Chapter 3: The Fatal Blow

  The bear rolled down the hill, and even if it was thick-skinned, it didn't care. Zhu Yongxing's hunting rifle had wounded it, which only made it more ferocious. The beast let out a shrill cry as it got up from the ground and charged again. Seizing this opportunity, Zhu Yongxing climbed up a tree, although its trunk was quite thick, he didn't climb very high, but at least temporarily avoided the bear's attack.

  The fierce bear came under the tree, roaring, gnawing at the trunk with one side and scratching with its sharp claws. After a while, it stood up again, embracing the trunk with two powerful paws and shaking violently.

  Zhu Yongxing grasped the branch tightly, his legs wrapped around the trunk, his body swaying, but in his heart he was praying fervently: praying that the tree's roots were deep and sturdy enough; praying that this beast wouldn't be stubborn and would leave soon.

  After struggling for half a day, the evil bear slowed down its movements, growling in a low voice, and looked up at Zhu Yongxing on the tree. Those were two gloomy eyes, unblinking eyes, as if they were burning.

  Zhu Yongxing couldn't help but shudder at the sheer ferocity of this beast, which was even more terrifying than its caged counterparts in the zoo.

  But what's even more frightening is that the evil bear hugged the tree trunk and slowly climbed up the tree.

  Zhu Yongxing's eyeballs almost popped out, damn it, the stupid bear actually had this trick up its sleeve. He really didn't know much about the animal world. How frightening to be ignorant! But what good would knowledge have done anyway? Could he have found another way to escape just now?

  You climb, I'll climb. Zhu Yongxing was forced to the end of the road, although he knew that in the end it would probably be a dead end, but his desire for survival still made him unwilling to give up, and being able to live a little longer was better than nothing, so he struggled on with his last breath!

  One man, one bear, up and down, constantly moving towards the treetop. The higher they got from the ground, the closer they got to danger, Zhu Yongxing felt the thinness and swaying of the tree trunk, the dizzy feeling made him feel like his life was about to come to an end.

  She looked around and the woman on the tree was gone, probably ran back home in a hurry. It's unknown whether she could think of finding someone to rescue herself, but it's probably too late.

  The ferocious bear was closing in step by step, determined to turn itself into bear dung. Zhu Yongxing felt like crying, he now desperately wanted to become a monkey, swinging freely from one tree to another, but that was impossible.

  The bear's paw stretched out, wanting to grab Zhu Yongxing's foot. Zhu Yongxing shouted and suddenly shrank back, his nose seeming to smell the nauseating stench emitted by the bloody mouth of the beast, the branches bent more fiercely, making a cracking sound, while the thing exposed at the opening of the mountaineering boots made Zhu Yongxing think of fighting for his life. The bear missed Zhu Yongxing and let out a dissatisfied low growl, putting its paw on the trunk to grasp it firmly, and then moved its body up another block.

  Suddenly, a desperate roar sounded above the bear's head. "I'll fight you to the death!" Zhu Yongxing clamped his legs on the branch and made an inverted motion on the pole, flipping his body down fiercely, stabbing the wild combat knife in his hand viciously towards the ferocious bear.

  This was a dying struggle, and also the last full-strength blow of Zhu Yongxing. He almost exerted his body's full potential, carrying the force of his falling body, the tip of the wild battle knife stabbed right into the eyes of the evil bear.

  This was the fatal blow to the ferocious bear, which suddenly suffered a severe injury, and in pain, its claws loosened from the tree trunk, causing it to fall straight down from high above.

  Zhu Yongxing's soul was still unsettled as he steadied his body, that last move almost made him fall off too. He had to exert himself to adjust his body and tightly grasp the tree trunk.

  The evil bear was knocked to the ground, unable to let out its terrifying roar. A knife was deeply lodged in one of its eye sockets, and blood foam spewed from its mouth and nose as it continuously let out mournful cries.

  Unexpectedly, the bear actually made a sound similar to a baby's cry. Zhu Yongxing felt that he had gained some experience. In the distance, more than a dozen figures appeared, running towards this side, and he couldn't help but let out a breath, only then did he feel his whole body sweating profusely, as if on the verge of fainting.

  ………

  The bear finally died, and before it died, it crawled for a long distance. Zhu Yongxing's hands and feet were numb in the tree, secretly admiring the beast's strong vitality. After waiting for a long time, the sun was already red and sinking to the west. Zhu Yongxing confirmed that it was safe, and then slowly got down from the tree. He had never climbed so high before, and getting down from the tree was not easier than climbing up!

  Arriving under the tree, Zhu Yongxing felt extremely exhausted, but still managed to pick up his hunting rifle, loaded it with great effort, then sat down with a thud, leaning against the trunk and panting.

  A faint rustling sound came from afar, and Zhu Yongxing suddenly turned his head. A slender figure was running towards him. As she got closer, he could see that it seemed to be the woman who had encountered danger earlier. She wore a collarless crossover-style top in a simple color, with only the cloth belt around her waist having some floral patterns. On her shoulder, she slung a flower-embroidered cloth bag, which was bulging with unknown contents. Judging by her age, she seemed to be only fifteen or sixteen years old.

  About ten or so steps away from Zhu Yongxing, Mengzhu stopped in her tracks and curiously sized up this strange man. The two of them stared at each other, neither speaking for the time being. In the end, it was Mengzhu who broke the silence first. This was the person who had saved her life, after all; a simple-minded girl like her thought he should be a good person.

  A string of unintelligible words entered Zhu Yongxing's ears, leaving him somewhat bewildered.

  "What, which nationality are you?" Zhu Yongxing blinked his eyes in confusion, the scratches on his face making it a bit difficult and changing tone to speak. He looked like he was dressed as a Miao ethnic minority, but there were some differences. He tentatively asked: "Can you speak Chinese?"

  "You are a Chinese person." Mengzhu was slightly surprised, took a few steps forward, and the sunlight fell on her face. Zhu Yongxing couldn't help but stare for a moment.

  This woman's face has a unique beauty, only her complexion is relatively pale, looking like a piece of white jade, with big eyes shining with pure and innocent light, giving people a feeling of both pity and love.

  Zhu Yongxing quickly returned to normal, he nodded heavily and said: "Yes, I am a Han Chinese. May I ask, what is this place, how far is it from XX village?"

  She blinked, and Mengzhu lightly shook her head, saying in not-so-standard and somewhat rusty Mandarin: "XX Village? Don't know where that is. But thank you, thank you for saving me." Then she batted her big eyes and smiled.

  The girl's smile was so beautiful that Zhu Yongxing couldn't help but stare again. Although she didn't know she was going back to XX village, at least she had seen someone and would have a sense of familiarity.