Having the two cubs had really secured Li Pan's affection, so she came early in the morning to play with them. The Wolf King and the other wolves didn't mind, but she wasn't allowed to take them away at night, perhaps still lacking trust in them.
Li Pan took the two cubs to the fields to transfer her superpowers to the crops; after completing a round, she went to cut grass and wild vegetables and to feed the chickens, ducks, and geese. Now, with cows, sheep, chickens, ducks, and piglets to raise, there were more mouths to feed, and she had to work even harder. Not a single bite less could be afforded by so many needing to eat.
Today's work was done quickly; the fields of potatoes and sweet potatoes had already been harvested. They needed to be plowed anew, fertilized with the previously prepared mature compost, and deeply tilled before watering with fertilizer. After it dried, they would fertilize again to ensure the soil's fertility was replenished.
These potatoes and sweet potatoes could still be planted one more time; they needed to continue planting them afterward.
By the lake, there was a patch of bamboo, not very large. Xue Dong and Qin Jianzhong planned to clear that land and plant some sugarcane for making sugar. The area was large enough, and there was plenty of unclaimed plain land.
On the slope, they planned to plant fruit trees such as chestnut trees. Trees that mutated abnormally would be cut down for firewood later on, as they were unsuitable for making furniture.
Li Pan circled back to the bamboo forest, glanced at it, and thought she should build a bridge over the lake to make work less distant.
She took the cubs out of the basket on her back and placed them on the ground to play. She had just fed them meat porridge before coming, and had brought food and meat to the Wolf King first thing in the morning. Every day, she would feed them a separate meal of meat porridge or other food. Wolves are omnivores; they eat cooked food too.
She looked around, planning to cut some bamboo to make baskets and other items, as well as some bamboo tubes. If there were bamboo shoots, she could dig some up to stew with chicken.
The grass was growing well, and cutting some to feed the cattle and sheep was a good idea. Next time, she could bring the sheep here to graze.
As she was working, she heard a noise. Yue Ying and Yue Xin ran back, signaling danger with distressed circling and fearful yowling.
Li Pan also realized something was wrong, hastily picked up the two cubs and put them into the basket, slung it on her back, and started running back the way she came.
She ran straight into a wild buffalo, massive and strong, its eyes a bloody red. The moment it saw her, it charged towards her.
"Damn!"
Li Pan immediately took the whistle around her neck and blew it hard, calling for help.
At the same time, she scattered thorny vine seeds on the ground and used her Wood Power to quickly grow them. The thorny vines were poisonous, and she attempted to use them to slow down the buffalo's charge.
The blood-red eyes were a sign of the Blood Moon's evolutionary mutation, extremely aggressive.
While accelerating the growth of plants and fleeing, she used the vines to grab onto the bamboo, pull herself up, and leap away to widen the distance between her and the buffalo, seeking a sliver of survival.
Xue Dong and Qin Jianzhong were working in the fields when they suddenly heard the whistle.
"Shit, Jianzhong!"
Xue Dong bellowed and dropped what he was holding, then ran like mad towards the direction of the bamboo forest.
Upon hearing the whistle, Qin Jianzhong immediately grabbed a sickle and hurried after Xue Dong, speeding up.
The wolf cubs also felt afraid and kept howling.
Li Pan couldn't defeat a buffalo weighing several thousand pounds. Escaping was her only option, or one hit could cost her life.
The first one to arrive at the scene for the rescue turned out to be the Wolf King and its pack.
They were more sensitive than humans, hearing the cubs' cry for help. Since the cave wasn't far from here, naturally, they arrived the fastest.
Li Pan once again used the vines to escape and increase her distance from the buffalo, which became even more aggressive, constantly spitting flames. A few times, the fire barely missed her as it sprayed.
The Wolf King and its pack reacted quickly, immediately choosing the best positions. The Wolf King and the male wolves were responsible for intercepting the buffalo while the female wolves worked to encircle it and rescue Li Pan.
