Chapter 865: A horrifying and sickening scene

It is no exaggeration to say that even in the early 21st century, patching clothes was a very common occurrence.

But as things stand now, there are quite a few serious households where the children have no clothes to wear at all.

Even more extreme, an entire family might share a single pair of pants without a seat; whoever goes out wears them.

These are all facts.

Therefore, in the desolate mountains or on the streets, you will absolutely never see discarded torn clothes or tattered pants.

Because these things, no matter how worn out they become, can still be used to make fabric backing; throwing them away is absolutely impossible.

Wang An looked at a sleeve lying next to a rock, and without turning his head, he said to Wang Li:

"Wait a moment before eating. Take out your pistol, let's go over and see what's going on with that jacket sleeve."

Ever since the last time Wang An fired his gun but failed to keep that leopard, he had been pondering in his spare time how to deal with this creature if he were to encounter it again.

Although Wang An's marksmanship had reached the point of hitting whatever he aimed at, he still felt that when using a long gun like the Type 56 semi-automatic, the speed of moving the muzzle was too slow.

At the very least, relative to the leopard's agility, the speed at which Wang An could move the muzzle with both hands could not keep up.

The reason for this is that when a person holds a long gun, both hands are on the gun body, so the range of lateral movement for the muzzle is limited.

Because of this, if one wants to aim to the side or rear, the entire body, including the feet, must turn along with it.

But comparing human agility and speed to a leopard's? Isn't that pure nonsense?

Thus, Wang An thought of a pistol.

Although a pistol's power and range are not as good as the Type 56, it is light and flexible. With Wang An's marksmanship, as long as it is within range, he is bound to hit the target with one shot.

Hearing Wang An's call, Wang Li tossed his pancake into his satchel and immediately pulled out his Mauser C96, while Wang An also drew his large Type 54.

It must be said, Wang An felt that once this large Type 54 was gripped in his hand, he immediately became incredibly badass.

That feeling of "with a gun in hand, the world is mine" was so clear and intense.

Soon, the two of them walked up to the sleeve. From the tooth marks on it, it was not hard to see that this sleeve had been torn off by brute force.

However, there were no signs of a struggle or fight near the sleeve, as if it had appeared out of thin air.

Wang An held his pistol, looking around while saying to Wang Li:

"Look at the tooth marks on this jacket sleeve. I suspect that either there are wolves nearby, or it's that leopard."

Wang Li looked at the sleeve and said:

"Yeah, these fang marks are quite clear. So, Fourth Brother, do you think it's a wolf or that leopard?"

Wang An pondered for a moment and said:

"It should be the leopard we saw that day, and its den might just be here on this rocky mountain."

The reason Wang An said this was because their current location was just outside the village, on the edge of the deep mountains.

The probability of wolves appearing here was very low, and the only beast of prey Wang An had seen recently was that elusive leopard.

Hearing this, Wang Li frowned and said:

"Fourth Brother, don't leopards usually den in big trees? This rocky mountain only has small saplings, no big trees."

Wang An said to Wang Li without turning his head:

"What's certain about these things? Who says a leopard can't live in a cave?"

Wang Li was stunned upon hearing this and did not refute him.

Actually, under normal circumstances, leopards do indeed den in trees.

But just like the 'heavenly granaries' and 'earthly granaries' of hibernating bears, the location of a leopard's den is not absolute. As long as the leopard considers the location safe, it is not impossible for it to build a den and survive there.

After carefully observing the surroundings, Wang An said to Wang Li:

"Why do I feel like this sleeve belongs to Niu Qi? By the way, at the meeting that day, what style of clothes was Niu Qi wearing?"

Wang Li thought for a long time before saying:

"I didn't pay attention to what he was wearing that day. It seemed to be a dark blue jacket, but I forgot, I can't remember clearly."

The question Wang An asked was quite bizarre; who could remember something from so many days ago?

Besides, Niu Qi wasn't a beauty, but a very annoying guy; who would observe him for no reason?

Furthermore, so many days had passed, and it wasn't as if he couldn't change his clothes.

After observing left and right again, Wang An felt as if a pair of eyes were spying on him and Wang Li, so he warned Wang Li:

"Be careful, I feel like something is not right."

Wang Li gripped his pistol tightly with a nervous expression and said:

"Yeah, don't worry, Fourth Brother, my bullets are already chambered."

Wang An nodded and said:

"Let's circle this rocky mountain. I keep feeling that Niu Qi is right around here."

As they spoke, the two moved back-to-back, cautiously shifting their positions.

They had no choice but to be cautious; anyone would be afraid when facing a leopard, especially one that was very likely a man-eater.

This rocky mountain was not very large, so less than 20 minutes later, the two had slowly circled most of it.

Just as they could see the place where the sleeve was and began to relax, they saw a horrifying and sickening scene.

Because in a small gully not far from them, they saw a scene filled with swarming flies.

Dense swarms of flies—green-bottle flies, red-bottle flies, and others—were buzzing and flying around in the gully.

It is no exaggeration to say that if someone with trypophobia saw this scene, they would have fainted on the spot.

Faintly, one could see that the place where these flies landed formed a human shape.

Wang Li swallowed hard several times, then said with a trembling voice:

"Fourth Brother, tell me, tell me, is that Niu Qi?"

Wang An suppressed his nausea, along with the goosebumps rising and falling on his body, and said somewhat uncertainly:

"I don't know either. It should, it should not be, right?"

The reason Wang An said this was because he believed that if this person were Niu Qi, the timeline did not match up.

After all, adding it all up, Niu Qi had only been missing for 4 days.

Although this season is the hottest time of the entire year, a dead body shouldn't rot to this extent in just 4 days.

Moreover, after Niu Qi entered the mountains, he might not have died the moment he arrived.

Thanks to "Emperor of the Great Empire" for the tip, thank you, thank you!

Wishing you, big brother, smooth sailing and everything going your way.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 866 =====