Reborn in 80: Starting with hunting in the mountains to get rich

There was something on the high branch, and all the hunters knew it because the hunting dogs were barking wildly.

Old Qin, the gunner, stared intently at Gao Zhi with his gun at the ready, very wary. He put down the jumping cat he had just shot from his cloth bag.

As the "King of Traps" in Changbai Mountain, Lao Qin sets traps as soon as he enters the mountains. His traps are all handmade wire loops, and they're extremely well-made. In just half a day, a leaping cat will fall into one of the large or small traps.

He had just put the lynx in its snare and casually put it in his cloth bag. Now he placed the bag next to a big tree and focused intently on the lynx that might appear high up in the tree.

Logically speaking, around 100 meters is the optimal distance for hunters to fire. Wild animals have an excellent sense of smell, and if they get too close, they'll run away at the distinctive scent of humans. Not to mention that such a large group of them are all carrying guns; the gunpowder smell would make even roe deer and red deer avoid them.

The mountain leopard has a better sense of smell and sensitivity than the red deer or roe deer. How could it tolerate the hunter's encirclement being so close? It would probably run away from a great distance. Getting within 100 meters is basically impossible.

The hunters raised their guns to aim, but the rustling sounds suddenly stopped, and the eerie forest made them feel very strange.

A newly recruited hunter named Zhang Jingguo whispered, "What if this thing jumps down from the tree and blinds us?"

Old hunter Wang Guochang spat and said, "How much can a mountain weasel weigh? Twenty or thirty pounds at most, it's just a small to medium-sized mountain animal. We have a semi-automatic rifle, so even if we miss it, there won't be any danger."

Everyone in the team shared this thought. If they could completely skin the mountain fox, that would be ideal. Even if the pelt was damaged, killing it would still be considered completing the forestry station's mission.

Suddenly a dark shadow darted out from a high branch.

The hunters' blood rushed to their heads, their eyes burned with excitement, and they raised their guns to fire.

boom! boom! boom!

Old Qin's team had a large number of hunters. Seventeen or eighteen hunters pulled the trigger at the same time, sparks flashed from the muzzle, and the intense gunfire shook the mountains and forests. The air was filled with the smell of gunpowder.

After a burst of gunfire, something fell to the ground with a thud, landing in the pine and snowy ground—it was a crow.

The hunters glared, and angry shouts and complaints rose and fell, with everyone cursing and swearing.

"Damn it! He's just a hairy beast."

"What's wrong? It's just a bird-dog, why is it making such a fuss? What's the head dog for?"

"Don't stop them. Whoever led this dog got angry if we said a few words to it and started giving us attitude. Haha."

The dogs were being scolded by the hunters and their owners, and they involuntarily shrank back.

Old Qin, the gunner, angrily kicked the pine tree and cursed, "Don't bring this dog into my team again, he's a menace! Now look what's happened, the mountain fox was scared away, and someone else got the freebie."

They made such a commotion that the mountain fox had already run away. If it were far away, even if he fired from a great distance, the difficulty of hitting it would increase several times over, and even if he managed to fire, he could only injure the mountain fox. It was already too fast to catch up.

The hunters were helpless.

The owner of the lead dog grabbed its collar, pretended to kick it, and sent the dog rolling on its back on the ground. He was furious and yelled, "You go out there every day trying to pick up girls, you know how to pick up girls, but you don't know how to fight a mountain fox. You filthy thing!"

The hunters and their hounds were about to turn away when suddenly a large lynx leaped down from a tall pine tree.

The sudden burst of gunfire startled the lynx, nearly causing it to fall from the tree. It quickly clung tightly to the branch, concealing itself, its eyes fixed on the few remaining prey in the dead of winter: the leaping cat in the cloth bag, and the forty-odd dogs.

There were just too many hunters. The leaping cat, which was originally eating the wolf cub's carcass in the tree, was terrified. It was unwilling to give up the wolf cub it had in its mouth, so it could only hide quietly in the tree. Little did it expect that the hunters would not only shoot at it and disturb it, but also release hunting dogs to threaten it. The lead dog bared its teeth and cursed the most nasty things.

The lynx pondered whether to kill the alpha dog before the hunter fired, and then attack the hunter. If it attacked the hunter first, it would scare the alpha dog away, and it would have no chance against the fearsome hunting rifle.

