Liu Zixuan stared at the lame wolf stubbornly, with those angry eyes that only those who had been dug up the ancestral grave. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Chasing a wolf in a valley, even a lame one, is not an easy task. Stepping on the rocks with one foot deep and one foot shallow, without paying attention, Liu Zixuan stepped on the air, suddenly fell on his heels, and threw the wooden stick in his hand far away. Furious for a moment, he got up in embarrassment, and looked up at the wolf, if his angry gaze could be turned into a feather arrow, he was afraid that the lame wolf would have been shot into a sieve. Fortunately, the beast was still within sight, and he did not bother to pick up the discarded stick, and stood firm, so he hurried forward for a moment, hoping to catch up with the lame wolf at once, and tear it to pieces with his own hands.

As long as the lame wolf crosses the arc-shaped mountain beam in front of him, Liu Zixuan may never see it again, and unexpectedly, the lame wolf who climbed the commanding heights did not rush to escape to the southern slope, and after jumping on a big rock, it not only stopped running, but also turned back to look at Liu Zixuan.

Over the mountain beams, the dark clouds became thicker and thicker, and the pressure became lower and lower. Liu Zixuan looked up while running, although the lame wolf was emaciated, it still looked majestic, still wild, not like a wolf that had undergone human domestication, if you didn't know its details, no one would believe that it was still a livestock raised by hunters a few years ago.

Nine years ago, when this wolf was still a thin life waiting to be fed, Liu Zixuan played with it and played together, and he would never have thought that there would be such an unforgettable hatred between himself and that little life. Today, nine years later, when he had to look at this former playmate from the standpoint of life and death, Liu Zixuan felt a little regretful, but also had more chagrin, if he could have expected today's situation, he would definitely strangle it to death on the rabbit post mercilessly. At this moment today, Liu Zixuan finally knew that when dealing with a wild creature like a wolf, he should use more brutal means to kill him, otherwise, in the end, he can only raise a tiger and become a trouble, and he can only regret it.

Having committed such a heinous crime, it still dares to face the old master! Looking up at the lame wolf at the bottom of the valley, Liu Zixuan's anger in his heart was incomprehensible, he climbed the slope, while staring at the lame wolf with round eyes, at this time, the hunter's son who had lost his reason was like a beast more ferocious than a wolf, rushing towards the mountain beam like a bamboo.

After staying on the stone for a while, I saw the lame wolf slowly turn his body and only leap south, and the emaciated silhouette disappeared from Liu Zixuan's field of vision, leaving only a dark arc-shaped mountain beam and thick clouds that were also dark, still horizontal in front of him.

Liu Zixuan climbed to the commanding heights in one go, not to mention a wolf, not even a dog. Standing on the flat ground of the mountain beam, a trace of disappointment flashed on Liu Zixuan's face. The southern slope of the mountain beam is full of sunlight, the bushes grow very thickly, and a large number of lianas are entwined in the middle, forming an impermeable natural barrier, which is impossible for a person's vision to penetrate, let alone chase any wild beast in the middle.

After wandering for a while, Liu Zixuan was unwilling to give up the chase, so he hurried east along the mountain beam, trying to find the clues left by the lame wolf so that he could continue to track. After walking and looking for more than ten steps in this way, Liu Zixuan quickly found an entrance with relatively sparse obstacles, and without the slightest hesitation, he stepped on a thick layer of dead branches and leaves and burrowed into the bushes and jungles on the southern slope.

Although the southern slope of Niutoupo is sunny, the branches and foliage of the plants here are very dense, and the sun's rays cannot pass through the vegetation, so that the surface of the hillside can remain dark and damp for many years, which creates an excellent growth environment for the sun-loving and humid He Shou Wu. This tenacious vine is one of the most hardy species on Niutoupo, and its green leaves can often be seen even in the middle of winter. If they live on flatter grass, they try to grow in all directions, and when they come across bushes or tall trees, they will climb up their branches. On the sunny side of the mountain, the shouwu vine spreads upwards along the low shrubs, occupies the top of the shrubs, and then climbs towards the branches of the tall trees. In places where Polygonum multiflorum grows intensively, there are mostly thick branches that are crushed by their dense canes. If you want to name which plant is the strongest on the Niutou slope, it must be He Shou Wu, which seems to have grown here for thousands of years, and the taro-like roots have already penetrated into the deepest part of the mountain.

Walking through the dark environment created by the shou wu vine, Liu Zixuan always felt a pair of ghostly eyes hiding somewhere looking at him, forcing him to stop from time to time to look around. At this time, an inexplicable sense of fear quietly rose from the bottom of his heart, if he encountered a lame wolf in such an environment, he was not completely sure that he would have the upper hand. As the footsteps gradually deepened, the confidence in Liu Zixuan's heart gradually weakened, but a anger in his chest still drove his feet.

Walking hard in the bushes, Liu Zixuan's eyes suddenly flashed his father's face, when the old man was alive, he must have traveled here and searched for targets here, but the old man at that time would never be as weak and cowardly as he is now. Just as Liu Zixuan regained his courage and continued to move forward, a thunderclap suddenly sounded in the sky, and the light around him suddenly dimmed.

Frightened by the sudden thunder, Liu Zixuan instinctively raised his head and looked overhead, but the sky he wanted to see had already been covered by the Shouwu vine, and he couldn't even see a trace of light. After turning around in place, all he could see was a cloud of darkness, and Liu Zixuan suddenly realized that at this time, he was like a prey in a trap, helplessness and panic grew rapidly like bamboo shoots breaking the ground, and the anger in his heart was quickly driven away.

