Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

Liu Qingguo happened to be passing by behind, and his gaze swept down to Chen Ye's waistband. Suddenly, he burst out laughing, choking back the words Chen Feiyue was about to say.

He Wu was baffled and was about to ask him what he was so happy about when Liu Qingguo winked at him and pulled him forward by the arm.

Only after walking until the Chen father and son had become two blurry black dots in the distance did Liu Qingguo, clutching his stomach, begin to recount Chen Feiyue's past achievements.

"What? Chen Feiyue wet his pants? How dare he come to the mountains?" He Wu was stunned and found it hard to believe.

"So what if they're jackals? Act like you've never seen anything like it. You and your cousin were chased by jackals, and nobody wet their pants then!"

"Who knows what Old Chen was thinking, insisting on bringing his precious son out to toughen him up."

Liu Qingguo found it increasingly amusing. "But it's alright, just bring a few more pairs of pants up the mountain, right? Hahahaha!"

Their laughter carried far away on the mountain breeze. Zhou Rui, who was in front, didn't turn around, but he couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth into a smile.

Big Yellow was walking in the lead when it suddenly stopped and looked back. Its ears twitched, as if it had also heard the two of them joking around.

The sun rose higher and higher, warming the open mountain plain beneath our feet.

Zhou Rui stood on the earthen slope with his hands behind his back, his eyes fixed on the meadow in front of him. He Wu and Liu Qingguo held hunting rifles, their muzzles pointing downwards at the ground, not aiming randomly into the grass.

The tall, knee-high weeds in front of it became Big Yellow's playground. It ran wildly on all fours, chasing a dusty wild rabbit, making the grass rustle loudly as it bumped against the grass.

This was Zhou Rui's first time watching Da Huang hunt.

The last time we fought the wolves doesn't count; Big Yellow just suddenly jumped out, and Zhou Rui didn't witness the whole thing.

He Wu and Liu Qingguo stared intently, their eyes practically overflowing with envy.

Such a fine hunting dog is practically a dream come true for any mountain hunter.

The rabbit darted and leaped into the waist-high grass in a few quick leaps, but Big Yellow was in no hurry at all.

It sniffed the ground with its nose, raised the tip of its tail, and suddenly turned in the opposite direction, plunging diagonally into a clump of thorns bearing red berries.

The next second, there was a rustling of grass, and the grayish rabbit rolled out from behind the thorns, its legs already stained with blood. It had just jumped half a foot high when Big Yellow gently pressed it down on its back with its paw.

"This dog is really something, it's almost become a spirit." He Wu slung his gun over his shoulder and couldn't help but take two steps forward.

"I've seen other people's dogs before that chased rabbits and got themselves lost. Can you call that a hunting dog?"

Just as Liu Qingguo was about to reply, he suddenly caught a glimpse of something moving in the shadows of the left-hand ridge.

His smile vanished instantly. He reached out and grabbed He Wu's shoulder, his voice low and menacing: "Don't move. Move closer to Zhou Rui."

Zhou Rui's rifle appeared in his hand at some point, and his gaze passed over the two men and the dog, landing on the gently undulating tall grass.

The grass wasn't being moved by the wind; the wind was blowing eastward, but the grass was slowly moving in their direction, leaving a very subtle mark.

Big Yellow suddenly stopped walking back, spat the rabbit out of its mouth onto the ground, and the fur on the back of its neck stood up.

A low growl rolled from its throat, and it turned around to stand in front of Zhou Rui.

Liu Qingguo and He Wu tensed up instantly, all their previous lively energy vanished, and they subconsciously retreated towards Zhou Rui's location.

The undulating grass gradually stopped, and after a long time, there was no further movement.

Zhou Rui holstered his gun, strode forward, and then squatted down in a clump of grass.

Big Yellow, carrying a wild rabbit in its mouth, walked over to Zhou Rui and stood beside him, staring intently at the direction of the dense forest.

