Mysterious Hunting Ground

Chapter 237 227. Ancient agreement, missing warrior
On both sides of the cave, under the light of torches, the howling wolf priest walked in front, with the black feather crown above his head swaying slightly, and the plush wolf fur coat dragging against the ground. His back was vicissitudes of life and lonely, like an old wolf walking through the dim fog. .

The tunnel gradually goes downwards.

"Howling Priest, did you know we were coming?" Dean asked,

"My eyes have seen you, and Ke Di also gave me a sign. In a dangerous, chaotic, and riot-filled season, two guests will visit the tribe from thousands of miles away."

"Do you know our purpose?" Kaiden looked straight at the priest's back, as if he saw the man who abandoned Lucinda and walked away resolutely.

The priest's steps slowed down, "From the moment I stepped into the cave, I smelled the familiar scent of you. Kaiden, you have the blood of Emperor Kedi flowing in your body. You came here to find the root cause."

Caiden acquiesced.

"But I can't give you an answer now. You know too little about the tribe and it's easy to misinterpret it one-sidedly."

The priest suddenly stopped as he spoke.

They reached the end of the cave.

A circle of candles made from the hard fat of goats was spread out on the ground. The candles illuminated plates of bloody mutton and berries and strawberries, sacrificed to a wolf-shaped statue.

It is about two meters tall, with a slender snout and wide ears... It looks similar to a gray wolf, but is smaller and slender.

It is not as bloodthirsty and ferocious as usual predators, but has an anthropomorphic shrewdness and cunning.

Under the candlelight, Dean looked into its eyes and felt dazed for a few moments.

Vaguely, the stone pupils blinked at him twice, a few tears slid down the statue's stiff and pale cheeks, and a sad sigh echoed in Dean's mind.

"Salute to you, Coyote Kodi, the patron saint of the tribe." The priest saluted the statue. Seeing this, Kaiden seemed to have been inspired by some mysterious force, and he also saluted.

"Now can we talk about it," Dean asked, "What kind of existence is this patron saint?"

The priest said with great respect, "According to your historical knowledge, it is the patron saint of the beast gods in Mayan mythology, Coyote Kedi. At the same level as it is the king of beast gods, Eagle God, who rules the sky. The bear god who governs the earth, the salmon god of rivers, etc…”

Dean's eyes wandered on the priest's face, and he recalled the appearance of the clansmen he saw along the way, and suddenly felt friendly.

His mother, Lena, is part Indian, and to some extent, he also has a blood connection with the Coyote tribe and priests.

"The myth of the Mayans, so you coyote tribe are all Mayans?" Kaiden said in surprise, "I learned in history class that most of the Mayans live in Central American countries: Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, how could you run away? Come to the Arkansas mountains in the southern United States?"

"Yes, hundreds of years ago, the Coyote tribe originally existed in Mexico." A distant memory flashed across the priest's rough face, "In 1697, after the last Mayan city-state was wiped out by Spanish artillery fire and supernatural forces, we The soil for the survival of faith was squeezed to the limit, and most members of the tribe were forced to convert to Catholicism."

"The remaining stalwarts like us left Mexico to find a new place to live. The small tribe I belonged to headed north into North America..."

"Hundreds of years ago, the Spanish conquered Mexico?" Dean felt like he was flipping through a history book and looked at the Wolf Howling Priest in surprise, "The Spanish could actually defeat your gods?"

"The gods cannot attack people directly. The Spaniards had muskets and cannons, and they also had supernatural powers, which gave us a huge advantage at that time."

"Then how old are you?"

"I disappoint you. I'm 76 years old... The patron saint has given us great power, but not a long lifespan, so we can't live much longer than ordinary people."

"Then you have been living in the deep mountains and old forests of Dog Town for nearly 300 years?" Kaiden next to him interjected,

The priest shook his head,

"We moved to several places and settled here for [-] years,"

"After more than 100 years of development, there are only less than [-] members?" Dean couldn't understand. "In that era when science and technology were not yet advanced, if you had the powerful power to transform into a werewolf, no one could stop you from growing."

"Yes, ordinary people cannot resist the power of the coyote clan," the priest stared at the statue, with a hint of helplessness in his eyes, "but in the past, our tribe only had one leader and one alpha wolf, which could only protect more than 200 members from harm. The law of convergence intrudes. If the number exceeds the number, the tribe will face disaster, so we must strictly control the number of offspring."

"In addition, the fertility of tribes is inferior to that of ordinary people. The more powerful the creatures, the more so."

Convergence law?

Dean's pupils shrank, and he had a deeper understanding of this mysterious rule.

Ordinary people have no way of knowing it, but it is everywhere. For supernatural creatures, it is like a noose around the neck, a narrow cage.

