Reborn in 78, I made my fortune by working in the mountains, supporting three families on my own.

"Lei Zi, you're inexperienced, so remember to let us know if anything happens!"

Zhao Lei just smiled perfunctorily, thinking to himself, "You guys might not even have as much experience as I do!"

No matter what, I fought two black bears before I was reborn, and you're talking to me about experience...

Qin Changlin, the leader, turned around and glared at the two men: "Say less, and keep an eye on your surroundings. There might be a bear nearby!"

The two hunters then shut up.

Qin Bowen was a little unconvinced and muttered under his breath, "Brother-in-law, they look down on you."

"You need to tell me? I can't see it!"

Time passed quietly, and the team continued to venture deeper into the mountains and forests.

The area in front of them was overgrown with bushes and vines, making it almost impossible to find a path.

After walking for another half hour, the lead hunter, Old Zhang, stopped. "Something's not right. We've walked for so long, how come we haven't seen a single footprint?"

"Yeah, what if they're not active in our area anymore, but still with the Sun Production Team?"

After discussing it for a while, Qin Changlin and the others decided to go and take a look at the old forest to the east.

Zhao Lei, however, walked slowly at the very back of the group.

His gaze swept carefully over the surrounding ground and tree trunks.

Qin Bowen asked curiously, "Brother-in-law, what are you looking at?"

Zhao Lei crouched down and parted a clump of bushes, revealing several broken branches underneath.

He examined the broken section carefully, then looked up at the tree canopy above him.

Then he got up and walked a short distance before stopping in front of a large pine tree.

A piece of bark had been rubbed off the tree trunk, revealing some fresh wood shavings.

The height is estimated to be around 1.5 meters.

Zhao Lei reached out and touched it, then leaned closer to smell it, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"This is it!"

Qin Bowen looked on in surprise, wondering what his brother-in-law was up to.

Qin Changlin noticed that Zhao Lei hadn't followed, so he turned around and called out, "Lei Zi, come on, what are you standing there for?"

Zhao Lei stood up, brushing the bark off his hands: "Uncle Changlin, we don't need to go east. The bear is nearby!"

The hunters were all startled as soon as he finished speaking!

He looked around warily.

"What? It's nearby?!"

"Lei Zi, what nonsense are you talking about? None of us experienced hunters have spotted a bear. What makes you so sure it's nearby?"

Zhao Lei pointed to the scratches on the tree trunk and said with certainty, "Look... these are the marks left by the black bear scratching itself."

Qin Changlin and several hunters gathered around.

"Uncle Changlin, look, the bark on this tree was just rubbed off, and the sap hasn't oxidized yet, it's been no more than a day."

"How can you be sure it was a bear that rubbed it off? What if it was some other animal?"

Zhao Lei imitated a bear basking in the air on a tree, his movements comical yet remarkably lifelike.

"Only adult black bears can reach this height."

Qin Bowen, observing this, widened his eyes and exclaimed, "That makes sense, brother-in-law!"

Zhao Lei then pointed to the broken branches on the ground: "These branches were broken by being trampled, the broken ends face north, and there are fresh stubs on the broken ends, which means that the bear did not pass through here for long..."

Qin Changlin walked over and looked at the tree trunk, then squatted down to examine the marks on the ground, and his eyes immediately lit up.

"It really is! Lei Zi, when did you learn this skill?"

Zhao Lei chuckled: "Haha, it's nothing. As long as you observe more and make more assumptions, you'll be able to find it."

Qin Bowen looked at Zhao Lei with admiration: "Brother-in-law, you're amazing! You knew where the bear went just by looking at a few tree branches?"

The hunters nearby exchanged bewildered glances.

They had heard of the older generation's tracking skills to some extent, but at most they could only look at footprints and excrement.

I've never seen anyone as observant as Zhao Lei before!

"Then let's head north and see!"

Qin Changlin gave the order, and the group began to carefully search to the north.

The further north you go, the denser the forest becomes, and the darker it gets.

Gradually, they heard the sound of flowing water.

After walking for about half an hour, Zhao Lei suddenly raised his hand to signal everyone to stop.

Qin Changlin pushed aside a branch and glanced ahead.

In the ditch ahead, there was a dense thicket of bushes, and you could vaguely see a dark, wriggling thing.

After squinting and examining it closely, I couldn't help but gasp.

What a huge black bear!

Qin Changlin muttered to himself, "Lei Zi, you were right..."

"Did you find it?"

The others also stepped forward to watch.

Not far away, a dark shadow was lying on the ground, gnawing on something.

Even from a distance, you could tell that the other person was as strong as a bull, weighing at least five or six hundred pounds.

"So big..."

Qin Changlin calmed himself down and quickly made arrangements: "Everyone spread out and flank from three directions. Remember not to get too close. Find a good position before you fire."

Several hunters quickly crouched down, intending to cautiously reach out to both sides.

Zhao Lei glanced at the wind direction and then observed the terrain around the black bear. Suddenly, he frowned.

"Uncle Changlin, don't shoot!"

Why?

Zhao Lei pointed in the direction of the black bear: "We're upwind. If we fire, the gunpowder smell will be blown away by the wind. If the first shot doesn't kill it, it will rush over following the smell, and we'll be in danger..."

Zhao Lei then pointed to the terrain on both sides: "Look, both sides of this ravine are steep slopes, only the middle ravine is flat. If a black bear charges up here, we won't have anywhere to run!"

Qin Changlin looked at the terrain and couldn't help but feel a pang of fear.

Zhao Lei is right!

Although we used homemade hunting rifles, to be precise, they were shotguns!

This gun has good area-of-effect damage, but its penetration is extremely poor!

At this distance, a bear could probably fire a dozen shots without affecting its movement...

That was close... Thanks to Zhao Lei's warning, otherwise if they had fired and startled Xiong Xiazi and the others, they would all have been in serious trouble...

Thinking of this, Qin Changlin broke out in a cold sweat.

"Lei Zi, what do you suggest we do?"

Zhao Lei handed the homemade hunting rifle to Qin Bowen and drew his own bow and arrows from behind his back.

"The safest thing to do is for me to sneak up and shoot it in the eye with an arrow. Once the beast is truly blind, you can finish it off with another shot!"

"Shoot a bear with an arrow? Are you crazy?!"

"Don't move!"

Zhao Lei raised his hand to stop Qin Changlin from speaking!

They saw a black bear in a ravine not far away, looking up and sniffing in their direction.

Immediately, everyone held their breath.

Only when the bear lowered its head to eat again did everyone dare to breathe.

Zhao Lei said anxiously, "There's no time to hesitate! This beast is very alert; we must act immediately, otherwise, if it slips into the mountains, we don't know when we'll find it again!"

After saying that, Zhao Lei immediately took action.

"Leizi!"

"Zhao Lei!"

"Brother-in-law!!"

Qin Changlin sighed and urgently waved his hand at everyone, "Listen to Lei Zi, everyone load your ammunition and get ready to climb the trees. If the bear charges at us, we can't outrun it. We'll have to climb the trees to load more ammunition... maybe then we'll have a chance!"