Chapter 360: Surrounded by Wolves While Hunting Wolves

As Li Long carried the deer meat down the mountain, a wolf appeared on the ridge line—it had been drawn by the scent of blood.

Li Long had left the deer's internal organs there; there was no helping it, as he couldn't carry them away.

Hunting is just like that; only by giving something up can one gain something. Just like in his previous life, when fishing in the dry Da Hai Zi, if he couldn't bear to leave behind those beautiful fish he had scooped out, he would end up losing even more fish that he could have brought back for his whole family.

It is the same now. If he couldn't bear to leave the deer organs and tried to carry the entire deer back, he might lose even more—with over a hundred kilograms, carrying it was impossible, so he would have to drag it. In that case, the deer hide would most likely be ruined.

Decades later, everything on a deer would be worth quite a bit of money, but right now, the deer hide and head were the main prizes.

Li Long hadn't noticed that something had already set its sights on him; he struggled downhill carrying the deer carcass, feeling the valley mouth drawing nearer. Once out of Shankou, he could drag the carcass on a plastic sheet, which would save effort.

He thought to himself that once he returned to the wooden cabin, he would definitely slice some deer meat to roast and eat, as this was far too exhausting.

The wolf on the ridge charged down, trotting to where the deer organs lay, lowering its head to sniff, then looking left and right before glancing once more at the departing Li Long; then it lowered its head and began devouring the organs in great mouthfuls—it was starving.

Another wild wolf appeared on the ridge line, followed by a third, a fourth...

Six wild wolves gathered around the deer organs, and soon two of them started tearing at each other over a piece of deer liver.

The leader of this small wolf pack bared its fangs and emitted a threatening low growl, successfully stopping the two wolves from attacking.

The six wolves quickly finished eating all the deer organs; they didn't mind the undigested or unexcreted feces and food remnants in the stomach and intestines, gnawing the meat until nothing remained, and even licking the congealed blood on the ground clean.

Most of the six wolves were more than half full, which was already a pretty good situation usually; at least there was something to eat.

But the alpha wolf clearly didn't think so; by this time, Li Long had reached the valley mouth. He set the deer down, took out a plastic sheet and spread it, then rolled the deer onto it, gathered the two corners, gave a tug, and dragged it out of the valley.

The alpha wolf let out a soft howl and charged down in Li Long's direction.

The remaining wolves quickly followed; the wolf that had first discovered the deer organs accelerated from the side to the front, reaching Shankou within a few minutes.

This wolf did not immediately follow further but stood at the valley mouth watching Li Long, waiting for the other wolves to catch up.

By the time the other wolves caught up, Li Long had already walked over a hundred meters away; now he felt much more relaxed—at least he didn't have to exert so much effort. Dragging the deer seemed even easier than dragging the wild boar had been before; he hummed a tune as he continued forward, still thinking about his plans to keep hunting in this area.

With such a cave, it was equivalent to having an endless source of prey; coming every few days would most likely yield results each time.

Should he bring Li Li Jun Feng and the others along next time, catch a few alive, and take them back to raise?

While Li Long was thinking this, he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine; he turned his head and was startled!

Less than fifty meters behind him, a wolf was approaching silently; the wolf had bared its fangs, clearly treating him as its target!

And behind this wolf, five more wolves were running through the snow in a fan formation; they weren't following too closely, yet he hadn't noticed them at all!

Li Long made an immediate decision: he dropped the plastic sheet, swung the rifle off his shoulder into his hands, switched off the safety—the bullet was already chambered—and aimed at the nearest wolf, firing!

The wolf had already stopped moving the moment it saw Li Long halt, raising its alertness; seeing Li Long raise his gun, it let out a howl and ran backward—this was clearly a scout wolf, whose first thought upon encountering danger was to flee!

"Bang! Bang!" After two shots, the wolf collapsed in a pool of blood—it wasn't dead; one bullet had missed entirely, while the other had hit its waist.

The wolf struggled to get up, but its hindquarters wouldn't respond, so it could only support itself with its front half, dragging itself forward; its miserable howling was loud enough to make the other five wolves stop.

Those five wolves were less than a hundred meters from Li Long; not wanting to leave a hidden danger, he aimed at one of the taller-looking wolves and pulled the trigger.

That wolf was very alert; it turned and ran, causing Li Long's bullet to miss.

By the time Li Long aimed at the other wild wolves, they had already fled into the nearby Lin Zi, leaving only the wild wolf injured by Li Long, still wailing in pain.

Li Long did not fire another shot to finish off that wolf; instead, he immediately racked the bolt, caught the ejected cartridge, grabbed a handful of bullets from his satchel, filled the magazine to capacity, and loaded one more into the barrel.

Six wolves; one injured, five remaining.

Given the nature of these beasts, these five wolves would definitely not let matters rest.

After loading the bullets, Li Long immediately retreated to where the deer lay, extended the gun sling to its maximum length and hung it across his chest for easy two-handed aiming and shooting, then grabbed the plastic sheet and headed toward the wooden cabin.

Sure enough, after advancing over a hundred meters, Li Long saw signs of wolves appearing behind him—only three wolves were following him; they weren't rushing, keeping a steady distance of over a hundred meters, watching him; whenever Li Long stopped, they stopped too, hopping back and forth rather than staying in one spot.

Damn cunning!

Li Long continued forward, occasionally glancing back and sometimes looking left and right, after all, there were still two wolves whose whereabouts were unknown. These wolves were good at flanking maneuvers; he had already experienced this at Ha Li Mu's winter camp last time, and no one could guarantee they wouldn't dash around from the other side of the mountain to surround him ahead.

