"Is that them?" Dean grabbed Cayden and looked at the bird,

Asuka pursed his thin lips, his eyes were red and nodded, "Gray Shadow, Demon Leopard, Brown Bear, Tiger Claw." ”

"The longest of them has been missing for more than two months, and the wolf disease has also broken out for more than two months, which means that they have been immersed in the river for so long." Dean looked at a few pale faces, "But there is not a single trace of decay or puffiness on the body." ”

Under the perspective of life, the four bodies lit up with a white light like branched branches—the head, chest, abdomen, and limbs were the main trunks, and countless tiny branches drilled out of the main trunks.

These are blood vessels throughout the body.

White light surged through the veins, slowly seeping into the river with the blood from the wound.

"It's as if they're dead, but their bodies are still alive." After saying that, Dean noticed that the progress of the investigation had jumped from 85 percent to 95 percent.

"Not dead." Kayden muttered and shook his head, "Can't you hear me?" They're calling me! ”

"What calling?" Asuka looked nervously at Kayden,

"Tell me to go down into this river and find answers." Cayden gazed deeply at the rushing river.

"Sounds a bit like a deliberately seductive trap." Dean looked around, God's perspective was still compressed to the extreme by the mysterious power, and it could only cover two meters around his body, which was not as convenient as observing with the naked eye, "Get them up first, stop the supply of coyote blood, and the wolf disease in Dog Town will also disappear!" ”

Dean unleashed his mental power and rushed into the river, turning into an invisible net that trapped Gray Shadow's body and pulled it up.

But until the telekinesis was fully loaded, and the power of the twelve tons was all exploded (the spiritual increase was 0.5, 10 tons→ 12 tons), the corpse did not move, as if it was solidified at the bottom of the river.

"There's something wrong with the river." Dean looked at Kayden seriously,

"There are no roads around, only this river, do you stand stupidly on the shore if you don't go in? I just watched my father holding my mother's urn and soaking in the icy river water? ”

Kayden stared at the face of the black-haired blonde eyes that he had never seen with his own eyes, but was familiar to the depths of his soul, and choked twice in his throat,

"From the Carolina to Arkansas, I didn't expect to have a good life, I just wanted to see them smile at me and tell me 'Welcome home, 'Welcome home, you don't have to wander again.'"

Kayden wiped the corners of his eyes, "But now that hope is gone, I don't want to care about anything." I'm going to go in and stay with them and be with my family. ”

"The tribe is your home." Asuka's blue eyes looked back at him without blinking, and she opened her hands and hugged his trembling body tightly from behind her, "I will become your wife in the future and form a new family, and I will accompany you." ”

"Okay, all in, but remember to use your talent for blood communication once you're in." Dean stared at the river with jealousy.

Asuka and Cayden looked at each other, then transformed into a werewolf, biting his palm with his teeth, and taking a deep breath and jumping into the river.

Enduring the chill soaked in the bone marrow, they quickly swam to the bottom of the river to the side of the gray shadow, overlapping the wound in their palms with the wound on the gray shadow's body.

Smooth and icy to the touch, blood fused.

Cayden's eyes darkened, a familiar breath blowing from the bottomless abyssal darkness, and then he returned to the riverbank, staring at the reflection in the water.

Black hair and golden eyes, deep nasolabial folds, and a small black box.

It dawned on Cayden that this was a memory of entering the Gray Shadow, experiencing his past firsthand.

Cayden didn't think much of it, and an echo rang in his ears.

"Gray Shadow."

He shook his head violently, and a force crushed the lonely reflection in the river, and the surface of the river was flooded with violent waves, and when the waves were still, dozens or hundreds of reflections appeared strangely on both sides of the gray shadow's shoulders, as if they appeared out of thin air and surrounded him in the center.

There are old people, young people, and children, with black and red, black and white, and blue tattoos on their bodies, obviously belonging to the coyote tribe, and their eyes are dark and warm, but their faces are extremely unfamiliar.

Kayden had never seen them in the tribe.

They spoke at the same time, and countless voices converged into one, like an electronic synthesized voice, "How long has it been since the tribe gave birth to an alpha wolf?" ”

"23 years." Gray stared at a row of reflections in the river, and replied in a hoarse voice,

"Why hasn't the leader been able to show up for so long?"

