Chapter 186: Damn Magpies

Lin Heng pulled the compound bow out of its case. It wasn’t exactly convenient, but there was no other choice.

Old Man Gao reloaded his shotgun with a fresh round, and the two of them, along with the dog, headed forward.

Xiong Ba stayed behind Lin Heng, subdued and cautious. It had learned firsthand the power of human firearms and wasn’t about to charge ahead recklessly.

Even though the wild boar tracks were right in front of them, they followed the trail for another half hour without catching sight of the animal.

“Why did it suddenly start moving so fast?” Lin Heng asked, puzzled.

Old Man Gao looked ahead and said, “We’ll find it eventually. But this place is pretty far from our base. Hauling it back’s going to be a pain.”

Lin Heng nodded. That was exactly what he’d been thinking. It was way too far—dragging a boar all the way back would be brutal.

He was already starting to lose track of where they’d come from. Everything was blanketed in white, making it nearly impossible to tell directions. He made a mental note to buy a compass next time.

As they walked, a patch of thorn bushes blocked their path. It took them over ten minutes to detour around it.

Another ten minutes later, just as their stomachs started growling, they finally spotted signs of the wild boars.

They were standing on a slope surrounded by tall oak trees. Down in the ravine below, the boars were rooting around.

“Finally!” Lin Heng exhaled deeply, a mix of relief and excitement in his voice.

The boars were still quite far—at least seven or eight hundred meters away. But in the snowy landscape, their dark figures stood out like ink on paper.

They counted four boars in total, spread out with at least twenty or thirty meters between each. All of them were digging through the snow, foraging for food.

Dark soil and leaves had been turned up where they’d been rooting.

Lin Heng turned to Old Man Gao. “How do we take the shot from here?”

Snow made it easier to track prey, but it also made it harder for hunters to stay hidden. In the mountains, animals were already on high alert. In this snowy terrain, getting close was even more difficult.

In summer, you might get within fifty meters without being noticed. In winter, even from two hundred meters away, you could be spotted instantly.

Old Man Gao lifted his shotgun slightly. “I’ve got rifle rounds loaded. I just need to get within two or three hundred meters. You’re using a bow, so find your own position. Once you shoot, I’ll fire right after.”

“Are you sure? What if I spook them?” Lin Heng asked, a little worried.

Hunting alone was one thing, but when you were working with someone else, scaring off the prey felt like a major screw-up.

Old Man Gao waved him off. “Just do your thing. Time to show you what real skill looks like.”

With that, he led Lin Heng back the way they came. They couldn’t go straight down the slope—that would get them spotted for sure.

Old Man Gao took them over the ridge and down the other side, then circled around and began climbing up the ravine from below.

This spot was perfect—downwind and low ground. Ideal for a stealthy approach.

Lin Heng couldn’t help but be impressed. Old Man Gao really was a seasoned veteran. This kind of maneuvering was something he could definitely learn from.

If it had been up to him, he probably wouldn’t have found such a good route so quickly.

After climbing about seven or eight hundred meters, Old Man Gao signaled for them to stop.

He pulled Lin Heng close and pointed ahead. “The boars are about three hundred meters that way. I’m going to circle left and hide behind that big rock. You go right and use those bushes for cover. The best shooting spot is just behind those three green holly shrubs. We’ll hit them from both sides.

“No matter what happens, once I see you take a shot, I’ll fire immediately to guarantee at least one kill. Whether we strike it rich today depends on your skills.”

“Got it,” Lin Heng replied, feeling a little nervous. It felt more like a military operation than a hunt.

He set down his bow case, grabbed his compound bow and three arrows, and began silently creeping toward the target.

Xiong Ba was left behind with strict orders to stay put and not run off.

They moved in slowly, just as planned. Lin Heng had only gone about fifty meters when he looked up and saw that Old Man Gao was already in position.

“Damn, he’s fast,” Lin Heng muttered to himself, then kept moving.

Another fifty meters in, he was now about two hundred meters from the boars.

Closest to him were two smaller boars, each around a hundred pounds. The big one farther off didn’t interest them—old boars were tough and hard to chew.

“Caw! Caw!”

Just as Lin Heng was nearing the bushes, a few magpies suddenly flew in from who knows where, landing on a tree in the distance and squawking loudly.

Startled, Lin Heng quickly dove into the nearest bush for cover.

The boars were spooked by the noise and lifted their heads, alert. One of them even started moving away, as if it had sensed something was wrong.

Lin Heng glanced at Old Man Gao’s hand signal in the distance—it was the agreed-upon signal to attack immediately.

