Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
The wild boar was gone, and so was the tethered wild chicken! As I shone the flashlight around, I noticed a tear in one corner of the tent. The military tent was quite sturdy, and we had reinforced it with packed earth to withstand wind and rain. Even a regular knife would struggle to cut through it.
Yet, here it was, torn open, a large gash about thirty to forty centimeters long. The flashlight pierced the darkness, illuminating the fine rain outside. There was no sound at all; the light struggled to penetrate the depth of the night, only reaching about ten meters ahead before fading into absolute blackness.
A sense of dread settled in my heart. This was definitely not the work of a thief; given the circumstances, it was more likely a wild animal. But if it were a beast, wouldn’t the boar have made noise or fought back? Why was there no commotion? If it were a ferocious predator, should we pursue it? I hesitated for a moment as Xuanhua, He Baisha, and Garfield were all unusually furious and insisted on going out without even putting on their raincoats. I stopped them and asked, “Do you know if there are any ferocious beasts around Guangxi?”
“What kind of beasts?” Xuanhua asked, looking confused.
“I’ve never heard of wolves or tigers being in Guangxi,” Garfield added, equally bewildered.
He Baisha remained silent but was strapping on an automatic rifle. I didn’t really believe there were such beasts in Guangxi; perhaps it was just wild dogs?
I gritted my teeth; damn it, we couldn’t just let this go. We had to chase after it and see what happened—if nothing else, dog meat would be good!
“Grab some sticks and bring your guns. Load up some blank rounds.”
Seeing that some soldiers were waking up from the commotion, I instructed a few others to repair the tent so everyone could rest easy. I took a stick we usually used for probing paths and fending off snakes and led the way out of the tent.
Once I reached the torn corner, I shone my flashlight around and unexpectedly discovered a dead wild chicken not far away. It seemed freshly killed; there was a lot of blood on the ground, with trails leading into the woods. After pondering for a moment, I decided to have Garfield cover our rear while He Baisha and Xuanhua flanked me on either side. We turned on our flashlights and followed the trail of blood step by step toward the forest beside the base.
Perhaps due to the rain, everything around us was eerily quiet; even the usual chirping of insects had ceased.
Once we entered the woods, visibility dropped significantly, and the blood trail began to diminish until it was almost gone. I signaled for everyone to spread out with their flashlights to widen our search area; this way, we wouldn’t be caught off guard if anything happened.
After walking for a while, I heard He Baisha whispering, “Look over here!” We directed our flashlights toward him and found another dead wild chicken lying on the ground behind a cluster of low shrubs! I hurried over and saw that its neck had been broken—clearly bitten—and there was still a rope tied around its leg. This was one of the chickens we had captured!
I picked up the chicken and felt that it still had some warmth; it must have died recently. Looking down at the ground, there wasn’t much blood—aside from a larger pool where the chicken lay, there were only scattered drops elsewhere. It would have been hard to notice if you weren’t looking closely. I waved for everyone to crouch down and carefully follow the blood trail forward.
Less than ten meters away, the trees around us suddenly thinned out, revealing a clearing in the woods. In front of me were only low shrubs. I shone my flashlight ahead and was met with an unbelievable sight!
In the clearing lay a wild boar, sprawled on the ground, trembling uncontrollably. Its body was covered in wounds, stained with blood. A large, furry creature resembling a big dog lay on the opposite side of the boar, its head hidden from view, its neck buried in the boar's side as it rummaged for something. All I could see was its thick coat of fur, somewhat like that of a Polar Bear Dog, except it was black.
At that moment, my companions caught up behind me. "What in the world is that?" Xuanhua exclaimed involuntarily. I quickly kicked him to silence him, but it was too late. When I turned back to look, the creature had already noticed us and raised its head to stare.
It was truly a monster! Under the beams of our flashlights, we could see it clearly—a furry, large-headed creature with an indiscernible shape. Its pointed ears were pressed flat against its head, and its eyes appeared as two large red dots, deeply set within its fur (I had once seen a purebred Tibetan Mastiff at an animal market back home; its eyes were similarly red and sunken into its furry face. According to its owner, such animals were often classified as beasts—bloodthirsty and carnivorous). Its mouth resembled that of a wolf but with less fur; it was wide open and dripping blood. The strangest part was that on each side of its upper jaw were long, sharp fangs curving downwards and inwards—somewhat like snake fangs—but for some reason, I couldn't shake off the feeling that it resembled a vampire.
