After checking his twin pistols, Wang An used the distant bear as a center point and began observing its surroundings.
Mainly, when facing such a behemoth, Wang An only wanted to shoot it dead from stealth; as for confronting it head-on, that was completely out of the question.
Because the distance was too great, Wang An couldn't tell exactly how large the bear was, but using the nearby corn stalks as a reference, this bear was certainly not small—it had to weigh at least five or six hundred jin.
After observing, Wang An discovered a small patch of shrubs on the hillside to the bear's front-left, which served as an excellent sniping point.
Thus, Wang An planned to circle around the other side of the cornfield and wait until he reached those shrubs before firing.
However, to prevent the bear from detecting his approach, Wang An had to take a wide detour; otherwise, he would be upwind, and with the bear's invincible sense of smell, it would be impossible for it not to notice him.
Turning around, Wang An said to Huang Baoguo and the others
"Uncle Huang, you all stay right here and don't move, or find a safe place to stay. Either way, just do your best to ensure your own safety. If that bear runs over here, you must run around the trees—absolutely do not run in a straight line. We can't outrun this beast."
After nagging Huang Baoguo and the other four with a long list of instructions, and once they had all nodded in agreement, Wang An turned and departed.
To be honest, Wang An didn't truly trust these drifters, but as long as they didn't run around wildly before he reached his sniping point, he believed they would be safe.
But as the old saying goes, "Man proposes, God disposes."
Just as Wang An crested a small hill and was sprinting toward the shrubs, he suddenly heard a series of "dang dang dang dang..." sounds of a gong clashing behind him.
Whether one liked it or not, although the gong was covered in a patina of age, the damn thing was incredibly loud. Especially in a valley surrounded by mountains, the sound of the gong was incessant and soul-stirring.
Wang An truly could not understand what had happened back there to warrant banging a gong in such a situation.
Subconsciously, however, Wang An quickened his pace.
As long as he could reach the sniping point quickly, it wouldn't be a big problem.
When Wang An ran, his speed was quite fast, so it didn't take long for him to reach the shrubs. But before he could even steady his footing, the scene before his eyes left him completely bewildered.
He didn't know what had happened, but the bear was no longer in its previous position; instead, it was chasing after Yang Dachuan, Huang Baoguo, and the others.
From Wang An's perspective, it was clearly visible: Huang Baoguo, Pang Yongxiang, and the other three were running in front, and the person lagging behind was none other than Yang Dachuan, who was holding the copper gong.
Furthermore, Yang Dachuan was far behind the other five, desperately trying to catch up, and right behind Yang Dachuan was the great bear.
Logically, if no one had disturbed the bear, it would certainly not have moved while it was busy eating.
But now the bear was running frantically after Yang Dachuan and the others—what the hell was going on?
Wang An raised his gun to his face, intending to fire a shot at the bear, only to find that he was now too far away—over a li, roughly 600 meters.
At this distance, if he were using a Type 56 Semi, Wang An might still have a chance to hit it, but he was currently holding a Type 56 Assault. The Type 56 Assault was suited for suppressive fire; its precision for long-distance pinpoint shooting was inferior to the Semi.
Moreover, the bear was in a frantic sprint, making it very difficult to calculate the lead.
Most critically, although the bear was large, in Wang An's line of sight, it was currently just a dot, even smaller than a chicken.
The reason such a distance had been created was that while running over, Wang An had to remain downwind of the bear; even this sniping point was in the same wind direction as the bear.
Essentially, Wang An had circled from the bear's north, around its east, and finally arrived at its south.
Now it was great—Wang An had reached the designated sniping position to the south, but the bear had damn well run back to the north. Wasn't this just plain infuriating?
Helpless, Wang An gripped his gun and sprinted down the mountain, chasing after the bear.
Thus, a very comical scene unfolded in the great mountains.
Wang An was chasing the bear, the bear was chasing Yang Dachuan, and Yang Dachuan was chasing Huang Baoguo and the others.
What Wang An found utterly incomprehensible was why such a perfect shooting environment had undergone such a reversal in such a short amount of time.
Had the bear not been disturbed, it would have been a corpse by now.
After a while, Wang An watched with his own eyes as the great bear caught up to the lagging Yang Dachuan. With a single leap, the bear tackled Yang Dachuan to the ground. Seeing this, Huang Baoguo and the other four ran even faster.
Due to the distance, Wang An could not hear Yang Dachuan's screams nor Huang Baoguo's shouts.
Having caught Yang Dachuan, the great bear simply stopped running and sat its backside right on top of him.
Seeing this, Wang An suddenly felt his stomach sink and subconsciously clenched his sphincter.
To be honest, this was merely a conditioned reflex; it was simply hard to imagine whether Yang Dachuan, being sat upon by a five or six hundred jin bear, would simply squeeze the shit out of himself.
Subsequently, as Wang An continued to approach, his horizon dropped, and his line of sight was blocked by wild grass. In Wang An's view, he could now only see the upper half of the bear's body.
One thing was certain: the bear was tormenting Yang Dachuan. As for exactly how he was being tormented, he didn't know, but the odds were that he was in bad shape.
Finally, through continuous running, Wang An reached a position less than 200 meters from the bear. The bear still hadn't left. Wang An steadied his feet, raised the gun to his face, and holding his breath, decisively pulled the trigger.
Following three "bang bang bang" gunshots, the bear collapsed onto the grass. In Wang An's line of sight, he could only vaguely see a tuft of the bear's fur.
Barring any special circumstances, the bear should be dead, as all three of Wang An's shots were aimed at the bear's large head. With Wang An's marksmanship, there was naturally no reason for him to miss.
After waiting a moment, Wang An held his gun and cautiously walked toward the position of the bear and Yang Dachuan.
Although Wang An was confident in his shooting, nothing in the world was absolute, and he could not afford to be careless.
(End of Chapter)