Chapter 28

Chapter 28

These dholes were encircling the wild boars for the hunt and were naturally wary of other predators that might ambush them. Thus, another dhole was hiding in the brush on the slope above, keeping watch.

Shen Banyue and Liao Chengze had not spotted this lookout dhole earlier, but they had been cautious enough not to disturb it.

However, the commotion caused by Shen Wenyi’s approach was more than enough to alert the sharp-eared dhole. Almost the moment Shen Wenyi spoke, the lookout dhole detected them, letting out a warning howl before charging toward them in a rush of foul air.

Liao Chengze, who had been bringing up the rear, had somehow picked up a long stick as thick as a child’s arm. He swung it along the dhole’s charging path and hissed urgently, “Run!”

Shen Wenyi was initially confused. “What is that? A dog? A wolf hybrid?”

Shen Banyue tightened the cloth strap securing Xiao Dizi to her back. Amidst the chaos, she didn’t forget to instruct the little girl: “Dizi, close your eyes.” Then she quickly explained to Shen Wenyi, “Dholes! A whole pack of them down there! You need to run—now!”

Shen Wenyi was startled. “Ah! Then you, you… I, I… Let me carry you!”

Shen Banyue scrambled up a nearby tree. She stomped heavily on a branch twice, landing lightly on the ground as the branch broke and fell. She picked up one piece and tossed another to Shen Wenyi, grabbing one for herself. Impatiently, she said, “Don’t hold us back. Just run!”

Shen Wenyi: “…”

Remembering that this kid could indeed outrun him, he didn’t insist. He raised his branch, intending to help Liao Chengze—only to find Liao Chengze wielding his wooden staff with such ferocious skill that there was simply no opening for assistance.

“Just worry about yourself! And take Lin Mian and the others away!”

Thinking of the others still unaware of the situation, Shen Wenyi gritted his teeth and turned to run.

The dhole was extremely agile. Despite Liao Chengze’s prolonged struggle with it, he had only managed to lame one of its hind legs. Yet it remained “disabled but determined,” locking its gaze fiercely onto the “two-legged beast” before it and refusing to grant him any opening to escape.

Meanwhile, Shen Banyue could already hear other dholes running up from the direction of the slope.

Holding a branch much taller than herself, she seized an opportunity and swept it low along the ground, accurately striking the lame dhole’s remaining good hind leg. The dhole, caught off guard, sprawled forward. Immediately, Liao Chengze brought his staff down hard on its spine. With a final whimper, it collapsed, unable to rise.

“Go! Now!”

Almost as Liao Chengze spoke, Shen Banyue was already darting off in another direction, branch in hand—

They couldn’t run back. Leading these predators back toward the woods near the village would endanger the commune members and children gathering mushrooms nearby.

Liao Chengze, who had intended for her to run back while he diverted the pack, turned his head and saw her choice. His heart nearly leaped out of his chest. There was no time to argue now; he could only hurriedly give chase.

Down in the muddy pit on the slope, part of the dhole pack had split off to pursue up the slope. The pressure on the two wild boars instantly lessened. Whether they saw a glimmer of hope or found strength in desperation, the two boars actually broke through the dhole “encirclement” and charged up the slope, squealing wildly.

These cornered boars, once on the slope, fled in panic without regard for direction—charging straight toward the path Shen Banyue and the others had taken.

If someone had been watching with a modern drone, the scene would have held a strange humor: humans trailed by dholes, dholes trailed by frantically fleeing wild boars, and the boars trailed by another group of dholes.

As she ran, Shen Banyue kept glancing back. Seeing the few dholes chasing Liao Chengze getting closer and closer, her eyes grew anxious.

No matter how strong Liao Chengze’s combat skills were, he was just an ordinary person. Without weapons, he might handle one or two dholes—but facing a whole pack, he wouldn’t stand a chance.

In the current situation, it seemed the only way to save him was for her to directly expose her abilities.

Just as Shen Banyue’s mind raced and she gritted her teeth, preparing to turn back and rescue Liao Chengze, she spotted out of the corner of her eye a massive, deep pit not far ahead.

It was unclear whether the pit was an old trap dug by people long ago or had formed naturally over time due to soft soil. Its edges were overgrown with dense brambles and ferns. If not for Shen Banyue’s sharp senses, she might not have noticed it immediately.

Conditioned reflexes honed through countless life-and-death situations made Shen Banyue act almost without conscious thought. She crouched low and reached her hand into the brush-covered earth.

In a place unseen by anyone, ores that had fallen from who-knows-where in the mountains and fragments of scrap iron lost in the soil layers from some bygone era silently gathered. An invisible force smelted, twisted, and transformed them.

In a very short time, the originally empty pit bottom sprouted sharp metal spikes, popping up like wild mushrooms after a thunderstorm. When they first emerged, each spike was pure and silvery-bright, gleaming dazzlingly. Then, in an instant, as their “growth” ceased, a layer of dark, greenish rust formed on every spike.

It was as if they hadn’t appeared abruptly but had been buried in the pit for decades—only now being unearthed and discovered.

Behind her, Liao Chengze felt the howls of the pursuing dholes getting closer and closer. He even had the illusion that the beasts’ foul, stinking breath was already licking at his ankles.

