My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 104 I was eliminating a pest

Zhou Jingming habitually took out two deer bullets from his pocket and sandwiched them between his little finger, ring finger, and middle finger. This was a bullet-changing technique he learned from hunters when he was on the Beidahuang farm, so that he wouldn't have to fumble for bullets in his pocket and distinguish between the bullet heads and tails in a critical moment, which would waste time.

For hunters, when facing ferocious beasts such as wild boars and bears, if they run out of bullets and still can't kill them, then the ability to quickly reload is closely related to whether they can save their lives; it's a race against time.

Zhou Jingming had specifically practiced this skill in the training ground in his previous life, mainly because he was living abroad and in a complex place like a gold mine, where he also needed to use a gun for self-defense.

Now that he has been reborn, this is not unfamiliar to him.

The five men were talking casually as they drew closer.

Having moved far from the Gold Rush Valley where they had been robbed, they felt there was no danger and relaxed, without even a hint of vigilance. Little did they know that right ahead, dark gun barrels were already aimed at their pre-arranged target.

Fifty meters...

Forty meters...

Twenty meters!
Twenty meters was the shooting distance that Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang had quietly agreed upon, ensuring accuracy while also providing a certain level of safety for themselves.

When they stepped across that drawn "red line".

Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang fired their guns almost simultaneously.

Bang…bang…bang…bang…bang…

Four gunshots rang out, with extremely short intervals between them.

Caught off guard, the five people used their flashlights to clearly mark their location.

Two people fell immediately after the first two shots rang out.

Of the remaining three, one was stunned for a moment, while the other two reacted quickly.

One of them picked up his gun and immediately fired in the direction of the gunshot. However, he was somewhat dazed for a moment and failed to pinpoint the location of Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang. He fired haphazardly without any accuracy.

The other one was so frightened that he immediately fell to the ground.

Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang followed with two more shots, and the man holding the gun and the two men who were standing there dumbfounded fell to the ground.

The man lying on the ground was terrified. He didn't care about anyone else anymore, got up, turned around, and ran away.

Zhou Jingming opened the chamber, tilted his head back and shook it, and two spent cartridge cases fell out. Then, with a flick of his fingers, he inserted one bullet into the chamber, followed by another, and fired.

This series of actions takes no more than two seconds.

"Bang... bang..."

Two more gunshots rang out, and the man staggered seven or eight meters away before being knocked to the ground.

Wu Yang looked at the last person who had fallen to the ground, then at the double-barreled shotgun in his hand that only had one bullet in it, and his lips twitched slightly.

He discovered that he was actually much slower than Zhou Jingming.

But now was clearly not the time to worry about such things. He busied himself loading bullets into his gun, snapped it shut, and aimed at the five men lying on the ground once more.

After firing those two shots, Zhou Jingming immediately ducked back into the small ditch, reached into his pocket to retrieve bullets, and only slowly poked his head out after he had replaced the bullets in his gun.

Seeing that two of the five people were still rolling and convulsing on the ground, they did not rush to approach. Instead, they stared intently at the group and waited for a while. Of the two who were still moving, one stopped struggling, while the other, who was not fatally injured, rolled and howled on the ground.

Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang exchanged a glance, then carefully walked out of the ditch, guns in hand, and slowly approached the five men.

Upon getting closer, they checked each of them and found that all four were dead.

The first two to fall and the one who was stunned had their heads covered in blood and gore from the deer bullets, while the one who was wildly firing back was hit in the neck by a deer bullet.

The one who finally got up and ran away is the one who is still alive. He was shot twice in the back. Although he is still struggling, he is not far from death.

Seeing him shouting incessantly, Zhou Jingming fired another shot, and the wilderness suddenly fell silent.

"Aren't those the two who were panning for gold along the river the other day?"

Wu Yang recognized two of them: "So, the gold rush was a pretense; their real purpose was to scout the location!"

"We both went to fight as guerrillas, to learn about the main river channel. Wasn't that scouting? It was the same thing!"

Zhou Jingming replied with a smile, "Hurry up and search our things, let's get back as soon as possible, we've been out long enough!"

He looked around and, seeing nothing amiss, slung the double-barreled hunting rifle over his shoulder and began searching himself.

Wu Yang also squatted down next to a corpse and carefully searched through it, even examining the clothes they were wearing.

Soon, everything was found.

Several small packets of gold were found wrapped in oil paper in the canvas bag carried by one of the men, and a small packet was also found on the other man.

Wu Yang also saw a gold tooth embedded in someone's mouth. He pinched it and shook it, and seeing that it was securely attached, he looked around, picked up a stone from the side and smashed it down. Then he pinched the mouth and took the gold tooth out.

In addition, some bullets and more than two hundred yuan were also found.

The looting is now complete.

Zhou Jingming packed all the gold, bullets, and money into a canvas bag and carried it on his shoulder. He bent down to pick up two hunting rifles and slung them over his shoulder, while Wu Yang carried the other three.

In the Gold Rush Valley, the more guns the better.

They already had five guns, and now with five more, their strength has increased significantly. When the time comes, they can simply bring them out without firing a shot, which will be quite intimidating.

Seeing that there was nothing left to take, the two did not linger and, taking advantage of the darkness, quickened their pace to return.

As for the corpses, the wild animals in the mountains will take care of them.

Even without wild animals, in this heat, it wouldn't be long before they were devoured by flies and maggots. "Brother Zhou, I always thought my marksmanship was better than yours, but seeing you today, I realize you're amazing! Your accuracy is just as good as mine, and you reload much faster!"

Wu Yang asked curiously, "Do you often practice shooting in the geological team?"

"When I was in the geological team, I would bring a few hunting rifles with me when I went out to explore the field for self-defense, but the main thing I did was exploration work. I was in the mountains all day long, either traveling or knocking and banging around. There was no time to practice shooting."

