A single sentence from Hu Manjiang had rekindled a spark of hope in Xing Zhuyong’s heart.

Poverty had made him desperate, and he truly had no idea just how dangerous a Black Bear could be.

After lunch, Xing Zhuyong went to Li Hu’s house to talk things over. Then, before dusk, he took his sled and hurried to Yong’an Village to borrow dogs and fetch Zhao Jun.

According to what Xing Zhuyong and Li Hu had planned, they would ask Zhao Jun to bring his dogs to hunt the bear. After killing the big Black Bear, the three families would split the Bear Gall.

As for the Little Black Bear, their plan was to capture it alive and raise it—a fantasy of Xing Zhuyong and Li Hu’s.

After sleeping one night at Xing Zhuyong’s house, Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu got up just after six the next morning.

The two of them quickly washed up. Just as they started chatting with Xing Zhuyong, Hu Erya brought them breakfast.

Zhao Jun took the bowl and chopsticks. Just as he was about to ladle some corn grit porridge, he suddenly remembered something. "Hu Erya," he asked, "have my two dogs been fed?"

"Huh?" Hu Erya was taken aback and instinctively glanced over at Xing Zhuyong.

Xing Zhuyong slammed his chopsticks down, his voice rising involuntarily. "We’re heading into the mountains! You didn’t know you had to feed the dogs?"

Hu Erya shot Xing Zhuyong a glare, then turned back to Zhao Jun with a smile. "Jun, you go ahead and eat. I’ll go mix some food for the dogs right now."

"Okay," Zhao Jun replied flatly and lowered his head to eat. Inwardly, however, he thought, ’This Xing Zhuyong is a bit different from how he was in my last life.’

’Maybe because we’re interacting earlier this time around, this Xing Zhuyong hasn’t been beaten down by life yet. He’s a little immature and reckless.’

After the three of them finished eating, they led the four dogs outside. When Xing Zhuyong’s two black dogs saw Hua Xiao’Er and Daqing, they kept cowering behind Xing Zhuyong.

The day before, as soon as Zhao Jun had brought his dogs into Xing Zhuyong’s yard, the two packs had gone at it. If there hadn’t been enough people to pull them apart quickly, Xing Zhuyong’s two black dogs might have been dead and buried by today.

Once they entered the mountains, Xing Zhuyong and Li Hu led the way, each holding one of the black dogs, while Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu followed behind with Hua Xiao’Er and Daqing.

But when they reached the fallen log where Xing and Li had encountered the bear the day before, the situation reversed.

Hua Xiao’Er sniffed at the bear tracks, then sniffed the air. It turned its head in one direction, twitched its nose, and then took off running.

The moment Hua Xiao’Er moved, Daqing shot off right behind it.

Zhao Jun shrugged his shoulder, swinging the rifle slung over it into his hands. He gripped the weapon and said to the others beside him, "Let’s go!"

With that, he held the rifle with both hands and strode forward to follow.

He only had two dogs with him today, and Daqing had never fought a Black Bear before. As for Hua Xiao’Er, its hindquarters had been nicked by cannon eggs the day before. Although the wound wasn’t deep, it still affected its movement slightly.

As for Xing Zhuyong’s two dogs, Zhao Jun could tell from the moment they entered the mountains that they would be useless in a hunt.

Li Baoyu, of course, listened to Zhao Jun. But Xing Zhuyong and Li Hu were afraid that Zhao Jun would get there first and shoot the Little Black Bear dead, so they desperately scrambled to keep up.

The four of them went down a slope into a gully. As they were climbing the opposite side, they heard the sound of dogs barking coming from the direction of Tuo Yaosi.

"Release the dogs!" Xing Zhuyong shouted, immediately yanking the rope in his hand. He had used a slip knot to tie up the dog, so one tug on the rope was all it took to release it.

The one acting in concert with Xing Zhuyong was, of course, Li Hu. He also yanked his rope and released the dog he was holding.

"ROAR!"

Before the sound of Xing Zhuyong’s voice had even faded, a bear’s roar echoed down from above.

Hearing the bear’s roar, Xing Zhuyong’s two black dogs turned tail and fled.

"Fuck!" A curse escaped Xing Zhuyong’s lips.

