Chapter 282: Midnight Rescue (Three Chapters Today, Celebrating Children

The roar of the shotgun exploded through the river valley, mingling with the occasional night breeze—instead of dispelling fear, it only made their hearts grow colder.

In the darkness, a fleeting black shadow vanished in an instant, moving too fast for the eye to follow; but soon after the gunshots faded, a sharp, piercing roar rang out, as if expressing its fury toward them.

Kallen trembled violently, clamping both hands over his mouth, tears streaming down uncontrollably.

As a student at Dar es Salaam University majoring in this field, he naturally understood the terror of an adult leopard. If it were a male leopard, enraged and hunting them, they stood no chance without sufficient firearms.

A leopard's speed can reach 90 km/h, and its leaping ability is extraordinary—jumping six or seven meters is effortless. Especially at night, this was the leopard's domain entirely.

Joseph leaned against a rock, his shoulder wound throbbing worse with every gunshot and roar. His face was as pale as paper, his lips purple. But his fear outweighed the physical pain—if he hadn't reacted quickly, the leopard would have torn his throat out in one pounce.

"Don't shoot, Hassan. Everyone stay quiet," Momboma whispered, frowning but composed.

An adult male leopard wouldn't attack them without cause, especially with so many of them armed. As a top predator, it made its own judgments—risking such a confrontation was not worth it.

Unless they'd done something to make this leopard so enraged.

Miss Amina saw fresh blood seeping from Joseph's shoulder and quickly soothed: "Joseph, rescue will come soon. We'll be fine."

But despite her words, her voice trembled—not from fear of the leopard, but from the memory of Salim running out and being dragged away by the Nile crocodile. Who could have imagined such a massive crocodile lurked near their camp, waiting, as if hunting them?

Salim had fled in panic from the leopard, only to be dragged off by the crocodile—the heart-rending scream still sent chills through her.

"Damn beast!" Hassan muttered under his breath. "It's determined to kill us."

In the darkness, the leopard's shadow reappeared, flashing past—exerting immense pressure. No one knew where it would strike next, and none dared run toward the car—Salim had done that, and look what happened.

Who knew if other Nile crocodiles still lurked along the shallows?

"Professor Momboma, I'll go get the car."

After a moment longer, Hassan could no longer hold back—he spoke to Momboma beside him.

Momboma thought for a moment: "Then we all go together."

After deciding, he had Miss Amina and Kallen support Joseph, and the four of them followed Hassan step by step toward the parked vehicle.

The car was parked at the shallows, about two hundred meters from their current campsite, blocked from driving closer by granite boulders.

Momboma held the flashlight to illuminate the path; Kallen and Miss Amina aimed their headlamps left, right, and behind, guarding against ambush. After walking ten steps, they halted—there, directly ahead, the leopard stood motionless, its vertical pupils fixed on them, eyes brimming with malice, throat rumbling with a low growl.

Hassan stood at the front, saw the leopard, and instantly aimed his gun at it, ready to fire at any moment.

The leopard was only ten meters from Hassan. Its body remained hidden in darkness, but its keen sense of smell easily detected the scent of blood and the overwhelming odor of gunpowder it dreaded.

Its nostrils twitched slightly as its body slowly lowered.

"Boom!"

At that moment, Hassan fired.

But the leopard moved faster—in the instant Hassan pulled the trigger, its body vanished from its spot, darting sideways.

"Auuuugh—!"

A piercing roar exploded beside Hassan's ear.

Hassan's nerves were taut—he had no time to think, swung his gun barrel, and fired again.

"Boom—!"

The shotgun discharged at close range, spraying a dense hail of buckshot. The leopard let out a shriek, its body jolting violently—blood spurted from its left shoulder, instantly staining its deep golden fur.

In pain, the leopard vanished into the darkness—but its low whimpers and growls grew louder, circling them relentlessly, hidden in the shadows.

"…."

Hassan frowned. From experience, he easily recognized—the leopard had grown even more frenzied. His shot had wounded it, but only superficially; no bones or tendons were hit. Most of the buckshot had missed.

