Chapter 393 - 327: Misjudged
As the old saying goes, a dog is only as fierce as the master behind it.
Although they didn’t know Zhao Jun well yet, all four were hunting dogs with over two years of experience. Certain habits were already ingrained in them.
Seeing Zhao Jun rushing over with a large club, the four dogs, led by Big Fatty, knew it was time for the final showdown. They all heaved together, and with a loud SQUEAL, the wild boar’s front legs buckled, forcing it to its knees.
Its hindquarters froze, unable to twist left or right anymore.
Zhao Jun was an incredibly experienced hunter. The moment he saw the situation, he knew exactly what to do.
He quickened his pace, running toward the front half of the boar. As he got close, he mustered all his strength, swung the club, and brought it down hard on the boar’s spine.
If that blow had landed on the boar’s head or neck, the animal would have been finished.
But with Big Fatty latched onto its snout and Flower Cat and Hua Lang tearing at its ears, Zhao Jun couldn’t get a clear shot at its head or neck.
The club fell with a dull THUD. The boar thrashed its head wildly, letting out guttural ROARS as it struggled with all its might to get back up.
By now, the four dogs were blood-crazed. They tugged furiously at the boar, trying to force its head to the ground.
He saw Flower Cat pull back on an ear, creating an opening. Zhao Jun quickly gripped the larch club in one hand, pulled his knife from his pocket with the other, and plunged it into the soft spot behind the boar’s ear.
The blade went in and stayed in. Blood spurted out like an arrow. The boar’s struggles intensified, but the scent of blood only made the hounds more ferocious. No matter how it thrashed, they held it pinned firmly to the ground.
Zhao Jun swung the club again, striking the boar’s back several more times. Seeing the animal finally collapse, he stopped and stood aside.
After three to five minutes, the boar’s head rested limply on the ground, twitching faintly, but the four hounds only tore at it more fiercely.
Once the boar had taken its last breath, Zhao Jun propped the larch club on the ground. He then stepped forward, shooed the four dogs away, and rolled the boar over. He pulled the knife from its neck and began to gut it.
This was the first time Zhao Jun had hunted with these four dogs, and he wanted to build a good relationship with them. So instead of fobbing them off with the entrails like the intestines and stomach, he cut meat directly from the boar’s belly to feed them.
However, as he offered the first piece of meat to Big Fatty, he held the meat in one hand and a rope in the other.
When Big Fatty opened its jaws to snatch the meat, Zhao Jun slipped the loop of the rope over its neck. Before Big Fatty could react, Zhao Jun stuffed the chunk of meat into its mouth.
Then, with a tug on the rope, Big Fatty obediently followed Zhao Jun aside, still holding the meat, and was tied to a tree.
After securing Big Fatty, Zhao Jun went back to use another piece of meat to leash San Pang, repeating the process to tie him to a tree as well.
It was a necessary precaution. He was afraid that once the four dogs had eaten their fill, they would run off, and that would be a real problem.
As for trying to leash them while they were already eating, Zhao Jun didn’t dare. He’d just gotten these dogs; they weren’t fully bonded with him yet. If he tried that, he’d deserve to be bitten.
Once all four dogs were tied up one by one, Zhao Jun continued to cut and feed them meat. Only when all four were lying or sprawling on the ground with round, bulging bellies, not moving an inch, did Zhao Jun finally grab a handful of grass to wipe his knife clean.
He left the rest of the boar carcass there for now. Leading the four dogs, Zhao Jun went to find Li Baoyu. The encounter with the boar had delayed him by nearly two hours; Li Baoyu was probably going crazy with worry.
Along the way, the four dogs, stuffed to the gills, were much more docile as Zhao Jun led them back to where they had left the ginseng.
Before they even started up the slope, they saw the car parked by the road. Li Baoyu was pacing around it with his hands behind his back.
Seeing Zhao Jun approaching with the dogs, Li Baoyu hurried to meet him, shouting from a distance, "Brother, did you get lost?"
Before Zhao Jun could answer, Li Baoyu got closer and saw what was going on. He looked at Zhao Jun in surprise and asked, "What’d you run into? The dogs’ bellies are stuffed round."
"A wild boar," Zhao Jun said with a smile. "An old sow, around two hundred pounds. After we load up the ginseng, we’ll take a detour and drag the pig back."
"No way!" Li Baoyu circled the four dogs, admiring them. "These dogs are tough as nails. First fight in our hands, and they take down a boar."
"You bet." Zhao Jun was happy with how good the dogs were, too. He said to Li Baoyu, "I’ll give him this, Du Chunjiang actually did something decent for once. These dogs have a vicious bite."
As he spoke, he raised his right hand, which held the two ropes leashed to Flower Cat and Hua Lang.
Zhao Jun continued, "These two are ’pincer’ dogs. Their bite is really vicious; once they clamp down, they don’t let go."
But Zhao Jun didn’t know that earlier, when Flower Cat, Hua Lang, and San Pang had surrounded the sow, none of them had dared to make the first bite.
If it hadn’t been for Big Fatty, they’d probably still be in a standoff.
This was a trait of some pack dogs. They wouldn’t initiate the attack; they needed a lead dog to go in first before they would follow.
How could Zhao Jun know any of this? All he saw was that these dogs were all fierce.
"How’s the lead dog?" Li Baoyu asked, looking at Big Fatty, who was panting with his tongue out. "This Big-headed Dog must be pretty fierce, huh?"
"Ha! You hit the nail on the head!" The more Li Baoyu asked, the happier Zhao Jun became. He laughed and said, "This dog has incredible stamina. He chased that old sow for a good two or three miles."
"Really?" Li Baoyu was stunned. It wasn’t that he disbelieved Zhao Jun; he was just amazed at how outstanding Big Fatty was.
But of course, Zhao Jun had no idea that before chasing the sow, Big Fatty had given up on a Little Yellow after chasing it for just over a mile.
Then, it had heard dogs barking in a gully, turned around, and given chase again, a distance Zhao Jun had mistakenly calculated as a two- or three-mile pursuit.
How could Zhao Jun know all this?
Right then, Zhao Jun was convinced that Big Fatty was a top-tier lead dog.
If he didn’t know the truth, then Li Baoyu certainly didn’t.
Hunters all love their dogs. Li Baoyu deliberately crouched down and reached out to stroke Big Fatty’s neck, a wide smile on his face.
Then, Li Baoyu said, "Brother, now that we have Big Fatty, we can have Little Bear be the second lead dog."
"That’s what I was thinking too," Zhao Jun said. "I think Da Huang and White Dragon are almost fully recovered. Once this new group of dogs gets familiar with everyone, before it gets too hot and the grass grows too high, we’ll take all eight dogs up the mountain and see some real action!"
The eight dogs Zhao Jun mentioned were these four new ones, plus Little Bear, Da Huang, White Dragon, and Xiaohua.
As for Black Tiger, the one said to be a menace reincarnated, his leg injury was too severe. He would probably need another two or three months to recover.
"Sounds like a plan!" Li Baoyu was instantly thrilled at Zhao Jun’s words.
Eight dogs! In the entire Forest Area, there wasn’t a single hunter who could command a pack like that!