Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 746 The truly deaf and blind Hei Xiazi still launches a surprise attack.
Li Fuqiang put on his gloves and turned to call Wang Hu to look for stones. Because the snow covered the area two or three layers deep, finding stones was extremely difficult.

Xu Ning, Guan Lei, and Da Laba remained rooted to the spot, fearing that the black bear in the underground chamber would suddenly appear and catch them off guard.

Wang Hu ran to the exposed mountain ridge and kicked away the thin layer of snow covering the ground. He then spotted a fist-sized rock, which was frozen solid. He could only turn to Guan Lei and call out, "Brother Lei, lend me your axe..."

Hearing this from the other side, Li Fuqiang slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "My god, why look for stones when you have an axe? Wait, no, we should be looking for stones!"

Xu Ning smiled and said, "I was also misled by my habitual thinking. Stone, hand the axe to your older brother."

As Wang Hu and Li Fuqiang gathered around Guan Lei, Da Ba suddenly paused, turned his head to stare at the entrance of the granary, and said, "Brother, there seems to be some movement in the granary."

Xu Ning, holding his gun, frowned and listened intently, but heard no sound. He simply said, "It's alright. As long as we don't move, the three of them will be safe."

After Li Fuqiang went down the mountain to retrieve the axe from Guan Lei's hand, he walked up the mountain from the side, while Guan Lei and Wang Hu returned to their original positions.

The only sound on the hillside was Li Fuqiang's footsteps in the snow. He reached the entrance of the storage room and whispered, "Knock?"

"all."

Li Fuqiang swung his axe and struck the inner wall of the cellar, producing a clanging sound.

He kept knocking for about half a minute, but there was still no movement from the underground chamber, which made Li Fuqiang a little anxious.

Previously, when they followed Xu Ning to hunt livestock in the mountains, they never had any trouble with killing gills. Why? Because the black bears they hunted were mostly camel-riding animals, or they were killing gills on the sky. They rarely encountered gills on the ground. Killing gills using primitive methods made Li Fuqiang, Guan Lei, and Wang Hu somewhat unaccustomed to it.

Didn't you see they didn't even light a campfire? They didn't set up the tripwires, nets, or snow spikes that should have been there. This is also Xu Ning's fault. He was holding a Type 56 semi-automatic rifle. If he couldn't kill Hei Xiazi with 10 bullets, then his title of "Xu the Cannon" would be meaningless.

But even the loudspeaker-wielder didn't think there was anything wrong with Xu Ning's arrangement. What could be wrong? If the bear in the bunker were to suddenly jump out, it would be a matter of two shots!
Three minutes later, Xu Ning frowned and said, "Brother, stop knocking, let's take a break."

Li Fuqiang stopped what he was doing and said helplessly, "This black bear is really patient. How can it sleep so soundly?"

The loudspeaker laughed and said, "You're oblivious to everything around you, all you want to do is sleep. That's normal. Brother, why don't you just blast it with a firecracker? I heard you guys blasted a black bear out with a firecracker last year."

"Yeah, it got my blood pumping right then and there..."

Xu Ning pondered for a moment, then said, "Let me listen inside again to see if there's any movement. Everyone, please don't speak."

Immediately, Da Bo and Li Fuqiang stood on either side. Xu Ning squatted at the entrance of the storage room and listened for a while. When he stood up, he said, "They're definitely sleeping soundly inside. I can hear them breathing."

"Fry it up! Quickly fry it out and kill it, then we can have lunch."

"Okay, I'll light a cigarette first."

Li Fuqiang took off his handkerchief, pulled out a cigarette from his inner pocket, and handed one to Dalaba. The two of them stood near the entrance of the storage room and took a couple of puffs. Then Li Fuqiang took out four firecrackers. Dalaba took two and said, "You go first. If there's no movement, I'll throw them in."

Li Fuqiang nodded, then lit the fuse and threw the firecracker into the underground storage area.

There was a loud 'bang'!

The snow above the silo trembled, and two seconds later, two snowflakes slid down the hillside, but no avalanche occurred. The trees here are not dense, but they can effectively block the snow.

Another sound!

There was still no movement from the basement.

The loudspeaker lit two firecrackers and threw them into the storage room.

It ended with two loud clangs.

Big Horn, along with Li Fuqiang, Wang Hu, Guan Lei, and Xu Ning, were all focused intently on Cangzikou, but there was still no movement.

"Is this bear deaf? It didn't wake up even with all this noise? Its head must have been blown off by a cannon..."

Li Fuqiang frowned and said, "We can't really let the firecracker kill us, can we? The firecracker I'm holding is pretty strong."

"No way..." Even the loudspeaker lost confidence.

Smelling the gunpowder emanating from the underground storage, Xu Ning said irritably, "This bear might really be deaf, but I just took a peek inside, and this storage area seems a bit complicated. I didn't see the bear at first glance; it was pitch black inside, so I think it's probably a large cave with a complex tunnel system..."

