The brave wins when two foes et in a narrow trail. Panda Yingying, leading a group of animals, and the Mountain Elves King, escaping with a few younger Mountain Elves, just happened to collide face to face.
Both parties were stunned for a mont.
Just a few hours ago, the once imposing Mountain Elves King was now in a wretched state, his body sared with blood, with a small hole pierced through his thigh, oozing blood steadily.
The pursuers behind him were drawing ever closer, the wind carrying the stench of humans and the sound of their talking could be heard.
"Roar!" The Mountain Elves King let out a resentful howl to the sky, unable to believe that he, of such distinguished wisdom, was about to die at the hands of a pack of traitorous beasts!
"Well done, you freaking Panda. With that honest face and your clumsy deanor, who would've guessed you were the humans' lapdog!"
No wonder you could sweep across Qinling in such short order, pulling together such a large troop, causing chaos in the mountains—it turns out you've been riding on the coattails of your human 'daddies'!
What a disgrace to pandas! Hounds and hawks may shalessly mingle with humans, but who would've thought even pandas would turn into human henchn? No, bear henchn! Cat henchn! You've not only tainted the pandas but inadvertently implicated bears and cats alike.
"Damn it, even if I die, I must rid the animal world of a scourge like you!"
The Mountain Elves King, mistaking Yingying as an ally of the humans, let out a loud roar, ready to fight to the death with Yingying.
If Yingying knew the Mountain Elves King saw him as a traitor, he would surely curse in rage, "Damned celestial being, you're the real traitor, your whole family is…"
Just as they were about to co to blows, the pursuers had caught up.
Standing atop the hillside, Park Jeong-ui was startled.
"Search all over, and what you seek will be found without effort—there, below the hillside, was a massive crowd of animals. The two leading the way, with their distinctive black and white fur—weren't they the ones that escaped from the airport, our true targets?!"
According to the information, only dozens of animals had escaped from the airport, but there were hundreds if not thousands in this valley—where did all these animals co from?
Without ti to ponder, one of the poachers Park Jeong-ui had brought along swapped to a tranquilizer gun and fired a shot at one of the pandas from a distance.
Yingying and the Mountain Elves King were about to scuffle, having twisted towards each other when Lele jumped atop a large stone, unclear whether to break up the fight or cheer them on, suddenly felt as though a giant mosquito had bitten his butt—it was numb and itchy...
Without thinking, he turned his head and saw a small red needle stuck in his butt. He didn't even reach to pull it out before the world started spinning around him...
"Oh my, I'm gonna be rich, all these golden stars floating around…"
Lele stood on the rock, swaying and finally toppling over. His mouth half-open, gazing at the sky with a daft look, utterly bewildered.
The about-to-fight Yingying and the Mountain Elves King both froze.
Yingying had seen tranquilizer darts before. Damn, these people were not just after the Mountain Elves but also eyeing us?!
The Mountain Elves King was sowhat relieved. It had been lucky, for it was miss-shot; had it been hit with a tranquillizer dart, it would've been captured by now.
"Bang bang bang," several n rapidly advanced towards the valley, shooting any animals that dared obstruct them without a second glance.
Two pandas and a Mountain Elves King—this was a big catch, hitting the jackpot in one go!
Even if there were no other gains from this trip, these three big ones alone were enough!
Sweat was about to break out on Yingying. What to do?! What exactly should be done now?
Fighting head-on would an the death of countless animals, and since the survival instinct of animals is paramount, asking them to block the bullets might just scatter them in panic;
If they fled, it was uncertain whether they could outrun these humans. Moreover, such a hasty escape would surely disperse the hard-gathered troop.
Once the spirit of the people was lost, the troop could no longer be led effectively, and prior efforts would be in vain.
"Bang…" A stray bullet flew by, striking a nearby rock and sending sparks flying. The ricochet skimd past Yingying's scalp and neatly cleared a hairless path along the center of its head.
Yingying shivered in fear, touching its head, "Damn it, that almost parted my hair down the middle."
However, it sparked an idea in Yingying's head.
Waving its large panda paw, it signaled the Mountain Elves King and the other animals to move ahead while it, along with a group of followers, would cover the rear.
The Mountain Elves King was surprised, his large eyes staring curiously at Yingying. In the blink of an eye, the panda had shifted from a despicable traitor to a selfless buddy. This swift change in allegiance was hard for the king to accept at first.
Annoyed, Yingying shot a disdainful glance at the Mountain Elves King, "You've been king of the mountain for so many years, leading hundreds of subjects—can't you stop being so indecisive and just get moving, instead of dragging down?"
After hesitating for a mont, the Mountain Elves King finally lifted the unconscious Lele onto his shoulder and, along with the mass of animals, retreated hastily.
"Mr. Park, the animals are starting to run!"
"Chase them! The two pandas are the primary target, the Mountain Elves King is the secondary target. The Mountain Elves King has been shot, and a panda was hit with a tranquilizer—they won't get far!"
These outdoor experts were all the best in their field, each commanding a high price for their missions. Once they set their sights on a target, it was difficult for any animal to escape their pursuit, even in the deep mountains.
Not long after they had charged down in pursuit, one poacher felt sothing slip under his foot; it seed like he'd stepped on sothing. He looked down and saw a round object that resembled a "small land mine."
When he stepped on it, the 'small land mine' suddenly ca to life, rolling and tumbling, and with a thud, it hit his shin.
Despite the 'small land mine' not being very large, its strength was not to be underestimated. The impact caused the poacher severe pain in his shin, making him stagger several steps backwards, nearly falling over.