Grey Shadow mused, "Because we've lost Curty's love. ”

"Because our tribe has been dormant in the remote mountains and forests, without new blood replenishment for too long, the source of our strength has become more and more narrow, and we have lost the vitality of continuation and expansion, and if we do not make changes, we will never be able to give birth to alpha wolves, and the tribe is doomed to perish." The compound voice echoed through the cave, and a pair of eyes looked expectantly at the gray shadow, "But change requires sacrifice. Grey Shadow, how much sacrifice are you willing to sacrifice for the sake of the Horde? ”

Gray Shadow hesitated for a moment, a trace of reluctance and regret flashed in his eyes, and then became resolute, "I am ready to give everything." ”

In the river, the hundreds of reflections nodded in relief, disillusioned into a golden light, and the light twisted and condensed into a crescent-shaped fang the size of half a palm, floating beside the gray shadow.

Grey Shadow reached out and took the fangs, and with a flick of it, severed his wrist, dimmering it in the cold dark river.

"Not enough."

Compound sounds echo across the river.

Without hesitation, Gray Shadow sliced his limbs, chest and back, like a fish on a board, stripped of its scales, and dripping flesh poured down its arms into the dark river.

"Go on." The voice began to tremble.

Gray Shadow took a deep breath and slashed his right hand at the major artery in his neck, a fountain of blood stained the ceiling and slid down the stalactites into the river.

He clutched the box in his arms and stepped into the river, dipped all the way down his neck.

"Go on." There was a hint of sadness in the voice.

Gray Shadow glanced up at the top of the cave one last time, and a petite and cute baby face appeared in front of him, and the energetic cry echoed in his ears, and a smile appeared on his lips, and he buried his head in the river.

The horizon instantly became viscous and blurry like a liquid.

…

Cayden's shoulders fluttered and he detached himself from his memory, and he hastily surfaced and jumped onto the water's edge.

Kneeling on the ground and sobbing silently.

Dean guessed right.

His father voluntarily left the tribe, entered the cave, and gave his life to the underground river, so it is inferred that the remaining three warriors also left on their own initiative.

How sad it is that the most powerful and devout warrior of the tribe has fallen to suicide.

Then complaints and doubts grew in Kayden's chest,

Why Grey Shadow? Why can't he wait any longer for him to come back to the tribe to see him?

Cayden angrily threw his fist at the water, only to find that the river he had been hit had a pit exposed downwards, like a sunken plasticine, unhealed, and not a drop of water splashed.

Kayden turned.

Asuka somehow arrived on the shore, and together with Dean, he maintained a stiff posture and expression, and remained motionless.

The river no longer flows, the breeze pouring in from outside the cave is still, and the water droplets dripping down from the stalactites on the top of the cave are suspended in mid-air, like pearls floating in the air.

Time in the entire cave was pressed on pause.

……

"Kaiden, how much sacrifice are you willing to make?"

A voice came from behind him abruptly, majestic and nimble, but familiar to Cayden to the depths of his heart, for it was the voice that guided him from Carolina to Dogtown, to the Horde, to the depths of the cavern.

A figure stepped out of the dark shadows behind him, with a human head and a slender body, which looked like a fox standing up.

But look closely.

He was more than twice as tall as a human, nearly four meters tall, and he had to bend his thighs, bend his body, and tilt his head so that the top of his head would not hit the ceiling.

Holding on to the wall with one paw, he slowly moved towards Kaiden, his tall, thin body reflecting a dull gray-brown in the faint light, but the void behind him was like a kaleidoscope of unpredictable brilliance, as if he was draped in a colorful cloak.

The slender snout of his plush face twitched slightly, his wide triangular ears swayed from side to side, and his narrow eyes looked Cayden up and down, his eyes seemed to be filled with liquid gold, with both the wisdom and majesty of the long years, and a hint of cunning.

