Chapter 69

Lian had chocolate in her mouth as she quietly peeked out to observe Chu Tingwu in the distance.

Chu Tingwu stood by the grass, seemingly lost in thought while gazing at the distant scenery, her eyes slightly narrowed as the wind lifted the ends of her hair. On the distant hilltop, two adolescent wolves chased each other, while a mature gray wolf watched from afar, then turned its head in their direction and let out a howl.

This was the second day since White had left the camp.

The three of them had successfully "deceived both superiors and subordinates," completing their first day's work independently, checking in at the camp before heading out again.

With their first success, all three seemed to have grown a bit bolder.

Throughout the journey, Lian kept watching Chu Tingwu.

Freckles might have thought Chu Tingwu was a "gifted one," just like Lian, naturally possessing some extraordinary talent that earned her a place on this team... but Lian didn't think so.

This foreign girl wasn't just gifted; what was most valuable was her ability to master her talents.

Lian knew she wasn't "exceptional" in the conventional sense. Apart from her extraordinary memory and mimicry abilities, she fell short of average people in many ways—because she had always been struggling with her own gift.

She wasn't sure if she had "hyperthymesia," but she had indeed been different since childhood. She could remember everyone's worst moments and perfectly recreate them when others had forgotten.

Her classmates called her a freak because she didn't understand what it meant to "forget," and she assumed everyone could remember everything as clearly as she could. So in her mind, they weren't "forgetting"—they were lying.

When others isolated her, Lian isolated them in return.

Later, she joined White's team and began to study animal behavior in depth.

She tried her best to "forget" everything unrelated to her research. Though she couldn't truly forget, she sealed away this information. Even when her mind could explain all the principles clearly, her actual movements would be half a beat slower.

So—

Lian: "Actually, I really know how to drive."

Freckles: "...but I really like driving, so let me do it."

Bernie was lying again.

For him, lying seemed to be a habit. His eyes told the truth, but his words were lies.

He seemed completely unaware that his microexpressions were easier to read than those of wild wolves. So Lian always found him peculiar—why spend time decoding the truth behind this classmate's lies when she could be watching wolf videos instead?

At least she could write a thesis about the latter.

Chu Tingwu seemed to hear their conversation and turned around with a smile: "Actually, I've learned to drive too, just by watching you drive."

Freckles made a "==" expression and continued rummaging through their bags.

Lian smiled at Chu Tingwu because she knew the other girl was telling the truth.

Since their first meeting, everything she had said had been true—when the rain would stop, why those two wolves were fighting, how she heard deer herds running past, how she could always photograph wild wolves because she could see them... If all of this was true, then Chu Tingwu was a human with superhuman senses, sharp intuition, outstanding awareness, and the ability to sense animal emotions.

Lian wondered: Could someone like this still be considered "human"?

Lian hadn't told anyone, but she would occasionally poke Chu Tingwu's back or ask her for snacks. She would suddenly make "meow" or "howl" sounds to test her reactions. During Chu Tingwu's livestreams, she would quietly peek at the camera. She was truly curious—it was like watching a freak walking among crowds, both standing out and blending in. How could Chu Tingwu achieve this?

Lian had a dream where Chu Tingwu was running freely in the wild, pressing forward without restraint, neither beasts nor humans able to stop her. But in the second half of the dream, Chu Tingwu was sitting in a classroom, with people constantly approaching to chat with her—

This young girl was surrounded by everyone, a faint smile in her eyes as she discussed ordinary, meaningless topics.

Which world should she truly live in?

And which world do I live in? For the first time in her life, Lian asked herself this question.

Not far away, the unmanned aerial vehicle rose into the air, and Chu Tingwu stood up straight, waving toward the camera.

"Well, while Qiula and Shane were sleeping, we managed to put tracking devices on them. This morning, the vet took Qiula away, and he's now in stable condition. After the anesthesia wears off, he'll be released..." Chu Tingwu pointed behind her, "Now only Shane remains, and he seems to want to approach the Michelle wolf pack."

Wolf packs do accept new members, but the chances are uncertain.

They had discussed Shane's future several times—

To avoid inbreeding, female offspring in wolf packs actively leave to mate with males from other packs to produce offspring. With luck, Shane might meet such a female wolf and create his own small pack.

If he recovers from his injuries, he might also prove his worth and be accepted into one of the three existing packs. Of course, this would mean he couldn't have his own offspring for now, as only Alpha wolves have breeding rights.

Everyone thought the Kate pack to the west had the highest chance of accepting Shane.

