Night without Borders

Chapter 5 Cut off the beard
Qin Ming withdrew his gaze, picked up the animal skin bag and walked back along the same path.

He had a good harvest today and was very satisfied. With this half bag of food, he would not be hungry for a while.

There were depressions and rocks under the snow, and the road was difficult to walk on, but Qin Ming was in a good mood.

With enough food, he didn't have to worry, and if he practiced those specific movements for a long time, perhaps he would make new progress.

At the same time, he is looking forward to the arrival of early spring, a season of vitality.

Don’t be fooled by the current situation of ice and snow, with withered grass and trees, and all things falling into silence. When the dry period is over, the fire springs in the dangerous areas of the mountains will gush out, and the ground light will begin to evaporate frequently, the vegetation will sprout, and all things will revive, and it will be a different scene.

When approaching the edge of the dense forest, Qin Ming suddenly stopped, threw down the animal skin bag, grasped the hunting fork with both hands, and turned back suddenly.

A pair of scarlet eyes appeared in the darkness, very scary, and were approaching quickly.

His hair stood on end. Although it was still far away, he could feel that the creature that was following him was large and ferocious, and a fishy smell was brought over by the cold wind.

He stuck the hunting fork into the snow and quickly took out the bow and arrow. With his amazing arm strength, he pulled the hard bow, which was difficult for ordinary people to use, into a full moon shape in an instant. The powerful iron arrow flew out, and even the vibration of the bowstring was very loud.

In the distance, the creature rushing over with a ferocious aura suddenly paused, as if it had been hit by an arrow.

Qin Ming was highly concentrated and drew his bow repeatedly, showing his superb archery skills. One after another, the powerful iron arrows disappeared into the night.

A dull growl was heard from the dense forest, the scarlet eyes disappeared, and with the sound of dead branches breaking, the creature hid behind the trees.

Qin Ming did not dare to relax. Although the unknown dangerous creature was injured, it was not fatal. It would be even more dangerous after hiding in the forest.

Without hesitation, he grabbed the animal skin bag and hunting fork, rushed out of the forest and came to the open snow field.

He didn't want to stay in the dark environment for fear of being ambushed. He suspected that it was a difficult mutant creature.

There was a lot of noise in the woods, and the sound of snow being violently impacted. It was obvious that the creature was chasing after them fiercely.

Qin Ming drew his bow without hesitation. Some of the iron arrows shot into the thick tree trunks, causing snowflakes all over the tree to fall like a waterfall in an instant.

The creature was forced back again and disappeared into the forest.

If it were an ordinary wild beast, it would either have been frightened away or rushed forward ferociously due to its injuries, but this mutant creature was wandering in the dark, waiting and looking for an opportunity.

Qin Ming held a bow and arrow in the dense forest, confronting the dangerous creature.

The snow on the ground was churning, and huge black shadows appeared and disappeared in the forest several times. Their scarlet eyes were very cold and particularly oppressive in the night.

However, it was eventually blocked by Qin Ming's incredibly powerful bow and arrow, and it let out a low roar of unwillingness before disappearing into the dense forest.

Qin Ming looked solemn. Although the forest was dark, he could still see that it was a figure that could run upright. He didn't know what kind of mutant creature it was.

He retreated slowly, and there was no movement around him, but he never let his guard down.

He was still on guard until he was less than a mile away from the fire spring at the entrance of the village.

Because of the bloody lessons learned by previous generations, there was a time when some villagers were close to the village entrance, but when they relaxed, they were killed by unknown creatures following in the darkness and dragged away silently.

……

Outside Shuangshu Village, three young men were shivering from the cold. They were stamping their feet and rubbing their hands, breathing out white mist, and their eyebrows were covered with ice chips.

They were waiting on the snowy road that Qin Ming had waded through when he entered the dark land, talking in low voices.

"It's so cold, it's really painful to stay here. If it doesn't work, we should retreat. I think he will die in the wild and won't be able to bring back any prey."

"Why rush? What if he's as lucky as Old Man Li and finds a frozen dead wild animal outside the forest?"

The three of them are usually idle, lazy and gluttonous, and dare not enter the dangerous areas in the mountains. However, they are quite tough in the village and like to eat and drink for free.

After they knew that Qin Ming had left the village to hunt, they had evil intentions and wanted to wait here to intercept him.

