Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

The wolf king didn't stay in the depression at all; it had already gone around to the other side of the depression via a hidden ditch.

Using the mud tracks left by the men as they crawled, they silently crept up behind Gu Shaofeng, their sharp claws aimed straight for the back of his unsuspecting neck.

The moment Gu Shaofeng turned around upon hearing the sound of the wind, the stench of the wolf's mouth was already spraying onto his face.

His semi-automatic rifle was still in front of him, and he didn't have time to turn around. He could only subconsciously raise his left arm to block.

The wolf's fangs snapped and bit into the flesh of the arm, and blood instantly flowed down the arm.

Gu Jiacheng reacted quickly, swinging the rifle behind him and causing the gunpowder to burst.

However, the wolf king twisted its waist and dodged unharmed, leaving only a few holes in Gu Shaofeng's arm.

The silver wolf king stomped its hind paws hard on the muddy ground and was about to pounce again when Zhou Rui's aim finally locked onto the wolf's head.

Without the slightest hesitation, he steadily pulled the trigger.

The moment the gunshot rang out over the swamp, the bullet pierced through the wolf's ear and ripped off its skull.

The wolf king swayed and crashed heavily at Gu Shaofeng's feet. Its limbs twitched twice, and then it remained still.

Upon seeing the wolf king's corpse, the remaining wolves instantly lost all their ferocity, tucking their tails between their legs and burrowing into the thicket of weeds deep in the depression.

Gu Dayong and Gu Jiacheng sniped relentlessly, while Zhou Rui occasionally fired a couple more shots from a distance.

Within minutes, the commotion in the hollow completely subsided, leaving only the soft sound of the wind rustling through the grass against the wolf carcass.

When Zhou Rui walked over, Gu Shaofeng was sitting on the muddy ground, clutching his bleeding arm and hissing in pain.

"Damn it, this beast is even smarter than a human. He actually hid in the ditch and circled around, almost breaking my arm."

Zhou Rui, carrying pre-prepared strips of cloth and strong liquor, squatted down to clean his wounds.

The strong liquor was poured into the deep hole bitten by the wolf's teeth, and Gu Shaofeng trembled violently in pain.

"It spotted us a long time ago and deliberately left the pack of wolves to put on a show in the hollow while it circled around to kill the leader first."

"If it were any other team, they might have really lost here today."

Soon after, Gu Dayong and Gu Jiacheng returned.

Gu Dayong kicked the wolf king's corpse at his feet, his stubble stained with wolf blood, his steady voice carrying a hint of relaxation.

"More than ten wolves were left behind; except for some that got stuck in the swamp, the rest ran away."

"So, how much is left?" Zhou Rui looked up, wanting to know the approximate number, and also to distract Gu Shaofeng.

"I reckon there are only twenty or thirty left, they can't cause any more trouble." Gu Dayong finally smiled.

"Let's go back and arrange for people to guard the area for another two days. Without the wolf king, these wolves should retreat into the deep mountains and won't come back to die."

The wind, carrying the stench of blood, blew in, and the swamp, which had just been suffocating, finally let in some of the scorching sunlight.

In the distance, the faint sound of a tractor chugging along the dirt road could be heard.

A few days later, on the ridge of the fields in Jiaolong Gorge, Zhou Rui carried a load of rice weighing over a hundred pounds on his shoulder and strode briskly to the rice drying ground.

Liu Qingguo, chasing after him, was panting heavily, but his mouth never stopped moving.

During the farm operation a few days ago, he was with Zhou Rui on the first day, but was then sent to patrol with the militia. He missed all the hard-fought battles.

After returning, Gu Shaofeng would recount the events to him every day, vividly describing the ferocity of Mad Tiger and the cunning of Silver Wolf, making him feel itchy all over.

He followed Zhou Rui's footprints and took two steps forward, shouting anxiously, "Don't forget me next time you go on a mission, don't leave me behind again."