"How have you been so well hidden for so many years?" Kaiden changed the question, "The people in Dog Town know nothing about you. There is not even the slightest bit of werewolf legend in the town. They always thought that the mountains were only inhabited by ferocious beasts."

"Not everyone is kept in the dark. The families of the mayor and police chief have known about our existence since the town was founded." The priest's golden eyes looked at the two, "and helped us keep it secret."

Dean and Caiden exchanged a look. With the help of powerful figures in the town, it was not difficult to fool the townspeople, "But why did they do this? Did their family reach some kind of agreement with the Coyote tribe?"

Appreciation flashed in the priest's eyes,

"When the Coyote tribe first moved here, this mountainous area was almost no man's land. Later, humans gradually settled and multiplied in the valley... Our priest, Alpha, had a premonition that a great era for ordinary people was coming, and no one could In order to survive in isolation under this torrent, I took the initiative to find the powerful families in Dog Town and reached an ancient agreement."

Dean and Caiden listened intently——

The priest said loudly,
"The coyote clan allows humans to live in the valley, but townspeople are not allowed to go deep into the mountains without permission. Even on the periphery, they are not allowed to kill wild animals and destroy the forest."

"No churches were allowed to be built in the town, especially Catholic and Protestant churches. These missionaries destroyed our hometown."

"The number of residents in Dog Town must not exceed the prescribed number. If the population is too large, our risk of exposure will increase significantly."

"As a price, members of the Coyote tribe will never take action against the townspeople, and will voluntarily maintain the stability of the beasts in the mountains and prevent natural disasters such as fires and flash floods."

……

After listening to the contents of this agreement, most of Dean's previous doubts about Dog Town were answered.

Contrary to what he expected, this coyote tribe not only did not harm the townspeople, but to a certain extent, actually protected them.

"For more than 100 years, how can you confirm that the agreement is perfectly executed without errors?" "No guarantee is needed. In the past 100 years, this mountainous area has been far away from the bustling cities and full of dangerous wild animals. There is really nothing worthy of human covet and breach of contract. In In the past, the tribe secretly paid a huge price to protect the townspeople from excessive beast intrusion and natural disasters. As long as they are not fools, they will choose to cooperate with us."

"But that was the situation yesterday." Kayden recalled a piece of information that Old John had mentioned before leaving the farm, and a needle-sharp light flashed across his eyes, "Now the mayor and police chief are stationed ten miles outside the east with people from large companies. To the left and right, a mine tunnel is being built, and Dogtown has violated an ancient agreement."

"The crows told me that this is an out-and-out betrayal." The priest raised his head and said, a chill flashed across his golden pupils, "Human beings have had changeable minds since ancient times, unlike us, who have remained the same for hundreds of years. They abide by ancient rules and principles, and they are always pursuing novel and changing things. Now that they have discovered minerals, they want to take the outer reaches of the mountains as their own."

"But they are never satisfied. I have foreseen that when the mine is established and they get the iron ore, copper ore, and gold mine underground, they will also want the pine, oak, birch, and pecan trees in the mountains... Selling wood, making furniture...and then animal skins..."

The priest's tone was filled with sarcasm and disdain,
"They will pollute groundwater, exterminate flora and fauna, and cause irreversible damage to the ecological environment."

"So you punished them?" Dean said. "The Coyote tribe used supernatural power to influence the residents of Dog Town and spread lycanthropy, turning them into half-human and half-wolf who like to eat raw meat. Monsters, respect and obey you, and finally resist the actions of the mayor and police chief who broke their oath."

Dean and Caiden looked at the priest with sharp eyes.

This is the most reasonable speculation they can think of at the moment - because Dog Town violated an ancient contract with the Coyote tribe, the townspeople were punished and became sick.

But they could not see the slightest expected expression on the priest's face. The priest rubbed the crow feather crown on his head, with deep doubts on his old face.
"What is lycanthropy? Can you explain the patient's symptoms in detail?"

Dean had an ominous premonition in his head and described the symptoms.
"When did this happen?"

"Just over two months ago, after the mine was established, the first patient appeared. Isn't it your fault?"

"How many patients are there now?" the priest continued to ask, with a hint of solemnity in his tone.
"More than 50," Kayden replied.
The priest took a deep breath,

"There are only two ways for the birth of the Coyote clan. One is through reproduction, where tribe members breed pure blood, or tribe members and outsiders give birth to hybrids, such as Caiden. The second is when the Alpha wolf consumes precious blood essence to transform , but our tribe has not given birth to an alpha wolf for several years."

Dean's head felt as if a stone had been tied to it and it was sinking. "You mean, the Coyote tribe doesn't have the ability to create lycanthropy on a large scale?"

"No." The priest looked at the two men calmly, "We don't have the energy to punish Dog Town for violating the agreement. At present, our tribe has encountered a crisis and cannot protect itself..."

"What crisis."

