Hearing the sound, Su Xinghui’s face lit up with excitement, and so did her little followers, as if they had long grown accustomed to this horn of harvest.
Wang Tieniu even temporarily forgot his fear, smugly glancing in Ling Xi’s direction, as if to say: Look how amazing our Huihui is!
Yet he strangely noticed that Ling Xi and Maomao were no longer where they had been. At some point, they had retreated behind everyone, moving faster and faster.
A strange feeling rose in his heart, but he subconsciously ignored it and shouted excitedly, “Huihui, the prey is coming! No one can steal what’s yours!”
“It’s a rabbit! A rabbit!”
“No, it must be a pheasant!”
Maomao didn’t know why Ling Xi had dragged her to the back, but hearing their shouts, recipes for rabbit and pheasant automatically popped into her head. She swallowed hard, her eyes involuntarily locking onto the direction the prey was coming from.
The longing in her eyes was so obvious that Ling Xi found it amusing—she probably wouldn’t be in the mood to drool much longer.
Having spent tens of thousands of years in the jungle, Ling Xi knew all kinds of sounds by heart. That sound just now had been so loud that the prey could not possibly be small—it was either a wild boar or a wolf.
Given that wolves rarely acted alone, a wild boar was more likely.
Sure enough, within moments, before the smiles had even faded from Su Xinghui’s and Wang Tieniu’s faces, a strong, sturdy wild boar—looking to weigh at least 300 jin—burst out of the forest and charged straight toward them.
Everyone was terrified out of their wits, screaming and wailing as they fled down the mountain.
Wang Tieniu, at the very front, had been scared stiff. Just as the boar’s tusks were about to slam into him, he suddenly came to his senses. Looking at the two stumbling figures not far away, a vicious gleam flashed through his eyes.
He couldn’t outrun the boar, but he could outrun Su Lingxi!
Having transmigrated into the small world, Ling Xi had lost her cultivation, but her Divine Sense was still far stronger than an ordinary person’s, and she was especially sensitive to danger.
She glanced back slightly and saw Wang Tieniu leading the boar toward her. Killing intent instantly flashed in her eyes.
She released Maomao’s hand, told her to keep running and not look back, then quickly shrugged off her basket and pulled out a sharpened wooden stick left over from making traps.
By now, Wang Tieniu was right in front of her, with the boar less than a step behind him.
Seeing the smugness flash through Wang Tieniu’s eyes, Ling Xi sidestepped and stuck out her leg, sending him sprawling flat on his face.
At the same time, she rolled on the spot, ending up behind a tree.
He who strikes first is the scoundrel—don’t blame her for repaying in kind!
She had expected the boar to attack the fallen Wang Tieniu, but it actually swerved sharply and came charging furiously toward Ling Xi.
Ling Xi froze, inwardly cursing the female supporting character’s vexing fate—she was simply the female lead’s scapegoat!
Her body no longer had the strength to dodge, so she could only quickly bend her knees and lean back, and as the boar leaped over her head from momentum, she stabbed at its belly with all her strength.
A wild boar’s greatest trait was its thick, tough hide, and Ling Xi was a frail, sickly young girl. The wooden stick only left a shallow bloody mark on the boar’s belly, and the blood had congealed before it even flowed.
Not only did the wound fail to cripple the boar, it enraged it.
Its black-bean-like eyes locked onto Ling Xi, and it let out grunting howls from its throat, scaring Cai Yu into shrieking wildly inside her Divine Sense.
Useless thing—can’t even help a little.
With the boar’s ugly tusks mere inches away, Ling Xi choked speechlessly. Was she really going to die on her very first mission? She couldn’t imagine a more pathetic death!
At the critical moment, a snare lasso flew out of the woods, landing squarely over the boar’s head. At the same time, two agile figures in green camouflage leaped into view.
