Chapter 165: Chapter 140: Trapping the Wild Boar in the Tower Head Marsh

Zhao Jun looked into the distance and saw a large wild boar staggering toward the marsh.

One of its hind legs was broken, snapped at the joint. The two sections were connected by only a single tendon and a flap of skin. The entire lower leg dangled, swinging back and forth as the boar ran.

"WOOF WOOF WOOF..."

The barking grew closer. Zhao Jun straightened up, moving away from the linden tree, his eyes fixed on the approaching wild boar.

The great boar entered the Tower Head Marsh, its steps uneven, one deep and one shallow.

This Tower Head Marsh was a wetland, sparsely dotted with grassy hummocks that rose dozens of centimeters, some even a meter, above the water’s surface.

These hummocks resembled the tops of pagodas, which is why this type of wetland was called Tower Head Marsh, and the grassy hummocks themselves were called Tower Heads.

When the cold winter arrived, the wetland froze over.

Heavy snow fell upon the Tower Head Marsh, burying the individual grassy hummocks. When walking across it, stepping on a hummock meant solid ground.

But if you stepped where there was no hummock, your foot would sink into the snow.

The great boar entered the Tower Head Marsh. Its left forehoof landed on a Tower Head, but its right forehoof landed in the deep snow.

With its left hoof on solid ground and its right finding nothing but air, the great boar stumbled to the right.

Coincidentally, its broken hind leg was also on the right side.

In an instant, the right side of the boar’s body had no support, and it crashed to the ground.

THUD!

With a dull thud, the boar squealed and scrambled back to its feet.

Just then, the four hounds caught up, charging into the Tower Head Marsh and lunging straight for the boar.

Amid a flurry of barks, the four dogs surrounded the boar, which squared up to face them.

The first to attack was, inevitably, Hua Xiao’Er, who was circling behind the boar.

Hua Xiao’Er lunged. It missed the boar’s testicles and instead, following the scent of blood, bit down on its injured hind leg.

Hua Xiao’Er clamped down and ripped, tearing the boar’s broken lower leg clean off.

The boar shrieked in agony and struggled to turn on its three legs to chase Hua Xiao’Er. The dog dodged aside, but after just a few steps, it stepped on a Tower Head.

Hua Xiao’Er slipped and plunged into the snow, but it righted itself and, with a couple of flails, quickly scampered away.

Even though Hua Xiao’Er had stumbled, the boar couldn’t catch it. One reason was its injured leg; the other was that in this Tower Head Marsh, it didn’t dare run at full speed.

It had roamed Little Gu Mountain for more than a day or two; it was familiar with the mountain’s terrain.

But today, relentlessly pursued by hunters, it was too panicked to choose its path and had forgotten certain things.

After that fall, however, the boar abruptly remembered that in this marsh, it couldn’t run recklessly. It could only trudge through the snow.

But if it could only trudge through the snow, who could it possibly catch?

Besides, the dogs were much more agile than the boar. Even if they stepped on a Tower Head and plunged into the snow, they could right themselves with a quick flip.

Crucially, there was no brush or undergrowth anywhere in the surrounding Tower Head Marsh.

From Naoxia Pond to this Tower Head Marsh, the tactical advantage of the terrain had instantly shifted away from the boar.

This was the killing ground Zhao Jun had prepared for the boar.

It had to be said, finding such a place had been incredibly difficult.

They had spent all day yesterday roaming the mountain, only to find that Little Gu Mountain was even denser than they had imagined.

The entire mountain was covered in either secondary forest, brush, or undergrowth, with few open areas where the dogs and boar could fight.

After searching high and low, they finally found this Tower Head Marsh. Zhao Jun circled it, then walked across and back, before deciding this was the place to finish it.

Since morning, the group had entered the mountains. Jiang Ming, Li Baoyu, and Zhou Jianjun acted as beaters, driving the boar from West Mountain to North Mountain, and then to East Mountain.

When the boar reached Toudao Gully, Wei Lai fired his gun.

At the sound of the shot, the four dogs in Erdao Gully all heard it.

At the same time, Hua Xiao’Er also caught the scent of the boar.

Following Zhao Jun’s instructions from the day before, Huang Gui unleashed the four dogs as soon as he heard the gunshot, letting them pursue the boar.

Guns behind it, dogs before it.

Just as Zhao Jun had predicted, this boar was an old hand at escaping both guns and hounds. Having been cornered by dogs and shot at before, if it wasn’t killed by Wei Lai in Toudao Gully, the moment it heard barking from Erdao Gully, it would have no choice but to flee down into the gullies and ponds, no matter its injuries.

And so, by the time the boar reached the Tower Head Marsh, the four dogs were just catching up.

This was another clever part of Zhao Jun’s ambush: by having the dogs pursue from Erdao Gully, they would only catch up to the boar after it had already passed all the secondary forests, brush, and undergrowth.

In this Tower Head Marsh, even if the boar’s hind leg hadn’t been injured, it still would not have been able to escape.

The boar let out a series of roars, continuously charging the dogs that attacked it. But it couldn’t chase them far before its trudging hooves would slam into a Tower Head rising above the ice.

Before it could get around the Tower Head, another hound would strike. This cycle repeated, trapping it in an endless struggle.

But when Hua Xiao’Er snatched the two testicles dangling at its rear into its mouth, rolling them between its canines, the boar could take no more.

It clumsily broke into a run, chasing Hua Xiao’Er on three legs, but it didn’t get far before it tripped on a Tower Head and came crashing down.

"THUMP!"

As the boar’s massive body fell, the four dogs, fearing they would be crushed, scattered in all directions.

And Zhao Jun seized this opportunity to fire.

The shot hit the boar’s lower back. It threw its head back and let out a heaven-piercing howl.

The instant they heard the gunshot, the four dogs latched on again.

Daqing and White Dragon latched onto the boar’s ears from the left and right, yanking its head down together until its snout plunged directly into the snow.

Da Huang leaped onto the boar’s back and sank its teeth into the nape of its neck.

Hua Xiao’Er, as usual, went for the boar’s rear.

The boar squealed, trying to get up, but Zhao Jun’s shot had broken its spine. Its entire back half was now paralyzed.

The boar let the four dogs tear at it as it pushed up with its forelegs, arching its back, trying to stand.

It knew that if it could just get to its feet, it could shake off these pests.

But after several attempts, it realized it truly couldn’t get up.

The furious boar threw its head up, its snout bursting from the snow.

As its head rose, Daqing and White Dragon, still clamped to its ears, were dragged up so that their front legs were dangling in the air and they were standing on their hind legs.

The movement of the boar’s upper body caused Da Huang, who had been tearing at its back, to slide off.

As it fell, Da Huang clamped its jaws onto the boar’s front elbow and began to rip and tear backwards.

The boar couldn’t stand, but it could still shake its head and shoulders, using its front half to hold the three dogs at a stalemate.

At this moment, Zhao Jun was standing fifty meters away. He watched for a bit, then tilted his head and said with a smile, "Looks like Brother Huang’s been a bad influence on me these past couple of days."

After speaking, Zhao Jun held his Type 56 semi-automatic rifle upright. Gripping it with his right hand, he used his left to pull down the spring catch and flicked the bayonet up into position.

After two days, the bayonet was fixed once more.