After a bit of commotion, the camp of the Green Sparrow Tribe had returned to calm, and the night watchmen had changed shifts. Mao and Second Senior Brother were both now on watch.

Having learned from the earlier experience, this time, the night watchmen didn’t just stay by the campfire; after a while, two of them would pair up, leaving the fire to patrol farther out into the darkness. This was necessary because the light of the fire made it hard to see much beyond its immediate vicinity at night.

Mao and Second Senior Brother patrolled with two dogs, one holding a bronze spear and the other a sling. The pair had already rested for the first half of the night, and after being disturbed by the tiger earlier, they were both feeling quite alert, especially given the intense cold.

One of the dogs suddenly stopped, its body tense, fur standing on end, and it let out a low growl from its throat. The other dog quickly followed suit, both animals facing into the darkness of the camp’s outskirts, emitting a warning or possibly a challenge.

The dogs' sudden behavior instantly alerted Mao and the Second Senior Brother. They focused their eyes in the direction the dogs were looking, squinting into the snowy night. The landscape was a hazy blur, with distant mountains, trees, and tall grass all appearing as indistinct outlines.

The spot where their camp was set up had an open view, which helped them see farther into the night despite the snow obscuring their vision. Before the dogs’ warning, they had been unable to make out anything unusual in the shadows, but now, after focusing on the dogs’ signals, they noticed movement in the distance.

At first, they didn’t pay much attention, thinking it might just be some bushes or tall grass. But upon closer inspection, they realized the dark shapes weren’t foliage—they were moving! They were wild animals!

"Get up! Get up! There are beasts!" Mao shouted.

The second Senior Brother reacted very differently. Without a word, he swiftly pulled a stone pellet from his pouch and placed it in his sling. He moved a bit farther from Mao, spinning the sling over his head, the whistling sound sharp. Letting go of the sling, the stone pellet shot forward.

One of the animals closest to the camp was caught off guard and let out a horrific howl—it was a wolf!

The Second Senior Brother had used a stone pellet. He still had some copper pellets, but he didn’t want to waste them, especially since the snow was thick, and the copper ones might be hard to find afterward.

Mao’s shout and the wolves’ eerie howls made the camp a frenzy again. Those who had only fallen asleep scrambled out of their snow shelters, some in such a hurry that they knocked their shelters over, spilling snow everywhere.

Meanwhile, the wolves' long howls echoed around the camp, adding a cold, desolate atmosphere to the night.

And around the camp, black shapes began to appear—wolves!

Running into a pack of wolves at this time of year was far from pleasant.

Wolves have always been a problematic threat, especially in food scarcity. The leader would rather face two tigers than a pack of wolves.

"Stop! Stop!" someone shouted as they were about to draw their bow and shoot at the approaching wolves. But the leader, hearing the commotion, quickly called for them to stop.

The years of semi-agricultural life had not made the Senior Brother forget about hunting. He knew full well how terrifying a wolf pack could be.

If they didn’t take the initiative to strike first, given their numbers and the Fu Jiang's presence, they could still hold their ground and withstand a confrontation with the wolves. After a standoff, the wolves might retreat on their own when daylight came.

However, if they broke the deadlock by launching an attack, things would not end well.

It wasn’t that the Green Sparrow Tribe's fifty people with bronze weapons couldn’t take on a wolf pack, but engaging in a direct fight with the wolves might result in significant injuries or even deaths.

The fact was that the tribe wasn’t lacking in food. Their purpose here was to mine ores, not to get involved in a fight with wolves. The Eldest Senior Brother didn’t want the tribe’s people to clash with the wolves because such an encounter would be costly, no matter how you looked at it.

It must be said that there was a reason the Eldest Senior Brother was the leader. It wasn’t just because of his strength but also because of his calmness and his ability to see the bigger picture.

Following his orders, no one made any more moves to attack. Even Second Senior Brother, who had already thrown a stone, stopped.

"Form up! Form up! Grab your large shields! Protect the deer herd!" The Eldest Senior Brother’s voice rang out again, guiding the flustered tribe members and telling them what to do next.

The tribe’s training had never been neglected. Over time, the people had developed a conditioned reflex to specific commands.

Upon hearing the Eldest Senior Brother’s orders, the tribe members began forming and moving toward the deer herd.

Things had happened so suddenly, and since it was nighttime, some people, in their panic, hadn’t managed to find their weapons.

For these people, the Eldest Senior Brother ordered them to return to their snow shelters and search for their weapons.

Compared to the trained warriors of the Green Sparrow Tribe, the twenty slaves that had come with them were utterly clueless. Caught in this sudden danger, they were completely flustered. The Eldest Senior Brother yelled at them several times before they began to calm down.

As slaves, they didn’t have weapons. With danger suddenly closing in, they could only scramble to grab snow from the ground, making snowballs and holding them in their hands. They didn't know if they would help, but they at least gave them something to hold onto for reassurance.

The wolf pack had come much closer to the Green Sparrow Tribe’s camp, with the closest ones less than fifty meters away. They could faintly make out their fur, and in the reflection of the snow, they saw their gleaming white teeth.

The wolves numbered in the dozens, a dark mass of them, at least fifty strong.

Facing more than fifty wolves, with half of the fifty tribe members unarmed and with only a few dozen undertrained dogs that hadn’t fully matured, a real fight would undoubtedly come at a high cost for the Green Sparrow Tribe.

Luckily, after a short while, the wolf pack halted.

The two sides stood facing each other, the atmosphere thick with tension, as if the air might freeze.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay