Chapter 41

The scene Li Dongqiang had envisioned—the gorilla’s head exploding—did not come to pass. One cannot expect a rusted, homemade musket to perform as reliably as a well-maintained modern firearm. Li Dongqiang froze for a split second, then immediately began hammering the barrel of his gun, trying to clear out the gunpowder and iron pellets to reload. Watching from a distance, the Old Village Chief turned pale with terror. He let out a roar, fired his own weapon, drew the broadsword from his back, and charged toward the gorilla. The Old Village Chief surely knew that if a gun couldn’t hurt this massive beast, his sword would be useless, but Li Dongqiang was the only son of his family; he would sacrifice his own life to pull his boy from the jaws of death.