Chapter 34: We’ll Rule the Roost in Zhang Family Village

"Grab your weapons!" Zhang Yang immediately warned everyone, raising his hunting rifle.

The wolf was running closer from afar.

Perhaps seeing that there were quite a few of them, it suddenly changed direction.

Behind the wolf, another group of figures was also approaching in a dark mass.

"Open fire!"

A middle-aged voice suddenly shouted from the crowd opposite.

Zhang Yang immediately recognized the voice...

It was Qian Weiguo!

Qian Weiguo’s position was on higher ground than theirs. The two groups faced off, and yet he was ordering them to shoot!

He knew full well that Zhangjiatun’s militia team hadn't been issued guns yet!

That old bastard was doing it on purpose!

Bullets have no eyes, it was dark in the mountains, and everyone had seen the wolf...

If they ended up accidentally killing one or two of them, he could easily claim it was collateral damage!

"Don't chase them!" Zhang Yang immediately called back his team. "Hide behind the trees! Quickly!"

A few of the team members, either unable to stop themselves or too eager to hunt the wolf, ignored his orders and kept following the wolf’s escape route.

"They have guns! Are you trying to get yourselves killed?" Zhang Yang shouted again. "If you die here, what will your parents, wives, and children do? The main support of the family is gone! They’ll just end up as victims forever!"

Shouting and scolding, he barely managed to get two of them back.

But two others had already run too far and disappeared from sight.

Zhao Dong tugged at Zhang Yang. "They’re gone! We can’t hear them anymore! Do you still want to live?"

Gao Wen and Gao Wu, who had already hidden to the side, saw Zhang Yang still exposed in the clearing, and quickly dragged him behind the trees with Zhao Dong.

Bang! Bang!

Bullets kept striking the ground, sending up smoke!

Judging by the direction of the shots, they weren’t aiming at the wolf but deliberately targeting them!

"These bastards!" Zhao Dong gritted his teeth and fired an arrow toward Qian Weiguo’s side.

Pfft! The arrow should have made a loud sound, but it was drowned out by gunfire!

Though the shot wasn’t far, it seemed to hit something.

A scream came from the other side, "Ah!"

Zhao Dong hurried to load another arrow into the crossbow, but another burst of bullets came at them!

"It looks like the gang from Wulipu is back for revenge over this afternoon’s incident!"

"But weren’t they supposed to be hunting the wolf? Why are they shooting people?"

The team members panicked, crouching and covering their heads, utterly disheveled.

Meanwhile, Zhang Yang quietly aimed at a figure who looked very much like Qian Weiguo.

At the same time, a fierce battle raged in his mind.

If the two militia teams clashed again, the team he was building could easily be crushed before it even got off the ground!

Then Zhangjiatun would have to rely on the useless Wulipu group again!

But they had gone too far!

Zhang Yang’s finger, full of righteous anger, pressed the trigger hard.

Bang!

A bullet struck the large stone beneath Qian Weiguo’s foot with a deafening crack!

Qian Weiguo staggered back and fell flat on his back.

"Captain!"

Someone rushed to help him but was pushed away.

Qian Weiguo glared viciously at them. "We finally caught the wolf! Kill the wolf! Don’t waste ammo shooting wildly!"

The team understood, but they were unwilling to back down just yet!

Remembering the humiliation they had suffered that afternoon, they couldn’t bear to give up!

"Save the bullets for killing the wolf!" Qian Weiguo clutched his chest, his eyes full of resentment as he stared at the dark forest ahead.

He wanted to show those Zhangjiatun kids a thing or two!

But that shot just now was a warning!

The distance between the two groups was so far, yet the bullet that hit the stone at his feet was clearly from a hunting rifle!

And among Zhangjiatun’s people, very few had guns so far.

Even the old team members patrolling the mountain hadn’t shown such sharpshooting skill before!

To hit that close with one shot...

He dared not take the risk!

Besides, they hadn’t even hit the wolf yet!

With all this concentrated gunfire, if a fight broke out in the mountains, the people below wouldn’t be able to cover it up.

Tomorrow, the company captain would surely investigate.

If they wasted so many bullets and didn’t even manage to bring back a single wolf hair, wouldn’t Zhangjiatun be left far behind again?

"Kill the wolf!"

"But captain, the wolf... the wolf has already run away!"

Qian Weiguo kicked the team member nearest to him.

"Then chase it!"

"No food in the fields, no mercy from heaven, don’t you just go hungry? All you do is shout! Didn’t you see the Zhangjiatun people chasing the wolf?!"

The team dared not argue and hurried with their guns toward the wolf’s escape route.

Meanwhile, Zhang Yang’s group, having shaken off the hail of bullets, did not act rashly.

They hid behind the trees, watching the movements of the Wulipu group.

Only when the others had run out of sight did someone quietly ask, "Are they leaving?"

"Don’t move… maybe they’re lying low, trying to trick us into coming out!"

"They were given guns by the company, but they don’t use them to kill wolves—they’re using them to fight!"

"They’re just greedy for the meat we caught in our village!"

"For a piece of meat, they don’t even value human life?"

Zhang Yang cleared his throat. "Enough arguing. I’ll talk to the company captain about this tomorrow."

"With such a commotion in the mountains today, many families must have been woken up!"

"Your families must be worried."

"Now, all of you should go down the mountain together and go straight home!"

Everyone was still shaken by the recent gunfire and no longer cared about the prey.

Better to save their lives!

Life is precious!

Without life, everything else is nothing!

The temporary team members stretched out their nearly frozen legs and began descending in groups.

But Zhao Dong, Gao Wen, and Gao Wu did not move.

"Yangzi! You’re sending everyone away—what are you planning?"

Zhao Dong gripped his padded jacket. "You don’t mean... going alone to deal with that gang from Wulipu, do you?!"

Zhang Yang patted his hand. "I’m just going to follow and see."

"That’s not allowed! I have to come with you!"

Gao Wen and Gao Wu raised their spears and followed closely. "We’re coming too!"

"Then follow us."

The four of them sprinted into the mountains.

Not long after, they heard the howls and screams of the Wulipu group not far ahead.

"There’s so much blood here, it must be those two greedy bastards from Zhangjiatun dragged by the wolf!"

"The wolf’s young and strong, definitely fierce!"

"Looks like it’s been dragged into a cave... who knows what kind of terrain inside. Maybe we shouldn’t chase it further?"

"No way!" Among the crowd, the loudest voice was Qian Weiguo’s. "We’ve come this far! We can’t just give up now! Absolutely not!"

The team stood still, cautious of their lives.

Qian Weiguo grinned wickedly. "Don’t think this is just a wolf hunt! If this wolf kills people, we’re doing the company a favor by getting rid of a pest!"

"This wolf is worth more than all the wolves Zhangjiatun has killed combined!"

"If we kill this man-eater, we’ll have done a great deed!"

"Then the whole Zhangjiatun will owe us a favor!"

"Friends, don’t you want to walk tall in Zhangjiatun?"