20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 643 Confrontation
The footsteps were getting closer and closer. Everyone tiptoed and crouched, rushing to the gentle slope and lying on the grass to distinguish them carefully.

The forest was quiet, but the sound of footsteps on the grass was loud; it seemed that quite a few people were coming.

The old sentry lay on his side on the gentle slope, holding his gun and asked: "Hey, what's the situation? Didn't you just say that it would take another three days to get there?"

Haichao Mountain is silent. It is indeed not a big shelf mountain, and it is not even a remnant.

"Could it be other hunters?" Yang Lazi asked quietly.

There was no response, but Haichaoshan still pricked up his ears to listen.

He had said before that there were very few hunters going into the mountains to hunt in the summer. Few does not mean none, but even if there were hunters, everyone did not dare to let their guard down at this moment.

As the saying goes: One person does not enter a temple, two people do not look into a well, and three people do not hug a tree.

We must always be on guard against others. Hunters are not necessarily honest and if you really want to be serious, they are also engaged in murderous activities.

In the past, hunters would form teams to go into the mountains to hunt, but conflicts would arise halfway through. In anger, they would kill and rob, and there would be many wild beasts in the forest, and in the end, not even a complete corpse would be left.

This is the case when both parties know each other. If they don’t know each other’s background and meet each other on the road, who would dare to easily overestimate human nature?
It all comes down to one sentence: in the wild mountains and wilderness, humans are potential beasts.

For the past three days and two nights, everyone had been busy traveling without any proper rest. They had planned to take a break when they were close to Dajiazi Mountain to regain enough energy to go up the mountain to investigate. However, they did not expect such a sudden change and were inevitably caught off guard.

Now, we are all exhausted, lazy, our heads are swollen and our feet are weak. How can we deal with it?
As I thought about it, my heart gradually became more and more anxious.

Zhao Guoyan pulled out a few weeds, raised them above his head, then slowly climbed up the slope, clamped one hand on the ground, and carefully looked around.

The forest was very deep, and voices of conversation could be heard from the front, but they were intermittent and unclear. Human figures floated among the grass and trees, appearing and disappearing, and it was impossible to count them.

I picked up the telescope to look through, but my view was blocked by the scattered bushes, so my results were limited.

But it should be a small team, and very experienced. They always kept a fixed distance from each other, not too far, nor too close.

Fortunately, judging from their route, they did not seem to be planning to go this way. It seemed that they just happened to pass by.

"How about it, how many people are there?" Sun Xiangyang whispered.

Zhao Guoyan slid down the slope, shook his head and said, "I can't see clearly, but there are definitely more of them than us." Then he asked, "Have you two seen Lao Mang's men?"

Sun Xiangyang and Lao Shaozi responded in unison: "I have seen a few, but I don't know all of them."

After hearing this, Zhao Guoyan raised his hand and pointed, saying, "You two, go around and see if there is anyone familiar. The three of us will wait here. If there is any danger, we will open fire to cover your retreat."

Both of them were veteran bandits and knew very well that they could not gather too much together when wandering in the woods. Not only would they run slower if they gathered together, but they would also become too big a target and more likely to be shot. Instead, they should spread out and cooperate with each other by firing at each other to maximize the advantage of the terrain, especially when they were outnumbered and had the initiative.

So without thinking too much, he responded, turned around and left. However, there were too many dead branches under his feet, and he made a noise when he turned around.

Everyone's heart trembled and they were silent for a moment. When they saw that the team in the distance did not notice, they breathed a sigh of relief.

"Be gentle!" Zhao Guoyan reminded in a tight voice.

Sun Xiangyang turned around, grinned, pressed his hand down again, then picked up the rifle, and together with the old whistle, bent down and slowly moved forward along the gentle slope.

The sky has turned a little gray.

Haichaoshan raised his head, took two steps to the side, and crawled up the gentle slope. He hid his face behind a tree root, facing not far ahead, looking around silently, and after a few seconds, he quietly retreated.

Zhao Guoyan came over and asked, "How is it, are you a hunter?"

“Not like that.” Haichaoshan shook his head in a muffled voice. “The walkway is too noisy. They don’t do that when hunting. It’s not like we just entered the mountain.”

As they spoke, the two of them suddenly held their breath, as if time had stopped, and the conversation above their heads gradually became clearer...

"Alas, this is what they call one wrong step, all wrong. I was hoping to take this opportunity to turn things around, but now, I'm even worse off than before."

"Stop complaining, you're acting like a bitch all day long, aren't you annoying?"

"If you can find me a woman right now, I'll stop complaining."

"Well, think about it, think as much as you can. It doesn't cost money to think about it anyway."

