The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

Chapter 267: Chapter 229: Snatching Food from the Tiger’s Mouth

Zhou Chengguo spun around, stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Zhao Jun, raised his rifle, and fired.

Back when Zhou Chengguo had killed that Earth Granary in the fall, he hadn’t even flinched when the brown bear lunged at him, focused only on hitting its vital spots.

But today, facing this beast was different. He had to fire, even if he couldn’t see a thing.

Because it was too fast. They had to use their guns to intimidate it.

Zhou Chengguo fired twice. When he heard Zhao Jun’s rifle fall silent, he stopped too, but kept the gun pressed to his cheek. "What did you see?" he asked.

"Chengguo, keep watch." Zhao Jun didn’t answer, only giving Zhou Chengguo a warning. He pulled back the bolt, ejecting the two remaining rounds from the chamber. Then, Zhao Jun took out a stripper clip of bullets, shoved the rounds into the rifle’s internal magazine with a CLICK, and yanked the empty clip free.

With his weapon reloaded, Zhao Jun said to Zhou Chengguo, "Chengguo, I’m topped off. It’s coming after us!"

Zhou Chengguo was ex-military, after all. His expression didn’t change a bit at Zhao Jun’s words. After finishing his own reload, Zhou Chengguo said in a low voice, "I smell it, brother."

"What?" Zhao Jun was taken aback by Zhou Chengguo’s statement. He asked instinctively, "Chengguo, what kind of nose do you have? You can smell a Tiger?"

Hearing this, Zhou Chengguo chuckled. "What do you take me for, a dog? You think I can smell it like a hound? A gust of wind just came through. I smelled blood."

Why did Zhou Chengguo say it was here?

Because only fresh blood has that coppery stench.

Unlike the dead dogs they’d seen at Song Dong’s place earlier—there was blood all around them, but Zhou Chengguo hadn’t been able to smell it from a distance.

"Yeah," Zhao Jun grunted. He pointed up the slope ahead of them. "Chengguo, look at the top of that rise. Isn’t that all blood?"

Zhou Chengguo followed Zhao Jun’s finger. He was getting older, and his long-range vision wasn’t as good as a young man’s like Zhao Jun. He had to squint for a long moment before he could make out a large, bright red patch up there.

"Well, I’ll be damned." Zhou Chengguo gave a cold laugh. "It followed us."

Hearing this, a glint flashed in Zhao Jun’s eyes.

The beast had shown itself earlier and been driven back by their gunfire, but it hadn’t left. Instead, it had circled around and was now tracking Zhao Jun and Zhou Chengguo.

’What is it trying to do?’

’Turn from prey into the hunter?’

Provoked by the creature, Zhao Jun’s temper flared. He immediately called out to Zhou Chengguo, "Chengguo!"

Zhou Chengguo wasted no words. He had only one: "Go!"

The two of them started up the slope. As they climbed, Zhao Jun said to Zhou Chengguo, "Chengguo, don’t shoot. Let me."

With that, Zhao Jun raised his rifle and fired toward the blood-stained crest of the hill.

He fired ten consecutive shots, emptying the entire magazine in a single, roaring volley.

As the gunshots faded, Zhao Jun reloaded again. Both men held their rifles at the ready and quickened their pace up the slope.

Ever since they had startled the creature from behind that large snowdrift, the hair on Zhao Jun and Zhou Chengguo’s necks had been standing on end, a deep chill running through their bodies.

Even now, their bodies were still locked in a state of fear. It was a bone-chilling dread.

When the two men reached the top of the rise, they saw a large area of snow thrashed about, as if by a large animal. A huge pool of blood had soaked deep into the snow, not yet frozen.

’What is this?’

’What kind of animal did that thing kill?’

Zhao Jun and Zhou Chengguo exchanged a look. Peering down the other side of the slope, they saw a bloody trench carved into the snow.

The beast had dragged its prey straight down the hill!

Looking at the sparse Qingtang Forest ahead, Zhou Chengguo said, "I’ll fire two shots."

