In the winter in the north, the weather is cold and the grass and trees wither, which greatly reduces the food supply for wild boars. In addition, it snowed a few days ago. Now, in addition to going down the mountain to the village for a bite, the wild boars can only look for tree bark, tree roots and rhizomes of other plants under the thin snow.

The mountains of corn and rice bran in front of them made the wild boars, who had been hungry recently, very excited. They could finally have a good meal! Their brains, which were not smart to begin with, could not even fit the strangely shaped nets. They were only focused on eating. Until there was a loud bang, their leader fell to the ground, howling miserably, but could never stand up again.

The other wild boars were all stunned, wondering if their leader had suddenly fallen ill or what?

Shen Qing clenched the gun in his hand nervously. He had only learned how to use a gun for a short time, and his teacher Song Kaiji was not a shooting expert, so naturally he could not teach a particularly good apprentice. Fortunately, Shen Qing had experience using a crossbow before, and he was very strong, so he had good accuracy and could withstand the recoil of the gun.

He did not choose to attack the wild boar's head or eyes, but shot through the wild boar's spine. Although the wild boar leader was not killed, he could no longer get up and escape. He was paralyzed on the ground and kept twitching his limbs. Then, while the other wild boars had not reacted yet, he quickly fired three more shots, hitting three different wild boars.

At first, the wild boars didn't know how to react because they had never seen a gun before. But the animal instinct made them quickly sense the danger and began to flee desperately. But then the wild boars found that the entrance they had just entered had been blocked at some point, and the net made of hemp ropes was like a barrel, trapping them all in it.

A wild boar howled angrily and took the lead in attacking the hemp rope net. After only two or three attacks, the net seemed to be overwhelmed and some of the connections broke. Other wild boars soon joined in.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Shen Qing fired several more shots. He did not focus on one wild boar and kill it before attacking the next one, but tried to shoot each wild boar first to make them lose their ability to attack. Soon, the eight bullets in one pistol were all used up. There was no time to change the magazine, so Shen Qing directly picked up another prepared pistol and continued shooting.

Most of the wild boars that had been shot fell to the ground. Although they were not dead, they could not get up. They could only lie there and howl. Some of them that were not seriously injured tried their best to crawl on their two front legs. However, there were still a few wild boars that were shot but could still move because Shen Qing's shooting skills were not very accurate. They rushed even more fiercely under the severe pain.

With frequent gunshots, the wild boars finally discovered Shen Qing on the tree. Some of them were still attacking the net, while a few others turned around and started hitting the tree where Shen Qing was.

The 400-pound wild boar crashed into the tree! Fortunately, Shen Qing had chosen a very sturdy tree. Although it was not broken, it shook violently. Shen Qing quickly hugged the trunk and continued to shoot downwards.

Why do hunters often say "one pig, two bears, three tigers"? It's not that wild boars are really stronger than bears and tigers, but that wild boars have their own recklessness: bears and tigers, including lions, leopards and other wild beasts, will assess the strength of the enemy when fighting. If they are already injured, or if they think they are not sure they can win after the assessment, they will consider giving up. It's like the idiom "黔驴技穷", when a tiger first sees a donkey it has never seen before and doesn't know the opponent's strength, it will not rush forward to attack.

So if a tiger encounters a vicious old pig, it may not intend to fight head-on, but would rather run away first.

Wild boars are different! Wild boars don't assess the strength of the enemy, and they won't retreat out of fear when threatened. They will even turn around and attack the hunter desperately if they are shot or shot by an arrow! Shen Qing gritted his teeth and beat the few wild boars under the tree until they couldn't move, and then continued to shoot bullets at the remaining wild boars one by one.

All the food he carried that day was used to save Qu Weiwei's life. He only had two pistols and more than twenty bullets that Song Kaiji had saved. After he shot them all, all the wild boars lost their ability to move, but several of them were still alive.

Shen Qing took a deep breath, and then he felt a little scared, thinking that he had been too confident. He originally thought that more than 20 bullets should be enough. That day, someone mutated at the gate of the base, and didn't the patrolman kill the zombie with one shot?

He really didn't expect that there would be as many as fourteen wild boars in this group. In addition, compared to zombies, wild boars have thicker fur to protect themselves, so one shot is not enough to be fatal.

Shen Qing wiped the sweat from his forehead. It was a cold day, and his hair was all wet with sweat. The wind blew and he shivered. He secretly made up his mind: in the future, he would have to double or even triple the planned amount of whatever he prepared! If such an unexpected situation happened again, he would not be in a panic. If he really didn't prepare enough bullets and the wild boar broke the tree, he would die!

Carefully climbing down the tree, Shen Qing picked up the compound crossbow again and finished off the wild boars that were still alive. The advantage of a compound crossbow is that the arrows can be reused. When one wild boar dies, he can pull out the arrow and finish off another one.

The hemp rope net had been broken, and two wild boars had even rushed out of the trap. Fortunately, they had been shot and did not run far before falling down. Shen Qing chased after them to replenish the arrows, and then dismantled the hemp rope net, put the wild boar carcasses on it, and dragged them in batches towards the village.

The Lantang Village at the foot of the mountain, including the nearby Shiqu Village and Xiahe Village, were also in an uproar.

"What's that noise? Is it thunder?" The experienced farmer hurriedly ran out of the house and looked up at the sky.

It is winter now, and it snowed a little two days ago. Thunder and snow are not a good sign! Apart from some superstitious sayings that are becoming more and more outrageous, the origins of many proverbs are based on the life experience of ordinary people. Thunder in winter is a rare weather phenomenon formed by the confluence of cold and warm air. It often indicates that there will be a heavy snow this winter, so there is a saying that "thunder in winter means nine out of ten cattle pens are empty". If nothing else, if there is a heavy snow, won't the cattle freeze to death?

The old farmers craned their necks to look at the sky, but they couldn't see any signs of a snowstorm. "It can't be thunder, right? How can thunder keep ringing for so long?"

"So what do you mean?"

"How should I know? I just don't think it's thunder. It doesn't sound like thunder in the past."

…

In the room, Miao jumped up from the kang with a start. She had heard the sound, too. It must be the gunshot that Qing Ge'er had mentioned! They were shooting wild boars!

Miao was so nervous that her heart was pounding. She didn't know what happened to Qing'er. They had been on the mountain for so long, and the gunshots had been going on for a long time. There must be a lot of wild boars. She wondered if he was injured.

She put on her coat and went to the Lian family, and went straight to the eldest son of Aunt Lian Er. "Shi boy, help me, my Qing brother has gone up the mountain. Didn't I just hear thunder on the mountain? I'm very scared. Can you help me go to Shiqu Village and find my two brothers, and ask them to bring my nephews over to help me look for him on the mountain."

Shen Qing told him that he should go up the mountain to pick up the wild boar one hour after hearing the gunshot. It would take more than half an hour to go to Shiqu Village and back, so it would be almost time for the people to arrive.

Second Aunt Lian quickly agreed, repeatedly urging her son to go quickly, and then blamed Miao: "When did Qingge go up the mountain? Why didn't you tell us in advance? Didn't Guixiang and I tell the boys at home to help Qingge set the trap? Why don't you tell the village chief first and organize some people to go up the mountain to look for him?"

"It's been a while since we went up there," Miao waved her hand. "It's nothing serious. Qing'er has arranged everything. It's just that I was nervous when there was thunder just now! Don't bother the village chief. When my brother and his family come, let them go up the mountain to take a look!"

Second Aunt Lian looked at Miao in confusion. She was increasingly confused by Miao's recent behavior and asked, "Are you anxious or not?"