Chapter Forty-One: Racing Against Life and Death

In the afternoon, the plateau was shrouded in thick clouds. Suddenly, a burst of commotion shattered the silence, startling several crows from the trees into flight with loud, raucous cries.

Moments later, a mechanical dog burst out from the hillside, pulling behind it a massive sled. Upon the sled lay a towering grey wolf.

“Faster! Dogmeat, faster, pick up the pace...”

Sun Licheng pushed the sled with all his might, shouting ceaselessly.

The Wolf King was ill—on the verge of death.

Last night, Sun Licheng had successfully recruited the Wolf King. The roasted elk had served as his reward.

Just as Sun Licheng was watching the Wolf King devour half the roasted elk with satisfaction, a sudden, mournful howl erupted from the beast. The next instant, it collapsed to the ground.

Alarmed, Sun Licheng hurried to check. He discovered white foam bubbling from the wolf’s mouth.

“Poisoned!”

“Could it be the elk? Impossible! If something were wrong, I would have sensed it—my body can detect toxins.”

“If the meat is safe, it must be an old poison, now flaring up.”

Thoughts flashed rapidly through Sun Licheng’s mind until he found the crux of the matter.

Turning the grey wolf over, he found a deep, festering wound on its hind leg—the poison had long since infiltrated its system.

He had brought plenty of herbs, but after searching, he found only medicine for wounds and stamina recovery.

“Damn it, I forgot—I’m immune to poison, so I never thought to bring antidotes.”

The realization struck him, and he smacked his forehead in frustration.

“What do I do? What now?” Sun Licheng cried out in his heart.

“Woof...”

Dogmeat, thinking something was amiss, ended its standby mode and barked at Sun Licheng.

Dogmeat’s bark snapped him back to his senses. He remembered Mr. Dexterous. “Of course! Mr. Dexterous has the technology of the Gnome Empire—he can surely save the Wolf King!” Sun Licheng shouted, excitement surging within him.

To help the Wolf King make it back to the valley stronghold, Sun Licheng shoved all the stamina medicine he had into the wolf’s mouth and forced it down with water.

The Wolf King could no longer stand. After some thought, Sun Licheng dismantled Dogmeat’s small cart to build a large sled, fixing the wheels onto it so the Wolf King could be loaded atop.

With Dogmeat’s help, the sled was quickly assembled. By then, dawn was breaking, but the Wolf King’s condition was worsening.

To ensure speed, Sun Licheng threw away all but the bare essentials, placing only the Wolf King on the sled, thus beginning a desperate race against death.

Dogmeat pulled the Wolf King, while Sun Licheng pushed from behind. The three of them, like an armored vehicle, barreled across the plateau, scattering wildlife in their path. Any beast foolish enough to cross them would have been met by Sun Licheng’s blade without hesitation, regardless of what it was.

Though they moved fast, there remained a considerable distance to the fortress, and the sky was growing darker by the moment.

Suddenly, a biting wind swept in, and Sun Licheng’s heart sank. Heavy rain was imminent; fine droplets were already landing on his face.

The Wolf King was frail—if it got caught in the rain, Sun Licheng dared not imagine the consequences.

“Hang in there, Wolf King, you must hold on... You still have to roam this world with me, don’t leave me alone...”

His voice cracked with emotion, his words a bestial wail.

The Wolf King’s body was utterly still, its strength spent by the spreading toxin. Its large eyes fixed on Sun Licheng, as if memorizing his face—filled with longing for life, for the world, for so many things.

“No!”

As the Wolf King’s eyes closed, Sun Licheng collapsed to the ground, unleashing a heart-wrenching cry.

At that moment, a tremendous jet roar sounded in the distance. Sun Licheng looked up to see a red light streaking through the gloomy plains—a large, octopus-headed robot was racing toward them.

“Thank goodness, Mr. Dexterous is here! The Wolf King can be saved!” Sun Licheng shouted in elation.

At his side, Dogmeat was already barking, guiding Mr. Dexterous to their location.

...

