8

The sleep was anything but peaceful for Ruo Chen for he just had to have a nightmare. He awoke in his dream to find that he was in a forest with fog so thick that he couldn't even see his hands. He wanted to move to check his body but found that he couldn't do so.

After a few more tries, Ruo Chen found out that he had no control over this body's actions and was more of like a spectator in first person view.

"Waaahhhh!" The child he was in let out a cry as they flailed their arms about.

Ruo Chen grew confused as to what the child could be crying about. It seemed that his senses were dulled in the dream as soon after footsteps could be heard in the distance. However, the dense fog made one unable to discern which direction the sound came from.

This made the child or more like baby start crying even louder. Ruo Chen couldn't help but curse in his mind, there was nothing he could do for now except to wait for his death. Seeing as how clumsy this baby was, it was likely only a few months old. 

Which parent could be so cruel to leave their newborn baby in a forest?!

Ruo Chen was seething on the baby's behalf before he saw the fog slowly clearing up. It seemed that the creature coming towards him had some sort of ability to clear up the fog. His mind worked quickly to recall if he wrote any animal like that in the story and in a few seconds, his thinking bore fruit as he remembered the animal. 

It was probably a desolate fog wolf and like the name suggests, they are independent animals and have traits which allow them to comfortably live in places with dense fog. They adults grow to 2 meters tall if it stood on their hind legs and were fairly big animals in the places they reside in.

Their white fur allow them to camouflage in the fog while their special blood red eyes allowed them to see clearly through the fog. They also have impeccable speed and strength, making them highly feared by humans.

The information was useless as Ruo Chen already knew he was dead meat. He wrote the desolate fog wolf to be highly carnivorous with a big appetite for meat. This wolf would also mock their prey by clearing up the fog to let them see their death in detail, another way to show their absolute dominance in the battle.

Ruo Chen had already prepared himself for the worse when he saw the snout of the wolf, its mouth was drenched with blood. A sign that it just had a meal. 

Wait, this feels like deja vu? 

This scene felt strangely familiar to Ruo Chen, his seemed to be slow in his mind after helping Ye Ran as a realization finally hit him square in the face.

This baby was Ye Ran who had just been thrown into the forest after their parents realize what a problem he could be to the family!

Now instead of feeling apprehension and fear, it was replaced with guilt and self-blame. Just why did I write this? Ruo Chen suddenly felt that everything was too much.

He stared into the wolf's blood red eyes, those mocking eyes that curved up at the ends with flesh red blood still dripping off of its fur. Ruo Chen knew he had put Ye Ran through much since young, but how could he know that his words were the sufferings of someone. If he knew, he would've never started writing.

But past mistakes were hard to erase or just impossible to correct, the only path was moving forward with acceptance. Ruo Chen felt certain about his actions now, he knew what to do when he woke up. 

Why wallow in your mistakes when it won't change anything?

Ruo Chen looked at the wolf circling around the baby, he knew that this would not actually end in a tragedy for Ye Ran, but instead allow him to gain a trait of the wolves.

The fog wolf sensed something was different about the body and now it stared at him with a new found curiosity. It probably felt the dense fire energy emitting from the baby and deduced that the prey was not as simple as it seemed. It let out a small growl while the baby let out soft sobs.

It suddenly went forward to him and opened its maw as if it wanted to eat the baby but Ruo Chen had no fear. The wolf instead licked at him gently as if it was caring for its own pup. The reason behind this also eluded Ruo Chen as he wrote about this part briefly and he didn't expand or elaborate on it in the novel too much. This world was way more complete than how Ruo Chen wrote it and he didn't know whether to feel grateful or troubled, it seems that the author privilege wouldn't be much of a use here.

The baby felt tickled by the tongue and let out little giggles under the gentle treatment of the fog wolf.

Ruo Chen's lips curved into a smile when he saw this but this moment was cut short before his vision blackened. 

He next awoke to the sight of the ground below him. The desolate fog wolf had carried him in its jaw and was going to the den. This particular wolf probably didn't have any pups of its own as the desolate wolves aren't known for their friendliness.

He felt relaxed by this as this progression was going about the same as he remembered it to be, this would be where Ye Ran would call home for the next five years before he left to find his parents.

Desolate fog wolves were also highly intelligent animals and they have learnt how to form basic sentences after their interactions with hunters, this was also how Ye Ran was able to speak despite living with a wolf. The wolf had taken a liking to the baby, seeing that it was powerful even at such a young age, it decided to treat him as one of its own.

Days, weeks, months then years passed by in a breeze with the wolf taking care of Ye Ran. It thought him how to hunt as well as a skill special to wolves. Fog wolves when enraged will go into berserk mode which ups their strength and speed but slightly slow down their thinking, this can prove to be advantageous if used correctly. The wolves eyes would be separated into red and gold as a sign if they were berserk.

It actually isn't possible for a true human to learn of the skill and Ruo Chen just wrote it down as vaguely as possible not going into detail as he didn't want to make the plot more complicated and of a mess.

But seeing it through first person how Ye Ran slowly learnt the skill, no it was better described as releasing a seal on something hidden, Ruo Chen couldn't help but want to think deeper. 

Was Ye Ran not fully human? The dad was only mentioned a handful of times in the novel due to him having to travel around for work and Ruo Chen never went into detail about him. Unease crept up in him as the world felt more and more foreign to him, the world definitely did help fill some plot holes, but it just made Ruo Chen more unsure of what was going on.

Ruo Chen saw each day pass by like seconds and before he knew it, he'd grown taller and Ye Ran was now aged 5. Ye Ran had grown curious of the world and wanted to find his real family, he bid farewell to the desolate fog wolf before setting out to the village nearby.

Just as Ye Ran patted the whimpering wolf, Ruo Chen felt his consciousness slipping from him and he awoke in the real world.

He let out a groan as he stretched before turning to look over to check on Ye Ran. Ye Ran was sleeping peacefully on his back, his face relaxed and chest rising steadily. The sun peered through the glass window which highlighted his already pale white skin till he almost looked sickly.

Ruo Chen felt a mix of emotions as he stared at Ye Ran, pity, concern, wary, confused were just some of it. In the end, he just settled on concern as he placed his hand on Ye Ran's forehead. Luckily there was no fever and he let out a sigh of relief.

"So how was the dream? I was told to send to out to you." Xiao Pang barked softly as he climbed up the bed in his default white pup form.

"Who did? It was hell, just made me question everything more. Besides, I know I wrote my story without much detail, so did this world help fill things in?" Ruo Chen asked in a hushed whisper, he felt a bit weird looking at Xiao Pang as he found him to look strangely similar to the desolate fog wolf.

"Can't tell much, but I can confirm that the plot holes are indeed filled but not tell you by who." 

Ruo Chen glared at Xiao Pang for being so useless but at least he had one question answered. It made one thing clear, that what he knows if the whole story and should only be used as a gauge. 

He sighed before turning to look at Ye Ran who was still sleeping soundly, at least the wounds have healed for him.

"I'm going to make breakfast, you keep watch." Ruo Chen ordered before leaving the room which caused Xiao Pang to roll his eyes.