Unlike a rifle, a hunting shotgun's effective range is at most 100 meters. Zhou Cang ejected the cartridge, used the tip of his knife to pry off the primer from the shell casing, and then reinserted the empty casing.
Looking through the small hole where the primer was, the barrel was straight.
If there's a chance, I still need to get a rifle!
But it's better than nothing. This gun gave Zhou Cang the confidence to take down even fierce forest beasts.
Once again, he organized his gear and entered the mountain. He kept his knife and hunting shotgun with him, and everything else was placed on the sled. Zhou Cang also brought an extra axe.
Dragging the sled along the mountain ridge, Zhou Cang's face was wrapped with two layers of black cloth covering his mouth and nose. The outside of the black cloth was already covered in frost.
Entering the mountain in winter is very physically demanding, and if he went too far, he might not be able to return the same day. Fortunately, now Grandma was accompanying Zhang Yue, so Zhou Cang planned to get more large game this time before returning home.
Struggling forward in the deep snow, the snow was thick now, making it easy for the sled but very difficult for a person to walk. It seemed he had to get a few hunting dogs as soon as possible.
After crossing two mountains, he set up over a dozen snares of various sizes along the way according to the old custom. He also took a rabbit from a previous snare and put it in the basket on the sled.
He walked until noon, but whether it was the wrong route or some other reason, he didn't encounter any living creatures along the way. Neither pheasants nor rabbits, nothing!
Zhou Cang felt a bit strange. According to his memory, he had walked in this direction last time and even encountered roe deer. How could it be? Could that group of roe deer have moved?
A gust of wind blew, and Zhou Cang sniffed. There was a refreshing scent in the forest, but in that gust of wind just now,
There was the smell of blood!
He turned his head to look upwind. It was a dense forest. If he wasn't mistaken, there must be something there.
Zhou Cang put down the sled rope, equipped all his weapons, held the hunting shotgun with a slug loaded, carried the bow and arrows on his back, tucked the knife into his front waist, and slanted the spear into his back waist.
He slowly approached the forest. The journey was eerily quiet, as if Zhou Cang was the only person in the world.
Entering the forest for dozens of meters, there was an open space with two fallen dead trees lying across each other. The snow on the ground around the dead trees was clearly flattened.
These were signs of animal activity. Immediately after, Zhou Cang saw a shocking scene:
It was a large area of white bones!
Among them were scattered remains of several roe deer. The smell of blood came from here.
"Damn it, I've entered a wolf den!"
Zhou Cang cursed inwardly. No wonder he hadn't seen that group of roe deer from last time. It seemed they had been wiped out by the Wolf Pack here.
The bellies of the several roe deer on the ground had been ripped open. Wolves like to start eating from the internal organs because they have high fat content.
This also gave Zhou Cang an opportunity. He took out his knife and quickly cut off the two hind legs of a relatively complete roe deer, dragged them up, and left.
Stealing meat from a wolf den!
Leaving quickly was the right thing to do. Although he wasn't afraid of one or two wolves, a whole group would be quite troublesome.
Just as he threw the two big legs into the basket, a wolf howl sounded from nearby!
"Awoo!"
Immediately after, more and more wolf howls rose and fell around him.
"Awoo! Awoo! Awoo!"
He was surrounded!
Eurasian grey wolves, adult males weigh about fifty kilograms, and a pack usually consists of over a dozen individuals.
At this moment, Zhou Cang felt as if he was back on the European battlefield. His situation back then was also like this, alone.
He dragged the sled to the side of a large tree. The Wolf Pack around him was gradually closing in.
He hung the bow on the tree, in a position he could easily reach. He had less than ten arrows, which he lined up and stuck into the snow in front of him.
He threw the spear and axe about three meters in front of him. The knife was still at his back waist.
Finally, he knelt on one knee, holding the hunting shotgun, with two slugs in his mouth.
At this point, seven or eight grey wolves had surrounded Zhou Cang, less than ten meters away, lowering their heads, raising their eyes, and baring their teeth, ready to attack at any moment.
The leader was exceptionally strong, with bloodstains still on the fur around his mouth. This should be the vanguard of the Wolf Pack. During a hunt, he was probably the first to rush up and bite the prey.
The grey wolf was also observing Zhou Cang.
This human didn't turn and run away, which seemed different from the humans they had encountered before. Previously, the humans they encountered would turn and run. They just needed to pounce from behind, and he would fall, then they could easily bite through his neck!
This Wolf Pack had eaten people before. If Zhou Cang had flipped through those white bones just now, he would have discovered human skulls among them!
And today, this human not only didn't run, but even dared to face them directly! The grey wolf didn't smell urine!
In the ancient genes of the wolf tribe, there were memories about humans, about torches and spears, which didn't quite match the appearance of this one holding a stick.
In any case, although there was a little unease, there was no reason to let the meat at their mouths go.
The leading grey wolf's hindquarters lowered, ready to charge, and the other wolves followed suit!
"Bang!"
The sound of the gunshot startled the Wolf Pack into a sudden stop, and they all scattered and ran away.
One shot!
It actually blew apart the skull of that strong grey wolf. The wolf's body twitched a few times and then became still.
The pack of wolves was in a commotion until a wolf howl sounded from a nearby high ground.
"Awoo!"
This should be the true leader of the Wolf Pack. After a wolf howl, the encirclement stabilized again, but they all lowered their bodies at a distance of about twenty meters and no longer rushed forward.
"Holy crap! These beasts have become cunning!"
Having reloaded the cartridge, Zhou Cang looked at the encirclement, secretly alarmed. No wonder the Village people didn't dare to go up the mountain; it turned out there was such a group of tactical wolves entrenched in the mountain.
If it were an ordinary person, this situation would definitely be a matter of life and death; they would be surrounded and killed by the Wolf Pack!
Even with a gun, there weren't many bullets, and their marksmanship wasn't as accurate as Zhou Cang's. Once it got dark, the Wolf Pack could easily kill a hunter!
Unfortunately, today they encountered Zhou Cang!
"Good beasts, today I'll use you to practice!"
He raised his gun and aimed at the nearest wolf,
Bang!
This shot hit the wolf in the neck. The wolf whimpered a few times and then lay still. The blood sprayed on the snow was exceptionally bright!
The other wolves retreated some distance after a commotion, significantly expanding the encirclement, but they still hadn't left.
Good heavens! They were gambling on the range of his gun!
Zhou Cang suddenly felt a sense of being looked down upon. This Wolf Pack seemed to want to exhaust his ammunition and then trap him to death.
"Alright, alright! Using a gun counts as bullying you. Let's practice with the bow!"
After reloading another slug, he slung the gun behind his back. Zhou Cang raised the bow.
Before leaving, he had sharpened all the arrowheads to be incredibly sharp. Each arrowhead weighed about twenty grams. His bow was a 30-kilogram hard bow, which ordinary people couldn't even pull. But Fu Gui's father could easily shoot and kill elk and wild boars with this bow.
Simply put, the power of this bow was not much worse than a rifle!
"Creak!"
Zhou Cang turned sideways and drew the bowstring back fully, aiming at a grey wolf leaning against a pine tree.
Feeling the wind direction, he adjusted his aim slightly to the right and raised it by about a finger's width.
Swish!
His fingers loosened slightly, and the arrow shot out instantly, arriving in the blink of an eye, piercing the wolf's belly and pinning it to the tree!
The shot wolf struggled violently, howling miserably.