Chapter 60

#Don’t give up. Don’t admit defeat!

Agonizing pain instantly spread through this body.

I couldn’t bear the pain and, following the body’s instincts, let out a miserable cry.

Immediately after, I clenched my teeth, forcing back the sound in my throat, trying not to wail too pitifully.

I knew—Xie Zhuo…

I looked at him, and as expected, his face turned deathly pale and his breathing halted.

He was heartbroken…

“Little Wolf…” He immediately crouched down, but didn’t dare to touch me. He simply gathered soul power into his palm and let the glowing light cover my wound.

He was helping me stop the bleeding, but his expression and gaze made it feel like the injury was on his own body.

“Whimper…” I wanted to tell Xie Zhuo that I was fine. But at this moment, a dog’s whimper sounded even more like a cry of pain.

Xie Zhuo’s hand trembled over my wound. “It doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t hurt. It’ll stop hurting soon.”

He tried to comfort me, but his voice was so weak.

Just then, footsteps approached from behind him. I opened my eyes and saw Zhu Lian walking over from behind Xie Zhuo.

In his hand was a dagger. His long-time frailty made his pale face even more striking, and his eyes were especially fierce.

“They should never have let you live! They should’ve killed you long ago!” he shouted as he raised the dagger high.

“Howl!”

I tried to warn Xie Zhuo to be careful, but just as I made a sound, Xie Zhuo’s soul power surged around him and in an instant, Zhu Lian was thrown to the ground.

Zhu Lian rolled several times on the ground and, upon stopping, vomited a mouthful of blood.

Xie Zhuo didn’t even look at him. He continued using soul power to heal the wound on my leg until the bleeding finally stopped.

“It’s okay now.” Xie Zhuo patted my head and lifted me into his arms. “Let’s go back and apply some medicine.”

Xie Zhuo held me, picked up my prosthetic leg that had been knocked away, and turned to walk back.

He didn’t spare Zhu Lian a glance, simply intending to walk past him. But even lying on the ground, Zhu Lian refused to give up—he grabbed Xie Zhuo’s ankle.

“You shouldn’t exist. You shouldn’t have come into this world. You should be dead.”

Xie Zhuo’s arms tightened around me. I looked up at him and saw his lips pressed tightly together. He said nothing, and in the end, kicked Zhu Lian’s hand away and walked off.

Xie Zhuo carried me with large strides, walking fast. Many tribe members noticed his abnormal state and looked on, but none stepped forward to ask.

Just like that, Xie Zhuo carried me back to the tent.

He placed me on the bedding, then gently applied the ointment he had made himself onto my wound.

The ointment was cool and stung a bit. I flinched slightly, and he looked at me, frowning. “Bear with it…”

So I let out a soft whimper and endured it.

“For the next few days, don’t run around. Keep your movement to a minimum.”

His words, firm and direct, were just like the Xie Zhuo in my memories—“Get up, the ground is cold.” “Come, stay behind me.”

Back then, I thought everything he said was nonsense, completely ignored him. But thinking back now, my heart ached even more for him.

Those were the only words of comfort and protection Xie Zhuo knew.

Because he had never heard them himself. He had never been loved or protected.

All he could do was start from the most basic truths, saying the most ordinary, easily overlooked things.

“Xie Zhuo…”

My heart ached bitterly. I could only nudge his hand with my head, but he pulled his hand back.

“Don’t move, there’s still ointment.” He was still focused on the injured stump.

In fact, with his soul power healing, the wound had already mostly closed. But he still carefully applied the ointment, then wrapped it simply with cloth and thread.

As he dressed the wound, he looked serious, muttering, “Just wait a bit longer. Soon, I’ll be able to take you away from here.”

My heart jumped slightly when I heard that. I looked at Xie Zhuo—he didn’t seem to be lying. He was seriously considering leaving…

“Whimper…” I let out a worried sound.

Xie Zhuo gently patted the wrapped wound, then looked at me. “The outside world is vast. I’ve heard it’s much bigger than here. One day, I’ll take you, and we’ll leave.”

Just the two of us—a man and a dog—going out into the world to live freely, without judgment, exclusion, or coldness. Maybe we’d even see new things and meet new friends.

I could feel it—Xie Zhuo truly hoped for such a life.

Maybe ever since his mind awakened, he had been planning for another way of living. If this life was too muddy, too painful, he would struggle to create a new path.

He learned knowledge, practiced techniques, studied medicine, hunting, made little tools—everything was preparation to leave on his own…

But Xie Zhuo…

He didn’t leave so easily.

I had a vague idea of his fate.

He once told me—he would destroy his entire tribe, kill his closest kin…

He…

He destroyed this place before he left.

What will actually happen afterward…

I couldn’t guess. But as Xie Zhuo gently stroked my head and back over and over again, drowsiness gradually overtook me.

I fell asleep peacefully in Xie Zhuo’s arms. But when I woke up… it was far from peaceful.

A violent wind swept over my back like it was trying to shave off all the fur on my head.

I blinked awake in confusion—only to see the tent above me was gone. In the night sky, a moon the size of a round cake hung high, its silvery light like a sheer veil covering the Snow Wolf Clan’s settlement.

Xie Zhuo was no longer beside me. But the tribe members of the Snow Wolf Clan were slowly gathering around.

“A-Yu…”

“A-Yu, don’t be rash…”

They were all trying to persuade someone, walking toward a certain direction.

I stood up on the bedding and turned to look in the direction they were heading.

