Chu Tianjiang just stood up and didn't sound the alarm, so when Nichole woke up, he looked sleepy-eyed.

"What's wrong?"

"It's okay, you can go back to sleep, there are still a few hours until dawn." Chu Tianjiang pinched Nicole's shoulder and glanced in the direction of the movement.

"You woke me up, can I still sleep? Otherwise, we'll ......"

"Are you hungry?" Chu Tianjiang knew what Nichol wanted to do, but if he made a fuss, he would definitely wake up the others, so it would not be able to do it for a while.

"We didn't bring any food."

"It's a small thing, I'm going to get some game." Chu Tianjiang kissed Nichol on the cheek and said, "Wake up Rachel and Maya, and let Chloe sleep a little longer, their physical fitness is much worse than the three of you." Wait for Maya to stay here, and you and Rachel go collect some dry firewood and light a campfire. I'll be back soon to make you guys a game barbecue breakfast. ”

Nichole is a good talker, and she does get hungry.

When you soak in the hot springs, your metabolism will speed up, and you will feel hungry easily. Although Chu Tianjiang has made a more thorough transformation of Nicole's body, she is different from Chu Tianjiang, she still needs to consume energy through food, as well as organic matter for metabolism, so she must eat.

Chu Tianjiang had already sensed that it was a pack of wolves that had touched the cordon.

There are many wild reindeer in Siberia, which migrate south each autumn, spend the harsh winters in the relatively warm south, and migrate north in the spring to spend the hot summers in the north where the snow has melted. During the winter, wolves migrate south with the deer herd to hunt the weaker reindeer.

In the past, wolves would actively avoid humans and rarely came to southern Siberia, where cities and villages are densely populated.

Probably the people have moved away, so the wolves are emboldened again.

Coming to the vicinity of the cordon, Chu Tianjiang immediately found that it was not an ordinary wolf that touched the cordon, because the footprints on the snow were the size of a bear's paw!

Could it be that the wolf has also mutated?

Although scientists have long found that wolves living near the Arctic Circle are much larger than wolves in other places, for example, some wolves living in northern Canada and Alaska are close to the size of cougars, generally weighing more than 60 kilograms, and some even close to 80 kilograms, while the strongest wolves living in the Midwest of the United States are only 40 kilograms. But canine characteristics dictate that wolves cannot grow to the size of brown bears, and it is unlikely that wolves will grow larger through natural evolution in just a few months.

The only plausible explanation is that the wolves have mutated.

Chu Tianjiang became interested, followed the footprints for a few kilometers, and came to a small river. The footprints disappear here, indicating that the wolves did not travel along the bank of the river, nor did they go to the other side, but in the river. Using the odor factor in the air, Chu Tianjiang went down the river.

Less than three kilometers away, Chu Tianjiang found a reindeer lying on the river beach and dying. It was a strong male adult reindeer who did not appear to be sick. The fatal wound was in the throat, and there were several marks left by the wolf's claws on his body. Chu Tianjiang examined it carefully and concluded that a wolf had attacked the reindeer.

How strong is this wolf!?

The Siberian reindeer is one of the largest reindeer, with an adult male weighing more than 200 kilograms, and this one weighs probably 250 kilograms. Because reindeer run faster than wolves, and male reindeer are also very aggressive, it is often a pack of wolves that besiege a reindeer, and even the leader of the pack, the strongest wolf in the pack, can hardly pounce on a male reindeer alone.

What surprised Chu Tianjiang even more was that the wolves did not bite the reindeer.

In winter, food is very valuable, and the success rate of the wolves is not very high, so the wolves will never waste any food. A pack of more than 10 wolves can swallow hundreds of kilograms of raw meat in 15 minutes and no longer need to eat for the next week.

Apparently, the wolves deliberately left the dying reindeer.

But why do the wolves have to keep food?

The sudden thought that came to Chu Tianjiang made Chu Tianjiang feel extremely surprised. Could it be that the wolves find themselves being followed by stronger predators, and then deliberately leave the freshly hunted reindeer behind, so that the predator's attention is diverted from the wolves to the food, and the wolves take the opportunity to escape?

This "predator" is obviously Chu Tianjiang.

If this is the case, it shows that the leader of this pack is very clever and even knows how to use stratagem, and this is the characteristic expression of wisdom.

The odor factor in the air is so scarce that it is no longer possible to track it.

Chu Tianjiang sighed and gave up the idea of tracking the wolves. The wolves didn't hurt them, and they left behind the reindeer, which had just died, and there was no need to kill them all.

After cutting off a large piece of venison from his hind legs, which was far away from the wound, Chu Tianjiang returned along the same path.

Nicol and Rachel had already set up a bonfire next to the pond, and the others had also woken up, and everyone gathered around the bonfire, waiting for Chu Tianjiang to return.

