After saying this, the group got back onto the horse-drawn sleds and headed towards their destination. Half an hour later, they arrived at the foot of Liansong Mountain as they had hoped.
"There are many plants here, and many animals have survived. It's just that they're hard to find in the dead of winter, so you'll have to observe carefully. This place isn't too far from the city, and it's said that no large wild beasts appear here. But that's just what they say before the apocalypse."
“Things are different now than before. Who knows if animal habits have changed, or if dangerous groups might migrate from other places? So everyone must always be vigilant.”
Qi Xili's reminder was not without reason, so everyone nodded with serious expressions.
“Pang Huanqing and Yu Chaobi stayed behind to watch the horse sleds, and the rest of us followed behind Captain Li and me, splitting into two teams, and we went into the mountains together.”
After Qi Xili finished speaking, everyone quickly stood behind the two of them.
Shen Yanming and Ji Kangyong stared blankly at the two empty seats behind Li Gangtie, and without saying a word, they stood in them.
"Looks like you're destined to be in my group," Li Gangtie said, his eyebrows dancing, seemingly quite pleased with the outcome.
He walked over and patted Shen Yanming on the shoulder: "Don't worry, I'll definitely catch a couple more rabbits for you."
Shen Yanming stared at the large hand pressed against his chest, a look of mixed emotions swirling within him. He nodded with difficulty, "Alright then!"
His reluctant expression amused everyone else, and even Qi Xili laughed and said, "If you don't want to come with him, I'll take you."
Shen Yanming thought to himself, "That won't do, it would be too hurtful to his self-esteem." So he politely declined, "You have a lot of people, I'll just go with Captain Li."
Qi Xili didn't press the matter, simply saying, "Be careful," before leaving with his men.
"Alright, let's go in too." Li Gangtie said to the rest of the group, watching Qi Xili's departing figure.
"Alright, Captain, please go first," one of them said with a grin.
Li Gangtie flicked the man on the forehead and said sternly, "We're going up the mountain. The mountain is different from the foot of the mountain, so be careful."
The man immediately regained his composure, bowed, and said, "Don't worry, I know. I will also protect my two new friends."
Shen Yanming and Ji Kangyong's inner thoughts: Not really, thank you!
But neither of them dared to say it.
The group entered the mountain in the predetermined direction, and after walking for more than half an hour, they only saw withered branches and white snow, without any sign of life.
Shen Yanming wondered, "Can we really find prey this way?"
Before he could even suspect anything, he saw Li Gangtie lying on the ground, digging and digging into a hole, finally pulling out a plump, white rabbit.
Its fur is so smooth that you can't help but want to touch it.
When the big rabbit was lifted out, it kicked its four hooves wildly and made "squeak squeak squeak" sounds.
This was the first time Shen Yanming had ever heard a rabbit squeak. The rabbits he had seen before were always the kind that quietly ate their vegetables.
"Wow, Lao Li, your skills are top-notch!" Shen Yanming praised.
Li Gangtie raised an eyebrow smugly, and then, under everyone's gaze, mercilessly grabbed the rabbit's head and twisted it. The rabbit died just like that.
It's not bloody, but it's a bit brutal.
Shen Yanming wanted to say that he had a rope. But seeing Li Gangtie's clean and efficient movements, he couldn't say anything.
"Alright, there are plenty of rabbits in this woods, so you can all search around."
Hearing this, Shen Yanming went to look for the rabbit hole that was exposed on the ground. But he wasn't a brave man, and every time he saw the hole, he was a little scared and didn't dare to reach out, afraid that there was a snake inside.
Guo Tingshuo laughed at him, "What are you afraid of? Even if there's a snake inside, it's a harmless snake. Besides, snakes hibernate in tree holes and rock crevices; who would dig a hole underground?"
“If it’s not a snake, it could be some other animal. What if it’s a weasel?” Shen Yanming retorted.
Guo Tingshuo was so annoyed by Shen Yanming's dawdling that he laughed. He asked directly, "Are you going to take it out or not? If not, get out of the way and I'll take it out!"
Shen Yanming took two deep breaths, looking resigned to his fate, and nodded: "...I'll take it!"
He wasn't really afraid of these small animals; rather, he was afraid of the unknown.
That dark, dark hole—who knows what might be hiding inside? What if it bites him?
As Shen Yanming rummaged around, he felt truly distressed. Before he could frighten the other person, he himself trembled as he touched the soft little thing.
Shen Yanming reflexively pulled his hand back, while Guo Tingshuo watched anxiously from the side: "Did you feel it? What's inside?"
Shen Yanming composed himself and said, "It's furry and can move; it's probably a rabbit."
Guo Tingshuo was speechless. "What are you afraid of, a rabbit? Just pull it out, won't that solve the problem?"
Shen Yanming stiffly looked away and retorted, "What I'm afraid of isn't rabbits, it's the unknown!"
After saying that, he reached into the hole, grabbed the furry creature, and pulled it out. As a result, he got a lively gray rabbit.
He didn't want to face any more unknown fears, so he said, "There's more in the cave, let me dig some more out."
Guo Tingshuo nodded: "Alright, then you can clean it up thoroughly." After saying that, he left to find a hole on his own.
After Shen Yanming and the others left, he reached into the hole and released two large, fluffy, gray rabbits from his spatial storage. He then happily pulled them out as his spoils.
"Look, I'm so lucky today! I dug a hole and there were three rabbits inside, and they're all so fat!"
Li Gangtie was stunned when he saw the rabbits. He thought to himself that he had dug so many rabbit holes, but he had never found three at the same time. This old Shen really had some luck.
So Li Gangtie made a decision. He looked at Shen Yanming solemnly and said, "The work of digging the tunnel is now in your hands."
Shen Yanming was stunned, as if struck by lightning. He wanted to shout, "I don't want to!" but everyone had already covered their mouths and run away.
Comrade Shen was on the verge of tears, and could only reluctantly go and dig the hole. After digging many times, he went from being terrified at the beginning to taking it calmly later on.
When Bi Qiaoan discovered that everyone was bullying her husband on social media, she didn't get angry at all; instead, she laughed out loud.
Hearing the gloating laughter, Shen Yanming snorted coldly.
I thought to myself, what's there to be afraid of? It's just a hole. No matter what, I'm still a man at the top of the food chain!
Little did he know that he was about to be slapped in the face, and slapped hard.
The group lingered in the woods for over an hour, searching everywhere, but still couldn't find any more animal dens. Li Gangtie decided to venture a little deeper into the woods.
At this point, they had caught a total of ten rabbits, two snakes, three pheasants, and two sparrows.
The rabbit was caught by Shen Yanming and the others, while the snake and pheasant were hunted by Li Gangtie and several guards.
As for the sparrows, they were simply picked up from under the tree. They were frozen stiff by the cold air, but hadn't died yet.
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