He glanced at the small figure ahead, surveyed the surrounding terrain, and was about to change direction to lure the dholes away—when he heard the little girl ahead shout loudly, “Uncle Liao! There’s a trap here! Lure them over!”

The little girl called out, nimbly leaped onto a large tree, tore off a vine wrapped around it, and flung it toward him. “Grab it!”

By now, Liao Chengze had seen the large pit ahead. He couldn’t make out what was at the bottom, but in his mind, even if the pit was empty, its sheer size should be enough to slow down the pursuers.

He saw the little girl securely tying one end of the vine to the large tree. Without further thought, he grabbed the vine flung before him, used the momentum to swing himself over the pit, and landed on the other side.

In that fleeting moment, his peripheral vision swept over the pit bottom. Seeing the dense thicket of spikes, his scalp prickled, and he sucked in a sharp, cold breath.

The dholes chasing him couldn’t stop in time. Caught off guard, they tumbled into the pit. Accompanied by a series of agonized cries, they soon fell silent.

Liao Chengze had already climbed another large tree. Looking down from above at the dholes impaled like hedgehogs in the pit, he slowly let out a breath, filled with lingering fear.

Then, before he could finish exhaling, two blood-soaked wild boars came charging wildly from the distance and plunged headlong into the large pit.

Immediately after, another group of dholes followed, tumbling into the pit bottom like dumplings dropping into a pot—plop, plop, plop.

Liao Chengze watched, dumbfounded. Even after no more dholes appeared and the surroundings returned to silence, he hadn’t snapped out of it.

In all his years of military service, he had been through many perilous missions—but today was the most nerve-wracking.

On military missions, he was either operating alone or with comrades-in-arms, able to face any danger with single-minded focus.

But today was different. Today, he had two little girls he needed to protect. From the moment he discovered the dhole pack, his heart had been in his throat.

Several times, he had already mentally prepared himself to hold off these beasts alone—even sacrificing himself—to ensure the two children returned safely.

Liao Chengze never imagined it would end like this.

Him—and two little girls—in a situation truly surrounded by a wolf pack—not only managed to escape but also ended up with the entire pack—oh, and the wild boars—wiped out completely.

How could this feel like a dream?

“Uncle Liao, those wolves seem to be all dead,” the little girl’s clear voice rang out. She pointed at the dholes and boars in the pit. “They’re not moving anymore.”

Liao Chengze snapped back to reality. With a complex expression, he looked down at the pit. He wondered who had made this trap. The spikes were incredibly numerous, long and dense. Not just the dholes, but even the thick-skinned wild boars were impaled like hedgehogs.

Gradually calming down, Liao Chengze turned to Shen Banyue. “How are you and Xiao Dizi?”

Shen Banyue blinked, belatedly putting on a “terrified” act. “N-nothing, just a bit scared. So many wolves—so frightening.” After a rather unconvincing performance of a “frightened little girl,” she added, “Xiao Dizi is fine too. She seems to have fallen asleep.”

The little girl was very obedient. Told to close her eyes, she did. Probably bored from keeping them shut—and with Shen Banyue’s frantic running providing a rather intense version of a rocking cradle—she had fallen asleep halfway.

It was fortunate she had slept; otherwise, seeing the pit full of bloody dholes and boars would likely have scared her too.

Liao Chengze was the youngest in his family. By the time his siblings had children, he had already joined the army—so he had almost no experience dealing with young children.

He did find Shen Banyue’s “so frightening” a bit odd-sounding, but he didn’t dwell on it, simply assuming this was how children were—fearless in the moment, only realizing fear upon reflection.

A few minutes later, after confirming the dholes were definitely dead and there were no other dangerous beasts nearby, the two finally climbed down from the trees.

“We need to find the others and come back to deal with this pit. Normally, dholes shouldn’t appear in an area not too far from human activity. They were probably lured here by the wild boars this time. If we don’t handle this, it might draw in other dangerous animals—and that would be troublesome.”

Shen Banyue nodded obediently, wearing an expression that said, "I'm just a kid, I don't understand anything, I'll listen to the adults."

Liao Chengze glanced at her and sighed, "Xiao Yue, you mustn't be so reckless in the future."

Shen Banyue agreed immediately.

They had walked partway toward the village when they ran into Shen Guoqing and Shen Zhenhua, who were carrying a hoe and a cleaver.

After Shen Wenyi ran back to alert everyone, they had him take several children down the mountain first while they themselves borrowed these tools from someone in the hillside area... The two of them had sprinted like their lives depended on it, while the other commune members who came to help were still behind.

They had expected to come and fight for their lives, never imagining they would end up hauling off the carcasses of dholes and wild boars instead.

Staring at the pit full of dholes and wild boars, Shen Guoxing and Shen Zhenhua looked at each other, both somewhat stunned.

"Your luck is just too good," Shen Zhenhua murmured. With so many dholes, if not for this large pit, these three would have ended up as a meal sooner or later. Even if they had come to help, they might have just added a few more dishes to the table.

But now, it was like delivery service.

Was this a pit full of dholes? No, this was clearly a pit full of meat.