Suddenly, a dozen or more of these moving 'small land mines' appeared on the hillside, chaotically rolling after the poachers.
"What is this?!" The first poacher to be hit didn't think twice before raising his hand and firing his gun.
The bullet hit the 'small land mine' accurately but didn't explode. Instead, it seed the 'small land mine' had a layer of dense scales; the bullet struck them, sparking and then rolled off in an unknown direction.
At the sa ti, the other poachers had the sa reaction. After discovering these threatening 'small land mines,' they instinctively raised their guns and fired.
"Wait a minute!" Park Jeong-ui had just shouted, but it was too late.
These rolling 'small land mines' were the nesis of bullets. Ordinary handgun bullets couldn't penetrate their scales, turning them all into stray flying bullets.
The poachers covered for each other, being in close proximity originally. Their random shooting instantly resulted in two of them being hit by stray bullets...
Bang, bang, the two who got shot, in a state of panic, fired several more shots...
This couldn't really be blad on them. After the first round of gunfire, they imdiately realized that the shells of these 'small land mines' were too hard, not only resistant to bullets but also causing ricochets. At this point, random firing was like gambling with their lives. But the problem was that after falling down, several 'small land mines' imdiately rolled towards their heads... A direct hit would an ga over. Besides, stray bullets don't bounce back straight. If you're shooting, it shouldn't hit yourself...
The unlucky one happened to be the dark-faced man holding a shotgun, who also pulled the trigger. The steel balls sprayed out like rain on pear blossoms, actually blowing away three of the incoming 'small land mines.' However, the round steel balls also changed their flight path, becoming small, mischievous, life-threatening bullets zipping around without any predictable pattern...
After several gunshots, Park Jeong-ui was completely stunned.
Of the five high-priced hired teammates, it seed he was the only one who could still stand.
He didn't know whether to feel extrely lucky or extrely unfortunate that, amid the chaos of gunfire, five out of the six gathered were hit by bullets, and only he was unscathed.
With a quick glance, his eyelids twitched; all five were still alive. The ricochets had lost much of their power after turning, not imdiately fatal but enough to incapacitate them for the ti being.
This was even more troubleso than if he had been the one shot. Originally a group of six people had set out to hunt animals, and now, with five nearly dead from gunshot wounds, he was left alone to care for the other five.
In movies and TV shows, the scenario where a companion is injured and then abandoned or even killed outright is, after all, very extre. Under normal circumstances, these five individuals were hired by him with money, and whether it's out of moral duty or for his own future reputation, he couldn't ignore them.
"Armadillos! It's armadillos! Damn armadillos!"
...
Indeed, it was an armadillo!
These creatures, resembling pangolins in appearance, were armored with bone plates even harder than those of pangolins. They looked like layers of overlapping fish scales. These bone plates had been with the armadillo since its youth as it burrowed through the ground, friction against hard rocks and rubble making them exceptionally sturdy. Pistol bullets, if hitting at the right angle, could at most chip off a piece of the armor, which was but a minor inconvenience to the armadillo—much like a person getting their fingernails clipped. If the angle was slightly off, the bullet would deflect off the slope of the armor, resulting in a ricochet.
When it ca to digging ability, armadillos actually surpassed pangolins. It was nearly impossible for an average person in the wild to catch an armadillo without tools. This little digging expert could create a hole in the hard ground large enough to accommodate itself within a minute. By the ti you spotted it and prepared to catch it, the armadillo would have already disappeared from the surface. And by the ti you crawled in after it, it would have already advanced a great distance deeper.
Yingying had not anticipated such impressive results; initially, she had only hoped that the armadillos could delay the poachers for a while. With their thick bone plates, armadillos were the only animals unafraid of handguns. Furthermore, the hillside was covered in soft soil, which made it easy for them to dig a hole and escape without the fear of being caught.
A dozen armadillos rolling down the hill like scattered lons should create a certain level of obstruction for these people, right? That was Yingying's initial thought: delay the hunters, giving the main troop a chance to escape.
But unexpectedly, after a flurry of wild gunfire, the enemies were all down. How is that supposed to be said?
The armadillos, who had scored a great achievent, rolled leisurely down the hill and returned to Yingying's side, stretching out their bodies to reveal their tiny noses and mouths.
Retreat! Seeing the advantage, Yingying did not linger in battle, leading the armadillos to rejoin the main troop.
After crossing two mountain ridges, they finally regrouped successfully with the main troop.
Thanks to the cover provided by Yingying and the armadillos, the retreat of the previous animal army went quite smoothly; there had been no signs of disarray or panic, and the vast majority of the animals had regrouped here.
Beyond that, about two to three hundred fleeing Mountain Elves had also been rounded up by the Mountain Elves King, congregating on another side of the woods.
However, it seed that after such a common struggle against the enemy, the originally tense relationship between the two sides suddenly eased quite a bit.
Within the animal hierarchy, a Clan Leader, while possessing the supre power to rule over other animals, also bears the responsibility of protecting their kin. In the recent battle, even though the Mountain Elves King had been shot, he did not forget to cover the retreat while escaping and even managed to protect several young Mountain Elves along the way.
Panda Yingying's initiative to co to their aid, covering for them and allowing them to escape first, had earned the Mountain Elves King's respect. To a certain extent, it also established her prestige among the Mountain Elf community.
The Mountain Elves King, limping, ca over, lifted Yingying above his head, and placed her on his own head before roaring loudly at the other Mountain Elves.
The revolutionary ranks swelled once more.
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