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Chapter 32: Deep and Long Scratches

[Donald’s POV]

“He was only 20 years old. He was so young. He could have had a bright future,” Armstrong muttered. “I recruited the patrol. I killed him.”

Everyone present fell silent.

Behind the death of a young warrior was a family tragedy that would continue for many years and even completely destroy some people. I also felt guilty about this. This was partly my fault. In addition to being the Lycan King and failing to protect the werewolves under my jurisdiction, I also knew that the arrival of this tragedy was largely because of me. If I had not come to the Silver Moon Tribe, they might not have been attacked so quickly.

This thought made me uneasy and angry. I had a heavy responsibility on my shoulders. We had to catch the murderer!

“Let’s send the corpse to the hospital first.” Armstrong looked like he was quickly recovering from his emotions. He looked very calm. “Don’t tell anyone about this for now. Call Colin’s family over. I’ll talk to them first.

Daniel, start informing all patrols that any solo operations outside the camp are prohibited. Everything must be done in pairs,” Armstrong said to one of his men, then looked at me.

“Lycan King, I know that the werewolf royal family has a special ability to investigate and track people. Before sending Colin back to the hospital, can you see if there are any clues about the murderer?”

Without a doubt, Armstrong’s actions were appropriate and reasonable.

I admired him a little. He was a young Alpha. If nothing went wrong, he could develop the Silver Moon Tribe very well.

“We’ve already checked, but they seem to have used a special ability to hide their scent,” Jared added.

I took a few steps forward to Colin. The poor kid was now covered in a blanket, with only his hair and feet visible.

“Was he found here?” I asked.

“Yes, we didn’t move his position,” Daniel answered.

I observed the trees and traces on the ground beside me. Unexpectedly, there were not many signs of battle or scraping. The ground here was not hard. One side was very messy because of our footprints, but the place where Colin fell was not very messy. He seemed to have been killed in a surprise attack.

Colin was a tall young man. To be selected for the patrol team, he must be more than six feet tall. And in a patrolling state, he must be highly focused. What kind of attack could kill him in one blow?

I wanted to find the logical clues. I lifted the blanket covering Colin and an extremely bad scene appeared in front of me. It was very similar to the photo Armstrong had shown me previously. Colin had fallen to the ground with his face down. There were also a few deep and long wolf claw marks on his back.

I felt that I had grabbed on to something. I looked up at the sky. The forest here was tall and dense. Every tree was thick. It was an old forest.

“Have you gone up the tree to take a look?”

“No.” The others looked at each other.

Werewolves were not good at climbing trees, especially since the trees here were smooth and slender. The claws of werewolves in wolf form were mostly tucked in their pads, which made us very used to running on flat ground. Although the claws were sharp enough to easily tear the throats of prey, they were not long enough to reach into the tree trunk to support ourselves. Moreover, there would be a huge increase in weight after wolf transformation, which provided an additional burden for the claws.

“My guess is that their claws have undergone some mutation.”

I mentally called Wolf out and partially wolfed my hand.

Now one of my hands was a wolf claw covered in silver-gray fur. I scratched the tree trunk beside me hard, leaving a few claw marks.

I motioned for them to look at the difference between the claw marks on the tree and on Colin.

“I used to think that the marks on their bodies were a little too deep and long. Even the werewolf royal family shouldn’t have caused such exaggerated injuries when they attacked at full force on flat ground,” I speculated. “However, if they jump from the sky and attack suddenly, it’s entirely possible to cause such injuries.”

“This, this is impossible, right?” Jared looked confused.

I looked at Armstrong and saw him take a deep breath.

This was the only reasonable explanation. It also explained why every attack happened in the forest. It also explained why the assault team I sent could not find any traces of the other party. If they left the trees the same way, it would be difficult to follow the smell and find them.

“This will complicate the situation. We need to meet to discuss this,” Armstrong said.

I agreed with him. We also needed more evidence to support my point of view.

Meanwhile, we couldn’t tolerate any more casualties.