Looking at the Colt.45 in his hand, Wang An’s thoughts drifted. It had been a while since he had been reborn. It seemed that the heavens had brought him back for no particular reason!
It was either bandits rushing to beg him to kill them, or perhaps they simply couldn't stand living any longer and wanted to die!
He didn't know what was going on. He clearly wasn't a good man, yet everything he did was in the service of eliminating harm for the people!
Furthermore, he had turned himself into something resembling a lunatic, carrying a gun on him every single day!
As his thoughts wandered, he thought of Mu Xueqing and Shen Wei—one was the eternal woman in his heart, and the other was the regret of not being able to help her in his previous life!
To put it bluntly, it was all driven by lust! Otherwise, with several young widows in the village, why was it only the seductive Shen Wei who remained a regret?
Facing himself honestly, there was no other reason: he simply craved her body!
Facing the life-and-death struggle against the wolf pack today, although he had fought through a bloodbath, he had ultimately been lucky enough to escape with his life.
But it also made Wang An think once again of his life's motto: "Live freely, and be happy until death!"
In a life of several decades, one must enjoy the pleasures of existence and absolutely leave no regrets. Mu Xueqing was already his wife, and he would certainly cherish her!
As for Shen Wei, he had already obtained her, and she had practically offered herself to him; no matter how he thought about it, he shouldn't let her go!
It was something she desired just as much as he did, and something he took great pleasure in; to give it up would be to miss out on a great piece of happiness in life!
Moreover, with his calculations and methods, she wouldn't dare resist; she would only obey him submissively. As long as he ensured she lived well, it would be a good thing!
As for the promises he had made to Mu Xueqing regarding Shen Wei—for a man who had spent the first half of his previous life in the underworld and the second half in the wilderness, one who was naturally cold, selfish, and possessed poor character—only such a person was truly "human"!
So, what did it matter what he had said or what he had promised?
That was just the nature of a man!
His eyes darted left and right, landing on the wolf carcasses, which reminded Wang An of what his mother had said that day: *If they dare to act up, shoot them!*
Liu Guilan's words were absolutely correct; one only had to look at these wolf corpses to know.
If they dared to act up, the only question was whether you could shoot them dead!
Carrying this pistol at all times might seem a bit crazy, but it was truly better to be prepared! Otherwise, today would have been truly precarious, and his rebirth might have been for nothing!
Once the two of them had recovered, they didn't dare strip off their clothes to check their wounds. In this freezing weather, the nighttime temperature was at least below minus 30 degrees.
They brought back the large horse that had run quite far and tied it to a thicket. The fodder was already gone, so this would at least allow it to nibble on some tender sprouts!
As for the wolf carcasses and whatever was left of the wild boar after the wolves had eaten, the two of them couldn't even be bothered to look at them. They were too exhausted, and besides, they weren't going anywhere!
They immediately gathered firewood and built two large bonfires, sitting back-to-back facing the flames. It was both warm and safe!
The four dogs had torn into the wolves quite fiercely; one could guess there wasn't much left of the wolves that wasn't mangled, but the two men had no interest in looking.
The impressive thing was that none of the dogs dared to eat the wolf meat. After killing the wolves, they all ran to huddle by Feng Chengmin's side. Aside from a few more bloody scratches, the four dogs were almost entirely unscathed!
Once they had warmed up, they checked their wounds. Wang An only had four puncture wounds on his left forearm from a wolf's fangs; he sprinkled some tobacco powder on them, and that was that!
Feng Chengmin looked quite pitiful, covered in cotton, but in reality, he was fine. He just had four puncture wounds from wolf fangs and some small lacerations from teeth on his arms. Mountain dwellers wore very thick clothing, so it wasn't a big deal; a bit of tobacco powder settled it as well!
People in the mountains were very tough; these few holes and scratches weren't even considered minor injuries—it was no different from a small scrape on one's hand!
No one knew or cared about things like fearing this disease or that bacteria!