As his injuries healed, everyone discovered that this gray wolf was actually smart and strong, and the Kate pack, being the weakest of the three, desperately needed new blood.

However, the cameras hadn't captured any interaction between Shane and the Kate pack. Instead, they saw him constantly pursuing the Michelle pack.

[Dear, don't start with such a difficult quest right away!]

[Maybe he's just pursuing a female wolf, trying to lure one away to start his own pack! There are many beautiful and strong girls among Michelle's offspring!]

[But he keeps running after those two sub-adults!]

Chu Tingwu looked up to observe, noticing that indeed, as everyone said, Shane's gaze toward the two young wolves seemed almost paternal.

The adult male wolf lay down with his front paws together, having just eaten leftovers from the Michelle pack's hunt. His belly was still full. After watching for a while and seeing he wasn't being driven away, he carefully moved forward a few meters before lying down again.

People in the chat speculated and concluded that before wandering here, Shane might have had a mate and wolf cubs of his own.

While Shane watched the sub-adult wolves with paternal affection and the viewers watched him with equal tenderness, only the system abruptly scanned around and reported: "Based on mating seasons, this wolf has never had offspring."

Chu Tingwu had long been curious about Shane's background and asked: "Where did he come from?"

Why did Shane seem so familiar with wearing a collar, and why were there scars on his neck?

The system projected several photos for Chu Tingwu—

They showed a young wolf jumping through fire rings in a circus.

There were also images of him chained by the neck, locked in a cage, and being handed over to others.

Since the circus didn't have surveillance cameras, the system had gathered these images from nearby street cameras and personal accounts of circus-goers.

Tracing back to the earliest photos—Shane was already a sub-adult wolf when he was taken to the circus.

His gaze was more wild then than it is now.

Chu Tingwu: "So Shane was once a wild wolf, captured for circus training before reaching adulthood, then sold to others... and escaped along the way?"

Wandering to the Red Rock Reserve, this wolf had learned some instinctive hunting skills of his species, along with considerable knowledge from humans. He might have received help during his wandering days, which gave him an unusual maturity despite his young age.

However, after learning about his life story, Chu Tingwu squinted at this wolf, thinking:

"...Is he learning how to be a wolf?"

The viewers' comments showed confusion—

[Huh? God, are you talking about Shane?]

[He's already a wolf, why does he need to learn how to be one?]

Even some cats need to learn how to be cats.

Chu Tingwu: "It's just my speculation... Earlier, Shane and Qiula formed a temporary alliance. Now that I think about it, the reason for their alliance might not just be because both wolves were 'friendly' and 'injured.'"

Perhaps Shane had been looking for a fellow wolf who could teach him all along.

But now, Qiula had been sent away for medical treatment.

Shane might have shifted his attention to... the Michelle wolf pack.

His gaze wasn't just gentle; it carried a hint of joy. The male wolf looked at those unfriendly adult wolves with the excitement of finding "good teachers."

Not only could he learn from them, but he could also pick up their leftovers—what a wonderful arrangement!

Chu Tingwu: "=v="

After waiting until evening, the three finally captured footage of Michelle again.

The white wolf lay on the hillside, casting a distant glance at the humans and then at Shane, who was following them.

To Grandma Michelle, this adolescent male wolf was just an impetuous youngster. She lost interest and looked away, letting out a soft howl, which immediately drew wolf cubs to play with her.

As for how to handle this grey wolf, she'd leave that to the current wolf king to consider.

The fans who got to see Michelle's big family were thoroughly satisfied. When White entered the livestream, the camera was focused on their beloved wolf queen.

White immediately forgot what he wanted to tell Chu Tingwu and the others, directing the drone to capture a panoramic view. Only when they were about to end the stream did he realize:

"Why are there only three of you? Where are the rangers?"

At this hour, still in the wild, they had probably decided to set up camp.

Chu Tingwu: "Ah... looks like we're running out of battery again. Hmm? I need to shut down, goodbye Professor."

White: "?"

Wait.

A few minutes later, White noticed several familiar IDs leaving comments on his personal page, coincidentally from some old research colleagues:

[Maybe you should stop watching the livestream, White, you're draining too much battery when you join.]

White: "?"

Hey!

-

Chu Tingwu ended the livestream, and that night, she had the system activate dream resonance again, but this time she didn't pull the wolves into her dream.

Instead, she had the system project her into the animals' dreams.

However, because the dream subjects were different, the system warned Chu Tingwu in advance:

"If it's a dream classroom, it's a world I control, and you're completely safe. But in other creatures' dreams, they control the dreamscape, and your appearance might change based on their perception. You can't actively change it, and if you die in their dreams—"

Chu Tingwu: "Will I die?"

