Chapter 120 - 119: Eagle’s Cry in the Vast Sky
Zhao Wendong took it all in, feeling anxious about his future in-laws’ situation. It only strengthened his resolve to get them out of there for Lin Zhiyin as soon as possible. ’Even with Liu Haisheng and his men looking after them, this is no place to stay for long,’ he thought. ’It’ll be twenty years before things are truly stable again. They won’t last two years here, let alone twenty. It’s much better to have them close by where I can take care of them.’
"Don’t be afraid. The organization requires you to paint a picture of a tiger. The more realistic, the better. Just tell us what you need, and we’ll prepare it for you."
Wang Lulu was stunned. ’What is this about? Why are they suddenly asking me to paint?’
Zhao Wendong smiled and explained it to her.
"Please, go ahead and paint, Ma’am. A man-eating tiger has appeared recently. We need a picture of a tiger to find it and eliminate this threat to the people. By painting it, you’ll be performing a meritorious service and doing a good deed!"
"That’s right!"
Hearing Liu Haisheng nod in confirmation, Wang Lulu finally let out a sigh of relief. After a moment’s thought, she agreed and asked for a brush and paper. Fortunately, the farm kept these supplies on hand for writing propaganda slogans, and they were brought over quickly.
Everyone moved to another room with a large table. They cleared a space for Wang Lulu, helped her spread the paper on the table, and then waited quietly. Wang Lulu focused, closing her eyes in thought for a moment before picking up the brush.
The moment she picked up the brush, Zhao Wendong noticed a complete change in her demeanor. The timid, meek woman from before was gone, replaced by someone with the air of a great master.
SWISH, SWISH, SWISH...
The brush danced across the paper as the others watched, utterly mesmerized. In less than half an hour, a breathtakingly lifelike tiger had leaped from the page.
"Brilliant!"
The moment Wang Lulu set down her brush, Zhao Wendong was the first to applaud and cheer. The others quickly followed suit. Wang Lulu glanced at him, her eyes filled with admiration.
"How is it, Captain Zhao? Will this do?"
"It’s perfect! Let’s go. The sooner we leave, the sooner we’ll be back!"
Zhao Wendong rolled up Wang Lulu’s painting and stood to leave. Lin Zhiyin, who had understood what they were about to do, was deeply moved. Knowing that Zhao Wendong was doing all of this for her and her parents, she reached out, grabbed his arm, and whispered.
"Be careful. I’ll... I’ll wait for you!"
"Yeah, you got it!"
A brilliant smile bloomed on Zhao Wendong’s face. He responded happily, then politely said goodbye to Lin Zhiyin’s parents before hurrying off with Liu Haisheng and the others.
"Yinyin, tell us more about this Zhao Wendong."
"That’s right. You said that when he started liking you and helping you, he didn’t know what you really looked like, right? Tell us about that in detail."
Seeing her parents’ growing interest in Zhao Wendong, Lin Zhiyin knew exactly what it meant. She helped them sit down and continued to recount the details. As she spoke, she realized that Zhao Wendong had been the one doing everything for her, while she had actually done nothing for him in return. A new ripple of emotion stirred in her heart.
Zhao Wendong and the others went outside and unrolled the lifelike tiger painting for the Golden Roc to see. At first, Xiaojin was so startled it flapped its wings a few times, about to fly away. Then it realized it was just a paper tiger. It tilted its head, staring at the painting curiously.
"Xiaojin, go find it!"
"Find this tiger!"
Zhao Wendong pointed at the tiger in the painting, repeatedly giving Xiaojin the command, until Xiaojin’s voice appeared in his mind.
’Find it?’
"Yes, yes, yes! Find it! That’s a good boy, Xiaojin. Go on!"
Once Zhao Wendong heard the thought he was waiting for, he quickly patted its head to confirm. This was the rapport they had developed over the past few days of training. When Xiaojin confirmed the correct search target, Zhao Wendong would pat its head to show it was right. It had made a lot of mistakes at the beginning, but lately, it rarely got things wrong.