Meanwhile, Li Hu pointed up the slope at the two dogs, repeatedly shouting, "Hup! Hup..."

But to his and Xing Zhuyong’s surprise, the more he cheered the dogs on, the farther back they cowered.

"Baoyu, let’s go!" Zhao Jun called out to Li Baoyu with a resigned sigh, taking the lead and charging up the slope.

Just then, seeing Xing Zhuyong about to go beat his dogs, Li Hu quickly grabbed him. "Brother, we should go too!"

"These dogs..." Xing Zhuyong pointed at his pair, seething with anger. "The other day they couldn’t even follow a trail, and I let it slide. But today? They can’t even join in the barking!"

"Forget about them!" Li Hu tugged on Xing Zhuyong. "Don’t let that Zhao Jun kill the Little Black Bear!"

"Right!" At these words, Xing Zhuyong immediately forgot about his dogs and followed Li Hu, running up the slope.

Just then, Zhao Jun, who was running ahead, suddenly grabbed Li Baoyu. "Baoyu."

"What’s wrong?"

"Listen!" Zhao Jun said, cocking an ear toward the top of the slope.

Li Baoyu listened carefully and immediately noticed something was wrong.

What was wrong?

The barking was wrong!

When dogs are fighting a fierce beast, their barks are deep and ferocious. But now, the sound was faint and erratic, neither rushed nor slow.

"This is..." Li Baoyu craned his neck, finding it hard to believe what he was hearing. After three or four seconds, he looked at Zhao Jun and asked, "Did the bear climb a tree?"

Then, he answered his own question, "But it can’t be, it’s winter!"

"Come on, we’ll know when we get up there and see for ourselves," Zhao Jun said. He stopped running and started walking up at a calm, unhurried pace.

Although many theories ran through his mind, Zhao Jun knew one thing for sure: whatever was happening up there, his two dogs were in no danger.

This was the advantage of hunting bears with dogs. With them as an early warning, there wouldn’t be a repeat of yesterday, when the Black Bear ambushed Xing Zhuyong and Li Hu.

Just then, Xing Zhuyong and Li Hu both caught up. Xing Zhuyong came to Zhao Jun’s side and asked, "Brother, why’d you stop running?"

"No need to rush," Zhao Jun said.

Hearing Zhao Jun say there was no rush, Li Hu secretly tugged Xing Zhuyong’s sleeve. "Alright then, you two take it slow," he said. "My brother and I will go on ahead and see. If there’s any danger, we’ll handle it first."

"Huh." Zhao Jun glanced at Li Hu and gave a simple grunt of acknowledgment, but inwardly he was suspicious. ’This scumbag is not the type to sacrifice himself for others,’ he thought. ’Saying he’ll face the danger first... who’d believe that?’

But Xing Zhuyong instantly understood Li Hu’s meaning. It was simply that the two of them wanted to get ahead of Zhao Jun to make the first move—to kill the big Black Bear and capture the Little Black Bear.

So, the two of them scrambled desperately up the slope, while Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu followed at a leisurely pace. But after quite some time, they still hadn’t heard a gunshot.

This made Zhao Jun even more puzzled.

Since they had heard both the bear and the dogs, the two sides must have already come face to face.

The dogs were still barking, which meant the Black Bear hadn’t left.

But judging from the sound of the barking, the Black Bear had probably climbed a tree.

This was one of the reasons for Zhao Jun’s confusion. In spring or autumn, if you cornered a Black Bear with dogs and they nipped at it a few times, the Black Bear would climb a tree.

But in the winter, a hunted bear would not climb a tree so easily.

In fact, all Hunters hope for a bear to climb a tree when they’re hunting one. Once a bear is up a tree, it becomes a sitting duck. The Hunter just has to stand below, aim their rifle, and take the shot. Aim for the head, and it’s over in one shot.

Logically, Xing Zhuyong and Li Hu should have reached the spot long ago. So why hadn’t they fired a shot?

"Baoyu, something’s not right."

"I feel it too."

"Let’s go!" Zhao Jun was getting worried, so he started running up the slope with Li Baoyu. When they reached the top of Tuo Yaosi and saw the scene before them, Zhao Jun was completely stunned.

’These two... what the fuck kind of geniuses are they?’