Chapter 11
Dark, heavy clouds gathered and churned, the thunderstorm and raging winds unrelenting, as if the planet itself was roaring in fury.
The extreme weather was terrifying. Shi Nuo didn’t even dare to go outside. The world had been transformed. Swathes of forest had been destroyed by lightning and storms, charred or uprooted, a scene of utter devastation.
Only the unfinished house, with its reassuring lights, remained standing.
It was past eight in the evening. The sky hadn’t brightened since noon.
Shi Nuo dried his body and hair, put on his pajamas, and emerged from the bathroom, enveloped by the Alpha’s pheromones, which he had grown accustomed to recently.
As soon as it entered the house, the white wolf had unrestrainedly released its pheromones, the cold lotus scent, with its hint of fresh dew, filling every corner, including his bedroom.
Now, the pheromone release wasn’t deliberate but a passive diffusion as the wolf relaxed.
With the wolf so close, even with the bedroom door closed, Shi Nuo could sense its powerful presence.
With the weather so bad, and nowhere nearby for the white wolf to shelter, it likely wouldn’t leave for a while.
Surrounded by the strong, dominant pheromones, Shi Nuo, marked by the Alpha, felt a profound sense of security.
It was a feeling he had never experienced before. Even with the deafening thunder, he didn’t feel afraid, no longer trembling or shaking.
He climbed into the soft, clean bed and, for the first time, slept soundly and deeply.
Morning.
As he opened the front door, the hot, burning scent of the thunderstorm hit him. The air seemed to crackle with electricity, making him uncomfortable.
However, the house’s intelligent system determined that the danger level from the electrical current was low.
Shi Nuo stood at the doorway. After the storm, the landscape looked as if it had been plowed. The swaying sea of deep green grass was gone, replaced by churned-up earth, pockmarked with holes.
Trees were uprooted, some charred black by lightning. He saw the blackened corpses of large insects and small animals. Underground creatures were forced to the surface, earthworm-like things writhing. Their normally moist bodies were dry and cracked, revealing pinkish flesh.
Large tree roots were torn from the ground. Shi Nuo’s heart clenched. Had his potatoes also been affected?
The thunder and wind had stopped, but the sky remained overcast, and the temperature had dropped.
This planet wasn’t formally developed. There was only one communication satellite in orbit, no weather satellites to monitor the weather, so accurate forecasts were impossible.
While digging potatoes before, he had seen several similar plants in the wilderness to the northwest. If he searched further, he might find more.
He hadn’t dug them all up before, not expecting such extreme weather.
He wanted to go and check, but that area was a bit far. If the thunderstorm returned, he wouldn’t be able to get back quickly, and the vast, open plain offered no caves or rock formations for shelter.
Shi Nuo was in a dilemma. He still had about three hundred potatoes, which seemed like a lot, but he felt uneasy.
The larger potatoes were fine, bigger than his fist. One was enough for a meal. But there were only about a hundred of those. The remaining two hundred were small, and he needed two or three for a meal. With three meals a day, they would only last for two or three months.
The storm had covered a wide area. At least within his line of sight, the ground looked as if it had been plowed.
Many weeds and wild vegetables had died, the greenery gone, revealing large patches of bare earth.
Wild grass was resilient and should grow back quickly.
Despite trying to reassure himself, Shi Nuo still wanted to check on the potatoes. If any had been uprooted, he could retrieve them.
The white wolf was lying on the rug in the living room. As the door opened, it smelled the scent of the thunderstorm and flicked its tail in displeasure, but Shi Nuo, with his back to the wolf, didn’t see it.
He didn’t understand the weather patterns here, but Hugh Elvis, having lived here for ten years, should have some experience.
Shi Nuo quietly walked in and, looking at the massive beast sprawled in the living room, felt apprehensive. But to be safe, he spoke softly, “Mr. Elvis.”
The white wolf opened its eyes and glanced at him.
Shi Nuo, feeling nervous, stammered, “I…I want to go out. The weather…I wanted to ask if there will be more thunder and wind.”
Realizing his words were jumbled, his voice trailed off.
The white wolf’s senses were far superior to a human’s, and it heard him clearly. It stood up and walked past Shi Nuo, out the door.
As Shi Nuo watched, confused, the white wolf stopped outside, its blue eyes expressionless, and looked back at the bewildered Omega.
Shi Nuo understood and quickly grabbed his bucket, following the wolf out, using his optical brain to close and lock the doors and windows as he went.
The path was even more difficult to navigate now, littered with branches, upturned earth, rocks, and fallen trees.
With his optical brain providing directions, Shi Nuo headed northwest, the white wolf following at a leisurely pace.
The giant white beast, with its long, powerful limbs, moved much more easily than Shi Nuo.
Before reaching his destination, Shi Nuo saw several potatoes scattered nearby, likely blown there by the strong wind.
Some were broken, others still attached to their roots. He hurried over and picked up the intact potatoes, placing them in his bucket.
The burnt smell from the trees wasn’t too strong.
After gathering the potatoes, he picked up a sturdy branch from the ground and used it to poke and turn over the soil, checking for any he might have missed.
Potatoes grew much slower than wild vegetables. If autumn or winter arrived, new plants probably wouldn’t have time to mature, so gathering as many as possible now would ease his worries.
