TLWR CH. 1 Prologue: The White Wolf and The Sloth

The Chen Group recently announced that it would be recording an unprecedented series of special animal programs, Hunting Game, in which fierce wild animals would be artificially relocated to completely different environments, thereby presenting to viewers how these animals adapt to new surroundings and how they do battle with unfamiliar prey.

All the predators tracked and filmed would come from national zoos around the world, and the Chen Group promised that after the program was completed, the predators would be returned safe and sound.

With one week to go before the official premiere of Hunting Game, although the Chen Group had made thorough preparations in every aspect, the newly appointed chairman suddenly had a last-minute idea and decided to hold a pilot screening, with the audience consisting entirely of the group's shareholders.

After everyone was seated, Chen Haodong looked at the high-definition display screen twenty meters ahead and said in a deep voice, "Begin."

The moment his words fell, the screening hall which had been as bright as day, was instantly plunged into darkness while the display screen flickered. Accompanied by a tense and gripping musical score, several sharp, bold-faced characters leaped onto the black screen one after another—exactly the title Hunting Game: The White Wolf.

"The white wolf, also known as the Arctic wolf, is the largest member of the wild canine family in the world and a subspecies of the gray wolf. It is found in northern Eurasia, northern Canada, and northern Greenland. The white wolf has excellent endurance... Today's hunting game, let us look forward to the white wolf's splendid performance in the tropical rainforest!"

On the screen, a military truck slowly came to a stop outside the electric fence of a natural conservation area in South America. Sturdy staff members quickly lifted down a large cage, inside which was a white wolf about two meters in length. The white wolf's eyes were tightly shut, presumably sedated. Its snow-white fur stood out strikingly against the surrounding deep green foliage. The camera suddenly shifted, clearly showing beads of sweat already seeping from the white wolf's nose—considering that white wolves usually live in Arctic regions with subzero temperatures, relocating it to a tropical rainforest with temperatures reaching forty degrees Celsius made it foreseeable that its first major challenge would be whether it could successfully adapt to the environment.

The actual filming time was one day, but the Chen Group would edit the most exciting hunting stories into a compilation of just an hour and a half.

As the camera slowly transitioned, the white wolf's pristine white coat had been deliberately caked with mud, all to avoid easily revealing its form. The tropical rainforest was a paradise for venomous insects, and after suffering a few minor setbacks, the white wolf had already learned how to find its way and could even distinguish the poisonous frogs camouflaged against tree bark. Unfortunately, these poisonous creatures could not serve as its food. From dawn to dusk, the white wolf had only drunk water by the river to stave off hunger.

As dusk arrived, the white wolf finally spotted a living creature. Unfortunately, it was hanging upside down from a tree, apparently asleep. The white wolf thought for a moment, then slowly crouched low among some bushes. Its stamina was nearing its limit, so it needed to take this opportunity to rest gradually while patiently waiting for its prey to come down to the ground.

The camera slowly panned upward, focusing on the white wolf's prey—it turned out to be a monkey sleeping with its eyes closed.

During the quiet wait, the narrator's voice rang out.

"This creature is called a sloth. Although it has feet, it cannot walk; instead, it uses its front limbs to drag its body forward, moving even slower than a tortoise. Sloths live in the dense tropical forests of South America, never seeing sunlight throughout their lives. They only come down from the trees once a week to defecate, and they feed on leaves, buds, and fruit. Once full, they hang upside down from branches and sleep lazily—one could say they make trees their home."

"The sloth is an extraordinarily lazy mammal. It is too lazy to do anything—even too lazy to eat or play. It can endure hunger for over a month, and when it absolutely must move, its actions are sluggish and extremely slow. Even when pursued or captured by predators, it acts as if nothing is happening, crawling along at a leisurely pace. According to observations, even in moments of danger, a sloth's escape speed does not exceed 0.2 meters per second."

"Whether this white wolf is lucky or particularly unlucky, it has actually picked a sloth. If that sloth comes down soon, given its speed, it will inevitably become the white wolf's meal. But if it has just eaten and fallen asleep, it may take another week before it descends... Will the white wolf get its wish? Let's wait and see!"

Time passed minute by minute. Unexpectedly, the board members below did not grow impatient; instead, they were piqued by curiosity about this strange creature called the sloth. They had heard of clever animals, fierce animals, swift animals, electric animals, and so on, but had never known there was one so lazy.

After about five minutes, the narrator's excited voice suddenly came from the screen: "It's moving! It's moving! The sloth has opened its eyes. Good, it's starting to climb down. Now, let's look forward to the white wolf displaying its might. A reminder—the sloth's claws are very sharp!"

Sure enough, on the big screen, the sloth had slowly made its way to the ground. After lazily glancing around, it began crawling slowly toward the east.

At that moment, a fierce glint flashed in the white wolf's eyes. It suddenly lunged out from the bushes, swift as lightning, and in the blink of an eye pinned the sloth beneath it, its wolf jaws wide open, aimed straight at the sloth's long neck.

The sloth paused for a moment, then suddenly swung its exceptionally long front limbs from both sides toward the white wolf. The white wolf tilted its head aside, dodging the vital spots, but its neck was still viciously scratched twice by the sloth's claws, leaving clumps of matted fur falling away and blood flowing out. However, the white wolf was not wounded in vain—its two powerful front paws had firmly pinned down the sloth, its entire body pressing onto the sloth as it bit relentlessly toward the sloth's neck.

Just as the board members were secretly anticipating the white wolf's fangs sinking into the sloth's neck, the motionless sloth suddenly raised its head and slammed it hard against the white wolf's shoulder, conveniently stretching its neck right under the white wolf's jaws. And just as the white wolf bit down without hesitation, the sloth suddenly broke one front limb free and stabbed its sharp claws fiercely into the white wolf's neck!

At the very moment when the fate of both sides remained unknown, the screen suddenly froze.

"Viewers, please rest assured—the white wolf has been sent to the rescue center, and it was later confirmed to have only minor injuries, nothing serious. Look, it's already full of life and vigor again."

The scene switched to the rescue center.

Chen Haodong stared fixedly at the white wolf on the screen. Apart from two patches of missing fur on its neck, it looked almost identical to the earlier white wolf. But he knew full well that it was precisely because his father had felt guilty over the white wolf's accidental death that he had opposed continuing to film the program—only to be ousted by the other board members joining forces against him. Now they were trying to pull a switcheroo and get away with it.

Hmph. In one week, he would personally expose these profit-blinded board members!