When the rain comes, the hillside will turn into mud, and if you accidentally sprain your foot, you will have no advantage against the wolf...... As if waking up from a nightmare, the helpless Liu Zixuan had no choice but to decide to give up the search.

Since he had taken a downhill mountain road before, if he still returned along the same path, he would inevitably have to climb an extra hillside, in that case, he might not be able to reach the mountain beam before the heavy rain landed, and after thinking for a while, Liu Zixuan finally decided to plug in the mountain beam along the vertical route.

In the dim light, he finally climbed to the commanding heights and drilled out of the bushes, Liu Zixuan found that he had reached the mountainside of the east peak of Niutoupo. Returning to the mountain beam, he immediately sat down on a rock, gasping for air as he tore off the layers of cobwebs on his body.

This is the first time Liu Zixuan set foot in the sunny side of Niutoupo, many years ago he had followed his father to this mountain beam, when standing on the mountain beam and looking at the terrain of the south slope, he felt that it was gloomy and terrifying, and he never thought that he would break into it with his bare hands today, recalling the treacherous environment he had just seen, and a chill suddenly trembled through his body.

After resting for a while, his strength recovered slightly, and he was about to return to the western slope, but he saw a grave bag on the east side a few steps away, and in front of the small grave bag, there was a stone pillar.

Although the ridge is narrow, the ground is relatively flat, and a small raised mound is naturally easy to see. Seeing this grave bag, Liu Zixuan suddenly wondered in his heart, how could there be a grave bag on this mountain beam where no one has been seen all year round?

Looking at the suddenly appeared grave bag, Liu Zixuan did not feel unfamiliar, he immediately thought that in the grass not far east of Rabbit Gang, there was also a similar tomb bag, which was buried in the hunting dog that was bitten to death by a wolf back then, and in front of the tomb bag, there was also a stone pillar, which happened to be about the same size as the one in front of him.

What is buried in this grave?

Liu Zixuan quickly thought of a wolf again, the she-wolf who was shot and killed by the old man twice. The old man said that he buried the dead wolf deep in the forest, could it be that in the pile of soil in front of him, it was the she-wolf who was buried?

Liu Zixuan stood by the grave, imagining the situation when his father dug the grave for the she-wolf, the old man at that time must have been deeply blaming himself for killing the wolf, Liu Zixuan could even imagine that after burying the wolf's body, the old man was likely to sit on the edge of the grave and smoke a bag of dry tobacco before leaving in a daze......

Thinking about it, Liu Zixuan's eyes fell on a stone on the south side of the tomb, and there was a dark brown dry blood stain printed on the stone. When he got closer, he squatted down and looked closely, only to see that there were still a few hare hairs left around the bloodstain. Monstrous absurdity! How can there be rabbit blood and hair here? In confusion, Liu Zixuan looked around carefully, and in a bush on the north slope of the mountain beam, he found a pile of animal feces that had already been dried. Seeing this pile of dung, Liu Zixuan couldn't help but be shocked - this gray-white powdery feces was undoubtedly left by a wolf, and the feces of any other animal in the forest would not be so crushed after drying, it was a fully digested animal bone!

Not only that, on the dry ground under his feet, Liu Zixuan quickly found a new clue, only to see that there were many fine pieces of black soil on the ground near the grave bag, this fresh and damp soil, it must have been brought by the lame wolf from the tomb! It just shook off the dirt here? Thinking about it, Liu Zixuan couldn't help but become alert, and he immediately turned around in place to look around--it didn't flee to the southern slope, it had just run east along the mountain beam and came here! The lame wolf has been here, and it's probably still around here!

After turning around in place a few times, Liu Zixuan did not find any animals.

Why does a lame wolf leave so many traces in such a place? Does it often eat here? Niutoupo is so big, why did it choose here? Seeing all kinds of signs around the tomb, a cool air invaded Liu Zixuan's body again, and a terrible guess made his heart tense - could it be that the lame wolf knew that the body buried under the mound was related to it? Could it be that it smelled the scent of the Mother from this burial bag, and thus awakened the first memories? Could it be that it knew that the hunter had killed its mother, so it decided to take revenge? Otherwise, how could it suddenly dig a hole in the hunter's grave? Also, did it mean to bring the hunter's son here?

What is the motive behind the lame wolf's behavior?

Liu Zixuan seemed to have lost his soul, and stood expressionless in front of the grave bag for a long time. It turned out that the entanglement between him and the lame wolf had been foreshadowed many years earlier, as early as when his father had killed the she-wolf by mistake, no, maybe earlier, earlier than earlier, tens of thousands of years earlier, early when people wanted to base their lives on the death of animals...... Liu Zixuan was puzzled for a while, he began to doubt what he had never done, he wondered whether everything his father had done was right or wrong, evolved to today's human beings, and there is no need to live on the life of wild animals, but this complex grievance has not been broken. At this moment, Liu Zixuan realized a kind of equality, equality between him and the lame wolf, equality between hunters and prey, equality between humans and animals......

It wasn't until the dense raindrops knocked on the mountain that Liu Zixuan turned around and left the mountain beam, walking towards his father's tomb like a walking corpse.

Heavy rain rumbled on the mountains and forests, and the rain soon pooled into runoff in the valley and poured down to the foot of the slope.

Back in front of his father's grave, Liu Zixuan was shivering from the cold rain, he knelt on his knees beside the grave, sobbing while filling the soil dug out by the lame wolf back into the hole......

The raindrops hit the hillside, and the rising rain flowers formed a thick layer of rain and fog on the surface, and in the dark forest, Liu Zixuan lay on the deserted grave and cried loudly. Gu Nanyan held an oilcloth umbrella and boarded the cemetery platform, and tears couldn't stop pouring out of her eyes.

(To be continued)