The dark-skinned man looked at his subordinates who were raring to go and shook his head. "Winter is coming, we can't afford to create new troubles."
This time, a young man with a wolf pelt draped over his shoulders persuaded him, "Dad, think about it, more than ten Boundary-011 drones as well as thirty plus new diesel engines, aren't these worth a try? There might be even more good things in that convoy. If we bring back all these, perhaps the Elder will allow us to come closer to the Firepit when it's time to worship the totem."
Upon hearing the youth mention the Firepit and totem, the dark-skinned man fell silent in consideration.
The young man continued, "Dad, you also know what those wastrels in the autumn hunting team are like, there won't be many who can really fight. If a few of them die, the rest will probably scamper off like frightened rats. Old Liu from the south had also fought them, if we can occupy a good terrain, we can go head to head with them."
"What do you kid understand," the dark-skinned man chided, "If we really killed them, the army would come to chase after us."
"Even without killing them, the army has never stopped suppressing us," replied the youth, "We'll go west to the mountain after killing them, we know how to tread around the forbidden land and the army rarely goes there. Soon there will be heavy snowfall. Once the snow blocks the mountain path, who'll be able to find us?"
In the early years, the autumn hunting team had still gone into the forbidden land to hunt wild beasts.
But now, just like Li Shutong said, this group of people no longer dared to do that and only hunted the wilderness people who would never fight back.
The people in the wilderness all knew the autumn hunting team was full of empty cans. Those good-for-nothings came to the wilderness to wantonly murder the people living here by relying on the gap of technological advancement and the wilderness people's fear of retaliation.
The tradition of autumn hunting had been taking place for more than a hundred years without meeting any problem, so this group of wastrels was becoming more and more nonchalant, treating the wilderness as if it was their own backyard.
However, the dark-skinned man was still hesitant. He knew what his son proposed was reasonable, but the habit of caution formed over the years made him averse to taking risks.
The young man broke the silence, "Dad, if you don't dare to go, I'll do it instead."
The dark-skinned man shot him a glance and sneered, "You want to make decisions on my behalf and split up? It's too early for you."
It wasn't without reason that the people of the wilderness never truly united as a whole.
Everyone had gone through endless battles on this land, and their wild nature had been amplified to the extreme.
When lions grew old, there would be strong young lions wanting to replace them.
If it wasn't for the mysterious Firepit in the snow-capped mountain maintaining the balance, the battles in the wilderness would have been even more bloody and violent.
The dark-skinned man said, "We'll go to Zhizi Lake to take a look, perhaps it's not the autumn hunting team who did it. But if they're really the perpetrators, I can't just let Zhang Tongdan die in vain."
People at the campsite were seething with excitement. A small team was assigned to escort the women into the west mountain by going along the border of the forbidden land.
Once their plan succeeded, the rest of the group would catch up and join them, using the window of time before heavy snow sealed the mountain pass to slip away.
9 a.m.
The dark-skinned man led the team to approach Zhizi Lake. Each of them was wearing a ghillie suit covered with branches and leaves, carefully crossing the field.
But before they could get close to the lake, someone noticed the sound of a drone buzzing ahead.
"What's the situation? We shouldn't have entered the blockade range of the drones," asked the dark-skinned man to man beside him. "Did you check it properly?"
The robust young man who relayed the result of his investigation in the morning was also stunned. "We're still more than ten kilometers away from Zhizi Lake, it’s really not yet within the blockade range. Boss, the control range of that drone is only seven kilometers, which means they're moving towards our direction!”
The dark-skinned man pondered. "They're behaving abnormally. Seems like they're scouting around the area because Zhang Tongdan has made them alert."
Without much time to think, he immediately gave out an order to shoot down the drone.
Just as they were preparing to shoot, the drone nimbly circled around and flew back.
In the autumn hunting convoy, the chief officer with the holographic glasses said, "Found them. There's really a group of wilderness people ambushing nearby, looks like they're also the ones who took down that drone. But I don't think we should chase after them. I can see they have more people than us, and we don't know what kind of weaponry they're carrying…"
Before he could finish speaking, someone slammed on the accelerator and rushed towards the wilderness people.
The middle-aged man beside the first officer frowned and looked at Li Yinuo, "You should've stopped it."
Sitting in her car, Li Yinuo unconcernedly replied, "I saw those brats taking dopamine chips this morning. They're crazy high now, who can stop them? It's fine, just let them go and court death, they'll go back to their senses when they die."
The middle-aged man heaved a sigh and then spoke to the chief officer, "Dispatch all of the drones to cover them from firearms attack."
Li Yinuo could just sit back and watch, but he couldn't afford to.
Status was crucial in this world. Escorting the autumn hunting team meant they were ordained to a life of wiping asses because those young masters and young missus never cared about the danger.
…
When Qing Chen and Li Shutong returned to the camp, they had finished packing all of the luggage into the pickups.
Qin Yiyi saw that Qing Chen was covered in dust as if he had just rolled on the ground.
She curiously asked, "What did you guys do just now?"
Li Shutong smiled, "I'll tell you if you give each of us one more apple."
Qin Yiyi pulled a wry face. "Scamming for apples even at your age, aren't you ashamed?"
Despite saying that, the girl still took out two apples from her bag, giving the big one to Qing Chen and the small one to Li Shutong.
"Can you answer my question now?" asked her.
Li Shutong didn't mind and happily said, "I'm teaching him how to climb a mountain."
"You need to be taught to climb?" Qin Yiyi was puzzled.
Qing Chen replied, "The mountain climbing we're talking about is probably different from the one you have in mind."
Climbing up sheer cliffs and precipices with bare hands at a 90-degree right angle…
This was something many people dare not even think about.
On the cliff, the gaps that could be gripped might span a mere finger width, or even less than that.
Although Qing Chen remembered each and every move Li Shutong made, there was a huge difference between remembering and learning.
He still didn't know what a life-and-death barrier was, he only knew that he was about to climb a very, very high mountain.
In the future, he would oversee a scenery of snow and shout out loud at the place nearest to the sky.
As he thought of it, Qing Chen began to hold some expectations for that kind of life.
In the midst of their talk, an explosion blasted over the vast forest and fields in the distance.
The huge sound reverberated and resonated through the mountains, startling the birds and sending them flying away.
At a location blocked by a line of hills, the situation was out of their sight. They could only see the dense and dark flock of birds flying from the west to the east.
Qing Chen thought for a moment and whispered, "Teacher, could this possibly have anything to do with the words I engraved on the cliff?"
Li Shutong said, "Be more confident — it definitely has something to do with you."
Translator: Zee
