In the Dream Plane, deep in the night, on a breezy grassland, Kevin and a massive black wolf, each as tall as a man standing on all fours, stared at each other. Both were deeply shocked, and the aftershocks were still lingering.
Just now, the black wolf, which Kevin had thought was a "wild animal," began to speak, its words clear and sharp, with a hint of a Beijing accent. Of course, this last part should be attributed to the power of the intelligent translation system. Kevin firmly believed that no matter how bizarre the Dream Plane might be, it couldn't possibly produce a giant black wolf speaking in Beijing dialect. Even with intelligent translation, he was certain the wolf had spoken human language, not the translation system translating the roar of a wild animal into language. This had been tested; the translation system couldn't translate Lily's "woof"... it could only handle higher-level languages with structured speech.
Kevin sat on the grass in his pajamas, still enveloped in a faint glow. He didn't dare remove his rigid shield. The surrounding wolves didn't look safe. He glanced at the large black wolf across from him, his voice a little surprised. "You really can talk? All the wolves here can talk?"
"That depends on the pack," the wolf said, apprehensively eyeing the transparent film covering Kevin's body. A fist covered in that film felt like a steel pillar hitting its head. It had barely recovered from its dizziness and was therefore very cooperative with Kevin's questions. "Some prairie wolves can talk, like us with bony plates. We're a superior breed, countless times smarter than those idiots who only know how to howl at the moon! But where are you from? How could you have never seen a talking wolf? We're the most famous pack on this prairie!"
Kevin's mind was in a tizzy. He had no idea what was happening in this dream plane. He could only follow the advice of the data terminal and Raven 12345, taking everything he saw for granted and trying not to appear overly surprised. Based on the Big Black Wolf's tone, he judged it possessed a high level of intelligence, perhaps even comparable to humans. He abandoned his attempt to trick the wolf into thinking it was a beast and nodded sincerely, "I can't really say where I'm from. I'm just passing through. Just treat me as a traveler."
"Travelers? To this grassland?" The Big Black Wolf looked at Kevin suspiciously, a look of disbelief evident on his face. "Few humans come here. This place is useless to you. You can't grow crops, there are no local specialties, and there's no... er, minerals. There are no minerals. There used to be a few herders, but they recently moved away. There are too many wolves here, and their livestock don't have enough to eat."
The Big Black Wolf approached under Kevin's wary gaze, sniffing Kevin's scent from head to toe. "You don't look like a traveler. You don't have that strange smell of someone who hasn't showered in a long time. But whatever you say, it has nothing to do with us. We're just wolves."
Kevin wiped the sweat from his forehead. Could a wolf this intelligent still be considered a "wolf"? "Why did you attack me?" Kevin asked awkwardly. He felt really stupid for chatting so seriously with a bunch of wild animals. But then again... who the hell could have imagined that wolves could talk better than humans? "Why can't we attack you?" the black wolf's voice was even more surprised. "We need meat. Even though you don't look like much, it's enough to feed a few of us, and we don't eat much. But I thought you'd be easy to deal with. You're not wearing those stiff clothes, and you don't have any weapons. But you turned out to be even more formidable than those guys. I'm really unhappy about that."
This wolf, after all, was different from humans in that it spoke bluntly, speaking whatever was on its mind. Kevin was speechless for a few seconds about its status as "food," but considering its species, he couldn't get angry. He could only chuckle and chuckle. "Haha, so do you still want meat now?"
"No," the black wolf shook his head. "It's too hard, harder than those people wearing those stiff clothes, and I can't beat you. It seems we really can't just fight humans. You have so many strange things on you. It's very dangerous."
At this moment, another smaller black wolf suddenly spoke up: "Boss, weren't you the one who first suggested eating this guy?"
Kevin looked at the black wolf in front of him in surprise, thinking to himself that this guy was actually the leader of the population. He instinctively rushed over and beat him up, and the target he chose was really good.
Who told you to stay up late at night and shout 'hungry'? "The leader of the black wolf shouted loudly," Eating meat in the afternoon is like a ball, and as soon as the moon comes up, you start shouting 'hungry'. You, the useless brat in the whole clan, have the largest appetite! I even had my teeth knocked out for this
Boss, you've only lost one, and there are a few unlucky teeth over there that are almost all gone. "The slightly smaller Rice Bucket Wolf pointed with its nose to the few black wolves squatting outside the circle, which were the unlucky ones who had come forward to bite Kevin before. These unlucky guys gnawed on the rigid shield in one bite, and now they have regained their youth with baby like teeth and the best remaining two rows of back teeth
Those unlucky guys were covered in blood and could only squat outside the circle, licking each other's fur and comforting each other, looking extremely pitiful.
The wolf king lowered his head and sighed, "It's just bad luck today. Human, can we go now?"
"Oh," Kevin nodded instinctively. But just as the wolves, sighing and supporting each other, were about to disperse, he suddenly remembered something and shouted, "Wait! There's something else!"
The wolf king stumbled, turned his head, stiffened his neck, and glared at Kevin. "Don't go too far! I'm a man of integrity and dignity! You haven't really suffered any harm, so why are you so relentless?"
Kevin nearly choked on his anger. Just because of the words "Will you spare my life?", the wolf king didn't even deserve the word "dignity." He simply shook his head and pointed toward the horizon. "I want to go over there. Can you give me a ride?"
The dark shadows of what looked like man-made buildings looked incredibly far away. Kevin felt that in his current state, it would take until tomorrow morning to run barefoot there. His time in the dream plane was limited, so he wanted to find a more convenient way. "Over there?" The wolf king looked up in confusion. "Didn't I tell you? The nomads are gone. Only a few mud huts remain."
So that was where the nomads had lived, as the wolf king had mentioned. Kevin nodded, "I'll go check it out."
Whether there were people there or not wasn't important; what mattered was the presence of human activity. Kevin was now more curious than ever about everything in the dream plane, and he was willing to take a look at everything. The wolf king mumbled a few times, then turned around. "Okay, then, get on. I'll carry you over."
Kevin was a bit surprised. He'd expected some persuasion, but he didn't expect the wolf king to actually turn around and let him ride. This wasn't what he'd expected. As he climbed onto the wolf king's back, he muttered, "So generous? Didn't you say you guys don't want people to ride you? It's about dignity, it's about being tested, and so on..."
"Dignity? What's that for?" The wolf king was surprised by Kevin's statement. "You humans are so complicated, always thinking about things that have nothing to do with filling your stomachs. We really don't like people riding on our backs because it's a hassle to carry something, but what does that have to do with dignity? It's just uncomfortable... Hey, move forward, or lean back a little. Don't ride on my waist. I won't be able to run that way." Kevin adjusted his sitting position, feeling ashamed. Humans often misunderstand things. Whether it's in the movies, they always measure everything by their own standards. Wolves don't want to be ridden because they're proud. Wild horses don't want to be ridden because they're proud. Unicorns don't want to be ridden because they're not only proud but also noble. But in reality, that's probably all bullshit...
The only reason they won't let you ride them is because it's too much trouble. Who wants to suddenly carry dozens of kilograms of inedible and drinkable waste when they can just walk? Vivian even strapped Lily's luggage to her while she was sleepwalking.
Kevin couldn't help but wonder, if unicorns could communicate, maybe you'd give them a couple of cookies and they'd let you ride them. What the heck is this human "dignity theory" for animals?
"Are you sitting still?" the wolf king suddenly interrupted Kevin's musings. "Hold on tight, let's go!"