the ground from behind him and the sound kept coming closer gradually, slowly it moved lazily even until the pressure of a heavy object fell on the ground high above the hole which Feng hid himself and some sand tumbled down along with some pebbles on top of him.

Then snout of a huge wolf head appeared in front of Feng's sight followed by the view of it's thick horse-like furry neck, when it took a sniff of the air the slimy drool came dripping down from it's jaws less than half a meter in front of Feng's head.

'Fuck, fuck, fuck.... He's standing on top of me. Calm the fuck down, beat one more time and I'll rip you out myself' Feng knew that if his heart kept racing like it did earlier he'll be certainly heard by this wolf's keen ears and get himself found out, in his panicking state he started threatening his own heart!

"Crackle.... Whine.... Woof.... Awoooo...."

Luckily for Feng some kind of floating spark came to his aid and hit the sniffing snout of the alpha wolf before it was about to lower it's head and smell the ground again, feeling irritated the wolf shook it's head then snorted and used a claw to swipe and sent the burning body nearby it away and by the time it hit the ground it was in pieces.

Then the alpha walked towards it's prize meat after howling at it's minions, they all tucked their tails between their legs and cleared the way for their leader.

'Phew.... That was really close.... My heart really stopped just now, but to think it was the alpha of them all that would give me that scare, I really lucked out this time' Feng rested his head on the dirt and did his best to breathe without any sound.

The alpha wolf tried to taste the soup and was scalded as well, it took it's anger on the minion it liked the least from it's subordinates.

It was a weak female with mixed colors.

"Grrrr.... Whine...."

Pinning her to the ground, the alpha wolf felt good and mighty as he gave a warning look to his minions, then he gave her a scar on her hind-limb and let her go after showing her his canines.

The female wolf with mixed colors looked down with her tail tucked between her legs and limped away from the alpha and the group, she knew he was in a bad mood and it will be better if she disappeared from his sight right now.

Otherwise he might exile her, if she were forbade from hunting with the pack then the babies in her belly wouldn't be healthy.

After a while another wolf found out that the soup was cool enough, he kissed the alpha's ass and offered him to take another taste.

Then the feast began under Feng's eyes, the alpha took the first few bites then whimpered to his minions to join.

Only the limping female got glared at when she tried to join, she turned to look for another source of food amidst the charred corpses.

Soon it found the blanket and clothes belonging to Feng, after touring the area she found the spot that Feng took a piss at.

Then it got lucky and found a few chunks of edible meat to the side and got distracted, as it followed the tracks leading to the hole Feng was hiding in.

The limping female wolf kept finding more food and got distracted from the exciting search time after time.

When it was halfway towards Feng's hiding place, the wolfpack was already done eating all, even inside the scorpion was cleaned as long as their teeth couldn't reach then they used their claws.

Only the parts were they couldn't reach was left with some meat in it, a hollow shell of the large scorpion was left after the hurricane of wolves hit it.

Without making a sound the alpha wolf left the area and it's pack followed it like soldiers following their general on a night raid, it was planning on returning to it's territory to rest after having it's full.

The wolfpack was full to it's last member, only the mixed color female wasn't.

Since she was beaten earlier and the boss was annoyed was her, it was better if she kept her distance for a little while until things cool down.

Watching her family leave, she ignored the trail of urine smell and searched for any leftovers in the dead monster that they feasted on earlier.

Feng on the other side was feeling a huge mountain getting lifted off his chest when he saw the wolfpack leave, sighing over and over inwardly as he lay on his chest naked at the ground that started to become very cold.

Then he saw the limping wolf who got beaten earlier enter the scorpion's body after sniffing around, he was planning on returning to where he woke up and gather the water and food there and find shelter away from this red zone.

The moonlight was the only source of light at the moment, and once a cloud covered the moon he couldn't see almost anything at all.

'Should I risk it and get out? Or wait until this mutt leave first! But, what if another wave arrived? I'll be a sitting duck if this continues any further' Feng was feeling conflicted and finally decided to leave first because he was in a passive state if he waited.

Pushing with his arms, Feng got up on a pair of wobbly legs and was covered in dirt from head to toe all over his nacked body, even the wounds on his back had some in them, if it wasn't for the healing ointment which blocked most of it then he would've been cursing at the sky right now.

Taking small, unsteady and quiet steps towards his clothes and blanket, Feng silently grabbed them and walked towards his supplies while stifling another wave of curses at the pain which he felt coming from his back when he bent over to grab his items from the ground.

Fortunately for him the limping female wolf was currently busy as she tried to reach for a chunk of delicious piece of meat in one of the scorpion's front legs.

Once she pulled it out successfully she wolfed it down in a few seconds and returned to following the tracks now that she's full and hungry no more.

"Awooo...."

When it got out thanks to it's superior night vision it noticed the two-legged prey sneaking slowly away from the huge banquet that should belong to her kind, howling loudly to call for her family she tried to go catch this intruder and theif.

Maybe her boss will not bully her anymore because of that achievement.

.....

In another far away place the wolfpack has heard the weak sound of their little outcast member calling for a gathering, the alpha wolf merely raised his ears slightly then after snorting once he hurried faster to his territory and ignored the annoying eyesore.