"Qin Ming is very agile and strong. We must not get upset here and let him take care of us."

"What are you afraid of? He just recovered from a serious illness, so he must be very weak. I'll put the animal skin bag over his head later. Be careful when you hit him, and don't beat him to death."

Although they wanted to do evil, they did not have the courage to kill anyone. They just wanted to attack from behind and secretly snatch the prey Qin Ming brought back.

Qin Ming was on guard the whole way, his nerves were tense. He had sharp eyes and could see three black shadows from a distance.

He immediately squatted down. The snow on the ground was almost up to his shoulders, but now he disappeared completely.

He walked silently along the snowy path he had waded through earlier, and finally identified the black shadows in front of him as three idle men in the village.

Qin Ming stopped at a suitable position and could hear the conversation between the three people.

After a moment, his face looked a little ugly. These three people actually wanted to hit him with a club here and steal his prey?

Although he did not go hunting a bear, but only dug out a squirrel's nest, which would not be a very "glorious" thing to say, he actually experienced two life-and-death crises. He was attacked by a man-faced vulture and an unknown mutant creature. He would have died if he was not careful. They dared to steal the food he fought for with his life. He could not tolerate this kind of interception.

Hu Yong, Ma Yang and Wang Youping were shivering with cold. They worked together to dig a snow hole to block the cold wind, which could be considered an ambush in advance. They stayed inside and waited for others.

They thought Qin Ming would take the risk of going deep into the mountains to hunt and underestimated the time he would return, otherwise they would not have talked so openly just now.

"Be careful and don't make any noise later." Ma Yang said.

Hu Yong nodded and said, "When you attack him from behind, you have to be quick, accurate and ruthless, and move quickly!"

Wang Youping complained: "I hope he can come back alive with his prey. Please show up soon. I'll give him a few iron rods. I'm almost frozen."

Suddenly, the snow hole where they were hiding collapsed, burying the three people inside in an instant. Caught off guard, their mouths and noses were full of snow.

Hu Yong reacted the fastest and rushed out first. However, before he could steady himself, he saw a foot approaching him, and with a bang, it kicked him hard in the face.

The severe pain made his facial features distorted, and then he was hit hard on the shoulder by a hunting fork. He felt that the bones were about to break, and the pain made him stagger and fall to the ground.

Ma Yang was in a similar situation. Just as he emerged from the snow, Qin Ming kicked him in the nose. The severe pain mixed with the soreness was unbearable for him. He screamed, tears streaming down his face, and fell to the ground, rolling over and over in the snow.

Wang Youping heard something was wrong and hid in the snow, which was as deep as a person's head, and did not dare to come out. As a result, he suddenly felt pain in his back, and the sharp steel fork pierced his clothes, causing him to bleed.

"No... don't kill me." His voice was trembling, his lips were shaking, and what made him feel even more ashamed and embarrassed was that he had wet his pants, and he was afraid that he would be stabbed through the heart. Qin Ming didn't want to kill him, and based on the feel of his hand, he only pierced his skin and barely drew blood.

He pushed Wang Youping out, then kicked him three meters away, and he fell into the snow again.

"Qin...Ming."

"Brother Ming, we are from the same village and we will meet each other sooner or later. Please show some mercy. We were wrong this time."

After the three of them saw who it was, and then saw him holding a gleaming steel fork pointing at them, they immediately became scared.

In fact, they all carried knives and sticks, but when they saw Qin Ming, who was so fierce and murderous, they were frightened from the bottom of their hearts. In addition, they were all injured, so they were cowards and did not dare to resist.

Normally they bully the weak and fear the strong, and if they really meet a tough guy, they dare not provoke him at all.

Although the actions of the three people were hateful, Qin Ming would not kill them for it. Intense "education" was inevitable, so he used steel forks to prop up their bodies and made them squat on the ground obediently.

Then he beat him up violently to fully exercise his muscles.

In the end, the three men had bruised faces and bloody mouths, and howled for a long time. They were only let go after receiving stern warnings.

Qin Ming felt that these people were powerful on the outside but weak on the inside. They didn't have the courage or strength to do anything ruthless. A good beating would be enough to teach them a lesson.

At the same time, outside the dense forest where Qin Ming and the mutant creatures were confronting each other, a donkey came leisurely from the empty land in the distance. It was very familiar with the road ahead and seemed to be about to enter the mountains.

