Normally, when a hunter misses with a shot of buckshot, they won't fire a second shot in a short span of time. This was why Ning Jie listened for any movement from Second Uncle's direction the moment he fired his first shot.
Usually, firing two shots in rapid succession meant Second Uncle had run into a big animal, and it was clear the second shot had used a single-slug round, given the noticeably sharper sound.
As Ning Jie ran, he loaded a single-slug round into the chamber. Dahei was already long out of sight, barking furiously as it ran.
Ning Jie felt a pang of uneasiness in his chest. Second Uncle cherished his dogs and had only brought Dahei along; if Second Uncle had brought even one more dog, they could have bought some time to maneuver.
The two of them were about two Li apart—roughly a kilometer. That one-kilometer stretch through deep snowbanks was not something you could cross in three to five minutes.
Panting heavily, Ning Jie heard Dahei's murderous snarls.
They had made contact!
There were still quite a few big beasts left in these mountains. With bears holled up for the winter, that left only Northeast Leopards, Northeast Tigers, and Ancient Boars.
Ordinary wild boars would take off running the moment they saw a person; only elderly Ancient Boars or boars that had previously been shot would turn on humans.
Judging by Dahei's reaction, it probably wasn't a huge beast. If it were, Dahei's cries would carry that provocative tone meant to draw the opponent's hatred and lure them away—he had done this exact thing in similar situations before.
"Second Uncle, you alright?"
Ning Jie shouted at the top of his lungs as he ran; he needed to make sure Second Uncle was safe first.
"Dammit, ran into a Mountain Lynx. Almost got gutted by the bastard."
Ning Jie's heart tightened. Mountain Lynxes generally didn't attack people; they would bolt the moment they laid eyes on a human. This one had probably been wounded by another hunter previously, or it wouldn't have initiated an attack.
Mountain Lynxes were also known as lynxes, and there were quite a few of them around these parts. They grew quite large; years ago, Second Uncle had seen one about 1.3 meters long, nearly the size of a grown dog.
Moreover, these creatures were formidable fighters. Some people called them wolf-cats, and an ordinary dog stood no chance against one in a one-on-one fight.
Some clueless people on the internet claimed Mountain Lynxes were leopard cats, but the two were nothing alike. To put it bluntly, a single Mountain Lynx could easily take on two or three dogs, let alone small creatures like leopard cats.
Back in the early 2010s of his past life, there were still news stories about Mountain Lynxes wandering into people's yards and killing dogs, which was proof enough of their ferocious nature.
"Second Uncle, you're not hurt, are you?"
They were about to reach the foot of the mountain, where Second Uncle was stationed just below the slope at Erydengtai—a narrow, terraced flatland formation on the mountain.
"Nah, I scrambled up a tree. Before it could climb up, Dahei showed up."
Ning Jie breathed a sigh of relief. As long as he wasn't hurt, that was what mattered.
Reaching the base of the mountain, Ning Jie looked down and saw Dahei locked in a fierce struggle with the Mountain Lynx.
Dahei was an exceptional hunting dog, carrying half-wolf ancestry, making it both smart and fierce. The Lynx was a little over a meter long, making it quite a large specimen.
Ning Jie dropped down smoothly, sliding all the way down the slope, and raised his hunting rifle to fire a shot into the air.
"Bang!"
At the sound of the gunshot, the Lynx instinctively flinched. Dahei, well-accustomed to hearing gunfire every day, seized the opening and clamped its jaws onto the back of the Lynx's neck.
The Lynx had very thick fur; against an ordinary cat, Dahei's bite would have snapped its neck instantly, but this creature suffered no fatal injury.
With a violent twist of its body, the Lynx raked its claws across Dahei's hide, leaving several bloody gasps.
Dahei released its grip and bolted, while Ning Jie had already chambered his second round.
The Lynx let out a yowl and gave chase. Ning Jie steadied his rifle, aimed for the Lynx's neck, and pulled the trigger.
"Bang!"
The bullet grazed past the Lynx's neck and missed. Failing to land the hit, the Lynx whirled around and charged straight at Ning Jie.
Ning Jie hurriedly reloaded. The Lynx sprinted ahead, with Dahei yelping in pursuit behind it, while Second Uncle leaped down from the leaning-trunk tree and picked up his dropped hunting rifle to reload.
The creature moved at lightning speed across the snow. Its wide paws acted just like snowshoes, covering a distance of several hundred meters in mere seconds, closing the gap by dozens of meters.
Holding his breath, Ning Jie raised his hunting rifle and fired once more.
In the nick of time, the Lynx leaped sideways, and the bullet struck it squarely in the hind leg.
Blood splattered as the Lynx let out a shrill, miserable howl and rolled across the snow. Before it could even struggle to its feet, Dahei lunged forward again.
Second Uncle was holding his gun but couldn't offer much help for the moment; advanced age meant his reactions weren't quite what they used to be.
Dahei wore a thick cowhide collar around its neck—something Ning Jie and the others had custom-made for it, studded with numerous five-centimeter screws specifically to prevent smaller predators from biting clean through a hunting dog's neck.
Driven to a dead end, all of the Lynx's animalistic fury was ignited. It swiped a paw across Dahei's face, clamped its jaws onto Dahei's neck, and used its momentum to pin Dahei to the ground.
The screws dug deep into the Lynx's mouth. Blinded by bloodlust, the Lynx refused to let go, blood bubbling continuously from its jaws.
Dahei, driven to a frenzy of its own, braced its hind legs and kicked furiously against the Lynx's belly.
With great effort, it managed to shove the Lynx away. Taking advantage of the Lynx's injured hind leg, Dahei lunged back in with bloodshot eyes.
By now, both the Lynx and Dahei were injured, with the Lynx taking the worse of it. Second Uncle's first shot had been buckshot; although the Lynx had dodged most of it, several small holes were still bleeding across its body.
Nature knew no mercy. Dahei and the Lynx were each other's prey, and once they met, it was a fight to the death.
To talk of mercy with a hunting dog was absolute nonsense; strike while the enemy is down was a hunting dog's pure instinct.
The two beasts scrambled back to their feet at the same time. With one leg crippled, the Lynx simply couldn't match Dahei's speed.
In that fraction of a second, Dahei moved like a streak of black lightning, clamping its jaws straight onto the Lynx's windpipe.
Dog and cat rolled together into a tangled mass, staining the snow with their blood. The Lynx clawed frantically at Dahei, but Dahei made not a sound, sinking its teeth mercilessly into the Lynx's throat and refusing to let go.
Second Uncle and Ning Jie could only watch helplessly as the two beasts rolled around in the snow, entirely unable to help.
Two minutes passed before the Lynx finally stopped struggling, its jaws parting to emit weak, breathless whimpers.
Neither Ning Jie nor Second Uncle stepped in to deliver a finishing blow; this was Dahei's own prey.
After five minutes, the Lynx's chest stopped rising and falling. Dahei loosened its grip, staggered to its feet, and wagged its tail at Second Uncle and Ning Jie, letting out a series of soft whines.
Heart aching at the sight of Dahei looking like a blood-soaked gourd, Ning Jie reached out to stroke its head and promptly unbuckled its spiked collar.
The cowhide collar was pierced with four small holes and still clung with bits of bone fragments, but fortunately, Dahei's injuries were only skin-deep and would heal after a period of rest.
Pulling out medicinal powder, Ning Jie dusted it over Dahei's wounds. Dahei whimpered in pain, yet it didn't budge an inch.
Second Uncle clamped a cigarette between his lips, prodded the Lynx's carcass with his boot, and muttered to himself, "No wonder this bastard dared to tangle with me."