Liu Qingguo was the first to walk over: "Ruiwa, what is this?"

"It's not a bear, nor a wild boar." Zhou Rui touched a shallow indentation on the ground with his fingertip; a few silver-gray hairs were still stuck to the edge of the indentation.

"It's not very big, and it's injured. It looks a bit like... a bit like a lynx."

Zhou Rui stared at the marks on the ground for a long time before finally realizing what had happened.

Without realizing it, he had already begun to use the method taught by Wang Shouye to identify animals by linking their footprints, fur color, and habitat.

"Lynx? Tiger cubs!" He Wu's eyes widened instantly, and he frantically tried to remove the five or six pieces from its back.

In the first half of the year, he cornered Zhou Rui for the first time, pestering him relentlessly just to kill a lynx for fun. As a result, Zhou Rui shot down the Far East Leopard with a single shot, completely satisfying his obsession.

But now that I've actually run into a lynx, that lingering craving has been reignited. I'm determined to catch this lynx today, no matter what; I can't let this trip be in vain.

"Should we pursue them?"

It sounded like a question, but Zhou Rui could tell from the way the kid was already shuffling forward with his feet and had his gun bolt pulled back halfway that the boy's soul had already followed the lynx.

"Chase it." Zhou Rui tied the rabbit to his waist and waved at Big Yellow.

"But don't scatter. That thing is injured, and its temperament is probably even more ferocious. Don't go near it alone."

Zhou Rui couldn't be 100% certain that it was a lynx, but he knew perfectly well that all the wild beasts in the mountains and forests were the same.

Once injured, their ferocity is several times greater than when they are uninjured.

Upon hearing the command, Big Yellow leaped forward like a yellow lightning bolt, instantly disappearing into the dense thicket without the slightest hesitation.

The three followed Da Huang's footsteps and crawled behind the ridge. After walking for about two kilometers, they heard a deep roar coming from ahead, as well as Da Huang's low growl before attacking.

At this point, He Wu no longer cared about being afraid. Clutching the five or six half-strands, he followed closely behind Zhou Rui, not daring to blink even when the branches scratched his face.

When they finally parted the last patch of hazelnuts, the scene before them left all three of them stunned.

A large, silver-gray cat was seen confronting Big Yellow, its left hind leg a bloody mess, the cause of which was unknown.

It was cornered against a boulder, standing motionless and staring intently at Big Yellow, with a small, furry thing behind it.

Big Yellow stopped a few steps away from it, without lunging forward, but still making a warning sound in its throat.

The big cat saw that several more people had suddenly appeared, and its yellow-green eyes were fixed on Zhou Rui and his group.

It didn't pounce, nor did it run away; it simply tucked the fluffy ball under its belly to protect itself.

He Wu's grip on the gun loosened without him realizing it: "This...this is a tabby cat, and it's with kittens."

"No." Zhou Rui shook his head: "They look about the same size, but this cat looks more slender, so it should be a leopard cat."

"Besides, tabby cats are domesticated. Even if they are abandoned, they will at most wander around in populated areas and will not run into the deep mountains."

Liu Qingguo slowly lowered the gun he had raised, somewhat at a loss: "So...should we still make a move?"

Zhou Rui waved his hand, signaling the two of them to put their weapons away.

He slowly took a few steps forward and stopped when he was still two or three meters away from the leopard cat.

He took the rabbit off his waist, cut off half of the meat, and casually tossed it over.

"Eat up, then leave, but don't head down the mountain."

The leopard cat stared at him for a long time, and the growls in its throat gradually subsided.

It hesitated for a long time before finally lowering its head to gnaw on the rabbit meat on the ground.

After finishing eating, it gently picked up the wolf cub with its mouth, turned around with a limp, and walked into the deeper forest behind the boulder.

After walking a dozen steps, it turned back to look at Zhou Rui again, and its figure quickly disappeared into the increasingly thin morning mist.