Hunt

Five days later.

One snowfall ends, another begins; snow blankets the sky, darkening the world, yet there are still few pedestrians on the road.

Erbazi and his henchman Black Cat roamed around Shetougou, frantically squeezing the last of the villagers' money.

The method was exactly the same as when they went to Duan Xuan's house: they took out a bunch of stinky hides that they had gotten from who-knows-where and forced people to sell them.

Under duress and bribery, three villagers, terrified, had no choice but to pay money to ensure their safety.

"These pigs are so easy to scare. Is it just those few poor bastards from the Duan family left?" Erbazi waved the silver in his hand, his sinister and cunning face almost overflowing the sky.

Black Cat nodded: "That's right, these poor bastards have almost been squeezed dry of their coffin money, and this is all they have. It's not enough for you, Scarface, to live a carefree life."

"Our Wolf Stronghold is weak now, many brothers have died, and I see the rest are starting to prepare to flee. How about we take advantage of the Golden Leopard Gang not completely taking over this area and raid the mountains?"

In areas where the government's control is weak, gang changes are very common.

Just as Wolf Stronghold crushed the once-powerful Snake Stronghold, the Money Gang has now suddenly appeared, and with its many skilled members, it has directly defeated Wolf Stronghold.

Therefore, every leader of the Wolf Stronghold was thinking about making a fortune before leaving Snakehead Gully, since whether those lowly people could survive was none of their business.

Unfortunately, the people of Shetougou were recently exploited and are now penniless, which greatly displeases the leaders of Langzhai.

Upon hearing that he could retrieve a book from the mountain, Erbazi was immediately tempted.

Because the villagers could only make money by hunting, Wolf Village had designated a hunting area that belonged only to them.

But after all, there weren't enough people, and the mountain was too big.

Most importantly, after collecting the incense money each time, they would drive the prey out of the designated area.

Let those hunters once again serve as free labor, killing prey and waiting for you to reap the rewards.

Now, waiting for the prey to be converted into money is probably too late. It's better to do it ourselves and maybe we can pick up some more valuable prey directly.

"Very good, you're quick-witted, kid. Now that Shiba Inu is dead."

  

Once this crisis is resolved, the position of Fifth Leader will undoubtedly be yours. I will definitely put in a good word for you with the First Leader.

The black cat immediately bowed and clasped his hands in thanks: "Thank you, Scarface! Thank you, Scarface!"

People die for wealth, birds die for food. The two of them cherished their lives greatly, afraid of missing out on today.

Tomorrow, Snakehead Village will be occupied by the Golden Leopard Gang. Braving the wind and snow, they will head straight into the deep mountains.

As darkness fell, the snow intensified, howling and roaring like a drumbeat, causing the snow on the trees to fall rapidly.

The two looked left and right, and finally saw a sika deer convulsing under a tree with a red headband tied to it for some reason.

Sika deer are worthless, but the pale purple sables next to them are valuable. Wolf Village controls the fur trade in this area.

The wealthy people in the county loved to use sable fur to make clothes, which could often fetch 10 taels or even more.

"Hmph, these lowly people actually have such skills, able to hunt down rare sables."

"Luckily we arrived in time. If they had taken it, your hands would have gotten dirty, Scarface!" Black Cat said with a fawning smile. "Please wait here, I'll go get it for you, Scarface."

Two-Scarface nodded in satisfaction. The black cat curled up into a ball and quickly rushed towards its two prey.

Just as they approached the sable—

As if sensing something, his feet leaped with all their might, jumping a great distance.

"Click!"

The spot where they had just stepped suddenly slammed shut with a trap.

But before the black cat could catch its breath, it heard a whoosh behind it, and something came flying through the air.

The black cat was so fast that it only had time to turn its head before the sharp object pierced through its knee.

"what!"

The black cat let out a bloodcurdling scream, lost its balance, and stumbled to the ground, only to be met with two more clattering sounds.

His hands were pierced by two traps with sharpened bamboo.

The black cat instinctively rolled over, but accidentally pushed aside a rock, and a thin thread was seen being pulled swiftly from the ground.

call out!

Right above his head, another long wooden arrow came hurtling down.

It pierced directly through his skull and into his brain.

He was convulsing.

He reached out his hand as if to ask for help, but less than three seconds had passed.

His breath had weakened to the extreme; no part of his body throbbed anymore, and he was no longer breathing!

Hot blood splattered or spread out in large patches.

It falls on the snow and melts quickly.

But within seconds, it was quickly covered by a blanket of white snow.