Searching and gathering was slow. Shi Nuo looked up in the direction of the white wolf.
He felt uneasy, worried that he was taking too long and that the wolf might become impatient.
Fortunately, the wolf seemed unhurried, waiting for him in a clear area free of rocks and fallen trees, its gaze sweeping lazily over the surroundings, as if on guard.
Perhaps out of boredom, its fluffy white tail twitched a couple of times, but it didn’t seem restless.
Not feeling pressured, Shi Nuo lowered his eyes and continued searching for potatoes before the white wolf looked back at him.
He was a little afraid of the wolf’s deep, blue eyes.
A pungent, burning smell filled the air. Under the thick trunk of a large tree lay a charred rabbit-like creature.
Shi Nuo reached out, trying to pull the dead rabbit out, but his hand came away covered in black ash.
The burnt smell from the rabbit was strong and unpleasant, with no hint of meaty aroma. Half of its body was crushed under the tree, its innards a mangled mess.
The sight was gruesome, and he quickly dropped the rabbit, frowning and wiping the black ash from his hands, relieved that it was only charred fur and nothing else.
Finally reaching the area where he had dug potatoes before, Shi Nuo saw many uprooted red-skinned potatoes scattered on the ground and quickly began to gather them.
Many plants had been blown over by the strong wind, but a few had miraculously survived.
A dozen or so potato plants, their stems resilient, had held on, their roots firmly anchored in the soil, preserving some intact potatoes.
But many more had been blown away by the wind. Shi Nuo felt a pang of regret at the loss. He should have harvested them earlier.
Fortunately, there were still some scattered around, and he carried his bucket, searching and digging.
The white wolf remained nearby, its gaze fixed on the squatting Omega.
Compared to the Alpha’s physique, Shi Nuo seemed small and weak, able to survive only by digging up plants, unable to hunt for meat.
He was indeed thin, with only a bit of flesh on his thighs.
As for other areas…
The white wolf’s eyes darkened as it considered its payment for today.
The air was filled with the lingering smell of burning. The wind picked up again, dispersing the pungent odor.
The thunderstorm had destroyed the forest, and various insects, having survived, emerged from the soil, fleeing quickly after being intimidated by the powerful pheromones.
The corpses of small animals, crushed or electrocuted, attracted the surviving predators in the vicinity.
Hidden behind fallen trees, these stealthy hunters spotted Shi Nuo.
The small, slender Omega posed no threat and, in the eyes of several medium-sized beasts, was a strange but appealing food source, emanating the scent of flesh and blood.
Then, the white wolf, over three meters tall at the shoulder, appeared silently, its icy gaze sweeping over the area.
The highly sensitive leopard-like creature sensed danger and, under the sudden surge of oppressive pheromones, slowly retreated. Facing the beast king, it lowered its head slightly, then turned and fled, not daring to look back.
The other beasts, unable to escape in time, were frozen in place by the overwhelming pheromones, their legs trembling, their tails tucked between their legs.
The white wolf glanced at them. Their meat wasn’t appealing. It turned away, no longer paying them any attention.
The beasts, having narrowly escaped death, whimpered and fled as fast as they could.
Shi Nuo heard a slight noise and straightened up to look, but he only saw the white wolf lazily patrolling its territory.
The Alpha’s pheromones gradually spread, blanketing the plain.
Both buckets were full of potatoes, heavy and overflowing. There were still quite a few potatoes scattered on the ground. Shi Nuo looked at them, put down the buckets, and began gathering the remaining potatoes, gently tossing them near the buckets.
Many were hidden under the soil and vegetation. He carefully dug out those that were intact or not completely broken. If they were too far from the buckets, afraid of damaging them by throwing them, he gathered them into small piles.
After he couldn’t find any more scattered potatoes, he went to a surviving potato plant, bent down, and tried to pull it out. Unable to, he used his wooden board to loosen the soil.
He busied himself while the white wolf continued its leisurely patrol nearby.
The potatoes underground, regardless of size, were mostly intact. The larger plants had ten or even twenty potatoes, and the smaller ones had at least seven or eight.
From the remaining eleven plants, he harvested over one hundred and twenty intact potatoes.
This brought Shi Nuo a sense of relief. Including the hundred or so he had gathered earlier, and the three hundred he had stored in the house, he now had over five hundred. If stored properly, they would last a long time, and he wouldn’t have to worry about food for a while.
When the rain and temperature were suitable, the wild vegetables should also start growing again.
The potatoes he had gathered were in several piles. Shi Nuo picked up the two full buckets, intending to carry them back first.
He instinctively glanced towards the white wolf, which had wandered off, its destination unknown. But its pheromones still lingered, deterring any potential threats.
Carrying the heavy buckets, he started walking back. The sky was still overcast, and a cold wind blew. He hadn’t gone far when a light drizzle began to fall.
Shi Nuo quickened his pace, making several trips back and forth, carrying all the potatoes back to the house before the rain intensified.
By the river, the white wolf stared at several live fish and a few large shrimp flopping on the bank.
With no container to carry them, it frowned, unwilling to lower itself to carrying these fishy things back in its mouth.
