Chapter 5: Capturing a Silly Roe Deer Alive

Wang An carried his rifle as he walked forward, loading bullets into the magazine as he went. There was no rush—twenty or thirty seconds didn't matter—and besides, he had seen from quite a distance that three roe deer had already been hit and fallen! They weren't going anywhere!

Although he wasn't particularly skilled at mountain hunting, it seemed that if you could actually find the prey, mountain hunting was just that—nothing special! It was just a matter of pulling the trigger!

Perhaps finding the prey was the true essence of mountain hunting? Wang An mused silently to himself.

But soon, Wang An realized that mountain hunting wasn't as simple as he had imagined! And the most dangerous things out here weren't the ferocious mountain beasts!

He walked up to the roe deer to inspect them. One had been shot in the head and died instantly; it weighed about 50 jin and must have been the first one he hit.

The second one had been shot at the base of the neck, likely hitting an artery. It was still gurgling blood, weighed about 30 jin, and wasn't quite dead yet, twitching slightly.

The third one was impressive. It had been hit below the joint of the left front leg and above the joint of the left hind leg. Both left legs were broken, but it was still alive, letting out constant "A-ao, a-ao" cries.

It was a male, weighing at least 60 jin, with two small, stubby horns. It was probably a two-year-old roe deer, the kind that would be forced out of the herd next year!

That was good. He hadn't wasted a single bullet on the first four shots, and today he’d even managed to capture one alive!

Dead roe deer weren't worth much, but a live one? Someone who wanted it would surely pay a lot more!

Wang An decided to go to the county seat tomorrow to sell it, along with the fox pelt. Although furs usually had to be air-dried in the shade before being sold, the quality of this fox pelt meant he wouldn't have to worry about finding a buyer! It didn't necessarily have to be sold to the supply and marketing cooperative!

He bled the two roe deer that weren't making any noise. While they were bleeding, he quickly fashioned a makeshift sled and threw the sack and the two dead deer onto it.

The live one was still struggling powerfully despite its broken legs. With no other choice, Wang An used a hemp rope to tie its two good legs and two broken legs together.

He couldn't have the deer struggle itself to death!

He had to admit, the vitality of mountain beasts was truly tenacious. In the short time that had passed, the legs had stopped bleeding. He had intended to bandage them, but that saved him the trouble! That was fine!

He pulled the rope and started moving! All the prey today weighed about the same as the wild boar from yesterday! He hadn't been pulling for even an hour before Wang An felt hungry. He took out a hard pancake, sat on a dead roe deer, and started gnawing away!

You have to admit, when you're hungry, this hard, cold, throat-scratching pancake actually tastes pretty good! Wang An polished off two in a row; it was quite satisfying! At least he wasn't hungry anymore.

On the way down the mountain, Wang An pulled the sled along at a leisurely pace, not encountering any mountain beasts looking to rob him.

When he reached a valley, Wang An habitually scanned his surroundings, only to vaguely see three people running toward him from a hilltop about a mile away.

They were all wearing dog-fur hats and fur coats, holding rifles in their hands, shouting and cursing, seemingly telling him to stand still.

These three guys were clearly no good!

Wang An didn't panic at all; he had experienced this kind of situation countless times in his past life! He immediately raised his rifle, thinking he would intimidate the three of them! But before he could even get a bead on them!

He heard a "bang" from the mountain, and Wang An felt a bullet graze his ear. "Damn it, these bastards are more beastly than the mountain beasts! They didn't hesitate to shoot at all; they're trying to kill me!"

Since his rebirth, he hadn't even had any contact with people! Even before he left the Northeast in his past life, he hadn't offended any ruthless characters like this!

Wang An didn't even get a shot off before he jumped to the left and dove behind a large tree. He felt like he hadn't even hit the ground yet!

He heard two more "bangs" from the mountain, followed immediately by the "thud, thud" of bullets slamming into the tree behind him!

This firepower was fierce! Wang An was truly panicked now. Three rifles were trained on him! Getting hit by any of those bullets would be a nightmare! In this situation, anyone would be terrified!

The current situation was that three people were running down the slope, and Wang An was lying at the bottom. The forest slope was uneven—whether from water erosion or something else—and with the snow and wind, there wasn't a single flat spot. Otherwise, those three bullets might have already sent Wang An to meet the Buddha.

He waited a moment, and hearing no further movement, Wang An rolled on the spot several times until he reached a cluster of bushes. He took a quick glance: one person was aiming a rifle this way, while the other two were running toward him!

Wang An roared internally, "Screw you!"

He knelt on one knee, raised his rifle, peeked out slightly, aimed briefly, and fired two shots at the two who were running!

He didn't dare check if he had hit them. He flashed back behind the bushes and immediately rolled further away across the snow!

At the same time, two more gunshots rang out from the mountain. While rolling, he didn't know where those bullets went, but he certainly didn't dare look!

This cluster of bushes had small roots and large branches, forming about a 45-degree angle with the ground. Wang An lay flat in that corner and peeked out secretly.

He could see one guy lying on the ground with his head toward the bottom of the slope and his feet toward the top, not knowing if he was dead or alive. Another was lying head-down, feet-up, and he couldn't tell what his status was either!

The third guy, who had been aiming at him, had disappeared completely. He didn't know where he was hiding!

This was trouble! He’d lost track of one!

Wang An lay in that 45-degree corner of the bushes, not daring to move a muscle!

They stayed in a stalemate for over ten minutes. Aside from the faint "rustling" of the wind moving the branches, neither side made a sound!

After another ten minutes, Wang An heard a "thud" in the distance. Immediately after, he saw something thrown from behind a red pine tree so large it would take three or four people to wrap their arms around it. It landed in a hollow, but he couldn't see what it was!

At this moment, the person behind the large red pine was also nervous, his face full of fear. "Damn it, I ran into a tough nut today!"

What the man had just thrown was the dog-fur hat he had been wearing, hoping to create a distraction and lure Wang An out. But Wang An was like a turtle, not moving an inch!

Less than two minutes later, the man felt his scalp go cold, as if an ice cap had been placed on his head. His ears were starting to ache from the cold, too!

The man couldn't help but deeply regret throwing his hat away. At this temperature, he wouldn't be able to last long without a hat!

After a while, the man couldn't take it anymore and shouted loudly, "Brother, I admit defeat, okay? Let me off the hook."

When Wang An heard the shout, he almost laughed out of anger!

"You admit defeat and I have to let you off the hook? What kind of nonsense is that! We're already at this point! Let's just see who dies and who lives!" Wang An thought to himself, but he remained silent and motionless.

The man heard no response from Wang An, perhaps driven to desperation by the cold, and shouted again

"Big brother! Please let me go this once, and I promise I'll leave immediately and never come back to this area again!"

Wang An still didn't make a sound, just quietly aiming at that red pine tree, ready to fire at any moment.

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(End of chapter)