Condes Mountains

"Good eyesight. Why, you want to talk to me?" Dave looked at the woman approaching him with interest.

She went up the mountain as a backup forest ranger and has not yet demonstrated any special skills, but she was able to remain calm when facing danger. Her psychological quality is beyond that of ordinary people.

Dave didn't believe the weakness shown on her face. The vigilance he had developed over the years made him hold the gun in his hand tightly.

Ding Can smiled slightly. "You just said that we need to exchange the mink fur. We want to know the whereabouts of the mink fur. So, is there anything you need us to do?"

Dave's messy eyebrows furrowed. "You don't really think you can get the mink fur from me, do you? Besides, what's the point of taking it? Are you planning to get into the wildlife smuggling business too?"

He just said it casually, but he didn't expect that this woman would actually pick up the conversation. He didn't know if she had a problem with her brain or if she did it on purpose.

Dasong didn't dare to move, fearing that he would provoke Dave's anger and cause harm to Ding Can. He just glared at him fiercely and said, "Don't even think about it. I'm telling you, with us here, you can't sell these mink furs."

Ding Can remained calm and composed. "We had already lost track of you when we found ourselves here. You didn't have to show up. But since you're willing to show up now, I guess you need me for something."

Dave chuckled and said, "Indeed, you are much better than that young man. I think we can have a good talk."

Finally getting to the point, "What do you want to talk about?"

"There have been some difficult people in town recently. They seem to be some kind of task force sent by the government." Dave said, his tone sounding quite tricky.

"To be honest, we've already found buyers for these mink furs. However, they're hiding among the town's residents. They might be guarding the only way from the mountain to the town. It's a bit risky for us to bring the furs directly down the mountain."

Ding Can understood what he meant: "You want us to help with the transportation?"

"It's convenient to talk to smart people. The action team won't doubt your identities. After the mission is accomplished, you will naturally receive a generous reward. When Old Myron retires, the one of you who stays can still cooperate with us for a long time."

Dave added: "Of course, those who are not selected by Myron to become rangers can also join the Cheetah and become one of us."

"Bah, who wants to associate with you guys." Dasong felt unlucky.

He didn't expect Dave to be so shameless and even wanted to turn them both against him. What did he think of them?

Dave raised his eyelids and said, "Don't refuse so decisively. A cooperation requires the concerted efforts of both parties. We need to know what kind of capital each other has before we can decide whether to proceed to the next step."

He took off a cloth bag from his waist and threw it forward, and it rolled right to Ding Can's feet.

"Open it and take a look."

The bag was fixed on Dave's lower back, previously blocked by his broad body, and the two of them only discovered it now.

Ding Can turned her head and exchanged glances with Dasong. She could only judge the bulging shape of the bag and had no idea what was inside. She squatted down and touched it through the fabric first.

I felt a soft touch and heard a faint breath.

Could it be... Ding Can quickly untied the drawstring of the bag and saw a prick-eared marten inside, but its eyes were closed and there was an obvious bulge on its forehead. It seemed that it had been knocked unconscious and could not wake up even after all the torture.

She held the upright-eared marten in her arms, smoothed the hair on its belly a few times, and then stood up.

"You caught him alive."

Dave looked rather embarrassed. "Skinning an animal is a delicate job. It takes quite a while to peel one. I think we should do it in a quieter environment. So we only peeled some on the spot and took the rest back to camp."

"But there are too many of them alive, and I have to find food for them. I really don't have the energy to keep them, and they exceed the number those merchants need. Come to think of it, it would be better if you could take them out."

This is a blatant threat.

Dasong ignored the danger this time, and rushed towards Dave with his fist raised, passing Ding Can. He had to beat him up to feel relieved.

He was sure that they would never give up the living upright-eared marten, and forced them to act for "Cheetah".

But Dave didn't tolerate him. When he saw someone approaching, he used his gun as a hammer and hit the person on the head.

Dasong was hit hard on the side of his ear. The force was so great that he saw stars, a sharp buzzing sound came from his ears, and there were stars in front of his eyes.

His body shook several times until Ding Can came over to support him and he was able to stabilize himself.

Warm blood flowed from the top of his head. Dasong wiped it hastily with his hands. Before he could recover, he said, "Don't even think about it. We won't help you sell the mink fur. Those captive minks must be released."

Dave propped his shotgun in front of him like a hiking pole and half-bent over to speak to him: "Don't you understand? This isn't a negotiation, it's an order."

Ding Can pulled at the corner of Dasong's clothes: "Don't talk for now, I'll help you stop the bleeding."

Before going out, Myron prepared some simple medicine for them to deal with emergencies such as abrasions. Unexpectedly, it came in handy now.

She stuffed the upright-eared marten into Dasong's arms, and then simply bandaged his wounds. Fortunately, the bleeding was not too much and stopped soon.

