Chapter 12 Peril in the Mountains

Qin Zimu and his companions were overjoyed.

Usually, the outer edges of the Humpback Mountain were crowded with people, and mushrooms like these were already picked clean.

Even the newly sprouted ones were not spared. They had never seen so many mushrooms before.

They estimated that each person could pick at least ten or eight pounds.

They were in luck, they were in luck.

Qin Zimu and the Zhou brothers’ eyes lit up, and they quickly began picking mushrooms.

Qin Ruo, holding a bow and arrow, followed her intuition and walked towards another forest.

By the time Qin Zimu and the Zhou brothers had filled their baskets, half an hour had passed.

The large winter mushrooms had already been picked, leaving only some smaller ones.

The three of them sat together, chatting and laughing, waiting for Qin Ruo to return. Another hour passed, but Qin Ruo was still nowhere to be seen.

“Where is my elder sister, why hasn’t she come back yet? Could she be in danger?”

Qin Zimu remembered that his father had disappeared in this mountain a few years ago, and he couldn’t sit still.

His elder sister was still injured, what if she really encountered a wolf, what would she do?

“I… I have to go find, find my elder sister.” Qin Zimu stood up, his heart filled with unease.

“Erlang, don’t be impulsive. Let’s call out to Qiuxi first to see if she’s nearby. We don’t want to get separated and have Qiuxi have to find us.”

Zhou Dazhu, being older, said calmly.

Actually, Zhou Dazhu was also very scared. Everyone in Changhe Village knew that there were wolves in Humpback Mountain.

“Elder sister…”

“Qiuxi…”

Qin Zimu and the Zhou brothers shouted at the same time, but they received no response from Qin Ruo.

Just as the three of them were about to continue calling, a few wolf howls suddenly came from the other side of the forest.

Zhou Dazhu’s face suddenly changed, “No good! We’ve really encountered wolves today.”

“Erlang, Erzhu, you two immediately go down the mountain following the markers we made on the way here. I’ll go find Qiuxi.”

Despite his fear, Zhou Dazhu decided to have his younger brother and Qin Zimu go first.

“I’m not going back, I, I have to go find my elder sister.”

“I’m not going back either, I’ll go with Erlang to find Qiuxi.”

Qin Zimu and Zhou Erzhu almost spoke in unison.

After speaking, they picked up a dry branch from the ground and rushed towards the forest where they heard the wolf howls. Zhou Dazhu couldn’t stop them, so he quickly followed.

“If you want to go, you have to listen to me.” Zhou Dazhu didn’t say much more, and took the lead.

The further they went, the denser the vegetation became, and the wolf howls became clearer.

“Qiuxi seems to be over there, hurry!” Zhou Dazhu pointed to the forest not far away, his feet moving like the wind.

Zhou Erzhu and Qin Zimu were both used to doing rough work, and their physical strength was good, so they didn’t fall behind Zhou Dazhu much.

In the other forest, Qin Ruo, holding a sharp dagger, was pulling it out from the waist of a wolf.

The wolf struggled for a few moments before it stopped moving. Qin Ruo, covered in dirt, sat on the ground and gasped for breath.

Her hands and clothes were splattered with blood, the wolf’s blood.

Qin Ruo had overestimated the physical fitness of the original owner’s body. If it hadn’t been for her instinctive reaction to danger from her previous life, she would have become the wolf’s food.

She had been careless!

“Erlang, Dazhu, Erzhu, come here! I’m here.”

Qin Ruo heard the voices of the Zhou brothers and Qin Zimu, and she responded.

She casually threw the dagger back into her space. Just in time! She had free labor now.

She could use her space, but it was her trump card, and she had to be careful.

This place was not safe, she had to leave as soon as possible.

If she encountered a pack of wolves, she could hide in her space, but Qin Zimu and the others would be left to become the wolves’ snacks.

If the things in her space were still there, any weapon would be enough to deal with a pack of wolves.

Qin Ruo sighed silently.

