Chapter 392 - 326: The Dogs Slipped
Zhao Jun was walking all four dogs on leashes. The moment Big Fatty barked, the other three started to pull as well.
Even with just Big Fatty pulling, Zhao Jun had to strain to hold on. Now that all four dogs were pulling at once, how could he possibly keep them in check?
Zhao Jun separated the four leashes in his hand, gave the leftmost one a tug, and unclipped the chain. Flower Cat shot out immediately.
The dog was incredibly fast. Before Zhao Jun could even release Hua Lang, Flower Cat was already three or four meters away.
But he wasn’t the lead dog; his earlier barking was just him joining the commotion. With no lead dog to guide him, Flower Cat trotted over to a tree, lifted his hind leg, and squirted a stream of liquid onto the trunk.
Zhao Jun saw this but didn’t pay it any mind. Hunting dogs were like that—it was normal for them to even step on their master’s heels.
Zhao Jun released the other three dogs one by one. Hua Lang and San Pang, just like Flower Cat, milled about nearby, but Big Fatty took off, running over hills and ridges.
Zhao Jun followed after Big Fatty. Wherever he passed, the other three dogs kept their distance. These were new dogs, still unfamiliar with him. They knew they were out with Zhao Jun, but they were unwilling to get too close.
Zhao Jun paid them no attention and just kept walking forward. After about ten minutes, Hua Lang and Flower Cat had already run out of sight.
Only San Pang trailed behind Zhao Jun, the man and dog always maintaining a distance of about five meters.
Zhao Jun ignored him, too, not even trying to look for Flower Cat and Hua Lang.
Just then, San Pang, who had been following Zhao Jun, bolted forward, heading straight for Gangjiansi.
Then, a commotion came from the woods. Flower Cat and Hua Lang burst out from the trees, both of them chasing after San Pang.
By the time Zhao Jun made it to the top of Gangjiansi, he could hear barking carried on the mountain wind. From his high vantage point, he still couldn’t see the four dogs, but he followed the sound, step by step.
Before Zhao Jun had even started up the ridge, Big Fatty had already scattered a sounder of wild boars.
There were seven boars in the group: one cannon eggs, one sow, and the rest were yellow-haired ones weighing about a hundred pounds each.
Big Fatty charged over and met the cannon eggs head-on, the dog and the boar instantly locked in a standoff.
"WOOF! WOOF..." Big Fatty opened his mouth and barked at the cannon eggs. It was these two barks that successfully drew San Pang, Flower Cat, and Hua Lang over.
But just as Big Fatty barked, the cannon eggs turned and ran. Unexpectedly, the moment the cannon eggs fled, Big Fatty also turned and ran, heading straight for a Little Yellow to the east.
This was utterly baffling!
Normally, when a hunting dog charged a group of boars, it would chase whichever one it saw first.
Big Fatty, on the other hand, seemed to be bullying the weak and fearing the strong.
But if Zhao Jun had been there to see it, he would have definitely understood what was going on.
But at this moment, Zhao Jun hadn’t even finished climbing Gangjiansi.
Chased by Big Fatty, one of the Little Yellow boars squealed frantically. It was fast, no doubt, but it was no match for a dog’s speed.
But after chasing the Little Yellow for over three li, Big Fatty suddenly stopped.
The Little Yellow vanished in a cloud of dust, while Big Fatty stood his ground, panting with his mouth wide open as he watched it disappear.
Just then, sounds came from the gully below the ridge—the barking of dogs and the grunts of a wild boar.
Big Fatty went down into the gully and saw the other three dogs surrounding a sow. The sow weighed just about two hundred pounds and was repeatedly charging, trying to break through their encirclement.
Interestingly, though the three hounds had it surrounded, none of them moved in to attack or bite.
This pack of dogs was something else, each one more cunning than the last.
But Big Fatty was the lead dog, after all. Seeing the boar cornered, he lunged forward, clamped his jaws onto its snout, and yanked it down hard.
The moment Big Fatty made his move, the other three dogs sprang into action in unison, biting the boar on various parts of its body.
Then came the sound of a sharp bark and the boar’s agonized squeal.
These sounds reached Zhao Jun’s ears, invisibly urging him to hurry on.
Zhao Jun, meanwhile, was in a bit of a bind. When he’d left home, he never expected Du Chunjiang to give him dogs, let alone that he’d end up hunting.
’I was just thinking about safely digging up those two stalks of Ginseng, then scouting around Elder Anzi to plant a few more.’
But right now, Li Baoyu was probably already waiting at Elder Anzi, while over here, the four dogs had taken off after who-knows-what. This truly made Zhao Jun let out a helpless sigh.
He had no choice. Zhao Jun could only go after the dogs.
As he ran, Zhao Jun prayed silently, hoping the four dogs would successfully take down their prey.
It wasn’t that Zhao Jun was greedy for the kill. Rather, if the dogs cornered their prey, they would get tied up fighting it.
But if they failed to corner it, the four dogs could scatter while chasing the animal and might get lost for good.
Zhao Jun stood at the bottom of the slope, listening to the barking from above. The sound moved south, then west. ’They must have something surrounded, but they haven’t pinned it down yet.’
With a moving quarry like that, Zhao Jun would just get led on a wild goose chase if he went up. He waited until the barking stopped and held steady to the south before he started running up the slope.
On the slope, the four dogs had a sow of about two hundred pounds surrounded. Flower Cat and Hua Lang were hanging off the boar’s ears, one on the left and one on the right, while San Pang had his teeth sunk into the boar’s Haraba.
Big Fatty was the most ferocious, biting the boar’s snout and, together with Flower Cat and Hua Lang, forcing its head down to the ground.
The sow’s hindquarters were arched high as it constantly twisted its back and rump, stubbornly continuing the stalemate with the four dogs.
By the time Zhao Jun arrived, the four dogs and the boar had already been locked in this stalemate for nearly half an hour. Zhao Jun got close, but he was at a loss for what to do.
He hadn’t brought a gun or his Invasion Blade. He did have a small knife in his satchel, but the blade, including the handle, was only about a hand’s span long. It was fine for gutting and skinning, but useless for stabbing a boar.
Looking at the sow’s position, it wouldn’t be impossible to get a big stick and shove it up its rear.
But the trees to his left and right were, at their thinnest, as thick as a large bowl. Forget whether a stick that thick could even be shoved in; the key problem was that the small knife in his hand couldn’t fell a tree like that.
Zhao Jun scanned his surroundings and spotted a fallen larch log, about three meters long and as thick as a bowl.
That saved him the trouble of felling a tree and trimming the branches, but at about three meters long, Zhao Jun couldn’t swing it.
Over there, the four dogs held onto the boar, circling endlessly like donkeys turning a millstone.
On his end, Zhao Jun propped one end of the larch club against a large nearby locust tree, picked up a huge rock, and smashed it down onto the club’s unsupported midsection.
After several strikes, there was a loud CRACK, and the larch club broke in two. One piece was about a meter and a half long. Zhao Jun picked it up, hoisted it onto his shoulder, and headed for the boar.
The boar’s head was pinned to the ground by the four dogs, so it didn’t even see Zhao Jun approaching with the club.
But the four dogs all saw him!
Zhao Jun had no time for anything else. Bracing it against his shoulder, he put all his strength into his arms and swung the club straight at the back of the boar’s head!