Chapter 109: Mountain Pig Ditch

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  After eating and drinking enough, everyone rested for a while before continuing on their journey. Li Lao Tou quickly wove a small basket with vines, put the little white rabbit inside, and had Ye Xiao Shuang carry it. The little squirrel jumped directly onto Chu Jia Qiang's shoulder, its big tail wagging back and forth.

  The afternoon was relatively dull and didn't see any organisms that interested Professor Wen. Time passed unnoticed as everyone rushed along, before they knew it, dusk had arrived.

  "We've just passed this mountain, it's Shan Zhugou now, everyone cheer up!" Wu Shu Gong reminded.

  Upon hearing this, Miao Huo and the others did not become afraid, but instead became slightly excited. However, they were unaware of the terror of Shan Zhuang Gou, where wild boars often appear in groups, making it better for people to take a detour.

  "Remember, if there are too many wild boars, try not to provoke them, but if you must fight back, make sure to strike quickly and accurately. Finish them off as fast as possible, otherwise, provoking their frenzy can be fatal." Wu Shu said again.

  Others nodded in agreement, knowing the terror of a wild boar gone mad. Others say that among all beasts, the wild boar is the most ferocious when enraged, even more so than tigers and leopards.

  Wild boars are ferocious and agile wild animals, daring to fight to the death with tigers and leopards, commonly known as "one pig, two bears, three old tigers", which shows their bravery and untamability. Wild boars have an unattractive appearance, with a narrow and long head, hard and straight body hair, and the upper canine teeth of male wild boars grow sideways and upwards to form tusks. They move swiftly and when they act collectively, even male lions do not dare to provoke them.

  Although it is said so, generally speaking, tigers are still kings, this is an eternal and unchanging rule.

  Wild boars are also protected animals, but sometimes they can be a nuisance. When their numbers get too large, it's necessary to control them through hunting. This is probably why Professor Wen didn't speak up to stop the hunt. From what Old Master Wu said, it seems that wild boars have been causing trouble in this area.

  Everyone hasn't arrived yet, and they faintly hear the sound of a wild boar "heng heng! heng heng!" because it's a mountain den, and they can still hear the reverberating echoes.

  "It seems like there's really a lot!" Liu Yang's spirits lifted, and he immediately became more cautious.

  After turning around the mountain road, everyone saw the scene in front of them. Miao Huo and others involuntarily took a breath of cool air, and they were no longer as excited as they had been earlier.

  "Wild boars have spread to such an extent?" Professor Wen frowned.

  "Hasn't anyone ever been killed in a fight?" Xu Hao asked.

  "It's too far from the village, usually as long as they don't run into the village it's fine, but if they run into the village and waste food, then we have no choice but to drive them away. The possibility of killing them is small. In the past when there were more of them, a group of 70 or 80 would be a disaster, passing by sweet potato fields and cornfields, they would eat every single sprout clean." Fifth Uncle said gritting his teeth.

  In the countryside, there are several things that farmers particularly dislike. This wild boar is one of them, as well as the rampant wild rabbits, hordes of mice and flocks of sparrows that block out the sky.

  Only saw thirty or forty wild boars in front, and about a third of them were adult large pigs, which looked like they weighed three to four hundred catties. More than ten male pigs were rubbing violently on the big tree, then turned to the other side to rub again.

  "What are they doing?" Ye Xiaoshuang asked curiously.

  "Wild boars usually spend a lot of time rubbing their bodies against tree trunks, rocks and hard riverbanks, which makes the skin on both sides become a hard protective layer to avoid serious injury during the mating season." Old Li explained.

  "Their skin is very tough, this gun of mine absolutely can't harm them from twenty meters away," Wu Shu explained.

  Wild boar is a common but elusive animal, usually not active during the day. Generally active at dawn and dusk to forage for food, whether it is nocturnal or not is unclear. At noon, they enter the dense forest to avoid sunlight, mostly in groups of 4-10 heads, wild boars like to bathe in muddy water.

  "How dirty and ugly they are!" Ye Xiaoshuang said with a wrinkled nose.

  "They often take muddy baths, can they not get dirty? Also, they often pile up their own dung, sometimes as high as one or two meters, just like digging tunnels in the past. And they rub themselves all over the place, anyway, they just don't like to be clean." Xu Hao explained that this was also his specialty and he understood it quite well.