Suddenly, a shrewd and agile lynx leaped from a high branch of the pine tree, jumped onto the lead dog's back, bit its neck, and began to tear and violently shake it. Then, using the momentum of its downward lunge, it pinned the lead dog down by the throat and pounced on the nearest dog, Old Qin, with lightning speed.

Everything happened extremely fast.

The mountain raccoon is an incredibly agile and nimble big cat. If the speed at which a black bear can leap and pounce is something that can't be avoided, then the speed of the mountain raccoon is even more terrifying and leaves one with a lingering sense of dread.

The first dog let out its last whimper before its neck was bitten off.

Although hunting rifles are formidable, even the best hunter alone with a single rifle cannot hit a nimble lynx in the forest.

The mountain cat made a move to pounce on Qin Pao, but Qin Pao's eyes were sharp, and his speed was equally swift. He suddenly drew his dagger; there was no time to raise his hunting rifle, so he resorted to close-quarters knife hunting. Knife hunting requires not only momentum but also experience.

Qin Pao gripped the knife handle tightly with his right hand, aiming the blade upwards at the chest of the mountain fox as it pounced, intending to use the fox's speed to perform a sliding tackle that would rip open its belly.

The hunter was fast, but the lynx was even faster, turning in mid-air. Seeing the danger, the lynx opened its mouth and spewed out a foul stench. With a kick in mid-air, Old Qin turned, leaped onto his shoulder, grabbed his raccoon hat in its mouth, and scurried up a nearby tree.

Old Qin, the "King of the Longbai Mountains," carried three treasures: a raccoon fur hat, a sheepskin coat, and cowhide boots. The Longbai Mountains are bitterly cold, and the hunters there are very particular about their gear; without a raccoon fur hat to protect their heads, their ears would freeze off. Similarly, winter temperatures in the Xing'an Mountains plummet to -41 degrees Celsius.

Old Qin felt a chill run down his spine, followed by a cold sensation in his ears, and his raccoon fur hat vanished from his head. He opened his mouth and began to curse.

"Fuck you!"

The hunters in the group then aimed their shots at the lynx high in the tree. But the lynx was extremely fast, and the high branches were its dominant territory. The lynx darted from one treetop to another adjacent tree, darting swiftly through the dense forest, covering 300 meters in the blink of an eye, and hanging Qin Pao's raccoon fur hat high in the branches.

Old Qin, the gunner, had no choice but to steel himself, his head trembling with fear, and give chase with his gun.

At 300 meters, they were well past the optimal firing range, but the lynx was right in front of them. The hunters felt their adrenaline surge and their hearts pound. They raised their guns and fired at the lynx.

boom! boom! boom!

The forest was filled with the smell of gunpowder from the hail of bullets.

After being hit, the mountain fox quickly darted into the forest and disappeared.

Old hunter Wang Guochang shouted, "Qin Pao, shall we go after him?"

Old Qin, the gunner, stared intently at the raccoon fur hat perched high in the tree branch and cursed angrily, "Old Wang, you lead the team to chase after it! Damn it, we must shoot this cunning beast down!"

Wang Guochang led a pack of hunters and their dogs in pursuit.

The forest was dense, and the ground was covered with snow tracks. As long as the hunting dogs were fast enough, it would be a chase between the hunters and the mountain civets. If they could catch up, the mountain civets would be theirs. All the hunters were excited and eager to catch up with the mountain civets immediately and shoot them in the head.

Lin Hai was left with only Lao Qin, the gunner, his gray wolf cub, and four hunting dogs.

He looked up at the raccoon hat on the high branch and suddenly felt that the scene was familiar and ironic.

Damn! Isn't this just like when hunters worship the mountain god, they hang the prey's intestines on a high branch?

Hunters used to hang up small, pungent intestines to attract predators and slow them down. Now, the mountain weasel has become quite something, actually using the same trick to delay him.

Unfortunately, in the snow-covered forests where temperatures were below -40 degrees Celsius, his ears were so cold and painful without his raccoon hat. If he couldn't take off the hat and couldn't find another one to cover his head, he would either have to reluctantly descend the mountain or risk having his ears frostbitten off.

Caught in a dilemma, Old Qin, the gunner, was furious at the thought of his hat being ripped off, his lead dog dying on the spot, and the mountain fox not even getting a scratch. He cursed loudly.

"What the hell! This beast has become a monster."