Chapter 80 - 77: Leading a Yellow Hound, Holding... a Drone, the Mountain Sweep Begins

Li Xiang counted carefully. The sounder of wild boars that had invaded Lei Family Gully totaled eight: one boar, two sows, and five piglets.

It was actually quite easy to tell the males from the females. There were many distinguishing features. For example, a male boar’s head was thicker and its neck was stout and short, with a distinct ruff. Its tusks were usually exposed, giving it a fierce, dominant appearance.

Female boars, or sows, were often smaller than the males, with lighter builds, and their tusks were generally not visible.

Then there were the differences in reproductive organs, and so on.

Autumn and winter were the mating season for wild boars, which was why the male was with the sounder. At other times, he might have been solitary.

If a male boar was seen alone during this season, it meant he was either driven out of a group or had failed to find a mate.

The lead boar was estimated to weigh between 300 and 400 jin. The two adult sows were about 150 to 200 jin each, while the five piglets ranged from 30 to 60 jin.

A sounder like this wasn’t actually that powerful, with only three real combatants. However, Lei Jiaming’s team had over a dozen people, all armed, and more than ten Hunting Dogs providing support from the sidelines, barking wildly. Comparatively, the boars were at a disadvantage.

But even so, the lead boar led his sounder in a chaotic charge, and Lei Jiaming’s team was somehow unable to hold them back for a moment, letting the boars break through their line.

Two of the dogs pounced on the boar. And then, tragedy struck.

One dog, just like Dahuang, was instantly flung into the air. The other was sent flying by the two sows, tumbling seven or eight meters before coming to a stop. It couldn’t get back up; its back had been broken.

’Damn.’ Li Xiang and Jiang Jianguo watched, their nerves on edge.

Li Xiang thought to himself, ’Maybe I should go help them.’ But it was broad daylight, and Uncle Jiang was watching the scene through the drone. ’If I used the Divine Movement Technique, I would arrive in five or six minutes. That would scare Uncle Jiang to death.’

’If I go too late, the show will already be over.’

Fortunately, seeing his dog grievously injured, Lei Jiaming’s eyes went red. He grabbed a long spear, roared, and charged forward. He fought the boar for dozens of rounds before finally ramming the spear into its belly and pinning it viciously to the ground.

But the boar continued to struggle relentlessly, nearly throwing Lei Jiaming off.

Several team members immediately rushed up to help Lei Jiaming hold the boar down. One of them, a small, skinny young man, was surprisingly fierce. He took out a sharp pig-sticking knife and plunged it toward the boar’s throat.

The boar thrashed violently, but as thick, metallic-smelling blood gushed out, it could only slowly go limp.

Without their lead boar, the two sows and five piglets lost their nerve and scattered, only to be captured one by one by Lei Jiaming’s team.

Jiang Jianguo remarked with a sigh, "Lei Jiaming is no match for you."

After all, Li Xiang had decapitated a lone, armored boar weighing over six hundred jin with a single strike. Lei Jiaming, on the other hand, had struggled for so long against an unarmored boar of just over three hundred jin, and he’d ended up in a sorry state.

And Lei Jiaming had even studied Martial Arts at a martial arts school before.

Li Xiang sighed. Life was unpredictable. The dogs of Lei Family Gully had also died heroic deaths. ’Dahuang won’t be lonely in the afterlife.’

Those two dogs were definitely not going to make it. Even the one with the broken back would have a hard time surviving unless Lei Jiaming was willing to spend a fortune on surgery for it.

And animals don’t usually have health insurance. The surgery and medical fees were ridiculously expensive.

"Uncle Jiang, we should get moving soon, too," Li Xiang said, already getting impatient. When it came to hunting wild boars, it was obviously better to keep the battlefield in the mountains. If a sounder charged into the village, with so many elderly, women, and children, it would be bad if anyone got hurt.

As the heavy snow continued to seal off the mountains, the boars would be unable to find enough food and would certainly approach human fields or villages. In the wild, boars have almost no natural predators; large beasts like tigers that could hunt them are already on the brink of extinction.

With no natural predators and access to sufficient food, omnivores like wild boars could grow to weights far exceeding the norm and live for an astonishing 20 to 50 years.

"You keep an eye on the drone. I’m going to see how Uncle Yucheng is doing with the sleds." Having watched the man-versus-boar battle, Jiang Jianguo’s blood was also pumping. He got up and left immediately.

Li Xiang took control of the drone and made another sweep around Li Family Village. With the drone and its infrared camera, he wouldn’t have to go out himself in the evening.