Ding Can raised his head. "How can we prove you're not lying? What if you only kept this one, and what you just said about the erect-eared marten in the camp was a lie?"

"There's no need to lie about this," Dave sneered. "If you don't believe me, I'll dump another pile of skinned body parts on the doorstep of the ranger's cabin tomorrow."

He leaned closer and lowered his voice, "Actually, if we're pressed for time, we can do it ourselves. But if we kill a few more people, it would be too cumbersome, and we wouldn't be able to make money for a long time."

From Dave's words, it was clear that apart from animals, he didn't care about human lives. The reason he suppressed his brutal nature was because he didn't want to make a big fuss and cut off his source of income.

From what he said, if the two did not agree, they might take the risk and trade directly at the risk of being discovered by the action team.

Then the claim that they still have a living mink in their hands becomes credible.

Ding Can pursed his lips. "This is no small matter. I need to think about it. First, tell me, if I agree, how can I avoid Myron's eyes and bring the mink skin down the mountain without leaving a trace? And once I get to town, how can I find the contact person?"

In fact, she had doubts from the very beginning about Dave's sudden appearance.

If he had already planned to let Dasong and me come here deliberately by following the trail, then show up again to threaten us with the upright-eared marten and ask them to help bring the marten skins down the mountain, why didn't he make it more obvious at the beginning?

After all, after the two of them followed the footsteps and arrived at the silver fir forest, if they hadn't used the props through the system, they would never have thought of coming to the cliff.

If Dave really wanted them to come, he should have left obvious clues when he first entered the woods. That would have been the right thing to do.

But he didn't do that.

So Ding Can was more inclined to another possibility in his mind.

Dave had no intention of using them at first, or at least a few hours ago, he and his companions had just slaughtered the upright-eared marten, and when they came here, they were still thinking of hiding their tracks and not being discovered.

During these few hours, they must have encountered something special that caused them to suddenly change their minds and appear in front of the two of them.

Otherwise, even if Dasong and I found this place and looked at the footprints that suddenly stopped at the cliff, no matter how many doubts and puzzles we had, we would not be able to find them.

And from his tone, he mentioned the action team led by Ye Shan, but the full picture was unknown.

"Cheetah" seemed to only know that there were members of the action team in the town, but he was unaware that there were also members in the caravan who were in disguise at the same time.

Otherwise, they would not have acted so quickly to meet the caravan's "urgent needs."

While chatting in the cabin, Ye Shan mentioned that the caravan had spread the news that they needed as many as three hundred mink skins.

This is not a small number. They saw more than twenty bodies on the snow slope today.

Ding Can didn't quite believe that "Cheetah" could completely escape their surveillance in the past two days. He prepared all three hundred of them, probably intending to use the two of them for a long time.

While continuing to look for the traces of the martens, waiting for an opportunity to hunt them.

On the other hand, they continued to threaten the lives of the upright-eared martens, forcing them to carry the mink skins down the mountain in batches.

Dave replied, "You're new here. Even though you're officially assigned, you can't be too conspicuous in this small town. I've thought about it and decided to have you deliver the mink furs to the town in small batches over several days."

"As for the handover person, you don't have to worry at all. Just pretend to be shopping and stroll around town, and someone will naturally come forward to contact you."

A gleam of light flashed in his eyes: "Well, I still care about you."

Dasong endured the dizziness in his head and still insisted: "Don't listen to his nonsense. We can't agree to this. Helping them would be a crime."

Ding Can patted his hand and spoke softly, taking the lead in showing weakness: "Calm down first. It will do us no good to confront him head-on."

It was exactly what I imagined. Dave was doing this for future sustainable development.

If we could find a way to enter the Cheetah's camp at this time, we could not only take the opportunity to investigate whether the captive breeding of the upright-eared martens was true, but also solve the mystery of where they were circling.

She looked at Dave. "How many minks are there?"

"About a hundred, maybe. Every time you go down the mountain, just stuff some into your clothes. The clothes you're wearing are thick, and no one will notice you, so there won't be any problem."

I told Ye Shan that the number was at least two hundred short.

Ding Can curled his fingers and spoke in a negotiating tone, "What if we're also questioned by the action team when we get down the mountain? What if we're exposed?"

Seeing that she seemed to be reassured, Dave's expression softened slightly. "It's only your third day here. It's normal for you to need to go down the mountain to replenish your supplies. If you need to, just say you're buying daily necessities. Don't be discouraged. I believe you can do it."

He said nice things, but it was obvious that he was not willing to take the risk.

Ding Can's face was stern. "I'd also like to know why you know so much about us. We shouldn't have met each other during the past two days of patrolling the mountains."

Dave tapped the ground with the butt of his gun. "At least half of this snowy mountain is controlled by the Cheetahs. We know exactly how many people enter and leave the mountains every day, and what kind of people they are."