I didnt bother to look for Wen Bin, the feeling of a teammate disappearing and reappearing again was so exciting. I couldnt hold back my joy and shouted towards Lins direction: "Shi Bao Zi! Where are you?"

  "A voice from inside the forest said: Come over here!"

  "Hey, its him, hes calling us over!" I excitedly shook Zhang Wenbins shoulder, but unexpectedly he pulled me down and shouted at me: "Shut up!"

  I really cant understand why Cha Wenbin would say that to me. Although weve known each other since childhood, my impression of him from our recent interactions is still that hes a man of few words and wouldnt yell loudly at someone. But just now, although his yelling was muffled in his throat, I could still hear the anger in his tone.

  "Are you crazy?" I also shouted at him: "Fatty is calling us over from across the street, what are you still standing there for!"

  Zha Wenbin also became anxious, stood up and shouted at me: "Thats not Fatso!"

  Just as we were about to start arguing, Shi Baizhus voice came from the woods again: "Come over here!"

  I clearly heard that it was Fatso, but Cha Wenbin tightly grasped my wrist. The voice kept shouting at us to "come over here". I got anxious and kicked his abdomen with one foot. Cha Wenbin clutched his stomach in pain and squatted down. I took the opportunity to dash towards the woods.

  "Fatty, Fatty!" I shouted while slapping the thickets on both sides that were as tall as people. The rain was so heavy it could blind ones eyes, and all around was pitch black. The thorny branches scratched my face like knives. I had a red-tasseled spear in my hand, which I used to push forward with great effort, holding it horizontally across my chest.

  I had only taken a couple of steps when I felt my shoulders being grabbed by a pair of hands. Before I could even open my mouth to shout, the hand covered it and pressed me down to the ground. I struggled with all my might, but that persons strength was astonishingly great, and in an instant, they were riding on my back.

  "Hmph..."

  Hes fat!

  I really wanted to ask him why he was like this, but I was pressed down so hard that I started having trouble breathing, and even moving seemed impossible. Suddenly, everything became quiet.

  "Shh, be quiet, somethings off!" The fatty climbed down from me and crawled into the bushes.

  I just feel like my waist is about to break, and I ask discontentedly: "What the hell are you doing? You called me over for this?"

  Fatso quickly covered my mouth again and stuck it to my ear, saying: "Thats not me shouting, I dont know what kind of thing is imitating my voice, and Im telling you, keep your voice down, were surrounded!"

  "Whats surrounding us?"

  "Tigers, damn it! Three or four tigers are right outside, I saw them as soon as I came in, all of them are out there. With a broken gun like this, I didnt dare to move, thinking if I could crawl out, but then you came in."

  I was shocked, three or four tigers, let alone us kids, even a group of oxen would be dead here. "What the hell is he still hesitating for, run! Youre really not loyal, you knew there were tigers and didnt say anything?"

  Fatso wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "Now that things have come to this, how can I still dare speak up? I was thinking that with a voice so fake, you guys would fall for it? This is intentionally trying to get both of us trapped in the encirclement, right? Theres still one more outside who hasnt entered yet, isnt there?"

  It was then that I finally realized my mistake, and began to worry about the person outside. Suddenly, it became quiet, and I could really hear a low, panting sound coming from the grass around me. It was a sound I had never heard before, with each breath accompanied by a growl.

  "Fatty, is there a strange smell on the tigers body?" I asked, and for some reason, although it was raining heavily, between the vague shadows, I caught a whiff of a strange smell.

  The fat boy crawled on the ground with his head pressed very low and said: "I dont know, Ive never seen it before."

  I saw Fatso quietly lifting the barrel of the gun segment by segment, "What are you doing?"

  "Wait a minute, Ill count one two three, you run first. Its better than all three of us being stuck here." This guy, he didnt even discuss it with me, he suddenly stood up, and then I heard him shouting loudly towards the woods: "Fuck your mother!"

  "A loud roar of a tigers cry, I heard it clearly, my legs were trembling, and then I heard the fat man loudly start counting: "One! Two! Three! Run!"