Although there is no seasoning, the venison is very fresh, and it has a unique flavor when grilled.

In a short time, dozens of catties of roast venison were swept away. Chu Tianjiang also ate some and felt that the taste was not bad, but it was a little lighter.

Before dawn, Chu Tianjiang and the others returned to the camp.

When the others were panicked, Chu Tianjiang knew that something had happened.

In the woods north of the camp, Chu Tianjiang found Zhang Xiaogang who was with several X Doomsday Warriors, and saw the corpse surrounded by everyone.

"Wolves?"

Zhang Xiaogang nodded and said, "An hour ago, an X-Doomsday warrior who was on guard at the perimeter spotted the wolves. He was fortunate to stay in a tree, more than ten meters above the ground. By the time we arrived, the wolves had fled, and only this one had been killed. ”

Chu Tianjiang was very surprised, because judging from the body shape, it was not a wolf, but a bear.

"How much does it weigh?"

"More than a hundred kilograms, maybe one hundred and twenty kilograms." Zhang Xiaogang glanced at Chu Tianjiang and said, "Have you ever seen such a big wolf before?" ”

Chu Tianjiang shook his head and told him what he had encountered.

"So, these wolves have been hiding in the neighborhood last night, and they first went to your side, and after you noticed it, they came to our side again."

"Very smart."

"Very smart indeed." Zhang Xiaogang squatted next to the wolf corpse and pointed to his left hind leg. "The wolf was already injured and had a broken left hind leg. It stays behind the least, not only to run the slowest but also to hold us back, to buy time for the other wolves, and to cover the other wolves for escape. ”

"If that's the case, these wolves are too smart."

"Wolves are inherently smart, and these wolves are significantly smarter."

"Will it be ......?"

"DNA samples have been collected, and we will go to the supply point and let the intelligence officer in charge of receiving them send them back, and hand them over to Melanie and Gao Mingming for study." Zhang Xiaogang stood up and said, "Let's go, we'll have breakfast and go on the road." But it looks like you've already had breakfast. ”

Before leaving, Zhang Xiaogang instructed his subordinates to pour gasoline on the wolf corpse and burn it.

Half an hour later, the convoy was back on the road.

At around four o'clock in the afternoon, the first supply point was reached.

It is a small village located more than a hundred kilometers north of Omsk. In the entire Omsk region, only about 200,000 people remain, most of them in the capital city of Omsk, and a few in the south on farms near the Irtysh River, north of which has long been a no-man's land.

The agents in charge of the response prepared hot and fresh meals, firewood for domestic heating, and cleared more than a dozen cottages. The fuel needed for the convoy to move forward was packed in a tanker, enough to fill the tanks of all the vehicles, as well as additional spare fuel tanks.

While having dinner, Zhang Xiaogang asked the answering agent about the situation.

Obviously, what happened last night was not accidental. After the arrival of the invaders, or more precisely the spread of the DNA virus, the wolves of Siberia not only became bolder, but also stronger, often attacking domestic animals and sometimes humans. In addition, other wildlife has changed, with a hunter fleeing into the forest hunting a brown bear weighing more than six hundred kilograms before the invaders retreated, and a Siberian tiger the size of a musk ox, which is not surprising to the size of a giant wolf.

Because the city was protected by the army, most of the survivors fled to Omsk.

It is clear that not only wolves, but also other wild animals, including brown bears and Siberian tigers, have mutated due to the effects of DNA viruses.

To this end, Zhang Xiaogang doubled the vigilance at night, one group of two X-Doomsday Warriors, and asked the vigilance personnel to stay in high places as much as possible.

Thankfully, the night passed peacefully.

After dawn, Zhang Xiaogang asked the answering agent to return to China immediately with a DNA sample of a wild wolf, and told him to send the sample directly to Melanie.

After refueling the vehicles, the convoy is back on the road.

Because the road was so badly damaged, it traveled less than 400 kilometers that day. At around four o'clock in the afternoon, Zhang Xiaogang stopped the convoy and set up camp on a higher platform on the east bank of a large river. After getting the vehicle onto the platform, Zhang Xiaogang sent his men to reconnoiter around.

Although Zhang Xiaogang didn't say anything, Chu Tianjiang had long realized that this night would not be peaceful.

To the west is the Tobol River, a tributary of the Ob River, and fifty kilometers to the west is the city of Tyumen, the capital of the Tyumen region. The situation in the Tyumen region is extremely turbulent because the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug have declared independence, and the authorities of the Tyumen region remain loyal to the central government of Moscow and, in accordance with the instructions of the Moscow authorities, send troops to pacify the **** of the two autonomous regions. Chu Tianjiang had already discovered that many sections of the road were not naturally destroyed, but were deliberately damaged, and there were people tracking and monitoring along the way.

Obviously, this team has attracted attention and even become the target of public criticism.