The three of them hurried along, neither resting nor hunting again. The three who were rushing along traveled for about an hour before they all started to sweat on their foreheads, and their walking speed began to slow down.
Xiang Dong, Er Hu, and Chen Lan walked forward without speaking or chatting, their heads bowed. They continued for another half an hour.
As they walked, they suddenly heard the howling of wild boars and the faint sounds of gunfire not far ahead.
The three immediately stopped and exclaimed in unison, "Gunshots?"
Upon hearing the gunshots, Xiang Dong and Er Hu's expressions turned serious and cautious.
Xiang Dong immediately turned back to Chen Lan and said, "Xiao Lan, you don't need to follow us any further. You wait for us here. Er Hu and I will go ahead to see what's happening?"
Chen Lan nodded in agreement and took out an infrared telescope from her system's warehouse, handing it to Xiang Dong. "Brother Xiang Dong, Brother Er Hu, you two be careful."
Xiang Dong took the infrared telescope handed by Chen Lan, nodded to Er Hu without a word, and the two turned and ran quickly towards where the gunshots and wild boar howls were coming from.
Xiang Dong and Er Hu followed the wild boar's howls and arrived at the entrance of a valley. Looking down from the mountain, they saw six or seven people in the valley, dressed in the clothes of local Changbai Mountain residents, holding guns and fighting with a group of wild boars. Two or three wild boars lay on the ground, howling, while the other boars were surrounding the six or seven people, attacking them with their long snouts and tusks.
Just as Xiang Dong and Er Hu were hesitating whether to rush down the mountain to help, one of them, a tall and thin man, suddenly pulled out a grenade from his chest, pulled the pin, and threw it towards the wild boars. Then came a loud bang, followed by even louder howls from the wild boars and the sounds of them scattering in all directions.
Xiang Dong and Er Hu immediately stopped their plan to go down the mountain. The two of them quickly hid behind a large tree nearby, exchanged glances, and whispered in unison, "Bandits?"
Xiang Dong immediately used the infrared telescope to observe the situation in the valley for a while, then turned back to Er Hu and whispered, "Er Hu, they are bandits. There are seven of them. Two bandits are injured, and the others have all sustained some injuries. The bandits all have guns. Hurry back and tell Xiao Lan not to wander around the mountain. It's too dangerous here, with many bandits. I'll wait here for now, and then I'll follow the bandits to see where their hideout is before returning to meet you."
Er Hu also said urgently, "Xiang Dong, you should go tell Xiao Lan! I was a scout on the battlefield, and I'm more experienced at tracking enemies. I'll go track the bandits. Don't worry! I'll be careful."
At this moment, Chen Lan suddenly spoke from behind them, asking repeatedly, "Brother Xiang Dong, Brother Er Hu, what do you want to tell me? Who are you going to track? What are you going to see?"
Xiang Dong and Er Hu, whose minds were already highly focused and tense, did not notice anyone behind them. Chen Lan's sudden voice startled them so much that they both fell to the ground, clearly terrified.
Xiang Dong quickly got up and whispered sternly, "Xiao Lan, didn't we tell you to wait for us here? Why did you follow us? Xiao Lan, do you know how dangerous it is in this mountain? There are bandits here, and they have a lot of weapons."
"Bandits?" Chen Lan exclaimed in surprise. Fortunately, the howling of the wild boars was loud enough not to alert the bandits in the valley. Otherwise, the three of them would have been in grave danger.
Xiang Dong and Er Hu quickly hushed her, whispering, "Shh! Xiao Lan, keep your voice down. Look into the valley." Chen Lan quickly covered her mouth and nodded.
Then, Xiang Dong pointed to the people in the valley and whispered, "Look, it's those six or seven people over there. At first, Er Hu and I didn't recognize them as bandits. We thought they were just local Changbai Mountain residents. We were even going to run down the mountain to help them fight the wild boars. It wasn't until that tall, thin guy suddenly pulled out a grenade and threw it at the wild boars that we realized these people were not ordinary local residents at all. We were too careless earlier. If we had looked closely with the infrared telescope, we would have seen that their guns were not ordinary hunting rifles."
After listening to Xiang Dong, Chen Lan suddenly felt it was quite surreal. Was this good luck or bad luck? Encountering bandits while on a mountain trip? What kind of fate was this? The word "bandit" was something she had only heard on TV in her previous life (in some anti-bandit dramas). Back then, she felt that "bandits" were very distant from her. But today, she actually encountered a few live "bandits." Chen Lan remembered watching the TV series "Northeast Anti-Bandit Chronicle" in her past life! She recalled specifically searching online about the stories of the 359 Brigade's bandit suppression in Northeast China. The bandits in Northeast China were basically all cleared out by the end of 1946. By March 1949, a hundred thousand bandits were completely annihilated by the army. The famous 359 Brigade was the main force in the suppression of bandits in Hejiang at that time. The famous novel "Tracks in the Snowy Forest" was written with the background of bandit suppression in Northeast China and was later adapted into Peking Opera and the movie "Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy." In the movie, Yang Zirong was vigilant, experienced, and highly skilled in martial arts. However, according to actual historical records, the real Yang Zirong was even more remarkable than the character portrayed in the movie. He was like an excellent hunter, able to smell the presence of bandits in the biting cold wind, and facing over four hundred bandits alone on the vast snowy plains, capturing the bandit leader alive. However, the entire country had been liberated for over a year, and Northeast China was liberated even earlier, in October 1948, with the Liaoshen Campaign, at which point all regions of the three northeastern provinces were fully liberated. Yet, there were still bandits in these mountains now? They must be a small group of bandits who fled into the deep mountains during the army's bandit suppression campaign. Chen Lan immediately asked nervously, "Brother Xiang Dong, Brother Er Hu, what do we plan to do now?" Xiang Dong said seriously, "Xiao Lan, you hide behind this big tree and wait for us. Er Hu and I will track these bandits to their hideout and find out the exact location of their lair. We'll figure out how many bandits are there now. After we understand the situation, we'll come back to find you, and then we'll go back and discuss with everyone how to eliminate this group of bandits."