Chapter 605: The Wild Boar King Kills Another Person

“ROAR! GRROOWL!”

“WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!”

The roars of the boar and the barks of the dogs descended into chaos. The wild boar sat in a dirt pit while the four dogs—two yellow, two black—stood around the edge, roaring incessantly at it.

But they couldn’t reach the boar by craning their necks. To get a bite, they would have to go down into the pit.

Just then, a black dog circled around behind the boar. It slid its front paws a little way down the pit’s slope, then kicked off with its back legs, lunging to bite the boar’s hindquarters.

WHOOSH…

Attacked from behind, the boar spun around violently, flinging the black dog off its back.

The black dog landed in the pit, free of the boar. It was about to leap and attack again when the boar’s massive snout was right in its face. The dog twisted its head, trying to flee, but it only realized after turning that it was facing a slope, not a straight path.

By the time the black dog could push off with its hind legs to get up the slope, it was too late.

“SMACK!”

“YELP!”

The sound of the boar’s snout striking the dog and the black dog’s agonized yelp rang out at the same time.

The boar’s tusk pierced the black dog’s lower abdomen. As the dog was sent flying, its intestines were torn out by the tusk.

When the black dog hit the ground, its entrails dangled beneath it in a long trail, preventing it from getting up.

Amid a chaotic chorus of barks, the other three hunting dogs all leaped into the pit while the boar was attacking the black one, and the battle began.

Dust flew up from the pit. At nearly four meters long and two meters wide, it didn’t seem small, but as a battlefield for the hounds and the boar, it left the dogs with no room to dodge.

When the boar gave chase, how far could a dog run? After just a few steps, they’d reach the slope. The moment a dog tried to scramble up, the boar would follow with a strike. Not a single hound could escape.

Agonized yelps filled the air as the hunting dogs were flung from the pit one by one. One of the black dogs had the base of its neck gored through. Its main artery was severed, and blood gushed out.

Another one of the dogs had a hole gouged in its rib cage, much like Niu Guoliang’s injury that day. Every time it breathed, air puffed out of the wound.

The last Yellow Dog had one of its hind legs snapped by the boar. Then, its spine was stomped and broken by a hoof before the boar rooted it out of the pit. It lay at the edge, whining endlessly.

In just three or four short minutes, all five hunting dogs were wiped out.

This was the Wild Boar King!

No wonder hunters always say: a boar that holds its ground is a king!

This Wild Boar King was different from a Wild Boar God. A Wild Boar God lives for many years, grows to an immense size, and can gather a herd, calling a hundred or so wild boars to its side as guards.

A boar becomes a king, however, through sheer ferocity and fighting ability.

This boar had already killed two people. Today, by holding its ground and wiping out a pack of hunting dogs, it had truly earned the title of Wild Boar King.

“HUFF! HUFF!” The boar snorted repeatedly through its nose and started up the slope to leave the pit. But just as it was about to step out, it suddenly heard a noise.

The boar jerked back and dropped into a crouch inside the pit once more.

“Da Huang!” Xue Liwei ran over, and the first thing he saw was the yellow dog, Da Huang, dead, its jaw shattered by the boar.

This was his lead dog, a five-year-old Mengxi-Stupid Dog Chain. A three-year hunting veteran, it was at the absolute peak of its strength and experience. It had an excellent nose, was smart enough to understand people, and fought with ferocity.

A dog like that is a hunter’s treasure. In the dialect of the Northeast, you’d say it was the apple of his eye.

Back home, no matter how hard things got, Xue Liwei would always cook scalded corn-flour noodles for it.

But now, seeing the dog lying there motionless, Xue Liwei’s heart was bleeding.

Hearing the anguished howls of his other hounds in the distance, rage surged in Xue Liwei’s heart. He raised his rifle and charged straight for the large pit.

At this point, Xue Liwei was about seven or eight meters from the pit, and he couldn’t see the wild boar inside it at all.

Xue Liwei raised his rifle and pulled the trigger, aiming for the edge of the pit.

“BANG!”

The gunshot echoed as dust flew up, but there was no movement from within the pit.

Nearby, however, the Yellow Dog with the broken spine and the black dog with its guts torn out both instinctively lifted their heads at the sound of the shot, trying to get up.

To be so gravely injured and still try to rise and fight at the sound of a gun—in hunter’s terms, these dogs were tough as nails.

But their injuries were too severe, and neither could get to its feet. Realizing they could no longer help their master, the two dogs dropped their heads back to the ground, letting out whimpers.

Hearing this sound, Xue Liwei’s heart felt as if it were being sliced by a knife, and his eyes welled up with tears.

His five dogs—three yellow, two black—were all crossbreeds of Mengxi and ‘stupid dogs.’ This type of dog was smart, brave, and fast.

Moreover, the three yellow dogs were from one litter, and the two black dogs were from another. Having grown up together, they were a highly coordinated hunting team that always advanced and retreated as one.

In his years in Lingnan, Xue Liwei, now in his prime, had dominated the region with this pack of dogs and his modified Number 16 shotgun, which had been refitted with a machine gun barrel for a high rate of fire and long range. One could say he slaughtered any boar and butchered any bear he came across.

But hunting wasn’t just about having strong men and tough dogs; one also had to be intimately familiar with the animals’ habits and the lay of the land.

For instance, when Zhao Jun and Huang Gui arrived in Yongsheng Village in the spring, they had to go up the mountain in advance to scout the nearby hunting grounds.

It wasn’t that Xue Liwei didn’t want to or didn’t understand this. But he knew Zhao Youcai was also interested in these “cannon eggs,” and he was afraid the two hundred yuan reward would fall into Zhao Youcai’s hands.

So, Xue Liwei had spent the previous night at the New Logging Camp. This morning, when Hong Yuntao arrived at the New Logging Camp with two colleagues from the security team, Xue Liwei had dragged them up the mountain with him.

When they reached the base of Old Crow Cliff, Xue Liwei released the dogs, and Da Huang shot out.

His pack had grown up together and always moved as one. All five dogs charged out, and it wasn’t long before they started barking.

But what Xue Liwei hadn’t expected was that his pack had cornered a large badger.