The Record of Unusual Creatures
chapter-83

Chapter 83: The Black Alpha Wolf

It was midnight on The Plane of Dreams. Standing on the steppe under the cool night breeze, Hao Ren and the giant black wolf were gazing at each other; the wolf was as tall as a human being. Both were equally shocked. Actually, it was more like an aftershock.

A moment ago, what was thought to be a wild, black wolf had started talking. Plus it’s grammar and syntax were good. It spoke with a slight Beijing accent—this last inference was made possible thanks to the intelligent translation system, of course. Hao Ren was dead set that as strange as The Plane of Dreams was, there could not possibly be a black wolf capable of speaking like a Beijinger. One thing for sure he thought, was when the wolf said, “tuo tuo”, (a slang in Northern China which means ‘yabsolutely’) it was not a misinterpretation by the translation system. It was not the roar of a beast but authentic human language. This had been tried and tested true when the system failed to translate ‘woof’― a sound Lily made earlier. It was only capable of recognizing highly-structured sounds.

Hao Ren was in his pyjamas as he sat on the grass with his legs crossed. He was still covered in a thin layer of glimmer. He did not dare to remove his Steel Membrane Shield because a pack of wolves still lurked around with their glaring eyes. He glanced at the big black wolf which was directly opposite him before he curiously asked, “You speak, don’t you? Wolves around here can talk?”

“That depends on the wolf pack.” The big black wolf eyed Hao Ren’s translucent shield cautiously; the blow on its head from Hao Ren’s fist covered in translucent shield felt like being hit by a steel rod. It had barely recovered from the wooziness but obliged to Hao Ren’s questioning. “In some parts of the steppe, wolves with lamellar bones like us talk—we’re the top breed. Unlike those retarded ones who can only howl at the moon, we’re a lot more intelligent! Where are you from? You don’t even know wolves could talk? We’re the most well-known pack in the steppe!”

Like a lost ball in high weeds, Hao Ren did not have a single idea about The Plane of Dreams. He had to put his faith in the MDT and Raven 12345’s suggestion—to act naturally and refrain from being overly surprised. Judging from the way the black wolf talked, Hao Ren figured it was a highly intelligent creature, probably as intelligent as a human. Abandoning his cocky manner, he tried to show sincerity by nodding his head. “It’s kind of hard to tell where I come from. I’m just a passerby. You could just treat me like a traveler.”

“Traveler? In this steppe?” The black wolf looked at Hao Ren with its suspicious eyes before it wondered. “Few humans have come. This place isn’t attractive to them. You can’t grow food here. There’s no specialty, no minerals, nothing. There used to be a few nomads here but they left recently; there are too many wolves here for them to raise livestock.”

The black wolf crept closer under Hao Ren’s watchful eyes and started to sniff him out from head to toe. “You don’t smell like a traveler. Travelers hardly take a bath and they stink like poop. Anyway, it’s none of our business, we’re just wolves.”

Wiping the cold sweat off his forehead, Hao Ren wondered where on earth were wolves as intelligent as this?

“Then, why did you attack me?” Hao Ren asked awkwardly. He felt like a fool speaking to a group of wild beasts but he could not help it. These wolves spoke even better than humans!

“Why not?” The black wolf sounded as if it was more surprised. “We need meat. You aren’t meaty enough but we don’t eat much. You would be more than enough to feed the pups. And we had thought you were an easy prey—no hard clothes on, no weapon in hand. But, you beat them black and blue. I’m not very happy about that.”

The wolf however had something most humans lacked—frankness. Still, being categorized as a dish on the menu left Hao Ren speechless. Yet, he could not blame them as far as the species was concerned. He let out a dry laugh. “Do you still want to eat meat now?”

“Forget about it.” The black wolf shook its head. “You’re unpalatable and even stiffer than those people in stiff cloths. Plus, I’m no match for you. It seems like a bad idea to pick a fight with humans. They tend to have many strange things dangling on their bodies. No, it’s simply too dangerous.”

At that juncture, a lesser black wolf of smaller build chimed in, “Sir, didn’t you say you wanted to eat this guy?”

Hao Ren marveled—how he had struck the jackpot in picking the alpha out of the wolf pack.

“This is all your fault.” The alpha wolf roared at the lesser one. “If it weren’t for you crying out for food every night, I wouldn’t have had my tooth smashed!

“You just lost one, sir! Look at the poor kids over there. They lost almost all of their teeth!” The lesser one pointed with its nose at a few wolves outside the perimeter. These were the hapless ones Hao Ren had beaten the hell out of. They scrambled in droves to attack him and bit his Steel Membrane Shield earlier on. Those who were fortunate enough had only bicuspids left. Each of their mouths looked very much like the mouth of a newborn baby.

These wolves were still bleeding in their mouths. They were licking and comforting each other pitifully.

The alpha wolf sighed. “What a bad day! Human, can we leave now?”

Hao Ren nodded his head, signaling his consent. Just when the pack of wolves were about to leave in droves, a thought flashed across his mind and he called out, “Wait a second, there’s something else!”

The alpha wolf stalled. It turned around, straightened its head and scowled at Hao Ren. “Don’t go too far! I too have my own pride to think about! You suffered no losses, what more do you want from me?”

Hao Ren almost choked up: what pride the alpha wolf had mustered when it was still begging for its life just a moment ago? However. he just shrugged it off by shaking his head. He then pointed towards the direction of the horizon. “I’m going in that direction. Could you give me a lift?”

The silhouette of a few supposedly man-made buildings were seen far on the horizon. Hao Ren thought getting there on foot was not the brightest idea as it would be sunrise before he could reach the place. Time was a scarce commodity in The Plane of Dreams.

“Go there?” The alpha wolf glanced at the horizon by raising its head. “Haven’t I told you, the nomads are gone? What’s left are just some mud shacks.”

Apparently, it was the nomadic settlement. Hao Ren nodded. “Anyway, I’m going to check it out.”

His interest was in the trail of human activity, not the nomads themselves. He was highly curious about The Plane of Dreams.

The alpha wolf mumbled before it turned around and said, “Ride on my back. I’ll get you there.”

For a while, Hao Ren was indeed surprised. He never thought the alpha wolf would voluntarily give him a ride. He did not expect it. Hao Ren babbled as he got on the back of the alpha wolf, “Whoa, you’re such a gentleman, wolf. Didn’t you say for the sake of your pride and bla-bla-bla, you would never allow yourself to be ridden?”

“Pride? What’s it for?” The alpha wolf was puzzled. “I just can’t fathom it— human likes to harp on the abstract even though it doesn’t fill your stomach. The reason we don’t like being ridden is simply because it’s too cumbersome. It has absolutely nothing to do with so-called ‘pride’… Umm, I’d appreciate if you could move your butt a couple of inches because you’re sitting on my waist. You’ll only slow me down my that way.”

Hao Ren perspired in embarrassment as he adjusted his sitting position: human’s perception of the world was askew. Be it in novels, movies or real life, people always judged others by their own yardsticks—wolves hated being ridden because of self-pride was one case. The same misguided perception was invariably ascribed to wild horses, unicorns, etc.—which perhaps was utter nonsense.

The truth was, they disliked being ridden as it was cumbersome and no one loves to carry useless weight. Speaking of which, even Lily would only carry luggage, which Vivian had put on her back when she was sleepwalking.

Hao Ren was tempted to think, if one could talk with a unicorn, it might allow itself to be ridden in exchange for two cookies. For animals, ‘pride’ was simply not part of their dictionary.

“Ready?” The alpha wolf asked before it set off, interrupting Hao Ren’s train of thought. “Sit tight!”