Ch 61: My Wolf Husband

After the loud clash of weapons, the three people in the military tent fell into a moment of silent stillness.

Lin Shuishi stared blankly at the still-quivering heavy spear embedded in the body, swallowing nervously. He then sneaked a glance at Fuli, whose expression remained calm. This made it clear just how indulgent this beast had been with him. Compared to the body that had been instantly pierced through, even Fuli’s restraint during moments of excitement seemed particularly gentle and controlled.

Fuli casually pulled the heavy spear out, and as he threw it to the ground, his foot lightly intercepted the spear, causing it to fall silently to the floor. On the wooden platform, the interior of the pierced rattan-armored body was revealed, along with the frayed and broken vines at the edge of the armor.

Lin Shuishi snapped out of his daze, noticing Dr. Sun still in a stupor. He coughed and spoke up, “Sir, does the army have any heavy crossbows? Otherwise, I’m afraid no one could…”

Sun Luqian, staring at the shattered edges of the armor, subconsciously nodded at Lin Shuishi’s words, understanding the implication. He knew the strength of this man’s bones and muscles, having examined him during his illness. Even so, the scene before him was still astonishing.

After studying methods to break the armor, it wasn’t just Sun who had attempted to pierce it. The soldiers had tried hurling stones from high places and shooting with heavy bows, but none had succeeded. The terrifying strength of the man in front of him was evident.

But now was not the time for random thoughts. No matter what, it was a relief to find a way to break the rattan armor!

“Good! What a forceful method of breaking through. However, the soldiers in the army lack this kind of strength. You mentioned a crossbow—what is a crossbow?”

Hearing this, Lin Shuishi immediately realized his observations in the army had been correct. In this era, there were no heavy assault weapons—no ballistae, no repeating crossbows, not even basic hand-held crossbows.

So he carefully recalled and explained, both verbally and through sketches, the basic structure and use of a crossbow. The ballista, for example, is a large, powerful crossbow that combines multiple bows. To draw the bowstring, thick ropes are attached to a winch, which soldiers turn to pull the string back. The arrow is then loaded, but it cannot be fired manually; soldiers must use a large hammer to strike the trigger, releasing the bowstring.

Given the ballista’s range and impact force, it could potentially match the power of Fuli’s strike if used with a spear as an arrow. Although cranking the winch takes time, it would be sufficient against ordinary rattan armor.

Lin Shuishi had carefully considered the implications of introducing new weapons. Crossbows have formidable lethality, but no matter how powerful, they remain within the limits of cold weapons, making them suitable for this era.

His thoughts drifted to modern thermal weapons—such as complex bombs, nuclear weapons, aircraft, and tanks. While they serve to protect, they also become the sharp blades that cause more wars and deaths.

Therefore, he believed that warfare, especially weapons, should not outpace the development of production capacity and the era itself.

Besides, he truly didn’t know how to make modern weapons!

In less than twenty years of limited time, most of his energy had been spent learning how to live a normal life. Later on, he dedicated himself entirely to studying, preparing to take the college entrance exam for people with disabilities, so he didn’t have the mental energy to study anything else.

The concept of the crossbow had stuck with him only because one chapter in a history book had emphasized it!

Although Lin Shuishi’s knowledge of weapon details wasn’t comprehensive, the army had plenty of skilled craftsmen with strong practical abilities. What they lacked was just a concept or theory! Without hesitation, Sun Luqian rushed out of the tent and headed straight for the armory, urgently calling for people until all the craftsmen accompanying the military were gathered.

Such a large movement quickly caught Jiang Zhao’s attention. When he arrived at the weapons workshop, he saw a group of people working intensely! His once dignified and aloof senior, Sun Luqian, was currently hunched over a large blueprint alongside that young man.

Sun Luqian had rolled up his sleeves, showing none of his usual neat and refined demeanor. As they worked on the blueprint, they constantly made adjustments based on the old craftsmen’s suggestions and the expected outcome.

Fuli watched as a few soldiers, whistling as they worked, were carefully carrying a massive, thick piece of blackwood. This type of wood was extremely hard and difficult to break due to the natural oils that made it tough and resilient.