I saw Xie Zhuo’s tent torn to shreds on the ground. Everything that had been neatly placed inside had rolled out—broken pottery, scattered herbs, the little toys he made for me all over the floor. Some trampled, some kicked far away.

Further ahead, through the gaps in the crowd under the moonlight, I saw the young Xie Zhuo pinned to the ground.

My pupils contracted! I immediately charged forward!

“Howl!”

Let him go!

“Howl!”

Who dares hurt him!

I barked and squeezed past people’s feet. And then I saw the one pinning him down viciously—it wasn’t anyone else.

It was Xie Ling.

Xie Ling’s eyes were red with fury. Her knee pressed against Xie Zhuo’s chest, pinning him down so he couldn’t move. One hand gripped his throat, the other held a dagger to his neck…

That dagger—was the same one Zhu Lian had tried to use to kill Xie Zhuo during the day.

I stared at the scene, momentarily stunned.

Xie Zhuo was stunned too. But unlike me, he looked straight at Xie Ling, his black eyes reflecting both her and the moon behind her, crystal clear.

He lay on the ground, allowing Xie Ling to press down on him, letting that dagger rest against his throat.

Xie Zhuo wasn’t incapable of moving—I knew that. I had watched him for so many years, studying, training in martial arts. He could resist. He had received the worship of the entire clan for so many years—how could he possibly be unable to resist Xie Ling?

But he didn’t move.

He only widened his eyes and stared at Xie Ling. His eyes were filled with despair.

That despair was so overwhelming it almost made me cry. It was as if he were voicelessly questioning Xie Ling—the very person who had given him life. He was asking—

“Was I truly never meant to come into this world?”

“Am I really a mistake?”

“Are you really going to kill me?”

And compared to Xie Zhuo’s silence, Xie Ling’s expression was all the more crazed and hysterical:

“You are the child of an evil god!” she screamed. “I should’ve strangled you long ago! I should’ve killed you!”

As if to fulfill Xie Zhuo’s despair, she raised her dagger high, and under the silent watch of the entire clan, she stabbed at him. Xie Zhuo simply stared quietly as the blade came toward him.

I couldn’t bear it any longer—I lunged forward!

I bit into Xie Ling’s hand, making her body swerve and the dagger fly out of her grasp.

But I didn’t bite firmly, and after that lunge, I flipped sideways and crashed to the ground nearby.

Xie Ling, now weaponless, didn’t care about me. Like a madwoman, she lunged at Xie Zhuo with her bare hands and gripped his throat, as if she intended to strangle him to death.

Xie Zhuo’s face went from pale to red. He didn’t close his eyes, didn’t resist. He only stared fixedly at Xie Ling, as if in that moment, all hope had died in him.

The fall had been hard, and when I got up again, I was staggering. I looked around, hoping someone in the crowd would help him.

But no one…

Not a single person…

They remained as silent and indifferent as always. Even if they were paying attention, all their attention was on Xie Ling. None of it was for Xie Zhuo.

Their hushed whispers drilled into my ears in the chilly night air—

“Is Ayu really going to kill him just like that?”

“What if she angers the evil god…”

“Forget it. It’s better if he just dies like this… better than draining our clan dry…”

I couldn’t bear to listen anymore. I rushed forward again, opened my mouth, and bit down on Xie Ling’s sleeve.

I pushed with all three of my legs against the ground, trying to pull her hand away.

“Wu!” I made a sound from my throat.

Don’t treat him like this!

“Wu!”

He’s crying! Can’t you hear it?

He’s so full of despair! Can’t you see?

He’s a person too! Don’t bully him! Stop bullying him!

“Wu!”

I couldn’t say anything else. My throat could only produce these jumbled sobs.

I used every ounce of strength I had, but I still couldn’t pry Xie Ling’s hands away. I watched Xie Zhuo’s face turn from red to a ghastly blue.

Letting go of Xie Ling, I turned and bit down on Xie Zhuo’s sleeve, tugging on him.

“Don’t give up.”

“Fight back!”

“Don’t surrender!”

“Awoo woo woo!” I pulled at him for a while, then let go and cried into his ear, my voice full of grief and desperation. My efforts seemed to finally reach him.

He stopped looking at Xie Ling. His eyes reflected me. I wagged my tail madly and licked his hand and arm.

“Don’t give up. Don’t give up.”

“Awoo woo woo…”

Xie Ling seemed to finally find me annoying. She let go with one hand and shoved me aside with a loud “smack.”

Her strength was immense to me. My chest throbbed with pain as I stumbled and hit the ground. Instantly, a tearing pain shot through my three paws.

Only then did I realize that my paws had split open during my desperate scrabbling earlier. The ground was stained with blood dripping from my dog paws.

I didn’t care about my injuries. I lifted my head to look at Xie Zhuo and staggered toward him.

I won’t give up, Xie Zhuo—so you don’t give up either.

Stand up and fight this wretched fate to the end!

I crawled toward him, and under the hazy moonlight, I thought I saw a shimmer at the corner of Xie Zhuo’s eye. A glint—was it a tear?

His lips pressed together faintly. In his expression, there was now resolve.

In the next instant, a wild wind rose from the ground, toppling everything like dry twigs.

The entire Snow Wolf Clan was thrown into chaos. Xie Ling was blown off Xie Zhuo, and even I was about to be swept into the air.

In that moment of panic, an arm wrapped around me, holding me tightly against his chest.

That familiar warmth—I had known it for years.

“Little Wolf,” Xie Zhuo’s face was pale, his body still wrapped in glowing rings—the lingering remnants of the spell he had just cast with his soul force. The light made him look like a deity from the stars.

He said, “We leave tonight.”