Half an hour later, inside the stone castle of the valley stronghold, the fire blazing in the hearth filled the room with warmth. The Wolf King now lay atop a large wooden table, with Sun Licheng and Mr. Dexterous at its side.

Thanks to Mr. Dexterous’s energy-expending flight, he had managed to bring the Wolf King and Sun Licheng back to the small fortress just as the first heavy drops of rain began to fall outside, shrouding the world in chaos.

As for Dogmeat—well, it had no choice but to run home on its own.

The stone castle, built with the help of a mammoth herd, was small—just three rooms, with a battlemented watchtower above. Now, Sun Licheng’s face was nearly pressed against Mr. Dexterous’s oversized head.

“What? You’re telling me you can’t do anything? Weren’t you the control unit for the Gnome Empire’s airship? You have nearly 150 gnome CPUs in that head of yours—practically a god! And now you’re telling me you can’t help?”

Sun Licheng roared in fury, like a dragon breathing fire.

Just moments earlier, Mr. Dexterous had confessed his inability to save the Wolf King, and Sun Licheng had erupted.

In the cramped room, the firelight cast Sun Licheng’s face in hellish relief.

“I’m sorry, Boss. There truly is no method in my database for treating this type of creature,” Mr. Dexterous replied, his artificial soul utterly devoid of emotion—his words cutting into Sun Licheng’s heart like a knife.

“But you could check the magical arrays left by Their Majesties—perhaps there’s a way to heal the grey wolf there.”

Instantly, Mr. Dexterous’s words pulled Sun Licheng back from despair.

He realized, somewhat sheepishly, that he hadn’t studied the magic arrays much—he’d almost forgotten about them.

Soon, an explanatory magical display appeared on the castle wall.

The magic arrays bestowed by the Earth God fell into three categories: attack, defense, and purification, each with some twenty or thirty patterns—not a large number. According to the two deities, as Sun Licheng’s strength grew, more arrays would become available, provided he found other fragments of divine essence.

Among the arrays, a purification array could cleanse toxins and restore strength—perfect for the Wolf King.

“The design’s not hard, the rules are simple, and the effects are impressive. But what the hell is ‘divine power’? Where am I supposed to find a deity now? And even if I did, why would they listen to me?”

Sun Licheng’s brief elation soured, his face dark as thunder, as he shouted at Mr. Dexterous in frustration.

“Boss, you can use the vortex inside your body—the one infused with divine power. That’s what Their Majesties said, anyway,” Mr. Dexterous quickly replied.

Twenty minutes later, Sun Licheng placed a fully charged magic crystal in the hexagram on the floor. The room burst into radiant light, like a celestial realm. A dark green mist rose from the Wolf King’s body, dissolving under the brilliance. The wolf’s pain-twisted face slowly relaxed, and, at last, it drifted into sleep.

When the light faded, the Wolf King had returned to its former vitality, all wounds vanished.

“Mr. Dexterous, please prepare dinner. I’ll stay here with the Wolf King tonight,” Sun Licheng said softly, finally at ease. Mr. Dexterous’s red eyes flashed, and he flew out of the room. At the doorway, Dogmeat’s barking announced its return.

...

The morning sun shone bright, and the air after the storm seemed to brim with the fragrance of wildflowers and grass.

Inside the stone castle, a luminous display glowed on the wall.

“Boss, this is everywhere I’ve explored in the tunnels so far,” Mr. Dexterous was reporting his recent work to Sun Licheng, who had just finished breakfast.

With the Wolf King restored, Sun Licheng’s understanding of life here had deepened. He instructed everyone to call him “Boss” from now on, not “Master.” In his heart, both the Wolf King and the artificial soul were companions, not servants.

“Not bad, you’ve done well—covered quite a lot of ground,” Sun Licheng said, pleased with Mr. Dexterous’s progress.

On the display was a massive map of the tunnels, drawn to the Gnome Empire’s military standards—highly professional, but, to Sun Licheng’s eyes, rather hard to interpret.

“Mr. Dexterous, do you know how to make 3D maps?” he asked after a while.

“Boss, what do you mean? 3D maps?” Mr. Dexterous was utterly baffled.