After reviewing the so-called “crossbow” diagram and hearing about its power from his senior, Jiang Zhao immediately decided to bring in this top-quality military-grade wood to craft armor-piercing long arrows! Ordinary wood wouldn’t withstand such force, and its penetrative ability would be greatly reduced.

First, sharpen the tools to defeat the enemy.

However, the blackwood was so heavy that it took nearly an entire squad of soldiers, chanting in unison as they cautiously and slowly moved it into the tent. Still, they dared not relax for a moment; some of the weaker soldiers’ legs were trembling from the weight!

At the very front of the group was Dongsheng, who had a hunter’s background, strong and skilled in martial arts. He was well-respected in the army and had already become a small leader in the logistics team.

He was coordinating the soldiers’ movements as they approached the entrance, but just as they were almost there, the soldier at the front, unable to bear the weight, slipped. His back was injured under the heavy load, and with a cry, he fell to the ground.

The squad immediately lost balance, and in the ensuing panic, the heavy log was about to crash down. If it fell, the soldiers would undoubtedly suffer serious injuries, and the one on the ground might even be crushed to death!

Dongsheng’s heart trembled, and he quickly shouted for everyone to muster more strength, but it was too late! Just as cold sweat covered his body and he didn’t know what to do, he suddenly felt a lightening on his shoulder. Relieved, Dongsheng hurriedly looked ahead.

He saw that, where the soldier had fallen at the front of the blackwood log, a “black tower” now stood beneath it. The giant beast from Shuishi’s home, known for its man-eating reputation, was now expressionlessly holding up the incredibly heavy wood with one arm.

Despite the immense weight, the muscles on the man’s chest didn’t even bulge. Fuli tilted his head slightly, as if puzzled by how difficult the task seemed to them.

Although Dongsheng had been rescued, the cold sweat on his back flowed even more than before as he realized how close Fuli was to him!

Seeing Fuli’s golden beast-like eyes fixed on him, Dongsheng nervously swallowed, his voice trembling and stuttering as he spoke, “Th-th-th-thank you.”

The other members of the squad, seeing their leader trembling like that, assumed it was just from the strain of carrying the wood. They had no idea what Dongsheng had just experienced and only thought that the big man up front was really strong and a great help!

But then they were all dumbfounded. Fuli tilted his head, pondered for a moment, and seemed to recognize Dongsheng. Seeing how much effort these “people” were putting into the task, he casually extended his other hand, grasped the log with both arms, lifted it onto his shoulder, and, to the utter shock of the soldiers, calmly walked into the tent…

“!!!”

The soldiers watched in disbelief as Fuli, with his broad, smoothly muscled shoulders, carried the log inside, leaving deep footprints in the ground behind him. One young soldier, in particular, slapped himself hard across the face, thinking he might be hallucinating from exhaustion!

Dongsheng sighed, said nothing more, and with a weary wave of his hand, ordered, “Back to camp to report!”

The veteran patrol guards saw a group of dazed, dejected young soldiers returning from the direction of the weapons tent and thought to themselves, “Hah, just a bunch of inexperienced greenhorns.”

Inside the tent, Lin Shuishi was contemplating how many bows it would take to achieve the kind of force Fuli displayed with that single strike. Then he saw Fuli quietly carrying a thick log into the tent. Lin Shuishi was used to seeing Fuli haul trees around. In the spring, when they needed to cross a river, it was Fuli who had pulled down a massive century-old tree to make a bridge, allowing the animals from Dongshan to migrate across the river!

So Lin Shuishi wasn’t surprised, and the others were too caught up in their excitement to notice what the big man was carrying on his shoulder. It wasn’t until they needed to use it that one of the carpenters scratched his head and said, “Huh? When did the blackwood get carried in? Why wasn’t there the usual commotion?”

Meanwhile, Jiang Zhao had returned to the main camp to handle military affairs, sparring with the confidants of the feudal lords who had sent reinforcements from who-knows-where. He also took the time to execute the supervising official who had been embezzling military rations. Only after all that did he return to the weapons workshop, where he saw the ballista already halfway finished and finally let out a big sigh of relief.

