Chapter 63: Nearly Collapsed at Xilang

Li Long was very nervous; right now, his tension far outweighed his excitement.

Unlike the last time hunting wild boars, those boars were just targets to aim at and shoot; out of a herd of over ten, only the largest dared to fight back, while the others fled at the first sound.

But wolves are different; their cunning nature has been passed down for thousands of years, and they are far more agile than wild boars.

Li Long still remembered that short story from the classical texts he studied, about a butcher encountering two wolves; the wolves actually tried to cut off the man's retreat!

Li Long watched that stretch of forest vigilantly. With the faint skylight and the reflection of the snow, he could barely make out the situation near the woods.

The wolf howls continued within the forest, feeling now distant, now close; this intensified Li Long's tension, seeming to affect his bladder as well—at this moment, he needed to urinate.

For a moment, Li Long regretted it; why had he agreed to come hunt wolves with Ha Li Mu?

Wouldn't it have been better to just stay in the house?

But the next moment, thinking about the fact that they were hunting wolves, he became excited again.

If he could take down a wolf, he could brag about it for a whole year!

By then, placing the broken-off wolf teeth and wolf patella stones in front of Li Juan and Li Qiang would definitely earn him looks of admiration and endless praise!

Then, Li Long stopped being nervous; he widened his eyes, striving to spot any suspicious targets.

Finally, a wolf darted out from Lin Zi, leaping through the snow and moving back and forth in a zigzag pattern, as if dodging and guarding against something.

Only one?

That wolf was closer to Ha Li Mu; Li Long merely glanced at it before continuing his search. Ha Li Mu had said this was a pack of wolves, so it was absolutely impossible for there to be only one.

Soon, another wolf darted out from Lin Zi, thirty to fifty meters away from the first one; although it also wasn't moving in a straight line, it was clear their target was the sheep pen beside the winter camp.

Li Long's current ambush position was right beside the sheep pen. The smell of sheep dung masked his own scent, so he wasn't afraid of being discovered by the wolves.

Although the sheep pen was a warm enclosure built with tightly fitted wood, according to Ha Li Mu, those wolves would actually pry off the wood on the outside of the pen!

Damn it, they've become spirits!

Li Long's finger pressing the trigger loosened then tightened; although not stiff, he was still nervous.

Now only three wolves had appeared, all lingering outside the sheep pen, fifty to sixty meters away from Li Long and the others, constantly on the move, so neither Li Long nor Ha Li Mu dared to fire.

They had to wait until the wolves got close before acting; otherwise, failing to kill them would only make the wolves' next retaliation even more vicious.

Finally, the wolves felt there was no danger, stopped circling outside, and began approaching the sheep pen.

Ha Li Mu and Li Long had agreed beforehand: he would be responsible for the eastern area, while Li Long would handle the western side, trying their best to kill the wolves, or at least inflict heavy injuries if killing wasn't possible.

In this weather, a wolf with minor injuries might still survive, but one with heavy injuries would surely die.

So Li Long was actually quite relaxed right now; in his sector, there was only one wolf.

That wolf seemed to be on guard duty; instead of approaching the west side of the sheep pen with the others, it kept looking left and right.

Li Long found this strange, but he didn't relax at all, thinking that if that wolf didn't come over, he would help Ha Li Mu deal with the wolves approaching from the east first.

Just then, Li Long suddenly felt the hairs on his body stand on end, as if some danger was slowly approaching from his diagonal rear!

He immediately held his breath, and his previously active finger froze instantly.

Fortunately, there was enough sheep dung nearby to mask his scent.

Even without turning around, Li Long could guess that a wolf had definitely circled around here, planning a pincer attack!

And earlier, if he had made even the slightest move, that wolf would probably have pounced on him!

Sure enough, soon a foul, bloody smell drifted over; that wolf, five or six meters away from Li Long, stepped lightly as it slowly moved toward the sheep pen.

Li Long knew he couldn't wait any longer; as the wolf passed diagonally across his right front, he decisively shifted his gun muzzle, and just as the wolf was startled and prepared to leap, he pulled the trigger!

