The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

Jiang Ming switched off the flashlight, stuffed it into his satchel, and crept silently through the woods. Faintly, he heard a huffing sound up ahead.

Jiang Ming held his rifle at the ready. The gun he was using today was also a semi-automatic rifle supplied by Qi Shengli.

Jiang Ming advanced slowly through the pine forest. To his left and right were needle-covered branches and tangled brush. With every step, he had to carefully hold back the surrounding twigs, only letting them go slowly after he had passed.

CRACK... No matter how careful he was, he still made a noise. His satchel snagged on a twig. As he moved forward, he yanked it, and the twig snapped with a sharp sound.

HUFF...

A sound echoed faintly from ahead. Jiang Ming squinted, and through the dense web of branches, he saw a colossal creature rise to its feet from beneath a large pine tree.

Jiang Ming thrust his rifle barrel forward. As the muzzle poked through the pine needles and brush, the massive beast lurched and bolted.

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

Jiang Ming fired three shots in quick succession. By the time the third shot rang out, the massive creature had already vanished without a trace.

His rifle barrel was tangled in the pine needles and brush, and Jiang Ming couldn’t even turn to aim.

Jiang Ming sighed, lowered his rifle, and headed down the mountain for home.

...

About an hour later.

On Little Gu Mountain’s North Mountain, beneath a solitary large tree, Li Baoyu and Zhou Jianjun were chatting idly.

As they talked, they started to feel a bit cold, so they began doing somersaults and mock-fighting nearby to warm up.

Suddenly, just as he was getting up from a somersault, Zhou Jianjun pointed to the opposite slope. "Baoyu, look! What the hell is that?"

Li Baoyu glanced over and quickly shoved him. "Brother-in-law, the boar is here! Quick, get up the tree!"

Zhou Jianjun scrambled to climb the tree. When he reached a fork in the branches, he stood there.

Li Baoyu followed him up. The two of them stood in the tree, clinging to the trunk as they watched a huge wild boar run past below.

This boar had to weigh a good seven hundred pounds.

The wild boar ran past under the tree. It was impossible to know if it had seen Li Baoyu and Zhou Jianjun.

But Li Baoyu and Zhou Jianjun got a clear look. There was a band of scar tissue encircling its body between its front and hind legs, running down from its spine.

The injury was old; the deep wound had long since healed, but it left a deep, grooved ring on the boar’s body.

"Brother-in-law, let’s go down."

The two of them started following the great boar’s tracks, shouting loudly as they went.

Over an hour later, the wild boar, just as planned, followed the route Zhao Jun had laid out. It circled around to East Mountain and headed straight for Liangdao Gully.

At Toudao Gully, Wei Lai was already lying in wait. Seeing the boar approaching from a distance, Wei Lai quickly brought his rifle to his cheek.

BANG!

Wei Lai flicked off the safety and fired. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

’Aim for the top of its coat to hit the belly.’

And sure enough, Wei Lai’s shot grazed right under the boar’s belly.

The bullet didn’t penetrate the boar’s body, but it tore open its underbelly. The wound wasn’t deep, but fresh blood began to flow.

At the same time, at Liangdao Gully, less than a mile away, Huang Gui heard the shot. He quickly unfastened the leashes on his dogs. The four hounds immediately bolted toward Toudao Gully.

Rifle in hand, Huang Gui gave chase at a quick pace.

After firing, Wei Lai swung his rifle around and saw that the boar hadn’t gone toward Toudao Gully, but had instead plunged down into the ravine to the left.

Wei Lai pulled the trigger again.

BANG!

BANG!

Two more shots.

The first shot grazed over the boar’s back—a miss.

But the second shattered one of the boar’s hind legs.

BANG!

Another shot rang out, but the boar was already deep in the gully.

Just then, Wei Lai heard the sound of dogs coming from the east, growing closer and closer.

The boar, weighing nearly seven hundred pounds, had one of its hind legs broken by a bullet. Going downhill actually made it easier for it to use its front legs.

The mountainside was a tangled mess, but the gully bottom was even worse, choked with pine needles and brush. Mountain Runners called this kind of place a Naoxia Pond.

The boar crashed through the Naoxia Pond and, seeing the descending ridge, continued down the slope.

But further ahead lay a stretch of Tower Head Marsh.

And there, on the left edge of this Tower Head Marsh, beneath a lone linden tree, stood Zhao Jun, leaning against the trunk with his steel rifle in his arms.