No time to curse the damn magpies, Lin Heng nocked an arrow and quickly aimed at a boar about 180 meters away.

This was his first time shooting at prey from such a long distance—and a moving target, no less.

He didn’t hesitate. Holding his breath, he focused and let the arrow fly.

The arrow traced a perfect arc through the air and, with a wet thud, pierced the boar’s abdomen, exiting through the other side. Most of the arrow’s shaft remained lodged in its belly.

*BANG!*

Almost simultaneously, a thunderous gunshot echoed through the ravine.

With that deafening boom, one of the boars collapsed instantly, motionless.

The other three bolted in panic. One of them left a trail of blood as it fled, staining the snow a vivid red.

“Woof! Woof!”

Xiong Ba, who had been holding back this whole time, finally let out a furious bark and charged after them.

Lin Heng stared in awe at Old Man Gao. The old man’s shot had been dead-on—a perfect headshot. The boar didn’t even get a chance to run.

“Not bad, huh? Nailed it from that far,” Old Man Gao said as he jogged over, giving Lin Heng a thumbs-up.

“You’re the real badass here, Grandpa. One shot, straight to the head. That’s insane,” Lin Heng replied with a grin.

Old Man Gao waved him off. “I’ve got a gun—it’s way easier than a bow. But you kept your cool and hit a moving target at that distance. Back in the day, you’d have been called a divine archer.”

As they chatted, they walked over to the fallen boar.

As for the one that ran off bleeding, they didn’t worry. With that much blood loss, it wouldn’t make it a kilometer. Xiong Ba could handle the rest.

Up close, the boar was a gruesome sight. The bullet had entered through the back of its head and exited through the left eye, which was now a mangled mess, blood gushing out.

Old Man Gao grabbed it by the belly and hefted it, estimating the weight. “This little boar’s not bad—about 120 pounds.”

“Not only do we have food for today, we’ve got more than enough,” Lin Heng said with a satisfied sigh.

No one had expected such a haul on their first day in the mountains.

Even just selling the meat would bring in over a hundred and thirty or forty bucks. For an average rural family, that was half a year’s income.

“I’ll bleed it out. You go after the one you hit,” Old Man Gao said with a smile, already stabbing the boar’s neck to start the process.

“Got it,” Lin Heng nodded.

He had wanted to teach that damn magpie a lesson, but the bird had already vanished without a trace.

Left with no other choice, he grabbed his bow bag and headed home, then followed the trail of blood to track down the other wild boar.

Though he hadn’t gone hunting in the mountains recently, he practiced archery every morning. That familiarity with the bow and arrow was the only reason he’d done so well today.

After walking about seven hundred meters along the valley, Lin Heng spotted the wild boar lying on the ground. Xiong Ba was already there, licking blood from its wound and drinking greedily.

The boar wasn’t dead yet. Its body twitched slightly, blood still gushing from the wound, and it was choking on its own blood. If the arrow had gone clean through, it might have fared better—but part of it had stayed lodged inside, hastening its death.

Lin Heng stepped forward and, without much hesitation, slit the boar’s carotid artery to let it bleed out. Xiong Ba rushed over, mouth wide open, and drank furiously.

This time, the beast drank to its heart’s content—so much so that in the end, it didn’t even want any more.

Once the blood had drained, Lin Heng hoisted the boar onto his shoulder and made a rough estimate.

It was a female, and lighter than Old Man Gao’s. Probably around a hundred jin, or about fifty kilos.

It felt even lighter than carrying his wife Xiulan, who weighed about 110 jin.

After checking his bearings, he carried the boar back into the valley.

“This one’s not bad either. Female boars don’t have that strong gamey smell—tastes better,” Old Man Gao said with a grin.

Lin Heng grinned back. He was genuinely satisfied—this kind of pork had the best flavor.

Then he asked, “Old Man Gao, should we head back now or…?”

It was already two in the afternoon, and he was starving.

“Let’s eat some dry rations, then head back,” Old Man Gao nodded.

“Alright.” Lin Heng took out the dry food he’d brought with him.

He had mostly packed biscuits—grabbed straight from the store. The snow had come down so suddenly that Xiulan hadn’t had time to prepare proper rations for him.

There was about a jin’s worth of biscuits. Tasty, sure, but not nearly enough to fill two grown men. At best, it just took the edge off their hunger.

After eating, Lin Heng took the initiative to carry Old Man Gao’s boar. “I’ll carry the heavier one. I’ve got more strength.”

“Alright,” Old Man Gao said with a smile.

They retraced their steps, slowly hauling the boars uphill and dragging them downhill.

It wasn’t until five o’clock that they finally made it back to camp.

