"Are you sure we're heading in the right direction?" Ying Gou asked me.
I checked my watch. It had a compass and a positioning system.
"Yes," I said. "We've already walked nearly five kilometers."
Under normal circumstances, five kilometers would take a little over half an hour, but we had spent a full two hours walking.
It was already past one in the morning.
The snow kept falling, with no sign of stopping.
On the contrary, it was falling harder and harder.
I was glad I had made the right decision. If we had waited until morning, the snow would probably have been waist-deep.
At our current pace, we would reach our destination in another six or seven hours.
But just then, we heard wolves howling.
A wolf's howl suddenly rang out across the previously silent world.
Ying Gou and I exchanged a glance. We had probably encountered a wolf pack. Wolves that came out to hunt in weather like this were most likely starving wolves—desperate creatures that would risk their lives.
I gave a bitter smile. "Looks like we'll be delayed for a while."
"It's fine," Ying Gou said calmly. "It shouldn't delay us for long."
Ying Gou had every reason to be confident.
Just then, Xiuma spoke. "Don't bother with it. Leave it to me. I'll have a talk with the Wolf King."
"Will it listen to you?" Ying Gou asked.
"Probably not. But if it doesn't, this pack will need a new Wolf King."
Xiuma's tone was calm, as though he were talking about something utterly insignificant.
Then, by the light of our flashlights, we saw a pack of wolves running toward us from not far away. Xiuma slowly stepped forward, then sat down four or five meters away from us, facing the direction from which the