The deep mountains were gloomy at night, and Bingzi and his companions waited for someone at the foot of the mountain.
The group only ran over when they saw Wei Baichuan.
"Brother Chuan, you're finally here! We thought your wife wouldn't let you come."
Tiger was the youngest among them, and he said whatever came to mind without any regard for others.
"Tiger, what are you saying? Your sister-in-law isn't that kind of person." Bingzi went over and tapped Tiger on the head.
Are you stupid? You dare to say anything. What if you say something bad about your sister-in-law and Brother Chuan gets angry?
"Stop fooling around, let's go." Wei Baichuan laughed and stopped the group as they were joking around.
He was afraid that if he arrived too early, he might run into other people, and they weren't the only ones from the brigade who had secretly gone up the mountain.
He wouldn't say a word when he encountered problems before, but this time he just wanted to be absolutely certain.
Bingzi and his friends happily followed, chattering away the whole way.
The eerie silence of the mountains was nothing out of the ordinary for them; none of them felt afraid.
"Brother Chuan, I don't know what's going on in the mountains lately, there are fewer and fewer prey, and we've gone back empty-handed several times."
The soldiers knew they weren't particularly skilled, but they used to be able to encounter quite a few wild animals if they spent a night squatting there.
Even if we can't catch them, at least we can see them. Lately, I don't know where those guys have been hiding; I haven't seen a single one for ages.
"Let's go and explore the deeper mountains." Even without Bingzi and the others saying so, Wei Baichuan noticed that they had rarely seen any prey along the way.
Even when he encountered them, he could clearly sense that the prey had become very alert, which was very strange.
Things must be getting tense in the mountains lately. Their brigade is so close and they haven't heard a thing, unless…
Bingzi and the others lacked their own opinions and followed Wei Baichuan into the deep mountains. They weren't afraid of Brother Chuan because he had powerful weapons.
"Brother Chuan, where is this? We don't think we've been here before." They had already climbed several hills, and this time they had gone much further than before. Bingzi and the others were also tired.
"We haven't seen many prey along the way. I don't know if other teams came to our mountain and hunted all the prey."
“I’ve been to this hill once before. It’s an area that none of the production brigades take care of. Let’s see if there’s anything here.”
Looking at the pond in front of him, Wei Baichuan knew there was another path here. Last time Wei Changgen came, he was dry.
He hadn't figured out the way yet, and he suspected that they were the ones who hunted the game in the mountains, and that no one would notice them wandering around in the mountains.
He couldn't just lead his soldiers into the river for no reason; that would be too obvious.
“Okay, Brother Chuan, we’ll follow you.” Hearing Wei Baichuan say this, the group obediently followed him.
Wei Baichuan thought back to the last time Wei Changgen walked behind him, but they ended up meeting at the brigade entrance.
Judging from his pace, it meant that his route was much, much shorter than his own. He led a few soldiers around the hilltop.
"Brother Chuan, we're definitely going to go home empty-handed again this time. Where do you think all the prey have gone?"
Bingzi and his companions were very disappointed. In the past, there had never been so little game in their mountains, let alone so much. He even suspected that a group of people had come and hunted all the game.
"We..." Wei Baichuan was about to suggest going to another mountain to take a look when a roar came from ahead.
"Let's go take a look." The voice sounded like a tiger; they weren't the only ones in these mountains.
Wei Baichuan led the group toward the source of the sound, each of them cautiously looking around.
We're all frequent visitors to the mountains, so we can still distinguish the sounds.
"It's a huge worm, Brother Chuan, what should we do? Should we go up and help?" Bingzi and the others were all terrified.
Seeing the tiger pinning the two men down, and knowing they were about to be overwhelmed, they realized the tiger was about to give way.
"Look what those two are holding!" Wei Baichuan felt like he had found Wei Changgen's two older brothers without even looking for them.
"They have... hunting rifles?" Tiger was a sharp-eyed man. The two men looked like they were pinned down and couldn't move, but there was no panic in their eyes.
The hunting rifle in his hand was already loaded; he was preparing to seize an opportunity to kill with a single shot.
"Brother Chuan, which brigade are they from? I've never seen them before. And what about their hunting rifles? Didn't the higher-ups come to raid them? How come they still have them?"
Bingzi realized he had never seen these two people before, and none of the surrounding detachments had heard of them.
In addition, a few years ago, in order to get the villagers to move down from the mountains, all the hunting rifles and other tools were handed over. It was also said that possessing hunting rifles would result in jail time.
These two are so bold, using it so openly. Aren't they afraid of being found out?
“I’ve never seen this before either. Judging from their appearance, it doesn’t seem like they’ve been hunting for the first time. I suspect that they’ve caught all the game in the mountains.”
Wei Baichuan also pretended to be confused and voiced his suspicions.
"Hmph, they've taken all the prey, leaving nothing behind. What are we supposed to do?"
As expected, Bingzi and the others became anxious after hearing Wei Baichuan's words. This kind of behavior, which leaves no way for others to survive, whether it's hunting or anything else, is intolerable.
"Why don't we follow them and see which brigade they belong to?" Wei Baichuan said, seizing the opportunity to express his most pressing suggestion.
"Okay, Brother Chuan, we'll listen to you. We'll see which brigade they're from and then decide what to do."
Bingzi thought Chuan Ge's words made sense, and he would definitely have a good talk with them once he found out where they lived.
If they continue to be so selfish, we will report them for illegally possessing hunting rifles.
The group discussed it and then secretly waited in the same spot, watching the two men and the worm struggle for a long time.
The last person found an opportunity and shot the worm in the eye, while another shot it in the neck.
The two worked together seamlessly, showing no signs of panic, clearly indicating that this wasn't their first time hunting such a large animal.
"Brother, let's take it back first. Don't let it come out for the next couple of days. If we lived any closer, we might have heard the gunshot."
"We'll take the tiger back and deal with it first, and then sell it once things have calmed down."
Wei Changgen's second brother, dragging the tiger, turned to another person and said.
"Okay, let's go back first. There are fewer and fewer prey on these mountains lately. Many have escaped. We've caught most of the remaining ones."
“We don’t know what’s going on with the third brother. We should save more money for him. Also, Mother said that my nephew is a big shot. If we don’t give him a big gift when we meet him in the future, he won’t respect us.”
Wei Changgen's eldest brother agreed with his second brother's statement. He secretly inquired in the brigade and only learned that his third brother was now having a hard time because he had lost his position as brigade leader.
He didn't come up the mountain to find them because the timing wasn't right, and he couldn't be as free as he used to be when he was the brigade leader.
They never imagined that what they had asked around about was all made up. Now they are only thinking about saving more money for the future.
Otherwise, the third brother himself won't have a good time, and he might not care about them anymore.
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