Chapter 366 - 304: Leopard
"GACK... GACK..."
On the mountainside, a roe deer was struggling in its death throes, letting out a series of miserable cries. The sounds were a mixture of pain and terror.
The pain was from its grievous injuries, but the terror was from the sight of Zhang Yuanmin and Chen Dalai.
But right now, neither of them was paying it any mind. They were both staring in the direction the beast that had mauled the roe deer had gone.
After muttering, "All spotty and sleek," Chen Dalai continued, asking Zhang Yuanmin, "Was that a damn Wild Leopard?"
Chen Dalai was so worked up that he started cursing.
"Wild Leopard" is a piece of Northeast slang. It actually refers to the Northeast Leopard or the Far East Leopard, more commonly known as the Golden Leopard. In the Northeast, it’s the second-largest feline after the Northeast Tiger.
It was said that back in the day, when Chen Dalai’s father was still hunting, there had been three leopard dens in these mountains. But there hadn’t been a trace of them for twenty or thirty years now.
Growing up, Chen Dalai had only ever heard legends of the Northeast Leopard but had never seen one. He’d only caught a fleeting glimpse just now, so he wasn’t entirely sure.
"No!" Zhang Yuanmin shook his head immediately. "You saw wrong. That was a tiger cub."
"Didn’t look like one." Chen Dalai also shook his head. While he’d never hunted a Lynx himself, he had seen Lynx Fur from other people’s hunts and knew what they looked like.
So, Chen Dalai told Zhang Yuanmin, "A Lynx isn’t that spotty."
When he said "spotty," he was talking about the beast’s fur. The glimpse he’d caught had left a deep impression on him.
"What do you mean, ’spotty’?" Zhang Yuanmin scoffed. "You don’t know anything. A tiger cub’s coat is one color in winter and another in spring. Now that spring’s here, of course it’s gonna look all sleek and patterned!"
"Huh? No way..." Chen Dalai seemed convinced for a moment, but then he snapped back to his senses, gave Zhang Yuanmin a shove, and snapped, "Who are you calling ignorant? I started going up the mountains with my dad when I was seventeen! You know my dad, don’t you? He’s the famous Elder Chen Pao."
When addressing Hunters, adding "Pao" after their surname was the highest form of praise for their skill and marksmanship.
Hearing this, Zhang Yuanmin sneered, "Oh, give me a break. Your Uncle Chen’s so-called skills... ’Chen Pao’? More like ’Chen Misfire’!"
As soon as Zhang Yuanmin said this, Chen Dalai roared at him, "Get lost! You’re the one full of hot air!"
Zhang Yuanmin just chuckled. "Elder Chen, don’t be so salty. Can your Uncle Chen’s skills even compare to Xu Changlin, the Elder Xu Pao?"
The moment Zhang Yuanmin mentioned Xu Changlin, Chen Dalai fell silent. Some things you just couldn’t fake. All Hunters could talk a big game and claim they were the best.
But whether someone was truly skilled or not was obvious from their haul. The number of wild boars and roe deer Xu Changlin brought down in a single winter was far beyond what Chen Dalai’s father could ever compare to.
Seeing Chen Dalai go quiet, Zhang Yuanmin smiled and continued, "And he’s no match for my grandpa, that’s for sure."
"Who?" Zhang Yuanmin’s words left Chen Dalai completely baffled. "Wait, since when did you have a grandpa?" Chen Dalai asked.
"Elder Zhao Pao," Zhang Yuanmin said. Seeing Chen Dalai’s blank look, he explained before he could be asked, "Zhao Jun is my brother, right?"
"Yeah!"
"I call his dad ’uncle,’ so his grandpa is my grandpa."
Hearing this, Chen Dalai turned his head away and sneered, "You’re always spouting nonsense. Do they even know you? You’re just trying to latch on to their fame!"
"Never you mind about that," Zhang Yuanmin retorted, then walked over to the dying roe deer.
Seeing him approach, the roe deer stretched its neck and cried out even louder. Zhang Yuanmin reached behind his back with his right hand, pulled out his Invasion Blade, and stepped forward. He grabbed the back of the roe deer’s neck with his left hand and swiped the blade across with his right. A spray of fresh blood spurted out. The roe deer let out a final, mournful cry as Zhang Yuanmin pushed it, its head instantly hitting the ground. It convulsed twice, then went still.