Seeing the boar restrained, Ling Xi decisively drove her wooden stick into its right eye. A shrill squeal rang out, and pig’s blood sprayed all over her head and face…
This move genuinely startled Chen Tianjun, who had been about to scoop her up. He had assumed the little girl was frozen with fear—who would have thought she’d act so swiftly and decisively?
After blinding the boar, Ling Xi quickly backed away, afraid that if it went berserk, the people in the woods wouldn’t be able to hold it.
Such clear judgment, such decisive action—traits that should never appear in a child. Xiao Jue narrowed his eyes as he watched the direction she fled.
“What are you thinking? Move! We can barely hold it!” Luo Fei’s roar came from the woods.
Xiao Jue and Chen Tianjun exchanged a glance, drew their daggers, and charged at the boar. With their seamless coordination, they quickly slit the beast’s throat.
The boar twitched on the ground for a while before breathing its last. Just then, the villagers of Huaiying Village also hurried up the mountain.
When Su Changhe and Yu Lian had heard from Maomao that Xiaoxi was on the mountain, their hearts had nearly stopped. They had practically run all the way up.
Seeing Ling Xi covered in blood, Yu Lian burst into tears at once and wrapped her in a trembling embrace. “Xiaoxi, are you okay? Tell Mama where you’re hurt—Mama will take you to the hospital!”
Maomao was also terrified by Ling Xi’s appearance and wailed loudly, “It’s all my fault! Xiaoxi did this to save me, boo-hoo-hoo…”
Exasperated by the pair of them, Ling Xi pointed weakly into the distance. “I’m not hurt. The blood is the pig’s, not mine. These uncles saved me.”
Only then did everyone notice the several people standing nearby, and the boar lying motionless on the ground.
Su Shanren walked over on his cane to the trio in camouflage, his face full of gratitude. “Comrades, thank you so much. If that boar had come down the mountain, who knows how many people it would have harmed! Forgive me for asking, but you’re soldiers, aren’t you?”
Having become village head, he naturally had his wits about him—he couldn’t possibly be completely unguarded against strangers who had suddenly appeared in the village.
Understanding the implication in his words, Chen Tianjun promptly identified himself: “We’re subordinates of Commander Guo of the Huaian Base, here on a special mission in Mount Huai. We passed by this area and heard a child’s cries. Taking down the boar was just luck.”
“Soldiers under Commander Guo.” Su Shanren relaxed, smiling warmly. “On behalf of all the villagers of Huaiying Village, I thank you three comrades. Please take this boar back with you. You all work so hard defending our home and country—you mustn’t go without proper nutrition!”
Since the boar was their kill to begin with, the three naturally wouldn’t refuse.
Just as Luo Fei was about to hoist it onto his shoulder, his battalion commander stopped him.
He watched as Xiao Jue used his dagger to cut off one of the boar’s hind legs and walked over to the little girl who had just been chased by the boar, offering her the leg.
Luo Fei was stunned—and not just him; Ling Xi was stunned too.
Meeting those deep, obsidian-like eyes, she lost herself for a moment. It took her a long while before she asked blankly, “…For me?”
In all her years, Ling Xi had seen every kind of man there was. She’d even seen plenty of sleek, well-groomed male beasts, yet no one had ever given her this peculiar feeling.
A familiar feeling, one that put her at ease.
Realizing this, Ling Xi frowned slightly and studied the man before her carefully.
The situation had been urgent earlier, and with the three of them wearing all that garishly painted camouflage on their faces, she hadn’t gotten a good look. Up close now, she found that this man’s features were actually quite handsome.
But he was just an ordinary pretty boy, nothing special about him.
Chalking that feeling up to her imagination, she smiled with crescent eyes, her voice crisp and sweet: “Thank you, uncle.”
Hearing that form of address, Xiao Jue froze for a moment, his brow furrowing almost imperceptibly, before he turned and walked away with cold aloofness.
Somehow, Ling Xi couldn’t shake the feeling that he seemed rather displeased.
Could it be he was reluctant to part with that pig leg? What a stingy man!