Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

"Senior Brother, let's go." Wang Zhen called out to the camp one last time.

Wang Shouye and the others had already set off and gone far away, only Gu Shaofeng, being lazy and needing to pee, dawdled until the very end.

Zhou Rui and his companions continued tracking the moose herd at their own pace. The two strangers from yesterday had no impact on them; they were just two passersby they encountered in the mountains.

After most of the morning had passed, Zhou Rui and his group had successfully followed the moose's path. The heavy hoofprints left by the moose's massive body were very clear.

The rest was much simpler. With Huaban leading the way, everyone just had to follow. It's just that Zhang Shitou was a bit of a hindrance today, slowing down a bit.

"Stone, you can't hold your liquor. You're still not recovered," Gu Shaofeng teased, a hint of smugness in his voice.

Zhang Shitou was tongue-tied, so he could only look at Zhou Rui and say, "Junior brother, I'm taking the blame for you, you can't just ignore this." Zhou Rui had no choice but to come to Zhang Shitou's rescue.

"You know your third senior brother can't hold his liquor, yet you still force him to drink. If you get him drunk next time, you'll have to carry him on your back."

"Sure. With my physique, carrying the third brother for dozens of miles is no problem for me."

A black line appeared on Zhang Shitou's forehead. "Junior brother, you're ruining my reputation! Do you think my alcohol tolerance is that bad?"

"Shh, stop arguing, look over there." Wang Zhen suddenly pointed to the mountain ridge on the side.

Everyone stopped and turned to look at it together.

Through the black veil, Zhou Rui could only see the white mountain peaks and a fiery red shadow dancing under the blue sky.

"What is that?" Gu Shaofeng couldn't see clearly from the distance.

"Firefox." Zhou Rui had been completely modified, and his eyesight was much better than the others.

"Firefox? Let's go, take care of him." Gu Shaofeng was startled and immediately took off his rifle and was about to walk to the side.

"Stop. What are you doing? You're being so reckless." When Wang Shouye saw that the others hadn't followed, he turned around and saw Gu Shaofeng picking up his rifle and walking to the side.

"Master, there's a fire fox on the mountaintop. I'm going to go and kill it."

Wang Shouye looked in the direction Gu Shaofeng was walking and saw that the red figure in the distance was still there and showed no signs of moving.

"Alright, come back. It's so far, by the time you get there you'll have already run away. It's not worth running all that way for a fox."

"I was just thinking that this fox pelt is valuable. In this weather, all the other foxes are grayish-white, but this one is still bright red, it must be rare." Gu Shaofeng put away his gun and walked back.

Wang Shouye slapped Gu Shaofeng on the head; this eldest disciple was just too talkative.

"Even the rarest ones are only a few hundred. Who taught you math? Are a few hundred the same as a few thousand? As for moose, if we just hunt one, it's worth as much as a bunch of foxes."

"oh."

"Shaofeng, you go ahead and clear the way, so you don't run out of energy."

"Alright." Gu Shaofeng lowered his head and walked forward to the front of the group.

"Hehe... See? He got scolded by Sixth Uncle." Wang Zhen gloated from behind.

Zhou Rui smiled and said, "Second Senior Brother, let's go. Let's save our energy for the journey."

Zhang Shitou had no energy to chat with Wang Zhen; he just wanted to get there quickly so he could get some rest.

However, the weather made it difficult to walk quickly; the snow was thick, and the path was uneven, sometimes even slippery.

Halfway there, several dogs gathered in one spot and barked softly.

"Master, look." Gu Shaofeng waited for Wang Shouye to catch up and pointed to the ground.

Wang Shouye stepped forward and saw that they were scattered on the ground as dark brown granules, somewhat like sheep droppings, but larger.

Wang Shouye didn't mind the dirt; he grabbed one, broke it open, and examined it. It was a bit hard; it was frozen solid.

