Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

"Zhou Rui, wake up."

The sound of rough hands slapping on the straw pulled Zhou Rui, who was dozing off wrapped in an old coat, back to his senses.

He was the last one to be woken up in the warehouse. His eyelids were still heavy with the lingering sleepiness from the latter half of the night. When he looked up, the sunlight streaming in through the window made him squint.

It was already bright daylight, and the golden sunlight made the earthen walls in the courtyard appear white.

"What time is it?"

A pair of work boots, still smelling of new rubber, landed with a thud on the haystack in front of him. The stitches on the uppers were still neat and tidy. They were work boots given to him by Wang Houtian, the farm manager.

Gu Dayong's voice was low and hoarse from staying up half the night: "It's nine o'clock. Uncle Guai led the group for two whole hours. Now, it's our turn to move."

Zhou Rui ran his fingertips over the stiff upper of the rubber shoes, knowing exactly what was going on.

Gu Jiacheng was absolutely right last night. On the surface, the large team fired shots to search the mountains before dawn, keeping all the sentry wolves' eyes glued to the Northwest Gully and the Red Pine Forest.

Their team set off three hours later to take advantage of the time difference and keep their tails hidden.

Suddenly, the roar of an engine came from outside the courtyard, and the Dongfanghong tractor rolled over the dirt road, billowing thick black smoke.

The wheels rolled over the loose soil, leaving a long black trail on the scorching hot road.

As the black smoke slowly dissipated, four figures silently appeared on the meadow at the edge of the swamp.

This was a route that Zhou Rui had specially arranged with the farm manager, Wang Houtian. The four of them stayed huddled in the truck bed covered with a tarpaulin the whole time, not daring to even peek their heads out.

The tractor, pretending to be on its usual route to haul grain from the fields, passed by a thicket of wormwood at the edge of a swamp. The four men, using the vehicle as cover, rolled over and tumbled into the waist-deep grass.

No one can guarantee that it's foolproof; dealing with wolves in the mountains is never 100% safe.

But taking an extra detour or hiding one's tracks is always better than blindly rushing into the swamp and putting one's head right under the watchful eyes of the sentry wolves.

Before the operation could begin, Gu Dayong reached out and stopped the four people in place.

His stubble was speckled with bits of grass, his gaze swept across the swamp in front of him, and his voice was as deep as a stone.

"Let me make this clear from the beginning: our goal today has always been the same – that wolf king."

"It's no big deal to deal with any stray wolves that happen to see this, but the wolf king must die."

"This thing is as cunning as a human. As long as it's not eliminated, our farm's livestock, and even people, will never be able to sleep peacefully."

"With its death, the remaining wolf pack lost its leader and will break apart into several smaller packs within half a month, unable to cause any more trouble."

"clear."

"I've got it, Uncle."

The wind whistled through the grass, brushing past his ears, and Zhou Rui brushed the last bit of grass off his trouser leg.

Gu Dayong took out four sharpened willow poles from the cloth bag on his back. Each pole was half a head taller than a person, and the poles were marked with evenly deep and shallow lines in ink.

"Hold this tight, everyone." He handed the poles to the three men one by one, his rough fingertips tapping the markings on the willow poles.

"Before stepping down, poke your foot three times in front of you to make sure it's solid. If the pole sinks more than two feet down, immediately pull your foot back without hesitation."

Gu Shaofeng gripped the stick and jabbed it hard into the mud at his feet. The soft mud "plop" swallowed half a foot of it, and his face instantly turned half white.

"Uncle, this place looks no different from the meadow next door, but who would have thought that it's all mud underneath?"

Zhou Rui didn't speak, but first held the willow stick in front of him.

You can feel the resistance as you push the pole in, sometimes soft, sometimes hard. In addition to the fishy smell of water plants, there is also a very faint, pungent smell of wild wolves in the wind.

He looked up into the depths of the swamp, where the vast expanse of grass stretched to the horizon like a giant green carpet, with a few crooked old elm trees standing scattered in the middle.

"Something's not right." Zhou Rui suddenly raised his hand and pressed down on Gu Dayong's foot, which was about to step forward. "There's a whistle wolf."

The group froze on the spot, even holding their breath.

Gu Shaofeng raised the hunting rifle on his back with a whoosh, and the safety was only pulled half an inch before Gu Dayong pressed it down.

"Don't draw your gun." Gu Dayong's voice was barely audible as he followed Zhou Rui's gaze to the bushes diagonally in front of him.

Half a grayish-yellow wolf ear flashed behind a haystack less than two hundred meters away from them before quickly retracting.

The wolf didn't howl.

When a normal wolf sees a person, it will either run away to warn them or tuck its tail between its legs and growl with bared teeth. But this sentry wolf only showed half an ear and didn't make a sound.

Zhou Rui's nerves tightened even more instantly. The wolf trained by this wolf king was more composed than the militia led by the old hunters in the mountains.

"It didn't see us jump down from behind the tractor." Zhou Rui's gaze swept over the surrounding terrain. There was a shallow ditch that had been washed out by water, and the banks of the ditch were covered with grass that was half a person tall.

"Follow the ditch to the left, sneak past from the downwind side, and don't make a sound."

The four men crouched low, gripping willow branches as they slowly made their way into the ditch.

The muddy water soaked the uppers of the rubber boots, making the soles of the feet numb with cold. Before taking a step, one had to poke the ground in front of them three times with a stick to make sure that the ground beneath was solid before daring to shift one's weight.

In order not to make any unnecessary noise, the four of them practically shuffled forward along the muddy surface, moving at a speed as slow as crawling through the grass.

After about ten minutes, they finally managed to completely bypass the guard range of the sentry wolves.

Only when the wolf's view from behind was completely blocked by the grassy hill did the group dare to straighten up and quietly move a few steps deeper into the swamp.

Having just sped up and taken less than a hundred steps, Gu Jiacheng, who was at the very back, suddenly slipped and tumbled into the soft mud to the side.

He instinctively pushed the willow pole in his hand into the mud, and the pole sank almost a foot and a half into the mud, which instantly submerged his calves.

"Don't panic!"

Zhou Rui rushed over and placed the pole he was holding horizontally under Gu Jiacheng's arm.

Gu Dayong and Gu Shaofeng immediately turned to the side, and the three poles were simultaneously driven into the hard tower block beside him. The four of them worked together to pull him back by the back of his collar.

The mud was so thick that it made his legs feel heavy, and Gu Jiacheng's face turned red from the effort. He finally managed to pull his legs out of the mud.

Half of his trouser leg was covered in stinking black mud, and the soles of his rubber shoes were almost stuck to the mud.

"Huff... I should have brought Tie Tou and the others with me." Gu Shaofeng breathed heavily, still somewhat shaken.

"It's no use having the dogs. They've never been in this kind of environment before, and they could easily get caught up in it even more easily than people."

Gu Dayong shook his head in denial, explaining that this was the reason they hadn't brought hunting dogs.

"How did the wolf manage to hide here safely?" Gu Shaofeng had just seen the scouting wolf and finally believed that the wolf pack was hiding in the swamp.

"Perhaps they've seen how other animals go in and out, or perhaps they've discovered a safe path after many wolves have died."

Zhou Rui said in a low voice, but in his heart he believed more in the second approach.

"Let's go, this place is all muddy. If a wolf has stepped in it, you can see the traces with the naked eye, even without a dog."

Gu Dayong didn't let Gu Shaofeng rest too much. The risks here were too great. If they stayed up until dark, they might not be able to get out.