The moment I casually snatched the lightsaber and flicked it on, the four prehistoric girls froze, then suddenly collapsed onto their knees, murmuring something as they prostrated themselves in worship.

I grinned at Elena. "See? Power commands respect. Something they needed three of them to lift, I wield with one hand. This lightsaber is wonderful; its power far surpasses those laser pistols. Best of all, it’s good for close combat—that’s what I like. I wonder if they’d reluctantly lend it to me for a while."

Elena nudged me. "Stop preening. They’re still bowing to you, and you’re just standing here?"

I swung the lightsaber with righteous authority. "I am the hero in their eyes. What's wrong with letting them pay homage a few times!"

Elena moved to help the girls up. She looked up at my commanding posture and called out, "Handsome! Zhao Qian, if we could take a picture of this stance, you’d be a towering hero. Too bad we don’t have a camera, or I'd show your wife back home. With this background of horse corpses and wolf carcasses, anyone would think you slew them all."

Ugh, why would I steal their credit? I laughed. "Stop teasing me. Can someone tell me where the wolf pack is? I need to slay wolves and rescue the princess! Haha, I didn't expect to play the prince role again after journeying so far from home!"

Elena suddenly pointed behind me, her eyes wide with horror. "Stop looking everywhere. The wolf pack is right behind you."

Damn her for tricking me! I turned, and my god—what a massive pack! How did they teleport? One second they weren't there, and the next, they sprang up as if from a fissure in the earth.

"Everyone, huddle together!" I formed a circle with my hands, primarily worried that Gu Tian’er and the others wouldn't understand the gesture, even though their speech was lovely, it had little bearing on fighting.

The wolves weren't idle; before we could form a solid defensive ring, they began establishing an encirclement on the perimeter. This was a serious mess. If it were just Elena, I could easily sling her on my back and run. But now, not only were there a group of girls, but also the centaur-like creatures. Could I abandon them? After all, they had offered us enthusiastic hospitality last night, even if they ultimately got the better end of the bargain.

Elena gripped a small laser pistol, asking me nervously, "What do we do, Zhao Qian? The wolves are multiplying. We need to run."

I glanced at the group. "Running is impossible unless I abandon them. You hide behind me. Watch how I slay these wolves and save the princess. You can spread the word about my heroic spirit when we get back."

Elena wasn't in the mood for jokes. She worried, "You need to be careful."

These wolves looked no different from modern wolves, save for their massive size, and there was a strange sound to their howls—it was like a group of people forcibly squeezing their throats to mimic wolves. It sounded profoundly unnatural.

Unnatural as it was, their howls served a purpose, issuing commands. Following the cry, fierce wolves, each as large as a calf, leaped forward to attack! Thankfully, I had the lightsaber. I swept the blade, blocking a substantial portion of the pack in front of me. The others began shooting, but the centaurs could only kick at the wolves, offering very limited lethal force.

What astounded me was the sheer power of this lightsaber. I had no idea what its internal mechanism was, but its weight alone suggested complexity. Wherever the laser beam passed, not a single wolf survived—either decapitated or cleanly bisected. Because the laser intensity was so high, and I swung the blade fast enough, I didn't even see the white smoke usually produced when a standard laser pistol hit a target. Slaughtering them ignited my fighting spirit, and I couldn't help but let out a loud, soaring cry. Ah, that was an old habit from Peach Blossom Village—I always liked to let loose with a shout or two.

Although the wolves were severely hampered by the blade, their numbers were overwhelming, and fresh forces continued to pour down from the mountain to join the fray. Soon, one of the three girls was knocked down by a massive wolf. Two other wolves immediately seized the opportunity, slipping past the laser pistol blockade to snap at her head! Meanwhile, the others were under such fierce assault that no one could spare a hand to help.

I couldn't bear to watch a delicate flower wither like that. I launched a fierce offensive, slashing through the pack before me. With a quick turn of the blade, I cleaved the heads off those two wolves and hauled the girl on the ground back up. "Be careful!"

