West of Long Valley Gorge, hundreds of kilometers away.
Deep within the primeval forest, a powerful gunshot echoed, startling countless birds into flight.
A male elk fell to the ground with a thud.
Perhaps knowing its impending fate, the elk struggled desperately with its hooves on the ground.
Unfortunately, with its neck shattered by a gunshot, its strength rapidly drained away.
Its violently struggling limbs soon lay still.
A towering figure, wielding a hand ax, approached and swiftly chopped off the elk's antlers at the base with two skilled strokes.
Then the tall figure began dismembering the elk's body.
“Da Kui, I'm taking the left leg this time, don't try to steal it from me!”
A middle-aged man with a simple, honest face stood nearby, speaking to the tall figure who was busy on the ground,
“And don't forget the heart!”
Da Kui remained silent, retracting his hand ax and drawing a gleaming dagger from his back. He rapidly carved up different parts of the elk's body.
His practiced movements clearly indicated he had done this many times before.
Soon, the elk was completely dismembered.
Taking the four legs, the heart, the liver, and a large piece of tenderloin, Da Kui tied them together with a rope and slung them on his back.
The dripping blood soaked through Da Kui's already deep brown clothes once more.
Da Kui seemed completely oblivious to it.
Sheathing his dagger, he stood up, turned around, and shouted to a young man in camouflage clothing, sitting on a large rock nearby, who had a particularly striking scar on his face,
“Brother, it's done!”
The young man, expressionless, jumped down from the boulder and addressed the simple-looking middle-aged man,
“Lao Zheng, lead the way!”
Lao Zheng hurriedly replied,
“Yang Ge, it's just ahead, not far!”
...
Lao Ma was a forest ranger, a veteran of the army.
After being discharged, he became a forest ranger because he loved the mountains and forests.
Early in the morning, he was making breakfast in his wooden hut.
He planned to eat breakfast and then start his daily routine of patrolling the forest.
Suddenly, a loud noise came from deep within the forest, making him freeze.
Was that a gunshot?
He had been discharged for many years, and for a moment, he couldn't be sure.
After a long pause, Lao Ma turned off the fire. He didn't even have time to eat breakfast and began organizing his equipment.
He had to go and confirm what the noise was.
If it really was a gunshot, then there was a serious problem.
With his backpack on, Lao Ma was about to open the door and go outside.
The next moment,
“Bang!”
The wooden door was kicked open from the outside, smashing into Lao Ma with a thud.
Taken by surprise, Lao Ma could only raise his arms to shield his head from the door.
However, before he could catch his breath,
A powerful, forceful leg sweep, moving from right to left, like a battle ax, came smashing toward his head!
Lao Ma tried his best to block it with his hand.
Crack, the sound of a broken arm bone echoed!
The leg sweep, still carrying its momentum, slammed into his neck.
Lao Ma was knocked flat on the ground.
His head throbbed with pain, and Lao Ma, lying face down on the ground, saw a pair of boots wearing mountain shoes in his vision.
He struggled to lift his head and managed to make out a young man in camouflage clothing, with a particularly striking scar on his face.
A middle-aged man with a simple, honest face and a large, bear-like muscular man entered the door one after another.
Then, there was a flash of cold steel, and Lao Ma felt a sharp pain in his throat, and he lost consciousness.
......
Inside the wooden hut, Da Kui, whose body was like a mountain, sat precariously on a wooden stool, wolfing down a roasted deer leg.
Lao Zheng sat beside him, carving up roasted venison on the table with a dagger.
“Yang Ge, don't worry, that white wolf definitely won't get away! In terms of tracking in the jungle, I'm second to none!”
As he spoke, Lao Zheng cut off a piece of the best tenderloin and handed it over.
Yang Ge reached out and took it,
“Did the buyer prepare the money?”
“Of course he did!”
Lao Zheng hurriedly replied,
“As long as we hunt down that mutated white wolf and bring it out, we'll get paid immediately!”
Yang Ge said nothing more and began eating.
Lao Zheng quickly sat down and started eating as well, or Da Kui would have devoured everything.
“Hey, Da Kui, don't steal my heart, it's supposed to be mine!”
.....
After finishing the roasted venison, the three men rested briefly.
Then they left the wooden hut and disappeared into the dense forest.
If someone were to look down from the sky at this moment, they would find that the direction they were heading toward was,
Long Valley Gorge!!
......
Long Valley Gorge, dusk.
Lin Fan finished his day's patrol of the forest and returned to his yard.
It was the same familiar sight.
A Bao sat on a pile of bamboo, munching on fresh bamboo shoots.
Dozens of golden monkeys were playing in the yard.
While the monkey king, Wukong, sat by A Bao, gnawing on fruit.
Wukong would throw the remaining fruit or fruit cores directly to the wild boar king in the corner.
The wild boar king immediately started munching away.
The scene was incredibly harmonious.
Seeing Lin Fan return, A Bao dropped the bamboo and climbed over to beg for a petting.
Lin Fan looked at A Bao, who had stood up and wrapped its furry legs around his thigh.
For some reason, he felt like A Bao had gained some weight and grown taller.
“A Bao, have you gotten fat?”
A Bao looked at him with its big, bright eyes, full of confusion.
It even lowered its head to look at its own fluffy belly.
“Yinyin......” (Thin, thin.)
“Thin your ass!”
Lin Fan said in exasperation,
“You just sit there and eat all day long, you only know how to eat! Okay, you've got a good life now, you've learned to enjoy yourself! Look at your belly, it's gotten so fat!”
Turning his head to the monkey king, Lin Fan said,
“You're not allowed to help it find bamboo anymore, let it find its own!”
A Bao was immediately displeased, throwing a tantrum and rolling around on the ground.
Lin Fan ignored it and went back to the house to cook.