Chapter 348: No Honor Even Among Thieves
Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon
“As you also know, the boars pose quite a bit of danger to the villagers. Therefore when people enter the mountains to hunt boars, the villagers will turn a blind eye towards it. However, bringing a gun into the mountain is different. Possession of a gun is illegal to begin with,” said Fangzheng.
Red Boy’s eyes s.h.i.+mmered the moment he heard that firearms were guns. “I’ve read about guns on the cell phone, but I’ve never touched them before. Are firearms very powerful?”
“It’s not a problem to take down things like chickens with a simple gun.”
Red Boy immediately rolled his eyes. “Isn’t that just a burning fire staff?”
“In close proximity, pellets or metal b.a.l.l.s are very powerful. We cannot let them wander around the mountain with guns. It’s just too dangerous.” After saying that, Fangzheng patted the boar on the head. “Where are you injured?”
The boar immediately looked to its right, to which Fangzheng nodded. “Will you be able to find your way back?”
The boar nodded immediately before shaking its head. “The things those people have are quite scary.”
“It’s fine. You will be fine with us here. Just bring us over.”
The boar fell into a dilemma, but it could only obediently lead the way when Red Boy stared at it.
At that moment, Squirrel popped out his head from Fangzheng’s clothes. “Master, it’s in that direction. They have very long black poles. They are very powerful.”
Fangzheng whispered, “No matter how powerful they are, can they be more powerful than your junior brother? Or your master?”
The little guy pondered for a moment before flailing his fists. “Beat them up! They are too bad! Fourth Junior Brother, beat them up!”
Fangzheng struck the little guy’s head, making him shrink back in pain. He no longer dared to shoot his mouth off again.
At the same time, the quintet that ventured deeper into the woods had already gone far. The vegetation turned dense as a young man that came with Lin Zi asked worriedly, “Brother Lin, is this already the deep primeval forest? Will there be bears?”
“Bears my a.s.s. This is only the periphery of Mt. Tongtian. It’s just that the environment here is well-preserved. It makes you think of it as a primeval forest. The true primeval forest deep in the mountains is a place even I wouldn’t dare venture into. As for bears… If we really encounter one, no one is to make a sound. Listen to my instructions, got it? Lin Lei, if you are afraid, head back first,” harrumphed Old Liang.
Lin Lei blushed the moment he heard that. He hurriedly put on a farce. “Who’s afraid? I was just asking.”
“It’s said that the boars in the woods are more formidable than bears. We have even managed to chase away a boar, so what’s there to be afraid of bears?” Lin Ying, who spoke very little, asked out of curiosity.
“The boar we encountered just now was about two hundred pounds. It’s not considered a huge boar. Besides, I have no idea what was up with that boar. It did not wish to fight with us, escaping the moment it saw us. To be honest, I have never seen such an oddity of a boar in all these years. The boars I met in the past would lower their heads and charge straight away. They are usually very fierce,” said Old Liang.
The last man to speak was a man of few words. He had a squarish face, and he slung a composite bow behind his back. A bayonet was tied to his leg, making him look quite fierce.
Lin Zi suddenly said to the man, “With Brother Xia here, what’s there to be afraid of! If there’s really a bear, we will be having bear paws for dinner. That bear hide can be sold for a good price too.”
Upon hearing Lin Zi’s confidence, the youth Lin Lei gained confidence as well. He even began to reel with antic.i.p.ation.
Old Liang glanced at Xia Meng, his eyes having a look of contempt. Only he knew what was on his mind.
As they walked, Xia Meng suddenly said, “There’s the sound of water up ahead.”
Old Liang said unsurprised, “There’s a tiny waterfall up ahead. There’s not much water there, but it’s indeed a place where animals like to gather. Let’s go. Let’s hope our luck is good enough for us to encounter something nice.”
Lin Zi said, “Old Liang is indeed a living map. Impressive.”
Old Liang raised his head higher. He liked this feeling. When he visited cities, he was the most unsophisticated person, but here in the mountains, he was king! Regardless of who one was or what background one had, one would hardly be able to advance without him. One had to mind one’s tone and words when speaking to him.
Lin Zi only smiled in response towards his att.i.tude. Only he knew what was on his mind.
At that moment, two hunting dogs suddenly growled. A gray figure flashed across them in the distance as Old Liang said with a smile, “Lunch is here. Go! Catch it!”
With that said, the two hunting dogs charged forward, and shortly after, they came back with a wild hare in one of the dogs’ mouths.
It was clearly Lin Lei’s first time seeing prey. He found it quite fascinating, but when he saw the hare in the dog’s mouth, he said, “What a pity. It’s dead.”
“It’s not dead.” Upon saying that, Old Liang walked over, grabbed the hare by its ears and raised it up. When everyone came close, they realized that the hare was uninjured. It was still alive.
“Old Liang, your dog is impressive!” exclaimed Lin Zi. He had seen several hunting dogs who would charge forward only to bite the prey to death before returning. But Old Liang’s dogs knew how to capture the prey alive!
Xia Meng added, “They’re okay. Besides, they are even Formosan Mountain Dogs.”
“Yet even if you were given two Tibetan Mastiffs, you would not be able to train them into obedient dogs,” Old Liang immediately retorted. The two dogs were his good partners, and he did not allow for anyone to say anything bad about them.
Xia Meng did not argue with him and instead said, “There’s some motion over there. Your dogs keep looking in that direction too.”
“Let’s go. It should be a nest of hare bunnies.” Old Liang knew his dogs well.
“Old Liang, does this mean this is the mother hare? If we capture it, what happens to the bunnies?” Lin Ying could not help but ask.
“We’ll see how old they are. If they are old enough, we can capture them for food too. If they are too small, they can be fed to the dogs,” said Old Liang indifferently.
Lin Ying frowned. “That’s… not very nice, right?”
“What’s not nice about it? I’m king in this mountain. Whatever I say is to be eaten will be eaten!” Old Liang said proudly.
Xia Meng said, “There’s nothing wrong with survival of the fittest, but it’s best to spare animals that are still in the suckling stage. What you are doing is pretty much killing off all its offspring.”
Old Liang said unhappily, “Lin Zi, I took your business on account of you being old clients of mine. If your friend is going to act this way, we have no way of continuing.”
Lin Zi hurriedly pulled Xia Meng and Lin Ying. “Old Xia, Sis, cut it out. We are in the middle of the mountains. There are numerous such hares. Why should we spoil the mood because of a nest of bunnies? Old Liang, don’t mind them. Let’s continue.”
Old Liang’s expression turned for the better after he heard Lin Zi. He walked over with the dogs, and shortly, they heard Old Liang shout, “A nest of bunnies. There’s not much meat. They will be fed to the dogs!”
Following that, there was a series of dog yelps…
Lin Ying turned around with her face covered. Simultaneously, she said angrily, “Brother, isn’t this being a little too cruel? Aren’t you going to do something about it?”
Lin Zi said with a bitter smile, “Do you think you are his boss just because you paid him five hundred yuan? This old man has a strange temper. After all, I earn my money by counting on him. There are quite a number of poachers on the mountain, but most of them are very particular about things. They don’t go up the mountain in spring, or don’t hunt more than three and so on. There are a bunch of rules. There’s just too little prey I can get a year. Only Old Liang doesn’t care about such things. Most of our business comes from him. He is our G.o.d of Wealth. I only brought all of you with me to broaden your horizons. Alright. Don’t engage in a war of words with him. Just watch and follow.”