“Third Master! Even without the horses, we can still rely on people pulling the plow into the mountains!”

When several people heard that they had to stay and wait, they immediately quit.

Follow the hunting team into the mountains to the Holy Maiden Lake to find the Moon-Gazing Frog. This is a commissioned mission with a very generous bounty.

When he was gathering people together before, Qiao Muzhou told everyone the benefits of it.

We have walked more than a hundred kilometers now. If you say we are not allowed to follow you, then all the suffering we have endured before will be in vain.

Qiao Muzhou looked at the people who were making the most noise and said, “What are you yelling about? Do you think I don’t want to have more manpower to increase my chances of winning?
The problem is, without vehicles to pull the supplies, how far can we go in a day relying on manpower to drag things up the mountain?

The higher you go, the higher the altitude and the thinner the oxygen. People will react if they don’t bring anything with them. Do you still plan to drag supplies into the mountains by manpower?

If you are unlucky, you may even die on the mountain!!

If you don’t believe me, ask Master Xi, is this just a joke? “

Master Xi immediately echoed him at this time: “Third Master is right, the altitude difference is too great, and people cannot adapt to it all at once.

Let alone dragging supplies, even if you carry nothing with you, you will feel uncomfortable!”

“Then…what about the bounty? Without the brothers, you are outnumbered. Are you sure you can find the reward offered by the Wang family?”

The guy who took the lead was a little smart, but not much.

He did not directly ask whether the people who followed the bounty would get a share, but instead asked indirectly whether the bounty could be completed.

Qiao Muzhou’s mind was very quick. He understood the other party’s request in an instant.

At that moment, he said, “Don’t worry, letting you camp here does not mean we will abandon you. We have a large amount of supplies stored here.

The five of us are traveling light, and if there are any unplanned changes, we will definitely send someone down to find you!

Everyone knows my style of doing things, Qiao Muzhou. I will definitely not treat you unfairly! You just stay here and watch!! “

After being comforted like this, the people who were left behind to guard the place calmed down and stopped making noise.

Qiao Muzhou exchanged glances with Xiao Fei, and Wang Yufei immediately called out, “Okay, brothers, stop standing there!
Let’s eat first and then leave. You guys help tidy up the frozen horse carcass, process the useful horse meat, and clean up the blood!

Time is running out, there is no time to waste! ”

After a brief communication and discussion, the team of fifteen people split into two, with one group staying behind and the other continuing to move towards the Holy Maiden Lake.

On the other side, early in the morning, members of the Yuefeng hunting team also came out of the tent.

It was very quiet the whole night last night. For some reason, the wolves suddenly disappeared without a trace. Not even the sound of wolves howling in the distance was heard the whole night.

The members of the Yuefeng Hunting Team who took turns on night duty did not close their eyes during the period, but everything was normal.

Uncle Wu got up early and wandered around the forest outside the tent. When he came back, he brought back two rabbits and a grouse.

“Uncle, why did you get up so early today? The rice in the pot is not cooked yet!” Yue Feng looked at the prey in Wu Keji’s hand and asked curiously.

Wu Keji threw the prey onto the snow beside the tent door and said in a deep voice, “The wolves were quite quiet last night, I was a little worried so I went out for a walk!
There were no signs of wolves tracking us around. They must have retreated because they were afraid of our guns and hunting dogs!

I shot these rabbits and grouse with a gun, but I didn’t encounter any big prey. The 7.62 bullets were very harmful to small animals. I’ll just clean them up and have some meat for lunch later!”

“Okay, I’ll put it together and bring it with me!”

Using rifle bullets to shoot small prey is really wasteful. The rabbit’s head and half of its neck were gone, but its body was relatively intact.

The grouse, which can only be seen at higher altitudes, had almost one-third of its body shattered by bullets. This thing tastes better than ordinary pheasants.

Yue Feng simply cleaned up the rabbit and grouse before the prey froze solid.

After a while, breakfast in the tent was cooked. Everyone got up to eat and then continued with the final sprint.

It is less than 20 kilometers away from the Holy Maiden Lake. This section of the mountain road is the most dangerous. It is no longer the common mountain ridge terrain. In most areas, the number of large trees has sharply decreased, and they have been replaced by various steeper rocky snow trails.

In many places, there were no paths at all. Fortunately, Uncle Wu knew the way. He confirmed the direction and path by looking at the small landmarks such as rocks and trees along the way, and led everyone to continue climbing the mountain little by little.

