Thus, Wang An immediately said to Mu Xueli and Wang Li
"Old Fifth, keep your sights on the tree. Xueli, aim in the direction of the dogs barking with me."
The reason Wang An arranged it this way was that Wang Li's marksmanship was second only to his own; with Wang Li watching the prey in the tree, Wang An felt relatively at ease.
Mu Xueli and Wang Li gave their assent and began executing Wang An's orders.
After another moment, a sound finally drifted down from the tree. Upon hearing it, the three of them knew it was the cry of a bear cub, though because the voice was quite young, they couldn't tell if it was a black bear or a brown bear.
Just as the cub's cry stopped, a massive bear roar echoed in the distance.
The direction of the sound was exactly where Wang An and Mu Xueli had been aiming.
Soon, within their line of sight, they saw a large black bear approaching.
This was the downside of hunting in the woods: while your eyes could see the prey, you were seeing it through the gaps between trees.
However, bullets travel in straight lines.
This resulted in Wang An and Mu Xueli aiming for a long time, yet remaining unable to fire due to the obstruction of the trees.
Unable to help himself, Mu Xueli asked somewhat anxiously
"Brother-in-law, what do we do? We can't get a shot off."
Hearing this, Wang An said without lifting his head
"It's fine, just wait."
Perhaps because he had once hunted wild boar and bears with a knife, the current Wang An felt not a shred of fear toward the black bear.
Of course, the reason he wasn't afraid was also because he had a Type 54 tucked in his pocket.
It had to be admitted that all the fear felt during hunting stemmed from insufficient firepower; as long as the firepower was strong enough, the word "fear" became a complete joke.
A few seconds later, just as Wang An was about to tell Mu Xueli to prepare to fire, he changed his words mid-sentence
"Wait a moment before firing, Xueli. Look at that hillside—isn't there another black bear?"
Mu Xueli focused his gaze and indeed saw a faint black dot far behind the first black bear.
The reason it appeared only as a dot was that the distance was simply too great; although the forest was sparse, the dot still flickered in and out of sight behind the trees.
Seeing this black dot, Mu Xueli exclaimed instinctively
"What's going on, Brother-in-law? Why are these black bears coming one after another?"
Hearing Mu Xueli's exclamation, Wang Li couldn't help but glance in that direction, likewise wearing an expression of utter disbelief.
To be honest, the scene before them was truly bizarre.
A cub was calling from the tree, a pack of dogs was barking beneath the tree, a large black bear was steadily approaching, and another large black bear was chasing the first one.
After a moment of thought, Wang An understood what was happening.
The large black bear approaching the three of them was likely the mother of the cub in the tree.
Then, the large black bear stealthily following the mother was a male.
The reason for this situation was that during the two or three years a mother bear raises her cub—until the cub leaves the den—she does not go into heat.
However, while the mother bear wasn't in heat, the male bear was perfectly normal.
This led to a situation where the male wanted to mate, but the mother refused. The only way to make the mother bear go into heat was to kill the cub.
That was exactly what was happening here: the male bear in the far distance was stalking the mother, with the ultimate goal of killing the cub in the tree.
Only once the cub was dead could the male bear win the beauty—no, win the "bear-uty."
It had to be said that this cruel method of courtship was truly eccentric.
Although Wang An had figured it out, there was no time to explain, as the mother bear had reached the optimal shooting distance, and the male was rapidly closing in.
At this moment, the cries of the cub and the mother became more urgent. Upon seeing Da Hei and the other dogs, the mother bear flared up in a rare rage.
Once the mother bear arrived, she ignored the cub in the tree and launched an attack on the dogs.
Seeing that the mother bear had gone wild, Da Hei barked loudly while dodging her frantic charges.
Under Da Hei's barking, the other dogs were also sensible enough not to clash head-on with the mother bear, choosing instead to keep dodging.
This was Da Hei's brilliance; knowing he was outmatched, he chose to avoid the brunt of the attack rather than foolishly rushing forward to his death.
For a black bear, killing a dog was like child's play; it didn't even require a second move—one hit and it was over.
Whether it was a bite, a swipe of a paw, or simply sitting on the dog, given a bear's strength and weight, it was impossible for a dog not to be injured.
After thinking it over, Wang An whispered to Mu Xueli and Wang Li
"Old Fifth, get ready. In a moment, I'll whistle to call the dogs away, and you kill the bear right in front of us. Xueli, once Old Fifth fires, you and I will take out the furthest bear."
As soon as Wang An finished speaking, Wang Li immediately asked
"Fourth Brother, we're both aiming for the two big ones, what about the one in the tree?"
Wang An said in a low voice
"That one is the smallest threat. Ignore it for now; let's deal with these two big ones first."
The reason Wang An dared to temporarily ignore the cub was mainly because, judging by the sound, it was clearly not yet an adult.
What was there to panic about regarding an animal that hadn't reached adulthood?
Having said this, Wang An commanded in a low voice
"Get ready, now."
Immediately after, Wang An held his gun in his left hand and put his right index and middle fingers in his mouth. Then, a very loud whistle rang out.
The dogs, who had been scattering, were startled for a moment, but they quickly reacted and all ran back toward the direction of the three men.
The sudden retreat of the dogs left the mother bear somewhat bewildered. After chasing for a few steps, she stopped, stared blankly at the dogs, and prepared to turn and leave.
But how could Wang Li miss such a perfect opportunity?
With a loud *bang* of a gunshot, the mother bear collapsed on the spot.
It had to be said that Wang Li's marksmanship might not be any worse than Wang An's now.
Although the distance between the mother bear and the group was somewhat far, it was still visible that the bullet had hit her exactly between the eyes, right in the center of the brow—a shot that couldn't have been more precise.
(End of Chapter)