“Senior Brother, whose magic is this? If it can break the barbarians’ forces, we must report it to His Majesty and credit this as the first merit of the battle!”

Hearing this, Lin Shuishi remained silent and quietly took a step back into the crowd, trying to avoid attention. Dr. Sun caught sight of this from the corner of his eye and understood. “Rear General, there’s no need to say such things. This was all figured out through everyone’s collective effort. It’s only right to serve the country.”

Lin Shuishi let out a huge sigh of relief. Well done, Dr. Sun! He handled that perfectly!

The blueprint was now complete, and Lin Shuishi felt that there wasn’t much more he could contribute. The room was full of skilled craftsmen, and when it came to construction, he was nowhere near their level of expertise. So he bid farewell to the busy Sun Luqian, planning to head to the mess hall to grab some food and wait for Fuli to return. Fuli, who was always elusive, had probably gone off to scout around again.

It was just past the army’s dinner time, so there weren’t many people in the mess hall, only an elderly, deaf guard on watch, keeping an eye on the supplies.

Although the old soldier had his impairments, the mess hall was deep within the camp, under strict surveillance, so no one worried about the safety of the food. Besides, he was known for cooking delicious meals in large pots! Even Lin Shuishi, who had experienced the luxuries of modern life, found the food quite good, and the camp was happy to provide for the old man in his later years.

When the old man saw Lin Shuishi, he greeted him warmly. After all, the camp was full of rough, loud soldiers, and a gentle, likable young man like Lin Shuishi was a rarity.

“Old man, I’m just here for some food,” Lin Shuishi said loudly, knowing the old man was hard of hearing. But the old soldier still didn’t catch it all. However, seeing that it was Lin Shuishi, he smiled and said, “Oh, you’re here for some food? Come on in, there’s still some left, and it’s hot!”

Lin Shuishi nodded obediently, but the old man followed him inside anyway. Because of his deafness, his own voice was also very loud. “Wait a moment, let me get you something good!” With that, he went to retrieve a piece of braised pork he had hidden in a cloth basket.

As he did so, he kept muttering to himself, “Caught it in a trap the other day. The Rear General has been stressed and hasn’t had much of an appetite. The general’s so thin, like a little chick, even sneezing throws out his back! That won’t do! So I brought out my special recipe and braised some meat for the general to have with his drink. There was some left, and I saved it for you, little rascal. My braising sauce is the best…”

Lin Shuishi watched the old man, hunched over as he searched for the meat, and felt a warm sense of affection. The old man’s constant muttering reminded him of his own father.

He smiled and responded, even though he knew the old man probably couldn’t hear him.

Just as Lin Shuishi was speaking, a sudden clatter of pots and pans came from the corner of the mess hall where the sugar and honey were kept. The old soldier, still deaf to the noise, continued searching, muttering, “Eh? Where did I put it?”

Lin Shuishi, however, felt a bit cautious and glanced over to the source of the noise. When he saw what was there, he gasped, his head buzzing as his blood pressure shot up!

Rolling out from the honey cabinet was a small, round black bear cub. It was so round that it couldn’t stop itself, crashing into tables and cabinets with a series of clatters. Despite the commotion, its greed was undeterred, and it kept its big head bumping around while clutching a honeycomb in its paws, sucking on it eagerly!

How did it get here instead of fishing in the river back in Dongshan?

Lin Shuishi told himself to stay calm, to relax, and to quickly remove the cub before anyone else noticed—getting caught stealing would be embarrassing.

He quickly glanced at the old soldier, who was still busy searching for the meat, and tried to suppress his panic, forcing a stiff smile as he cautiously reached out to grab the bear. But just then, another loud clatter erupted from behind the stove.

A little white wolf, its face smudged with stove ash, popped up with a lopsided pot perched on its head. When it saw Lin Shuishi, it wagged its tail happily, the tail moving so fast that the broken pot on its head clanged rhythmically against its skull.

And in the wolf’s sooty snout was a piece of braised meat…

Behind Lin Shuishi, the old man, puzzled, muttered, “Eh? Where the heck did it go? Where’s my meat? Where did it disappear to?”