SCREECH—!
Xiaojin let out a sharp, long cry, its wings kicking up a fierce gust of wind as it shot into the sky. After circling twice, it flew off toward the deep mountains.
"Alright, let’s get going too. We’ll wait at the foot of the mountain!"
Although Liu Haisheng wasn’t entirely confident in Zhao Wendong, he personally led Chen Baoguo and five soldiers from the guard platoon. Along with Zhao Wendong and Zhou Mancang, they rode two of the farm’s horse-drawn sleds toward the nearby deep mountains. Zhao Wendong’s large brown horse was taken to the farm’s stable to be well cared for.
The Golden Roc in the sky was incredibly fast, shrinking to a small dot and disappearing in the blink of an eye. On the way to the deep mountains, Chen Baoguo handed Zhao Wendong a Type 56 semi-automatic rifle.
"Here, you can use this!"
Zhao Wendong accepted it with a polite nod and then skillfully began to inspect the rifle. Seeing how practiced Zhao Wendong’s movements were, Chen Baoguo gave him a thumbs-up.
"Captain Zhao, you really know your stuff!"
In his past life, Zhao Wendong had also owned a Type 56, so it was arguably the firearm he was most familiar with. He knew its performance inside and out.
About half an hour later, the group arrived at the foot of the mountain. Worried that Xiaojin wouldn’t be able to find them if it returned, they didn’t enter the mountain, waiting instead on the snowy ground outside.
"Captain Zhao, is this really going to work?"
Liu Haisheng had lost his composure as the farm director. On one hand, he felt the whole thing was a bit too fantastic. On the other, he felt that Zhao Wendong’s plan seemed very promising. If they could really find that tiger and solve this problem, it would be wonderful. With his hopes up, he couldn’t help but feel anxious and uncertain.
"Don’t worry. Trust me!"
Zhao Wendong smiled confidently, then pulled a pack of Grape cigarettes from his pocket and passed them around, not even skipping the soldiers. Once in the mountains, everyone was a partner who had to rely on each other. Building good relationships couldn’t hurt; it might even save your life at a critical moment.
The men huddled together to light their cigarettes and began puffing out clouds of smoke. Due to the popularity of dry tobacco pipes and the influence of their elders, very few men didn’t smoke back then; almost everyone did. Zhou Mancang took two puffs and couldn’t help but click his tongue in appreciation.
"This is some good stuff!"
"Haha, cousin, you can have the rest."
Zhao Wendong shoved the remaining half-pack at his cousin. He still had another unopened pack, so he might as well give it to his cousin if he liked them. Zhou Mancang didn’t stand on ceremony, happily taking them. He had figured it out over the past half-day: his younger cousin was a man of great ability. Being overly polite with him would only create distance between them.
After waiting for nearly another hour, just as Liu Haisheng was looking up at the sky for the nth time, Xiaojin finally returned. It abruptly folded its massive wings and landed steadily beside Zhao Wendong, who quickly took out a prepared strip of meat to reward it.
’Master, I found it.’
Hearing Xiaojin’s mental voice, Zhao Wendong’s face lit up with joy.
"It’s found! Let’s go! Into the mountain!"
RATTLE!
As soon as Zhao Wendong finished speaking, the soldiers all unslung the submachine guns from their backs. Zhao Wendong also took the Type 56 off his shoulder.
Leaving the two horse-drawn sleds and one soldier behind, Zhao Wendong had originally wanted Zhou Mancang to stay and wait as well. But Zhou Mancang refused. He was a part-time Hunter himself and didn’t want to miss such a rare opportunity to hunt a tiger.
"Fine, let’s go then!"
Seeing his insistence, Zhao Wendong nodded in agreement. He didn’t think there would be much danger this time. With six submachine guns plus his semi-automatic rifle, forget a tiger—they could shred a truck if one came at them.