After having a nightmare, Ghost finally learned how to transform.
We really have to talk about this nightmare first...
Ghost dreamed that she had turned into the Dragon Queen, married the Dothraki Khal Drogo, and happily birthed a litter of Huskies.
The Huskies were causing absolute chaos, barking and yelling, "Mom, you come play too!"
In the dream, Ghost turned her head to complain to Drogo about their sons, only to see the once handsome and strong Drogo transformed into a man with a horse's head, spraying spittle as he asked her:
"My moon, what is wrong?"
Damn it!!~~
Waking up with a start, Ghost's heart pounded wildly, and her mind took a long time to calm down. The scene in her dream left her with deep psychological trauma.
This was just too terrifying...
Afterward, she discovered that she had accidentally turned into a human~~ Cheer!!
Ghost's human form looked to be just over seven or eight years old, a little girl with a head of platinum-blond hair!
Her voice was sweet, and her face was adorable—looking rather like a gender-swapped Draco from Harry Potter.
I am too cute!! I'm killing myself!!!
She found that the time she could stay transformed as a human wasn't very long, only a few dozen minutes or so. However, Ghost quickly mastered the trick to the transformation.
When her emotions fluctuated violently, picturing her human appearance in her mind made it very easy to transform. After completely calming her mind and emptying her thoughts, repeating the steps would revert her to her white wolf form.
As for her human appearance, it was impossible to tell what she would look like when she grew up yet... but for now, she was quite satisfied.
The transformation process was slightly different from what Black Wolf had described, but Ghost believed that her human form still conformed to the wishes of her subconscious.
I have to say, she was getting more and more curious about the werewolf race! But she still needed to keep trying to find a way to make her human form last longer.
The wildlife resources in this mountain forest were extremely abundant, and there were no particularly dangerous fierce beasts, making it a temporary habitat for Ghost.
She found a dry and comfortable rock cave just the right size to hide her, very close to a stream as well. She also harassed plenty of birds to collect feathers, and found large, smooth leaves to line her nest... making her sleeping nook super cozy.
She had fantasized about building a treehouse or a thatched hut... but abandoned the plan because she was too useless and clumsy.
Fine, don't torture yourself.
As for food... her friendship with the bear was also progressing very smoothly!
Ever since that favor of a single fish by the stream, Ghost had grown rather fond of this silly, big bear.
Every time the big bear went to the fish pond for a meal, Ghost would trot along happily behind it.
Once the big bear had its fill, she would step in to take over the leftovers, or see if she could score some hand-fed love.
At first, the big bear tried to chase Ghost away, but in the end, it was defeated by her thick-skinned persistence and tacitly accepted her freeloading.
Freeloading and mooching off others—what a disgrace to the wolf pack... as if!
Ghost: What is shame? Can you eat it?
With a human soul inside, Ghost understood that human relationships required reciprocity (huge misconception), and she was very considerate toward the bear.
A wolf's paws are great for digging, and she would often figure out ways to dig up fresh, nutritious, protein-packed insect larvae nests for the bear. Or she would risk climbing trees to find honeycombs and honey for the bear.
Or she would carry back a cluster of sweet berries for the bear from a very, very far away place.
The two of them (?) unknowingly became besties at the little mess hall.
Having the big bear as a companion brought a measure of comfort to the lonely Ghost, and temporarily dulled the fear and anxiety buried deep in her heart.
Logically speaking, the survival rate of a lone wolf far from its pack is extremely low. Yet Ghost managed to survive in this forest where wolf packs existed, moving back and forth in mixed forms.
I have to say, Ghost was extremely lucky.
If not for the overwhelming scent in the bear's den, Ghost would even have wanted to try sleeping in the big bear's arms, experiencing the bliss of a Russian hugging a bear...
However, good times never last.
The leaping fish in the stream were seasonal. As time went on and winter drew closer, the food available for Ghost to eat became scarcer and scarcer.
The weather grew colder, and the small animals had long since stored away their winter provisions, while Ghost also needed to consider the food supply for the two of them (wolf? bear?).
Before hibernating, a bear must store enough nutrition for the entire winter, and she was still growing, so she couldn't go hungry either.
Ghost even considered posing as a pet to freeload at human homes.
While searching for traces of human activity, Ghost consciously expanded her patrol range.
She remembered a documentary she had once watched saying that wolves have exceptional endurance, and a lone wolf searching for a new pack can trek thousands of miles continuously.
Moreover, an adult wolf can eat up to eighteen pounds of meat in one sitting, and then go several days without eating.
She was already beginning to feel the convenience brought by this wolf body—not only could she run at a steady pace for dozens of hours straight, but eating her fill once could sustain her for a long time.
The memories of eating and drinking lavishly every day when she was human gradually began to grow hazy and distant.
She slowly grew accustomed to this wolf body, but as a ruthless survivor, she rarely managed to get her fill...
Lacking wilderness survival experience, she couldn't even start a fire, and she was unwilling to eat raw red meat. For a wolf, Ghost was hungry most of the time.
In the mountain forest, the human form was actually not as convenient as the wolf form.
In wolf form, she was full of stamina and agile, making it easy to find food; when she transformed into a human, she had little strength and no endurance, and couldn't even get close to the big bear.
