Chapter 944: The Grey-Haired Black Bear

To call him an uninvited guest seemed a bit impolite, because this uninvited guest was a person—and a person of great prestige and high status within Kaoshan Village.

Indeed, the newcomer was none other than the village chief, Sun Dafu.

As soon as he saw Sun Dafu enter the yard, Wang An immediately put down the work in his hands and went to greet him, saying with a beaming smile

"Grandpa Sun is here! Quick, come inside, come inside."

Wang Li and Wang Yi also stood up and immediately greeted Sun Dafu.

At this moment, Sun Dafu looked troubled, but upon hearing the greetings from the three Wang brothers, he forced a smile and spoke

"I won't go inside, Xiao An. Well, the reason I'm here is this: in the forest on the south side of our village, some grey-haired old black bear showed up a while back."

Except in very special cases, a grey-haired black bear is actually just an older bear; much like how humans grow white hair as they age, which is why Sun Dafu called it an "old black bear."

However, because such bears have survived various dangers, their intelligence becomes extremely high. Consequently, they are very difficult to deal with and are a headache for all hunters.

Knowing that Sun Dafu hadn't finished speaking, Wang An didn't interrupt and simply nodded.

Sun Dafu continued

"But as luck would have it, your Sixth Grandma and a few of the village women went to pick mushrooms a couple of days ago and ran right into that grey-haired bear. Your Sixth Grandma and the others ran, and the bear chased them. Fortunately, the bear was probably full at the time; it chased them for a bit and then stopped. Otherwise..."

At this point, Sun Dafu stopped talking, mainly because there was no value in describing things that hadn't actually happened.

The "your Sixth Grandma" Sun Dafu mentioned was actually his own wife. Because Sun Dafu was the sixth among his brothers and held a high generational rank, many of the village juniors called him "Sixth Grandpa." Naturally, his wife was called Sixth Grandma.

After listening to the account, Wang An asked with a look of concern

"Is Sixth Grandma alright then?"

Sun Dafu was a genuinely good man, so Wang An's concern wasn't fake.

That being said, Wang An was somewhat bewildered internally. Sun Dafu had definitely come here for a reason, but Wang An couldn't figure out what the point of this long story was, or what he was setting up.

Hearing this, Sun Dafu shook his head and said

"Your Sixth Grandma is fine. It's just that right now is the best time for every household to pick mushrooms and dig wild vegetables. Otherwise, tell me, once winter hits, we can't just eat cabbage and potatoes for every meal, can we?"

Hearing this, Wang An understood. Sun Dafu wanted Wang An to kill that bear so that the villagers could pick mushrooms and wild vegetables without being affected.

It had to be said that in the mountains of this era, there were truly many animals. At any moment, a ferocious beast might wander into the mountains surrounding the village.

Aside from the black bear Sun Dafu mentioned, the wild boar Wang An and the others had killed while guarding the seedlings a while back, and the leopard they had spotted but failed to kill, had all wandered in at some unknown time.

What puzzled Wang An was that in previous years, driving away wild beasts was the job of the militia. Why was it falling on him this year?

Just as Wang An was about to speak, Sun Dafu added

"The village militia have been entering the mountains for two consecutive days now, but they haven't even found a trace of this bear."

Wang An's lips twitched, and he felt a wave of speechlessness.

It was obvious that Sun Dafu believed he could find that grey-haired black bear.

Wang An was far too shrewd; how could he possibly take the bait?

So, after Sun Dafu finished, Wang An spoke with the air of a bystander

"I see. As they say, a black bear with grey hair is surely turning into a spirit; it really would be hard to find a trace of it."

In truth, there was half a question Wang An was holding back.

Namely, whether that grey-haired bear had started growing white hair on its back yet.

Because that kind of bear was a hunter's true nightmare.

Such bears were called "Human-Bears" by local veteran hunters, while others called them "Bear-Devils."

The reason they were called "Human-Bears" was because it was said that such bears had almost transcended the category of bears; they would spend their days walking on two hind legs like humans and could perform human-like actions.

To put it bluntly, the bear was becoming a spirit and turning into a human.

Of course, while these stories were widespread among hunters and known to many elders, whether this was true or false was impossible to verify.

The main point was that such bears certainly existed, but the number of people who had actually seen one was very few.

Feng Chengmin had told Wang An before that Human-Bears had extremely high intelligence, and one must be cautious beyond measure when encountering one.

Of course, it wasn't just Human-Bears; any animal that lived long enough would develop a high level of intelligence.

Seeing that Wang An wasn't taking the bait, Sun Dafu finally couldn't help but say

"Xiao An, your hunting is so fierce these days and your reputation is so loud. Why don't you give it a try? You have to hunt anyway, so just think of it as making a contribution to your fellow villagers."

It was clear that Sun Dafu was truly worried, as he had resorted to the tactic of moral kidnapping.

However, Wang An didn't feel repulsed by this approach.

As the saying goes, "If you aren't in the position, don't plot for the position." Sun Dafu wasn't doing this just for himself, and it wasn't as if the militia hadn't tried.

It was simply that the bear was too cunning, and as the village chief, Sun Dafu had run out of options.

Wang An casually picked up a rag, wiped the fish blood and other grime from his hands, then pulled out some cigarettes and handed one to Sun Dafu and stuffed one into Wang Li's mouth.

Lighting the cigarette and taking a puff, Wang An pondered for a long time before saying with a conflicted expression

"Grandpa Sun, hunting a black bear—especially an old one—is really not easy. To be honest, there's an eighty percent chance I'd struggle too."

Wang An believed that with Da Hei and the other dogs, finding the old bear wouldn't be difficult, but his primary concern was the safety of the dogs.

During this season, the trees in the mountains were lush and the grass was half a person deep, so visibility was severely obstructed.

If the humans and dogs couldn't support each other, it would be useless even if the dogs found the bear.

Moreover, for a black bear, killing a dog was like child's play. If any of his dogs were injured or even killed, Wang An would be heartbroken.

But in all honesty, while he worried for the dogs, in the depths of his heart, Wang An really wanted to take down this bear.

Mainly because hunting black bears was addictive!

Especially when extracting the gall bladder—it was like opening a lottery prize; it was damn exciting!

(End of Chapter)