"If it's really twisted and contorted like that, it's fine if it doesn't explode. What I'm afraid of is that this bear has a heart problem. If I throw four firecrackers and scare it to death, not only will it lose its gallbladder, but the bear meat will also rot inside..."

Xu Ning nodded: "What a waste of this warehouse. There won't be any black bears stationed here for the next five or six years."

Why? Because gunpowder was thrown in, and this storage room is no longer clean! Some might say, isn't there earth energy and mountain wind? Wouldn't the smell of gunpowder have been blown away in two or three years? It's impossible to blow it away. The gunpowder has already seeped into the cracks in the rocks inside the storage room. With a black bear's sense of smell, he only needs to smell the entrance of the storage room to know what's going on.

Li Fuqiang was somewhat disappointed. They talked at the warehouse entrance for two minutes, but there was still no movement from inside. He asked, "What should we do, brother?"

Xu Ning waved his hand: "Let's find a sheltered spot down the mountain first, light a fire and cook our meal. After we eat, we'll study it. If we don't beat it up today, we won't be able to sleep when we get home!"

"That's right, this black bear is so clueless. We've been hitting it with stones and throwing grenades, but it still won't come out. Ugh, it's so frustrating."

Big Horn's desire for bear bile was palpable. Although he could make money selling livestock meat, a single bear bile was worth more than 10 wild boars, and he knew which was more important.

“No wonder that older brother from Yongfeng told me this news. He must have called for the warehouse, but didn’t call it out.”

Xu Ning nodded: "Let's go, let's eat first after we get down the mountain."

As the three turned and slowly walked down the mountain, the loudspeaker announced, "If all else fails, we'll go home and get the anchor hook, and use it to dig it out!"

Li Fuqiang's eyes lit up: "That's a good idea! Aluminum anchor hooks are quite flexible and can bend when inserted..."

Down the mountain, Guan Lei and Wang Hu relaxed a bit when they saw the three of them come down. However, while chatting with Guan Lei, Wang Hu was also keeping an eye on Xu Ning.

Just then, there was a sudden noise at Cangzikou, but the three of them had already walked down the mountain five or six meters and were chatting the whole time, so they didn't hear the noise behind them at all.

A dark paw cleared away the snow at the entrance of the warehouse, and the bear's head slowly emerged as if being rummaged through a hen's nest. Then, with its other paw extended, the bear landed on its forelimbs, contracted its waist, and lowered its hindquarters, nimbly making its way out of the warehouse.

The black bear's expression was somewhat blank. It seemed to be truly deaf, only squinting its small eyes to observe the surrounding situation. Its nose twitched slightly. The moment it came out of the cabin, it spotted three moving figures to its side. However, it was not in a hurry because it did not know what was going on, only that it smelled a strong gunpowder smell.

By this time, Xu Ning and his two companions had already walked more than 10 meters down the mountain. When Wang Hu, who was standing at the foot of the mountain, saw the black bear suddenly appear behind them, his expression immediately changed.

Wang Hu grabbed Guan Lei, pointed up the mountain, and hurriedly shouted, "Second Brother! Black Bear! Black Bear!"

Hearing the sound, Xu Ning looked up and turned around in the direction Wang Hu was pointing. His heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly shouted, "Big brother, run!"

As soon as Wang Hu shouted, Li Fuqiang and Da Laba made their move. One of them darted to the left, while the other quickly turned around and raised the old hoe handle.

Big Horn was also a veteran. Although he mainly hunted dogs, he didn't keep many dogs, only four or five in total. When hunting wild boars, they could easily run up to him, so he reacted quickly and remained calm in the face of emergencies.

This is why he's still alive. Several people who ran the mountain at the same time as him have died, but he's the only one unharmed, which shows he has some special skills. He and Xu Ning turned around at roughly the same time, but he fired his gun faster than Xu Ning. Why? It was a conditioned reflex! He had previously said that as the secondary gunner, he could only fire after Xu Ning had fired, but in a life-or-death situation, he couldn't care less about that and just fired instinctively.

Bang!
The slug flew towards the black bear, which was about to take a step when it flew right above its forelimb. The black bear paused slightly and let out a piercing roar.

It lunged forward with its gaping maw, reaching Xu Ning in just a few steps. The reason Xu Ning didn't fire immediately was that he was waiting for an opportunity, and now that opportunity had arrived.

Bang bang bang!
With Xu Ning's accuracy and range, all three shots hit Hei Xiazi's head.

The bear's forelimbs buckled, its head buried in the snow, and its hindquarters flipped forward with the force of the fall, its whole body rolling down like a snowball.

Xu Ning was only five or six meters away from it. It was rolling down very fast. Xu Ning was in a half-crouching position. The time he wasted getting up and starting again would definitely not be enough for him to dodge.

Li Fuqiang shouted from the side, "Brother! Get out of the way!"

