Chapter 362: Revenge Overnight, But It's Not Over Yet

After eating, Li Long checked the bullets in his satchel, stuffed a large piece of naan inside, slung his Type 56 semi-automatic rifle over his shoulder, and headed out with a plastic sheet and rope.

Having locked the wooden cabin door, Li Long followed the trail dragged by the plastic sheet from yesterday.

He could have waited safely inside the cabin for Li Li Jun Feng and Li Li Junshan to arrive and haul away the deer and wolf meat, marking the end of the hunt.

But Li Long did not. With his spirits high, he felt yesterday's chase by the wolves had been too undignified; if he didn't pursue them, he would truly be unwilling to let it go.

Even if he couldn't find those wolves, he wanted to see what had become of the one that hadn't died yesterday. Li Long didn't believe that wolf could have fully recovered in just one night.

That wolf had suffered broken bones in its lower body; after only one night, even if it were still alive, it surely couldn't have run far.

If the other wolves wanted to save it, they must be nearby, which would conveniently allow him to exact revenge!

As the old saying goes, revenge should not wait until the next day; although Li Long had waited overnight, the time wasn't long, so any revenge he could get was better than none!

The Type 56 semi-automatic rifle was already loaded, with only the safety engaged to prevent accidental discharge; slung across his chest, Li Long ensured that upon spotting a target, he could instantly disengage the safety and fire.

Though speaking of revenge, Li Long was not reckless; as he stepped out of the open ground, his gaze turned cautious, scanning left and right frequently to check for any danger.

Along both sides of the trail dragged by the plastic sheet, five-clawed plum blossom prints appeared intermittently, though it was unclear if wolves had made them. Additionally, numerous paw-print depressions marked the thick snow crust, which Li Long guessed were likely left by those few wolves.

One dead, one lightly injured, one severely injured, and three intact wolves remained; Li Long dared not be careless.

After all, last winter at Ha Li Mu's place, those clever wolves had truly shocked Li Long—wolves actually knowing how to flank and ambush!

The outward journey had been easy, but upon reaching the location where he had wounded the wolf, Li Long was extremely surprised!

The wolf was already dead—or rather, it had been eaten.

Only some wolf fur and scraps of flesh and blood remained here.

The claw prints and footprints around the area were chaotic; the snow had been trampled over a large expanse, with bloodstains covering an area of over twenty meters. It was unclear whether the wolf had been eaten alive or if these were blood traces left after parts of its body were carried away during a communal feeding.

Li Long thought that if those wolves had eaten their own kind, it was truly cruel!

Eating internal organs earlier was one thing, but devouring a companion alive? Was the world of wolves so merciless?

Of course, it might also have been eaten by other animals; after all, in these great mountains, carnivores that do not hibernate are not limited to just wolves.

Seeing that he could no longer use this wolf for revenge, Li Long felt somewhat annoyed; he had miscalculated—who would have thought that traveling so far would result in a wasted trip?

However, since he had come this far, Li Long had no intention of returning empty-handed, so he continued forward.

Entering that rocky valley again, Li Long headed straight for the cave halfway up the mountain.

Before even reaching the cave entrance, a sudden noise erupted from within; Li Long was greatly startled, immediately raising his rifle and disengaging the safety, only to watch two large wild rabbits bolt out of the cave. Upon seeing Li Long, one of them leaped half a meter into the air, tumbled upon landing, and like the other, darted into the rocky debris and vanished.

Even rabbits lick salt!

Seeing they were only rabbits, Li Long breathed a sigh of relief and then cautiously crept into the cave.

The cave still held an unpleasant odor, but thanks to ventilation holes, the smell was not particularly strong.

Li Long walked to the wall; the interior was small enough to take in at a glance, with no other wild animals present. Gazing at the translucent rock salt on the wall, he suddenly thought that since he was here, he shouldn't return empty-handed.

Li Long found a stone and hammered at the wall for a while, knocking down two pieces of rock salt, each about the size of a fist; this counted as his harvest.