The girl nodded gratefully, picked up her laser pistol, and rejoined the battle. But in that moment of distraction, Elena immediately faced danger. She was just a simple girl, unlike Gu Tian’er and the others who had endured the rigors of battle. Facing so many wolves already made her fearful, and a slight hesitation in her shooting allowed two giant wolves to breach the line and pounce!

Just as I prepared to rush to her aid, I heard Gu Tian’er scream. Forcing myself to look, I saw the dreadful sight: a huge wolf had seized Gu Tian’er's arm. Her momentary pause allowed several more massive wolves to charge into the centaur group. The defensive perimeter was broken!

What to do? What to do? Elena couldn't be harmed, and Gu Tian’er couldn't die, but I only have two hands and two legs. If only I could clone myself.

In such a critical moment, there was no time for extended deliberation. I flung the lightsaber, embedding it directly into the two wolves attacking Elena. As the blade left my hand, I immediately shut it off, letting it fall to the ground. Without a second glance, I leaped toward Gu Tian’er and smashed the head of the wolf biting her arm with a single punch.

Gu Tian’er’s arm was streaming blood, but she gritted her teeth and managed a "Thank you!" at me. Of course, I didn't understand the words; I guessed at the sentiment.

I couldn't afford pleasantries. While her laser pistol was being reloaded to re-establish the blockade, I plunged into the centaur herd. Those huge wolves had already felled two centaurs, one of which was the one we first encountered. Seeing a massive wolf open its jaws, ready to sink into the neck artery, I punched! My fist sent the wolf’s head flying, and I kicked the remaining two into pieces with rapid succession.

The rescued centaurs looked immensely grateful, but I couldn't spare time for pleasantries. I turned back and froze, breaking out in a cold sweat—Elena was in danger again!

Because her firing rate was noticeably slower than the four girls, the wolf pack had identified her as a weak point and quietly massed their forces to launch a fierce assault on her position. As Elena’s hand shook, the swarm rushed toward her. A particularly enormous beast leaped from above, its paw sweeping across her chest. Elena gasped, her clothes tearing away in the wind, immediately exposing her tender body to the air. Her two massive R-cups bounced wildly with her movements.

Startled, Elena’s shooting slowed by another half-beat. The giant wolf that had ripped her clothes lunged for her leg! More massive wolves leaped toward her simultaneously. Elena managed to shoot down two, but she couldn't possibly deal with the one attacking her thigh and the one pouncing toward her full chest.

My heart threatened to leap out of my throat in anxiety. I roared and leaped, my body launching like a cannonball toward Elena. Smack! I slapped her hard, pushing her down to the ground. The wolf aiming for her chest missed its mark, but the one targeting her thigh clamped down hard on my leg.

I pinned Elena tightly beneath me, urgently asking, "Are you alright?"

Elena didn't seem frightened at all. She wore a look of 'pain' and said, "Yes, something is wrong. You crushed my **. It hurts terribly."

"At a time like this, you're joking? Get onto my back; I'll protect you."

"With you here, what do I have to fear? I know you'll rush over to save me the instant I'm in danger. I truly feel blessed; this is a sense of security no other man can give me."

Huff! Huff! Huff! While we were exchanging sweet nothings, the wolf pack descended upon my back. Their animalistic nature roused, they bit wildly and desperately behind me.

Elena saw the situation from over my shoulder. "Zhao Qian! Don't worry about me! The wolves are biting you! Run!"

I asked Elena, "Am I more important than you?"

Elena pushed me desperately. "Are you insane? They'll tear you to shreds! If I die, my parents will be sad at most, but if you die, more than a dozen girls will be upset! Bastard! Get away!"

A wolf circled around my body to attack Elena, but I crushed it with one punch. I asked Elena seriously, "Have you ever considered that I would be sad if you died?"

Elena froze. "Do you really care about me that much? I'm an American; our cultures clash too much; everything about us is mismatched. Will you truly like me? I told you, I don't expect you to be responsible for my first time."