They were lucky enough not to encounter any hidden dangers such as snow pits and ice crevices along the way. At 1:30 p.m., the Yuefeng hunting team successfully climbed up the ridge next to the Holy Maiden Lake, and after making a small circle, they arrived at the shore of the Holy Maiden Lake.

Standing on the ridge and looking down at the Holy Maiden Lake, large sheets of white snow completely cover the frozen lake surface, with only a small area of ​​azure ice, less than the size of a football field, exposed near the northwest wind vent.

The Holy Maiden Lake is much larger than Yue Feng had expected. At a glance, including the relatively flat area on the shore, it is at least hundreds of acres in area, not to mention the large tracts of forest extending from the water’s edge toward the ridgeline buffer zone.

“Uncle, where are we going to camp tonight?” Yue Feng asked curiously.

Wu Keji pointed to the southeast direction, near the forest on the shore, and said, “The top of the mountain is at least ten degrees colder than the bottom of the mountain. The temperature at the wind outlet is too low. We have to spend the night in the buffer zone!

If I remember correctly, there is a cellar dug by a herbalist over there. Let’s go and look for it! If we can’t find it, we’ll have to dig a cave in the snow tonight!”

“Don’t you have a tent with you? Can’t you just set up the tent?”

After listening to Uncle Wu’s plan, Yue Feng scratched his head slightly, a little confused.

“The wind on the mountain was much stronger than I expected. If we set up a tent normally like we did at the foot of the mountain, it would be easily blown away by the strong wind. This thing was the last backup option when we got to the lake!

Even when setting up a tent, you have to dig out the snow and build a snow wall. The tent can be stable with the help of the snow!”

“Oh, let’s go! We’d better settle down before dark!”

“Let’s go! Hold your clothes tightly and follow us!”

Soon, everyone followed behind, slowly and safely walking down the ridge after several turns.

Grandpa Wu led Yue Feng and his group through many twists and turns, and at 2:30 in the afternoon, they found the cellar by the lake that was half buried by the snow.

Wu Keji used a machete to dig through the snow and wind that was blocking the entrance to the cellar, then pushed open the small wooden door and took a look inside.

“Not bad. This cellar must have been renovated in the last one or two years. Let’s stay here tonight!”

When they heard that the cellar could be lived in, everyone relaxed. Having a ready-made place to live would make people feel much more comfortable.

Although the cellar was cramped, it was not very comfortable for five men to sleep in one tent.

After everyone settled the horses and dogs temporarily, they immediately sent people to chop firewood nearby and clear the snow at the entrance of the cellar.

After a busy work, the cellar was cleaned up. They covered it with animal skins, lit a fire, and were ready to spend the night.

The camp stove was placed on the adobe stove, the fire was lit, and the cellar soon became warm.

As soon as people sat down next to the fire, the fatigue from the intense mountain climbing was immediately relieved.

Uncle Wu warmed himself up for a while and then bent down and came out.

“Xiao Feng, come out for a walk with me if you have nothing to do!
There are fish in this Holy Maiden Lake. Bring an ice pick and try to catch some fish for dinner!” “Oh!!” Yue Feng responded, took the ice pick he brought with him, and came out of the cellar.

“Uncle, where can we go to fish in the ice hole? I don’t have any fishing gear with me!”

Wu Keji smiled slightly and took out a small cloth bag from his arms.

“I have it with me! Fishing is just an excuse. The main purpose is to test how thick the ice is!”

“Well, I’ll go wherever you tell me to go!!”

Soon the father and son walked towards the lake. Wu Keji counted his steps secretly as he walked.

When he counted to a hundred steps, he pointed to the ground and said, “Give me a hand, clear the snow, and try to make a hole in the ice!”

“it is good!”

Yue Feng immediately lowered his head and bent over to work, clearing away the snow foam on top to reveal the ice layer underneath.

He held the ice pick in both hands and started smashing the ice with all his strength. Layer after layer of ice was broken open. The ice layer, which was less than 40 centimeters thick, was pierced by the sharp ice pick, and the water underneath immediately surged up.

Uncle Wu used an ice pick to roughly measure the thickness of the ice layer, then grabbed the handle on the ice pick and stretched it down as far as possible to test the water level under the ice.

The more than one-meter-long ice pick was almost completely submerged in the water and could not reach the bottom.

Obviously, the water near the shore of Holy Maiden Lake is much deeper than what Uncle Wu remembered.

“Uncle, what’s going on? Something’s wrong?”

Yue Feng saw that Uncle Wu frowned slightly and asked curiously.

