Reborn in 80: Starting with hunting in the mountains to get rich

Chapter 184 Taming Wolves as Leaders

The female educated youth was surprised and, carrying her baby, asked Li Ju'an if he was Little Li Pao.

This time it was Li Ju'an's turn to be surprised. Wangxing Village was so far away, how could anyone know him? The female educated youth lowered her head, twisting her hands without saying a word, and turned to feed the chubby baby. The group awkwardly turned to leave the hut when she suddenly called out, "Little Li, you guys go to the highest ridge in the northwest, there are brown bears on Bald Mountain."

Li Ju'an was puzzled; how did she know they were going to hunt brown bears? She nodded and agreed.

The three walked through the ravine. Song Desheng deliberately chose to walk on the small, half-person-high saplings. There was a small path in the middle that animals used to walk on all year round, so the path was easier to walk on. He laughed and said, "Brother Li, I didn't expect you to have a confidante in this village so far away."

Li Ju'an scolded him for spouting nonsense.

Suddenly, the cries of wild animals rang out. Before Song Desheng could react, Lu Zhiqiang said, "That's a roe deer looking for a mate."

If it were Old Qian from the ranch's security department, who was skilled in vocalization, he could respond with a couple of shouts at this moment, and the wild roe deer would come running towards the sound.

Li Ju'an said, "It's also possible that hunters are looking for roe deer. If we go over there, wouldn't we just be wild animals attracted by the sound of roe deer?"

The three of them burst into laughter. No wonder there were so many snares on the ground; it turned out that the people of Wangxing Village had nothing to do all day long—either setting snares, logging, or catching roe deer in the mountains.

As the three walked, Li Ju'an suddenly heard a very loud metallic sound behind him.

The hunting dogs ran ahead, and the loud metallic sound behind him was all too familiar. It was so close, so familiar, that he screamed in fright, almost scared out of his wits.

Behind him walked Song Desheng, who shouted "Oh my god!" He was so frightened that he couldn't see or hear anything, and he was completely stunned. He stepped into the trap.

Anyone startled by such a loud noise from the metal casing would be terrified and would definitely run forward.

Li Ju'an grabbed Song Desheng and shouted, "Don't move!"

Hanging on a small tree branch to his side was a string of iron pads, the kind used to be the pads between the rails and sleepers, and a fishplate, the clamp for the rail joint. A thin rope connected the two pads. The metallic clanging sound just now was the sound of these two clamps colliding.

The noose, with its thin rope, snagged Song Desheng. If there had been such a commotion, and he had been startled and started running forward, he would have been trapped and killed.

"Help me! Oh my god, which scoundrel has set a trap on the road, deliberately making it impossible for us to walk?"

The trap was cleverly placed on a path lined with small trees, a route often used by small animals, which is how Song Desheng fell into the trap.

The two of them worked together to get the snare off him, and joked, "It's a good thing we're here, otherwise you would have been stuck as a deer by yourself. You don't have to run or struggle, and you won't die. If you were scared and ran, the snare would have tightened."

The three rested for a while, ate the cornbread they had brought from their cloth bags, and then continued along the path marked by the tree bark. Not far ahead was a hillside, and following the path up was the summit of a rocky cliff. It was all rocky cliffs and treetops; to get through, one could only crouch sideways and move slowly.

Song Desheng was at the very back when he suddenly had a brilliant idea: to try taking a shortcut to reach the summit before Li Ju'an and Lu Zhiqiang. He had only taken a few steps when he was suddenly bounced back by something. He looked down and saw a pile of withered vines and branches in front of him—it didn't make sense that they were so sturdy.

He didn't believe in superstitions, and suddenly thought of the Weasel spirit that darted into the bushes. He became agitated: "Brother Li, Brother Lu, it seems like we've encountered something supernatural. This is really strange."

The two men had already walked more than ten meters ahead when they heard the shouts and turned back with their guns. They saw that Song Desheng had crawled into another trap.

The noose wrapped around the steel cable with the vine had trapped the boy again. Song Desheng stared wide-eyed in agitation, having tried to break free again, only to be bounced back each time. He kept shouting that if he couldn't get out, it must be because Huang Daxian had possessed him.

Li Ju'an and Lu Zhiqiang teased him, "You're such an amateur hunter! You can't even see the trap your colleagues set."

Along the way, there were quite a few traps. After being rescued twice, Song Desheng learned his lesson and finally obediently followed behind the two men with his gun on his back, no longer walking alone.

The group guessed that these snares were likely set by the female educated youth surnamed Qin from earlier. There was only one wooden house nearby, and it had been half-demolished. These snares weren't set professionally; they could only catch amateur hunters like Song Desheng. If a nimble wild deer encountered one, it would probably smell the snare from a great distance and wouldn't step into it.

The hunting dogs had already followed the scent and gone far ahead. Song Desheng touched his neck, feeling more and more frightened as he thought about it. "That female educated youth was quite capable. Hey, if she had also carried a gun, tall and strong, she would have been a real tough woman, not inferior to men. She would have been just like a female hunter."

He knew nothing about the female educated youth, so he genuinely felt that she was living a good life. She married and stayed in the village, had a healthy son, and still had the skill to set traps in the mountains. No matter what, her life couldn't be bad.

Li Ju'an and Lu Zhiqiang exchanged a glance but said nothing.

Suddenly, a wolf howl came from the hilltop where the roe deer had been making its noise.

It sounded like a lone wolf howling incessantly at the mountain ridge.

All three found it strange. Wild wolves don't howl like that, and after howling once, they always stop and wait for a response from the opposite hilltop. This howl, which continued incessantly after the first, sounded more like a hunting dog calling to its hunter after spotting prey, urging the hunter to hurry with it.

Lu Zhiqiang and he exchanged a glance, both knowing who had made the wolf's howl.

Li Ju'an cursed, "Old Qin really managed to tame the wolf."

Throughout the entire Xing'an Mountains, only Old Qin had tamed a lone wolf with whom he had a long-standing hunting partnership. It had likely spotted prey and was calling for its hunter. Old Qin acquired the wolf's eyes and two bear cubs. He sent the bear cubs to the city zoo, keeping only the wolf's eyes by his side to train.

In the past, once Li Ju'an and Lao Tao became familiar with each other, he wouldn't have bothered with taming wolves; it was too dangerous. A wolf might suddenly become aggressive and bite a hunter. Especially after seeing the corpse of the old production manager of the Air Force Forward Ranch, he was even more terrified of raising wolves.

But now, seeing Little Cannon's smug look, and how he was following Big Tiger around with a beaming smile, just waiting to rush out and show off his skills, his opinion on the mixed-breed wolfhound or wolf had changed.

Perhaps, if trained properly, wolves could actually be relied upon.

"That's Qin Pao over there. Sun Weimin, that shrewd fellow, is definitely sitting there too. Qin Pao's wolf is a dog that's been tamed by the leader. That scoundrel Sun Weimin can't get a leader, so he'll definitely go after Qin Pao. Even a wolf can be a leader."

"They have to go and clear out their bear positions. If we're a step too late, we'll end up with nothing but empty positions when we get to the top."

Let's go take a look.

The three men, carrying hunting rifles and using hunting sticks to carry wire snares, waded through the heavy snow into the deep mountains.