Upon hearing the black cat's cry from a distance, Erbazi calmly surveyed his surroundings.

Once you've confirmed that no one else is lying in ambush, you should follow the black cat's footsteps to rescue it.

However, the series of events that followed seemed far from accidental to him.

So he ran away without looking back.

call out!

An arrow grazed his scalp as he passed by.

Erbazi immediately broke out in a cold sweat: "Damn, that was close! If I had gone to save Black Cat, I would have been shot dead!"

But it was precisely because of this arrow that he was absolutely certain that the black cat had been shot to death, and that there were other people around.

"Whether you're a hero or a coward, step forward."

Could he be a member of the Golden Leopard Gang?

"Then you've hit the wrong person. I've come here to seek refuge with you." Erbazi said, feigning weakness and admitting defeat.

But he had calmed down, but the snow was too heavy and the visibility was too low, so he couldn't see anything and could only strain his ears to listen carefully.

Then, he quickly rolled to the side, but this time it wasn't arrows that were shot at him, but two stones.

Erbazi roared menacingly, "You bastard, you dare to play me! Come out here!"

Just then, a strong wind blew up, and heavy snowflakes pelted Erbazi's face.

He quickly thrashed around a few times, and when he came to his senses, he realized that he was lost because the surroundings looked too similar.

The footprints they left behind were all filled in by the heavy snow.

It was at this moment that Erbazi panicked.

Of course he was afraid of death. He was a person whose martial arts foundation was extremely poor, and he couldn't even reach the level of Ming Jin. He was afraid of death more than anything.

"Brother, stop hiding, I've seen you."

I don't care what grudges you have against me, but killing me won't do you any good.

I am the fourth-in-command of Wolf Stronghold. If it's for money, I've left it here. Farewell!

After saying that, he stood there for a good ten seconds, making sure there was no movement, then a slight smile appeared on his lips: "As expected, it's all about making money..."

However, the last note had not yet faded.

With a whoosh, a wooden arrow flew in from the side at an extremely tricky angle.

Click!

The wooden arrow shattered his leg bone and pierced his knee.

"Ouch!" Erbazi cried out in pain, his veins bulging. He grimaced and, not caring whether it was the way up or down the mountain, limped toward a spot with big trees.

He carefully watched his step, convinced he wouldn't step into a trap, but behind him were wooden arrows mixed with stones.

It constantly interfered with his judgment.

Finally, just as the second stone hit the big tree on the left, Erbazi was terrified.

He slipped and fell to the ground. His dirty urine melted a large patch of white snow from between his legs.

"Please, let me go! Please!"

As expected, both the stones and the wooden arrows ceased their attack. Erbazi gradually regained his senses and tried to get up, but...

"Aaaaaaah!"

The agonizing cries of agony echoed rapidly through the empty forest.

The snow on the trees was so startled that a lot of it fell down.

Only then did Erbazi realize that the man had no intention of letting him go, but was simply watching him crawl to another place to be tortured.

The bamboo trap wouldn't kill him outright, but it would inflict him constant pain until he bled to death.

"Hey!" After some time, Erbazi heard someone calling him from above and thought it was reinforcements.

But when he looked up, he saw a face that made his jaw drop – the most useless and good-for-nothing member of the Duan family, Duan Xuan!

"Scarface, I'm here to save you!" He pulled the longbow to its fullest extent, aiming the incredibly sharp arrow at Scarface's forehead.

Hey!

With calloused hands, he loosened the bowstring, and the wooden arrow shot out, instantly piercing Erbazi's head.

This was Duan Xuan's first time killing someone, but there was no emotion in his eyes, and his expression remained calm.

He knew that these people deserved to die, that they had to die, and that as long as they lived, he and the world would not be at peace.

He had waited a long time for this opportunity, and Duan Xuan was certain that these greedy fellows who were busy running away would be so greedy as to target the hunters' last means of survival.

So every night when he went hunting, he would set up several new traps. If anyone stepped on one, he would inevitably be caught in a series of traps!

After stealing their money, Duan Xuan used a stone he carried with him to smash their faces and their wounds.

Even the most skilled healer couldn't determine what weapon had killed him; he simply found a deep pit and left it to be covered by the heavy snow.

He didn't forget to take the sable that he had finally managed to catch, leaving only the sika deer behind.

They then moved a series of traps and hid the sika deer in a different location.

After navigating winding paths and dodging several times, Duan Xuan found no one else on the way and quickly returned home.

Seeing my mother sitting quietly on the kang (a heated brick bed) knitting fur, my anxious heart suddenly relaxed...