The Wolf Is Coming (1)

The island was large, with many markets where people did business. People came and went, and trade was booming.

Along the way, Fanxin, Ren Fang, and Little Black saw many people of other races, including members of the Longarm Tribe, Fish-Men, and even some strongly built, very tall people.

Those people were over five or six meters tall, towering over them. Compared with the Giant Tribe, though, they were little.

"Fanxin, what are we going to do now?" Ren Fang asked.

"Hmm, we came here for two main purposes. The first is to look for someone, and the second is to buy necessities. We've run out of food on the ship, so we have to stock up, or we'll go hungry at sea," Fanxin said after pondering for a moment.

"Mm, let's divide the work, then. That way, we'll be faster," Ren Fang said with a nod.

"All right. I'll buy the food, and you two help me look for the person. Once I'm done shopping, I'll come find you. Then we'll search together," Fanxin said immediately.

He had the Wind and Sand Tower with him, and it could hold a lot of things, so he was the best person to do the shopping. It would be much more troublesome for Qiuxiang to go instead. She didn't have the Wind and Sand Tower and could only carry everything in her hands, which would be a thankless chore.

"Mm, that works too. We'll be going, then. If anything happens, contact us by Den Den Mushi," Ren Fang said, nodding without objection.

Fanxin waved, then headed straight into the market to shop.

"We're out of oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar. I need to restock those. We're out of all kinds of seasonings too, so I need those, and some vegetables, eggs, meat..." Fanxin made a shopping list as he walked.

The ship was short on supplies, so now that they had come to a place with people, they had to buy extra. Otherwise, once they were out on the boundless sea, they could only think about those things without being able to do anything.

"Oh no, I don't have enough money. What am I going to do?" After making his list, Fanxin calculated the cost at current prices and discovered that the gold coins he had on him were only enough to buy half the items. He would have to give up on the other half.

If he didn't give them up, he would have to earn some money.

"None of those things can be left out. Looks like I'll have to find a way to earn money." Fanxin frowned, feeling somewhat helpless. The gold coins he had were from inside the Wind and Sand Tower. Clearly, his parents had prepared them for him. But although he had several thousand gold coins, prices had soared, and what he had was nowhere near enough.

"How can I earn some money?" Fanxin wondered as he walked.

He had to find a way to earn money because he needed to buy those items. Without money, he couldn't buy them unless he stole them. But he didn't want to rob ordinary people. Their lives were hard enough as it was.

"What should I do? What should I do?" Fanxin asked himself over and over, his face full of worry.

"Hey, the wolf is coming! The wolf is coming again!" Just as Fanxin was worrying, a terrified voice suddenly reached his ears. He immediately snapped out of it and headed forward.

He saw the crowd in an uproar, running away into the distance as though something terrifying was coming toward them.

Before long, almost everyone in the area had fled.

Curious, Fanxin grabbed a young man and asked, "Hey, why are you all running? Is it really that scary?"

"Let go of me, quickly! The wolf is coming! That wolf eats people. If I don't leave, I'll be eaten!" the young man said.

As he spoke, he shook his arm hard, trying to break free of Fanxin's grasp and flee.

But no matter how hard he shook his arm, he couldn't break free.

"Big brother, let me go. I don't want to die yet!" the young man pleaded. Tears streamed down his face as he spoke. He was worried the wolf would catch up and eat him.

"Oh, come on, isn't it just a wolf? Honestly." Seeing him crying, Fanxin was immediately exasperated. He let go at once, freeing him. The moment he was released, the young man scrambled away on his hands and knees.

"Tch, what's so scary about a wolf?" Fanxin shook his head and glanced around. "There's no one here, so I can't earn any money. Forget it, I'll just take some of everything. Otherwise, we'll go hungry at sea," he muttered to himself.

Fanxin was somewhat unhappy. He hadn't wanted to take ordinary people's things without paying. But under the circumstances, he had no choice. Everyone had fled to the port, and no one was left at the market.

He couldn't wait there forever, so he could only take the things without paying.

Fanxin made his way through the market, putting anything he saw on his shopping list into the Wind and Sand Tower. By the time he had gone from one end of the market to the other, he had obtained basically everything on his list.

He also got two refrigerators along the way, so he could store the food and keep it fresh.

When sailing on the open sea, they might not make landfall for a long time. If all their food rotted and spoiled, they would have nothing to eat. So refrigerators were indispensable.

"I've got everything. Now I should contact Ren Fang. I wonder how they're doing." Fanxin took out a Den Den Mushi, pressed a few buttons, and waited.

A Den Den Mushi was an animal that could be used for communication. It looked like a snail, with spots, stripes, or a single solid color on its body, and a transceiver or buttons on top of its shell. It slept when not connected, but woke with a start when a connection was made and produced a "bulu bulu" sound. During a call, its mouth moved just like the speaker's. It also had human emotions and could understand human speech. It worked by converting a person's voice into a Den Den Mushi's voice and transmitting it over long distances.

Grandpa Nick had given them these two Den Den Mushi phones so they could contact each other if they got separated.

"Hello, Fanxin, are you finished over there?" Ren Fang's voice came through after a moment.

"I'm finished here. What about you? Have you run into a wolf or anything? It looks like everyone's fled," Fanxin asked.

"We did. A huge giant wolf, no different from the giant wolves Grandpa Nick made," Ren Fang said.

"Oh, it's over there with you. No wonder I didn't see it. How many are there?" Fanxin asked.

"Two, a male and a female. They haven't attacked anyone. They're looking for something to eat," Ren Fang said.

"I see. Wait there, then. If they hurt anyone, act immediately and drive them back. Understand?" Fanxin shouted.