As the soldiers looked outwards, the leader continually barked out stern orders.
"Stay close!"
Each of them was watching the treeline, tense and wary.
"If you let even a single one of these white coats get hurt, we aren't getting that bonus!"
He barked, trying to keep it slightly light-hearted to relax his soldiers.
The soldiers had done this quite often, guarding scientists as they took samples or surveyed the terrain.
From this, the leader, Zhang Lei, was used to this situation. All they had to do was a little show of force to scare away the wolves. Despite his knowledge and experience, Zhang Lei was still wary and tense. He always was when facing danger.
This is, however, what led him to survive up until now. Zhang Lei never underestimated his enemies, even if they were just wolves.
As the soldiers stood in a circle, wolves were still heard dashing around in the underbrush, prompting another order from the leader, Zhang Lei.
"Dammit, the dumb dogs aren't scared yet. Fire a few warning shots!"
With his order, the soldiers wasted no time in hesitating, firing off a few warning shots into the dirt, not wanting to get in trouble for injuring a wolf without need.
"Ahhh! What the hell is going on?!" yelled a few of the researchers, not expecting gunfire on this excursion.
Such exclamations elicited a few chuckles from some of the guards. "Don't worry, just scaring away some dogs."
After a few rounds were fired, the gunshots slowly ceased, with some soldiers checking the magazines in their cartridges to make sure they had enough bullets.
After a few moments, none of the bushes rustled as before, and some of the soldiers let out a few sighs of relief, the tension slowly dissipating.
"Crap, Jin is dead, Captain Zhang."
"For fu... I'll have to ask for some compensation then," Zhang Lei muttered as he ran his hand through his hair.
"That's why you don't let your guard do...."
As another guard was speaking, a large wolf darted out from the nearby brush, leaping towards the guard who spoke last.
Catching the soldier off guard, everyone stood still, unable to react as the wolf lunged at the soldier, taking the soldier's neck within its muzzle.
Sounds of ripping and tearing echoed with blood splattering the ground as the guard choked on his own blood.
After an instant, the others reacted, taking out their weapons to aim at the wolf.
"HOLD YOUR FIRE, YOU MORONS!" Zhang Lei yelled as he moved to kick the wolf.
Before he could reach the wolf, the large Himalayan wolf jumped off of the soldier before sprinting into the brush.
As the wolf left the soldier alone, the other soldiers in the immediate vicinity fired at the wolf, managing to hit it in the leg just as it was about to disappear into the surroundings.
The wolf fell headfirst, disappearing into the underbrush.
"Don't let your guards down, morons! How many times do I have to tell you?!"
The soldiers nodded in response to their command, turning their gaze outward and scanning the surroundings repeatedly, not wanting to end up like the other guards.
Seeing that one of the soldiers could be killed by a single wolf seemed to be the catalyst, as a loud howl resounded once more.
The instant that this howl resounded, over a dozen wolves bounded out of the forest.
Some of the wolves pounced, while others kept low to the ground. Each of the wolves was around 130 cm long on average, with a few being a little over.
The instant that the wolves emerged, gunfire sounded as they were already prepared for a confrontation, even if they didn't expect one nor want one.
The sound of gunfire filled the surrounding forest, a dozen soldiers firing at the oncoming wolves, easily hitting the wolves that pounced.
However, what the soldiers didn't expect was the speed of the each wolf that didn't pounce, each of the wolves running on the ground sped towards the soldiers.
Due to the disadvantage of being in the woods, the wolves on the ground managed to approach rapidly, some of the larger and quicker wolves managing to maul some of the soldiers legs.
As if they were a smart military unit, the wolves didn't engage for too long, only doing enough damage to immobilise the soldiers.
"OI Labcoats! Drag my men into the middle with you lot!"
Most of the researchers didn't get close to the dying man but there was one person that helped the dying man, dragging him into the center with the rest of the researchers. It was Mei Ling, the head researcher.
Mei Ling dragged two of the soldiers that had their ankles mauled by the wolves, brining them into the center of the circle as they groaned and grit their teeth.
As Mei Ling delta with bringing the injured soldiers into the middle of the circle, the other uninjured soldiers stood around them, firing at any movement in the underbrush. Listening for any sound or looking for any movement.
With a couple of wolf corpses around them, the guards kept on firing into the underbrush while trying to reserve their ammunition.
After a few breaths of time, another long howl sounded. Closer this time.
After the longest howl since the start of this encounter, the sounds within the bushes increased, getting louder and louder with each moment.
Despite the shots fired into the bushes, none of the wolves seemed to get hit as there were no sounds or blood splatters.
After a few moments, over 2 dozen wolves jumped from the bushes, with two being particularly large.
Coincidentally, the two wolves looked very similar to the wolves that tried to approach Chen Xuan, likely being the very same wolves.
Rushing up, the two dozen wolves pounced on the soldiers, attempting to incapacitate and drag out the injured people from the group.
Despite this, the group held firm, kicking away or shooting any wolves that got close.
That was, however, until the largest wolf appeared, standing high and mighty as it looked down upon the small group from atop a large boulder just beyond the treeline.