"elder brother……"

Guan Lei and Wang Hu had just started rushing up the mountain when, from the moment Wang Hu shouted the order to the moment Hei Xiazi was killed, only two or three seconds had passed, and they hadn't even had time to react.

Xu Ning did not choose to get up, but instead lunged to the right. After he lunged, Hei Xiazi's body flipped over the spot where he had just been. If Xu Ning hadn't dodged, he would have been knocked away by Hei Xiazi's body.

The bear rolled down the mountain four or five times before finally being stopped by a tree.

"puff!"

Xu Ning lay in the snow crust, raised his head, and spat out two mouthfuls of snow water, while his face was stung painfully by the melting snow.

"Holy crap, why did they suddenly appear? It's like a surprise attack."

Li Fuqiang and Da Laba rushed over and helped him up, asking, "How are you, brother? Are you alright?"

"It's nothing, I just ate a couple of bites of snow, it'll quench my thirst. Go check on that bear..."

Li Fuqiang stood up and shouted, "Hu Zi, Lei Zi, you two keep an eye on Hei Xiazi. If there's any movement, fire a follow-up shot!"

How's my second brother?

"Nothing's wrong! You two be careful."

Guan Lei and Wang Hu were relieved to hear that Xu Ning was alright, and they picked up their old hoes and headed towards Hei Xiazi.

Guan Lei poked at the black bear's head with the barrel of his gun and saw three bullet holes in its head and forelimbs, which quickly stained the snow on the ground red.

"Totally dead."

At this moment, Da Ba patted the snow off Xu Ning's clothes and then came to Hei Xiazi's side with Li Fuqiang.

"Is he really dead?"

"Hmm, what's going on? I called it earlier, but it wouldn't come out. Why did it launch a surprise attack?"

Xu Ning rubbed his chin in puzzlement and said, "Who the hell knows? I'm also quite confused."

"Could this bear really be deaf? If it is, how did it grow to be so big? It must weigh nearly 400 pounds..."

Li Fuqiang said, "Could it be that the thunderbolts stunned or deafened it? That doesn't make sense either. When I looked back at it just now, it seemed a bit dazed and didn't seem to have any intention of rushing towards us."

Xu Ning smacked his lips and said, "It's over, this matter has become an unsolved mystery. Let's not think about it anymore, let's hurry up and bleed him open, and drag him down the mountain after we're done."

"Okay, I'll cut it open."

Guan Lei and Li Fuqiang looked at each other: "I'll go with Brother Qiang to collect firewood."

"Hurry up and get it done. I'm going to take another look at that storage room."

“I’ll go with you, bro.”

Immediately, the five people each took on a specific task.

Xu Ning and Da Laba arrived at the entrance of the underground warehouse. The smell of gunpowder inside had not yet dissipated. Xu Ning looked down at the bear tracks in the snow. At this moment, Da Laba had already poked his head out and crawled into the underground warehouse.

"Brother, get out of here quickly. What if there's a black bear inside that bites your head off?"

Upon hearing this, the loudspeaker immediately shrank back, grinning with its yellow teeth, and said, "Impossible."

"Why not? You're really brave... Is there something inside?"

“We can’t see clearly here. If all else fails, we’ll wait until spring. I’ll come up with a shovel and a pickaxe and tear down this dugout.”

"We can't move it with a pickaxe. It's full of big rocks. Forget it, let's go down the mountain."

The loudspeaker frowned and asked, "What's wrong with this black bear?"

"They might really be deaf and blind. We don't need to dwell on it. Now that we've got them out of the loop, we can just wait to get our share of the money."

"Nothing wrong!"

"When you get home, go with my older brother to deliver some meat to the messenger and ask him what's going on."

"Okay, how much meat do you think is appropriate to give him?"

"Give him a little more, it's not easy for him to come all this way. We'll just stay in Qing'an and not let people say we're stingy. It's the same with your business, you have to make sure the villagers feel that buying meat from you is economical and affordable. We're not looking to make a lot of money, we're mainly looking for a good reputation and to sell more."

"Okay, I understand. After the New Year, I'm thinking of going to the market with Lao Jiang and buying some pork to sell. What do you think?"

"That works, but we still need to put up a sign in the village, in case someone comes by and wants to buy some meat. They need to know where to find you."

"I know, Lao Jiang and I are discussing this matter."

"What else can we do? You can supply the small shops in each village with 20 or 30 catties of meat, and calculate the accounts every week..."

"Hey, this is promising. Okay, I'll go back and discuss it with Lao Jiang."

When the two reached the foot of the mountain, Wang Hu had already gutted the bear and put the extracted gallbladder into a small cloth bag. Xu Ning held it in his hand and weighed it, saying, "Copper gallbladders are really hard to come by. We've hunted so many bears, but we haven't found a single one."

"Just keep grinding. We've already got the pig gallstones, so why are we afraid of not finding copper gallstones?"

(End of this chapter)