Holding the rock salt as he exited the cave, Li Long examined his translucent haul—it carried a faint pink hue, quite beautiful to behold.

Li Long stowed the rock salt in his bag, raised his rifle, and walked toward the pile of rocks. He intended to wait and see if he could encounter the remaining wolves.

Li Long set a time limit for himself: wait two hours, and if there was no harvest, he would return.

Minute by minute passed, and Li Long once again fell into the awkward situation from yesterday, cold and hungry; after gnawing a few bites of dry naan, he thought of the meat soup he had eaten that morning. Chewing hard, dry naan really wasn't tasty!

How nice it would be to have a piece of hot naan!

After gnawing halfway through, Li Long choked; he stopped eating, grabbed a handful of snow, held it in his mouth until it melted, and used the water to wash the food down his throat. Then he stood up; no more waiting, time to return!

Walking back along the trail dragged by the plastic sheet, Li Long planned to return to the wooden cabin to rest and explore other areas tomorrow. The clues provided by those young men who stole the sheep were quite numerous; over the next few days, he aimed to investigate them all one by one, hunting if prey was found, and accepting bad luck if none appeared.

Just as Li Long crested the last mountain and the small wooden cabin came into view, he stopped in his tracks.

A wolf was staring at the cabin from the spring.

This wolf sat like a dog, but with its head lowered slightly, as if intentionally minimizing its silhouette to avoid drawing attention.

The wolf was about 140 to 150 meters away from Li Long; looking left and right, Li Long felt somewhat dilemma-stricken.

Once down the mountain, the view became open; attempting to sneak past without being detected by that wolf would be quite difficult.

Mainly, he was unclear about the locations of the wolf's companions. If he sneaked up to shoot this wolf but was ambushed at close range by others along the way, it would be quite awkward.

Li Long crouched down, slowly observing the surroundings, trying to locate the other wolves.

!.

He didn't know whether, after losing two wolves, this small pack would continue to relentlessly trouble him if they lost another, or whether they would flee far away.

Of course, defeating them one by one was actually a good strategy, but Li Long couldn't guarantee that such opportunities would arise again later.

After scanning the area without discovering the location of any other wolves, he finally fixed his target on a sparse pine forest in the southwest direction.

If there were wolves, that was the most likely place they would be.

No more waiting; sneak over and deal with it first!

Li Long crouched low, avoiding the wolf's line of sight, and using the undulating terrain of the hillside, slowly crept toward it.

Like that wolf, Li Long kept his body as low as possible, avoiding exposure to any potential line of sight. He worried that if a hidden wolf spotted him and howled, the wild wolf by the spring might run away.

Crossing one small ridge after another, Li Long paused at each crest to verify whether the wolf was still there.

Fortunately, the wolf was still present.

When less than eighty meters from that wolf, Li Long reached another ridge crest; just as he was about to confirm the wolf's position, a sudden wolf howl erupted from the direction of the pine forest!

Clearly, Li Long had been discovered!

Instinctively, he threw himself flat on the ground, but then realized that lying down now was already too late! The wolf had already spotted him!

Just as Li Long prepared to rise, the wolf by the spring, hearing the howl, suddenly darted out and fled!

It had heard the alpha wolf's warning, knowing that the hateful enemy had arrived; alone, it was absolutely no match for the opponent and had to run!

However, neither Li Long nor the alpha wolf in the forest had anticipated that, after receiving the warning, this wolf would flee in a direction slightly south of Li Long's left!

If taking the spring as the origin, the angle between its running direction and Li Long's line to the spring was less than thirty degrees!

Before Li Long could even climb to his feet, he saw the wolf charging toward him; although not heading directly at him, the distance was closing rapidly!

What an unexpected windfall!

Li Long immediately dropped into a half-kneel, raised his rifle, and aimed at the wolf. At that moment, the wolf also spotted Li Long in its field of vision and instantly realized it had run in the wrong direction. Amid the alpha wolf's howl, it braked sharply and turned around; right at that instant, Li Long's gun fired! (End of Chapter)