Reborn in the 1980s: I made my fortune hunting wild game in Changbai Mountain

With a new goal in mind, the hunting team brothers ate their breakfast even faster.

In fact, after just a quick bite, none of them had any appetite left.

Xiao Tao was the first to put down his lunchbox.

"I'm stuffed!"

Yue Feng glanced at the amount of breakfast left in the pot, and then looked at the unfinished food in the lunchboxes of Xiaowen and Xiaowu.

"There's still half a pot left in the pot. You think you can just eat a bite and be full?"

Xiao Tao scratched his head: "I ate a lot last night, so I'm not hungry this morning!"

Yue Feng nodded after listening: "Okay, since you're not hungry, then don't eat! We're going to chase the tiger cubs later, you stay home and watch the house!"

"No! I'll eat it, I'll eat it, okay!"

Xiao Tao knew his older brother's temperament; if he didn't beg for mercy now, he would definitely be assigned to watch the house later.

When it comes to serious matters like making decisions, Yue Feng is always a man of his word.

"That's more like it! Breakfast portions are calculated! Eat as much as you're supposed to! Whether you get to eat lunch or not on time is another matter! This isn't the first time we've been to the mountains, so don't try to outsmart me!"

Yue Feng pursed his lips and calmly shoveled a mouthful of rice into his mouth, chewed it, and swallowed it.

After Xiao Tao's tantrum, Xiao Wen and Xiao Wu started behaving properly during meals.

Knowing that their leader was doing this for their own good, the group patiently finished their breakfast before preparing to go out and hunt down the lynx with their guns and knives.

"Brother, I've eaten my fill, you can't really expect me to watch the camp, can you?" Xiao Tao asked a little nervously as he placed the gun at the door.

Yue Feng curled his lip: "Just take Canglong with you for tracking, and leave the rest of the dogs at home to guard the house. Everyone set off together!"

"Alright! I'll bring an extra magazine!"

Xiao Tao's expression instantly brightened.

The group organized their gear for the trip, and Yue Feng even had Xiao Wen, who wasn't carrying a gun, carry a portion of dried roasted meat as a backup ration for lunch.

The four of them did one last check of the camp before leaving with their alpha dog, Azure Dragon, and two falcons.

Yue Feng led Canglong to the spot where the lynx's blood droplets had been found that morning: "Canglong, sniff!"

The Azure Dragon lowered its head and sniffed the blood droplet carefully for a few seconds, then immediately looked up and barked.

"Chase!"

At Yue Feng's command, the dog immediately followed the scent trail and chased after them.

The lynx footprints were very clear, and with the heat from just a few hours earlier, it wasn't too difficult for Yue Feng and his group of four to track them down.

The Azure Dragon, carrying its master, chased after the lynx through the forest, following its entire route.

As he walked, Yue Feng kept an eye on the trails he passed.

In my mind, I slowly pieced together the surrounding terrain and the route the lynx had taken into a preliminary picture.

Judging from the lynx's escape route, Yue Feng concluded that the creature didn't seem to have much respect for hunters and hunting dogs.

Why do I say that? When it left the vicinity of the camp, its footprints and gait appeared quite leisurely.

When running away, a lynx should normally have a long stride, but this lynx remained calm and unhurried throughout.

What made Yue Feng frown even more was that the route it took when it came was exactly the same as the route it took when it retreated!

This is quite intriguing. Yue Feng wasn't sure if this was a characteristic of the lynx species.

If it's just this one lynx, then that's interesting.

As an aside, animals that follow fixed routes are actually quite common, but most of them occupy relatively low ecological niches in the food chain.

For example, the most common wild rabbits love to follow familiar routes. Hunters have mastered this habit and can easily hunt them using simple wire snares.

However, Yue Feng felt something was off about a large predator like a lynx running away the same way after being shot in the hind paw.

Is it just their nature? Or are they deliberately showing themselves to lure Yue Feng's hunting team somewhere?

Yue Feng's situation cannot be confirmed at this time.

After noticing this detail, Yue Feng became more cautious as he traveled.

Something unusual is bound to happen; anything can happen in the old forest.

Next, Canglong followed the footprints and scents, crossing two mountain ridges and leading everyone to a mixed forest of larch and Mongolian oak.

Here, the footprints left on the way here are no longer visible; only the marks left from the escape are visible.

Yue Feng stood on a high ridge in the mixed forest, shading his eyes with his hand as he observed the surrounding terrain.

Seeing that its master did not move, the Azure Dragon stood still and waited for a few seconds.

