Sure enough, a few minutes later, Dahei and the other two dogs returned.
The four of them hadn't seen exactly how Dahei and the others had caught the rabbits, but Erhei and Sanhei each had a grey rabbit clamped in their mouths.
Wang An patted the heads of the three dogs one by one, praising them profusely.
The two rabbits together weighed less than ten catties; after skinning and gutting them, about six catties would remain.
However, when averaged out per person... it didn't seem to make much of a difference.
Mainly because Zhang Shuya, Sun Nian, and Wang Shuai could eat far too much!
After Wang An had Wang Li put the rabbits away, Dahei led Erhei and Sanhei off running again.
But this time, Dahei kept looking back as he ran, as if signaling for Wang An to hurry up.
It was already getting dark. Seeing Dahei's actions, Wang An immediately said to the other three
"Let's jog a bit, Dahei wants us to hurry."
After speaking, Wang An took the lead and ran forward. The other three agreed and followed suit.
No matter the time or place, if a human has to chase after a dog, it's usually not a very graceful sight.
Moreover, everyone was hungry, and when a person is hungry, everything they do turns into a mess.
So, by the time the four of them caught up to Dahei and the others, panting for breath, the three dogs were already barking wildly.
The target of their barking was another snow hole—to be precise, a snow hole beneath a tree root.
It was clear that Dahei and the others couldn't squeeze inside, so they were just barking frantically at the entrance.
It was as if they believed that as long as they barked, the other party would come out.
It had to be said that while Dahei's intelligence was actually quite high, his way of thinking was, after all, different from a human's.
Looking at this relatively hidden snow hole, Wang Shuai asked Wang An and the others curiously
"Can you tell what kind of hole this is?"
Mu Xueli instinctively said
"I feel like it's another Flying Dragon hole."
Wang Li guessed from the side
"I don't think so. The entrance to that Flying Dragon hole earlier was tiny."
Hearing their answers, Wang Shuai asked Wang An with a smile
"Xiao An, what do you think this hole is?"
Wang An had no interest in guessing. He pulled out his trench knife and said with a chuckle
"Whatever it is, it's meat to me."
"Hahaha, no arguments there," Wang Shuai laughed.
Wang An's words hit the nail on the head; it was almost dark and they wouldn't be able to see anything soon, so what was the point of guessing?
Wang An observed the snow hole and put the trench knife back.
Then, instinctively, he took the Type 81 rifle off his back, but only then did he realize he wasn't carrying a Type 56 semi-auto.
What Wang An actually wanted to use was the bayonet of a Type 56 semi-auto.
Because this tree looked quite old, many of its roots were exposed.
The snow hole was located in the gap between the roots and the trunk.
Wang An wanted to use the Type 56 bayonet to stab into the gap between the roots and rake the creature inside out.
Unfortunately, the bayonet of the Type 81 was not integrated with the rifle but was a separate piece.
And when Wu Dong and Wang Shuai had come over, it seemed they hadn't brought any bayonets at all.
Wang An looked at the Type 81 in his hand, sucked on his teeth, and said to Mu Xueli and Wang Li
"Xueli, Lao Wu, hurry up and go cut two handles for the trench knives..."
"Got it, Fourth Brother! (Understood, Brother-in-law!)" The two agreed and turned to leave.
Wang An didn't stay idle; he pulled out the trench knife again and chopped through the thinner roots.
Seeing Wang An's actions, Wang Shuai also took out his military knife to help chop the roots.
Once the two of them had cleared all the roots they could, Mu Xueli and Wang Li returned.
"Brother-in-law, I've fitted the handle to this trench knife."
As Mu Xueli spoke, he handed over the modified knife.
Fitting a handle to a trench knife was essentially like putting a handle on a shovel; since the metal grip of the trench knife was a hollow cylinder, inserting a shovel pole extended the handle.
Wang An took the knife, gripped the long handle, and stabbed it violently into the gap.
A "ga-ga-ga" sound immediately echoed from inside the snow hole.
Hearing the sound, Wang An, Mu Xueli, and Wang Li exclaimed instinctively
"Holy shit, a Bang-chicken!"
Hearing their exclamation, Wang Shuai immediately said with delight
"Bang-chicken is great! Those things are big and have plenty of meat!"
The Bang-chicken, scientifically known as the Black Grouse, was also called the Forest Chicken or Tree Chicken.
This creature was a rather unique existence in these mountains.
It was like a "Silly Half-Catty" [wild hare/rabbit] that could fly.
However, it couldn't fly high or very far.
In terms of height, it wouldn't go above the trees; in terms of distance, it could only go about 200 meters.
Furthermore, unlike the Silly Half-Catties or Flying Dragons, these creatures mostly foraged in the trees.
Although Bang-chickens would occasionally go to the ground to eat grass seeds and such, it was quite rare.
As Wang Shuai said, they were indeed large and meaty.
Once they reached adulthood, they weighed at least three or four catties, and the largest males could reach eight or nine catties.
Like wild pheasants, the males were quite beautiful.
Although both males and females had black beaks, feet, and toes, the males had bright plumage with several different colors.
The females, while decent-looking, were quite plain.
The reason Wang An and the others exclaimed was that Bang-chickens were far rarer than Flying Dragons.
Having hunted in the mountains for so long, this was the first time they had encountered one.
Wang An suspected it might be because they were so large that they were more popular targets for wild beasts.
As Wang An used the trench knife to push the Bang-chicken toward the opening, he laughed happily
"We hit the jackpot! Hahaha, holy shit, this thing has some strength!"
When the Bang-chicken was almost at the opening, Wang An immediately said to Wang Li
"Lao Wu, hurry and grab it at the opening, don't let it get away!"
Hearing this, Wang Li crouched down and reached his hand into the hole.
Immediately after, Wang Li said
"Fourth Brother, pull out the knife, I've got it!"
When Wang Li dragged the Bang-chicken out of the hole, the four of them exclaimed almost simultaneously
"Holy crap, this thing is huge!"
Wang Li was holding the Bang-chicken as if he were holding a large goose. Needless to say, it was a male.
Afterward, Wang An found another gap and stabbed the trench knife in again.
But this time, the expected sound didn't come; he hadn't hit anything.
It wasn't until the fifth stab that a "gua-gua-gua" sound came from the snow hole.
This sound was different from the one the bird in Wang Li's hand made, so Wang An said
"This one is definitely a female."
As Wang An pushed this Bang-chicken to the opening, Mu Xueli dragged it out.
Wang An was right; it was indeed a female.
Then, Wang An stabbed the trench knife inside once more...
In this manner, the four of them dragged a total of five Bang-chickens out of the snow hole—one male and four females.
(End of Chapter)