"Y-Who are you?" Seeing the huge shadow pressing towards his body, Kaiden couldn't help but take a step back, and then an indescribable sense of intimacy rose in his heart, "The totem of the tribe, Coyote Kedi? ”

"Curty wanders forever somewhere else, and I'm just a wisp of his will," he squatted down in front of Kaiden, his huge head leaning in, his mouth opening and closing with a pungent smell of earth, raw meat, and kamaz garlic, "I can't survive for long, answer me, how much sacrifice are you willing to pay, now that you've found this place, you'll have to face torture." ”

"Why sacrifice?" Cayden stared at the strange and massive creature of legend,

"The tribe is facing a crisis," he said, "and the tribe can only be saved by giving everything like these selfless warriors." ”

"So for more than two months, you called them to the dark river and forced them to commit suicide?" Cayden asked rhetorically, even in the face of this high-ranking existence, he couldn't help but have a trace of anger in his heart,

Ke Di shook his head, and the wolf's face showed human pride, "I never interfere with the decisions of the bloodline, I give the choice." It's all a choice made by the Graveyard Heroes and the four warriors themselves, who long for an alpha and will do whatever it takes to do so. ”

"Voluntary?" Kaiden shook his head sharply, "Then why call me instead of the Wolf Howl Priest and the other powerful warriors of the tribe?" They are more qualified than I am to save the Horde! ”

"Time, fate," the liquid golden eyes blinked, "I saw in you the energy, the courage, and the unpredictable future, so I called you. ”

Hearing this, Kayden hesitated for a moment, and slapped himself on the cheek twice.

Pain.

This is not a dream.

A legendary Mayan god appeared alive in front of him and chose himself?

Cayden couldn't judge, his mind was a mess, his eyes struggled,

"I can't trust you."

"You don't need to trust me, follow your heart, think well, and then make a decision," Curti said in a calm and gentle tone, like a generous elder,

"If I'm not willing to sacrifice?" Cayden said in a stiff tone.

"I won't force you, you're a passionate and well-meaning boy with your own personality. You will leave the cave unscathed, including your two companions. ”

"What will happen to the tribe when I leave?"

"I saw flames, explosions, blood and death." A hint of embarrassment flashed in Ke Di's eyes, and a sharp voice echoed in the cave, "The coyote tribe will be wiped out in the next war, eighty percent of the people will die, and the rest will begin to wander and never find a home." ”

"You are the god of the tribe, and you can't give a decree to the Wolf Howling Priest?" Kayden asked, somewhat naively, "Let them move away from this mountain range immediately and avoid the indiscriminate bombardment of the army." ”

"Where are you moving to?" Curti looked him in the eye, "There is no alpha wolf, once they leave this sacred land that has survived for hundreds of years on a large scale, the law of convergence will immediately annihilate them, plane crashes, meteorites from the sky, and more cruel ways are possible." ”

"You can't just destroy that army."

"The world has its rules, and if I force them to break them, something even more terrible will happen, and believe me, you don't want to see that."

"There's no other way?"

"If there were, these four warriors wouldn't have to die."

Kaiden was silent, his eyes turned to Asuka's sweet and beautiful face, and he sighed when he thought of the energetic children who had left the tribe,

"What if I make a sacrifice?"

"You will die, and the process will be extremely painful, not only will you lose your life, but your soul will be torn apart by power." Curti grinned and showed a mouthful of sharp white teeth, a cold light appeared in the narrow eyes, the kaleidoscope tassels behind him fluttered like tassels, and the black shadow flames on the wall expanded outward, "But the alpha wolf will be born, and the coyote tribe will continue." ”

Soul tearing?

Kayden felt a chill of the bones, boundless fear, his face turned pale, stared at the four corpses in the water, and asked with difficulty,

"Why am I different from them?"

"Because you are the last victim, everything is arranged here."

"If I die, will I be able to resurrect Grey Shadow and Lucinda?"

"I can't."

Cayden looked at the underground river and fell into a long silence.

Curti lay down in front of him like a wolf to rest, his paws supported his surprisingly long chin, stretched out his tongue and licked his palm,

"Think carefully, if you don't have the determination to give everything, sacrifice everything, then leave."

Then Curty's golden pupils, the size of an ordinary human head, turned to Dean who was standing tall beside him, and he noticed that this guy's eyelids blinked,

"Don't struggle, Paphras's Favorer... I'm not going to force Cayden to make any decisions, and you don't interfere with him. ”

Dean felt the sound echoing in his head, sighed and relaxed, trying to activate the life perspective to observe the colorful and changing behemoth like the Northern Lights in front of him, and he couldn't see the specific form, but found that the life energy was locked and sluggish.

"What the hell is this, Coyote Coty, God?"