Wang Wang!

The Azure Dragon lowered its voice and cried out twice, as if urging its master to continue walking.

From his vantage point, Yue Feng surveyed the area below. In the snow, the footprints left by the lynx were quite clear.

The section coming down from the sunny slope looked quite normal, but once they reached the bottom of the ditch, Yue Feng frowned slightly.

"Brother, why aren't we leaving?" Xiao Tao asked curiously as he approached.

Yue Feng pointed to a patch of white snow at the bottom of the ditch, where only a line of lynx footprints was visible, and said, "Look at the footprints! The lynx's stride has changed!"

"So what if it's changed? The bottom of the ditch is flat, so it can run faster! Isn't a larger stride normal?" Xiao Tao said matter-of-factly.

Yue Feng exchanged a glance with Xiao Tao and asked, "Have you ever seen a normal ditch or pond with no shrubs, miscellaneous trees, or vines growing underneath?"

"Uh... Holy crap, is there a snow pond down there?" Xiao Tao swallowed hard, feeling a bit scared.

"Xiaowen, get the rope. Xiaotao, cut a long stick and slowly go down to probe!" Yue Feng commanded.

"Okay! I'll go down and give it a try!"

Xiao Tao responded and immediately searched around. Soon, he used a knife to cut a sapling about the thickness of an arm and trimmed off the top branches.

Xiaowen tied a rope around Xiaotao's waist, and then Xiaotao, holding onto the stick with one hand, very carefully tried to walk down.

Xiao Tao took a few steps near the edge and it was still okay, but after taking a few more steps further in, he dared not go any further.

Beneath the seemingly calm and flat surface of the pond, under the icy shell, currents surge.

Xiao Tao poked at it a few times with a stick, and the water that hadn't been disturbed came back up directly from underneath.

"Brother! The bottom isn't frozen solid yet, it's still oozing water! It can't support a person!" Xiao Tao shouted truthfully.

"Come on up! Let's take a detour!" Yue Feng decisively gave up on continuing the chase along the original route.

In the old forest, an average adult lynx weighs only 60 to 70 kilograms at most, with the absolute maximum exceeding 100 kilograms—those are extremely rare. Their light weight, large claws, and high speed when running allow them to move freely across the icy ponds sealed off by the ice shell without much risk.

However, Yue Feng and his companions were all bundled up in thick winter clothes, were overweight, and had severely impaired agility. Under these circumstances, they dared not take any risks! If they were unlucky, they might fall and not be able to climb back up, and would simply freeze to death.

Xiao Tao quickly returned the way he came, patting the ice crystals off his trouser legs.

"Which way do we go next? Judging from this, the entire bottom of this pond should be part of the frozen pond area!"

Yue Feng pointed to a higher location in the northwest direction of the mountain ridge.

"Go up, this bottom of the pond must be a swampy area with plenty of water when it's warm in the summer. We can cross it by going around to the upstream where the terrain changes!"

"But if we go this way, who knows how far we'll have to go! What if the lynx is just ahead?" Xiao Tao scratched his head, still reluctant to give up.

"It's not worth risking our lives wherever it is! It's only early winter, the ice is too thin to hold a person up!"

"Okay!" Xiao Tao nodded and stopped insisting.

Having determined the detour, there was no need for Canglong to track them for the time being. Yue Feng and his group walked up the mountain ridge, observing the details of the environment below from time to time.

After walking for nearly a mile, the tops of low shrubs finally emerged from the ditch below.

"We should be able to find a foothold down here! Let's go down and try again!"

Yue Feng gave a shout, and Xiao Tao tied the rope and went down again.

This time, upon trying it, it was confirmed that there was indeed a rocky bottom below, which should be a patch of finely broken rocks beneath the snow crust.

Having scouted the route, Xiao Tao, with a rope tied to his body and a wooden stick, led the way, with the rest of the group following behind. They crossed the bottom of the pond without incident and climbed over the shady side of the slope.

Having bypassed the dangerous area, Yue Feng led his men back.

With the opposite mountain ridge as a reference point, it took nearly half an hour to find the scent and footprints left by the tiger cubs.

Upon rediscovering the scent of its prey, the Azure Dragon became extremely excited, humming and muttering softly, its tail wagging like a fan.

"Stop it! Who knows how far the prey has gone! Why are you so excited?" Yue Feng patted the dog's head and continued forward.

Azure Dragon followed the footprints, leading the hunting party in a large circle through the forest.

Before I knew it, the morning had passed.

