I Overhear Animals' Thoughts to Feed My Family

There was a patch of wet earth right next to the hot spring. Without wasting any words, Lin Zhiyin picked up a branch and looked at Zhao Wendong with confidence.

"Go on, tell me. What should I draw?"

"A tiger."

Lin Zhiyin didn’t speak. The branch moved swiftly across the ground, and soon, she had drawn a tiger. Perhaps because she wasn’t using a pen and paper, it wasn’t as lifelike as Wang Lulu’s drawings, but it was still remarkably vivid. You could tell it was a tiger at a single glance.

"Wow, Zhiyin, you’re amazing! That tiger looks so real!"

Zhao Wenwu immediately started clapping. Zhao Wendong grew excited too and had Lin Zhiyin draw a wild boar, a wolf, a deer, a roe deer, and so on. For some of the animals Lin Zhiyin had never seen, the faces weren’t quite right, but she captured their posture and build perfectly.

"Hahaha, Lin Zhiyin, how are you so talented!"

Zhao Wendong scooped Lin Zhiyin up and spun her around twice in the air. She chuckled lightly, a hint of nostalgia for the past in her voice.

"You think all I did as a kid was play around? There’s a lot I can do, you know!"

"Come on, Xiaojin, take a look!"

Zhao Wendong eagerly brought Xiaojin over to the drawings to identify them one by one. At each picture, Xiaojin would cock its head and stare. Sometimes there was no reaction; other times, an unrelated thought would surface in Wendong’s mind. Only when he heard Xiaojin think something like, ’Does he want me to find this thing?’ would Zhao Wendong pat its head in confirmation before pointing to the next drawing for it to examine.

Zhao Wendong didn’t know if showing Xiaojin too many targets at once would confuse it, or if it could only remember one. He decided to treat this as an experiment. After he helped Xiaojin confirm all the targets drawn on the ground, Zhao Wendong gave it an extra large strip of meat and then sent it flying. As usual, Xiaojin circled overhead twice before flying off in one direction and quickly disappearing from sight.

"Let’s go. We should also follow this underground river and see where it leads."

Xiaojin had already proven it could find Zhao Wendong and the others on its own, so he wasn’t worried about it getting lost. He called for everyone to set out, following Zhao Ergou’s suggestion to search along the path of the underground river.

In some places, the underground river was close enough to the surface that they could hear the water. In others, they couldn’t, and had to rely on splitting up to search. Fortunately, the general direction was definitely from high to low elevation, so they didn’t have to worry about straying too far off course.

The last time they lost track of the river, it was for an especially long time. Just as Zhao Wendong thought they had lost it for good, he suddenly heard the faint sound of water ahead. The group followed the sound and discovered a small waterfall. The water of the underground river flowed out from a crevice in the middle of the hillside, then plunged more than ten meters to form a small cascade. Below the waterfall was a pool about forty to fifty square meters in size.

The sides of the waterfall were frozen into walls and curtains of ice that constantly reflected the sunlight. In the middle, water crashed down with a roar. From a distance, it looked like a silver curtain with a ribbon of water hanging in its center. Directly beneath the cascade, in the middle of the pool, the water was kept in constant motion by the waterfall’s kinetic energy, leaving a small patch of dark, open water. The rest of the pool was covered in a layer of ice that grew thicker and whiter the farther it was from the falls.

"Oh my god, it’s so beautiful!"

"How can a place this beautiful exist in the mountains?"

Lin Zhiyin and Jin Xiuying couldn’t help but exclaim in amazement, their eyes sparkling. It wasn’t just the two women; even Zhao Wendong and the other three big guys were captivated by the scene!

"I really want to go for a swim."

"Brother San, there must be fish here!"

Zhao Wendong completely ignored Zhao Wenwu’s comment, but Zhao Ergou’s words made him jolt. ’That’s right, there must be fish here.’ Just as he was about to get a closer look, General San Gou suddenly crouched down, letting out a low, warning growl.

’Something’s coming.’

"Don’t move!"

Zhao Wendong quickly raised a hand to stop the others. He soothed San Gou with one hand while grabbing his Type 56 carbine with the other. Seeing his action, the others all took out their Type 38 rifles. Everyone stared expectantly toward the waterfall pool. After a moment, there was finally movement in the woods on the opposite side. One, then two... a total of six "silly" roe deer emerged, four adults with two smaller ones.

Everyone’s breath hitched, and an irrepressible excitement appeared on every face. They had finally run into big game again. These weren’t just roe deer; this was food, bricks, a new house!

"They’re here for a drink. Don’t rush. We’ll fire together. I’ll take the biggest one. Xiuying, you get the one with a white patch on its back. The rest of you, take the other two big ones. Big Bro, release the dogs after you fire your shot."

"Alright!"

They all responded in unison, slowly spreading out a little before raising their guns to take aim.

BANG!

Zhao Wendong waited until all six roe deer were on the ice and gathered at the water’s edge to drink. He took a deep breath, then fired the first shot. Without waiting to see the result, he immediately fired two more shots at the largest one. At the same time, the others’ guns also went off, and a dense volley of gunfire erupted.

On the ice of the pool, three of the drinking roe deer dropped at the sound of the shots. The other large one and the two small ones froze for a second before bolting. In its panic, one of the small ones slipped and face-planted on the ice. The more it panicked, the more it slipped, and it struggled for a long time without getting up. Zhao Wendong only had eyes for the escaping deer, and he squeezed the trigger again and again at the remaining large one.

WOOF WOOF WOOF!

Zhao Wenjun released General San Gou, who instantly shot toward the roe deer. Everyone else charged out of the woods, continuing to fire at the escaping large and small deer as they ran. At this moment, the two women felt no sympathy. Everyone had the same thought: ’We have to get all of them.’