She had also tried approaching the big bear in human form, and was almost treated like a delivery-app snack sent right to its door.
Whether it was because the two forms were too disconnected after transformation or something else, Big Bear truly was a simpleton anyway...
Whenever she was truly starving, she survived on berries, wild vegetables, and some safe, non-toxic fungi.
She was almost forgetting the taste of human food.
Sometimes, when the bear went out hunting, it would bring back fresh flesh and blood and share a portion with Ghost. But aside from fish, Ghost never touched that raw animal flesh even once.
When heavy snow quietly fell, the bear also began to grow irritable, and Ghost knew she had to leave.
Before leaving, she wanted to prepare ample food for the bear so it could hibernate smoothly.
Through her long-distance dashes over this period, Ghost had actually long since mapped out the areas where humans frequented and lived.
It was just that she didn't dare to make contact with humans and could never take that step.
She was now half-human and half-wolf. As the saying goes, a rare commodity can be hoarded for profit; once humans discovered her secret, she feared she would meet a very tragic fate.
She had only just mastered transformation and hadn't figured out the secret behind it, nor the maximum duration her human form could last.
If she accidentally revealed her wolf form in public, it would be a huge disaster.
But now she had no choice but to gamble; Ghost was afraid of becoming the first time-traveler in history to starve to death.
The target Ghost chose was a sparsely populated ranch.
It was very far from her habitat, located in the southeastern plains. She had to run from dawn until dusk to reach it.
The reason she chose this place was because it was remote and unlikely to attract attention, being several miles away from the nearest village.
Moreover, she had observed for a long time that the rancher's interpersonal relationships were very simple—a husband, wife, and son, just three people in total.
The rancher here raised a large flock of fat sheep, and their family seemed quite well-off, so they wouldn't go under just from losing a few sheep.
The lively little lambs wiggled their behinds, turning into roast lamb legs, roast lamb chops, and lamb skewers in Ghost's mind...
Ghost instantly shed tears of happiness from the corners of her mouth.
Can you even call yourself a wolf if you don't steal sheep?
I, Gray Wolf, will be back...
Delicious lamb skewers~ if they don't taste good, your money back!
Gray Wolf's first attempt at stealing lambs was extremely easy.
She silently drilled through the gap in the fence into the sheep pen, transformed into a human, and tied up two little lambs tightly with rope.
Then she opened the gate from the inside, transformed back into wolf form, gripped the rope in her jaws, and drove the sheep along. Done in one smooth motion...
Before leaving, she noticed that the rancher had hidden quite a bit of dried cheese, cured salted meat, and sausages. There was even some unpalatable sour red wine.
In for a penny, in for a pound... Ghost ate her fill until her belly was rounded.
Although the taste wasn't really much to write home about, this was the first time Ghost had eaten long-missed human food since her transmigration.
Five stars for this buffet.
It's just that the trip back was a bit far, and the little lambs were exhausted. She also had to be on guard against highwaymen the whole way, so she was dog-tired too.
The big bear liked the newly arrived little lambs very much, sticking close to them even when sleeping every day.
Although she couldn't bear to leave them, she could say goodbye to the big bear with peace of mind.
Ghost smacked her lips, recalling the taste of the sausage...
Shall she... go eat it one more time?
Just like last time, Ghost skillfully drilled into the sheep pen and went to work, only to find that the gate wouldn't open this way?
Seeing her, the little lambs weren't as obedient as last time either. Upon spotting her, they started baaing one after another.
Soon, the sound of barking dogs and human shouts rang out outside...
Damn it, I'm screwed.
Naturally, she could guess what would happen to her in wolf form, so Ghost simply kept the appearance of a little girl in human form, planning to muddle her way through.
If she put in some effort now, she could maintain her human form for two hours, which should be enough to cope.
If she couldn't cope and her cover was blown, she would just have to run for her life.
Let's flex some acting skills first.
Ghost casually found a tattered strip of cloth to wrap around herself, then pinched her thigh hard, her eye sockets immediately turning red.
In her pretty, azure eyes, crystalline tears swirled, about to fall at any moment, making her look pitiful.
Her cute face and dazzling platinum-blond hair (albeit a bit greasy and dirty) looked exceptionally heart-wrenching.
The rancher rushed into the sheep pen with five or six big men and two large dogs with a ruckus, but didn't see the ferocious sheep thief they had expected.
They only saw a frail child in rags huddled in the corner, holding a lamb for warmth.
She seemed scared to death, desperately squeezing into the middle of the flock.
Everyone looked at each other in dismay; this didn't look like a sheep thief at all!
Such a small child, and rather cute to boot...
With those malnourished, scrawny little arms and legs, how could she possibly be strong enough to carry a sheep? At first glance, she was clearly a stray who had wandered in from somewhere.
Ghost trembled all over, her little face pale as a sheet, and she wanted to speak timidly. But she only managed a faint, breathy sound.
The ranch owner was getting older and grew somewhat soft-hearted. Seeing that they had caught such a small child, he found it hard to believe she was a sheep thief. He asked kindly:
"Child, what are you doing here?"
Ghost let out a weak voice, completely inaudible unless one paid close attention:
"Mister, I, I'm cold..."