PFC Chapter 470 Hot Spring
Chapter 470 Hot Spring
The wolf pack tightened their encirclement. Li Xiangyang and Wang Ergou stood back to back, adjusting the direction of their guns as the wolves moved.
"Ergou, you keep an eye on the two on the left," Li Xiangyang said in a deep voice. "I'll deal with the three on the right."
"Understood!" Wang Ergou replied through gritted teeth.
The alpha wolf let out a long howl, and all five wolves simultaneously took a step forward.
Their eyes gleamed with a bloodthirsty light, and their sharp fangs gleamed coldly in the sunlight.
Li Xiangyang knew he couldn't wait any longer. The wolf pack had already completed the encirclement; delaying would only embolden them.
"boom!"
Li Xiangyang was the first to pull the trigger, and the bullet accurately hit the alpha wolf's foreleg.
The alpha wolf howled in pain, its body swaying, but it didn't fall. The injury only fueled its ferocity, and it pounced!
"boom!"
Wang Ergou also opened fire, and after the shot rang out, a wolf on the left fell to the ground.
Just then, the alpha wolf, wounded, pounced into the air. Li Xiangyang dodged to the side and simultaneously slammed the butt of his rifle into the wolf's head.
“Ah—”
The alpha wolf was so stunned by the impact that it fell onto the snow.
Meanwhile, the other wolves had already pounced on them!
"Watch out on your right!" Wang Ergou shouted.
Li Xiangyang didn't have time to turn around, so he could only jump backward based on his instincts.
A gray wolf's sharp claws barely grazed his clothes, leaving several deep scratches on his thick cotton-padded coat.
"Get out of here!"
Li Xiangyang roared and swung the butt of his gun, knocking the wolf to the ground.
The encirclement had been disrupted, and the wolf pack hesitated in their offensive.
The wounded alpha wolf struggled to its feet and let out a low growl. The other wolves immediately moved closer to it, reforming their defensive formation.
“They’re leaving,” Li Xiangyang said in a deep voice. “Don’t chase them, let them go.”
Wang Ergou, panting heavily, still pointed his gun at the wolf pack: "Damn, that was really close."
Led by the alpha wolf, the wolf pack retreated step by step.
They remained vigilant throughout, only disappearing completely once they retreated deep into the dense forest.
"call--"
Li Xiangyang breathed a sigh of relief, only then realizing that his back was soaked with cold sweat.
"Brother Xiangyang, are you alright?" Wang Ergou asked with concern.
"It's nothing, just a few tears in my clothes," Li Xiangyang checked himself over. "And you?"
"I'm fine too," Wang Ergou patted his chest. "That was a close call."
After checking each other over and confirming that neither of them was injured, they were finally relieved.
A wolf that Wang Ergou had killed lay on the ground, its bloodstains from the alpha wolf standing out starkly against the snow.
“This wolf pelt is pretty good,” Wang Ergou kicked the wolf carcass. “It can fetch a good amount of money.”
Li Xiangyang nodded, but a sense of unease lingered in his heart: "The wolves are becoming increasingly audacious, daring to attack people in broad daylight. It seems there really is no food left in the mountains."
"Should we continue walking?"
Li Xiangyang glanced at the sky: "Let's go, but be careful. The wolf pack is injured and won't be back for a while."
After dealing with the wolf carcass, the two continued their journey into the mountains.
After walking for about an hour, they came to an open valley. The view was expansive, and withered yellow grass could be vaguely seen under the snow.
"Shh-"
Li Xiangyang suddenly made a shushing gesture.
At the other end of the valley, a small group of roe deer were foraging for food. They alertly pricked up their ears and looked up to survey their surroundings from time to time.
“There are five,” Wang Ergou whispered. “Brother Xiangyang, how do we fight them?”
Li Xiangyang carefully observed the terrain: "You go around to the left, I'll go to the right, and when the opportunity arises, just fire."
The two split up and quietly approached the roe deer herd.
Roe deer are very alert animals; they will flee at the slightest disturbance. Li Xiangyang took every step with extreme care, trying his best to make no sound.
When the distance closed to fifty meters, Li Xiangyang stopped and looked for a suitable shooting angle.
"boom!"
Gunshots echoed through the valley, and a roe deer fell to the ground.
The other roe deer immediately panicked and scattered in all directions.
"boom!"
Wang Ergou also fired, and another roe deer fell to the ground in the snow.
The remaining roe deer quickly disappeared into the woods and vanished in the blink of an eye.
"Great haul!" Wang Ergou ran over excitedly.
Li Xiangyang smiled too. Roe deer meat is tender and delicious, and its fur is also valuable.
Just as they were preparing to process their prey, a strange sound came from not far away.
"Gurgle...gurgle..."
The sound was like something churning underground, or like the sound of flowing water.
"What's that sound?" Wang Ergou asked alertly.
Li Xiangyang frowned and listened carefully: "It seems to be coming from over there."
The two left their prey behind and cautiously made their way toward the source of the sound.
After climbing over a small hill, the sight before them stunned them.
In the center of a depression, the snow was slowly melting, revealing the black soil beneath. Even stranger, the soil was constantly bubbling, like boiling water.
"This is... a hot spring?" Wang Ergou said in surprise.
Li Xiangyang moved closer and reached out to test the temperature: "It should be, but the water temperature is way too high, it's almost boiling."
Indeed, the rising water vapor was extremely hot, condensing into white mist in the cold air and swirling above the depression.
Wang Ergou poked the blackened soil at the edge with the barrel of his gun, immediately burning his wrist and exclaiming, "This is unbelievable! The water's boiling! Could there be some magma underground? Brother Xiangyang, do you think this could be related to the frequent wolf packs coming down the mountain?"
Before the words were finished, the swamp suddenly burst open with bubbles the size of bowls, and scalding mud splashed around their feet, leaving charred pits in the snow.
Li Xiangyang abruptly grabbed Wang Ergou, who was retreating, and stared at the expanding boiling area: "The wolf pack must have smelled sulfur. I remember the county annals saying that before the eruption of the Laolonggou volcano during the Guangxu era, the ground temperature also rose sharply, and wild animals fled in terror..."
As they were talking, the ground suddenly began to shake.
"Rumble--"
An even larger burst of hot air erupted from the ground, forming a small column of water.
The scalding spring water splashed everywhere, hissing as it landed on the snow.
"Run!"
Li Xiangyang grabbed Wang Ergou and ran back.
The commotion behind me grew louder and louder, and waves of heat surged towards me.
When they ran to a safe distance and looked back, the depression was completely shrouded in white fog.
"Good heavens, thank goodness we ran fast." Looking towards the depression in the distance, Wang Ergou said with lingering fear as he tied up his prey, "First the wolf pack, and now this suddenly formed hot spring."
Li Xiangyang nodded and sighed, "Yes, the power of nature is truly not to be underestimated. We thought we had traversed countless mountains and understood the nature's nature, but in the end, we realized that what we knew was but a drop in the ocean."
After packing up their prey, the two began to head back.