12dz Chapter 462 Fortunately, the attack was timely.
Chapter 462 Fortunately, the attack was timely.
After processing their prey, just as they were dropping the remaining meat onto a tree and preparing to leave, Little Tiger suddenly growled softly, staring in a certain direction, clearly having sensed something.
Li Xiangyang immediately became alert, exchanged a glance with Wang Ergou, and the two tacitly gave up on hanging the meat up the tree and raised their guns.
"What's wrong?" Wang Ergou asked in a low voice, glancing warily toward the source of the sound.
Li Xiangyang put his index finger to his lips, signaling for silence.
A few seconds later, he whispered, "Something's coming..."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a massive black bear burst out of the bushes with a deafening roar, accompanied by heavy footsteps and the sound of snapping branches.
The black bear was clearly drawn by the smell of blood, and its eyes gleamed with greed when it saw the wild boar carcass on the ground.
"Don't move!" Li Xiangyang warned in a low voice, "Back up slowly, don't disturb it."
The two slowly backed away, but the black bear seemed to sense their movements, suddenly raising its head and staring straight at them.
The black bear let out a deafening roar, pounding its chest with its front paws, displaying extreme aggression.
Just as the black bear was about to launch an attack, at the critical moment, the black cat leaped down from the tree, landing accurately on the bear's head, its sharp claws aimed directly at the bear's eyes.
The black bear cried out in pain, tilting its head back and howling, its front paws flailing wildly in the air as it tried to grab the little thing that was causing it so much pain.
The black cat's interference gave Li Xiangyang time to aim. He steadily raised his hunting rifle and aimed at the black bear's vital parts.
"Bang!" A gunshot echoed through the valley.
The bullet struck the black bear in the shoulder, but the massive creature only staggered and did not fall. Instead, it charged at them with even greater rage.
"Run!" Li Xiangyang grabbed Wang Ergou by the collar and whistled to summon Xiaohu and Xuanmao.
The two quickly hid behind a nearby tree, and the black bear's heavy body crashed into the tree trunk with a dull thud.
"We can't outrun it! Climb a tree! Quick!"
Taking advantage of the moment when the black bear was stunned after crashing into the tree, Li Xiangyang shouted loudly at Wang Ergou.
Wang Ergou scrambled up the tree in a few quick movements, but Li Xiangyang didn't follow immediately. He looked back at Xiaohu, who was still on the ground, and his heart tightened.
"Little Tiger! Come here!"
Ignoring Li Xiangyang's calls, Xiaohu was determined to protect its master, risking its life to stand between the black bear and Li Xiangyang.
The black bear, having regained its senses, was clearly enraged by the overconfident tiger cub. Ignoring the wound on its shoulder, it pounced on the cub.
In the nick of time, Li Xiangyang grabbed a thick tree branch from the ground and smashed it hard against the black bear's head.
"Roar!" The black bear staggered from the blow and then pounced on Li Xiangyang.
"Xiangyang! Forget about Xiaohu, come up here quickly!" Wang Ergou shouted from the tree, raising his hunting rifle and aiming at the black bear, but he dared not pull the trigger for fear of accidentally injuring Li Xiangyang.
Li Xiangyang nimbly dodged the black bear's first attack and rolled to the side.
Although he escaped the black bear's fatal attack, his back was still badly grazed by the bear's claws.
Fortunately, the winter clothes were thick enough that they did not suffer fatal injuries.
Despite this, his back still burned as the cold air rushed in through his torn clothes, but Li Xiangyang couldn't care less about that at the moment.
He knew that on this snowy ground, he couldn't outrun the black bear. The only option was to confront it head-on.
"Ergou, I'll lead you to the best shooting angle. Be ready to fire at any time!" Li Xiangyang shouted as he retreated.
Instead of running blindly, he drew circles in the snow to lure the black bear over, trying to create the best shooting angle for Wang Ergou.
Seeing its master in danger, the little tiger disregarded its own safety and pounced on the black bear's hind leg from the side, biting down hard.
The black bear, in pain, turned around and tried to slap the little tiger, giving Li Xiangyang another chance to catch his breath.
"Now!" Li Xiangyang shouted.
Wang Ergou steadily pulled the trigger.
"boom!"
The bullet hit the black bear in the back, but it appeared to have only grazed it.
The black bear became even more enraged, forgetting about the tiger cub, and instead pounced on the tree, seemingly wanting to eliminate the threat in the tree as well.
Upon seeing this, Li Xiangyang immediately raised his gun and aimed.
He knew very well that if he couldn't kill them with a single blow, neither he nor Wang Ergou would be able to escape unscathed.
"boom!"
The crisp sound of gunfire echoed through the valley, the bullet striking the black bear precisely in the back of the head.
The black bear stopped abruptly, its massive body frozen in place, before collapsing to the ground with a thud, kicking up a cloud of snowflakes.
Seeing this, Li Xiangyang breathed a sigh of relief, cautiously aiming his gun at the black bear. After a long while, confirming that it was definitely dead, he waved to Wang Ergou and said, "It's alright, come down."
Hearing Li Xiangyang's words, Wang Ergou carefully climbed down the tree. Looking at the black bear on the ground, he couldn't help but gasp: "Good heavens, that's huge! It's really scary."
Li Xiangyang walked over to Xiaohu, squatted down to check if it was injured: "You little rascal, you're really courting death! Don't be so impulsive next time, you hear me?"
The little tiger seemed to understand its owner's scolding, lowered its head, but its tail continued to wag excitedly.
The black cat also walked lightly over from not far away, circling around Li Xiangyang's feet.
"How's your back?" Wang Ergou asked with concern, walking over to check Li Xiangyang's injuries.
Li Xiangyang then felt the pain in his back. He reached up and touched it, saying, "It's alright, the cotton-padded coat is thick enough. It should just be a scrape, and a little swollen."
Wang Ergou checked and confirmed that although the cotton-padded coat was torn, the skin was not broken, only bruised and purple: "You're really lucky. If you had dodged a little slower, that claw would have probably torn your spine off."
"Yes, that was really close." Li Xiangyang brushed the snow off his clothes and looked at the black bear's carcass. "Luckily, we caught it in time, otherwise it would have been a real problem."
Wang Ergou stood up, looked around, and frowned. "What do we do now? We can't possibly take all this stuff back with us."
Including the three wild boars from before and this black bear now, there's just too much prey for two people to carry.
Li Xiangyang thought for a moment and decided, "Okay, let's process the most valuable parts first, and leave the rest for later. Go down the mountain and get some men from the village to help. I'll stay here and watch the game."
“No,” Wang Ergou shook his head firmly. “You’re injured. What if some wild beasts come here? How will you handle them alone? Let’s go down the mountain together and bring more men back up to get the prey.”
Li Xiangyang initially wanted to insist, but considering that his current condition was indeed unsuitable for staying alone on the mountain, he nodded: "Alright, then let's take what we can first, and leave the rest here. We'll go back and call someone to help."
The two quickly processed the most valuable parts, and then, with Little Tiger and Black Cat, dragged their tired bodies down the mountain.