The traces and the smell hadn't disappeared, but the further Yue Feng walked, the more uneasy he felt.

It was already 12:30, and everyone who had been running around all morning was exhausted and hungry.

This was only after Yue Feng strongly urged everyone to eat properly. If they had just grabbed a quick bite to eat in the morning, they would have been too hungry to walk long ago.

"Let's not chase them for now. Let's find some firewood, start a fire, heat up the meat, and eat something first!" Yue Feng said.

"My stomach has been growling for ages! Luckily I ate a lot this morning! I'll go gather firewood!" Xiao Tao immediately turned around and went to gather firewood.

Soon, they gathered firewood, and the four of them started a small fire in the woods. They took out the dried meat and compressed rations they had brought and heated them over the fire to share.

While preparing the food, Xiaowen muttered to himself, "Boss, I have a feeling something's off about this lynx!"

"Something's not right, tell me!"

Xiaowen continued, "Logically speaking, these kinds of mountain animals should have their own territory! We haven't found any terrain like Jumping Stone Pond along the way!"
Moreover, I have a feeling that the lynx is leading us in a chase!

Xiaowen's words made a lot of sense. Along the way, apart from a few small, unremarkable stones at the bottom of the snow-covered Shilazi Pond, we didn't see any other stone ponds on the other mountain ridges.

Lynxes and tigers like to hop around in rocky areas; this is a well-known fact among veteran hunters.

I wouldn't say there are absolutely no outliers, but 99% of normal individuals prefer to stay in this kind of terrain.

The group followed the footprints and stayed up all morning, covering at least seven or eight kilometers in a straight line.

If a lynx were to escape normally, it should at least return to its core territory and lair.

Yue Feng clicked his tongue: "I feel the same way! We're not too familiar with the terrain of the surrounding forest, and we don't have a better way! Let's eat first, and then continue the chase! Remember the way, and we just need to get back before dark!"

"OK!"

……

After a brief exchange, lunch was ready. The compressed rations were boiled with snow water, and the dried meat was heated up.

The group shared the food and quickly replenished their energy.

After finishing their meal, the group stopped trying to find out more and continued their pursuit along the path.

This chase lasted for another hour and a half.

After the four of them traversed mountains and ridges and climbed up a ridge along a shady slope, Yue Feng looked around and immediately frowned.

"Grass!"

"What's wrong?" Xiao Tao asked curiously.

“Look at that mountain ridge diagonally across from us. Isn’t that where we passed this morning? At the highest point of the ridge, there are several large trees spaced close together!” Yue Feng asked with certainty, pointing to the opposite side.

The three brothers, Xiao Tao and his brother, squinted and observed the surroundings.

"It seems to be true!"

Yue Feng spat on the ground and said somewhat angrily, "We've been tricked by this tiger cub! This guy led us in circles in the forest! I knew something was off!"

"What can we do? We didn't bring skis, and we can't catch up on foot!" Xiaowen frowned when he heard this.

Yue Feng glanced at his watch and made a decisive decision: "It's already 2:30. There are at most two hours until dark. Let's not chase anymore, let's go back! Otherwise, we'll have to dig snow nests in the woods to spend the night!"

Xiao Tao sighed, "Alright, let's go back then! This tiger cub only has three legs left, how come it's still so powerful! It even knows how to lead us in circles?"

Yue Feng shook his head: "Before we went into the mountains, my master and Uncle Wu told us more than once that we can't use our common sense to judge the animals in the old forest!"
As people age, they become shrewd and clever; even an old rabbit is not afraid of an eagle!

This tiger cub is probably quite an old one; it knew we were chasing it, so it led us in circles! Let's go back, take a straight path through the woods, I remember the direction!

"Yeah! I wasn't even this tired from hunting pigs yesterday. Except for lunch, we haven't stopped for a moment. We've been on the road the whole time!" Xiaowu muttered.

Upon discovering that the lynx was leading the group in circles, Yue Feng decisively abandoned the pursuit. After confirming the location, he crossed the forest and headed back towards the camp.

The more excited people were during the chase in the morning, the more frustrated they were when they returned in the afternoon.

I was cold and tired, and my feet, which were wrapped in leg wraps, felt like they were filled with lead.

Before it got completely dark, the group finally returned to the camp.

When we were still four or five hundred meters away from the camp, we heard the barking of our dog.

Upon hearing the dog's bark, Canglong immediately tensed up and barked back.

Yue Feng's heart tightened.

Damn it, could this be a diversionary tactic? (End of Chapter)