Chapter 34 – Taking a Tumble

The hunter looked at Wen Lan’s predicament, lowered his gaze, and thought for a moment. In the end, he still gave Iron General the command.

“Go, Iron General.”

Iron General obeyed and shot out like an arrow toward the wild boar. When it got within two meters of the beast, it began barking furiously.

With Iron General’s interference, the wild boar finally stopped ramming the tree. It turned and charged at Iron General.

Iron General wasn’t one to back down either—he lunged right back at the boar.

A dog-versus-boar battle was about to begin.

At that moment, the hunter gave a sharp whistle. Hearing it, Iron General suddenly changed direction and sprinted back to his master’s side.

The wild boar gave chase relentlessly.

After whistling, the hunter didn’t seek any cover to protect himself. Instead, he remained standing exactly where he was, completely motionless.

Perched in the tree, Wen Lan’s heart jumped into her throat. She wondered if the hunter was actually planning to use himself as live bait.

Just as she was thinking this, the wild boar charged right up to him. In a flash, the hunter raised his knife and brought it down—instantly felling the boar, blood gushing, its life snuffed out in an instant.

It happened so fast that Wen Lan didn’t even have time to register it.

Whoa—what knife skills! That was way too fast!

It was like he was peeling a potato.

Wen Lan couldn’t help reaching up and touching her own neck.

Her neck was definitely thinner than that boar’s.

Having dealt with the boar, the hunter stuck his blood-dripping knife into the ground and slowly walked toward where Wen Lan was stuck.

He looked up at her, gave a crooked grin, then turned around, seemingly ready to leave.

“Big Brother!” Wen Lan quickly called out to stop him. “Big Brother, can you help me get down?”

Earlier, in a desperate bid to escape, Wen Lan had scrambled up the tree with all her might. Now that the wild boar was dead, she realized her own predicament. Although she had plenty of rock-climbing experience, that had always been with safety ropes. In this situation—and with the tree now leaning at an angle—even a slight movement might cause it to collapse.

Her only option was to have the hunter support the tree trunk from below.

But Xuan Yue had no intention of helping. He looked at the wobbling Wen Lan up in the tree and said with a cool sneer, “Didn’t expect you had the ability to communicate with pigs.”

“I don’t have that kind of skill,” Wen Lan replied awkwardly. “I was just talking to boost my own courage.”

“Looks like your courage has grown enough now,” Xuan Yue chuckled coldly and turned to walk toward Iron General.

Seeing he was about to leave, Wen Lan shouted again, “Big Brother! Big Brother, don’t go!”

Xuan Yue ignored her and continued forward.

Wen Lan panicked. In her panic, her body shifted, and the tree under her creaked and snapped. She thought to herself, It’s over. I’m definitely going to die from this fall.

Just as she thought this, a sudden gust of wind swept past her face, and a figure leapt in front of her. The next moment, she felt herself being lifted by a strong force.

Someone had caught her.

Was it the hunter? Still shaken, Wen Lan slowly opened her eyes—and sure enough, it was him.

The hunter calmly held her in one arm, then gently pushed off from the trunk with his foot and landed lightly on the ground.

Upon landing, he flung Wen Lan from his arms as if tossing a sack.

Poor Wen Lan didn’t fall from the tree and die, but the way he threw her sent her crashing down, butt-first. Worse yet, she landed right on a broken tree branch. The pain made her grimace and bare her teeth.

“You—you—you!” She was dying to curse him out.

But then she remembered: right now, he was the master, and she was the servant. If she scolded him, there’d be no end to this.

“You… You’re such a good man!” Wen Lan said through gritted teeth, every syllable coming out with a tight, biting snap.