The gray wolf, though unscathed, seemed to sense the danger.
Trapped in the narrow corridor, it had no choice but to attack.
With a roar, the wolf lunged at Ryan like a flash of lightning.
Ryan's eyes narrowed, and he quickly stepped back, raising his gun and firing continuously at the charging beast.
Bang! Bang! Bang!Three more shots rang out. The gray wolf let out a mournful howl mid-air and collapsed to the ground before it could reach Ryan.
The gray wolf, driven by the sheer momentum of its charge, continued to slide across the smooth wooden floor even after it had collapsed, leaving a long trail of blood in its wake. It skidded several meters before finally coming to a halt at Ryan's feet.
Had the wolf not charged, Ryan might have missed entirely.
But with its large frame—nearly a meter tall and massive in size—when it was only a meter or two away, aiming was almost unnecessary.
Ryan had fired three shots almost blindly, and all three had hit their mark, bringing the wolf down.
The wolf, now struggling on the ground and trying to rise, was in its death throes. Ryan had intended to deliver a final shot, but as he saw the light in the wolf's eyes fade and heard its low, painful howls, he hesitated.
As the light in the wolf's eyes faded, its howls grew softer.
The wolf's final cries and the desperate gleam in its eyes moved him.
He, too, was struggling to survive in this game, not much better off than the wolf.
"I will survive and get out of this damned world," Ryan muttered to himself, his resolve hardening.
He knelt down, placed the gun against the wolf's skull, and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
Bang! The shot ended the wolf's suffering.
Without a glance at the corpse, Ryan stood up, walked to the living room, picked up a large umbrella from the corner, and stepped outside.
As soon as he opened the door, the howling wind and driving rain hit him like a wall.
The umbrella nearly slipped from his grasp, and he had to quickly adjust it to face the wind to keep from being blown away.
Ryan circled around the villa's eaves until he reached the window of the room where he had slept the night before.
He wedged the umbrella handle between his neck and shoulder, pulled out the gun from his waistband, smashed the glass, and peered inside.
The gray wolf was there, clawing at the door, leaving deep scratches.
At the sound of shattering glass, the gray wolf inside immediately sensed the danger and turned to charge towards the window.
The iron bars stopped it, and it let out a low, menacing growl as it collided with the bars.
Clang!
The wolf's massive body hit the iron bars, causing a loud clang.
The window shook but held firm.
Ryan sneered, steadied his gun against one of the bars, and took aim.
This time, he didn't rush to fire. Instead, he steadied the position of the handgun before he began to aim at the gray wolf.
The wolf, having never seen a gun before unaware of the danger, merely bared its teeth and claws, staring at Ryan outside the window, ready to pounce again. Ryan didn't hesitate and fired.
At a distance of only two meters, even if Ryan were the worst shot, he couldn't miss.
Bang! The bullet struck the wolf's abdomen.
It let out a piercing howl and collapsed, unable to rise again.
Ryan turned and walked back inside. The brief exposure to the storm had left him feeling chilled to the bone.
After returning to the villa, Ryan dropped the umbrella, strode to the room, and closed the door behind him.
When he pushed open the door, he saw the wolf inside had tried to crawl away but failed.
A pool of blood had formed beneath it, and it was weakening from blood loss.
Ryan felt no pity. He knew this was a brutal survival game, and the wolves were just spawns in the game. Therefore, he wouldn't sympathize with them.
He stepped closer, kept a safe distance, and fired a second shot to end the wolf's suffering.
As the wolf died, Ryan felt a wave of dizziness wash over him, and he nearly fainted.
He collapsed onto the bed, exhausted and drained.
Leaning against the headboard, he panted heavily.
After a few moments, he regained his composure.
Ryan knew what was happening. He had spent the entire day scratching lottery tickets without rest.
After coming back in the evening, his excitement about the potential winnings had kept him awake. At this critical moment, being chased by two gray wolves had kept his nerves on edge the entire time. It wasn't until he had dealt with the wolves that his taut nerves finally relaxed.
The extreme emotional fluctuations, combined with blood loss from his injury, were too much for his body to handle, and he began to feel the effects.
Ryan glanced at the wolf's corpse on the floor but didn't bother with it.
He was too exhausted. He decided to sleep in another room and deal with everything in the morning.
He dragged his heavy body to another room on the first floor and fell asleep as soon as he lay down.
His fatigue was so overwhelming that he barely noticed the pain in his arm.
He didn't know how long he had slept when he heard a faint howl in the distance.
In his drowsy state, he thought it was just a hallucination from the previous night's struggle against the two wolves.
He dismissed it and tried to go back to sleep.
But then the howling grew louder, drowning out the sound of the storm outside.
Ryan's eyes snapped open. The howling was too loud and too numerous to be ignored. His heart sank as he realized something was wrong.
At this time, he already felt that something was wrong.
The sound was too loud, and it wasn't just one wolf howling.
Ryan's heart skipped a beat. He jumped out of bed, rushed to the window, and pulled back the curtains.
What he saw made his scalp tingle.
Outside the villa, there was more than one wolf.
More accurately, there was a pack of wolves.