Li Long moved quickly, but the wolves were not slow either; occasionally, one wolf would let out a howl, though it was unclear whether it was locating their companions or issuing a threat to Li Long.

Li Long only glanced back occasionally without counterattacking; he knew every bullet in his gun was precious right now. Although he had enough bullets in his satchel, if all five wolves rushed at once, his eleven bullets might not be enough. To take a shortcut, after leaving the previous valley mouth, Li Long followed the stream for about five hundred meters before turning westward up the hillside. Although dragging the deer on the plastic sheet uphill was somewhat difficult, Li Long knew this was the shortest route, and he didn't want to waste time on the road.

As long as he could reach the wooden cabin, these wolves would pose little threat to him.

By the time Li Long dragged the plastic sheet halfway up the slope, he was already sweating; he panted heavily, partly from exhaustion and partly from tension. The three wolves behind him continued to follow at a leisurely pace; as Li Long climbed uphill, they followed suit, and one wolf even quickly ascended the slope from the left, seemingly intending to reach the hilltop before Li Long.

Li Long didn't try to compete with it in speed—of course, he couldn't match it anyway—but his alertness increased further.

While climbing, he occasionally looked up, and when he was about ten meters from the summit, he raised his head and suddenly saw two wolves appear above!

Almost instinctively, he threw down the plastic sheet, raised his gun, and fired twice upward: "Bang! Bang!"

The gunshots echoed through the valley, followed by a wolf's pained cry; Li Long paid no heed to the deer carcass sliding down behind him and hurriedly climbed up the slope, gun first, ready to shoot immediately if any wolf appeared.

When Li Long reached the hilltop, he discovered several drops of blood on the snow; in the distance, a wolf was fleeing into the pine forest below the slope. Clearly, Li Long had hit one of the wolves, and it had escaped.

The fact that it wasn't seriously injured left Li Long somewhat regretful.

When he turned to look, the two wolves below the slope had retreated slightly, withdrawing all the way to the bottom.

However, the deer on the plastic sheet had also rolled down, getting stuck halfway up the slope by a patch of tall grass and shrubs.

Li Long sighed, went back down the slope dragging the plastic sheet, reached the deer, flipped it back onto the sheet, and continued dragging it upward.

!.

When he finally reached the hilltop and looked back, he saw those two wolves still watching him from the bottom; Li Long felt a bit worried—these wolves were truly persistent.

After Li Long dragged the deer down the slope and continued toward the wooden cabin along a narrow sheep path, the two wolves below began climbing up; they took a detour, expended considerable effort to reach the summit, arrived at the spot where Li Long had shot the wolf, sniffed the wolf blood, howled several times in succession, and then set off again in the direction Li Long had departed.

This time, they kept their distance from Li Long even greater, at nearly two hundred meters; a person with average eyesight would only see black dots, but Li Long could still make out the wolves, though at such a distance, his worry was not so heavy.

As long as they weren't following closely behind him, he could return safely to the wooden cabin.

When Li Long reached an open area, he put down the plastic sheet, turned to face the two wolves, took bullets from his satchel, and refilled his magazine.

Li Long looked around; there was still some distance to the wooden cabin. He bent down, grabbed a handful of snow, clenched it, and ate it. The cold steamed bun was already finished; the snow could quench some thirst and stimulate him to stay alert.

Right now, all he wanted was to enjoy a bowl of hot soup and then lie comfortably on the kang to sleep.

But Li Long knew clearly that unless he dealt with these threats and reached the wooden cabin safely, his wishes would remain mere fantasies.

After resting for a while, Li Long continued toward the wooden cabin; dragging the plastic sheet on flat ground was easier, but after passing through this area, he would have to climb another mountain.

The wolves were still following leisurely behind; this time, there were three more wolves behind, trailing in three separate lines.

Li Long raised his rifle to aim, then lowered it in disappointment.

As soon as he raised the gun, those wolves immediately ran backward; from such a distance, Li Long dared not guarantee he could hit them.

Lowering the rifle, he turned and continued dragging the deer up the slope, occasionally looking upward; fortunately, there were no wolves on the crest this time.

Watching Li Long reach the top of the slope, the three wolves paused at the bottom for a long while before flanking left and right; two went left, three went right, running up the slope.

The wolf on the right ran fast, suddenly stopping just before reaching the summit; it sniffed the air upward, as if catching a scent, then immediately turned and ran back down. It hadn't even run ten meters when a gunshot suddenly rang out from the mountaintop!

Li Long had been lying prone in the snow at the summit lying in ambush, waiting precisely for the wolves to arrive.

This slope was an excellent ambush position; even if the wolves approached from a distance uphill, they could not see the situation at the crest.

Last time, after climbing the slope, they had only seen bloodstains; Li Long had not laid an ambush, so the wolves' vigilance was not that strong.

Thus, they had fallen into the trap!

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Li Long fired four shots in succession; one missed, while three struck the wolf squarely. The wolf rolled twice in the snow before plunging into it, motionless.

The blood flowing from its body quickly stained a large patch of the surrounding snow red.

Hearing the gunshots echoing through the valley, the two wolves on the left fled diagonally away from Li Long without looking back, soon vanishing without a trace.

Li Long stood up, letting out a long breath; this counted as temporarily resolving a small portion of the threat.

The danger was not completely eliminated, however, because one wolf still had not appeared—Li Long did not know where that wolf was hiding. (End of Chapter)