"Alright."

BANG!

BANG!

After the two shots, they heard the rustle of branches up ahead.

Without a word, both men raised their rifles in unison and fired forward.

When Zhou Chengguo had emptied his magazine, Zhao Jun stopped firing, holding his position with the two rounds left in his own rifle.

Once Zhou Chengguo had reloaded, Zhao Jun fired off his remaining two bullets and then reloaded with ten more rounds.

"Let’s go, brother!" Zhou Chengguo called to Zhao Jun, and the two men cautiously advanced.

Before long, they saw a beast lying in the deep snow ahead. Zhao Jun and Zhou Chengguo approached with extreme caution, only to find a large Ma Lu lying in the snow, its entire muzzle buried in a drift, its two antlers pointing toward the sky.

On the Ma Lu’s neck were four puncture wounds. A throat lock, a single killing blow.

Looking further, they saw the Ma Lu’s rump had been torn open, its intestines and stomach half-pulled out.

It seemed that while chasing Zhao Jun and Zhou Chengguo, the beast had casually killed a large Ma Lu on the hilltop, dragged it down the slope, and stopped here to take a couple of bites.

"Brother, let’s go," Zhou Chengguo said in a low voice, his eyes scanning the surroundings. "This isn’t working. We can’t even get a clean shot at it."

It wasn’t that Zhou Chengguo wanted to give up; the key issue was that the creature came and went without a trace. They could never even catch a glimpse of it.

"Chengguo, stay on guard," Zhao Jun said suddenly, which made Zhou Chengguo freeze.

But he did as Zhao Jun said, raising his rifle and warily scanning their surroundings. Only when he saw Zhao Jun pull the Invasion Blade from the small of his back did Zhou Chengguo ask urgently, "Brother, what are you doing?"

Zhou Chengguo knew Zhao Jun was a pack-hound hunter, and that those types had a habit of butchering their kills on the spot.

At this moment, Zhou Chengguo assumed Zhao Jun was about to gut the deer and drag it home.

’That’s not happening.’

The beast might not have gone far. If you dragged away its prey, wouldn’t it just come after you again?

But then he saw Zhao Jun take two steps forward, pull the Ma Lu’s hind legs apart, and use his knife to cut off the "fifth leg" from between them.

"You..." Zhou Chengguo was speechless. But it made sense. For a stag at this time of year, that was the only valuable part.

"Chengguo," Zhao Jun said with a grin. "We came all the way out here, can’t go back empty-handed. You take this thing back. Whether you soak it in wine or stew it in a soup, that’s up to you."

"You... why’d you get that thing?" Zhou Chengguo seemed to be stammering, but his words were perfectly clear. "Check my left jacket pocket. There’s a cloth bag in there. Put it inside for me."

Zhao Jun: "..."

Zhao Jun walked over, reached out, and actually pulled a cotton sack from Zhou Chengguo’s jacket pocket. He used the sack to wrap up the Ma Lu’s "fifth leg" and then stuffed it into Zhou Chengguo’s shoulder bag.

After raiding a squirrel’s winter stores and snatching a roe deer from a Yellow-throated Sable, Zhao Jun had finally managed to snatch food from the jaws of a Tiger.

As the two headed back the way they came, Zhou Chengguo said to Zhao Jun, "Brother, last time with Brother Zhao, we had a run-in with it. Don’t laugh, but we tracked it from the Forest Farm, and when we saw that big cat, we didn’t dare shoot. Later, we had to stake it out back at the Farm. This thing... in these woods, it’s damn hard to hunt."

Hearing this, Zhao Jun smiled faintly. He thought it over for a long moment before saying to Zhou Chengguo, "Chengguo, wait for the heavy snow this winter. I’m going to come catch it. You in?"

"What? Catch it?" Zhou Chengguo stared at Zhao Jun in astonishment. ’Is he kidding?’ he thought. ’We can’t even get a shot at it, and he wants to capture it alive?’

"That’s right." Zhao Jun nodded. "Capture it alive."