Chapter 1 What's the Head Wolf Thinking?

Actually, most of the time, our Head Wolf wasn't thinking about anything at all – even when she raised an army of magical beasts, her head was still a muddled mess. Lily's actions were as unpredictable as her race. She always managed to create big news even when she herself was completely confused. It was like how she was surprised in the Black Forest to find herself with millions of little brothers in the blink of an eye. Today, she was equally surprised that she suddenly had to build a city...

It was probably the same mentality as when a husky tears the sofa cushions to shreds while its owner is away and then looks back in horror when it hears the owner opening the door – oh crap, what have I done?!

Of course, Lily was much better than an ordinary husky. At least she knew that she should appear profound and strategizing at this time. So when she saw the strange expression on General Ulysses' face, she nodded majestically: "Sub-races are also intelligent creatures, but they live in the wilderness and are a little slower to evolve than you humans. You humans can build houses, so why can't sub-races?"

Ulysses was conflicted in his mind, so he couldn't refute her words. He just hummed and hawed a few times to smooth things over.

Lily looked towards the Great Wilderness. On the vast plains outside the Black Crow Fortress, the power of Chaos had been temporarily isolated. A layer of shimmer floated over the wasteland, forming a protective barrier of astonishing size. And beneath this barrier were magical beasts wandering around like a swarm of insects.

Each sub-race tribe had three to four leaders carrying "Head Wolf Divine Fur" amulets. They were tribal leaders, shamans, great warriors, or prophets. These tribes moved around the edges of the wilderness and the forest, extending the scope of the Order Barrier to the areas where they operated. Lily contributed nearly half of the fluff from her tail, and in this way, she actually sheltered the entire Great Wilderness.

Chaos was suppressed within the Black Forest. Looking from the Black Crow Fortress, one could see a layer of black smoke floating at the end of the Great Wilderness. That was the power of Chaos hovering over the Black Forest – but after the last great battle, this storm had temporarily subsided. Obviously, it had suffered a great loss of vitality, and it would not be able to organize a new offensive in a short period of time.

"The beast tide needs a place to take root. After they leave the forest, they need to find new ways to survive," Lily thought for a while, finally recalling the reason why she decided to build a city in the first place. "Do you know what's different between the beast tide and your human armies?"

Kalashos looked over curiously: "Please enlighten me, Head Wolf."

"The beast tide is not an army, it's a tribal migration, with every beast a soldier. We don't have a logistics system like you humans, nor a clear division between the military and the civilians, and of course, there's no main camp or fortress," Lily said slowly. At this moment, she finally seemed to have the majesty of a Head Wolf. "I don't know if you have something called locusts in your world? They're swarms of insects that fly over, darkening the sky and devouring all the crops in their path. My beast tide is similar to that. Because we don't have logistics, we sustain ourselves through war, eating as we go. With millions of soldiers gathered together, we 'harvest' everything along the way. If you could send someone to fly over the Black Forest, you would understand: the migration route of the beast tide is clear at a glance. The Black Forest has been plowed with a large trench. We ate everything, leaving not a single blade of grass."

General Ulysses' forehead gradually broke out in a cold sweat – he had vaguely guessed all of this when he first saw the beast tide, but this truth, spoken from the Head Wolf's mouth, was especially frightening.

What he didn't know was that the truth was far more exaggerated than Lily described.

The beast tide didn't just consist of one or two races, it was an army formed by a mixture of all the sub-races in the Black Forest: carnivores, herbivores, omnivores, and these were all fine, but it also included bizarre species such as elemental creatures, shadow creatures, and undead. What did their "menu" consist of?

It was no exaggeration to say that Lily's beast tide had cut a scorched chasm through the Black Forest from south to north. Wherever the army passed, they dug up the soil by two and a half meters. Let alone a blade of grass remaining, if they came a few more times, they would probably dig up the oil and drink it...

Lily glanced at General Ulysses: "You certainly wouldn't want us to just maintain this momentum and gnaw our way past your Black Crow Fortress, right?"

The Governor of the Western Territory nodded stiffly: "No doubt."

"So I have to think of other ways to let them feed themselves, and not gnaw into your human territory," Lily pointed to the Great Wilderness. "One Great Wilderness may not be enough, so we also need the mountains near the wilderness and some of the forests in the south. And in order to stockpile supplies, we need warehouses and houses, so building a city is essential. There are now two settlements at the east and west ends of the wilderness. These two points will be connected later, eventually becoming a large city. Outside the city, I have planned hunting grounds and planting areas, but in the initial stage, we will mainly rely on hunting grounds to provide food. To be honest, the sub-races are really not very good at building, I really don't know what the city I designed for them will eventually look like, but there are some smart guys among them, so there shouldn't be too much trouble, right?"

General Ulysses blinked: "In...credible. Can they really do that? Feeding such a large population is not a simple matter even for humans."

