Chapter 718 - 11: The Grudge-Holding Coyote (Part 2)

Chapter 718: Chapter 11: The Grudge-Holding Coyote (Part 2)

’Of course, this was all just Shen Xin’s own idea. As for what the final outcome would be, even he didn’t know.’

’He could only go into it with a "let’s give it a try" attitude, as a supplement to their existing search methods.’

Over on Raven’s side, Philips and the AI were keeping watch, so they didn’t need much manpower.

This method was essentially a way to utilize the idle Tian Kui, supplementing the search.

In reality, Shen Xin still had one last resort.

That was to release the Tian Kui completely—100 police dogs roaming the vast basin, surviving on their own, and searching until they found what they were looking for.

But doing so would be too risky for them.

’They hadn’t even really gotten started, and Ding Yuwei was already nagging him about contributing too much. So, Shen Xin only let himself think about this method for a moment.’

That day, the whole process was still a bit clumsy. Not counting the pack of coyotes that got injured, they captured a total of five packs.

The next day, they first used the tracking data to find the coyotes they had rounded up the day before.

The first target was the pack of six coyotes.

With the tracking data, finding them was easy.

When they found them, the six coyotes seemed to be hunting, racing across the wilderness in pursuit of a red fox.

Shen Xin’s arrival unexpectedly gave them a helping hand.

The red fox, which had been fleeing for its life, was startled by the vehicles and, in its panic, actually turned back.

It was like a lamb walking into a tiger’s den. In an instant, the alpha wolf pounced and pinned it to the ground.

In a flash, the other coyotes swarmed it, and soon, it went silent.

Seeing the vehicles, the coyotes were clearly afraid, but with their prey now in their grasp, they were naturally unwilling to give it up easily.

They began to tear at it frantically, trying to get in a few more bites before they had to flee.

Just then, the alpha wolf noticed the approaching people and shuddered, recalling the shameful scene from yesterday of being held at gunpoint and forced to roll over on the ground.

But due to the favorability effect, it surprisingly didn’t run. It called out to its pack members, let go of the prey, and warily watched Shen Xin approach.

’Without the Tian Kui as bodyguards, Shen Xin honestly wouldn’t have dared to get close.’

He kept a distance of ten meters, staring at them from afar.

Shen Xin saw that the favorability icon was still there and waved at the coyote.

The male alpha hesitated for a moment, then picked up the red fox’s corpse, carried it over to Shen Xin, and dropped it at his feet.

Then, it looked at Shen Xin fearfully and lowered its head in submission.

’It was offering the food to Shen Xin.’

’This was a good sign. Since they were pack animals, they had a hierarchy.’

’When they caught prey, the leader naturally ate first.’

’The poor red fox was still twitching.’

Shen Xin waved at it again.

It slowly approached.

When Shen Xin reached out to pet it, it flinched but then didn’t dare to move again, allowing Shen Xin to stroke its fur.

"Good boy. You can have it," Shen Xin said, pointing at the corpse on the ground.

It glanced at Shen Xin, and only after confirming the offer was for it did it step forward to eat.

It probably saw this as a reward, and its favorability increased by another point.

The favorability was already having an effect, so Shen Xin didn’t hesitate. He followed the plan, brought out the model, and assigned the task.

Once he felt they had understood, Shen Xin prepared to leave and find the next pack.

But as the vehicles started up, the coyote watched from a distance for a moment before unexpectedly chasing after them.

Looking in the rearview mirror, Shen Xin saw it was still in pursuit.

After a moment’s hesitation, Shen Xin signaled for the convoy to stop.

"Why are you following me?" Shen Xin thought it wanted food, so he grabbed a piece of raw beef from the back seat and threw it to the coyote.

But it didn’t take the meat. Instead, it barked sharply twice.

Then it ran over and began to paw at the bed of one of the trucks in the convoy.

A thought struck Shen Xin, and he quickly got out of the vehicle.

The truck bed it was pawing at was the one carrying the wolfhound model.

’Could this guy actually know about this wolfhound?’

"You’ve seen this?" Shen Xin asked, taking the model down and pointing at it.

It barked sharply twice, then turned and ran off.

After running a few meters, it stopped and looked back at them.

The meaning was clear: it wanted Shen Xin to follow.

"Shen Xin, is this a lead?" Lin Wei, who was standing guard nearby, asked quietly.

He had been with Shen Xin for quite some time now and was familiar with his unique set of skills.

York had sharp ears and overheard the word "lead." He immediately got out of his vehicle and asked what was going on.

Shen Xin shook his head. He hadn’t reached stage two yet, so he didn’t know exactly what the coyote meant.

’But it was a lead nonetheless. Maybe it would lead to an unexpected breakthrough.’

He immediately told everyone to get back in their vehicles and follow the coyote.

The coyote led the way, calling over its family. The large procession headed south, following the edge of the forest.

The farther south they went, the more complex the terrain became, and the elevation continued to rise.

Of course, the overall elevation in this area was around two thousand meters, so even with mountain ranges, the changes in elevation weren’t that dramatic—perhaps only a few hundred meters at a time.

But it was a different story farther south.

Over there was a vast mountain range composed of multiple peaks three to four thousand meters high.

This area was also called the Grovantre Wilderness, the source of the Grovant River.

The Grovant River is a tributary of the famous She River. It flows west from the Grovantre Wilderness, passes through the important town of Jackson on Highway 191, winds through the Jackson Hole Valley, and empties into the She River.

And now, it seemed these coyotes were about to lead Shen Xin across the Grovantre Wilderness, deep into the south.

At first, the pickup trucks managed to keep up, but soon their path was blocked by a river they couldn’t cross.

Shen Xin got out of his truck to look ahead. The coyote up front also stopped and turned to look back at him.

Shen Xin was still thinking, ’We can’t possibly go on foot, can we? We’d be exhausted,’ when York announced he already had a solution.

Somehow, he had summoned a small helicopter.

It looked similar to a Little Bird helicopter, probably from the same series.