System: "?"

System: "No, you'll just wake up, like having a nightmare."

Chu Tingwu: "=="

Then why even mention it.

She set Michelle as the dream subject and had the system project her into the white wolf's dream.

Chu Tingwu caught the scent of ice and snow.

She instinctively shivered.

It was summer now, but in Michelle's dream, it was winter.

This was Red Rock Reserve in winter, everything shrouded in silver—probably Michelle's actual experience, making the dream extraordinarily vivid.

Chu Tingwu instinctively sniffed the air, barely detecting any prey scents; in winter, prey animals were hibernating.

She placed her paw in the snow, staring at her tail that had suddenly swung from back to front, and fell silent for a moment.

No wonder her belly felt cold... she hadn't been standing properly.

Wait—why was she a cat the size of a human?!

System: "...!"

System: "(choked up)"

The system projected Chu Tingwu's personal interface, and the... that... no, that bipedal cat looked exactly like Chu Tingwu now!

What they couldn't see in reality had manifested in this white wolf's dream!

Chu Tingwu: "...Probably because when Michelle smells me, she thinks I'm a cat."

Wolves can smell prey from kilometers away, and Chu Tingwu's scent couldn't be hidden. In the white wolf's olfactory system, she was a big cat.

Logically, her arrival point shouldn't be too far from the dream subject. Chu Tingwu soon heard a bear's roar and realized:

The wolf pack was hunting a bear that had awakened from hibernation.

This wasn't because the wolf pack was overconfident, but because they desperately needed food.

Chu Tingwu climbed a tree and quickly spotted the battle scene through the snow.

The white wolf at the front, almost blending with the snow, wasn't her grandchild but a young Michelle!

Under Michelle's command, the wolf pack was steadily wearing down the grizzly's stamina.

It appeared to be a female bear, and under the pack's relentless pursuit and siege, she finally collapsed.

Michelle pounced first and began feeding, then other wolves finally approached to eat. They must have been hungry for a long time. After eating, some wolves licked Michelle's nose.

The white wolf let several approach to lick her, then let out a long "awoo."

The pack members howled in groups of two or three, seemingly celebrating their successful hunt.

Some wolves turned their heads to look at Chu Tingwu in the tree, but her size and scent told them she wasn't suitable prey—she smelled like someone who could run very fast.

Besides, Michelle hadn't given any orders.

After feeding, several wolves tore off the last bits of meat, deciding to take it back to their den for storage.

At this time, Michelle's husband hadn't died yet, and her children were still alive. She appeared energetic and strong, but halfway through their journey, the white wolf left the group.

The wolf queen returned to the bear carcass, not to compete with scavengers for the bones, but to circle around to the tree where she could see Chu Tingwu, lying down to watch her for a while.

Chu Tingwu didn't sense any hostility but didn't immediately climb down.

The large cat in the tree and the wolf below gazed at each other through layers of snow, then the white wolf left first.

Chu Tingwu hesitated, then jumped from this tree to the trunk opposite. As snow fell in cascades, she followed the white wolf to the rocky slope.

The rocks here were also covered in snow, with only some edges showing their original black color.

Chu Tingwu watched as Michelle howled "awoo" at the air, then ran to the top of the rocky slope—

And rolled!

She used her entire body to press against the snow, slowly sliding down.

Chu Tingwu: "?"

The white wolf's tail had been hanging down, but now it wagged slightly, and she repeated the action.

Chu Tingwu realized:

"Oh, she's sledding..."

She hugged the tree trunk with all four limbs, lying on it with her tail wrapped around her hind legs, lazily watching the white wolf sled.

The usually dignified white wolf was now like a child, having snuck away from her family members to play in the snow.

As she watched, Chu Tingwu's tail moved to under her paws, and she unconsciously batted at it—as if playing with her own tail.

"Crack—"

A very faint sound came from beneath her, and she instinctively leaped up, but at that very moment, the tree trunk she had been lying on broke.

System proudly: "That's because you have a healthy weight!"

What are you being proud of?!

Chu Tingwu: How is breaking such a thick tree trunk considered healthy? Are you comparing my weight to a tiger's?!

Fortunately, although the weightlessness came suddenly, Chu Tingwu didn't stumble. She landed steadily on all fours, barely feeling any impact, and thought:

Paw pads... these things are really useful.

Compared to feline paw pads, human palms evolved specifically for using tools.

Also, the eye spacing of felines is different from humans—

She could see a wider range, so she easily spotted the white wolf sneaking up.

The white wolf pounced.