Seeing the monster staring at us made me grip my stick tightly. At the same time, I heard the sound of safety catches being disengaged and bolts being pulled back beside me; clearly, everyone was a bit intimidated by this creature. As it noticed our movements, the monster became even more alert, baring its teeth and letting out a low growl as a warning.
"What should we do?" I heard Garfield whisper from behind.
"Wang Pai, we have numbers! What are we afraid of?" Xuanhua shouted confidently while gripping his rifle tightly.
He Baisha remained silent; I glanced over at him and could see he was visibly tense, his hands gripping his gun firmly. In that moment of youthful bravado, an idea sparked in my mind—what if we could capture this creature and study what it really was?
The stick in my hand wasn't very long or particularly comfortable to wield, but I felt confident that I could handle something like a wolfdog. After all, in front of us was merely a large strange dog; what did we have to fear?
I let out a hearty laugh. "Alright! Let's catch this monster and make a name for ourselves! Brothers, disengage your safeties and ready your bayonets!"
I wasn't foolish enough to bring only blank rounds; they served more as deterrents than anything else. If it came down to using them, firing randomly would either alert command or prove ineffective since blank rounds required close proximity to cause harm. It would be much safer to use bayonets.
As my companions pulled out their bayonets to attach them, I kept my eyes trained on the monster. To my surprise, it seemed quite intelligent; it must have sensed that we were preparing and suddenly leaped over the wild boar towards us! Its sharp claws glinted under the flashlight's beam!
It moved incredibly fast—that was my first impression. A quick glance revealed that not everyone had fully attached their bayonets yet! I had no choice but to bite down on my flashlight and step forward with my stick raised. The monster leaped at me from less than a meter away—an astonishing height of over a meter! With both front limbs extended forward, it clearly intended to use its speed and momentum to tackle me. I stepped back with my right foot and swung my stick in an arc from below right towards the creature.
A dull thud echoed as the stick struck the monster's left foreleg, but it merely swayed slightly, not budging from its path. I felt an overwhelming weight; it must weigh at least 100 kilograms!
Seeing that my strike was ineffective, I quickly crouched down and rolled to the right front, then stood up and looked back.
The monster missed me but charged into the space between the four of us, directly facing Garfield. At that moment, Garfield had already strapped the flashlight to his gun and attached the bayonet, holding the weapon with both hands, ready to strike at any moment. Garfield was about my height, and upon seeing the monster leap, he seemed prepared. The tip of the bayonet was slightly raised, likely aiming to stab its belly when it jumped again—truly a seasoned leader!
To its left was Xuanhua, also ready for action. He simply tossed aside the flashlight and, taking advantage of his height, raised his rifle high, seemingly intending to pin the monster down from above.
On the right, He Baisha looked a bit dazed. He held his gun and flashlight in his left hand while his right hand fumbled with the bayonet. Clearly overwhelmed with nerves, he was a step behind. I thought this could be bad and planned to step forward to strike at the monster's waist. Unexpectedly, the monster twisted its body and lunged toward He Baisha. "Heart!" I shouted as I grabbed the flashlight. I saw He Baisha trembling, still struggling to attach the bayonet while the monster was less than half a meter away from him. In a panic, He Baisha hugged his gun close and crouched down, rolling toward the ground in the direction of the monster.
That was close! I thought. The monster had missed twice and was evidently furious, growling low as it turned its head and charged at He Baisha again. I rushed over to pull He Baisha up and snatched his rifle from him. I quickly secured the flashlight around the gun barrel with some straps and faced the monster.
At that moment, Garfield and Xuanhua surged ahead of me, both lunging at the monster with their bayonets! Xuanhua aimed directly at its head from above while Garfield cleverly targeted its abdomen from the side. I silently praised their initiative; after all, the steel of an 81-style bayonet is exceptionally strong, reinforced with longitudinal ribs on both sides forming a concave blood groove. If they could pierce into the monster's body, it would cause continuous bleeding and significantly worsen its injuries, greatly increasing our chances of capturing it alive.
But in an instant, the monster suddenly leaped up and bit down on Xuanhua's bayonet while dodging Garfield's attack. Caught off guard by its immense body and speed, both Xuanhua and the creature tumbled to the ground together...
(To be continued; more excitement tomorrow!)
Comment 0 Comment Count