Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

Zhou Rui's flashlight beam dipped down and landed on the big man's left shoulder, where blood was seeping from the rough cloth clothes torn by claws.

Zhou Rui couldn't see the injury inside, so he probed his fingertips into the edge of the tear, grabbed the fabric on both sides, and yanked it open.

With a tearing sound, the coarse cotton cloth was ripped from the shoulder line to the side of the waist, and the swollen flesh was instantly exposed to the moonlight.

Three finger-width claw marks were visible through the pale pink flesh, but the deepest part didn't even touch the shoulder bone.

It was obvious that the tiger's paw had just slapped the wound casually, without any deliberate force from the claws; the injury was caused solely by the momentum of the impact.

"Just grit your teeth and bear it."

Without pausing for a moment, he swiftly opened the side pocket of his backpack and sprinkled hemostatic powder onto the wound.

Before the big man could even groan in pain, a roll of bandage had already been wrapped around his neck and shoulders three times, and the knot was tightened with a twist of the fingertips, all in just a few dozen seconds.

Bang, bang.

hoo hoo...

"what……"

"Get out of the way."

Just then, a jumble of noises suddenly erupted from the field ahead.

Gunshots rang out, followed by tiger roars, mixed with screams and the sound of retreating footsteps, assaulting our eardrums.

Zhou Rui's pupils suddenly contracted; someone had directly stopped this mad tiger.

"Don't worry about me, go and lend a hand." The big man tried to get up by pushing himself up, but Zhou Rui pushed him back into the mud.

"Lie still, I'll go around and call for help."

He shoved the remaining half roll of bandage into the big man's hand, grabbed his rifle, turned and charged, his shoe soles slapping against the muddy field, splashing a string of mud droplets.

He knew better than anyone that staying behind wouldn't help with the bone setting, and every second he wasted increased the risk of death for the people blocking his way.

They thought that by wasting this little bit of time, they wouldn't even be able to catch up with Hu Mao, but unexpectedly, the beast was actually trapped in the open space by several guns.

Bang, bang...

Gunfire continued, and the battle raged on.

Zhou Rui poured all his strength into his legs, the wind stinging his ears and his lungs burning as if they were about to explode, but he didn't let up until the figure a hundred meters away finally emerged from the darkness.

Three or four men, each holding a gun, formed a semi-circle, their backs bent like taut bows, while a tall, yellow figure in the middle moved nimbly across the haystack.

The tiger's brownish-yellow body slid into a blur in the moonlight, each leap stirring up a gust of wind.

Before anyone on the periphery could pull the trigger, Tiger Tail swept across with tremendous force.

The next second, the man was like a sack that had been whipped away, flying half a meter off the ground and crashing solidly into the stubble field.

Zhou Rui abruptly stopped, no longer rushing forward; there wasn't enough time.

He glanced at the haystack that was half a person high, took a few steps to climb up the hay bales, and the moment he stood on top of the haystack, he pulled back the bolt of his rifle.

The moonlight shone down from the clouds, and as he pressed his eye against the scope, the blurry yellow shadow finally solidified in the crosshairs.

But this beast changed direction with every step, and as soon as its claws touched the ground, it spun and leaped. The crosshair followed its outline three times, and it couldn't even hold onto a half-second window of stability.

His fingertip rested on the trigger, his back soaked with sweat.

He knew that if he delayed another half minute, none of the remaining people in the circle would be able to walk out standing intact.

Zhou Rui released all his senses, and an invisible thread connected to the tiger's body.

The Siberian tiger suddenly leaped into the air, its gaping maw snapping at a person. The figure had no chance to resist under its sharp claws.

There wasn't enough time for the gun muzzle to move towards its vital points; Zhou Rui pulled the trigger almost instinctively.

The moment the shot rang out, the bullet exploded in the tiger's belly, splattering blood onto the nearby stubble. The tiger's body grazed the hunter's shoulder as it crashed to the ground, the impact sending shivers down his spine.

Ow...

The excruciating pain caused the Beast King to frantically shake its head, unleashing a deafening roar.

The hunter's hand trembled from the roar, and the bullet flew directly into the tiger's mouth, silencing the roar completely.

Before the tiger could get up again, two guns exploded simultaneously beside it.

The hunter's fingers moved so fast, leaving afterimages, as he gripped the Type 56 and Type 65 bullets. All five bullets were fired in two seconds, embedding themselves in the tiger's flesh.

The massive, brownish-yellow body was still convulsing violently on the ground, its claws digging deep furrows into the hard mud, and blood-stained wheat stubble was swept up and sent flying everywhere.

The final muffled thud rolled out of its throat, like a muffled thunderclap cut off by the wind.

Those eerily bright green eyes that had shone so brightly in the darkness were gradually covered with gray, and the murderous gleam they once held was gone.

The entire room fell silent.

The wind swept across the rice paddies, carrying moisture with it, and even the croaking of frogs in the distance stopped for a few seconds.

The men standing around the circle still had their hands on the triggers, the muzzles of their guns emitting faint smoke, and no one dared to utter a sound for a long time.

In those few seconds, they all thought they were definitely going to die here today.

The first to react was the old hunter who had been let go by the tiger brushing past his shoulder. His legs went weak, and he knelt down in the mud, leaning on his gun, panting heavily.

That bite just now almost severed his throat by half an inch, and he can still clearly feel the hot, fishy-smelling air from the tiger's mouth on the back of his neck.

"I...I survived." Someone managed to utter the words in a trembling voice, his voice shaking uncontrollably.

Zhou Rui jumped down from the haystack, stepping barefoot on the prickly wheat stubble, without even noticing the pain.

He walked step by step toward that direction, gun in hand, finally relaxing the muscles that had been tense for almost half the night.

Meow...meow...

A faint, thread-like cry suddenly broke through the darkness, startling Zhou Rui.

Zhou Rui suddenly stopped and looked up, scanning the entire room.

Of the five survivors, one was still unconscious in the stubble, and the remaining four were all paralyzed on the muddy ground, too weak to even lift their arms.

There was also a dead wolf lying on the side, looking like a tattered sack; it was the one that had wandered in and gone the deepest part.

The massive tiger body, shot down by the mob, lay on its side on the ground, blood still gushing from its body.

Zhou Rui finally found the source of the meow; it was a small creature that looked like a kitten.

The little creature hadn't opened its eyes yet and was crawling towards the Siberian tiger, following its scent.

"What... what is this?" Zhou Rui had a guess in his mind, but he still couldn't help but ask.

"This is the old tiger's cub." It was the hoarse voice of the kidnapper, who was sitting on the ground and did not stand up: "The wild wolf carried it from the tiger's den."

"So this tigress charged into the farm like a madwoman, unafraid of bullets." Gu Dayong followed behind, the flashlight in his hand swaying as it landed on the little ball of fur.

"It followed the scent of the pup to get in, completely disregarding how many people and guns were in this place."

Zhou Rui's fingertip paused on the cub's soft forehead, instantly making the whole story clear.

"So this was all a trap set by the wolf king from beginning to end. He used a mad tiger that had lost its cub as a weapon to make things chaotic for us, so that he could reap the benefits."

Everyone turned their gaze to the dark night outside the farm, where the wolf howling had stopped, clearly indicating that the plan had failed and all subsequent actions had ceased.

"If that brother hadn't shot the wolf carrying the tiger cub, this crazed tigress wouldn't be stuck here."