Free Web NovelChapter 193: Chapter 181: Now It Is Yours
The relatively peaceful atmosphere of the conference room instantly grew tense with their intrusion.
Gu Ning saw the leader, Vine, and remembered what happened at the wall that day. He and Alex didn’t seem to get along, either. She immediately pulled Barto and Cook back, her palms growing hot and sweaty as she watched him approach.
Barto leaped onto a stool, staring warily at Vine and his group.
Cook’s fur bristled instantly. He dashed in front of the other two and let out a low growl at the wolves, forbidding them from coming any closer.
Vine stopped in his tracks, his brow furrowing slightly as he looked at the Mixed Breed.
"What is this?"
The young wolves behind Vine stared curiously at the fierce little dog hybrid before them.
"A Giant hybrid? Doesn’t look like one."
"A Dwarf among Giant hybrids?" one of the young wolves joked.
"It’s a second-stage mutated Dwarf hybrid," Vine said coolly.
Hearing that the little dog hybrid was a second-stage mutation, the young wolves grew even more curious, but they also became instinctively wary.
Mixed Breeds with secondary mutations were practically degenerating to the level of a Mutant Species. Not only were their temperaments violent and unstable, but their combat strength was also several times greater. They could devolve into a full Mutant Species at any moment. If a fight broke out, it wasn’t certain that even all of them together could subdue it immediately.
’Why would Admiral Andrew bring such a dangerous Mixed Breed into the conference room?’
"Move," Vine said to Cook, his gaze fixed on what was behind him.
"WOOF WOOF WOOF!!!" Cook crouched low, baring his teeth and barking furiously.
The young wolves stepped forward, preparing to take Cook down.
Just then, a small, slender figure appeared beside the little dog and grabbed his arm. The little dog shot upright, no longer baring his teeth. He retracted his claws, and his tail began to wag furiously.
Seeing the little dog’s aggression vanish faster than if he’d been doused with cold water, their gazes all fell upon this... Mixed Breed?
’It is a Mixed Breed, right? Judging by that frame, another Dwarf hybrid.’
Gu Ning placed a hand on Cook’s back, stroking his fur to soothe him.
Cook whimpered a couple of times and relaxed his combat stance, but he remained by Gu Ning’s side, eyeing the pack of wolves warily.
Witnessing the peculiar scene of one Mixed Breed calming another, the young wolves’ eyes lit up.
One of the young wolves recognized Gu Ning as the little Mixed Breed they had met on the wall that night and greeted her happily, "Hey, Cook."
Hearing this, the other young wolves looked at Gu Ning in surprise.
Gu Ning thought he was greeting the real Cook at first, until she realized they were all staring at her. Then, something occurred to her.
’That day, Kloer told Vine that I was Cook.’
’Are they here to settle the score with me?’
The memory of how Vine had given her and Kloer a hard time that night was still fresh. Gu Ning looked up at the tall, sturdy Beastman before her.
It was daytime now, so Gu Ning could see his face clearly. He had a handsome but stern face and looked even more formidable than last time.
Gu Ning swallowed hard, flustered, and edged closer to Cook.
But then she remembered that in the eyes of Vine and his pack, she was with Alex’s group. ’Can’t show any weakness.’ So she glared right back at them.
Vine looked down at the little Mixed Breed and spoke slowly, "Puppy, what are you doing running around with Alex’s pack?"
Gu Ning: ...Huh?
Barto stared at them, his expression shifting from wary vigilance to gradual confusion.
Vine took a step forward and continued, "Little rascal, your big brother isn’t around, so you decide to go run with another wolf pack?"
Gu Ning froze.
’What? Big brother?’
Barto blurted out in astonishment, "You know Cook’s brother?"
"Woof?!" Hearing the word "brother," the ferocity in Cook’s eyes vanished, and his gaze instantly cleared.
Vine glanced at the fox and said, "Cook’s brother is a wolf in my pack."
Gu Ning came to her senses. She almost spoke out loud, but instead, she quickly pulled a slip of paper from her pocket and wrote: Are you Coo—my brother?
Vine finished reading the sentence she wrote. His gaze swept over her. ’The degeneration isn’t that severe, so how can she not even remember her own brother?’
Vine reached out and ruffled the little Mixed Breed’s hair. "You look smarter than Kaper said. Just a little small."
Gu Ning swayed from the force of his touch.
’No.’
’I asked the wrong question.’
’I should have asked where Cook’s brother is for him. Barto said Cook’s brother was serving in a military district outside the No Man’s Land. He’s one of Vine’s... wolves?’
’Isn’t Cook’s brother a dog? He’s a wolf?’
Gu Ning felt utterly confused.
Barto was just as confused. He knew for a fact that Cook’s brother, Kaper, was a dog. How did he end up running with a pack of wolves?
’But judging by this wolf’s attitude toward Gu Ning, it doesn’t seem like he’s faking it.’
Barto was still suspicious and turned his head to look at Andrew. ’Could he have investigated Cook’s identity and be deliberately using this to get close to us?’
Seeing Andrew walk over to the tea station to make tea as if nothing was happening, completely ignoring the situation, Barto grimaced and turned his gaze back to Gu Ning and the others.
"From now on, we are all your brothers." Vine squeezed Gu Ning’s shoulder and said solemnly, "Don’t hang around with Alex’s pack anymore. We’ll take care of you."
Gu Ning looked at him in astonishment. ’What does he mean by that?’
Barto also immediately sensed that something was wrong. He opened his mouth to ask, but after a glance at Cook, he swallowed the words.
Kaper hadn’t contacted him in months. He’d had a bad feeling for a while now that something must have happened to him.
"Don’t be sad." Seeing "Cook" lower her head in silence, Vine took a golden wolf-head medal, sealed in a transparent plastic bag, from his pocket and handed it to her. "It’s yours now."
The young wolves gathered around, looking at the medal in Vine’s hand with solemn expressions.
Gu Ning now realized that Cook’s brother was gone. A sour feeling welled up inside her. She took the medal, looked at it, and then held it out in front of Cook.
Cook tilted his head, looking at the object in her hand. He leaned in to sniff it, and his pupils suddenly contracted. He yelped excitedly, "Per... Ka... per!"
’This is from my brother Kaper!’
Seeing that he recognized the medal, Gu Ning grabbed his thick wrist and placed the medal in his hand.
Vine watched this and, assuming she didn’t know what it was, said, "That’s your brother’s last possession. It’s for you. You should keep it safe and not give it to anyone else."
Gu Ning stepped back behind Cook and gave him a firm push forward, toward the wolves.
Vine couldn’t quite understand the little Mixed Breed’s behavior, but a faint, bad premonition began to surface in his mind.
Cook shuffled forward as Gu Ning pushed him. At that moment, his entire attention was focused on the medal in his hand.
The little dog tore off the medal’s plastic bag with his teeth and sniffed the scent on it.
Besides Kaper’s scent, the medal also carried the smell of Vine’s wolf pack. Kaper’s scent conveyed a friendly signal to them, as if it had been deliberately left on the medal. Cook’s wariness toward Vine and his wolves subsided. He barked twice at them, his tone inquisitive.
Vine understood what Cook meant.
"..." His gaze swept back and forth between the large and small Mixed Breeds before he slowly asked, "Which one of you is Cook?"