"Well, if you don't have a woman, you can just smoke a whole cigarette. Do you have any more?"

"Nonsense, if I had it, would it be your fucking turn?"

The voices came from far away and gradually got closer. Zhao Guoyan put one hand in his arms, leaned his back on the grass, and pressed himself against the gentle slope. After listening to a few words, he was certain in his heart that even if the people coming were not Lao Mang's men, they must be the rebels who had collapsed not long ago.

The few people above my head were just the front row of the team. Behind them, there were footsteps slowly approaching, probably a serpentine formation.

Should we let them pass and then search by firelight at night, or should we take the risk and follow them now?

Zhao Guoyan was a little hesitant.

Everyone is tired. If we are tracking the enemy, we are outnumbered and we cannot make any mistakes. Otherwise, given their current condition, they may not be able to withstand a sudden fierce battle.

Unexpectedly, just as he was hesitating, a crisp sound suddenly came from Sun Xiangyang's side.

"Clap-"

The sound of dead branches breaking was harsher than any previous one, and even caused an echo in the mountains and forests.

"What's the noise?"

The squad above immediately stopped moving. There was a loud sound of bolts being pulled, and from a rough sound, there were at least a dozen rifles.

Zhao Guoyan took out his Ma brand rifle, turned around and winked at Yang Lazi, indicating that he should act accordingly.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the two exchanged glances, gunshots were heard at the end of the team.

"boom--"

Gunshots rang out and the team was thrown into chaos.

For a moment, everyone screamed and looked in the direction of the sound, and saw the black muzzle of the gun in their hands.

Zhao Guoyan was eager to save people, so he suddenly jumped up, stepped on the gentle slope with his toes, leaned out half of his body, and rushed to a place not far away, holding his service gun.

Yang Lazi was no less anxious, but just as he was about to stand up, his heart suddenly skipped a beat. He heard someone at the end of the team shouting, "Fuck! A sika deer!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Guoyan's face froze, and he realized that he had made a mistake. Fortunately, he did not shoot just now, so he quickly bent down and squatted, but it was too late.

Haichaoshan immediately hid behind the tree roots.

"Who's there?"

In the lead-gray forest, the muzzles of the two guns closest to me turned around. I couldn't see their faces clearly, but I could only hear them shouting, "Don't move. Stand up and don't move!"

Zhao Guoyan half-knelt, calmed himself, quietly raised his hand and pointed, signaling Yang Lazi to disperse first, then slowly straightened up, without changing his expression, still with only half of his body exposed.

"Put down the gun and raise your hands!" Zhao Guoyan nodded and slowly raised his hands, but did not put down his gun.

He was so calm that it made the other party hesitate.

The two men looked alert, and as they approached, they threatened in a stern voice: "There must be someone else, it can't be just you, tell the person next to you to stand up, now!"

Yang Lazi squatted and leaned against the gentle slope. When he was hesitating whether to show up, Hai Chaoshan flashed out first, which gave him a chance to move.

"Don't move!" The two men immediately became nervous, "Who are you? Speak!"

Hai Chaoshan raised the muzzle of his gun and said calmly, "We are hunting for prey."

The members of the squad were scattered, and the sky was dark and hazy. The defeated rebel soldiers felt intimidated and did not dare to fire rashly, for fear of being ambushed by the officers and soldiers.

Soon, the noise here spread to the end of the team.

Everyone was acting as if they were facing a great enemy. They no longer cared about the sika deer and immediately formed groups of two, back to back, looking around vigilantly, as if they were afraid that a field camp would suddenly burst out of the woods.

Both sides have reason to be afraid.

Someone in the team shouted, "What's going on in front?"

As he was talking, a short-legged strong man came over with a 20-shot rifle in his hand. He pointed the gun and asked, "Where are you from? What are you doing here? Speak!"

Haichao Shanchong raised his chin in the distance and reiterated, "We are hunters. We were chasing that sika deer just now. According to the rules of the mountains, whoever sees it first doesn't count. Whoever shoots it first gets it. Now the deer belongs to you."

"Hunter?"

When the two men heard this, they immediately lifted their cheeks from the butts of their guns and asked, "Do you have any—"

"Wait a minute—" the short-legged strong man suddenly interrupted, his eyes wandering between Zhao Guoyan and Haichaoshan for a moment, and asked with a smile, "Are you really hunting?"

Hai Chaoshan pointed to the package on his shoulder, nodded and said, "Yes, I have two rabbit skins in my bag. If you don't believe me, I can show them to you."

"Okay, throw it over here and let me see."

The short-legged strong man chuckled, but he suddenly changed his attitude the next second. He suddenly raised the big mirror and shot out half a shuttle with a flick of his hand.