“The water level has risen a lot this year. You should clean up this ice hole first, and then dig a second one next to it!”

“profound!”

Yue Feng cleared out the broken ice in the ice hole bit by bit, and the entrance of the ice cave expanded to about thirty or forty centimeters in diameter.

After finishing the first ice cave, Wu Keji also determined the location of the second ice cave, which was about eight meters away from the first hole towards the shore.

The first hole was also played with difficulty following the same method.

After going through two ice holes in a row, Yue Feng felt a little exhausted and had a slight lack of oxygen.

Grandpa Wu tested the depth of the water under the ice again. This time the ice pick reached the bottom. The location of the second ice hole was about one meter away from the ground below.

Next, Wu Keji took out the fishing tools he had with him.

After a simple arrangement, a piece of fresh grouse was hung on the fishhook and thrown directly into the ice cave.

He wrapped the other end of the fishing line around his hand and just squatted quietly on the ice.

“Uncle, we dug ice holes and measured water depths just for fishing, right?” Yue Feng asked curiously after taking a break and catching his breath.

Wu Keji shook his head: “Fishing is just a side job! The main purpose is to determine the location of the shore!

The ice is so thick that it is impossible for the Moon-Gazing Frog to dig a hole from under the water like humans do by using an ice pick.

The most likely possibility is that it came out from the area where the ice and soil meet on the shore!
Now I have determined the water depth below the ice surface on the shore. The slope is relatively uniform, so the shoreline is also determined!
When the day comes, we will search along the waterfront, and with the help of the five elements and directions, the success rate will be much higher!”

After hearing this, Yue Feng’s doubts were resolved.

An experienced driver is an experienced driver. Even if he has never seen a Moon-gazing Frog, he can still work out a relatively reasonable plan through his own reasonable analysis and judgment.

On this point, Yue Feng feels ashamed of himself for the depth of Wu Keji’s consideration of the problem.

Before he went up the mountain, he thought he could just choose a direction and search aimlessly, relying purely on luck.

“I understand! You called me out alone to keep it a secret?” Yue Feng continued to ask.

“That’s right and that’s not right!

As the captain, there are some things you just need to know in your heart and you don’t need to tell others!

Everyone has a different level of cognition. If you talk too much, you may end up doing more harm than good.

This has nothing to do with brotherhood or loyalty, it’s simply about doing things better!
In addition, those two soldiers have only been with us for a short time, so it is normal to be a little cautious when we are unsure. Everything should be considered in order to achieve the established goals!”

“Oh, I see!”

After listening to this, Yue Feng nodded, and understood Uncle Wu’s good intentions in asking him to go out fishing.

Yue Feng has lived two lives as a human being, so his level of cognition is definitely sufficient, but he did not accumulate much experience in leading a team in his previous life.

Wu Keji told him the experiences he had accumulated over half a lifetime of hard work, which was actually a way of supporting the younger generation.

It is gratifying that Yue Feng is very smart and understands things immediately.

The father and son whispered for a while, and there was no response from the fishing line in Wu Keji’s hand. He stood up, pulled the fishing line out of the ice hole, and turned to go to the first ice hole.

“The hole here has been open for a while, there should be some fish coming through, let’s try this hole!”

While he was talking, he threw the fishing rig with grouse on it in, waited for the bait to reach the bottom, slightly adjusted the length of the fishing line, and continued to wait patiently.

Another five minutes of patient waiting. Ice hole fishing was not as easy as expected. The fish in the lake were not very interested.

“Hey! This is weird. There used to be a lot of big fish in Saint Maiden Lake! Why are they not giving us face today?”

Uncle Wu scratched his head, feeling a little unhappy.

Yue Feng was a fisherman in his previous life. After hunting was prohibited and guns were banned, he either released hawks or went fishing. He has rich experience in this area.

“Let me try it!”

“I’ll give it a try if you want! The bait is at the bottom, if you don’t want to eat it, then you won’t eat it. Can changing someone else change the result?”

Uncle Wu didn’t hesitate and just handed the fishing line and fishing gear to Yue Feng.

Yue Feng wrapped the fishing line around his gloves, picked up the fishing line and began to pull it up and down rhythmically.

Under the control of this set of little techniques, the hook and bait in the water will show a certain swing amplitude.

As it went up and down, the bloody smell of the grouse meat spread farther in the water.

After pulling the line back and forth for less than three minutes, Yue Feng suddenly felt the fishing line in his hand falling down. A huge pulling force came over him.

Yue Feng immediately raised his arm: “Hey, got it!!” (End of this chapter)