Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

Zhou Rui didn't turn around. The lynx had run away; he couldn't afford to lose the roe deer too. Click...bang. Zhou Rui pulled back the bolt and fired again.

As expected, the injured roe deer collapsed to the ground, and the dogs quickly ran away.

Zhou Rui then turned around and realized what had hit his elbow. It turned out that a few seconds earlier, Gu Shaofeng had seen Zhou Rui take off his gun and aim, and had hurriedly tried to take the Type 56 semi-automatic rifle off his shoulder as well.

Unexpectedly, the movement was too forceful, causing the squirrel on his body to fly off and crash into Zhou Rui's right elbow.

"Hehe..." Gu Shaofeng let out an awkward laugh, realizing he had actually made things worse.

"Junior brother, what was that thing that ran away just now?"

Zhou Rui glared at him irritably and said indifferently, "You little tiger cub."

Gu Shaofeng was stunned for a moment, then lightly slapped himself across the face, and the gold ingot flew away. According to the price Old Man Xing had quoted last time, it would have been at least two thousand RMB.

Zhou Rui ignored him and walked towards the lynx's location. Although he was certain that the first shot had missed, he still wanted to take a look and see how big the lynx was.

A short while later, Zhou Rui and Gu Shaofeng returned to the camp. Zhou Rui walked ahead empty-handed, while Gu Shaofeng carried a roe deer on his shoulder and was covered with pheasants, rabbits, and greyhounds—something he had insisted on doing himself.

Everyone looked up, and Zhang Shitou glanced at the two of them strangely before quickly going to meet them and taking the roe deer from Gu Shaofeng's shoulder.

Bang! The roe deer landed on the ground. It was a female roe deer, weighing about 60 or 70 pounds.

Wang Shouye walked over and examined the items: "I heard two gunshots, but there was only one bullet hole. Which of you missed?"

Wang Shouye jokingly teased the two of them, but he already knew the answer in his heart.

Zhou Rui looked up at the sky speechlessly: "I fired both shots, but one of them missed."

"What's going on?" Wang Shouye was a little surprised. With Zhou Rui's marksmanship, he shouldn't need to fire two shots to kill a roe deer, right?

"Hehe... It's all my fault. I disturbed my junior brother and caused him to lose a lot of RMB." Gu Shaofeng scratched the back of his head and kept chuckling to himself.

"What did they run away from?" Wang Shouye wondered if he was out of touch with the times. He understood what they were saying, but why couldn't he understand it when they were put together?

Then Wang Zhen and Zhang Shitou turned around as well, but neither of them understood.

"Well, just a tiger cub escaped, hehe..." Gu Shaofeng's mouth was particularly dry, and he felt like his voice was stuck in his throat.

"What?" Wang Zhen's chubby body seemed unusually agile this time, flashing to Gu Shaofeng's side and shaking his tall shoulders. "Where? How big?"

"I didn't see clearly, I just saw a shadow. You should ask your junior brother, he should have seen it clearly."

Zhou Rui noticed Wang Zhen's questioning look and said, "It shouldn't be very big, probably half the size of a roe deer. I went to check the tiger cubs' footprints later, and they weighed about forty pounds."

Wang Zhen nodded, then turned to Gu Shaofeng and said, "Senior Brother, take me to the scene. I'll see if we can set a trap in the surrounding area."

Gu Shaofeng looked at Wang Shouye, who waved his hand and said, "Go ahead, the second brother won't be able to sleep at night if you don't go check on him. But it's getting dark, so hurry back."

Of the group, only Zhang Shitou remained calm. Aside from being a little strange at first, he was busy with his tasks, feeding Wang Shouye, Gu Shaofeng, and his own eleven hunting dogs.

Especially the roe deer that Zhou Rui brought back later, which he dissected clean in just a couple of seconds. At least in terms of proficiency in dissecting prey, he was beyond reproach.

Seeing this, Zhou Rui didn't stand idly by either, and started helping out, tidying up the other small prey. Just as dinner was almost ready, Wang Zhen and Gu Shaofeng returned.

"How is it?" Wang Shouye asked.

"I've set three traps around there; whether we catch anything depends on luck. But before I go to sleep, I'll set some more traps around the camp to see if it'll come near us."

Wang Zhen clearly wasn't very confident, after all, lynxes are carnivores with a very large hunting range. Unlike rabbits and sables, which have smaller ranges and more defined hunting trails.

After eating and drinking their fill, they went straight to sleep, the five of them resting in two snow huts. A fire was lit inside each hut, and large blocks of snow were used to block the entrance, instantly isolating them from the cold wind. The howling wind outside had no effect on those inside.

When Zhou Rui got up in the morning, he thought he was up very early, but he didn't expect that Zhang Shitou had already lit the fire outside. The pot on the fire was bubbling and gurgling, so it seemed that Zhang Shitou had been up for quite a while.

"Good morning, Third Senior Brother."

"Good morning, junior brother." Zhang Shitou smiled at Zhou Rui.

Zhou Rui grabbed a handful of snow from the ground and rubbed it vigorously on his face, thus completing his simple morning cleaning.

Zhou Rui looked around and realized there was nothing left for him to do; Zhang Shitou had already finished most of the work. Zhou Rui went to the snow hut to wake everyone up, and they planned to set off after breakfast.

"What's wrong? Didn't you put on a mask?" Gu Shaofeng, walking in the snow, nudged Wang Zhen.

"No, not even a hair. This tiger cub is too clever; it's not easy to catch." Wang Zhen remained calm. He knew how difficult it was to catch a lynx, a feat unmatched by any other prey.

"Master, are we leaving this mountain now?" Zhou Rui asked, noticing that the route didn't seem like they were going to search the mountain.

"Hmm. This is the tiger cubs' territory, and the wild boars won't stay here for long. After all, tiger cubs are the best at ambushing, and if you're not careful, you might lose one of those little yellow-haired ones."

Zhou Rui nodded, agreeing that this was indeed the case.

"So how should we find it?" Zhou Rui thought he should learn more from the search process.

"We'll climb to a higher ridge first and check where there's a natural sheltered spot nearby, which is where wild boars are most likely to rest. It's much better than searching aimlessly."

Wang Shouye liked this young apprentice the most; he was smart and learned things quickly. Unlike Gu Shaofeng, who was too impetuous, Wang Zhen was a bit lazy, and Zhang Shitou was somewhat dull.

A line of people stood on the ridge, with only the dogs scattered around, like wings sprouting from birds. Wang Shouye observed several sheltered depressions but found nothing.

But he wasn't discouraged at all and continued climbing higher. Hunters often go without a catch; they can't hunt every day. Most of the time is spent traveling and searching for prey.

Suddenly a strong gust of wind swept in, swirling up snowflakes that rushed towards them, and the group quickly turned their backs to the wind.

Zhou Rui suddenly caught a faint, fishy smell, followed by a rapid, low growl from Huaban. Had they discovered something?