frightfiction Chapter 149 The hunting dog is the hunter's second life
Chapter 149 The hunting dog is the hunter's second life
Song Desheng, carrying the white egg, followed Li Ju'an.
He had never seen anything like it before. Two or three hundred meters ahead, the snow was covered in bright red blood. Red Wolf's head had been smashed, the skull dented in an unusually strange shape, surrounded by blood. Only the dog's body remained intact, lying limply on the snow, long since lifeless.
Song Desheng's eyes welled up with tears, his heart pounded, and he couldn't help but close his eyes, unable to bear looking any longer.
He continued to follow Li Ju'an at a brisk pace and saw the helper dog, Black Panther. Black Panther had a large, bloody hole in the back of its neck; the entire artery had been ripped open, and all the blood had drained out, with no more flowing. It was reminiscent of the time before Black Panther died, when blood gushed from the back of its neck, and its abdomen was ripped open, with its internal organs and intestines scattered all over the ground, the intestines severed beyond repair.
If the intestines hadn't severed but were just protruding, and the carotid artery in the neck hadn't been damaged, there might still be a chance of survival. Stuffing the intestines back in and binding the abdomen might offer a glimmer of hope. But Black Panther's intestines were severed and protruding, and his neck was also severely injured; there was no way he could survive.
Li Ju'an walked up to the black leopard and squatted down, his eyes red-rimmed.
The black panther was still clinging to life. It smelled its master's scent and tried to open its eyes and lift its eyelids to look up at its master. It let out a weak whimper, but Li Ju'an was standing behind it. No matter how hard it opened its eyelids, it could not see its master. The light in its eyes gradually dimmed.
Li Ju'an closed his eyes, tears welling up and spilling down his cheeks. He wiped his face, lifted his foot, and walked forward, his clenched fists trembling. He refused to look anymore.
Seeing the pitiful state of the black leopard and the red wolf, Song Desheng's heart ached terribly, and he was on the verge of collapse. He watched as Li Ju'an took in new helper dogs, and spent several days with them, feeding them jerky, making them happy, and even being playfully bitten by the dogs, thus developing a bond with them.
Now, seeing Black Panther on the verge of a gruesome death, and unable to save him, he could only silently endure his final moments, knowing he was doomed. He took a deep breath, borrowed a Type 54 pistol from Lu Zhiqiang, and pulled the trigger, aiming it at Black Panther's forehead: "Don't be a dog in your next life, go in peace."
The slugs from his pump-action shotgun were too powerful; the 54-shot rang out, and Black Panther disappeared without a trace.
Every hunter was immersed in pain; they could empathize with Li Ju'an's suffering, and their pace quickened as they chased after him.
There might be even more dangerous dogs ahead, dogs that can still be saved.
Young guards Xiao Shi and Xiao Zhao couldn't bear it any longer, tears streaming down their faces as they watched the tragically dead red wolf and black panther. They had hunters in their families and understood the cruelty of hunting dogs. But while they understood the道理 (principles/reasoning), witnessing firsthand the gruesome deaths and injuries of so many hunting dogs was unbearable for anyone.
The forest rangers and hunters watched Li Ju'an, who had started running ahead, with worry. They couldn't bear to think how devastated Li Ju'an, as the dog's owner, must be.
Li Ju'an had run less than two hundred meters when he saw two mixed-breed wolfhounds lying on either side of him.
When Iron Hammer ran back yesterday, the three wolfhounds were gone. This morning, one wolfhound appeared behind Big Tiger, but the other two were nowhere to be found. Now these two are lying here.
It snowed last night. Two small wolfhounds lay side by side in the snowdrifts, covered in snow. There were bloodstains on the ground.
His eyes were red-rimmed, and his voice was hoarse and choked with emotion as he shouted, "Chicken butt, get rich!"
The little wolfhound on the left is of medium size among the three. It loves to steal chicken butts and often runs to the kitchen to steal the pheasant butts that Song Lanhua cuts off. So Li Xiao always calls it "chicken butt". After a while, Li Ju'an also stopped calling it by its old name and started calling it "chicken butt" like his sister.
The little wolfhound lying on the right was entirely yellow, shining like gold in the sun; it was beautiful, and its movements were also golden. It loved to wag its tail and play with Li Xiao all over the yard, chasing Li Xiao and Lu Wenqian like they were playing tag. Li Ju'an simply renamed it Fa Cai (meaning "get rich").
The small wolfhound on the left had its ribs broken, with large bluish-black claw marks left under the ribs, and a hole pierced by a sharp tiger claw.
Li Ju'an knelt down on one knee in agony, gently patting away the snow. He could see the little wolfhound was still breathing. But with each breath, holes oozed out, and its limbs twitched in pain.
His eyes lit up, and he shouted, "There's still hope! Bring the tobacco powder!"
The puppy was able to survive the night without suffering from hypothermia, thanks in large part to the snow covering its body and the snowdrifts it had made.
The hunters quickly surrounded them to offer their help.