"It's fresh. Looks like we're about to catch up." Wang Shouye threw the excrement in his hand and wiped his hands with a handful of snow.

"Master, can you estimate how far it is?"

Upon hearing the news, all the apprentices gathered around.

"I can't give a very precise estimate, because moose also have other activities and can't be constantly traveling. But it should be around five to ten miles, roughly."

"Should we hurry up and try to hunt the prey today?" Gu Shaofeng said anxiously.

"No need. We've already traveled for five or six hours. Let's just keep going at our pace and not let the prey disrupt our rhythm."

"Remember, we are hunters, and we must be more patient than our prey. If we lose our composure, even a cooked duck can fly away."

At this moment, Zhou Rui led the mule over: "Uncle Wang, this direction looks like we're heading uphill."

Zhou Rui looked at the feces and clear hoof prints, which stretched diagonally up the mountain.

Upon hearing Zhou Rui's words, Wang Shouye suddenly had a flash of inspiration and waved his hand, signaling his apprentices to be quiet.

There was a lingering thought, but I couldn't grasp it no matter how hard I tried, so I could only lower my head and ponder silently.

Gu Shaofeng and the others were not in a hurry and waited quietly to the side.

"Yes, I know where these moose are going." Wang Shouye's eyes lit up.

"Where? Where?"

"Master, you know the moose's destination. Could we get ahead of them and ambush them?"

"Sixth Uncle, where is it? I'll go set some traps; maybe we can catch them alive."

Zhou Rui watched the group excitedly offering suggestions, remaining silent. He didn't possess their methods; all he could rely on was the gun in his hand.

"I do know their destination. After crossing this mountain, there's a rock face with a very high salt content. I guess they're going there to replenish their salt."

"However, the chances of catching up are slim. The herd of moose is still some distance ahead of us, and there's only one road; going around it would be too far and not worthwhile."

"Come on, keep up."

Realizing there was no way around it, they had no choice but to continue following the moose tracks. However, none of them were discouraged; after all, having a goal was better than wandering aimlessly.

More than an hour later, the sun had passed its zenith and was slowly setting. Wang Shouye looked back at everyone and found that the others were fine, but Zhang Shitou seemed to be falling behind.

"Okay, let's stop and rest for a bit, and have something to eat."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Rui quickly unloaded a bag from the mule's body. Inside were steamed buns made of white flour that Li Mei had prepared, which could be roasted and eaten.

Zhang Shitou was about to go collect firewood again when Zhou Rui quickly stopped him.

"Alright, I'll go with my senior brother. You should get some rest and don't overexert yourself."

"Thanks."

"We're all fellow apprentices, there's no need to thank me. Besides, this work isn't all your responsibility; we can all take turns."

The mountains lacked everything except firewood, and in no time, Zhou Rui and Gu Shaofeng had collected a large pile. Large steamed buns were stuck on tree branches and roasted until they were fragrant and crispy.

Zhou Rui took a bite; it was both crisp and soft.

"Look, isn't that the moose we've been tracking?"

Hearing Zhang Shitou's words, Zhou Rui, with half a steamed bun still in his mouth, looked up.

"One, two... five, there are six in total."

Diagonally above, the largest moose walked at the front, its two large antlers pointing straight into the sky like tree branches, followed by five moose of varying sizes.

Zhou Rui quickly activated his senses; it was within range, but it was already at the edge. A little over a thousand meters—too bad, outside the rifle's range.

"Hehe... It'll be quick. Maybe we can catch one today and sell it for money tomorrow." Gu Shaofeng was overjoyed.

A deafening roar resounded. A gust of wind whipped up, tree branches swayed, and all the dogs lay down, trembling. The mule immediately reared up, ready to run, but Zhou Rui reacted swiftly and grabbed the reins.

"Tiger?" "Mountain tiger."

The crowd looked in the direction of the sound and saw moose screaming and running downhill. One of them even lost its footing and rolled down the hillside.