Just then, Chen Dalai put away his gun, walked over, and drew his own knife to gut the roe deer. He scooped out the half-eaten entrails and tossed them aside.
After gutting the roe deer, Chen Dalai asked, "Should we just leave the roe deer here for now? Let’s go to that spot where you saw the Black Bear and set the snares."
"Let’s not." Zhang Yuanmin pointed back the way they came. "Let’s you and I go down, bring the snares up here, and set them around this spot."
"What did you say?" Chen Dalai was taken aback. "Aren’t we supposed to be trapping a Black Bear?" he asked hurriedly.
"What Black Bear?" Zhang Yuanmin shook his head. "I see a lot of roe deer here. Just help me set the snares around this area. If we catch any, I’ll give you a cut of the meat."
"Get lost!" Chen Dalai said angrily. "You spent half of yesterday spinning all that crap, then this morning you lied through your teeth to your wife, all just to come up here and trap a couple of roe deer?"
"Hey now, Elder Chen, what are you saying?" Zhang Yuanmin said with an apologetic smile. "My wife told me if I go after a Black Bear again, she’ll divorce me."
Chen Dalai was not letting it go. He yelled, "Then what were you thinking earlier?"
Zhang Yuanmin chuckled slyly and pointed at the roe deer. "Don’t be mad. How about this: you can have the roe deer. I don’t want it."
Chen Dalai stared at Zhang Yuanmin, huffed a breath through his nostrils, then strode over to the roe deer in two steps. He grabbed it by its two hind legs and started dragging it down the slope.
Zhang Yuanmin didn’t get angry. He followed Chen Dalai down the slope, and together they carried the wire snares they had left at the bottom back up. They then set the snares on three sides, ringing the entire mountainside with traps.
After setting the snares, Zhang Yuanmin shouldered his gun and headed deeper into the mountains. He didn’t go home. Instead, he followed a firewood trail all the way to the No. 77 Logging Camp.
He had worked at the No. 77 Logging Camp before and knew where the Log Pile Yard was, so he headed straight there upon entering the camp.
At that moment, Zhao Jun and Du Chunjiang were both at the Log Pile Yard, watching the workers load the trucks. Du Chunjiang was the first to spot Zhang Yuanmin as he approached.
Even though Zhang Yuanmin had only worked at the Logging Camp for less than a week, he was a well-known figure. The impression he’d made on Du Chunjiang was so strong that he recognized him instantly. He quickly nudged Zhao Jun and said, "Technician Zhao, your big brother is here."
"Huh?" Zhao Jun turned his head, and he too was surprised to see Zhang Yuanmin. After a moment, he hurried over to greet him. "Big Brother, what brings you here?"
Zhang Yuanmin nodded to Du Chunjiang over Zhao Jun’s shoulder, then said to Zhao Jun, "Brother, come with me. I have something to tell you."
"Okay."
Zhao Jun followed Zhang Yuanmin to a secluded spot. He watched as Zhang Yuanmin glanced around furtively before saying, "Brother, I was up in the mountains today hunt—I mean, setting snares for roe deer, and I ran into something. Guess what I saw?"
"A Black Bear?" Zhao Jun asked with a smile. In his eyes, his big brother was singularly obsessed with killing a Black Bear.
But in the next second, Zhang Yuanmin shook his head repeatedly. "Brother, I saw a leopard."
"What?" Zhao Jun was startled. ’Just yesterday I was telling Zhou Chengguo that a Northeast Leopard could cover dozens of miles in a single day without any trouble,’ he thought. ’I can’t believe one actually came all the way over here.’
’If that’s the case, didn’t Zhao Youcai make that trip for nothing?’
Seeing the faint smile on Zhao Jun’s face, Zhang Yuanmin assumed he was already thinking about the Leopard Skin and immediately said with a grin, "Brother, if you’re not busy, how about we go hunt it right now?"
"Well..." Zhao Jun turned and glanced back. He really didn’t have anything else to do at the Logging Camp, but there was one problem. He said to Zhang Yuanmin, "I can’t today. I didn’t bring my gun."
"I have one right here." As he spoke, Zhang Yuanmin swung the 16-gauge shotgun from his shoulder and held it out to Zhao Jun. "You take my gun. I’ve got ammo, too."
"This works." Zhao Jun took the gun, feeling a surge of confidence. Holding the weapon, he said to Zhang Yuanmin, "Big Brother, wait for me for a minute. I’ll go explain things, and then we’ll head out!"