"What is the suicide of the Gray Shadow Four, self-sacrifice?"

The system shakes, and the event "Call of the Wild" changes.

Event difficulty: Medium → Advanced

Progress: (95/100)

Rewards: At least 190 XP + Special Rewards→ 200 XP + Advanced Rewards

Time is lost in silence.

The moon faded into darkness in the sky outside the cavern, and then a white light appeared on the horizon.

At a certain moment, Ke Di suddenly turned his head and glanced at the exit of the cave, his eyes spanned a distance of hundreds of miles, and he saw the wolf howling priest standing on the edge of the cliff bathing in the morning sun, the solemn looking warriors in front of the wooden watchtowers of the tribe, a bunch of black dots near behind the clouds in the sky, and dozens of vehicles on the highway beyond the mountains Heavy transport vehicles and armored transport vehicles full of weapons and soldiers.

"Kaiden, there's not much time left, the army is about to arrive in the mountains, haven't thought about it yet?"

"I can't do it..."Kayden turned his head to face Curty's scrutiny and lowered his head in shame, "I'm only an eighteen-year-old high school student, I don't have such a noble consciousness, I don't want to sacrifice myself for the more than a hundred people of the tribe, even my soul will die... I can't. ”

"Then leave." Curty's tone remained flat.

"Let me see them again." Cayden glanced at the bird nostalgically, turned and jumped into the icy dark river, swam to the gray shadow, hugged him and the urn tightly in his arms, closed his eyes, and said goodbye in his heart.

"Goodbye, Mom and Dad, I'm leaving forever, I'm gone."

"Goodbye, Kaiden—" Two friendly voices suddenly sounded in his head, and Kaiden felt something hugging him tightly, warm and powerful, and for a moment shared the coldness of most of the undercurrent at the bottom of the river.

He opened his eyes trembling in the water, and two translucent figures smiled at him, Gray Shadow and Lucinda hugged him in his arms, their eyes full of tenderness, joy, and love.

"My child, our family is finally reunited, nothing else matters. Leave and go back to the life you chose, that's okay. ”

Kayden stared at the kind wrinkles on their faces in a daze, and unconsciously burst into tears, and his heart became fearless,

"I've found my home, I've found my roots, Curti, I'm willing to sacrifice."

"Are you sure?" The majestic voice echoed in my ears.

"I'm sure."

"Kayden made the choice." The creature on the bank of the river swirled with infinite brilliance spoke to Dean and the birds, who had been immobilized.

The two of them only felt a gust of wind blowing around them, and in the blink of an eye, they moved from the depths of the dim cave to the outside of the cave.

The morning sun on the horizon was just right, reflecting a bird with a blank face, as if it had just woken up from a long sleep, "What happened?" How did we get outside, Kayden? ”

She rushed to the cavern, but slammed into the hole only to be knocked to the ground with a thud, an invisible barrier blocking her.

"Don't be impulsive, Asuka, be patient, everything is evolving."

Dean stared at the progress of the system, which began to slowly rise from 100 percent, into surprise and surprise.

……

In the underground dark river, Kaiden was shocked, only to feel that the river quickly slipped away from his side, and a force lifted him out of the dark river, supporting him to float in mid-air.

The huge coyote on the opposite side swung its sharp nails in the air, and a sharp edge cut off his feet, then his legs, and unloaded his two palms. He let out a cry of pain and opened his eyes desperately, looking at the shocking blood and a flying arm.

He felt a thud of lightheadedness, the ceiling and the ground began to fall upside down, and a headless corpse spurted blood in the center.

Poof!

Kayden's head fell to the riverbank.

Smack!

A massive claw trampled its head into a mass of flesh.

Kayden felt like he was dead, losing his sight, hearing, smell... But he could still feel the pain clearly, the nightmarish pain, as if a flesh millstone was constantly crushing him into pieces, and then putting them back together, and crushing them again... It never ends.

He sank into pain, despair and numbness, worse than hell.

……

The huge coyote on the bank of the river salvaged the corpses of the four tribal warriors at the bottom of the river, and crumpled the corpse of Kaiden into a chaotic mass of flesh and blood.

"You must die, you must be shattered, from the inside out, from the body to the soul, and..."

Coyote Coty turned into a colorful torrent and rushed into the flesh.

(End of chapter)