From Ye Yang’s account, Shen Ming immediately concluded that the dream was highly suspicious. He even suspected it wasn’t a dream at all, but hypnosis.
Professor Lang shook his head. “I didn’t do anything to him. Prophetic dreams are beyond our control. Our pack has been guided by the blood moon since its very beginning.”
“These prophetic dreams appear at critical junctures in the pack’s history. Each time, they connect the Holy Guide with another member of the pack. But there’s usually no pattern to who that other member is.”
Ye Yang asked, “Then why was I chosen this time?” He wasn’t a werewolf.
Even Professor Lang had his doubts about that. “Perhaps… because he carries the scent of one of our pack members.”
Ye Yang sniffed the air in confusion. “The scent of a werewolf?” He had no idea what that was supposed to smell like.
“Yes. Speaking of which, I’d like to ask—have you ever seen that little wolf? The scent on you belongs to the little wolf we lost. The one Pingping took.”
“Pingping took a little wolf with her?” Ye Yang was startled.
“Yes. When she fled, she grabbed a little wolf as a hostage. Otherwise, she never could have outrun the hunting party.”
The werewolf who had carried Ye Yang there suddenly bounded over, looking anxious. “Isn’t he our little wolf?”
Ye Yang: “…?” What?
Professor Lang soothed the simple-minded giant wolf and asked again, “Have you ever seen that little wolf?”
Ye Yang shook his head. He had never seen any little wolf.
Professor Lang sighed softly. Though he hadn’t held out much hope from the start, deep down he had harbored a faint wish—that Pingping was still as kind as she used to be.
Werewolves were not easily born. Every little wolf was precious. What a pity…
Ye Yang also realized that little wolf was likely in grave danger.
The simple-minded giant wolf let out a low “whimper” and turned to run into the depths of the forest.
The atmosphere grew heavy for a moment.
Amid the silence, Shen Ming looked at Professor Lang, his voice as impassive as ever: “But you still haven’t said what this prophetic dream actually means. Why all the evasiveness? What is your real intention?”
Professor Lang kept his eyes lowered and didn’t respond immediately. The surrounding werewolves glared at Shen Ming, the rude intruder. The tension was palpable. But then, after a moment, Professor Lang looked up—and smiled.
It was a smile of resignation. Yet Ye Yang’s heart suddenly skipped a beat. Flustered, he looked at Professor Lang and heard him say: “It’s a notification. Every Holy Guide, when death is near, receives a premonition of their own death. This is to allow time to arrange the competition for the next Holy Guide, so that the pack is never left leaderless.”
·
The howling sea wind whipped ice crystals into their faces, only to be blocked and melted by the barrier. Ye Yang, lying on Xuanwu’s massive shell just as before, still had no heart to admire the rare scenery.
Now that he knew Professor Lang would soon die, a dull ache lingered in his heart.
He had no real connection to the werewolves. He and Professor Lang had never intersected at Dongzhou University. It was only a dream that had linked them. Yet he couldn’t suppress this sadness.
Professor Lang, however, was very matter-of-fact about his death. He said he had already lived for many, many years. After he had dealt with the mistakes he had made, he would accept his fate. As a yaoguai, Ye Yang couldn’t quite understand this.
In China, whether yaoguai or human cultivators, everyone trained hard and defied the heavens’ will—all for the sake of immortality. If someone foresaw their own death, especially in such a terrifying manner, they would do everything in their power to fight fate. They would never simply accept it.
But Professor Lang didn’t elaborate. He only asked Ye Yang and Shen Ming to explain the situation regarding the deer spirit and the spirit core to YCG. As for himself, he had his own way of returning to Dongzhou City, and they agreed to meet at Dongzhou University.
…
Back at the YCG Dongzhou branch, Ye Yang immediately found Director Tu and told her that the so-called “deer spirit’s spirit core” was actually the werewolf spirit core, and that it hadn’t been stolen by the werewolves at all—it was still in Dongzhou.
Director Tu didn’t waste any time. She confronted Lu Pingping directly.
Incidentally, she also extracted the location of the spirit core from Pingping—and retrieved it on the spot.
Lu Pingping had been hiding the spirit core on her person the entire time. More precisely, inside her body. To avoid being found, she had exploited a loophole using the spirit core’s natural fusion property.
During her transformation, she had tucked the spirit core into the fur on her arm. When she took human form, the core fused beneath her skin.
Ye Yang wasn’t privy to the details of the confrontation, but the conclusion was clear: everything Professor Lang had said was true.
Director Tu wasn’t particularly surprised. “This girl has virtually no combat ability, yet she dared to attempt assassinating a werewolf? That’s a bit overconfident.”
“She doesn’t seem that stupid. I reckon she was counting on the werewolves not hurting her.” Director Tu clicked her tongue. “A wolf in the pack turns out to be a white-eyed wolf—well, a white-eyed deer, I suppose.”
“Oh, by the way, I can’t give you this spirit core yet. Have that Professor Lang come see me.”
With that, Director Tu quickly shooed Ye Yang out. She was swamped with work. The deer spirit matter was only being handled, out of her packed schedule, as a favor to Ye Yang and Shen Ming.
Ye Yang didn’t know what method Professor Lang used, but the man arrived at Dongzhou University even faster than he did. When told he needed to visit YCG, he showed no surprise.
“You’ve done us a great favor. It’s only right that I come and pay my respects. Besides, Pingping is still there.”
