Condes Mountains
Although "Cheetah" is the name of the entire team, its members still like to hunt alone and never act with the help of their companions.
What made Myron certain that the lone poachers he encountered in the forest were from the same group was that he had seen the same tattoo on several of them.
Some are on the sides of the neck, some are on the arms, and they appear in various parts of the body.
It is a majestic leopard head, which is very lifelike. When the person makes movements, the leopard looks like it is roaring.
After many encounters, and through rumors circulating in town, Myron began to learn that the Cheetahs had two leaders.
One of them was the antler poacher he had met that year, named Dave.
The bullet I shot at him hit his calf. I don't know if it was because he didn't receive timely treatment afterwards, but he suffered from sequelae. Now it can be clearly seen when he walks.
Dave has always been ruthless and has no sympathy. Even if reselling the body tissues of some wild animals does not require endangering their lives, he will still do it regardless and take ruthless action.
Dave is also responsible for all subsequent transactions and is the one who appears the most in the team.
The members of the investigation team had exchanged fire with him, and even when it was one on many, he had never been at a disadvantage.
The other one was even more mysterious. Even Myron had only heard of him and had never seen what this leader looked like.
The leader only has a code name, Aye. There is a reason for this code name. Unlike others, he always likes to hunt at night.
After nightfall, the snow-capped mountains are completely silent. Any slight noise in the forest will alert and attract the attention of the animals living there. From a hunter's perspective, this is definitely not a good time.
In addition, the weather at night is changeable, and there is a high possibility of encountering blizzards, as well as potential conditions such as hypothermia. If humans go into the mountains at this time, they are very likely to be in danger of their lives.
But Aye just likes to be active during this time period.
On several occasions, Myron discovered the corpses of animals that had been dead for a long time in the early morning, only to find out that Aye had appeared again.
He also used to stake out in the woods at night, but it was as if Aye had eyes on his back and never showed up during the days he was there.
Not only will you fail if you sit back and wait for something to happen, but you will also waste your energy.
This gave Myron a headache. After reporting the matter to his department, the investigation team came several times but returned empty-handed. Despite the careful deployment, the "Cheetah" remained completely silent.
Instead, when people think that poachers have stopped and are relaxing their efforts, they pop up again and commit another crime.
That's why this time we selected a group of members with strong reconnaissance capabilities from the army, hoping to catch the "Cheetah" team in one fell swoop.
*
"So, the Cheetah's movements are actually completely erratic, and they have spies all over town. Maybe when Ye Shan and the others came here, they were already under the poachers' surveillance. If they really don't show up for two or three months, their trip would have been in vain."
Dasong listened so carefully that he didn't even notice that the milk tea in his hand had gotten cold.
He had heard of the existence of this group of poachers before and thought they were no different from those he encountered as a child in the mountains where his grandfather worked as a forest ranger.
Listening to it now, I realized that I was too hasty. They are much more difficult to deal with than I imagined. With my current level, if I really faced them, I might be the one who got hurt.
Ye Shan lowered her eyes, her index finger tapping rhythmically on the wall of the cup. "Don't worry, since they've chosen this kind of livelihood, they can't stay hidden forever. Winter is coming soon, and many wild animals are storing up fat in preparation. Poachers will never miss such an opportunity."
"What are you going to do?" Myron noticed that the person coming this time was different from the previous ones.
He had actually already passed the retirement age, but because he really couldn't let go of the plants and trees on the mountain, and was worried that the next forest ranger was too young and had no experience in growing grass and protecting forests, he applied to his superiors and continued to work as a forest ranger for a few more years.
But the appearance of "Cheetah" made him realize that he was old and unable to handle many things. The only right way out was to train a new successor.
He only has a limited time left in the Condas Mountains, and his last wish is to wipe out the poachers in one fell swoop in the remaining days.
"Our people have been in the town for several months, pretending to be merchants selling local specialties. They have also been secretly asking where they can buy wild animals from the mountains to provoke them into taking action. We have recently made some progress."
Ding Can understood: "Maybe they will take action in the next few days?"
Ye Shan took a sip of her milk tea. "There are real itinerant merchants in the caravan, traveling back and forth all year round. No matter how suspicious Cheetah is, he won't notice anything unusual. Winter is coming soon, so it's perfectly reasonable for him to want to receive a batch of erect-eared mink pelts."
The erect-eared marten is a species of marten that only grows on snow-capped mountains. It is slightly larger than an ordinary domestic cat, with short limbs and a long body. Its most distinctive appearance is its pair of large, upright ears.
The dense and fluffy hair is the softest and warmest when used to make fur collars, making it a popular choice among people of all social classes.
With the development of technology, some people began to engage in artificial breeding. However, after leaving the snow-capped mountains, the fur color of the bred upright-eared minks is not as bright as those grown on the snow-capped mountains, and the quality of the feel is also greatly reduced.
It is not surprising that some people want to collect mink fur. Compared with more precious wild species, the upright-eared mink is indeed not that sensitive.
