Chapter 490 - 406: That Black Dog Is a Lead Dog

"AWOO! AWOO-WOO..."

Black Tiger’s howls echoed through the night sky. The sounds of nocturnal birds taking flight filled the mountain forest, and from a nearby cornfield came the rustle of a wild animal moving through the stalks.

No matter how well they had planned at home, now that they were facing the real thing, the three generations of the Zhu Family couldn’t help but feel a little nervous.

Zhu Dashan and Zhu Aiguo both slung their hunting rifles off their shoulders. Although Zhu Jiang didn’t have a large blade, he nervously drew his Invasion Blade and hand axe.

It seemed a great battle was about to erupt at any moment!

But suddenly, Black Tiger snapped its mouth shut, and the howling stopped abruptly.

The three members of the Zhu Family froze, all staring as Black Tiger turned its head to look at them.

Zhu Dashan thought the dog was waiting for his command. He immediately held his rifle in his right hand, swung his left arm forward, and ordered, "Go!"

Black Tiger seemed to understand. It turned forward, broke into a run, and let out a series of barks.

Strangely enough, as soon as Black Tiger barked, Big Fatty and San Pang followed suit and charged out.

Zhu Aiguo got a little excited. He looked ahead and said to Zhu Dashan, "Hey, Dad, the dogs are on the move!"

"Yep." A glint of light flashed in Zhu Dashan’s cloudy old eyes as he chuckled. "These three dogs are really something."

As he spoke, he turned to Zhu Aiguo and Zhu Jiang and boasted, "These three dogs, I went to Zhao Jun’s family’s place and picked them out myself."

"You’re amazing, Dad," Zhu Aiguo said, playing along and praising his old man. But Zhu Jiang chimed in from the side, "Grandpa, we should hurry and follow them."

"Right." Zhu Dashan shot his grandson a displeased sideways glance and said,

"Put that blade and stuff away. You won’t need it. Just take out the flashlight and light the way for us."

Hearing this, Zhu Jiang did as Zhu Dashan said, putting away his hand axe and Invasion Blade. He then took a flashlight out of his satchel and lit the path for Zhu Aiguo and Zhu Dashan.

And so, they advanced with Zhu Aiguo at point, rifle ready, Zhu Dashan in the middle, and Zhu Jiang bringing up the rear.

The three generations of grandfather, father, and son entered the cornfield, walking between the neat rows of cornstalks.

Moving through the dense corn, their bodies inevitably brushed against the leaves. The three of them walked slowly and with great effort.

With the cornstalks blocking their view, the three had long since lost sight of the dogs. But Black Tiger kept barking, as if it were guiding them.

"That black dog might be a menace, but when it comes to hunting, he’s really something, huh?" Zhu Jiang couldn’t help but praise Black Tiger as they walked. At this point, he was still naive enough to think that his family could actually take down the Black Bear.

"You’re young, you don’t understand." Zhu Dashan, walking in front of Zhu Jiang, turned back as if he knew everything and told him, "You see how that black dog went out first? It was only after he barked that those two fat ones followed. Let me tell you, son, in hunting terms, that black dog is a lead dog."

"Wow, Grandpa, you’re so smart. You even know that."

"Of course." Zhu Dashan grinned smugly. "Back when I was young, when Zhao Jun’s grandpa went hunting in the mountains, I was even one of the beaters."

"Grandpa, what’s a ’beater’?"

Zhu Jiang wasn’t afraid to ask what he didn’t know, and Zhu Dashan wasn’t afraid to answer even if he didn’t know either. But just as he was about to speak, a sudden silence fell over their surroundings.

"Hey!" Zhu Aiguo froze, quickly turning to ask Zhu Dashan, "Dad, why did the black... the lead dog stop barking?"

"Well..." Zhu Dashan’s smile vanished. He blinked, a flash of inspiration striking him, and said urgently, "Hurry, the three dogs must have engaged the Black Bear."

Seeing the disbelief on his son’s and grandson’s faces, Zhu Dashan even explained, "Think about it. Once they’re all fighting, how can they still be barking?"

"That doesn’t sound right," Zhu Aiguo said with a frown. "That year the Wang Family’s and the Qin Family’s dogs got into a big fight, weren’t they all barking then?"

Hearing this, Zhu Dashan fell silent for half a second, but then said stubbornly, "A dog-on-dog scuffle, how can you compare that to this? A Black Bear is ferocious!"

With that, Zhu Dashan pointed ahead, changing the subject. "Enough useless talk, let’s go. The sound disappeared just up ahead. We men will go over there, kill that Black Bear, and then we can go home and sleep."

"Okay."

The trio quickened their pace, pushing forward through the dense cornstalks.

Meanwhile, Black Tiger had already run out of the cornfield. But the direction it was running was toward Yong’an Village.

And behind Black Tiger, Big Fatty and San Pang followed closely.

If Black Tiger had still been barking, the three members of the Zhu Family would have surely known the dogs had fled. But the brilliant part of the trick was, it wasn’t barking!

And so, the three generations of the Zhu Family continued to weave their way through the cornfield.

Half an hour passed, then an hour. The three of them were exhausted and sleepy by the time they reached an open patch of land.

This area had also been full of standing corn, but it had all been flattened after being ravaged by the Black Bear.

The three sat down to rest. Looking at the flattened corn, Zhu Aiguo was furious. He surveyed the area and said to Zhu Dashan and Zhu Jiang, "This patch was perfectly fine yesterday. The Black Bear must have just done this."

"Yep." Zhu Dashan nodded in agreement, adding, "Those three dogs must have come here and scared the Black Bear away."

Even at a time like this, the old man was still praising them.

"Grandpa!" Zhu Jiang couldn’t help but ask, "What about the dogs? We’ve been looking for them for ages! How come there’s still no sign of them?"

"You kids don’t know anything," Zhu Dashan criticized Zhu Jiang. He pointed to the side, where not as much corn had been knocked down, but a small path had been cleared through it.

Then they heard Zhu Dashan say, "See that? The Black Bear went that way, and the three dogs definitely chased after it."

After speaking, Zhu Dashan took the military-style canteen Zhu Aiguo handed him, twisted off the cap, and tilted his head back to take a couple of gulps of water. He then passed the canteen to Zhu Jiang and said, "The three of us will rest for another two minutes, then we chase."