In the silent forest.
Everything around was exceptionally quiet; only the occasional wolf howls from afar brought an echo to the still environment.
With rustling sounds and the crunch of branches underfoot, Kevin emerged. Walking ahead of him was the swaggering Jin.
Soon, the two reached a hillside, where they crouched at the edge, looking down at the dark jungle below.
And the occasional flashes of light within the jungle indicated someone was moving through the trees below.
"There are four poachers; they have hunting rifles and pistols tucked into their waists."
"What? How did you see them?"
Kevin was full of doubt. With the darkness and the jungle obstructing his view, he couldn't understand how Jin had seen anything in such conditions.
He had been even more bewildered when they were coming over.
Jin moved through the jungle like a silent predator, as if he were strolling through his own backyard.
Kevin, being careful, instead felt clumsy and exposed.
A piece of equipment resembling binoculars was handed over: "Here, use this to observe."
Kevin took it.
"Holy crap! What kind of black technology is this?"
He exclaimed in surprise, then forced his voice lower.
He couldn't be blamed; these glasses were truly absurd. While he had never used night vision equipment, he had at least seen it in various videos.
But the binocular-like night vision device he held made it seem like daytime when he put it on.
It wasn't observing the night through some special optics at all.
It seems this world's technology is quite outlandish in certain aspects.
He began to observe.
After a good while, he finally managed to make out the figures of each person on the other side.
Their appearance was exactly as Jin had described.
"What are you going to do? Call the police? Or scare them away?" Kevin asked.
Kevin, engrossed in his observation, didn't notice the look on Jin's face as he turned to glance at him in the darkness.
"I know where they're going. We'll wait for them there. You just need to observe from the side."
He had previously wanted Kevin to be forced into battle to observe more, but he abandoned that decision just now.
Soon, led by Jin, they took a hidden path and arrived inside a cave.
Kevin immediately smelled a faint scent of blood, along with a slightly different odor.
In the darkness of the cave, illuminated by moonlight, a wolf's head emerged.
Most striking was the silver, horn-like protrusion, about an inch long, growing from the wolf's head, faintly glowing in the moonlight.
Kevin was stunned, even the slight fear brought on by the wolf's sudden appearance dissipated.
Is this right?
It became even more wrong when the wolf fully emerged.
Because it had two heads!
This was a Double-Headed Wolf, though only one of its heads had a horn.
With silver-grey fur, it could truly be described as beautiful and sacred under the moonlight's reflection.
Another wolf emerged; this one was noticeably smaller, and its horn grew on the other, right-side head, and was shorter and more rounded.
Several small figures scampered out—a group of wolf pups.
They were also double-headed but had no horns.
These Double-Headed Wolves didn't seem malicious; they just appeared somewhat wary when looking at Kevin.
Then they gathered around Jin, like pet dogs, circling him. Licking and wagging their tails, the wolf pups even tried to climb onto him.
Facing Kevin's inquisitive gaze, Jin stroked a wolf's head and said, "They are Double-Headed Wolves, almost extinct a few years ago. We found the only pair and successfully bred them through technology, preserving their bloodline."
As he spoke, a very clear sense of pride and triumph showed on Jin's face.
Now Kevin knew how he had died, and why.
Poaching an almost completely extinct creature, indeed, he deserved his fate.
Jin was still observing.
...
Soon, the group of poachers arrived in the area.
"Boss, are we there yet?" asked a rather scrawny poacher.
The man with a scar on his shifty face impatiently said, "Quiet, we're almost there, should be right around here."
"I say, we should just buy tickets home. Anyway, we can't contact that treacherous pretty boy anymore," another young man with golden broom-like hair said.
The last member passed by him, his expressionless, ordinary-looking face saying, "If we don't want to stay in this business anymore, then we certainly could do that."
"Tsk, what an unromantic guy," the broom-haired man said, somewhat bored.
"Whoosh!"
A sharp whooshing sound pierced the air.
Something seemed to fly through the darkness. The broom-haired man was instantly struck, and his entire body fell backward.
With a thud that cut through the night, he fell to the ground, unconscious, his cheek sunken, and a large amount of blood flowing from his mouth.
"Watch out!"
This four-person team was clearly well-trained; almost instantly after the attack, they found cover in their surroundings.
One of the members had already pulled out his gun and fired in the direction of the attack.
The piercing sound of gunfire ripped through the night.
— — — — — —
In the dark cave.
"Stop licking."
Kevin said, pushing away the wolf pup that was clinging to his shoulder.
He held the binoculars with both hands, focusing intently on the distance, not even blinking.
He had just seen Jin pick up something like a stone from the ground and throw it with force; the stone was like a bullet.
It directly struck one of the poachers, and such an impact did not pierce the person. The entire person flew three or four meters and fell to the ground, looking like he couldn't get up.
Then the other side started shooting.
Jin, as if strolling, picked up a few more stones from the ground and threw them out.
This time, the commotion was even greater.
The stones shattered tree trunks, and the few poachers hiding behind the trees were all hit.
Is that how it ends?
Not yet!
Kevin saw the man who seemed to be the leader, apparently blocking the attack that came through the trees.
The previous stone had made him slide back a meter or two; he had blocked it with crossed arms.
A sound came, seemingly saying something.
However, before he could counterattack or defend himself, another stone was thrown, this time without even a whistling sound.
In an instant.
The leader flew back four or five meters, smashing into a tree with a loud crash; it seemed he no longer had the strength to fight back.
Holy cow, what kind of wuxia novel is this?
Were those stones you threw? Are you sure they weren't bullets?
Based on the combat situation and some fragmented memories in his mind, this was clearly not a normal world.
He had been observing carefully just now and seemed to see a layer of something surging on the man opposite him, but it was somewhat unclear, indistinct.
Internal energy?
Or something else?
The view went black.
"Oh, don't block it!"
He reached out and dragged away the wolf pup that was blocking the view, licking the lens with its mouth.
Perhaps because the movement was a bit rough, the wolf pup whimpered.
A dangerous gaze fell on him, and he felt a chill down his neck.
"Haha, your son is so cute, Wolf Bro."
Kevin laughed awkwardly, hugging the little wolf pup he had just pulled away and stroking it.
The wolf pup didn't hold a grudge and started playing with Kevin.