When Wang An wanted to boil some water to drink, he realized that everything on the sled, including the sack containing the tiger cub's carcass, was gone!
After telling Feng Chengmin, the two of them searched for a long time under the moonlight!
In the middle of the dark night, they finally managed to find two stones to prop up a pot to boil water, which only strengthened Wang An's resolve to make a permanent pot stand!
He casually dragged over a wolf carcass, slit it open to let the blood drain, and cut some meat, using it to feed the dogs!
He then dug out a pile of half-burnt charcoal and buried two whole "silly half-pounds" (small wild animals) into the embers!
Once cooked this way, they could just tear off the charred skin. The intestines and gizzards of the animals could be thrown away, but the heart, liver, and kidneys could all be eaten. With a little salt and chili powder, they were incredibly delicious!
This method was used because it was easier; the animals were frozen rock-hard and impossible to process otherwise. Otherwise, stewing them would have been much better than eating wolf meat!
Looking back on the day, whether it was luck or misfortune, the harvest was quite substantial! But it was also incredibly unlucky to have run into a wolf pack!
Wolf pelts were half the price of fox pelts, but since they had a good number today, they could still make a decent amount of money—a sort of compensation for their bad luck!
Half an hour later, the small animals were cooked. The two men were starving and naturally didn't care about the heat. They tore off the charred skin to reveal the bright red meat. Taking a bite of a leg was pure heaven! It was truly delicious!
Burying small animals whole in charcoal was the most common way for rural children to eat.
Small animals, wild chickens, unknown birds, sparrows, quails, tits, fish, large-eyed mice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, unripe corn—all of these could be buried this way, and they tasted fantastic once cooked!
Especially the large-eyed mice; they sizzled with oil while cooking, making them a real treat for children who rarely saw meat. It just wasn't easy to catch them!
In short, in the countryside, anything edible could be buried in charcoal; that was how everyone grew up.
After finishing the small animals, the wolf meat was also cooked. To make it cook faster, the meat had been sliced very thin, and it tasted quite good, similar to fox meat. Regardless, they were both very full!
The broth was covered in the foam from the boiled blood, but no one cared; they drank every drop without wasting a bit!
Having eaten and drunk their fill, they felt less exhausted. They glanced at the wild boar, which was now nothing but skeletal remains, and decided to leave it behind!
Under the moonlight, the two began to collect their spoils—the wolf carcasses!
They dragged them all together, totaling thirteen. Unexpectedly, with the two semi-automatic rifles and a total of 20 rounds, the loss to the wolf pack was not small; seven wolves had been shot dead!
Even an old hunter like Feng Chengmin couldn't understand why this pack of fifteen wolves was so stubborn; even after seven had died, they kept charging! In the end, only two escaped, which was a terrible deal!
However, as they were dragging the carcasses onto the sled, they discovered that one wolf was significantly larger than the others. Judging by the gunshot wound, it was the one that had finally confronted Feng Chengmin before being shot dead by Wang An! This was also why the remaining two wolves had fled immediately after this one was killed!
This mystery was finally explained: when the alpha is present, the pack is brave; when the alpha dies, the pack collapses! A pack with an alpha has unparalleled cohesion, truly capable of ignoring life and death!
After tidying up the wolf carcasses, the two chopped many living pine logs to continue burning for warmth. These damp pine logs produced a lot of smoke, but they burned longer than dry ones.
Deep in the mountains at night, it was better to stay here by the fire than to attempt to travel mountain paths to get home!
The two sat back-to-back and eventually fell asleep. With the dogs around, they didn't have to worry about sentries; hunting dogs are the best guards!
Deep in these mountains, even wild dogs wouldn't survive in such a dangerous place, so there were no dens built by wild dogs. Otherwise, staying the night in one would have been much more comfortable!
During the night, the two were woken by the cold from time to time and would relight the fire. In this manner, they endured until dawn! For mountain dwellers, spending a night like this was normal, so they weren't particularly unsettled by it!