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

One of them rolled over belly up and stopped moving, while the other rolled twice on the ground, howling and kicking its legs in agony.

Wang Zongbao was so frightened that he forgot to hold his gun.

"Hey kid, what are you daydreaming about?"

It wasn't until Deng Shaohua bumped into him hard that he snapped back to his senses and frantically pulled the bolt back.

But the remaining wolves had already turned and run back, their gray-brown figures disappearing into the darkness in a flash.

This burst of gunfire woke everyone up.

Everyone was half-asleep with their eyes closed, and very few of them could actually fall asleep. When the gunshot rang out, they all jumped up and looked around.

"Has the wolf pack attacked?"

"Holy crap! Where's the wolf?"

Zhao Lei immediately reassured them, "It's alright, I chased them all away."

Only Qin Bowen, upon hearing such a dense barrage of gunfire, merely rolled over.

He mumbled something under his breath, then fell asleep again.

Qin Dashan was both amused and annoyed. He gently kicked Qin Bowen, who then groggily sat up, rubbing his eyes and asking, "Is it dawn?"

"It's okay, go to sleep!" Qin Dashan could only sigh inwardly at how carefree his silly younger brother was.

The rest of the people who had been awakened saw the two wolves that Zhao Lei had shot down lying on the ground, and that the wolf pack had already retreated. It took them a long time to calm down and sit back down by the fire.

But after this ordeal, it will be even harder to close my eyes again.

A few more shots rang out sporadically, as Zhao Lei and Deng Shaohua dispersed the wolf pack that was cautiously approaching again.

Time seemed to stretch out, and every second felt incredibly agonizing.

Around three or four in the morning, Huang Hongbo and his group of four took over the duty.

All four looked exhausted, with sunken eyes and dark circles under their eyes, indicating that they hadn't slept well that night.

Fortunately, there was a puddle nearby, and the group scooped up the icy spring water and washed their faces. The cold water refreshed them and made them feel a bit more energetic.

They fired several shots during the incident, but although they didn't hit the wolves and cause any damage, fortunately the wolves didn't take the opportunity to attack.

It seems that after Zhao Lei's two shots, the wolf pack realized that these humans were not to be trifled with, and only dared to roam and spy from a distance, no longer daring to pounce on them easily.

As the sky began to lighten with the first hint of dawn, the darkness in the valley gradually receded.

Huang Hongbo had stood with his gun at the ready all night, his shoulders stiff and sore. He finally let out a long breath, feeling as if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

"Phew, we finally made it through..."

In the dim light, he saw the gray-brown shadows on the hillside begin to disperse upwards, one after another, quickly disappearing among the rocks and thatch, vanishing without a trace.

The wolf pack abandoned their hunt.

At least for today, they won't target us anymore.

Huang Hongbo turned and walked towards the camp, waking up everyone who was sleeping haphazardly one by one:

"Get up! Everyone get up! It's dawn!"

Everyone was woken up, rubbing their eyes as they got up, their bodies aching and stiff.

Someone yawned and asked, "How's it going? Have the wolves scattered?"

Huang Hongbo let out a long sigh: "They're gone, finally they're gone. Damn it, those beasts tormented us all night."

"Great! We've finally made it through!"

"Oh my god, it's finally dawn. This whole night has almost killed me."

"These wolves won't come back when it's light, right? Let's hurry up and carry the prey down the mountain. I don't want to stay in this godforsaken place for another second."

"That's right, that's right, hurry up and move it, after suffering all night, at least we got the stuff downstairs and exchanged it for money, so it wasn't all for nothing."

"Let's go, let's pack our things quickly, I don't want to stay in this valley for another minute."

Several people were talking at once, their tone a mixture of relief and urgency.

Zhao Lei listened and shook his head in deep agreement.

He spent the night in the deep mountains, wondering if his three ex-wives back home were worried sick and couldn't sleep a wink.

Zhao Lei secretly made up his mind that he had to finish processing the prey today no matter what, and get back as soon as possible to let others know he was safe.

Without the threat of wolves, everyone relaxed considerably.

The group gathered the remaining firewood together and then picked out a medium-sized wild boar weighing forty or fifty pounds, which they roasted over the fire.

The fire blazed up again, and the aroma of meat quickly filled the air, replenishing the energy that had been depleted throughout the night.

After everyone had a hot meal by the campfire, their complexions gradually returned to normal once they had something in their stomachs.

By this time, it was already broad daylight, the mist in the valley had completely dissipated, and the distant hillsides and rocks were clearly visible.

Qin Changlin keenly noticed that there were two wild wolves watching them from a distant hilltop.

Qin Bowen followed the gaze and instantly flew into a rage, throwing the meat bone in his mouth to the ground: "Damn it! Why are these beasts still staring at us?"

Qin Changlin slowly finished chewing the meat in his mouth, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and said, "Bowen, wolves are very persistent animals. Sometimes they can keep an eye on a prey for dozens of days. You don't think they gave up just because they didn't succeed tonight, do you?"

Upon hearing this, Qin Bowen frowned even more deeply: "Huh? Uncle Changlin, you mean they'll attack us again?"

Qin Changlin nodded.

Upon hearing this, the faces of the people nearby darkened.

Nobody wanted to spend another night in this valley.

Zhao Lei swallowed the last bite of meat, stood up, patted the oil off his hands, and raised his voice to shout to the crowd, "Brothers! Why think so much?"

"Now that we've brought all our prey down the mountain, we won't have to deal with those wolves anymore. Their revenge is futile; we'll go our separate ways from now on, and no one will get in our way."

Upon hearing this, everyone's expressions relaxed somewhat.

Zhao Lei turned to Huang Hongbo and said, "Brother Huang, you told Brother Shaohua yesterday that you could handle the sales, but what about transporting it down the mountain? It's three or four thousand catties of goods. If we eleven people carry it one trip at a time, I'm afraid we won't finish by nightfall."

Huang Hongbo was also pondering this matter. After thinking for a moment, he said, "How about this, Brother Zhao Lei? Since it's daytime, these wolves aren't so dangerous. We'll leave four of us here to guard the prey and prevent the wolves from dragging it away."

The rest of the group took some game down the mountain first, and then they would find more people to come up and help.

After thinking about it, Zhao Lei realized that this was the only way.

He glanced at the group of people on his side and immediately made a decision: "Okay! The village below is your Huangshi Township's territory, and I don't know anyone there."

"I'll have Zongbao come down the mountain with you. Uncle Changlin, Brother Dashan, Bowen, and I will stay here and wait for you to bring people up to move it."

Huang Hongbo thought the arrangement was reasonable and nodded: "Okay, it's settled then. Brother Zhao Lei, please be careful here, we'll be right back."