With the rescue from the Wolf King, Li Pan finally breathed a sigh of relief and circled around to avoid the fight.
Xue Dong and Qin Jianzhong also arrived, running on foot and arriving one step slower than the Wolf King.
A Mutant Fire Blade struck fiercely at the buffalo's neck.
"Wolf King, leave the carcass whole, I'll split half with you," Xue Dong immediately ordered.
Qin Jianzhong stood at the opening of the encirclement, slashing at the buffalo's eyes with a Wind Blade.
The fight ended swiftly; as soon as Xue Dong and his group arrived, the battle was almost instantly over.
Li Pan sat down to catch her breath, and the Wolf King approached.
She took the two cubs out from the basket on her back, "They're not hurt, I didn't mean for this to happen."
"I know. There's a breach in the mountain over there; block it up."
The she-wolf came over and one by one carried off the cubs, Li Pan lowered her head and apologized, "I'm sorry, it was my fault."
"It's okay, you can come and play with the cubs tomorrow, they really like you."
The Wolf King suddenly turned back and spoke to Li Pan.
Li Pan had been feeding the cubs cooked meat porridge and corn paste, and after two days their bellies were all round.
"Thank you!"
Only then did Li Pan breathe a sigh of relief.
"Pan'er, are you all right? Are you hurt?"
Xue Dong ran over, grabbed her shoulders, and looked her up and down; his face had gone pale with fright.
"Brother, I'm fine. I didn't know there would be a wild bull," Li Pan said, equally startled.
"It's my fault, I didn't check carefully; it's not your fault. I'm just glad you're safe."
"Brother, what should we do with this bull, how much does it weigh?"
"Probably over four thousand pounds. The bull has a big build; it must weigh at least that much. It was lucky you ran fast," Qin Jianzhong also had quite the scare.
"Indeed, the whistle frightened me into a sweat. Jianzhong, I'll skin it, and you go look for the gap and use bricks and cement to block it. We can't let other animals in."
"Okay, tonight I'll take the wolf pack out around the valley to patrol and also bring back some prey to store."
As ordered, Qin Jianzhong went to look for the gap.
"Pan'er, go get a knife and drive the tricycle over, we'll haul it back for processing."
"Sure, don't forget you promised the Wolf King to give them half."
"I won't forget. I'll get theirs ready to hang in the cave where it's cool and will keep."
Only when Li Pan stood up did she feel her legs weaken, reminiscing about the wild bull that was taller than her and had fixed its gaze on her, it was truly frightening.
She ran back to drive the tricycle over, and Xue Dong slowly hauled the wild bull back on it.
She and Xue Dong skinned the bull together and planned to cure the hide later; there were many uses for it.
The beef had to be cut into chunks and weighed, and the bones had to be trimmed. The larger bones needed to be chopped up.
The Wolf King came over with the cubs.
Upon seeing Li Pan, the cubs waddled over and nuzzled her legs with their heads.
Li Pan picked up two cubs, "Scared, huh? I've made bone broth. Tonight, you'll have some meat porridge and I'll add some veggies."
"I'll deliver your meat to the cave and hang it up for you. You can eat it slowly, okay?"
"Keep a few big pieces to eat. Save the rest. We'd like to eat cooked food, like that meat porridge."
The Wolf King also ate cooked food at the base for easier digestion, but they also ate raw meat. They usually ate once a day. Sometimes, when food was scarce in the wild, it was common to eat once every few days.
Now that Li Pan was living there, she fed them twice a day: one hot meal and one of pure meat. She certainly didn't shortchange the wolf pack.
"Okay, I'll reserve some meat in the cave for you to have when you're hungry, and if you want a hot meal, there'll be meat in the afternoon."
Li Pan picked out the best meat to put in a basket to take to the Wolf King in the cave later—they had saved her life today, after all.
"Wolf King, is this meat enough for two days' worth of meals? If not, there's more."
"It's enough."
"Thank you for saving me today."
"You're not a bad human. The cubs can play with you in the future."
The Wolf King allowed the cubs to play with her.