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

Chapter 91 Tiger King Appears in the Xing'an Mountains, Song Desheng Rejoins the Team

A low-frequency roar emanated from the bottom of the sky.

Roar!

The enormous, explosive roar, like a low-frequency cannon, echoed deafeningly, shaking the very soul.

Birds perched in the woods were startled and flew away, while snow piled up on the high branches fell down in a flurry.

Lu Zhiqiang had only heard about hunting from the old man of the Lu family; he had never experienced it firsthand. The first time he heard the roar of such a huge creature, his legs went weak and his crotch became soaked.

Sun Weimin wasn't much better off. As a member of the Sun family and a hunter's family, he had heard the roar of the black bear before—a low-frequency growl. But the roar of this wild beast was clearly different.

Years of experience hunting in the mountains told Sun Weimin that danger was approaching head-on! He quickly and shakily chambered a bullet, holding the gun in self-defense, his knees still trembling, and whispered, "Green Egg, Red Wolf, Flower Egg."

He was afraid, but reluctant to give up his prey. He wanted to urge the three hunting dogs to restrain the wild beasts at the bottom of the barn, and then he and Lu Zhiqiang would aim their guns and go for it! But when he turned around, he found that the remaining three hunting dogs were too scared to move. They were all tucked between their legs and lowered their ears, not daring to budge. As for Lu Zhiqiang, he had already disappeared.

Sun Weimin cursed under his breath: "You shameless bastard, Lu Zhiqiang, you coward!"

He quickly abandoned Tiancang and turned to run wildly, following Lu Zhiqiang's footprints in the snow. He hadn't walked a hundred meters when he felt a cold wind behind him, an unsettling feeling as if some wild beast was following him. Overwhelmed with fear, he didn't dare look back and took off running, faster than Hua'erdan beside him.

The two of them scrambled and stumbled, not daring to look back, and ran for a full three miles before finally catching their breath.

"Lu Zhiqiang! You son of a bitch! You've ruined me!"

Lu Zhiqiang was panting heavily, like a bellows, and cursed, "You almost killed me, so we're even."

"We'll even, you son of a bitch! You scoundrel, if I die by this pit today, it'll be your fault! What the hell was that thing just now?"

"Isn't that the big black bear?"

"Absolutely not! I think it's the Tiger King."

"Tiger King? Nonsense. If we really ran into Tiger King, would we have run this far?"

The two men were terrified, their souls still reeling. They frantically turned back to look, hoping the wild beast hadn't caught up. No one had seen a tiger in the Xing'an Mountains for years. Their hearts pounded with fear. If they had truly encountered a Siberian tiger, wouldn't they have escaped its jaws? They could have boasted about it for seven days and seven nights in their village!

A rustling sound came from behind the ditch, growing closer and closer.

Lu Zhiqiang and Sun Weimin were so frightened that the hairs on their necks stood on end, and their scalps tingled. The two men quickly raised their guns and faced their faces, their palms were drenched in cold sweat, and their legs trembled uncontrollably.

They used to drink and boast in the village, each one acting like a hero, like Wu Song, claiming they could take on two tigers at once, let alone the Tiger King. Now, just hearing the low-frequency roars of beasts was enough to keep them awake with nightmares for several nights in a row.

"What should we do? If it really is Tiger King, the muskets won't be enough. We're going to be done for here."

"What's there to be afraid of? As long as I run fast enough, I'm not afraid of the Tiger King."

"Bullshit! No matter how fast you run, you can't outrun a Siberian tiger."

"As long as I can run faster than you, that's fine."

Before they could react, a large, dark shadow suddenly sprang out from the bushes behind the ditch. Startled, the two pulled the trigger.

Song Desheng shouted, "Don't shoot, it's me!"

boom!

Lu Zhiqiang fired a shot, which grazed Song Desheng's sheepskin coat, causing it to immediately tear open. Song Desheng was so frightened that he cursed, "You fucking murderer!"

The three of them tumbled over each other and fell to the ground.

Sun Weimin had met Song Desheng before and knew that he had gone into the mountains with Li Ju'an. When the two men heard that Song Desheng was one of the hunters who had gone into the mountains with Qin Pao, their eyes widened.

Song Desheng cursed and snatched Lu Zhiqiang's coat, putting it on himself and then covering him with the sheepskin coat that had been riddled with bullet holes. From him, the two learned that three days earlier, after Old Qin, the gunner, parted ways with them, the group, led by the old hunter Wang Guochang, had encountered a pack of wolves not far in their journey.

The wolf packs in the Xingan Mountains are large, and the larger the pack, the more likely they are to hunt in a circle, showing great patience in tracking their prey. In the villages, hunters have a saying about wolves: "Wolves eat people because they don't consider people human." Hunters use hunting dogs to surround and hunt prey, and large packs of wolves will also use the same encirclement tactic when hunting humans.

Song Desheng got separated from the hunters and lived in constant fear, always feeling like wolves were following him. Wolves' favorite hunting tactic is to ambush; they will disperse their prey, choose a suitable spot, and quietly hunt down lone prey, subduing them with their sharp teeth and powerful claws.

Now, Song Desheng is the lone prey.

Seeing Song Desheng so terrified, Sun Weimin decided to show off his skills: "It's just Zhang San. He's got a body of steel and a waist of tofu. We can take down a wolf's waist with a musket. That spot is the softest, and we'll hit it every time. Come with us, don't be afraid. We just had a good fight with a mountain king."

Song Desheng's eyes lit up, and he exclaimed admiringly, "Mountain King? You're hunting tigers, aren't you?"

Seeing that Song Desheng really believed him, Sun Weimin said even more gleefully, "What are you doing going into the mountains with Li Ju'an? Li Ju'an only has a few skills, he can only hunt pheasants and wild boars, he doesn't know anything. He's not convinced, is he? Wait until I take down Tiger King in a bit and leave him completely dumbfounded."

Lu Zhiqiang kept his head down and remained silent. Song Desheng excitedly gave a thumbs-up and exclaimed, "Brother Sun is awesome! A modern-day Wu Song!"

Sun Weimin felt even more comfortable having a new follower, who had previously served under Li Ju'an, and he constantly felt the need to compete with Li Ju'an.

Suddenly, Qingdanzi barked at the hillside.

Sun Weimin was so frightened that his knees buckled. He thought the Tiger King had caught up with him and almost sat down on his buttocks.

Fortunately, Green Egg led the Red Wolf, and Flower Egg rushed up, barking and chasing after them from afar, which put his mind at ease.

Judging from the behavior of those three dogs, those three cowards were more afraid of Tiger King than he was when they heard him roar. It definitely wasn't Tiger King ahead. They say good dogs protect their owners, but with Erqing gone, those three cowards ran faster than he did.

He was deeply saddened by Erqing's death and wondered if he should go back to the pit to check on him, just in case Erqing could still be saved. The Sun family's own dog certainly wouldn't be treated the same as the borrowed Dahuang from the Lu family; he had to go back and check. But then he thought, what if there really was a tiger king in the pit? Wouldn't going back be suicide?

After thinking it over, he suddenly slapped his thigh and shouted, "Song Desheng, follow the hunting dogs! These cowards have definitely found something! We just need to wait to shoot and collect the prey's head."

He changed the subject, abandoning Erqing, and went straight for the prey, which Lu Zhiqiang saw. Lu Zhiqiang was also afraid. The two tacitly agreed to leave the matter of seeing the Tiger King behind.