Right after Zhao Kai and Xu Feng returned to their original position, numerous Shadow Wolves began emerging from their habitat.
The wolves' howling reverberated throughout the area, clearly excited about the raw meat aroma. Given the fact that the early patrol wolves had already enjoyed a feast without any problems, their guards were lowered.
Unlike previous where they would sniff around and continuously circling around to check for dangers, the wolves this time only gave a swift sniff before running toward the monster corpses.
"Feng, they are really eating without a care." Zhao Kai muttered, looking at them through the lens of his scope.
Nodding his head, Xu Feng made a small calculation in his mind. "The effect of those powders would take around 1-5 minutes depending on the consumption."
"Do I hold off on shooting like before?" Zhao Kai questioned. He didn't want to make another mistake such as being unable to suppress his urge to fire and ruin the operation.
Earlier, he had displayed quite shameful behavior, and even placed his Ironbolt Rifle down. Luckily, Xu Feng didn't seem to care about his attitude and continued to remain calm.
It was also because Xu Feng hadn't reprimanded or scolded him for such behavior that made his guilt amplified.
There was a statement: Be not afraid of toxic people, but those with sincerity who didn't blame you.
"Hey, Feng, are you not going to answer me?" Zhao Kai grumbled softly when he was ignored by him. "Do I shoot as soon as symptoms start appearing or hold off until more are affected?"
"You're the one with the gun." Xu Feng turned to him and smiled, "I'm not your nanny or babysitter. You decide when it's the appropriate time to shoot."
Having come up to this point, Xu Feng wanted him to start making independent choices without his influence or advice.
Sure, they are currently playing together, but who knows if there was going to be time that they needed to be separate.
By that time, who would guide Zhao Kai?
Instead of wondering if he could manage things himself, Xu Feng might as well put it to the test.
With that being said, Zhao Kai was rendered speechless. Clearly, he did not expect to be handed over such a big responsibility.
'Damn, then when should I fire?' He wondered, zooming in on the scope to check up the condition of the Shadow Wolves.
All the wolves were currently riled up, with most of them chomping down and ripping apart the flesh meat off the bones. They were gnawing over it in joy, and more Shadow Wolves continued to show up.
They were joining in on the feast, each one of them reveling and filling their empty, starving belly to the brim.
As time passed by, some wolves started to wobble unnaturally.
Occasionally, two or three wolves would bump into each other, faltering in their steps. They shook their heads repeatedly, seemingly trying to shake off the daze effect.
'Is it time now?' Zhao Kai thought to himself. In an attempt to confirm it, he raised his chin up, taking a glance at Xu Feng's expression.
Alas, nothing could be spotted in his expression. Xu Feng had a stoic expression, seemingly detached from the world's affairs.
Of course, it was just an exaggerated analogy and Zhao Kai understood that Xu Feng was planning on having him make the judgment this time.
All along, it had always been Xu Feng leading, deciding this and that whereas he simply followed behind, albeit with some complaints.
With a deep breath, Zhao Kai returned his focus to the lens, searching for the toughest and largest wolves among the group.
Take down the leader of the pack, and it was a surefire victory.
That was his mindset.
'Come out, come out, where are you?' Zhao Kai thought, searching and locating the leader.
A few seconds later, the supposed leader emerged in his sight.
What made Zhao Kai believe it to be the leader was thanks to its hulk figure, with fur as dark as midnight and eyes glowing an eerie yellow. Wherever it walked, other wolves seemed frightened and moved slightly out of the way.
Despite the wolf's dominating presence, it couldn't escape Zhao Kai's eyes.
He noticed that its original fluid grace of movements was marred by a subtle unsteadiness. It became quite apparent that the drug was taking effect.
The wolf's limbs trembled as if they were struggling to obey its commands, and its ears flicked back and forth in confusion.
'Bingo!' Zhao Kai smirked and squeezed the trigger softly, firing at the wolf's leg.
BANG!
As the loud sound of the bullet echoed through the darkness of the forest, something unexpected occurred.
"What the—" Zhao Kai twitched his mouth, speechless by the outcome. The trajectory that he aimed earlier seemed to have whiffed, and the supposed leader was still unscathed.
"I-I actually whiffed that shot?" Startled, Zhao Kai refused to believe he was unable to aim properly after all those training sessions.
He scoped in with his lens once again you confirm, only to realize the target was now glaring straight at him.
Although the distance between them was large, Zhao Kai was intimidated by the frightening gaze.
Panicked, Zhao Kai gritted his teeth, angled his Ironbolt Rifle and fired again.
Another loud bang echoed, and with this second shot, all the Shadow Wolves promptly stopped their feast. The first bang could have been a false alarm, and they were all too distracted in trying to fill their bellies.
However, with the second shot, it was no longer a false alarm, but a fact that they were being ambushed.
Alerted, they all tracked down the noise that it came from, and numerous gazes started locking on Zhao Kai.
'F-Feng, I've messed up." Ashamed, Zhao Kai slowly turned to Xu Feng.
"The shot whiffed and I tried again, but it didn't land. Now they're all alerted to our position." He added, feeling a sense of overwhelming guilt. He believed it was all his fault that the operation became a failure.