Chapter 861: The Feeling of One's Soul Scattering

And so, the crowd marched into the woods, shouting as they went.

However, after about half an hour, the shouting stopped. Mostly, it was because their throats couldn't take it; no one could keep shouting indefinitely.

Furthermore, entering the mountains was, at best, a reluctant obligation. As for whether they could actually find Niu Qi, it was likely that no one held any hope.

Wang An, in particular, had zero hope; for him, this was merely a routine formality.

There were over thirty people entering the mountains this time. Compared to the vastness of these mountains, thirty-odd people were no more than a few drops of water falling into a lake.

Consequently, it didn't take long before the various small groups lost contact with one another, except for the two people within the same group.

After a long while, Wang An and Wang Li, exhausted from walking, simply sat down beside a fallen log.

After each lit a cigarette, Wang Li frowned and asked Wang An

"Fourth Brother, do you think this Niu Qi is still alive? I have a feeling he's pretty damn screwed."

Wang An focused intently on blowing a smoke ring before replying

"Who knows? We'll just wander around. What if he is still alive?"

The way Wang An said this clearly indicated he believed Niu Qi was already dead. Hearing this, Wang Li paused for a moment and said

"Fourth Brother, do you also think he's dead?"

Wang An glanced at Wang Li and said with a look of complete indifference

"I didn't say he was dead. I said it's *possible* he's still alive."

Wang Li blinked a few times, then said speechlessly

"Isn't that the same thing?"

Wang An ignored him and continued to focus on blowing smoke rings.

At this moment, if one were to look down from high above the mountains, ignoring the cover of the trees, they would discover that among the thirty-odd people who had entered, only the group of three containing Sun Dafu was still moving and searching. Everyone else was idling in various spots.

Clearly, no one held any hope of finding Niu Qi.

After idling for over half an hour, Wang An checked his watch and stood up.

"Let's go. We'll stroll around a bit more, then find a place to eat."

Wang Li stood up immediately and asked

"I forgot to ask, Fourth Brother, what did you bring for lunch?"

As he walked forward, Wang An replied casually

"Your old aunt made me some big savory pancakes. A thick stack of them, must be five or six pounds. Keep an eye out for some wild mushrooms later; we'll eat them with the pancakes."

Wang Li nodded and said

"Yeah, my mom made me pancakes too. I also brought some dried meat. Shall we start a fire and roast it later?"

Just as Wang Li finished speaking, a faint, indistinct gunshot suddenly echoed from the distance. Immediately after, another gunshot rang out, this one much clearer.

The two of them instinctively looked at each other. Clearly, something was happening.

Without a word, Wang An gripped his gun and turned, walking briskly toward the direction of the shots. Wang Li, forgetting all about the food, followed close behind.

Normally, the effective travel distance of a gunshot is about 400 meters, but in the woods, it might only travel 300 meters at most.

Theoretically, Wang An and Wang Li should have been about 300 meters away from that clear gunshot.

The reason Wang An was so anxious was that he suspected the leopard they had encountered last time had reappeared.

Given the speed of that leopard, Wang An wasn't confident that he and Wang Li could kill it alone. Only with more people and more guns would it be possible to bring it down in these woods.

A few minutes later, the two arrived at the spot where the gunshot had originated, but they found no one there.

After a brief moment of thought, Wang An and Wang Li continued walking quickly. It was only then that Wang An asked uncertainly

"Fifth Brother, that first shot—roughly which direction was it in? Can you estimate?"

That was the nature of these mountains; with the obstruction of the trees and the echoes, no one could pinpoint a location by sound. Not only was pinpointing impossible, but even getting a general direction was difficult.

Sounds from a distance felt as if they were coming from all directions at once.

Hearing this, Wang Li instinctively stopped and pointed southeast.

"I think it was that way, but I'm not entirely sure."

Just as Wang Li finished speaking, two gunshots rang out in quick succession.

Instinctively, Wang An shouted

"Fifth Brother, get down!"

As he shouted, Wang An yanked Wang Li down. Wang Li executed Wang An's orders instinctively, and the two of them hit the dirt.

Sure enough, the moment they dropped, a series of gunshots erupted.

Furthermore, on several large trees not far from them, the dull "thud, thud, thud" of bullets hitting wood echoed.

Lying on the ground, Wang Li couldn't help but exclaim

"Holy shit, this is fucking terrifying!"

Wang An echoed him in frustration

"Damn right! Who the hell is this? Why the fuck are they firing wildly? Goddammit, they almost sent me to the afterlife, motherfucker!"

It must be said that a scene with bullets flying randomly was indeed terrifying, enough to make one's soul leave their body.

The main issue was that if you were hit by a stray bullet, you'd either be dead or severely crippled.

So, although they were cursing, neither dared to poke their head up, remaining obediently motionless in the grass.

Suddenly, Wang Li said in a muffled voice

"Luckily we didn't bring the dogs into the mountains. Otherwise, with these idiot contestants, they probably would have shot our dogs dead."

Wang An didn't answer. Instead, he peeked up cautiously and whispered

"Listen. Do you hear any strange sounds?"

Hearing this, Wang Li also cautiously raised his head.

After a moment, Wang Li whispered

"Sounds like something is approaching... and now it's turned a corner and is moving away."

Wang An nodded. "Yeah, probably."

This matched Wang An's own judgment.

Wang Li asked

"So, Fourth Brother, are we still going over there?"

After thinking for a moment, Wang An said

"I'll fire two shots first to give them a signal. Otherwise, these idiots will just keep firing blindly."

As he spoke, Wang An angled his muzzle upward and pulled the trigger twice.

Following the "bang, bang" of the shots, the voice of that idiot Li Biao drifted over from the distance.

He shouted

"Stop firing! There are people over here!"

To be honest, Wang An had already suspected it when he first heard the shots.

Whether they were militia or hunters, no one would fire that frequently; there should at least be time to aim.

Furthermore, during the grouping process, Wang An clearly remembered that the idiot Li Biao was paired with the militiaman Li Mu.

In other words, the gun Li Biao was currently using was the SKS in Li Mu's hands.

(End of Chapter)