I lay on the ice and saw a huge bear paw come crashing down on me, and I rolled to the side with all my might.
"Bang!"
The bear's paw slammed down, shattering the ice beneath me. I felt dizzy and disoriented as I tumbled into the icy river.
A bone-chilling cold swept over me, and I felt as if I was being pricked by needles. My hands and feet went numb instantly, a completely different feeling from when I usually go to the swimming pool.
In the chaos, I noticed someone grabbing my clothes and desperately holding onto that hand.
"Splash!"
The monkey struggled to pull me out of the water, panting, "Young Master Duan, put in more effort to climb up!"
That's when I realized that the brown bear's swipe had shattered our ice block in two, and there were only monkeys and a security guard on that block of ice.
"roar!"
By this time, the river water had already reached the brown bear's waist, and it was clear that it intended to make us its lunch, so it quickly pounced on the monkeys.
I saw the brown bear appear behind the monkey and roared hysterically, "Watch out!"
"Bang!"
With a swipe of its paw, the brown bear knocked the security guard next to the monkey into the water.
I only heard the security guard scream once, and then he disappeared without a trace, the river surface was stained red with blood.
The brown bear, already wounded by several bullets, had become enraged and was determined to attack the monkey again.
Thump!
At the critical moment, Song Laosan, having switched to a single-bullet, finally pulled the trigger.
I don't know where he hit the brown bear, but I heard it let out a wail, and then blood splattered all over the ice under the monkey's feet.
By this time, Song Laosan and his group's ice block had already surpassed ours. Sasha above tied the rope into a lasso, threw it onto the brown bear's neck, and then swung the other end with the hook onto the shore.
"Awoo!"
The brown bear's mane was stained red with blood, yet it continued to chase us, but was soon restrained by the rope behind it, causing a tree on the bank to creak.
Thump!
Song Laosan fired another shot, but missed due to the shaking of the ice. Then, Monkey exerted force and pulled me up.
I lay on the ice, shivering from the cold, unable to speak. My body felt out of control as I stared at the river where the security guard had disappeared and the streaks of crimson in the water.
Because of the brown bear attack, our ice blocks broke in two and began to drift downstream with the rushing river.
After I recovered a bit on the ice, I shouted ahead, "Help! We have another person who fell into the water!"
"No, Sasha said the current here is too strong, we can't stop at all!"
Song Laosan waved his hand on the ice in front of him: "Sasha will call the other hunter friends and ask them to come and search!"
As they were talking, Sasha suddenly started shouting.
Even without Zhou Peng translating, I could roughly guess what Sasha was saying.
A tributary has appeared in the river ahead of us.
There were no traces of riverbanks on either side of that tributary, clearly indicating that it was newly formed due to the melting of river water.
Meanwhile, Song Laosan and his group's ice block had already drifted towards the main river channel. The ice block under me and Monkey, due to insufficient buoyancy, spun around at the fork in the river and were directly swept into the tributary.
The river here is icy cold and swift; if we jumped in, we wouldn't be able to swim at all.
What's worse is that the main channel and the tributaries are going in completely opposite directions.
Seeing this, Sasha untied the rope hanging from her shoulder and swung it sharply towards us.
I reached out and grabbed the rope, wrapped it around my arm twice, and then gripped the monkey's wrist tightly: "Hold on tight, don't let go!"
When the people on the other side saw me grab the rope, they all started pulling back.
As a result, the monkey and I both fell off the ice.
"Thump!"
The moment I fell into the water, my body sank, and my only thought was to hold on tight to the monkey and never let go.
I was dragged along like this for a while when my body suddenly hit a rock and I was pulled ashore.
Old Song and the others were still holding onto the rope tightly. Seeing my movement, they shouted, "Xiao Duan, don't let go! Secure the rope!"
I knew that Song Laosan was afraid that if they drifted away, everyone would lose contact, so he mustered all his strength to turn over and roll towards a tree next to him.
"Buzz!"
The rope tightened instantly when it got caught on the tree, and I released the monkey and gripped it tightly with both hands.
The immense friction shredded my waterproof gloves, and my palms burned with pain.
Just when I was about to give up, the monkey rushed over and pulled the rope, finally stabilizing the ice block that Song Laosan and the others were holding.
They then worked together and pulled the rope to the shore.
"Open the medical kit and give me the iodine!"
When Song Laosan saw that my hands were covered in blood, he squatted down next to me and patted my face: "How are you? Did you hit your head or choke on water? Move your hands around and see if you have any broken bones!"
"I'm fine!" I shook my head, my lips trembling as I said, "It's cold, so cold!"
Seeing that I was unharmed, Song Laosan began gathering dry branches nearby: "Hold on, we'll light a campfire right away!"
When Sasha saw that my lips were turning purple, she took off her waterproof suit and came to my side. She took out a plastic bag from her pocket and stuffed a clump of yellow paste into my mouth.
"vomit!"
The moment it entered my mouth, I tasted a strong fishy smell and a sticky texture that made me want to vomit.
Sasha quickly covered my mouth, and Zhou Peng translated from the side: "Sasha said this stuff is moose oil, which can replenish your energy in a short time. Swallow it!"
Knowing how terrible hypothermia could be in such an environment, I forced myself to swallow the unpalatable deer fat.
It wasn't until the campfire was lit that I felt alive again.
Sasha looked at the water flowing not far away and wiped his shotgun, which was wet with water: "Our ice boat has been damaged, and there are no floating ice floes in this area. Going back is the activity area of brown bears, so we can no longer use this shortcut and can only walk into the mountains."
Song Laosan asked, "How much extra time will this take?"
"About seven or eight hours. Time is secondary. The main thing is that I'm not familiar with the forest ahead and don't know what kind of dangers await us inside."
Sasha glanced at the sky: "I have a safe house five kilometers to the southeast. We must get there before dark, otherwise this place will become the territory of wild beasts once night falls!"
"Damn it, we've really gotten off to a bad start. We haven't even found a place yet, and we've already lost one of our men."
Hearing that we had to leave soon, the monkey grumbled irritably, "What kind of hellhole have we come to? Why did a bear suddenly appear out of nowhere!"
Zhou Peng, who was our guide, hadn't expected that working for us would be so dangerous. He said with a grim expression, "Bears are still okay. Sasha said that the wild animals we're most afraid of here are wild boars, because they come in herds."
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