"Hey, Zhou Rui, still talking about fighting tigers and wolves!" The Liu brothers, who were coming from the opposite direction, quickly moved to the field when they saw Zhou Rui's heavy load.

The two brothers were honest and hardworking, and they admired Zhou Rui, a young boy, for carrying such a full load of goods.

Zhou Rui didn't stop walking. He gently shifted the carrying pole on his shoulder and made the swaying rice stalks steady again.

He turned his head and smiled at the Liu brothers, his footsteps firmly planted in the mud on the paddy field ridge: "It's not nagging, it's just that Brother Qingguo has been pestering me so much these past few days that my ears are about to fall off."

In Jiaolongxia Village these past few days, the tiger and wolf hunt has become the hottest topic in the entire village.

The news of the wolf-hunting team's triumphant return from the swamp had barely settled when it spread to every field ridge within half a day.

The militia members were scattered across various production groups. During breaks, they would gather around people to recount the day's fierce battle, making those who missed the operation eager to hear what they were doing, and they even forgot to do their work.

In the past few days, Zhou Rui has been carrying grain back and forth between the fields and the threshing ground so that Lin Qiuyue can stay at home and take care of the children without worry.

The midday sun soaked my back with sweat, and by the time I finished work in the evening, the sweat stains on my clothes had dried and formed a layer of fine white salt.

He swung his arm as he walked home. Before he even stepped into the courtyard, he heard Lin Qiuyue's angry rebuke mixed with An'an's crying.

Instead of rushing in, Zhou Rui slowed his pace further and further.

How could he not feel sorry for his little sister? But An'an was getting more and more mischievous. She was almost eight years old and dared to do anything, like climbing trees to steal eggs and going down to the river to catch fish.

For this girl to anger the usually gentle Lin Qiuyue to this extent, she must have gotten herself into serious trouble.

If I were to rush in now, An'an would definitely hide behind me and act cute to avoid punishment.

It would be better to wait a bit longer and let Lin Qiuyue explain the reasoning to her clearly, so that this little girl doesn't always use herself as a shield and doesn't learn her lesson next time.

The scolding from inside the house continued, mixed with An'an's sobbing explanations, drifting intermittently to his ears.

"I didn't mean to... It's just that Tie Niu and Ya Ya said the roasted wheat smelled good, so I grabbed some matches from home to light it."

"How dare you say that? Do you even know that you almost set all the haystacks in the village on fire...?"

Zhou Rui was startled, and the hairs on the back of his head stood on end.

During the dry autumn harvest season, stacks of hay as tall as a person are piled up along the edges of fields and beside threshing grounds, and a single spark can ignite half a sea of ​​fire.

He pushed open the courtyard gate and saw half a small cloth shirt with a black hole burned into it, lying on the ground in front of the main room.

An'an's face was covered in two streaks of black ash, making her look like a little raccoon that had sneaked through the stove. She was still clutching half a half-burnt wheat stalk in her hand, and tears were streaming down her face.

Lin Qiuyue held a half-empty matchbox in her hand, her chest was still rising and falling slightly, and there was still some grass ash stuck to her trouser legs.

"I...I just wanted to roast two ears of wheat to eat." An'an cried even more aggrievedly when she saw Zhou Rui come in.

"I didn't intend to burn the house down, but who knew that a gust of wind would blow a spark onto the haystack..."

Hearing An'an's aggrieved cries, Zhou Rui's heart still clenched slightly.

He crouched down and wiped the soot off An'an's face with his sleeve: "You didn't burn yourself, did you?"

An'an shook her head and threw herself into Zhou Rui's arms: "I ran fast, and Tie Niu even used his clothes to put out the fire, so it didn't burn much, just a corner of the haystack."

Lin Qiuyue sighed beside her, her anger largely dissipated, replaced by lingering fear.

"Luckily, villagers passed by and helped put out the fire. If it had caught fire, the whole village would have been affected, and we wouldn't have been able to afford to lose our entire family's property."