During a hunt, hounds will bark continuously when they encounter prey.

When they suddenly fall silent, it means one of two things.

One, they have subdued their quarry. Their mouths are clamped onto the animal, leaving them unable to bark.

Two, they are all injured. Or dead.

From the moment they charged in to the moment they all went silent, no more than ten minutes had passed for Huang Gui’s six dogs.

And their opponent was a massive wild boar, weighing over six hundred pounds, that had already gored eight hounds to death.

Faced with such an adversary, could Huang Gui’s six dogs have possibly pinned the boar in such a short time?

Obviously not.

That meant when the dogs fell silent, there was only one other possibility.

Those six dogs were either dead or grievously wounded.

Huang Gui ran forward and saw a small, hunched figure limping toward them.

"Little Bear!" Huang Gui shouted, sprinting over. Zhao Jun and the others hurried to follow.

It seemed one of Little Bear’s front legs was broken; the dog held it aloft, stumbling along on its three remaining legs.

A gash about a foot long on its back was torn open, bleeding freely.

Seeing Huang Gui, Little Bear let out a piteous whimper, its eyes glistening as it looked at him.

Huang Gui gave Little Bear a long, hard look, then wrenched his head away and ran past it.

Seeing its master ignore it, Little Bear staggered, trying to turn and follow, but how could it possibly keep up with its severe injuries?

Wei Lai, rifle in hand, quickly moved past Little Bear. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Zhou Jianjun stopped. He wanted to bandage Little Bear’s wounds, but Zhao Jun grabbed his arm.

"Jianjun, leave it for now," Zhao Jun said. "Hurry, let’s go check on the other dogs."

"Huh?" Zhou Jianjun didn’t understand what Zhao Jun meant. It was his first time seeing such a scene, and he was still in shock. Pulled along by Zhao Jun, he subconsciously followed.

The four of them ran another three or four hundred meters before they saw a black dog lying in the snow, surrounded by blood.

Huang Gui rushed forward. A bloody hole on the back of the black dog’s neck was still oozing a small amount of blood.

Its main artery had been severed by the boar. One could only imagine that moments before, blood must have been gushing from its neck like a fountain.

By now, its body had been nearly drained of blood. It had long since stopped breathing.

Tears instantly welled up in Huang Gui’s eyes, but he only glanced at the dog before continuing to run forward.

Zhao Jun and the others kept close behind him.

Less than three hundred meters ahead, a spotted dog lay on the ground. Its belly was ripped open, its intestines spilling out.

Huang Gui got closer and saw that an intestine was severed. He couldn’t help but squeeze his eyes shut, and tears streamed down his face.

Hua Gou wasn’t dead yet. Lying in the snow, it didn’t even need to lift its head; it knew by scent alone that its master was here. Its eyes kept rolling upward, trying to see Huang Gui, but he stood behind it, never once stepping forward.

Hua Gou let out a faint whine. Hearing the sound, Huang Gui gritted his teeth, one hand clenched into a fist, the other gripping his hunting rifle. He passed by Hua Gou and kept running, never looking back.

If a dog’s intestines spill out, you can just stuff them back in. But if the intestines are severed, it can’t be saved.

When Wei Lai passed Hua Gou, he stopped to look, sighed, and then went to catch up with Huang Gui.

"Xiaojun." Zhou Jianjun also stopped beside Hua Gou, grabbing Zhao Jun’s arm and calling his name.

Zhao Jun shook his head and said, "Jianjun, this dog can’t be saved. We need to keep moving, see if we can save any of the others."

"Oh, right!"

Zhao Jun started running again, but he hadn’t gone far when a cry of "AOW!" came from up ahead.

It wasn’t the sound of a dog, and it certainly wasn’t a boar. It was the sound of a person.

Zhao Jun ran with all his might. Only when he saw Huang Gui cradling a black dog and wailing loudly did his heart settle.

Wei Lai stood beside them in a daze. The dog in Huang Gui’s arms had several gashes, and its spine was broken.

The dog was alive, but it wouldn’t be for long.

"Brother," Zhao Jun said, walking up to Huang Gui and leaning down. "You should bandage the dog quickly. We’ll go check on the others for you."

Huang Gui didn’t say a word in reply, just clutched the dog and wept bitterly. He knew there were still two more dogs up ahead, but he couldn’t bear any more.

"Brother Wei, let’s go," Zhao Jun called to Wei Lai, taking the lead and running forward.

Wei Lai snapped out of his trance. He said nothing, simply following Zhao Jun with Zhou Jianjun.

They ran less than a hundred meters before seeing two black dogs lying on the snow, one to the left and one to the right.

Zhao Jun ran up and saw that both dogs were still alive. One had a hole gouged between its ribs by the boar; as it panted, air puffed out of the opening.

The other’s belly had been torn open and its intestines were spilling out, but they weren’t ruptured or severed.

Both of these dogs could be saved. Zhao Jun quickly called for Wei Lai and Zhou Jianjun to help.

Wei Lai single-handedly treated the dog with the punctured rib cage. He was a smoker and carried a tobacco pouch. He took out a handful of tobacco powder and rubbed it into the dog’s wound.

Once the bleeding stopped, he untied his leg bindings and bandaged the dog’s wound.

Meanwhile, Zhao Jun and Zhou Jianjun worked together to carefully push the other dog’s intestines back inside, section by section. Then they asked Wei Lai for some tobacco powder and applied it to the wound.

They also used a leg binding as a makeshift bandage to wrap the dog’s wound securely.

By the time Zhao Jun and Zhou Jianjun finished bandaging the dog, Wei Lai was already heading back the way they came, carrying the dog he had saved on his back.

"Xiaojun, I’ll do it." Zhou Jianjun stopped Zhao Jun, hoisted the black dog onto his own back, and started walking back step by step.

With both dogs being carried, Zhao Jun ran quickly back.

He could have followed the boar’s tracks, but right now, the hounds were more important.

Even though they weren’t his dogs, he couldn’t just leave them. He couldn’t refuse to help.

When he got back to Huang Gui, he saw him bandaging the external wounds of the black dog with the broken spine.

The dog wouldn’t live more than a few days, but as long as it had a day left, its master couldn’t let it die.

"Brother," Zhao Jun said quietly, coming to Huang Gui’s side. "We saved those two dogs. They’ll both live."

Huang Gui looked up. His eyes were bloodshot, and none of his earlier high spirits remained. His voice was hoarse as he said, "Brother, thank you."

His voice choked up again on the last few words.

Zhao Jun pressed his lips together, took a deep breath, and said, "Brother, I’m going to head back first and check on your lead dog."

This time, Huang Gui didn’t speak, only closing his eyes and giving a slow nod.

Zhao Jun continued running back. From a distance, he saw Little Bear lying under a birch tree.

Zhao Jun approached, crouched beside it, and said, "I’m going to bandage your wound. You’d better not bite me."

It was unclear if Little Bear understood. It just blinked its eyes at Zhao Jun without making any other move.

Zhao Jun took Wei Lai’s tobacco pouch from his pocket, grabbed a pinch of tobacco powder, and rubbed it into the wound on Little Bear’s back. Then he untied his one remaining leg binding and wrapped the wound.

Just as he finished, Huang Gui, Wei Lai, and Zhou Jianjun arrived, each carrying a dog on his back.

None of the three spoke a word. Zhao Jun didn’t speak either. He just hoisted Little Bear onto his back and started down the mountain.

As they were about to leave the mountain, Zhao Jun glanced back at Little Gu Mountain and thought to himself, ’Tomorrow’s going to be a tough fight.’