Veterinarian Zhang quickly pulled out a bag of salt, shakily struck a match to light a cigarette, and took two deep drags before scooping out the tobacco and applying it to the puppy to stop the bleeding. The puppy's ribs were still bleeding; thankfully they found it, otherwise, it certainly wouldn't have survived another half day.
Li Ju'an quickly untied his leg braces, helped Veterinarian Zhang stop the bleeding from the puppy, and then used the leg braces to bandage the wound.
He tucked the puppy into his arms and hugged it tightly, then quickly looked at Fa Cai on his right.
The situation was also dire, but fortunately, it didn't seem to have directly collided with the Siberian tiger, and nimbly escaped the heaviest blow. The small wolfhound on the right had a section of its belly torn open by sharp claws, exposing its intestines, but they weren't severed.
Li Ju'an's hair was disheveled, and he no longer had the high spirits he had when he shot the Siberian tiger. He shouted in a hoarse voice, "Brother Zhang, give me some more tobacco powder."
Fa Cai's hypothermia was more severe, but he was still clinging to life. He quickly stuffed the intestines back into the dog's belly, smeared some tobacco powder on it to stop the bleeding, and quickly bandaged it with the other leg.
He carefully took the two small wolfhounds into his arms, wrapped them in his coat to keep them warm and ward off the chill.
"Go check on the lead dog, and the other dogs."
He summoned the other hunting dogs that were still able to move.
Aside from being weak, Da Hu was unharmed. Hei Hu, Hua Guniang, and the little wolfhound Gang Pao all had minor injuries of varying degrees. Bai Mastiff had exerted the most force; its hind leg was bruised by a tiger's paw, causing it to limp, but fortunately, its thick fur and agile body allowed it to avoid vital areas.
Veterinarian Zhang opened his mouth as if to say something, but the words caught in his throat. He patted Li Ju'an's shoulder with his weathered old hand and said in a hoarse voice, "Thank you, young man. I'll tell Captain Wang when I get back that the male tiger is dead."
Veterinarians and forest rangers who deal with hunters in the mountains know that hunting dogs are almost like a second life for hunters.
Without the hunting dogs to surround and trap them, the hunters would have been the ones whose lives were at stake during this tiger hunt.
Everyone felt heavy-hearted. Although the hunters were safe and Big Claw had been killed, they felt terrible looking at the blood and the dead dogs.
Li Ju'an called over Veterinarian Lao Zhang, and together with Song Desheng, they carried the four injured hunting dogs, dragged the bodies of the black leopard and red wolf, and the limping white mastiff back to the forest ranger's cabin duty room on a sled.
The injured hunting dog needs treatment. In the duty room, there is a cloth bag belonging to Veterinarian Zhang, containing bandages, antibiotics, and veterinary medications for treatment.
If a hunter from a family-run village gets his hunting dog injured, he'll usually just bandage it up and let it rest at home. If it recovers, great; if not, it might die. This isn't because the hunting dogs aren't valued, but because medical conditions in the village are relatively poor. Even when people are sick, they might get a shot at the clinic and then go home to rest. People in the village have limited means and won't spend a large sum of money to treat a hunting dog.
Even the Sun family, who were involved in the dog-raising activities, wouldn't spend money to take their dogs to the vet in the past. This had nothing to do with whether they loved dogs or not; it was just a habit of the villagers.
Only the patriarch of the Lu family is different; he would go bankrupt to save the hunting dog.
Song Desheng, driving the sled, shouted, "Brother Li, are you just going to ignore the big claw that's been knocked down?"
After killing the Siberian tiger, Li Ju'an didn't even go to check on it. He only knew that the tiger king was dead, and then he ignored it, focusing all his attention on the injured hunting dogs. He said, "Why are you in such a hurry for the tiger? It's already dead, it can't run away on its own. Save the living ones first."
Seven or eight hunters split into two teams. Li Ju'an led Veterinarian Lao Zhang and Song Desheng back to the forest ranger's cabin first, while Lu Zhiqiang followed Lao Qian. Lao Zhao stayed behind to cut wood on the spot to make sleds, racking his brains to find a way to transport the Siberian tiger, which weighed over 500 pounds, back.
Lu Zhiqiang gritted his teeth and swung the axe against the pine wood with a loud "bang," shouting through gritted teeth, "Don't you guys have a chainsaw? Go borrow one. Damn it! Last time I almost ruined my 'fifth sister' with this, and now you're doing this again."
Xiao Shi and Xiao Zhao from the security department were a little scared. They didn't dare leave the main group or go back to the ranch alone to borrow a chainsaw. Xiao Shi said that it would be better to wait for Li Pao to come back, then make a sled turn back and transport the Siberian tiger.
Lu Zhiqiang slapped his forehead and shouted, "What are you cowards for! Follow me, I'll take you back to borrow a chainsaw."
To show off and impress Xiao Shi and Xiao Zhao, he actually slapped his thigh and strode out. He hadn't gone ten meters when he looked back and saw several security guards staring at him, showing no intention of following him.
He changed the subject, trying to save face, and said, "Hey, why bother with a sled? Just skin and chop it up and take it back. We might even get to the duty room before Li Ju'an."