Chu Tingwu stood ready but held her ground, curious to see what young Michelle wanted to do to her—she was just a little cat after all!

Though she was a small cat, her current size wasn't smaller than a wolf.

Michelle pinned Chu Tingwu's shoulders with both paws, leaned in, opened her mouth—

And licked her head once.

Chu Tingwu: "...?"

Along with her confusion, the dream's core seemed to awaken, and as the dream resonance began to fade, she was kicked out of Michelle's dream.

As Chu Tingwu opened her eyes, Michelle in the wolf den opened hers too.

The white wolf lay on the ground, and after a while, its tail wagged slightly.

-

Chu Tingwu pondered deeply.

"Let's go check on Shane."

Shane, Michelle's wolf pack's devoted fan, the pack's certified fan representative, and the male wolf who followed Michelle's pack, wasn't too far away. When entering his dream, Chu Tingwu found herself transformed into a human-sized cat again.

...Could she only be human in human dreams? Because humans couldn't smell her cat scent.

Chu Tingwu looked at her paws, then at Shane in the distance—in the dream, Shane was also fanboying over other wolf packs, sharpening his claws while watching the older wolves teach the younger ones, pretending he wasn't learning.

Chu Tingwu: "Meow."

Shane: "?"

The next second, Chu Tingwu pounced!

What perfect timing—she had just finished her lessons too, and they were top-tier lessons about wolf packs attacking grizzly bears. Wasn't this the perfect chance to practice with a fellow student of similar skill?

Shane: "..."

Though her appearance was different, she smelled the same. The wolf noticed there were no vehicles around and let out an angry "awoo," pouncing back.

Wolves don't care about dreams or not—they still had scores to settle!

And so, the feline learning canine ways and the canine learning canine ways fought intensely in the grass—

Chu Tingwu still didn't like using her fangs, but now she had sharp claws.

Shane was very agile at dodging, seemingly skilled at avoiding attacks, but he still seemed confused about how to better utilize his body's instincts.

If Shane attacked recklessly, Chu Tingwu would definitely be injured, but if Chu Tingwu hadn't held back, her claws would have already slashed the grey wolf's throat.

As they fought, she noticed the grey wolf seemed to start learning her movements.

Clever, Chu Tingwu thought, then I can open up a bit more.

Her [Intuition lv1] hadn't shown any signs of upgrading, the system said it was because she never exercised this skill in daily life, and without use, she couldn't gain experience—

Perhaps intuition would only be trained in more extreme situations.

Like life-or-death situations, or battles where quick thinking was impossible and one could only rely on instinct.

And the opponent wasn't human, but a beast.

This time, Chu Tingwu actively withdrew from Shane's dream.

She had a vague inspiration while fighting but couldn't quite grasp it, so she wanted to leave and think about it.

After she left, Shane suddenly woke up, the grey wolf looked around bewilderedly, then smacked his lips and went back to his uneasy slumber.

The next day during Chu Tingwu's livestream, viewers noticed something:

[Hmm... what's wrong with Shane? Is he sick?]

[Why is he turning his head like a cat?]

Chu Tingwu: "...ῳ*Ɩ"

Oh no.

She hadn't paid attention while fighting and unconsciously used her instinct moves.

...Don't learn everything!

-

After spending several consecutive nights in the wild, though they managed to get by with White, they couldn't fool the rangers.

So that day, they returned to stay at the camp—also because sleeping in the wild was exhausting and made it hard to rest properly.

Of course, Chu Tingwu was comfortable sleeping anywhere.

She made her usual video call to Three-Five-Five, greeted Lian, and went to bed.

Until three in the morning.

Chu Tingwu's eyes suddenly snapped open.

She heard strange sounds coming from far away, along with wolf howls.

Aliali: 6749083ac4f3f33ac4814cd4

A strange intuition urged her to wake up and take a look.

Before going to bed, Chu Tingwu had smelled some complex scents on the way back, but they were very faint. Now, perhaps because her mind was particularly clear, those scents returned to her nose, and she could distinguish them—

The smell of unfamiliar humans and gasoline.

Maybe this information had passed through her mind once, and she subconsciously associated it with tourists who had mistakenly entered the core area before, comparing those memories with these scents.

But what if... it wasn't them?

She sat up, staring out the window, and put on a jacket.

Just as she was about to push open the door, Lian's breathing changed.

Lian got out of bed, looked at Chu Tingwu, seemingly aware of what was happening—

She walked to the living room in the darkness, picked up the car keys from the table, and said to Chu Tingwu:

"I really can drive." Sёarch* The NôvelFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.