Ye Yang brought Professor Lang to meet Director Tu. He didn’t participate in the subsequent conversation, but when they came out, both parties looked very satisfied. Director Tu—who knew what compensation she had extracted from Professor Lang—was in an exceptionally good mood. She returned the spirit core, let the werewolves take Lu Pingping away, and even patted Ye Yang on the shoulder, giving him a bonus out of her own private funds.
Ye Yang actually hesitated, wondering if Director Tu had done something like lining her own pockets. Otherwise, why was she being so generous all of a sudden?
Director Tu smacked him on the head. “That’s to shake your brain up a bit. What are you thinking about all day!”
…
Lu Pingping was brought out, her expression very complicated.
She already knew the truth.
Professor Lang had indeed killed her parents, but none of it was as the evil werewolf had told her.
Being intelligent, she understood immediately—the werewolves’ culling of the deer spirits was not only for their own sake but also for the deer spirits’ benefit.
Yet, when the ones killed were her own parents, she couldn’t help but feel some resentment. Having grown up among werewolves, she had always known she was an outsider. Other werewolves might have thought she didn’t remember, but she had never forgotten. In her early years, she had barely survived on her own. It was only after she learned to speak that she left behind that heart-pounding life where she couldn’t even dare to sleep through the night.
She often wondered—if, if she had grown up with her parents in a deer spirit herd, would things have been different?
But she also knew very well that deer spirit herds had never had a leader like the Holy Guide.
These thoughts had been tearing her apart until she assassinated Professor Lang and fled the werewolf forest.
She had thought everything would be different once she got out. But in all the years outside the werewolf forest, she had never known a moment of peace.
She couldn’t bring herself to kill the little wolf in the end. She had simply let it go to fend for itself. But sometimes, in the dead of night, she still thought about it—wondering if the little wolf was still alive, and how it was doing.
She had taken the werewolf spirit core with her. Without this crucial object, the werewolf clan would eventually degenerate into an ordinary wolf pack. Ordinary wolves only hunt to survive—they would no longer carry out large-scale culls of deer spirits. Both the deer spirits and the wolf pack might continue to live on in the werewolf forest.
Professor Lang’s younger brother had described that future to her over and over, searing it into her mind. But after she left, Lu Pingping gradually came to understand: that future was impossible.
A wolf pack without self-awareness could not control the deer spirits’ overpopulation. In the end, both would perish together.
But going back? She didn’t dare.
When Director Tu confronted her today, she had actually felt relieved. The only reason she had tried to stop YCG from investigating the werewolves was fear—fear of facing the mistakes she had made. But now that the moment had truly arrived, she felt calm instead.
This day was bound to come. She had to face her mistakes. Everything would be set right.
Lu Pingping’s gaze toward Professor Lang gradually softened. Professor Lang looked back at her deeply—no resentment in his eyes, no blame—only the same gentleness that had never changed.
·
Ye Yang saw Professor Lang again on the evening of the day they returned to Dongzhou.
After contacting Brother Xing, Ye Yang was about to pack up and head to Can Mountain as reinforcements.
That was when Professor Lang came to find him.
“I still want to ask—are you sure you’ve never seen that little wolf?”
Professor Lang had handled Lu Pingping’s matter with remarkable efficiency. Once the misunderstanding was cleared up, Lu Pingping agreed to return to the werewolf forest, to teach the young wolves with the knowledge she had gained outside, and to atone for her mistakes. The other werewolves had already taken her back, and the spirit core had naturally returned with them.
Lu Pingping was quite surprised. She had thought Professor Lang would never trust her again—let alone the other werewolves.
But to her astonishment, not a single werewolf suspected her of any ill intent. They were all convinced she had simply been deceived. Once she returned to the werewolf family, she would once again be their clever, adorable little deer.
Moreover, since Lu Pingping could never compete for the position of Holy Guide, she had no conflict of interest with any werewolf. In fact, she was the most popular among the pack—everyone was looking forward to her return.
The young wolves especially, having apparently forgotten that she had lost one of their own and nearly stabbed the Holy Guide, were very eager for her to bring back things from the outside world that the werewolf forest didn’t have.
What could Ye Yang say? Sometimes Lu Pingping suspected that, given most werewolves’ simple thinking, the only reason the pack had survived this long was purely thanks to the blood moon’s blessing.
After seeing Lu Pingping off, Professor Lang also tied up loose ends regarding his human identity as “Professor Lang.” The official story was that he was going to Sweden for a few months of academic visits, followed by other arrangements, so he had temporarily resigned from his position as a distinguished professor at Dongzhou University.
Then he immediately came to find Ye Yang.
But this was something Ye Yang really couldn’t help with.
“I’ve never seen any little wolf.” Ye Yang combed through all his memories since arriving on the surface. “Even in the zoo, I’ve only seen adult wolves.”
Professor Lang nodded. “Then may I trouble you to keep an eye out in the future? I’m very sorry to ask, but that child is very likely still alive.”
“Alright, I’ll be on the lookout.” That was easy enough—Ye Yang agreed without hesitation.
Professor Lang thought for a moment, then took out his phone. “Here are some photos of other young wolves. Our pack’s pups have quite distinctive features. If you see one, please let me know right away.”
Ye Yang looked at the photos. These little wolves looked almost like puppies—dark, fuzzy, mixed-breed in appearance, though their eyes were quite sharp… Wait a minute. Why did they actually look a bit familiar?
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