Fortunately, Zhao Guoyan and Hai Chaoshan were prepared. When they saw the situation change, they immediately squatted down without waiting for the gunshots, using the gentle slope to avoid the bullets, and then dispersed to the left and right.

The bullet penetrated into the soft soil without making a sound.

The short-legged strong man was furious, with veins bulging on his neck, and he roared, "Fuck, which hunter is hunting with a horse brand gun? Brothers, go ahead and kill those two guys!"

At the command, everyone responded and immediately rushed over here with guns in hand.

Just at this moment, Yang Lazi suddenly leaned out from the gentle slope a few steps away. He did not say a word, but took advantage of the darkness to fire a cold shot.

Everyone's neck shrank, and they quickly knelt on one knee, staring at the dark bushes with wide eyes, crackling and pulling the trigger randomly.

At the same time, a burst of gunfire was heard at the end of the team.

In the dim light, Sun Xiangyang suddenly shouted, "Brothers, follow me!"

This bluff really worked. The rebel squad was stunned for a moment, and then someone shouted in panic: "It's over, it's over, there's an ambush, the soldiers are coming!"

"boom--"

The short-legged strong man was obviously a veteran of many battles and would not be fooled. He turned around and fired a shot, shouting angrily: "What are you yelling for? Can't you hear the sound over there getting farther and farther away?"

Everyone suddenly quieted down and listened carefully. The gunshots were indeed getting farther and farther away, and they were not actually that frequent.

When he looked up again, he saw that Zhao Guoyan and Haichaoshan had already run far away in the dark gray valley.

"What are you still standing there for? Are you waiting for them to tip you off?" the short-legged strong man urged, "Hurry up and chase them. I want to see them alive or dead. Kill them all. I'll give you two hundred dollars for each head!"

When everyone heard this, they immediately became motivated. More than a dozen people rushed down the gentle slope, ignoring others and only focused on chasing in the direction of Zhao Guoyan and Hai Chaoshan.

“Bang—bang—bang!”

Gunshots rang out one after another. The rebel team was obviously more energetic and ran like a pack of wolves fighting for food.

Seeing that the distance between the two sides was getting shorter and shorter, Zhao Guoyan and Hai Chaoshan had to speed up their pace.

It was a dark night. Yang Lazi, Sun Xiangyang and Lao Shaozi were all running away. Their figures could no longer be seen, but gunshots could be heard from time to time, which seemed to prove that they were not far apart.

The three men fired back repeatedly, using every possible means to try to disperse the pursuers in order to give Zhao Guoyan a chance to escape.

But the rebel team didn't care. They could only see Zhao Guoyan and Hai Chaoshan, so they focused on hunting down the two of them.

The gunfire became more rapid.

The two men walked down the hillside and passed through a tall forest. Suddenly, a gust of cold wind blew in front of them. They ran forward and found that they were in a valley between two mountains. The mountain wind was blowing hard and there were no trees in front of them to serve as cover. They had to cross it and go into another mountain to escape.

However, after running all the way, both of them were on the verge of exhaustion.

Zhao Guoyan was panting but still able to hold on. Haichaoshan was old after all. He leaned against the tree trunk, with his hands on his knees. He felt that every breath he took was like a blade scraping his lungs.

There was a commotion behind me; the pursuers were getting closer.

"Are you okay?" Zhao Guoyan turned his head and asked.

Haichaoshan nodded, pointed to another mountain ahead, and said with difficulty: "Just rush over. The forest there is dense and it is easy to hide. I am familiar with that area."

"boom--"

Bullets were fired, and the tree trunks behind Haichao Mountain splashed some wood chips.

Zhao Guoyan raised his Ma brand pistol and turned back to fight back twice, but he was unable to resist and could only shout, "Okay, let's go!"

Haichaoshan responded, then pushed the tree trunk with his hand, and forced himself to take a step forward by relying on inertia.

The two men stumbled out of the tall woods, broke into the valley, and hurried towards another mountain.

At the same time, the shouting and roaring behind him became more and more real.

There was no cover on this road, so there was no other way except to cross it quickly. Fortunately, the two mountains were not far apart, and after rushing for less than half a minute, they saw the edge of the forest.

Zhao Guoyan was delighted and rushed into the dense forest. But at this moment, accompanied by a gunshot, Hai Chaoshan's body shook and he fell to the ground with a bang.

"Hit it, two hundred dollars!"

The pursuers shouted arrogantly and rushed out of the forest where they came from.

Zhao Guoyan stood sideways at the entrance of the dense forest, looking back at Haichaoshan, hesitated for a moment, cursed inwardly, turned back, squatted down, and dragged Haichaoshan into the depths of the dense forest almost by force...

(End of this chapter)