"More than two months ago, a warrior in the tribe disappeared for no reason, and now, the number of missing people has increased to five."

Dean and Caiden were silent.

"Our entire tribe conducted a large-scale investigation of the nearby mountains and found no clues. My 'eyes and ears' also found nothing unusual. These five warriors seemed to have evaporated from the mountains and forests." The priest saw that the two men With a questioning expression, he looked at the statue and said slowly, "Witness Ke Di, I didn't make anything up or exaggerate."

"It's unbelievable. More than two months ago, the residents of Dog Town in the valley began to develop lycanthropy, and the warriors of the Coyote tribe on the mountain began to disappear for no reason." Dean recalled the tight werewolf defense line he saw along the way. There was a strange light in his eyes, "The two incidents happened almost at the same time."

"As you can see, there may be some connection between them," the priest looked at the two of them, "If you can help the tribe find out the whereabouts of the missing warrior, you will gain the friendship of the coyote, and you can make demands on the tribe. "

"You trust us so much?" Dean raised his eyebrows, "We just met for the first time."

The priest said, "Just now, I saw a revelation from Ke Di's eyes. The two of you will play a key role... If you agree, you will be able to travel freely through the mountains in the next period of time. Flying birds, no, Any member will cooperate with your investigation."

Dean and Caiden made eye contact for a moment.

There is no contradiction in investigating lycanthropy and the mystery of the missing warriors of the Coyote tribe.

Moreover, after listening to the priest's history lesson and recalling what they saw along the way, they had to say that their impression of the tribe had greatly improved. This was not an evil and bloodthirsty tribe in the first place.

"Solving trouble is exactly the purpose of our coming here." Kaiden asked nervously, "But before that, can you take me to meet 'him' first."

The priest looked into Kaiden's eyes, gold and amber intertwined, instantly piercing Kaiden's thoughts,
"Your father? His real name is Gray Shadow, but there is no need to meet him. I will tell you the answer clearly now. Because of the rules of the tribe, the blood of the tribe must be raised in the territory and receive teaching and training, whether it is pure blood or pure blood. Half-blood, so Gray Shadow had to snatch you away from Lucinda’s arms.”

"You have been away from your hometown for so many years, and you should have a deep understanding that mixed-race children cannot control themselves in secular society and are prone to causing big troubles. The tribe is your true destination."

Kaiden suppressed his anger and continued to ask,
"Then why did he not visit Lucinda on the farm for all these years, leaving my mother to die in despair and loneliness?"

"Grey Shadow is the most powerful warrior carefully cultivated by the tribe. He was supposed to follow Ke Di's will and undergo the first union with another pure blood to give birth to a real destined child. This child only needs to pass Ke Di's wishes to be born. After passing the test, we can become the Alpha Wolf and lead the tribe that protects us. But Gray Shadow is secretly married to a human woman."

The priest sighed, unwillingness and dejection flashed in his eyes,

"He broke the rules and wasted years of hard work of the tribe. As a result, the tribe has not been able to give birth to an Alpha and had to continue to reduce its size. So he was punished and was locked in a cage for ten years. During this period, he was not allowed to visit Lucin. Da!"

"He can't sneak out and take Lucinda away?!" Kaiden spread his claws, dug out sharp nails on his ten fingers, and roared at the priest angrily, "I want to see him, I want to ask him face to face! "

"Sorry..." The priest suddenly apologized.

"Why are you apologizing?" Kaiden's face froze, and the anger in his heart was replaced by a creepy uneasiness.

The priest looked at the statue of Ke Di, and a faint voice echoed in the tunnel,
"Grey Shadow, my only son, your father, is the first missing soldier and cannot see you."

……

Lucinda passed away, and the gray shadow disappeared.

After a long time.

Kaiden, who struggled to accept the reality, left the statue of the priest and Kodi in despair.

The flying birds that had been waiting outside took them outside a pointed tent not far from the statue.

"This is Gray Shadow's tent."

Kaiden went in and picked up the apron, shawl, cloak, and various daily necessities in the tent...an ocarina that looked like a kettle.

"Man, don't be too pessimistic. God won't torture you all the time." Dean looked at the system. After listening to the old priest's story, the progress of "Call of the Wild" reached 70.00%, and he basically figured out Caiden. His life experience and the origin of his tragic fate, if Gray Shadow can be found and father and son can communicate face to face, the progress should be close to [-]%.
"I'm not worried about Gray Shadow being tortured." Kaiden sniffed the scent on his clothes with his dark nose, "I just want to find him and ask him face to face."

He turned to look at the birds,
"Do you have a portrait of Gray Shadow? I want to see what he looks like."

Asuka shook his head, raised the palm of his left hand to his mouth, and gently bit out a bloody mouth, "There is no need for a portrait, the Coyote tribe has a better way to communicate and commemorate. Stretch your hand over."

(End of this chapter)