There was actually a weasel on the donkey's back. It was pure white as snow, without a single stray hair. In this age when the sun sets and never rises again, white creatures are relatively rare.

It is not as active as ordinary small animals. On the contrary, it is very quiet, even mature. It sits cross-legged on the donkey's back, riding the donkey upside down, facing the direction from behind.

This doesn't look like a wild animal. Its demeanor is more like that of a steady human being, with deep eyes, riding a donkey at a leisurely pace.

The mutant creature that had been forced back by Qin Ming suddenly pounced on the donkey after seeing it approaching. However, when it spotted the snow-white weasel on the donkey's back, it suddenly stopped, turned around and disappeared into the dense forest, diving into the thick snow, its body trembling slightly.

The donkey was not frightened. It just glanced at the creature calmly, and like an old horse who knew the way, it carried the quiet weasel into the mountains.

……

The fire spring is in sight, and the black and white trees are swaying.

Qin Ming quickened his pace and arrived at the village entrance a moment later. He was completely relaxed.

"Qin Ming is back." Someone was chopping wood and looked up and saw him.

Soon, several courtyard gates facing the street were opened.

The news that Qin Ming ventured out alone had already spread, and many people were wondering whether he could come back alive and whether he would gain anything.

"When the night just arrived, he went out fully armed..."

Shuangshu Village is not big, and all the villagers along the way who heard the noise came out.

Every household has a sunstone, which creates a fiery glow and even fills the streets with a faint light.

When people saw a red squirrel hanging on the hunting fork Qin Ming was carrying, they fell silent.

This is completely different from what they imagined.

Lu Ze walked over quickly and was relieved to see that Qin Ming was safe and sound.

He was a down-to-earth man. He broke the silence and said, "They said you went into the mountains to hunt bears, but you ended up...catching a squirrel?"

"I also raided its home." Qin Ming said with a smile.

People noticed the animal-skin bag he was carrying and knew what was inside. They were instantly jealous.

Afterwards, everyone discovered that the squirrel's fiery red fur was glowing faintly. It was obviously a mutant creature and its value was definitely not low.

"Not only was your trip safe, but you also gained a lot." Old man Liu who lives at the entrance of the village sighed.

Some villagers took the opportunity to ask if it was safe outside.
Qin Ming truthfully recounted his experiences along the way. He did not dare to mislead his neighbors as that might cost lives.

When they heard that there were dangerous mutant creatures lurking outside the forest, everyone's faces changed and they were still not allowed to go out alone for a short period of time.

Afterwards, Qin Ming did not hide it and mentioned the actions of Ma Yang, Hu Yong and Wang Youping, which immediately aroused the indignation of the young and old in the village.

"How shameless! He doesn't dare to go into the mountains, but wants to do something bad to his fellow villagers. Not only does he want to steal, but he also wants to kill people, right?"

Ma Yang, Hu Yong, and Wang Youping supported each other and limped out of the village entrance when they were beaten up again by Lu Ze and his men.

"Brother Lu, Uncle Yang, Uncle Liu, stop fighting, help!" The three men had bloody snot bubbles on their faces and screamed heart-wrenchingly. The main reason was that they had incurred public anger and many people disliked them.

Qin Ming gave each of the children on the street a handful of nuts, which immediately made the group of children cheer.

Then he saw Grandma Zhou. She was pale and leaning against the gate. He walked over quickly and did not allow her to say anything, leaving her some useful information.

……

"Uncle, you are amazing, wild walnuts are delicious, and pine nuts are so fragrant!"

At Qin Ming's home, Wen Rui was full of praise and was extremely happy. He tried every kind of dried fruit and couldn't stop eating.

"Date paste is delicious and sweet." Wenhui, who was just over two years old, spoke indistinctly while eating the steamed, pitted and mashed red date paste. He also gave Qin Ming a kiss on the face.

Next to it, a red squirrel hung on a hunting fork woke up from a coma, opened its eyes, and saw several people rummaging through its possessions. It immediately became desperate.

"As expected of a mutated creature, it is diligent and capable, having stored more than thirty kilograms of food." Liang Wanqing exclaimed.

The red squirrel's eyes were so wide that they seemed to be spitting fire.

At this time, Lu Ze said seriously: "Xiao Qin, I think your body has almost recovered. It's time to seriously consider the matter of 'new life'."

(End of this chapter)