.....

"Fuck I got found out.... Why did these assholes take my sword and light armor? At least leave me with something to defend myself you pieces of shit." Feng felt the end nearing when he heard the sound of the limping female wolf, he knows clearly the wolves defining habits of hunting as a group.

Feng didn't know that the sword and armor were the symbols of his rank in the army of Shi kingdom, that alongside his token of identity must be taken away if he's stripped from his rank and dishonorably discharged.

Bending over while enduring the pain Feng held two bones from a charred corpse one thigh bone and one upper-arm bone.

Then hurried his steps towards his supplies while looking back with every step to make sure the limping female wolf wouldn't catch him by surprise.

Feeling excited, the female wolf tried to run at it's fastest speed to catch the prey, it dared to sneak around in the presence of her family.

She must tear him from limb to limb after pinning him down to prove her capability to the leader.

"Awo.... Whine...."

The earlier wound hurt really bad when she tried to pickup speed, her movement wasn't smooth and her coordination was the worst possible and pain kept coming from her leg when she stepped on it.

Feng separated the clothes from the worn-out blanket on both of his shoulders, then tied the thigh bone to one end of his pants.

Somehow his mind wasn't as panicky while he tried to widen the distance between him and that wolf and buy himself some time, after experiencing the first incident with the scorpion then the action with the wolfpack previously, Feng didn't feel the normal freezing fear or panic attacks as that limping wolf chased after him.

Once he finished tying the thigh bone to the leg of his trouser the wolf was three meters behind him, and it was preparing to crouch down and jump at his back to pin him down before snapping it's jaws shut on him like he saw many times on videos.

Feng held the waist of his pants and swung the bone at the end towards the wolf like half-nunchucku, Feng didn't strike downwards after turning around, he used the momentum of turning around and aimed slightly lower at the feet while hoping to hit it's neck with the round end of the bone.

His back wounds opened entirely when he did that twisting action and the pain made Feng grit his teeth while uttering a grunt, the wolf was surprised by the sudden change from it's puny prey since it dared to retaliate!

When it tried to change from jumping forward to evading backwards, the wound on it's hind-limb slowed it's movement by a split second.

"Ughh.... Bang.... Whine.... Whine...."

Feng was extremely lucky, the slight delay in the wolf's movement plus the change of form made the bone hit the wolf's sensitive snout spot on.

When it was preparing to lunge forward the wolf would raise it's head up, when it tries to evade backwards it's head will be lowered.

Feng was surprised by the result and when the wolf fell on it's side and kept shaking it's head while making a whimpering sound of being in pain, he looked back and knew that he wouldn't be able to evade another two or three rounds of attack from this wolf.

Throwing the blanket at the wolf's body to blind it, Feng jumped on top and didn't give the wolf another chance to react.

The bone tied to his pants expertly made a full circle around the hind legs and tied them together, then before the wolf removed the blanket covering it's head, Feng's naked, scrawny body spun on top of the wolf and hugged it's back to his chest like a wrestler and tightened the blanket around the wolf's head and forelimbs.

The knot he tied the hind legs with, was taught in online bondage lessons.

The wrestling move was one of the common mixed martial arts moves used by professional fighters.

Feng made sure to squeeze hard with his legs as he linked them around the wolf's waist, he hurt his lower leg pretty badly as he pushed it in a hurry underneath the wolf's body to finish the move correctly and lock his ankles.

The whimpers and whines of the suffocating wolf as it tried to free itself made Feng, someone used to getting bullied and beaten up on a three days basis feel disgusted with himself.

"Awo... Woof..."

As he watched the wolf struggling and losing strength gradually, Feng did something that he'll never believe he would do in such situation and especially after what he's been through.

Feng grabbed the other bone after raising the wolf's head and stretching it away from it's body to the limit, if he pushed in the right direction he can break it's neck like snapping a twig.

Tying up it's forelimbs was easy because the wolf was now completely submissive and staying still and silently panting while looking at him, it felt the threat of death after it's neck was forcefully stretched taut.

"Fuck, will this shit ever end. Just what happened to me? Why am I here?" Feng got up and started screaming aloud as he looked at the sky.

His back and left leg were bleeding, the wolf was resting it's head on the worn-out blanket as it smelled the urine smell on it, and watching this prey that bested her and pinned her down instead.

Feng left the wolf and went towards his supplies and sat down to catch his breath, he tended to his wounds and washed them with fresh water then used some of the wine to disinfect them.

His clothes were used to tie up the wolf legs and now he only have another rough blanket to cover his body, two more bundles of rations, one full gourd of water, a few gulps of wine, some bronze coins which he doesn't even know their true worth.

Feng wanted to leave before the rest of the wolfpack return, yet, his last dose of energy was used on that earlier tussle with this wolf.

After his nerves kept being stretched taut for sometime now, once he rested his body he felt empty inside and devoid of all powers.

Feng closed his eyes under the watch of the tied up wolf, both of them were too exhausted or powerless to do anything to the other.

As if agreeing on a temporary truce, they both slept soundly until dawn.