Night Without End-Chapter 5 - 4 Ambush

Qin Ming withdrew his gaze and shouldered the beast skin bag to head back the way he came.

Today's haul was not bad at all; he was quite satisfied. With this nearly full bag of food, he wouldn't go hungry for a while.

Below the snow were hollows and rocks; the road was difficult, but Qin Ming was in a good mood.

With ample food, he no longer needed to worry, and maybe if he persistently trained with those specific movements for a long time, he might make new progress.

At the same time, he was looking forward to the arrival of early spring, the season when life bursts forth.

Despite the current icy snowscape, withered grass and trees, and all things in deep quiescence, when the dry spell ends and Fire Spring gushes out in the dangerous zones of the mountains, coupled with frequent steaming from Earth Light, the vegetation will sprout branches and buds, and all things will undergo a resurgence – that would be quite a spectacle.

Approaching the edge of the dense forest, Qin Ming abruptly stopped, dropped his beast skin bag, and gripped the Hunting Fork tightly as he swiftly turned around.

A pair of blood-red eyes emerged from the darkness, striking fear as they rapidly approached.

His hairs stood on end. Though still at a distance, he could feel that the creature following him was not small and seemed extremely fierce, bringing with it the smell of blood on the cold wind.

He planted the Hunting Fork in the snow, quickly took his bow and arrow, and with impressive arm strength instantly pulled the hard bow into a full moon shape. A powerful Iron Arrow flew out, even the quiver of the bowstring sounding loud.

In the distance, the violently charging creature abruptly paused, seemingly hit by the arrow.

Qin Ming's spirit intensely concentrated, he repeatedly drew his bow, displaying his superb Arrow Skill with the lethal Iron Arrows disappearing one after another into the night.

A muffled roar came from the underbrush; the blood-red eyes disappeared as, accompanied by the sound of snapping twigs, the creature hid behind the trees.

Qin Ming dared not relax. The unknown dangerous creature was injured but not fatally so. It would become even more dangerous lurking within the forest.

Without hesitation, he grabbed the beast skin bag and the Hunting Fork, quickly breaking out of the woods onto the open snowy field.

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Not wanting to linger in the dim environment, fearing an ambush, he suspected it to be a troublesome mutant creature.

From the forest came significant disturbances, the sounds of snow being violently disturbed, clearly the fierce creature was in pursuit.

Qin Ming did not hesitate to draw his bow again, some Iron Arrows thunking into thick tree trunks, causing the snow on the branches to fall instantly like a snowy waterfall.

The creature was again driven back, concealing any sound within the woods.

If it were a typical wild beast, it would have either retreated in fear or, due to injuries, would have charged over in ferocity. However, this mutant creature was lurking in the shadows, waiting and looking for an opportunity.

Qin Ming, bow and arrow in hand, confronted the dangerous creature across the dense forest.

The snowy ground churned, and the large silhouette within the forest flitted about several times, the blood-red eyes looking icy and oppressive in the darkness.

Nonetheless, in the end, it was repelled by Qin Ming's bow and arrow, which had a staggeringly powerful draw. It let out an unwilling, deep growl and vanished into the dense forest.

Qin Ming's expression was solemn; despite the dark forest, he could still make out that it was a creature capable of running upright—unknown which type of mutant it was.

He slowly retreated, the surroundings silent, but he remained on high alert the entire time.

Even when less than a mile away from Shuangshu Village's Fire Spring, he was still on guard.

For there were bloody lessons from the past; some villagers had been close to the village entrance when they let their guard down, were pounced upon by an unknown creature lurking in the darkness, and were silently dragged away.

...

Outside Shuangshu Village, three young men were shivering slightly, stamping their feet and rubbing their hands, exhaling puffs of white breath, their eyebrows frosted over.

They waited on the snow trail Qin Ming had trudged upon entering the pitch-black territory, conversing in low voices.

"It's so cold out here, it's really tough to stand guard. If it comes down to it, let's just leave. I bet he's most likely going to die out there and won't bring back any game."

"Why rush? What if he has the same luck as Old Man Li and finds some frozen carcasses of animals on the outer regions of the woods?"

The three were typically idle and lazy, not daring to enter the dangers of the mountains. They acted rather tough within the village, liking to freeload food and drinks.

Knowing that Qin Ming had left the village to hunt, they came up with a crooked idea to lie in wait here to intercept.

"Qin Ming is agile and very strong; we'd better not bungle this and end up being taken care of by him instead."

"What's there to be afraid of? He's just recovered from a serious illness, his body must be weak. Just cover his head with the beast skin bag later, just be careful not to overdo it when making our move and really kill him."

Although they intended mischief, they lacked the courage to kill, only hoping to sneakily knock him out from behind and steal the game Qin Ming had brought back.

Qin Ming had been vigilant all along, his nerves tense. With his keen eyesight, he spotted three dark figures from a distance.

Instantly, he crouched down; the snow was nearly up to his shoulders, and he completely disappeared.

He followed the snow trail he had previously made, moving silently until he could finally make out that the shadows ahead were the three do-nothings from the village.

Qin Ming stopped in a suitable position where he could hear their conversation.

Moments later, his face turned sour; these three were planning to strike him from behind here and steal his game?

Though he hadn't gone bear hunting but merely raided a squirrel's nest—which wasn't "glorious"—he had truly faced life-and-death crises twice, attacked by the human-faced vulture and an unknown mutant creature. A wrong move could have cost him his life; daring to rob him of food won by risking his life was intolerable. This sort of theft couldn't be tolerated.

Hu Yong, Ma Yang, and Wang Youping, shivering from the cold, dug themselves a snow cave to shield against the cold wind, effectively setting up their ambush in advance, nesting inside to wait for their target.