  "Huh? How come I see them eating small fish in the stream?" Liu Yang exclaimed as if he had discovered a new continent.

  The professor smiled slightly and explained, "Don't think that pigs only eat grains, they also eat meat. The wild boar's eating habits are very diverse, bamboo shoots, grass, medicinal herbs, bird eggs, mushrooms, wild rabbits, mountain mice, venomous snakes, scorpions... as long as it can be eaten, it will be swallowed. Therefore, there is a saying that the pig's stomach can withstand a hundred poisons. Foreigners have seen wild boars swimming in shallow seas and catching fish with their own eyes. Of course, this situation is relatively rare, generally grains are the main food."

  Chu's family was slightly surprised by this statement, having never heard such words before. However, Wu Shu and Lao Li nodded in agreement, apparently they had seen the wild boar eating meat with their own eyes long ago.

  "Everyone, look quickly, there is actually a white wild boar. Professor Wen, do you think it might be a mutated breed?" Liu Yang pointed to a mother pig that had just come out of a hidden place, obviously fatter and shorter than the other pigs, with a whole body of white color.

  "It doesn't seem to be a wild boar, does it? It looks more like a domestic pig." Professor Wen said, adjusting his glasses. Meanwhile, Old Man Li and the others had strange expressions on their faces as they looked at the pig, their mouths twitching slightly.

  Chu Jiaxiong couldn't help but burst out laughing, and everyone else looked at him in surprise, including Chu Jiaqiang. Was this really that funny?

  "Uncle Wu, you said this pig isn't the sow that went missing from Old Village Chief's house last year?" Chu Jiaxiong winked at Uncle Wu.

  The fifth uncle saw everyone looking at him, rubbed his temples, and had no choice but to tell what happened last year.

  It turned out that last year, the old village chief caught a piglet by mistake and bought a small pig without castration. Anyone with some common sense would know that unless they are breeding pigs, no one will raise uncastrated pigs. Many piglets undergo sterilization, which helps them grow meat later on.

  After raising it for more than half a year, the sow began to show signs of pregnancy. The old village chief only discovered this problem then. After the villagers had a good laugh, they advised the old village chief to keep it and let it give birth to piglets, so he wouldn't have to buy piglets from outside anymore.

  Who knew that there was no capable boar in the village, and the problem became serious. The little sow actually ran away at midnight, and many people speculated that it had run into the mountains.

  Everyone listened and burst out laughing when they heard that pigs can also elope.

  Professor Wen explained again: It is not uncommon for domestic pigs to mate with wild boars. In the deep mountains and dense forests, when the sows raised by mountain people are in heat, it is sometimes difficult to find a mate, so they "elope" into the forest and have a "free love affair" with the wild boar. After their "honeymoon", the wild boar sends the "bride" out of the forest, and when parting ways, they linger at the edge of the forest for a long time, looking back with nostalgia.

  Pigs that are not pure wild boars and differ from domesticated pigs, but have yellow stripes, some with white or black stripes, are crossbreeds. These pigs grow fast and strong, with lean meat and high nutritional value.

  "This group is better left alone, don't mess with them!" Fifth Uncle saw that the pigs were numerous and powerful, so he didn't dare let everyone think of attacking this group of wild boars.

  Others also nodded, it's still okay to be alone, but so many are not the objects to be provoked. Under the leadership of Fifth Uncle, they bypassed that place and went down along the creek.

  "For a situation as severe as this, it's entirely possible to deal with the government and have them send people to take care of some of it," said Xu Hao.

  "How come you never mentioned it before? We've applied for it in the past, and they even sent a few people down, but when they saw so many wild boars, they didn't dare to move. They just gave us some advice: as long as we don't provoke them, that's all. Such advice is just nonsense." said Fifth Uncle.

  Miao Huo suddenly burst out laughing, the government is really easy-going! But it's not their fault either, I saw that scene earlier and I would have run away too.

  "Terrible! What's startling them. Quick, find a place to avoid them, quick!" Fifth Uncle immediately led everyone to hide aside and yielded the road.

  At this moment, a riot suddenly broke out among the group of pigs, and they started running towards Chu Jiaqiang and others, as if being chased by birds of prey from behind.