"It's difficult for humans, but maybe it's very simple for them," Lily grinned. "The biggest difference between sub-races and you is that they all have the ability to feed themselves as soon as they reach adulthood – as long as there is a large enough hunting ground. Every adult individual in the beast tide is a hunter and a producer. As long as they enter the Black Forest, they can solve their own food problems. The Chaos Storm has forced all the animals in the forest to the north, and now the prey on the edge of the forest is so abundant that they can't eat it all. And my tribesmen all have amulets, so they can freely forage deep in the forest – do you humans have this ability?"

Ulysses listened blankly to the Head Wolf's description of this vision. He had never heard of these things in the family's collection of books or in the noble academies. He murmured: "It seems...to make some sense. So you are going to settle down in the Great Wilderness next?"

"Me? I have my own things to do," to Ulysses' surprise, the Head Wolf shook her head. "The chiefs I appointed will take care of everything here, and then I'm going to leave here to find my landlord!"

When she said this, she had a very happy expression on her face, happier than she had ever been at any time – as if she was about to complete a major goal in her life.

"Find...landlord?" Ulysses once again failed to keep up with the Head Wolf's rhythm. "You said you want to abandon your...legion? Just to find someone?"

"Yes, yes," Lily nodded, taking it for granted. "They were an accident in the first place. Now that I've arranged a way out for them, the rest shouldn't need me to worry about. And to be honest, if I really led such a large group of people into your territory to find someone...you wouldn't be able to accept it, right?"

It was rare for this husky spirit, whose brain had taken a turn for the better, to be so understanding.

When Ulysses heard this, he felt that it seemed to make some sense, but the more he thought about it, the bigger the problem was: this was a million-strong beast tide! A beast tide that could establish a country by finding a treasure land and setting up shop there! A beast tide where being the boss would allow one to sit on an equal footing with the monarchs of other kingdoms! But the person in front of him was actually preparing to leave just like that, without the slightest bit of nostalgia, as if her raising this army was really just an accident, and the powerful legion and the great cause of building a country were all fleeting clouds – not even comparable to seeing that so-called "landlord"!

"The landlord you're looking for...who exactly is he?" Not to mention Ulysses, even Kalashos next to him was a little surprised. He knew that the Head Wolf had been looking for her landlord, but he didn't expect that she would be willing to give up her legion for it. "Is he deeply indebted to you?"

Lily thought about it carefully: "He gives me a place to live, and he also provides food! But I pay him three hundred yuan rent every month."

Kalashos Ulysses: "...?"

"Is the Head Wolf usually like this?" The Governor of the Western Territory couldn't help but ask the High Monk in a low voice.

The High Monk's face was stiff: "Always like this...she has her own logic."

"Was she stimulated by something?"

"Hard to say, she's been alone in the wilderness, she looks like an accident no matter how you look at it..."

Lily's ears twitched: "I have good hearing."

"...cough cough."

After a moment of awkwardness, Ulysses nodded to Lily: "Since the Head Wolf has her own arrangements, I can't intervene, so I wish you can find your benefactor as soon as possible. But I don't know how you plan to start looking for people? Taros is vast, and it's not easy to find someone in the vast sea of people."

Lily scratched her head: "Which part of your country has the most people?"

"This...should be the royal capital, White City, which is the most populous city in Taros."

"Then I'll go to White City. How do I get to White City?"

Ulysses thought for a while: "How about this, I'll send a team of knights to accompany you, they can take you to White City. It's just that the airships of the Black Crow Fortress have been damaged in the previous battle, you can only go by land, I'm afraid it will take some time."

"Oh, oh, that's okay, if we go slowly, we might just run into my landlord on the way!" Lily's eyes lit up. "But are you short of manpower here? Why are you still arranging a guide for me in this situation?"

"I was originally planning to send them to White City," Duke Ulysses smiled wryly. "The Chaos Tide has interfered with the magic net communication between the border and the royal capital. The battle a few days ago completely destroyed a magic energy relay point. The mages probably won't be able to repair that thing for a while. I need to send soldiers directly to the royal capital to deliver the message."

"Oh, that's just right," Lily nodded happily, and then turned to look at Kalashos, "By the way, Uncle, aren't you leaving too? Why don't we set off together! We can also bring that piece of smoked meat with us, if we meet my landlord, he might have a way to figure out where that meat came from."

Kalashos didn't know why the Head Wolf was so sure that she could find her landlord smoothly, but there was no reason to refuse the other party's invitation, so he nodded: "That's fine, then I'll go back and make arrangements."

While the Head Wolf and the High Monk were planning a trip to White City, in the inland of the kingdom, a Big Dipper was also raising billowing smoke and dust, speeding like lightning across the "Green Plains", galloping all the way south.

(Back from the meeting, the Hebei Network Writers Association has been established.)