Around three in the afternoon, Jiang Jianguo and Li Yucheng arrived at Li Xiang’s house, each pulling a large sled. Li Xiang shared some good news with them: the team had passed the review, and he had already downloaded their hunting license to his computer.

"That’s fantastic!"

The three of them worked together to load necessary supplies onto one of the sleds, which would serve as their supply carrier. The other sled would be used to haul back the boars.

The selection process for the Bounty Hunter Team was actually quite strict. Logically, a ragtag group like Li Xiang’s wouldn’t normally pass the review. The team members’ average age was too high, there were too few of them, and their equipment was mediocre.

However, the staff member in charge of the review had seen Li Xiang’s "decapitating a boar with one strike" video. He had gotten incredibly excited and shouted to his colleagues, "That beast who chopped off the boar’s head with one swing showed up! He applied!"

"Haha, let me see. Oh, his name’s Li Xiang. Looking at the photo, he really is that rural life blogger."

"And his team’s name is ’Xiaoli Yidao.’ Badass!"

"He even has a university degree, and in science, no less! Damn, are all college students this fierce nowadays? I wonder if he’s practiced some kind of family Traditional Martial Arts!"

"Who knows. Anyway, other teams can fail, but his team must pass! Even if he were the only one on his team, we’d have to approve him!"

"Yeah, as long as he finds the boars, he’ll just take them down one by one, like slicing melons and vegetables."

"A guy like this, if he were born in ancient times, would definitely be a fierce general, an army of one."

Everyone unanimously agreed to approve Li Xiang’s application.

The review staff had great confidence in Li Xiang, thinking he might be one of the strongest main forces in this year’s boar hunt.

Even the leader in charge of this project nodded repeatedly after taking a look, full of confidence about the results of this operation.

That leader said, "If this young man, Li Xiang, performs exceptionally well and turns in the most boars, we’ll give him an award and an additional cash prize."

As soon as this suggestion was made, a subordinate quickly began drafting a document according to the leader’s wishes. After a meeting and discussion, the plan was finalized.

There would be four prize categories: one Grand Prize for the Hunter King, with a ten-thousand-yuan reward; one First Prize, with a five-thousand-yuan reward; three Second Prizes, with a two-thousand-yuan reward each; and six Third Prizes, with a one-thousand-yuan reward each. All came with honorary certificates. The prize money would be given to the team, and how the team distributed it was their own business.

As for applying for funding, there was, of course, a proper procedure for that.

There was also no need to worry about anyone cheating. If someone tried to boost their rank by buying boars, they’d probably lose a ton of money.

Wild boars were so expensive these days, and their buyback price was lower than the market rate.

...

With the sleds and hunting license ready, the three of them went to bed early that night to rest up and conserve their energy.

Early the next morning, as snowflakes drifted down, Village Chief Li Jinyu and a dozen or so others saw them off. The trio, dressed in cold-proof suits, protective gear, and protective helmets, and wearing thermal gloves, each grabbed their preferred weapon. With their Hunting Dogs and drone, they set off for the deep mountains.

Since they hadn’t yet reached the deep mountains, the sled laden with supplies was pulled by two Hunting Dogs, while the other empty sled was pulled by a single dog.

The dogs were also wearing protective vests. They were light-colored camouflage, similar to bulletproof vests, but the quality was certainly not as good. They weren’t expensive and didn’t contain any high-tech materials—just ordinary steel plates as lining.

Li Yucheng carried a shovel that could be used for digging traps or as a weapon, and he also had a homemade bow slung over his back. Jiang Jianguo held the Three-pronged Steel Fork that Li Xiang had given him. As for Li Xiang himself, his all-steel High-Density Blade was more than enough.

His High-Density Blade not only had a long blade and a thick spine, but even its long handle was made of solid steel, bringing its total weight to a full thirty kilograms.

To prevent slipping, Li Xiang had wrapped the steel handle with coils of hemp rope as thick as his little finger. But Jiang Cai’Er thought it was ugly, so she had unwrapped it and re-wrapped it with red and blue cotton thread, weaving a "double-diamond" pattern knot. She even added an apricot-yellow tassel at the end, making it both more secure and more beautiful.

Additionally, Li Xiang was wearing that professional tactical camera helmet. In any case, he had three laptop power banks with him, so he wasn’t worried about running out of power.

"Be careful! You’ll be gone for at least three or four days. We’re counting on you!" Village Chief Li Jinyu waved, his eyes seeming to blur with tears in the wind and snow. ’Li Xiang and the others... they’re doing all this to protect the village.’