Night had already fallen over the entire sky. Chen Chongshan rode his motorcycle towards the county town. He wasn't riding fast. Every two or three hundred meters, Chen Chongshan would shout "Ah Huang!" a few times.
He believed that if Ah Huang was nearby and heard him shouting, he would definitely come running out...
The dim streetlights lit up one after another. Compared to the bustling Tanzhou, this small county town was undoubtedly much quieter. Chen Chongshan's voice stood out in the night. However, even after running around the county town for three or four hours, he still couldn't find a trace of Ah Huang.
It was already quite late. Although Chen Chongshan wasn't riding his bike very fast, three or four hours was enough for him to search every corner of the small county town.
Chen Chongshan was frustrated and worried when he couldn't find Ah Huang, but he had no other choice. It was too late, and he had to go back to take care of Chongming. At the same time, he also had a sliver of hope that Ah Huang would return home on its own.
However, when Chen Chongshan returned home, the house was still quiet, and the usually lively big guy did not run out to greet him.
Chen Chongshan felt an indescribable sense of loss and self-blame. He didn't know where Ah Huang was now, or if he was alright...
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Ah Huang didn't expend much effort to walk from the outside of the forest to its depths, but its speed slowed considerably when it emerged from the depths of the forest.
The injury on its front leg was quite serious. Fortunately, its own saliva had the effect of killing bacteria, reducing inflammation, and accelerating healing. It licked the wound with its tongue from time to time, and finally the bleeding stopped. But even so, the pain did not disappear at all.
Such injuries have severely affected its mobility; it walks with a limp, let alone running or jumping...
When Ah Huang went into the mountains, it only ate a bamboo rat weighing two or three pounds. After that, it had a long run through the mountains and a life-or-death battle in the forest. Such exertion had already left it starving, but in its current state, it was simply unable to continue hunting.
It encountered a civet cat on the road. The creature glanced at Ah Huang a few times and then calmly walked away. Ah Huang tried to chase after it, but the injury to its thigh prevented it from speeding up, and the civet cat quickly disappeared from sight.
Ah Huang was somewhat annoyed, and the feeling of hunger made it even more irritable, but after being injured, it was simply unable to compete with those guys in terms of speed.
As dawn broke, more wild animals emerged from the forest to forage. It encountered a weasel, saw a civet cat, and a bamboo rat calmly burrowed into its deep hole in front of it. A plump golden pheasant flew overhead.
It even encountered a lone wild boar. This guy wasn't big, only about 100 pounds, but Ah Huang knew that in its current state it was no match for him. Fortunately, the wild boar also sensed that Ah Huang was not a easy opponent. It glanced at Ah Huang a few times and then swaggered away.
Ah Huang, somewhat exasperated, roared a few times into the forest, scaring the birds and beasts into flight, but it still couldn't catch any prey.
Its hunger grew stronger and stronger. It found a stream in the mountains and drank some water. After cleaning its wounds with the water, it continued to walk out of the mountains.
Ah Huang was moving very slowly. Its severely depleted energy and hunger limited its speed, but Ah Huang still persisted in walking towards the edge of the forest.
It hoped to encounter Chen Chongshan in those familiar areas, even though it didn't know where its two masters, Chen Chongshan and Chen Chongming, had gone these past few days. It still believed that Chen Chongshan would definitely return to this mountain forest.
Dogs have a simple world. If they believe in something, they will definitely do it and stick to it. Just like many news reports about loyal dogs who stay by their owners' side after they die, believing that they will wake up again.
It took Ah Huang three times longer to come out than it did to go into the mountains, and it returned to the area where Chen Chongshan had set the animal traps.
Fortunately, this time the animal traps finally yielded results. Four of the twelve traps were triggered, and two of them caught their prey: a hare and a muntjac.
Ah Huang was very excited. These creatures caught in the traps couldn't escape. It finally had food. It looked at the wild rabbit and then at the muntjac, which was a half-grown muntjac, weighing about 20 kilograms.
Hungry Ah Huang felt he was perfectly capable of devouring the muntjac, but after glancing at the muntjac that was terrified by his presence, he turned and walked toward the wild rabbit.
This wild rabbit was about the same size as the bamboo rat we ate last night, weighing only two or three pounds. Ah Huang bit off the rabbit's neck in one bite and then slowly began to enjoy it.
The rabbit meat was delicious, but not enough to satisfy Ah Huang's hunger. However, Ah Huang still had no intention of trespassing on the muntjac. It felt that its owner would come, and the muntjac would be a good prey.
It can't destroy its master's prey; such a big guy can definitely fetch a good price from that fat man.
Thinking of Fatty, Ah Huang felt a little worried again. After finishing the rabbit, it lay down on the rock next to the animal trap and closed its eyes to rest. It needed to rest well and take good care of its wounds.
Moreover, while treating the deer, they also happened to be here to guard it from being taken away by other wild animals.
There are many carnivores in the mountains and forests. The leopard, jackal, fox, and wild boar we encountered last night all eat meat. The meat of the muntjac is a delicacy, and if they encounter it, they certainly won't let it go...
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Chen Chongshan didn't sleep well on his first night back in Meishan. He kept vaguely hearing Ah Huang's voice coming back. He even opened the window to look several times, but it was all just his imagination and auditory hallucination.
The next morning, Chen Chongshan hurriedly prepared breakfast and left the house at Chen Chongming's urging. Chen Chongshan was the first to be anxious about Ah Huang's disappearance, and Chen Chongming was definitely the second.
Chen Chongshan first searched the villages, fields, and gardens near his home, then went to the Wild Game Manor, and finally searched the entire Meishan County town. But no matter how carefully he searched, he still couldn't find Ah Huang.
The morning passed quickly. Chen Chongshan returned home and made lunch for Chen Chongming. In the afternoon, he gave up on going to the city to continue looking for Ah Huang. Two city-wide searches had yielded no results.
Chen Chongshan was almost certain that Ah Huang was no longer in Meishan County; either it had run off somewhere else, or it had been shot away with a tranquilizer gun.
The thought of the tranquilizer gun made Chen Chongshan's heart sink to the bottom, but there was nothing he could do. He didn't know where to look for Ah Huang again, and his throat was hoarse from searching twice.
Besides searching for Ah Huang, he also had to find a way to raise money for his brother's medical expenses. Thinking of money, Chen Chongshan remembered the wild animal traps he had left in the mountains. He hadn't checked on them for many days. If they had caught prey too early, they would probably be dead and rotting by now.
With a dozen or so animal traps, Chen Chongshan could earn a living by catching just one or two wild animals. He started his motorcycle and headed towards Lianshan Bay. On the way, Chen Chongshan suddenly wondered if Ah Huang hadn't been shot with a tranquilizer gun, it might have run into the mountains.
Thinking of this, Chen Chongshan suddenly became excited. He slammed on the gas pedal, and the motorcycle suddenly accelerated, then sped towards Lianshan Bay like the wind, kicking up clouds of dust...
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