Zhou Jingming naturally couldn't tell him that his marksmanship mainly stemmed from his leisure time on the training ground in his previous life, but obviously no one would believe such a thing if he said it.

Of course, it wouldn't be hard for him to find an excuse: "Didn't I tell you that I was a sent-down youth on a farm in the Great Northern Wilderness and knew some hunters in the mountains? That's when I started training."

"It's impossible to practice shooting every day on a farm. Most of the time is spent working, so there probably aren't many opportunities to play with guns."

"Would you believe me if I said I was exceptionally talented?"

Wu Yang glanced at Zhou Jingming and nodded seriously: "I believe it! That's the only way. I've seen talented people back in the brigade."

We've all worked so hard to develop our marksmanship, and some people, even those who've never held a gun before, can pick it up and fire with accuracy just as good as us after a little instruction. Their feel for the gun is unbelievable, but it's true.

Zhou Jingming smiled and didn't say much more about the issue that Wu Yang had justified himself on.

The two walked very fast along the way, and did not retrace their steps.

This was originally the mountainous area behind the Gold Rush Valley. We followed these five people upstream for quite a distance, and when they left, they headed downstream.

Zhou Jingming hadn't gone far before he realized that his current location wasn't too far from the small rocky cliff where he hid his gold and the place where he picked up the asafoetida mushrooms.

The two chose to follow the familiar path and soon arrived at the fir forest behind the dugout.

By this time, it was already broad daylight.

Looking down from above, on the small peninsula, diesel engines were churning and everyone was already busy.

The weather has become hot, with the sun blazing at midday, so people now prefer to work during the slightly cooler mornings and evenings.

Work starts early and ends late, but the lunch break is also extended considerably, so it's all the same.

Seeing that there were few people in the camp, Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang quickly went down.

Jinwang was still tied to the birch tree next to the dugout. Hearing the noise, he immediately got up and looked up at the top of the forest. After recognizing Zhou Jingming, he frantically wagged his tail and whimpered.

Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang had so many things on them and didn't want to be seen by more people, so they didn't care about them for the time being. They hurriedly crawled into the tent and immediately found a burlap sack inside the tent to wrap up the five guns and put them away.

Seeing that Zhou Jingming ignored it and stared at the tent entrance without moving for a while, Jinwang started barking wildly.

Hearing the barking of the dog, Peng Yuanchao, who was shoveling mud and sand into the chute, and several other people carrying materials on the small peninsula looked up at the dugout, thinking that someone had broken in.

Seeing that Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang emerged from the tent, Peng Yuanchao busied himself turning off the diesel engine, letting everyone continue digging and transporting materials, while he himself walked towards the tent.

Zhou Jingming came out of the tent and saw Jinwang barking at him. He quickly went over and untied the rope around its neck.

Even after gaining his freedom, Jinwang still seemed unsatisfied. He jumped to the side and barked incessantly at him until Zhou Jingming waved to him and called his name. Only then did it suddenly pounce on him, circling around him and trying to crawl between his legs, almost knocking him over.

Zhou Jingming quickly hugged it, scratched its neck, and patted its head a few times to comfort it. After a while, Jinwang calmed down a little.

Peng Yuanchao approached, looked around to make sure no one was watching, and asked tentatively in a low voice, "You've been back for so long, has it all gone smoothly?"

Zhou Jingming nodded slightly: "It's done."

Peng Yuanchao immediately grinned.

Taking advantage of the fact that everyone was away, Zhou Jingming called Peng Yuanchao and Wu Yang into the tent, and Jin Wang followed them in.

When Zhou Jingming took the small oil paper bags out of the canvas bag and placed them on the table, Peng Yuanchao was stunned: "So many!"

“These guys are too greedy. They robbed several mining sites along the way. Two hundred grams from one site, three hundred grams from another, that adds up to a lot.”

Zhou Jingming urged, "Brother Peng, hurry up and take out your little scales to weigh it and see how much it is. Wu Yang, you keep watch at the door and remind someone if they come."

After everyone moved out of the dugouts and into the tents, Peng Yuanchao's belongings were also placed in the middle tent.

He quickly took out the small balance scale and placed it on the table. While Zhou Jingming poured the gold into the scale, he busied himself putting weights into another small tray.

Before long, the total amount of gold was weighed: 1,823 grams.

Upon seeing the number, Peng Yuanchao grinned and said, "Damn, more than three jin... Sure enough, robbing people is the easiest way to get rich. This much gold, our little peninsula only produces about one tael a day. This is more than we could make in a month. If you ask me, we have the tools now, so let's just go rob some, instead of working ourselves to death here."

Zhou Jingming rolled his eyes: "I didn't rob you, don't talk nonsense. I was just eliminating pests and collecting some wages on the side."

Peng Yuanchao nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, yes... those guys are indeed a menace!"

"That's not all, there's also over two hundred dollars and five guns..."

Those guns will see the light of day sooner or later, Zhou Jingming said bluntly, anyway, these things can't be kept from Peng Yuanchao.

Peng Yuanchao laughed even more exaggeratedly, raising his hands and clenching his fists: "Ten guns... Now I want to see who dares to mess with us in this valley!"

"Let's talk about it, how are we going to divide this gold?"

Zhou Jingming raised the question, and the most agonizing moment arrived once again.

Peng Yuanchao looked at Zhou Jingming seriously: "Brother, I'm already a figurehead, so don't ask me about this. You can make your own decision!"

He paused for a moment, then turned to look at Wu Yang at the tent entrance: "Brother Wu Yang, don't you think so?"

Wu Yang nodded: "I agree, Brother Zhou, you can divide it however you want."

(End of this chapter)