Chapter Seven: Trapped Inside

A sudden jolt struck my heart. Rubbing my sleepy eyes, I quickly stood up and began to look around. The campfire beside me had long since died out, leaving only a faint warmth.

“Master Chen?” I called out, searching in every direction.

But after nearly ten minutes of calling, there was still no sign of Master Chen.

Unease crept into my heart.

Where had Master Chen gone? Could it be... he fled first?

The more I thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

After all, outside the Greater Khingan Range, a group of hunters was surrounding us. If Master Chen abandoned me to escape faster, it would make sense.

As I pondered, a chill slowly settled over me.

Was this truly the case? When disaster strikes, does everyone just scatter?

Then, I began to consider how I might leave the Greater Khingan Range. If I wandered blindly, I might...

Be devoured entirely by the wild beasts of the forest.

Just then, a sharp, mournful cry of a hawk pierced the sky.

I looked up and saw Dahan slicing through the trees like an arrow, swiftly landing on my shoulder.

The sight of Dahan eased my heart slightly.

Being abandoned—well, I had been abandoned before.

I stroked Dahan’s head and smiled softly. “Where were you playing last night, Dahan?”

Dahan glanced left and right, looking here and there.

Then, I suddenly noticed a twig tied tightly to Dahan’s foot with a red string.

Shock hit me immediately.

First, the twig was fastened with a red cord, clearly done by humans!

My heart felt as if struck by lightning.

Could it be that Dahan had been caught by the people who were chasing me?

Realization dawned.

Damn it!

I couldn’t stay here any longer. Perhaps those people intended to use Dahan to track me down.

Just as I was about to leave quickly, a rustling sound came from a shrub as tall as a person right in front of me.

Are they coming?

I picked up a wooden stick from the ground, gripping it tightly, holding my breath, my body ready in a defensive stance, eyes fixed on the shrubbery.

I had made up my mind.

If they charged, I’d fight to the death.

At worst, I’d die.

But then, the shrub was pushed aside by a hand, and there stood Master Chen, carrying steel wire on his back, a shotgun slung over his shoulder, a crossbow in hand, and a bulging pack filled with cigarettes at his waist.

I was stunned.

Master Chen... he hadn’t left?

He stepped out of the bushes and shot me a silent glare before grumbling, “What’s this, Sanqi? Are you planning to play whack-a-mole?”

Embarrassed, I dropped the stick and scratched my head. “Um... Master Chen, where did you go?”

He ignored me.

He threw the steel wire on the ground first, then sat down and began pulling out items from his pack—folding shovel, multitool knife, small dagger, bullets.

Seeing those, I understood a bit. These were the tools of the mute mountain hunters who had come with us. Master Chen must have gone back to them.

I sighed in relief. I had thought he’d abandoned me; now it seemed that wasn’t so.

Laying everything out before us, Master Chen silently puffed on his cigarette, lost in thought.

Dahan stood on my shoulder.

I slowly approached Master Chen, standing opposite him, about to speak when he broke the silence first.

“Sanqi... we probably... can’t get out.”

My heart sank; something had happened.

“Master Chen? What do you mean?”

“Phew! I just went out to check. Those people haven’t left yet! And they’re all guarding the only paths out... They want to trap us inside the Greater Khingan Range! And...”

He glanced at the sky, exhaled a smoke ring, watching it carefully as it drifted.

[Note: A skilled old hunter can predict rain or snow in the coming days by observing how smoke rings float.]

“And what else?” I asked instinctively.

“This year, the heavy snow will come earlier than usual, maybe by half a month. That means...” Master Chen’s hoarse voice trailed off.

At that moment, my spirits plummeted.

Half a month earlier!

If the snow seals the mountains half a month ahead of time, we’d have less than two weeks left. If we don’t get out during that time, we might truly die in the Greater Khingan Range.

According to Master Chen, once the mountains are snowbound, temperatures plunge to dozens of degrees below zero. When the biting white wind blows, standing outside for just a few minutes can freeze a person solid.

Of course, that’s not the worst part.

The worst is... having no food.

Once the Greater Khingan Range is sealed by snow, the temperature won’t ease until March the next year. That means...

If we can’t get out, we’ll have to spend half a year trapped here.

That’s the truly fatal danger.

I thought for a moment and proposed, “Master Chen, the Greater Khingan Range is huge! I don’t believe they can guard every exit. If not, we could head south toward Hohhot, or north to Gen City...”

The moment I said this, Master Chen cursed at me, “Ha! You’re so clever, go on then! Do you know how far that is? Plus, the forest is full of evil things and wild beasts. We’d probably be dead before we even got halfway! Why not just fly to Hohhot! Might as well try flying to the sky!”

I was stunned by his outburst, unable to respond for a while.

Now, recalling those words, I can’t help but laugh... youth is always ignorant.

The sudden silence around me made me think of something. I hurriedly said, “By the way, Master Chen, Dahan’s foot was tied with a twig... I...”

Master Chen cut me off sharply. “I tied that twig.”

I was stunned. “You?”

“Yes! Sanqi, for the next few days, don’t let Dahan fly. The target is big!” Master Chen warned.

I thought it over and nodded gently.

“Alright, got it.”

Suddenly, Master Chen sighed and pointed to the nearby woods. “Sanqi, go check if the eight traps I set this morning caught anything! I’ll sit here and figure out what we should do next.”

“Okay!”

Without hesitation, I headed into the woods, pondering how to handle our situation.

Not far in, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a large fat rabbit caught tightly in one of the traps ahead to my right.

I felt a surge of joy.

A good start!

But I didn’t rush. I continued deeper, remembering Master Chen said he had set eight traps.

Strangely, after circling the woods, the other seven traps had caught nothing, which made me frown.

You see, there are plenty of small hares in these woods.

Still, grumbling aside, I didn’t dwell on it. Maybe we were just unlucky... muttering to myself, I headed back toward the first trap.

When I was about five or six meters from that trap, I looked up at the rabbit.

At that moment, I gasped sharply, frozen in place, trembling uncontrollably.

Because the rabbit, which I thought was caught dead in the trap and lying still, had inexplicably stood up.

Its neck was still tightly bound by the trap,

But its eyes...

Were eerily rolled back, showing only the whites, staring straight at me...