Lin Yue and Li Baiquan had returned to the shelter around three in the afternoon. Unable to reach Lin Heng, they’d started working on building the shelter.

“Big Bro! Uncle! Come help carry this stuff!” Lin Heng shouted from a distance.

Hearing his voice, the two of them rushed out of the shelter toward him.

“What did you guys catch?” Lin Yue called out excitedly from afar.

Both of them were thinking the same thing—it had to be a bear. After all, the two had been gone the whole day.

“Not a bear—wild boars. We each got one,” Lin Heng replied with a grin.

Lin Yue stared at the two boars on the ground, dumbfounded. “Holy crap, you guys are beasts! First day out and each of you bags a wild boar? We’re gonna be rich!”

“Where’d you get them? Come on, spill it!” Li Baiquan urged, clearly stunned.

Then he added, “And what happened with the bear you were tracking?”

Lin Heng could tell his uncle was genuinely excited. Smiling, he said, “We’ll tell you everything once we eat. We’re starving.”

“Alright, alright. We’ve boiled some water. Let’s make some pickled veggie noodles and talk while we eat,” Li Baiquan nodded.

As they chatted, they picked up the boars and carried them over.

Back at the shelter, Lin Heng noticed it had been completely rebuilt.

Not only was the area expanded, but the roof had been reconstructed, and inside, they’d laid down dry grass to make beds.

Most importantly, they’d crafted a new clay stove with a chimney that vented most of the smoke outside.

“What do you think? Not bad, huh?” Li Baiquan said with a grin.

Old Man Gao gave a thumbs-up. “Not bad? It’s excellent.”

“Now it finally feels like a real camp,” Lin Heng agreed, nodding. The lack of smoke was a huge improvement—last night he’d been tearing up from all the smoke.

Li Baiquan shrugged. “We didn’t have much luck today—just caught two golden pheasants. So we figured we’d focus on building the shelter.”

Lin Yue gave a wry smile. “I had it even worse—didn’t catch a thing. Archery’s too damn hard.”

“No way, Big Bro, you should just buy a hunting rifle,” Lin Heng said, looking at him. His brother clearly didn’t have a knack for this.

He’d been practicing for a while but still hadn’t improved much.

“I’ve been thinking the same thing,” Lin Yue nodded. He was seriously considering getting a rifle.

“Water’s boiling—time for noodles,” Old Man Gao called out.

The noodles were done. They added some pickled vegetables they’d stir-fried at home, and it was ready to eat.

As they ate, Lin Heng recounted the day’s adventures to his brother and uncle.

By the time they finished eating, it was nearly dark. But a new problem loomed—what to do with the wild boars?

Lin Yue suggested, “Why don’t we just head home?”

Lin Heng shook his head. “No way. We can’t go home now. We’ll have to butcher them, salt the meat, and smoke it into preserved pork.”

He had come to the mountains to make serious money—one wild boar wasn’t enough to call it quits.

Old Man Gao nodded. “That works. Doesn’t matter where you smoke the meat—as long as it gets done.”

“Alright then, let’s sleep now and butcher them in the morning,” Lin Heng decided.

They hadn’t slept well the night before—no way they were staying up late to butcher pigs tonight.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

With the grass beds, it was already much more comfortable than the night before. And best of all—no smoke from the fire.

They slept soundly through the night. The next morning, they got up and began the butchering.

“We’ll have to burn the hair off,” Lin Heng said, looking at the two wild boars.

Without a big wooden tub to scald them, burning was the only option. Boiling water little by little would take forever.

Li Baiquan nodded. “Let’s build a rack from thick logs. That’ll make it easier to burn them.”

Everyone agreed. They chopped some green logs and built a sturdy rack. With a fire underneath, the rack wouldn’t burn through too quickly.

Then they all went to gather a huge pile of pine needles from under the pine trees.

They burned the boars inside and out, then scraped them clean with knives. The result was a layer of scorched yellow skin—not pretty, but hairless, which was all that mattered.

The snow had stopped, but there was no sun either. It was a bit cold.

The three of them worked the entire day and finally finished butchering the two boars by evening.

Lacking professional knives, they left the limbs whole as large hams, rubbed them with heavy salt, and set them aside to cure.

The rest of the meat was salted and smoked to make preserved pork.

Dinner that night was a feast. Lin Yue had dug up some wild yams during the day, and Lin Heng chopped up pork ribs with codonopsis root, yams, and chestnuts.

In addition to the rib stew, there was a big bowl of stir-fried pork—enough meat to eat to their heart’s content.

“Come on, time to eat!” Lin Heng called out.

Everyone gathered around eagerly.

(End of Chapter)