Chapter 961: A Familiar Figure

Hearing Wang An's words, Mu Xueli immediately defended herself, saying

"No, no, really no! How could that be? I was just asking, hehehehe."

Ignoring Mu Xueli, Wang An turned and walked toward where the three horses were.

By the time Wang An returned riding one horse and leading the other two, Mu Xueli and Wang Li had already finished butchering the man-bear.

Furthermore, the pack of dogs had been fed a fair amount of meat.

Seeing Sanqing and Erhuang lying there, Wang An instinctively asked Mu Xueli

"How are those two dogs? Did they eat meat?"

With animals like dogs, as long as they are willing to eat after being injured, there usually isn't a major problem. If they wouldn't even eat meat, that would be the real disaster.

Because if that were the case, it would mean the dog's internal injuries were severe; if they couldn't pull through, there was a high chance the dog would die.

Hearing Wang An's question, Mu Xueli said with a relaxed expression

"They didn't miss a beat; they ate quite fiercely. It's just that the two of us didn't dare feed them too much, fearing they had gas in their bellies and might overeat themselves into trouble."

Wang An nodded and said to Mu Xueli and Wang Li

"Mm-hmm, feeding them a little is the right way. Once we get home, keep the feedings light for the next couple of days so nothing happens to the dogs."

Although Sanqing and Erhuang weren't the lead dogs, they could be called top-tier backup. If such dogs were to happen to them, it would be a huge loss for the three of them.

Hearing this, Mu Xueli and Wang Li spoke almost simultaneously

"Mm-hmm, Fourth Brother."

"Don't worry, Brother-in-law."

As they spoke, the three of them packed all the meat into three gunny sacks and placed the bear hide on a horse's back. Only then did they each lead a horse toward the location of the other sack.

To be honest, this man-bear hide was actually useless to have at home, but for the 200-yuan reward Sun Dafu mentioned, they had no choice but to take it back.

Soon, after about half an hour, the three of them arrived near the large tree where they had previously hung the meat.

However, before they even reached it, Dahei suddenly started barking. Immediately after, Dahei led the pack of dogs and charged forward.

Only Sanqing and Erhuang, due to their physical condition, stopped after a few steps.

Clearly, Dahei had caught the scent of some animal.

Hearing Dahei's barking, the three of them were stunned. This was mainly because at noon, Wang An had fired a gun right in front of the large tree where the black bear had fallen to its death.

Logically speaking, no animals should have appeared within a radius of two or three li for a short period of time.

After all, whether it was the sound of the gunshot or the smell of gunpowder produced when firing, these were things the animals in the mountains feared.

After the dogs ran off, Wang Li frowned and said

"What's going on? There are still mountain beasts daring to come here?"

Wang An handed the horse reins to Mu Xueli and said to the two of them

"You two lead the horses and walk slowly. I'll chase after them to see what's happening."

After speaking, Wang An did not take off the Type 56 Semi-Automatic, but instead pulled out the large Type 54.

After a quick check, Wang An ran in the direction the dogs had gone.

Since the distance wasn't far, after running for less than three minutes, Wang An saw a very familiar figure confronting Dahei and the other dogs under that large tree.

This familiar figure was the leopard Wang An had seen while guarding the green seedlings.

Seeing the leopard, Wang An's expression tightened, and he instinctively raised the pistol. However, due to the distance, he did not fire.

Mainly, beyond 50 meters, Wang An really couldn't be sure where the pistol bullet would fly.

Consequently, Wang An engaged the safety, put the pistol in his pocket, shrugged his right shoulder, and brought the Type 56 Semi into his hands. He quickly shouldered the gun and aimed, but saw that the leopard had already bolted.

It had to be said that leopards were damn alert; mainly, their speed was simply too fast, giving you absolutely no time to react.

Even so, Wang An's finger pulled the trigger.

Following a "bang" of a gunshot, Wang An saw very clearly through the sights that the bullet kicked up a mist of blood near the leopard's left hind leg.

In other words, Wang An's shot had indeed grazed the leopard.

It was obvious that the running leopard's form faltered for a tiny moment.

Although it was only a slight pause, with Wang An's marksmanship, he naturally wouldn't miss such an opportunity. Thus, he immediately pulled the trigger again.

Unfortunately, the leopard was running forward, meaning its backside and tail were facing Wang An. Therefore, Wang An's shot was aimed at the leopard's anus.

But because the leopard's speed was too fast, Wang An didn't get the lead right, resulting in the shot hitting only the side of the leopard's left hind calf.

And the most frustrating part was that the bullet grazed it again, not hitting the bone at all.

Otherwise, with the power of the Type 56 Semi, it would have certainly snapped the leopard's calf bone.

By the time Wang An wanted to fire a third shot, there was no longer an opportunity, as the leopard had already dove into the woods and vanished in a few leaps.

Watching the pack of dogs led by Dahei chase after it, Wang An quickly put his fingers to his mouth and let out a very loud whistle.

After three consecutive whistles, Dahei and the other dogs finally stopped and trotted back toward Wang An.

When the dogs returned to Wang An's side, Dahei looked at him with an inquiring gaze, as if saying, "Why didn't you let me chase it? It's not like we couldn't beat it."

Although Dahei and the other dogs had the courage to fight a leopard, Wang An had seen exactly how formidable these creatures were.

Even Dahei might not last a single move against a leopard.

Yes, the truth was that cruel; a dog could put up a fight against a lynx, but against a leopard, they couldn't even last one move.

Therefore, Wang An believed that if the dogs had chased after it, the most likely outcome would be them offering themselves as food to the leopard.

Because the combat power of a dog and a leopard were simply not on the same level.

Wang An patted Dahei's head and comforted him, saying

"You've just finished eating meat; you can't run fast, otherwise your bellies will burst."

In this situation, one must never dampen the dogs' enthusiasm.

Mainly, using dogs to hunt a leopard was a ridiculous endeavor to begin with, not to mention that Dahei was a dog who could understand human speech.

After comforting Dahei and the other dogs for a few more words, Wang An looked in the direction where the leopard had disappeared.

To be honest, although the two shots failed to kill the leopard, aside from a bit of regret, Wang An didn't feel much else.

Because Wang An felt that being able to hit a leopard while it was running at full speed was already a pretty impressive feat.

(End of Chapter)