Finally, as the flashlight beam cut through the dark, Li Yuemin made out the scene before him.
Less than five meters away, a massive black bear resembling a small hill stood with its back to him. Its thick, blood-stained claws were pressing down on something, emitting a chilling, horrific sound of chewing.
At the sight, Li Yuemin’s heart hammered against his ribs like a beating drum—not out of nervousness, but from the thrill of an impending hunt. Ever since his rebirth, it had been a long time since he had faced such a colossal creature alone, and at such close range.
Although the dim environment inside the cave made it impossible for Li Yuemin to see the front sight of his rifle, years of military experience gave him the confidence to land a fatal headshot without relying on the sights.
With that thought, Li Yuemin dimmed the flashlight's beam while quietly retreating. Finding an optimal firing position, he steadied his aim at the bear's head and decisively pulled the trigger.
*Click.*
"Huh? Why does the sound of this gun seem wrong? Damn it, the weather is too cold—this piece-of-trash Hanyang Rifle jammed from the frost!"
"Awooo!"
As luck would have it, the sound of the bolt chambering a round alerted the bear. The enormous black bear sprang up with a heavy thud, the sheer force shaking loose the surrounding stones. Turning around, it glared with a pair of bloodshot eyes and lunged straight at Li Yuemin.
To make matters worse, a flying rock had just shattered the bulb of his flashlight. In an instant, total darkness swallowed the surroundings.
"Fighting a bear in the dark? Now this is thrilling!"
Li Yuemin's heart tightened at the sight, but his years of combat experience from his past life instantly calmed him down. Bears were notoriously called "blind bears" because of their poor eyesight; in the dark, they were practically half-blind.
Right now, both Li Yuemin and the bear were invisible to each other, forced to judge each other's precise locations entirely by the sounds of movement.
Years of special forces training allowed Li Yuemin to sense that the bear was directly ahead and to his left. Without a moment's hesitation, he kicked out hard at the Hanyang Rifle, sidestepped, and fired three rapid shots in the direction of his intuition.
"Awooo!!!"
Yet unexpectedly, after taking three hits, the bear's roars grew even more ferocious—anyone would have thought it had been pumped full of stimulants.
"What the hell? Did this bear practice the Golden Bell Shield or something? Why is it so tanky?!"
"Awooo!"
No sooner had Li Yuemin finished speaking than a foul-smelling gust of wind swept across the top of his head, and a massive paw weighing dozens of catties lunged straight at him.
"Shit!"
Seeing this, Li Yuemin twisted his body and dodged the attack just in time! The giant paw grazed right past his scalp. He could even feel the bear's sharp claws parting a few strands of his dark hair.
"Awooo, awooo!!"
Furious that Li Yuemin had dodged, the massive black bear let out a furious howl, raised its huge paw, and launched a second round of attacks.
By now, the bear had driven Li Yuemin into a dead end of the cave, leaving him virtually nowhere to advance and nowhere to retreat. Seeing this, Li Yuemin drew his hunting knife and lunged it into the bear's body.
However, because the bear's hide was thick and tough, taking the blade only elicited a brief groan of pain before it lunged at him again with its jaws wide open. In a flash, Li Yuemin and the bear were face-to-face, close enough to clearly see the bullet wounds puncturing the beast's flesh. His nasal passages were assaulted by a foul stench mixed with blood and rotting meat.
"Woof, woof!"
"Damn, good brother, you've got my back!"
At the very brink of disaster, a dark shadow lunged at the bear like an arrow released from a bow—it was Huzi. Opening its jaws wide, the dog clamped down with precision on the black bear's hind leg.
Stung with pain, the black bear turned and swiped at Huzi. But the alert black dog had already let go and leaped away, throwing the bear off its path toward Li Yuemin.
Taking advantage of the opening, Li Yuemin scrambled and crawled frantically toward the cave exit. Over his shoulder, he shouted at the top of his lungs to Huzi:
"Huzi, keep up!"
At the same time, he pulled a string of firecrackers from his pocket and hurled them at the bear.
*Crackling, snapping—*
Startled by the noise of the firecrackers, the black bear actually halted its advance. Seizing the moment, Li Yuemin bolted out of the cave in a flash.
In the blink of an eye, he had regained his composure, returning to his usual calm and steady self. Holding his hunting rifle with both hands, he prepared to deliver the fatal blow.
Moments later, Huzi dashed out of the cave right behind him, joyfully wagging its tail as it circled him. Seeing this, Li Yuemin couldn't help scolding:
"Hey, you little rascal Huzi, all that mess I just went through was entirely your fault. Who told you to act so rashly and just cause trouble for me?"
"Woof!"
Hearing this, Huzi let out a helpless shake of its dog head and spat out a mouthful of bear fur, clearly rejecting Li Yuemin's accusation. Its original plan had been to slip into the cave alone and lure the black bear out; who could have known Li Yuemin would misunderstand and charge in right along with it?
"Awooo!!"
At that moment, the frantic black bear finally burst out of the cave entrance. Covered in blood, its nose had been ruined by the explosion of the firecrackers, robbing it of its sense of smell. The bright light outside the cave blinded it completely, causing it to dart around blindly like a disoriented fly.
"See ya, Brother Bear. Have a safe trip, and happy anniversary of your demise!"
Li Yuemin's lips curled into a smirk. He took aim at the bear's head and fired effortlessly.
*Bang.*
Amidst a spray of bloody mist, the bear collapsed heavily to the ground like a collapsing mountain.
Li Yuemin did not immediately step forward. Knowing that bears sometimes played dead to lure hunters into traps, he calmly fired a few more rounds into the bear's heart and other vital areas.
Every part of a bear had value, especially the gall bladder, which was the most precious of all. However, a bear gall bladder had to be harvested immediately, or its quality would quickly degrade over time.
Confirming the bear was completely dead, Li Yuemin used all his strength to roll it onto its back, then made an incision across its abdomen with his hunting knife.
The bear's fat layer was extremely thick, and it took a tremendous amount of effort before Li Yuemin finally extracted the bowl-sized, dark-green, pear-shaped gall bladder.
Bear gall bladders were graded by quality into golden, iron, and vegetable grades, with the specific formation depending on the bear's diet and the hunting season. Judging by its coloration, this gall bladder was nearly of the iron grade.
"Good haul today. Huzi, go find me some branches!"
Li Yuemin pulled a piece of white cloth from his tunic and carefully wrapped the gall bladder inside. Considering he had to haul the massive black bear out of the mountains all by himself, he set to work constructing a makeshift sled out of the branches Huzi had gathered.
After some effort, he finally loaded his day's spoils onto the sled, gripped the pull rope tightly, and dragged the heavy load on his journey home.
The trip down the mountain was much easier than the climb up. In less than an hour, the man and the dog reached the village entrance.
"Woof, woof!"
The moment Huzi caught sight of the familiar village entrance, it bolted eagerly toward home. Seeing this, Li Yuemin hurried to stop it, patting its head:
"Huzi, don't go home yet. Come with me somewhere."