Back in the 1980s, hiking in the mountains was also a way of life

After Wang An finished speaking, Mu Xueli and the other two nodded and solemnly agreed.

Wang An looked around, thought for a moment, and said:
“Those guys all seem to have come from the southeast. This time, let’s head northwest first, then east, make a loop, and then go home.”

After Wang An finished speaking, Wang Li thought for a moment and then subconsciously said:
"Oh my god, Fourth Brother, where have we gone? When will we get home? Why don't we head east first, and then southwest? That would be closer."

At this moment, Wang An and his three companions were located in a direction that was slightly northeast; if they kept walking, they would reach home.

But if we follow Wang An's instructions, we'll end up walking along the two legs of an isosceles right triangle, which means we'll have to walk an unknown distance.

If we follow Wang Li's advice and head east first, we will have traversed the two shorter sides of an obtuse triangle, which will reduce the distance traveled by about half.

Wang An rolled his eyes at Wang Li, and said speechlessly:

"Are you crazy? Those people came from the southeast, do you really have to go head-to-head with them? What if it's fun to fight them? Or are you going to get itchy all over if you don't fight them?"

Although Wang An didn't know if anyone was blocking the southeast direction, he had a feeling that there was a problem there, or even a big problem.

The key issue is that while Wang An and his three men are no match for anyone in terms of firepower, bullets don't discriminate. If any one of them were to be hit, Wang An, as their leader, would be held responsible.

After Wang An finished speaking, Mu Xueli said to Wang Li:
“My brother-in-law says we should just go wherever he wants, why are you making such a fuss?”

Wang Li scratched his head, glanced at Wang An's expression, and said awkwardly:
"Well, I just want to go home as soon as possible."

Mu Xueli wanted to say something more, but Wang An interrupted her, saying:
"Alright, let's hurry up and go. Xiao Zhong and I will go ahead, Xue Li and you two will go behind. Be alert and talk less."

After Wang An finished speaking, he walked to his horse, carrying the Type 56 rifle on his right arm, holding the saddle with his left hand, and stepping into the stirrup with his left foot. The next second, he was on the horse's back and led the way forward.

Huang Zhong and Mu Xueli also remounted their horses, and so the four of them, Wang An and his men, riding their horses and carrying their spears, changed direction and headed west.

About an hour after Wang An and his three companions left, two men on horseback carrying guns appeared where they had just stood.

One of them said:
"Holy crap, wasn't there supposed to be a caravan passing through here? Where is it?"

Another person tugged at the reins and said, also looking puzzled:
"Yeah, this is really weird. Where are they? Holy crap, where did they go? Are Dog and the others lying to us?"

The person who spoke first then said:
"That can't be right. It wasn't just Gouzi and his group who saw the caravan. Xiangzi and the others said they saw it too. They said the four of them were all acting all high and mighty, carrying guns and loads of stuff on their horses. The main problem is, where are the people? Where did they go?"

As they spoke, the two men dismounted and began searching the vicinity.

After searching for quite some time, the first person to speak pointed to a pile of fresh horse manure on the ground and exclaimed as if he had discovered a new continent:
"Look, these guys are sure to be standing here, and this horse manure is all freshly piled up."

Another person immediately came over, looked at the horse manure on the ground, then examined the trampled weeds near the manure, and pointed to the northwest, saying:

"No, they're heading that way again."

However, immediately afterward, the person frowned and said with a puzzled and bewildered expression:

"Holy crap, this is unbelievable! Weren't they always heading northeast? Why are they suddenly turning northwest? What the hell does this mean?" The man who spoke earlier was also completely bewildered. He took a few steps with his head down, looking northwest, before finally saying:
"Yes, they did head northwest. Where do they go if they go northwest from here?"

The other person frowned, thought for a moment, and said:

"WD County, they're heading towards WD County."

"So what do we do? Should we chase them or not?"

"Of course we have to chase after them. If we lose them, do you think the boss will treat us well?"

"Ugh! This kind of work is really inhuman."

The two exchanged a few more complaints, then mounted their horses and chased after Wang An and his companions in the direction they had gone.

Meanwhile, Wang An and his three companions, after traversing a rather steep and narrow valley, had stopped to rest in a small ravine.

The reason we stopped here to rest was because there was water and grass. The horses had walked all morning and half the afternoon, and they were all too tired to walk anymore.

If they don't rest soon, the horses will be so exhausted that they won't eat grass anymore.

Wang An and his three companions didn't set up tents. Instead, they unloaded their belongings from the horses and placed them in the bushes, letting the horses graze and drink freely. Then, they gathered a pile of firewood and started a fire to cook by the stream.

It was already past 2 p.m., and Wang An and the other three were starving.

The meal for the four of them was very simple, mainly because it was quick. They cut the venison into small pieces and threw them into the pot, then threw in the rice, added water and salt, and started cooking.

As the water in the pot boiled, the aroma of rice and the savory smell of venison wafted out at the same time.

The sight made Wang An and his three companions, who were starving, swallow their saliva frequently.

There was no way around it; Wang An and his three companions were genuinely hungry, and how could they possibly resist the aroma of food?

Fortunately, this lean meat porridge cooked quite quickly. As soon as the porridge was cooked, Wang An and the other three didn't care that it was hot. They each ladled out a bowl and started blowing on it to cool it down while drinking it with gusto.

The four young men drank the porridge very quickly, and in just over ten minutes, the whole pot of porridge was finished by Wang An and the others.

Just as Wang An and the other three finished their porridge and were looking through their packs, wondering what else they could eat, Xiao Bai and Xiao Hei suddenly started barking at the ravine at the same time.

Upon hearing the dog barking, Wang An and his three companions immediately sprang to attention and instinctively looked in the direction of the barking.

After finding no one on the other side of the ravine, Wang An immediately put down his bundle, picked up the Type 56 rifle lying at his feet, and said:
"Quick, quick, let's all hide! Damn it, I have a feeling someone is chasing us."

After saying that, Wang An grabbed his gun and ran into the bushes.

Seeing this, Wang Li, Mu Xueli, and the other two also sought cover and hid themselves. (End of Chapter)