Chapter 366 - 239: A Shortage of Prey

Chapter 366: Chapter 239: A Shortage of Prey

"Uncle Weiguo, you guys handle things here. Do your best to save him. I’m heading into the mountains."

Zhao Weiguo nodded, his expression a bit grim.

"Go on, go. We’ll watch things here."

Zhao Wendong led his brothers out of the village again. The group headed toward the back mountain. The snow was still quite thick, crunching under their feet.

Baozhu caught up to Zhao Wendong and asked with some concern.

"Brother Dong, why do you think that guy ran all the way here? Pine Tree Valley must be seventy or eighty li away, right?"

"What else could it be? He couldn’t survive anymore."

Er Gou answered bluntly.

Zhao Wendong didn’t respond or say a word. He knew with perfect clarity: ’The hardest times are about to begin.’

"If he couldn’t survive, what’s he doing in our village?"

Baozhu was still confused. Wei Laishun was the most qualified to speak on this matter, and he offered his guess: "Because our village has food. As long as you make it here, you at least have a chance to live."

"Then how did he know about our village from so far away?"

Just as Baozhu finished speaking, he saw everyone looking at Zhao Wendong. A slow grin spread across his face. "Heh heh, right. It’s because Brother San is too famous."

Zhao Wendong just smiled without saying anything, but he felt a mysterious pressure settling on him. He could handle one or two people. For ten or twenty, everyone could tighten their belts and probably manage. But if any more came, even he, Zhao Wendong, would be helpless. The sea was cold and offered little now, and the game in the mountains wasn’t endless. The more they hunted, the scarcer it would become.

"San, where are we heading?"

"Let’s go to the stronghold first and drop off our things."

Zhao Baozhu and Wei Laishun exchanged a glance but didn’t ask what stronghold he meant. When they arrived at the cave stronghold and saw the troop-hiding dugout dug by the Japanese, both of them were thrilled.

"Damn, what a great stronghold! This is awesome."

"Yeah! Now we don’t have to worry about suffering in the mountains during winter!"

"San and I found this together!"

Zhao Wenwu said this with a smug look, watching the two of them. He broke into a satisfied smile after they both praised him for being amazing.

"Here, take these two rifles."

Zhao Wendong handed a Type 38 rifle and a large handful of bullets to both Zhao Baozhu and Wei Laishun. Their faces were filled with surprise. They had wanted to ask where the weapons came from, but seeing the stronghold gave them their answer, so they didn’t voice the question.

"Alright, hurry up and put your things away. Let’s take a stroll into the mountains."

After leaving the stronghold, Zhao Wendong took out a set of animal pictures and showed them to Xiaojin one by one before releasing the bird. Then he led his brothers on a walk toward the hot springs.

They followed the path to the hot springs but had no luck. They spotted two pheasants along the way, but it seemed the pheasants had gotten smarter recently. They were very alert and fled as soon as they sensed movement. Since Dahuang and the other dogs weren’t with them, Zhao Wendong could only sigh and watch them go.

"Third Brother, come look! Are these roe deer tracks?"

Zhao Wenjun called to Zhao Wendong, uncertainly looking at several sets of tracks by the hot springs. Zhao Wendong came closer for a look and nodded. "That’s right, roe deer. And they’re pretty fresh. Let’s go, follow the tracks."

"Okay!"

The five of them followed behind Zhao Wendong, tracking the roe deer for a while. Zhao Wendong even took out a whistle and began to blow it, the sharp sound instantly carrying far into the distance.

"Brother San, why are you whistling?"

Wei Laishun asked, confused. His Commune wasn’t near the mountains, so he had the least hunting experience of the six of them.

"To see if I can call the roe deer back!"

"What? Call them back? Don’t animals run far away when they hear a noise?"

"Hahaha, Brother Laishun, that’s where you’re wrong. Other animals might, but a roe deer definitely won’t."

The moment Zhao Baozhu’s voice faded, three roe deer came running back at the end of the trail of tracks. They tilted their heads, pricked up their ears, and stared intently at Zhao Wendong, their expressions seeming to say, ’What was that you were blowing? Keep going.’

Zhao Wendong blew the whistle a couple more times. The three roe deer’s big eyes shone with a dopey, curious light, and sure enough, they crept a little closer.

"It’s fine, don’t rush."

Seeing Wei Laishun and the others reaching for their guns, Zhao Wendong stopped them. He continued to blow the whistle. Only when the three roe deer were less than ten meters away and stubbornly refused to come any closer did Zhao Wendong say softly, "Fire."

As he spoke, he took down his Type 56 semi-automatic, and the others all worked the bolts on their rifles.

BANG BANG BANG—!

After a volley of gunfire, the three foolish roe deer became three dead roe deer.

"We got ’em, hahaha!"

"I hit one too!"

Wei Laishun and Zhao Baozhu jumped up and down in excitement. The others were much calmer, especially Zhao Wenwu, who gave the two a disdainful, knowing look, his expression seeming to say: ’Such inexperienced country bumpkins.’

"Let’s hurry up and field-dress them."

A smile was on Zhao Wendong’s face as well. Getting a kill right away was an auspicious start. However, Zhao Wendong’s joy was premature. Over the next three days of wandering the mountains, they didn’t manage to hunt anything particularly valuable. In total, their haul consisted of only the three roe deer, a few dog-badgers, two squirrels, and the three wild rabbits that Xiaojin reliably contributed.

On the evening of the fourth day, back at the stronghold, the atmosphere in the cave was a bit somber.

"San, is it because Dahuang and the others aren’t here?"

Wei Laishun and Zhao Baozhu were still quite satisfied with the haul, but Zhao Wenjun and Er Gou, who were used to much larger takes, couldn’t hide their disappointment. Even Zhao Wenwu couldn’t help but ask, "San, we haven’t been able to hunt anything these past couple of days. Is it because Dahuang and the others aren’t here?"

Zhao Wendong shook his head. "Not entirely. That’s part of the reason."

After all, with Dahuang and the dogs, pheasants were at least a guarantee. The biggest problem now was that even Xiaojin couldn’t find any valuable targets while scouting the area. It could only mean that the animals around here had become truly scarce. The White Wolf Pack that had previously plagued the area was the main cause, but the recent frequent hunting by Zhao Wendong and his group also had an impact. The remaining animals had all fled deeper into the mountains.