In addition, given the high price, I believe "Cheetah" will not miss such an opportunity.
Myron curled his fingers and said, "I know where the upright-eared marten probably lives. I'll take you there tomorrow."
Ye Shan shook her head. "No need. Aren't there new ranger candidates here? You can patrol the mountains as usual. The two of us will handle the poachers."
"But..." Dasong also wanted to meet the people from "Cheetah".
Ding Can raised his hand to stop him: "I understand. If you have any news, please share it with us in time."
The cabins were built in terraced houses. When Myron first came here, there was only one cabin on the mountain. Later, in order to accommodate travelers trapped on the mountain, he spent another year building two new houses next to the old house.
Knowing that they would be coming in the next two days, he had already cleaned the house in advance so they could move in without having to pack.
In order to save charcoal, the four people, who were not particularly concerned about their living environment, squeezed into a large bunk bed in a small room.
It was Dasong's first time here and the novelty had not yet worn off. Thinking of the tree species and animals in the forest that he had never seen before, and the poachers who might resort to violence, he had no desire to sleep at all.
There was a dim lamp in the room, and the cold wind was howling outside the window, but the cabin was well insulated and not a breeze came in. The flames slowly rose above the table.
After Dasong turned over countless times, Ye Shan finally couldn't bear it anymore.
"If you move again, I'll break your legs."
The training environment is harsh, and everyone is often in dangerous situations when surviving in the wild. They need to remain highly vigilant at all times and have not had a good sleep for a long time.
He would be easily awakened by the slightest movement, not to mention that there was a huge sound source like Dasong in the same room.
"Oh." Dasong responded, stopped and stared at the sky. As a result, his whole body was so tense that his breathing became heavier.
He curled his lips and said, "Well, I can't sleep. Aren't you worried about running into someone from Cheetah?"
"When the enemy comes, we will fight him; when the water comes, we will block it with earth. We are here with you, so what are you worried about?" Ye Shan closed her eyes, folded her arms, turned sideways to the other side of the wall, and stopped talking.
Joseph didn't say anything the whole time, and it was unknown whether he was asleep or not.
Ding Can looked at the swaying shadows of the trees outside the window and knew that they would not be disturbed by the noise. People who exercised regularly had bodies that were much more resilient than theirs.
Besides, if she was really unhappy, it wouldn't be Ye Shan's character to just say a word to wake her up.
Maybe he just felt a little annoyed by Dasong's noise.
"We have to be careful when we follow Myron up the mountain tomorrow."
She had a feeling that the moment of meeting "Cheetah" would not be far away.
"That's what I was thinking," Dasong said, looking at her and winking. "But don't worry, if we really meet, I'll protect you."
Before Ding Can could respond, Ye Shan's chuckle came from beside him.
"Hey, what does she mean?" Dasong propped himself up and wanted to argue with Ye Shan.
Ding Can suppressed his laughter and said, "Maybe he was talking in his sleep. I believe you, but you have to keep your word and stand in front of me to protect me."
"Absolutely."
*
No one added charcoal at night, and the temperature in the room dropped a lot near dawn. Ding Can felt the cold, sniffed, and woke up.
Joseph sat on a stool nearby, organizing his equipment. He was putting the pistols on both sides of his waist back into the holsters, and then hiding them in the hem of his clothes.
"Are you guys going out now?"
Ye Shan was wiping a dagger: "Let's go down the mountain first and see if there is any new news."
She put the dagger in the secret pocket on the outside of her thigh, tightened the laces on her boots, stood up and opened the door of the cabin.
With a whoosh, the snow outside the door, almost half a person's height, rushed in. Ye Shan quickly took two steps back, but the tips of her boots were still stained with a little white snow.
Dasong was startled awake by the sound and sat up with a clamor: "What's wrong? Is there an avalanche?"
"With your sleeping quality, you can't even escape an avalanche." Ye Shan stomped her feet hard twice to shake off the snow that had fallen on them.
Dasong finally saw the scene at the door clearly: "Why is it snowing so heavily?"
It was just one night, and the key point was that everyone slept very late yesterday and didn't notice anything wrong at all.
Ding Can walked to Ye Shan's side and looked outside the door. "It's common for snowy mountains to have blizzards at night. It's probably difficult to walk around here. For safety reasons, you'd better not go down the mountain."
Of the red SUV that was parked outside the cabin yesterday, only the part above the hood can be seen now. Even if the owner wants to drive away, he can't start it.
Not far away, Myron was using a simple snowplow made of sticks and boards to push the snow at the door to both ends. When he saw the few people, he just waved.
"If you want to go down the mountain, I have a few sleds here. But it will take a few days for the trail to melt. It's easy to go down the mountain, but it's hard to get back up."
Ye Shan thought about it briefly and decided not to go down the mountain. Maybe the "Cheetah" people were also trapped on the mountain. These few days were the best time to find their traces.
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