The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

Zhang Yuanmin’s words gave Chen Dalai a splitting headache.

A Big Bear Dominator weighing over a thousand pounds wasn’t some bubble from laundry suds. How could it just pop with a single poke?

But after letting out a curse, Chen Dalai calmed down. Zhang Yuanmin’s expression didn’t look like he was lying.

He kept his gun raised, his aim steady, as he slowly approached the stone cave.

Seeing Chen Dalai’s theatrics, Zhang Yuanmin said irritably, "Stop fooling around. Hurry up and take a look for yourself."

Chen Dalai handed his gun to Zhang Yuanmin, grabbed the wooden stick, and copied what Zhang Yuanmin had done, poking it around inside the cave.

But all the stick hit was stone.

"See? I was right. It’s gone." Zhang Yuanmin was still stewing over Chen Dalai’s earlier curse.

Chen Dalai was in no mood to coddle him. "There must be a side tunnel in there," he said. "It must have slipped into it."

"Then what do we do?"

"Watch me flush it out with a shot," Chen Dalai chuckled. "I’ll fire into the cave. The concussion will make its ears ring. I refuse to believe it won’t come out then."

With that, Chen Dalai shoved Zhang Yuanmin aside. "Get back."

Zhang Yuanmin shot him a glare and scrambled to the side.

Chen Dalai, meanwhile, angled his body to the left. As he inserted the barrel into the cave opening, he pointed it to the right.

This was because the cave was full of rock; firing straight in risked a ricochet that could injure them.

BANG!

The shot echoed endlessly within the stone den.

The moment he fired, Chen Dalai turned and ran. As he ran, he broke open the action of his gun and pulled another shell from his pocket.

After getting about ten meters away, he stopped, hastily ejected the spent casing, and loaded the new one.

Chen Dalai snapped the gun shut and turned back, only to see Zhang Yuanmin had already ducked behind the Big Stone Cliff. He had a match out, ready to light the fuse.

Chen Dalai raised his gun, aiming at the stone den.

The two men took their positions, ready for anything.

But they waited and waited, and no bear emerged.

There wasn’t the slightest sound from within the den.

"Big Pants!" Chen Dalai yelled. "Go take a look."

Zhang Yuanmin, bold in his own way, came out from behind the cliff, ran to the den’s entrance, and peered inside.

But it was pitch-black. What could he possibly see?

"Poke it with the stick!"

At the command, Zhang Yuanmin grabbed the wooden stick, which was still halfway inside the entrance, and probed around again.

"Still nothing!"

Hearing this, Chen Dalai walked over, gun in hand. This time, he believed Zhang Yuanmin. He really hadn’t managed to prod Xiong Ba.

"Now what?" Zhang Yuanmin asked. "The echo in there was really loud. You think it could have stunned Xiong Ba?"

Chen Dalai thought for a moment. He still felt there had to be a side tunnel. The bear must have crawled into it.

As for it being stunned unconscious, Chen Dalai thought that was unlikely.

"I’ll try one more shot," Chen Dalai said, motioning for Zhang Yuanmin to get back.

This time, Zhang Yuanmin didn’t argue. He just ran straight behind the Big Stone Cliff.

BANG!

Chen Dalai angled his body and fired again. Once more, he turned and ran, breaking open his gun as he went.

Once he’d reloaded, he raised his gun again and aimed at the stone den.

He waited for the echoes to fade, but still, Xiong Ba didn’t emerge.

Moreover, after Chen Dalai’s two gunshots, the small animals hiding nearby and the birds in the forest had all fallen silent and disappeared.

For a moment, the area around Jumping Stone Pond was utterly silent.

Chen Dalai and Zhang Yuanmin exchanged a look, then both walked toward the den’s entrance.

By the time Chen Dalai got there, Zhang Yuanmin had already given the inside of the cave another stir with the stick.

"Still nothing!"

"Where could it have gone?" Chen Dalai had no idea what to do either.

He didn’t use hunting dogs. He usually just stalked game like wild boar and roe deer.

In all his years of hunting, he’d only gone after bears twice.

No, to be precise, he had killed a bear in its den twice. Once was the time they blew up the tree, and today was the second.

Chen Dalai had zero experience hunting bears. If he hadn’t been swayed by Zhang Yuanmin’s "brilliant" plan and hadn’t believed his confident assurances that it was a sure thing, he wouldn’t have come, not for a king’s ransom.

Now, faced with this situation, Chen Dalai was completely at a loss.

Seeing Chen Dalai’s dumbfounded expression, Zhang Yuanmin was filled with contempt. "If my brother Zhao Jun were here," he said, "he’d have dealt with this Xiong Ba ages ago."

"Go fuck yourself!" Chen Dalai snapped, his temper flaring. What hunter didn’t have a bit of a short fuse?

"You think I want to stick around with you?" Zhang Yuanmin muttered. He pulled the stick of dynamite out from the rock crevice and began coiling the fuse, holding the explosive in his other hand.

By the time Zhang Yuanmin reached the cliff, he was still feeling resentful. He turned and had another go at Chen Dalai.

"Just you wait until my brother Zhao Jun gets back. I’ll show you what a real Cannon Shooter can do."

Chen Dalai’s anger flared, and he turned to argue.

But as Chen Dalai turned, he saw a huge bear’s head peeking out from behind the Big Stone Cliff, right behind Zhang Yuanmin.

"Hey! Big Pants, get over here! Quick!"

"What would I go over there for?" Zhang Yuanmin retorted. "Don’t get salty, I..."

As he spoke, Zhang Yuanmin suddenly saw Chen Dalai raise his gun and point it at him.

"Holy shit!" Zhang Yuanmin was terrified. ’We just argued a little,’ he thought, ’are you really going to shoot me over it?’

BANG!

The shot rang out. Zhang Yuanmin spun around to run, but as he turned, he saw a massive brown bear emerging from behind the cliff!

"Run!" Chen Dalai yelled as he broke open his gun to reload. A moment ago, the bear had only its head exposed behind the cliff.

Chen Dalai had no choice but to aim for its head, but the shot missed.

Instead of fleeing at the sound of the shot, the bear charged right at them.

But as the bear came around the cliff, the first person it saw was Zhang Yuanmin!

Zhang Yuanmin was already turning to run to the side. He remembered clearly what Zhao Jun had told him on their last trip up the mountain: in a moment of crisis, you must never run toward the shooter, or you’ll get in their line of fire.

But no matter which way he ran, how could his short legs possibly outrun a brown bear? He hadn’t taken two steps before the massive animal was on him.

A Bear’s Paw slammed into Zhang Yuanmin’s back, and as it grabbed hold, sharp claws instantly shredded his cotton-padded jacket.

Just then, Chen Dalai finished reloading. He wanted to shoot the bear in the center of its back.

But then he realized—Zhang Yuanmin was right in front of the bear. If the bullet went straight through, what if he skewered them both?

At that thought, Chen Dalai raised his aim and fired at the bear’s head again.

BANG!

Blood sprayed from the brown bear’s head! 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

One of the bear’s ears, attached to a large chunk of scalp, flew through the air and landed on the snow. The great beast let out a pained shriek, flung Zhang Yuanmin aside with a swipe of its paw, and turned to chase Chen Dalai.

As for Zhang Yuanmin, he had been thrown by Xiong Ba headfirst into a deep snowdrift.

The entire upper half of his body was buried in snow, leaving only his two legs kicking wildly in the air.