Fortunately, his shotgun was semi-automatic—if it had been pump-action, requiring manual reloading, he wouldn't have had time.

"One round left!"

He thought quickly, removed the magazine, and pulled out a new round to reload.

But at that moment, the leopard attacked from behind—targeting Kallen.

"Watch out!"

Hassan roared, whirling around to fire—but too late. The leopard moved too fast, lunging to Kallen's side, its sharp claws slashing toward his skull. Kallen froze in terror, unable to react, staring helplessly as the claws closed in—death's shadow engulfed him instantly.

At the last second, Professor Momboma lunged forward and shoved Kallen aside. The leopard's claws slammed into Momboma's arm, slicing through his tactical jacket and burying deep into flesh and muscle.

Professor Momboma grunted, collapsing heavily to the ground.

"Boom—!"

Hassan's final round fired instantly, streaking with sparks toward the leopard.

But the leopard showed no interest in fighting—it struck Momboma and vanished into darkness again, retreating.

"FUCK!"

Hassan's last shot missed—furious, he cursed aloud.

"Professor! Professor, are you alright?" Miss Amina screamed, abandoning Joseph and rushing to Momboma's side, trying to lift him.

Momboma's brow was knotted in pain, sweat beading on his face from the agony.

"I'm… I'm fine. Don't worry."

Miss Amina tore open his shirt and saw the mangled, bloody shoulder—immediately, tears spilled down.

The leopard's claws had ripped through flesh and bone—without prompt treatment, he might never regain full mobility.

"Roar—!"

Suddenly, a roar unlike the first leopard's echoed—Hassan's gaze was still on Momboma when he felt a foul wind descend from above.

Next, he was slammed to the ground by immense force—searing pain erupted at the back of his neck, a wave of death's dread flooding him—he swung his gun stock backward with all his strength.

"Thud!" The stock struck something hard—then the pressure vanished, and the attacker retreated swiftly.

"T… the second leopard… how is that possible?" Joseph had seen it all—his eyes overflowed with terror.

"Hassan! Hassan!"

Momboma shouted loudly.

Hassan rubbed the back of his neck; blood was streaming down, but the bite hadn't reached the cervical vertebra, only the outer flesh. Even so, the searing pain still stimulated his cerebral cortex, making his whole body tremble.

So close, so very close, and he would have been dead.

"Miss Amina, hurry and check Hassan's condition." Mboma was in a great panic — that was the neck, the location of the carotid artery; if it really had been severed, death would have been certain.

Miss Amina hurriedly ran to Hassan's side, propped him up and examined him carefully, then breathed a sigh of relief — only a large chunk of flesh at the back of his neck had been torn off, but the artery was not injured.

Enduring the searing pain, Hassan looked toward Mboma.

"Professor Mboma, isn't this damned leopard supposed to be solitary? Why did two of them show up?"

Mboma's expression was complicated: "Our luck isn't good. I'm afraid we disturbed these two leopards' mating season — these one or two weeks should be the time when the pair mates."

Uh… they had disturbed the mating?

The group exchanged glances in silence. No wonder the male leopard had been so crazed and furious.

"Back… back to camp, the supplies are all at camp, treat the wounds first."

The group had no choice. A single male leopard had them checked at every turn; now with two leopards hidden in the dark, it was simply like the Grim Reaper itself.

Right now, apart from Miss Amina and Karen who were uninjured, everyone else was wounded. If the wounds weren't sterilized and disinfected in time, an infection could cost them their lives.

Soon, the group returned to camp. The two leopards seemed to have vanished as well, and for a short while they did not appear.

But just as everyone finished disinfecting and bandaging their wounds, that male leopard appeared again, prowling around outside the camp, harassing them every so often. Hassan held his neck stiff, his mind not daring to relax in the slightest.

By the time the tension had stretched to roughly midnight, his eyes were beginning to blur.

Suddenly, a commotion came from the outer perimeter.

"Not good — there's something else out there."