  I sprang to my feet, and the scene that appeared before me is forever etched in my memory. A spotted tiger leapt into the air, its jaws wide open as it pounced towards us. I dont know if it was instinct or fear, but I didnt turn around, instead holding up the red-tasseled spear in my hand.

  The massive recoil made the red-tasseled spear feel solidly bent in my hand, a powerful force rapidly swept across my palm, the high temperature from friction made me feel a sharp pain, and the gun butt was knocked back straight into my chest.

  At the moment I fell, Pongzis shotgun also rang out. A huge thing came down from the sky and several hundred kilograms of tiger knocked us both to the ground. The pungent smell of tiger blood mixed with rainwater and mud stained the earth red. My gun pierced its throat, and Pongzis gun was inserted into its mouth before firing.

  Dead, not a single movement, the two of us were pressed down by that old tiger, still patted on the face by rainwater. At that moment, I thought we would die, and its remaining companions should easily tear us to pieces.

  The aura can be strong to what extent, this may not be expressible. When you stand alone facing two ferocious tigers and still manage to stand up, you are no ordinary person.

  Later I asked him, werent you afraid at that time?

  He said he wasnt afraid, there was nothing to be afraid of. The tiger could be fierce, but it couldnt be more fierce than the people who drove his parents to death, right? I didnt understand what had happened to his parents that year when he was nine years old.

  A frail young man held a machete in his hand, his left arm hanging limply against his body, blood dripping from his left arm onto the back of his hand "drip, drip". A large patch of red had already soaked through his clothes on his left shoulder. Two tigers were constantly pawing at the ground, and there was already a big hole. They had been circling around to our rear since before I entered the forest. Three tigers, he took care of two of them for us.

  Time seemed to stand still, every second ticking by. The young man took a step forward, his machete at the ready. Two tigers let out low growls of warning, as if they would pounce and tear him apart in an instant.

  The young man took another step forward, holding up the hatchet in his hand like a wooden puppet, and walking forward. A white fox, about the size of a small calf, crouched between two fierce tigers, its tail spread out like a peacocks, exuding an indescribable nobility and charm, just like a celestial painting, pure white without a speck of dust.

  Its two eyes stared at the young man, and suddenly the fox let out a woman-like scream. The two tigers stretched their necks towards Zha Wenbin and roared loudly. I and Pangzi thought we were done for, and with great effort, we pushed away the corpses that were pressing on our bodies and struggled to get up.

  As we stood up, the two tigers had already turned their heads and walked towards the thicket. On the spot, a white fox gently knocked its head against Cha Wenbins forehead, looked up at him again, and then slowly disappeared into the rainy night thicket. In the moment when the fox turned around, I saw a red bloodstain on its hind leg.

  Chubby took a deep breath, and the wound on his leg was probably caused by him this afternoon. Da Cheng is still a fox, right? "Good heavens, its really a fox, whats going on?"

  "Come on, hurry up and get down the mountain. We cant stay here." I pulled at Zha Wenbin who was still standing motionless in his original spot.

  Cha Wenbin didnt respond to me, and instead kept staring in the direction where the fox had disappeared. The rainwater slid down his face, one streak after another. After a long time, he finally spoke up: "I think Ive seen it somewhere before."

  "Who have you seen?" I asked

  He turned around, supporting his own shoulders and sighed: "That fox." At that time, I couldnt understand the meaning behind this sentence, but indeed, the impression he gave me had already transcended our age, whether it was speaking or doing things.

  Three people couldnt move the tiger, it was too heavy. The three of us huddled together, no one wanting to speak, and quietly spent the night under the rocky cliff. When dawn broke, we returned to the village, and the news that several children had hunted a tiger immediately spread like wildfire. A large crowd followed behind us up the mountain, and it was an adult Northeast China tiger, big enough to eat all three of us without being full.

  As for the details of hunting the tiger, none of us mentioned it to the villagers. Someone came down from above to investigate, and we said it was self-defense. Who would have thought that three kids would take the head of the tiger as a trophy? Fatso got his wish and exchanged several thick coats, including Miao Laos and Miao Lans. The remaining money bought yellow cowhide boots and dogskin hats. At least that winter, we made it through.