Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

This group of people were all ruthless characters who had been accustomed to risking their lives and treating death as commonplace.

The third brother's family barged into their territory, ruining their opportunity to make money.

Now that this group of human traffickers has barged in, they've become his punching bag.

The third brother's muscles tensed instantly. He pulled his wife behind him and secretly reached into his bosom.

But the moment his fingertips touched the cold metal, a man in a military overcoat kicked him in the back of the knee, sending him crashing to his knees in the snow with a thud.

"Don't fire! We have absolutely nothing to do with the militia chasing us from outside."

Third Brother was in so much pain that his whole body was convulsing. He was terrified that Hao's men would pull the trigger and kill him, so he hurriedly shouted out in a hoarse voice.

"We're just a few small business owners. We got lost in the dark and accidentally wandered onto your turf. We've taken out all the money we have to offer you. Please, gentlemen, have mercy and let us go."

"Running a small business?" The burly man scoffed. "Our people already know your faces from Jiaolongxia Village?"

"If it weren't for your men being so lazy and kidnapping the child, which led to the militia searching the granary, we would still be leisurely moving grain around the village right now."

"We were forced to retreat in the middle of the night by these peasants, and now we're stuck in this valley."

"Compensation? You think we'd care about the pittance you have?"

"Haha... That's right, we're all big business people, we don't care about your little bit of money."

"The big job we do is worth many years of their travels all over the country."

"Exactly, a bunch of despicable child traffickers, do they even deserve to negotiate with us?"

"You..." Third Brother suddenly looked up, the veins on his forehead bulging.

"So what if we're kidnappers? Does that make you all good people?"

"A bunch of petty thieves who stole public grain were still chased like rabbits by the militia of Jiaolong Gorge."

As soon as he said that, the woods fell silent for a few seconds, and then everyone around him, their eyes red, surrounded him.

Those with weapons smashed themselves with the butts of their guns, while those without weapons kicked themselves hard.

The four men were beaten until they rolled around in the snow, their cries for mercy echoing through the woods.

With a thud, a short gun fell from Third Brother's arms and slid a long distance across the snow.

The man next to him bent down, picked it up, weighed it in his hand, and then tapped the third brother on the forehead: "Well, you've been hiding a Mauser pistol. Looks like you deserve a beating. Keep hitting him."

"Stop it, everyone."

Hao Ge's voice drifted out from the shadows of the trees, as he held an AK47 that had run out of bullets.

A large army of soldiers carrying rifles followed behind them, their heads haphazardly wrapped with tattered cloth, their faces as white as snow on the ground.

"Brother Hao."

"Brother Hao, you're back."

"Brother Hao, where's Tiger?"

Hao waved his hand, took a step forward, his face expressionless: "Tiger's done for. The other side has a young guy with incredibly accurate marksmanship who took him down with a single shot."

"Damn it, I'm going to tear that kid to pieces."

The crowd erupted instantly. No one lamented Tiger's death; all they felt was resentment at being humiliated.

These people are heartless wolves; human life is worth less than half a sweet potato in their eyes.

When their own people are killed, they only feel that someone has crossed their bottom line.

Hao raised his hand to disperse the crowd, his gaze sweeping over the four bruised and swollen faces of Third Brother's family, and then he suddenly smiled.

"Kidnapper? What a coincidence, I also have a grudge against the people of Jiaolong Gorge."

He bent down and squatted down, patting his third brother's face, which had turned blue from the beating, with a movement as light as if he were patting a frozen pear.

"I'm giving you two choices."

First, kneel down right now, and I'll have my brothers make holes in your foreheads one by one, bury you in the snow, and in half a month when spring melts, no one will even find a trace of your bones.

"What about the second one?" Third Brother's voice trembled uncontrollably. He had lived for over thirty years and had never seen anyone with such a sinister look in their eyes. That kind of ruthlessness was something that ordinary thugs couldn't fake.

"The second one." Hao Ge straightened up and pointed out the valley.

"When the people outside come in, you'll be on the front line. Kill one person and you'll live; kill four and our business will be settled."

"I choose option two." Third Brother struggled to lift his head, his whole body aching so much he couldn't muster any strength. "But we don't have any weapons."

Hao raised his right hand and beckoned with his finger: "Give him back his short gun, and also provide three long guns."

The old pistol was handed back to Third Brother, along with three other old, peeling guns.

It was either an outdated rifle from decades ago, or a homemade gun from the village that was so bad it would explode after firing just two shots.

Using these things to fight the villagers of Jiaolong Gorge is clearly a death sentence with a slim chance of survival.

But Third Brother didn't dare utter a single word of refusal.

The person standing in front of me isn't human; he's a cold-blooded madman. If I utter a single wrong word, my whole family will be lying dead in the snow the next second.

Hao Ge then had some cornbread and a sachet of strong liquor thrown at Third Brother's family, just left on the ground like feeding stray dogs.

"Have something to eat to tide you over, so you can work harder when you fight the militia in Jiaolong Gorge later."

Remember, if you dare to try anything funny, my men's weapons aren't to be trifled with.

Third Brother wolfed down the cornbread, not even noticing the snowflakes sticking to the corners of his mouth.

Right now, all he can think about is filling his stomach first; he'll worry about the life-or-death battle later.

Da Jun sidled up to Hao Ge and whispered, "Hao Ge, are we really going to let them hold the line? These cowardly things, I'm afraid they'll turn against us."

"Turning against me?" Hao sneered, raising his hand to touch the scar on his hand.

"The firing positions I found for them are fairly secure against the outside. If they really turn against us, should I shoot them and the militia together?"

He looked up towards the valley entrance, where the snow fog completely obscured the firelight outside.

But he could picture the villagers gathered around the fire, warming themselves and plotting how to break in.

Zhou Rui's shot just now almost sent him to his death. He's going to get his revenge, with interest.

On the other side, Zhou Rui, along with Gu Jiacheng and Liu Qingguo, had only gone two hundred meters into the woods.

Big Yellow suddenly stopped, sniffing the air with its nose raised, and made a low whimpering sound in its throat.

"What's wrong?" Liu Qingguo was startled and instinctively picked up his Type 38 rifle, thinking that something unexpected had happened again.

Zhou Rui squatted down and reached out to touch Da Huang's head. Just as his fingertips touched its fur, he saw Da Huang suddenly turn its head and climb up the trunk of an old pine tree next to it.

"Has it found a greyhound? Should we pounce on it?" Gu Jiacheng, with his rich experience, could tell at a glance what kind of prey Dahuang had found.

Zhou Rui glanced up at the height of the tree hole, then looked at the rifle in his hand.

"Forget it, I didn't bring a slingshot. Even if I hit someone, they wouldn't be left with much flesh."

"The greyhound's den is too high; even if we take out some hazelnuts, it won't be enough for everyone."