I answered Elena earnestly, "I truly like you. I said I would protect you with my life, and now I am doing it."

With that, my head slumped onto Elena's body, and Elena cried out in shock, "Zhao Qian! You can't die! Bastard, you still owe me a hundred billion from my father for saving me! I promise I'll stay at your house, okay? I know you won't die! Wake up!"

I opened my eyes. "You said that yourself. Don't blame me later if I hold you to it. Actually, my home is definitely more fun than yours; you’ll see when you get there."

"You... you aren't dead?"

"What would you do if I died?"

Elena angrily bit my cheek. "Everyone is fighting for their lives, and you're here playing the fool! You infuriate me!"

I frowned. "If I hadn't thrown myself over you, the wolves would have torn you to pieces. Do you know my back is already drenched in blood?"

Elena looked surprised, then laughed. "Impossible. I know you aren't afraid of these wolves."

"But there are too many of them. Look behind me—there are at least dozens."

Elena, still beneath me, said, "I know you have a way. I believe in you, Zhao Qian. Show them the true strength of my boyfriend! Hmph, they only know parlor tricks. Especially those centaurs; even if their lower halves are big, none of them can compare to my Zhao Qian in skill!"

Thwack. A lunging wolf inadvertently slammed hard into the fallen lightsaber. The blade slid perfectly along the grass and slipped right back into my grasp. I had reached my limit. The number of wolves showed no sign of diminishing. If we continued like this, we would eventually be torn apart. I had charged through armies before; surely, I wouldn't be eaten by a pack of wolves upon returning to this sixth-millennium Stone Age?

Rage burned fiercely in my chest. Seeing another centaur dragged down, seeing another girl lose her footing and get bitten on the thigh, I knew time was running out. It was either they died or we did. I could escape with Elena, but was that something Zhao Qian would do?

My heart rate suddenly surged. I was familiar with this state: a rush of fresh blood flooding every vein and artery. My eyes turned red, and my bones began to crackle audibly. I never fully understood this sensation before, but now a flicker of understanding dawned. This blood wasn't mine!

It was beast blood! If I classified the giant python that tried to eat me as a beast, then this was its legacy. At every critical juncture, every time I needed to fight with my life, it surged from my heart to my limbs. Of course, it also appeared whenever my desires peaked.

Could the snake blood within me be connected to the strange intermingling of humans and beasts in this era? My own body was essentially a human-beast hybrid, much like the human-faced snakes or the centaurs!

The situation on the field allowed no time for contemplation; saving them was paramount. Elena stared at my face, contorted by fury, in horror. "Zhao Qian, you look terrifying! Your eyes are just like those hungry wolves out there—like they're about to drip blood."

I convulsed, shaking off the dozen huge wolves clinging to my back, then stood up, pulling Elena onto my back. "Hold on tight! We're cutting a path through them and charging up the mountain!"

As I spoke, I swept the lightsaber, swiftly cutting down the wolf attacking the girl's thigh, then the blade turned to strike down the wolves besieging the centaurs. I pointed the lightsaber toward the mountaintop. "Everyone, charge up the mountain to save the princess!"

Gu Tian’er didn't understand my spoken words, but she grasped my meaning. Remaining meant death; charging up might also mean death, but saving the princess came first. With that in mind, she chattered something to the others, and the group turned their fire toward the small path leading up the mountain.

The wolf pack closed in tighter. Backing Elena, I took a deep breath and quickly accelerated to near the speed of sound. Then, holding the lightsaber before my chest, I drew more than a dozen large circles around the group. Everyone on the field was stunned by the sight, even Elena on my back, who looked on in disbelief at the legions of fallen wolves.

"I... I just blinked, and so many of them died!" Elena cried out. The wolves that had been tightly surrounding us were all down within a few dozen paces, cut down as uniformly as if by a harvester.

Gu Tian’er and the others were equally stunned. They stopped shooting and watched the scene. In the immediate vicinity of their bodies, not a single living wolf remained in the once fierce attack.