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

Three shots in succession; Li Long didn't stop at all. Two of the three shots hit the wolf; the wolf let out a mournful howl and collapsed to the ground. He remembered something he learned from reading novels in his past life: when shooting fierce animals, you must ensure they lose all ability to resist before stopping fire. If you fire once and then go check the situation, you could easily be attacked and killed by the ferocity triggered by their injury! The moment Li Long's gun fired, the other wolves halted their movements, and Ha Li Mu also opened fire!

Only after seeing the wolf fall did Li Long feel relieved; he swung his gun around, searching for traces of the other wolves.

All the wolves quickly ran back into Lin Zi; the slowest to move was actually the guard wolf, which was still standing on high ground, lifting its head and howling.

That's the one!

Li Long aimed and fired!

The wolf let out a mournful howl, its body tilting, yet it barely managed to steady itself, crouching low as it darted into Lin Zi.

It was injured, but it was unknown how severe the wound was.

Li Long felt some regret; he had only hit one wolf.

Ha Li Mu had also hit one on his side, but he was very happy; he had already climbed up to go check the wolf he shot.

Meanwhile, Li Long flicked open the bayonet of his Type 56 semi-automatic rifle, stepped forward, and first stabbed the neck of the wolf he had downed, which was still twitching.

Ensure safety first—at a time like this, one could never be too cautious.

The wolf stopped twitching and slowly went stiff.

"Li Long, that was very dangerous just now!" Ha Li Mu dragged that wolf over. "I really didn't expect these wolves would circle around to the back of the sheep pen."

!.

"It's fine, it's fine." Li Long forced a smile; just now he had been focused solely on firing, and only now was he calming down. He felt that death had been just a few steps away. "Fortunately, I hid quite well."

"This one I shot should be the alpha of the pack; with it taken out, the rest of the wolves probably won't dare to come back for a short while," Ha Li Mu said. "Let's go back; it's too cold."

Hearing him say this, Li Long only then realized that his thermal underwear underneath was already soaked through, leaving his whole body ice-cold.

The two of them immediately rushed back to the winter camp. Everyone else had been awakened by the wolf howls and gunshots. Ha Li Mu briefly explained the situation, and upon seeing the two dead wolves, the whole family felt relieved.

After dawn, Ha Li Mu and Li Long took their guns to the edge of the forest to check; there were bloodstains there. The wolf Li Long had injured had darted into the woods, with the blood trail extending all the way to another mountain ridge before disappearing.

"It might still be alive," Ha Li Mu said, looking at Zhao Yin extending into the dense forest. "Let's go back; they won't dare to come again."

Returning to the winter camp, Li Long once again witnessed Ha Li Mu's skill in skinning. For the two wolves, Ha Li Mu didn't need Li Long's help at all and finished processing them very quickly.

The wolf's internal organs and such all had to be discarded, and the meat wasn't eaten either, but Li Long asked to take it all.

He had never tasted wolf meat in either of his two lifetimes.

"If you're not in a hurry to leave, tomorrow morning we'll head to the ravine on the west side—I'll take you to hunt that other group of wild boars!"

Li Long was a little tempted.

Hunting wild boars in the mountains was far more exciting than scooping fish in Little Little Haizi.

"Well… alright." Li Long thought it over and agreed.

Ha Li Mu smiled. That's what friends were for—Li Long treated him sincerely, and he too hoped his friend could have an easier time of it.

He had long known that the things from the mountains could be traded for grain from outside, but only Li Long, after taking his things, would bring him back so much in return.

Even though Ha Li Mu knew that if he found the right person, the things he gave Li Long could be traded for even more.

But who would trade with him?

Li Long was trustworthy—a friend worth keeping!

Thanks to book friend Still A Scallion for the 5,000-tip reward! Thanks to book friend Housewife No. 1 for the tip! Thanks to book friend Love Pushing Ten Thousand for the tip!

Here, I also want to sincerely thank everyone for the votes today. Whether they're monthly votes or recommendation votes, or the suggestions you offered—yesterday the data wasn't great, so I called for votes, and I really didn't expect such enthusiasm from everyone, or so many votes given, which made today's data noticeably better.

So today I'll add an extra chapter later, to express my thanks for everyone's tips and votes!

Hard at work typing away, striving to put out more chapters when the time comes to go on the shelves.

(End of chapter)