The wild boar sat down in the snow, and Qing Gou and Da Huang pounced on it in an instant.

That day, Li Baoyu’s offering of a boar ear hadn’t been in vain. With one bite, Qing Gou latched onto the boar’s left ear.

Qing Gou yanked backward with all its might, pulling the wild boar sideways to the left.

The wild boar used the momentum to get back on its feet. It lowered its head and charged at Qing Gou, while simultaneously letting Da Huang bite into the flesh beneath its right foreleg.

When the over-440-pound wild boar charged, its momentum stirred up wind and snow despite its lame hind leg, forcing Qing Gou to release its grip and flee.

The boar didn’t slow its charge, continuing along the slope. Li Baoyu’s dog, Da Huang, was still hanging from its body and was dragged a good five or six meters before it couldn’t hold on any longer, finally letting go and dropping to the ground.

The wild boar staggered down the slope, and the three dogs swarmed it once more.

What kind of boar is the easiest to kill?

Any experienced Hunter knows that the fiercer the boar, the easier it is to kill. The more cowardly it is, the more likely it is to survive.

Wild boars, as a species, don’t really have a sense of family. When faced with danger, it’s truly every pig for itself—parents scatter and offspring must fend for themselves.

But once winter sets in, around the time of Xiaoxue, it’s the boars’ mating season.

In other words, it’s when they breed and multiply. During this period, lone boars will enter a sounder to compete with the resident males for mating rights.

And it’s only at this time that the "cannon eggs" will protect the sounder, a behavior that lasts until the sows give birth the following spring.

So, this time of year is precisely when the "cannon eggs" are at their most vicious.

But the one they’d encountered today had likely escaped a Hunter’s gun before; one of its hind legs was broken.

And judging by its fear of the hunting dogs, it had probably escaped from dogs before, too.

A boar like this was a coward.

Zhao Jun watched as Qing Gou and Da Huang clung to the boar. The two dogs weighed nearly 220 pounds combined, yet whenever the big boar bucked and shook them off, it would immediately bolt.

Cannon eggs, just as the name implies.

The "cannon" faces forward, but the two "eggs" hang in the back, right under the base of the tail—two large, bulging sacks.

Hua Gou shot forward and took a bite.

The moment the bite landed, the boar jerked its head up, squealing hoarsely. It turned to gore Hua Gou, but its injured hind leg couldn’t find any purchase.

By the time it had turned halfway around, Hua Gou was long gone. And now, Qing Gou and Da Huang had already pounced on it and started biting again.

The boar repeatedly jerked its head, its long, curved tusks forcing the two dogs back. Once again, the boar seized the chance to flee.

But it hadn’t run more than a hundred meters before Hua Gou attacked it from behind again.

This time, Hua Gou opened its jaws wide; this time, it got one of the entire large sacks in its mouth.

"AWOO... AWOO..." The boar shrieked and, ignoring the pain in its injured hind leg, bucked its entire rear section upward.

But Hua Gou refused to let go, biting down hard.

With the dog’s weight pulling it down, the boar was in even more agony. The pain was so intense that it ignored its crippled leg, twisted its body, and dipped its head, closing in to gore Hua Gou.

Hua Gou turned to run but was grazed by a tusk.

There’s an interesting phenomenon when dogs corner a wild boar. The dogs that clamp onto the boar’s ears like pincers tend to get injured on the head or neck when the boar tries to gore them.

Dogs that bite the boar’s haraba are usually wounded on the shoulder. And dogs that attack the rear are most often gored on their hindquarters.

In other words, whatever part of the boar a dog bites, that’s usually the same part of the dog that gets injured when the boar turns to gore it.

Hua Gou had been hit on its rump, tearing open a gash. The wound wasn’t deep, but it bled quite a bit.

After taking that hit, Hua Gou became frantic and started barking wildly at the boar.

As for the boar, it turned and bolted, charging headlong down the slope.

It was heading straight for Li Baoyu.

On the day of Zhao Jun’s rebirth, Li Baoyu had been sent tumbling by an old sow weighing over 300 pounds while trying to save him.

From that day on, Li Baoyu knew that you couldn’t fight a wild boar head-on.

Besides, today’s was a huge male. A boar of this size, even injured, was far more dangerous than that old sow.

So, Li Baoyu simply dodged to the side and scrambled right up a birch tree.

This was what he and Zhao Jun had agreed on before they came. And Li Baoyu trusted Zhao Jun’s abilities—or to be more precise, he trusted the Type 56 semi-automatic rifle in Zhao Jun’s hands.

The boar snorted, "HUFF... HUFF..." clouds of white vapor puffing from its snout. It fled all the way down, getting attacked from behind by Hua Gou again along the way. When it finally reached the bottom of the slope, it saw the three dogs closing in once more. The boar’s heart filled with a mix of anger and fear.

Its hide was thick, and it wasn’t afraid of Qing Gou or Da Huang. But it was afraid of Hua Gou.

So, it spun around and plopped down under an oak tree.

The moment it sat down, Li Baoyu, who was nearby, watched with eyes wide in horror and screamed, "Brother, come quick!"

"Not good!" From a distance, Zhao Jun saw the three dogs all heading toward the tree Li Ruhai had climbed. Even if Li Baoyu hadn’t shouted, Zhao Jun would have known something was wrong.

Zhao Jun ran down the slope like a madman. Snow blasted into his clothes and wind whipped past him, but he only ran faster.

Down by the tree, the boar sat, protecting its rear. The three dogs leaped and dodged in front of it, while the boar swung its head from side to side.

Suddenly, Qing Gou saw an opportunity and charged. But as the boar swung its head, the bite missed its ear and landed on its snout instead.

The boar viciously flung its head, its broad back slamming against the tree. The impact threw Qing Gou off and shook the oak tree.

"Aaaah!" From the tree, a scream echoed through the mountain forest.

Li Ruhai was scared stiff!

Just a moment ago, he had been sitting in the tree, watching the three dogs corner the boar. The scene was so captivating he couldn’t look away; two eyes weren’t enough to take it all in. ’I can’t wait to brag to my classmates about this tomorrow,’ he thought.

But when the boar sat down right under his tree, Li Ruhai froze in terror. He didn’t dare to breathe too loudly, let alone make a sound.

That would have been bad enough.

The problem was, the three dogs and the boar had started fighting right under his tree!

And the real problem was that the boar had slammed into the oak tree, making it shake.

As the oak tree shook, Li Ruhai, perched above, was scared out of his wits. He couldn’t hold it in any longer and let out a bloodcurdling scream.

His scream had an unintended effect: the hunting dogs below went berserk.

A good dog protects its master.

Da Huang charged straight forward, sinking its teeth into the boar’s right foreleg.

The boar lowered its head to gore it!

Normally, Da Huang would have dodged.

But whenever their master is in danger, hunting dogs don’t dodge. They fight for their master with their lives.

That’s a dog for you. They can’t speak, they don’t understand the ways of the world, but they recognize their master, and more importantly, they know to protect their master.

Da Huang shook its head back and forth, channeling all its strength into its jaws, viciously tearing at the boar.

It didn’t even try to dodge when the boar lowered its head to gore it.

With a sickening thud, Da Huang was sent flying.

The boar’s movement shook the oak tree behind it again. Up in the branches, Li Ruhai was scared to death, hugging the trunk and howling with his eyes squeezed shut.

"Ah... Big Brother, save me! Brother Jun, help me!"