An hour ago, Qin Ruo, relying on her sensing skills from her previous life, quickly harvested a wave of wild animals.

Just as she was about to leave, a wild wolf, following the scent of blood, quietly approached her from behind.

Due to her keen sense of danger, she immediately rolled on the ground and avoided the wolf’s attack.

Seeing the wolf eyeing her, ready to pounce at any moment, drawing her bow was out of the question. She could only fight it head-on.

Qin Ruo drew a dagger and, the moment the wolf lunged, she seized the opportunity and plunged the dagger into its neck.

The wolf, having taken a blow, didn’t die immediately but became even more enraged. It bared its sharp fangs, leaped into the air, and aimed to bite Qin Ruo’s neck.

Qin Ruo dodged again, but after a dozen rounds, the shortcomings of the original owner’s body began to show.

Several times, she was almost scratched by the wolf’s claws.

Qin Ruo was not one to give up. The wolf’s reaction only fueled her fighting spirit.

She had no intention of hiding in her space. In her previous life, at the age of fifteen, she had undergone hellish training in the tropical rainforest, countless times brushing shoulders with death.

She hadn’t felt this exhilarating in a long time.

Just as Qin Ruo was about to run out of energy, she finally found an opportunity and thrust her dagger forcefully into the wolf’s abdomen.

The wolf finally quieted down. Fearing it might not be dead, Qin Ruo delivered a few more blows before stopping.

When Qin Zimu and the Zhou brothers arrived, following the sound, they saw Qin Ruo, covered in blood, sitting on the ground. Beside her lay a large gray wolf that had breathed its last.

“Elder sister…”

“Qiuxi…”

The Zhou brothers and Qin Zimu rushed forward, their faces filled with concern and tension. The care and anxiety in the eyes of these young men warmed Qin Ruo’s heart.

“I’m fine. It’s all wolf blood on me. You’re here just in time. This place isn’t safe, let’s take these things back first.”

Qin Ruo pointed to the full bag of wild game beside her, as well as two wild rabbits scattered on the ground that hadn’t been collected.

Seeing that Qin Ruo was alright, Qin Zimu and the others breathed a sigh of relief and quickly gathered their things.

Zhou Erzhu and Qin Zimu carried the bag of wild game and headed back the way they came.

“Qiuxi, I’ll carry the wolf. You take the rabbits.” Zhou Dazhu placed the rabbits beside Qin Ruo and carried the dead wolf on his shoulder.

The wolf’s fur was damaged and wouldn’t sell for much, so Qin Ruo didn’t want it.

“The wolf meat isn’t good to eat anyway, I don’t want it.” Qin Ruo said casually.

“Qiuxi, you forgot? The county government issued a notice in autumn, offering a reward of two taels of silver for killing a wolf, and the wolfskin is yours to keep.”

Qin Ruo then remembered that it was true. In the past year or two, several villages near Changhe Village, including Changhe Village, had been attacked by wolves to varying degrees.

Domesticated livestock became the wolves’ primary target.

There had even been incidents of people being injured in neighboring villages, and the officials were at their wits’ end.

They had organized several hunts with officials from the yamen, but to no avail. Instead, they lost several yamen guards.

They had no choice but to offer a reward for killing wolves to the public.

Who would dare to provoke a wolf without some skills? It was like offering yourself up as food.

Even if they were greedy for the reward, they had to have the life to spend it.

Qin Ruo, however, had a new plan. She could take on this job.

After all, doing missions was her old trade, and it was faster than hunting for money.

The prices in this Great Sheng Dynasty seemed to be quite high. A pound of pork was close to forty wen, and a pound of salt was over a hundred wen.

One tael of silver really didn’t go very far.

Having made up her mind, she didn’t object to Zhou Dazhu carrying the wolf down the mountain.

Qin Ruo, carrying her bow and arrow and holding two rabbits, followed behind Zhou Dazhu, heading back.

They arrived at the place where the Zhou brothers and Qin Zimu had picked mushrooms. After gathering their things, they quickly headed down the mountain.