The remaining large roe deer let out a mournful cry as it was hit by a bullet. It managed a few more steps before stumbling and collapsing. General sped past it with Zhen Shan and Zhui Feng, not even giving it a second glance as they chased after the small roe deer that was getting away. This was the mark of a clever lead dog—the ability to make the right choice at a critical moment.

The group ran closer. The small roe deer that had slipped finally managed to get to its feet and was about to bolt when Zhao Wenwu let out a roar and charged forward, pinning it down. The little deer struggled violently, its four hooves kicking wildly, but against a big guy like Zhao Wenwu, all its efforts were futile. Zhao Wenjun raised his gun and aimed at the small deer’s head, ready to finish it off.

"Wait, Big Bro, don’t kill it yet."

An idea struck Zhao Wendong, and he stopped him. He had never been able to hear the thoughts of the "silly" roe deer. ’Are these things really dumber than mice?’ Now that they had caught one alive, he wanted to study it for a bit.

"What’s wrong? Dongzi, don’t tell me you want to raise this thing. You can’t domesticate them. They’re way too high-strung. They’ll just get stressed out and die in two days."

Zhao Wendong watched the little roe deer under Zhao Wenwu, kicking desperately and letting out terrified squeals from its throat, but said nothing. He knew wild roe deer were difficult to tame. It was just the hunter’s instinct in him; he wanted to try and study his special ability. His power let him hear the thoughts of some animals, but not others, and he wanted to confirm whether it was a matter of the animal’s intelligence or some other issue.

"What’s so hard about it? Watch me!"

Hearing their conversation, Zhao Wenwu, still pinning the deer, grinned and volunteered. He raised his huge hand and brought it down in a massive slap across the little deer’s face. He’d seen Zhao Wendong discipline Xiaobai, after all. ’It’s just a few slaps, right? What’s so hard about that?’

SLAP! SLAP! SLAP!

After three big slaps, the little roe deer immediately went still. It stopped moving, not even struggling anymore. Zhao Wenwu laughed triumphantly.

"How about that? Hahaha, impressive, right? It’s trained!"

Zhao Ergou reached out and checked the little deer’s nose. It was still breathing; it had probably just passed out. He looked at Zhao Wenwu, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

"Second Bro, is it possible you just knocked it out? Didn’t you see its nose is bleeding?"

"Ah? Heh heh, I guess I used a little too much force."

Zhao Wenwu chuckled and stood up. Seeing his innocent expression, everyone couldn’t help but laugh.

WOOF WOOF WOOF!

The barking of General and the other dogs came from the distance. Zhao Wendong grabbed his Type 56 and ran in that direction, shouting over his shoulder.

"Big Bro, you guys start gathering and cleaning up. I’m going to check on General and the others."

When Zhao Wendong arrived, he found Zhen Shan biting the little roe deer’s neck and Zhui Feng biting its hind leg, while General, as usual, was going for the rear. The small deer was already on its last breath.

When Zhao Wendong returned with the three dogs and the dispatched small roe deer, the four adult deer had already been processed, aside from the one that was just knocked out. The blood had been drained, and everyone was wearing a happy smile.

"Brother San, it’s always more fun coming into the mountains with you. We always catch something!"

Zhao Wenwu was voicing what everyone was thinking. They had spent days in the mountains before without a haul this big. By now, Zhao Wendong had a certain mystique about him, and those closest to him were starting to believe in it without a doubt.

"Heh heh, I’m just lucky. The old man upstairs is my godfather!"

"If he’s your godfather, then he’s my godfather too. How come he doesn’t look out for me?"

Zhao Wendong shot his second brother a sidelong glance. ’What a clueless thing to say. As if heaven would look out for a guy like you who spends all day with his hand down his pants scratching his balls. You think you could’ve married a wife as beautiful and capable as Jin Xiuying otherwise?’

They tied up the little roe deer and finished processing the others. Zhao Wendong and the group slowly approached the edge of the pool to check it out. Some of the roe deer’s blood had flowed into the water, disturbing its tranquility, and they could faintly see the shadows of fish moving about.

"There really are fish, and it looks like a lot of them. Let’s hurry up and catch them."

Zhao Wenjun rubbed his hands together excitedly, eager to start, but Zhao Wendong shook his head and shot down the idea.

"It’s too late. And more importantly, we don’t have the right tools. This pool must be really deep. We’ll have to go back to the village to get a net and bring an ice chisel. Besides, we have enough game already. We need to take this haul back first."

"Sigh, it’s only because of you, Wendong, with your luck and skill, that we’ve managed to get so much game in just two days!"

Zhao Ergou nodded in agreement. For someone like him with poor marksmanship, being able to keep feeding the gun with bullets was a luxury only Zhao Wendong could afford. Many hunters had guns at home, but they didn’t have the bullets. They simply couldn’t afford to use them.

At this time, many hunters from the traditional hunting school subscribed to the "one shot, one kill" philosophy. They would often lie motionless in the snow for half an hour, waiting for their prey to enter the perfect range before firing. They were afraid of missing and wasting a precious shot. Back then, bullets sold at the supply and marketing co-op were clearly priced from eight fen to one mao and two fen. That price was a true luxury.

Some people would also collect spent casings and reload them with new primers and lead bullets themselves. This could lower the cost by a few fen, but the power and accuracy would be much worse, and accidents were common. It was only because Zhao Wendong had found a hidden weapons cache that they could be so extravagant, using a full set of firearms without even bothering to bring bows or traps.

As for the militia, this wasn’t ten or twenty years in the future yet. Ammunition wasn’t plentiful for them either. The rounds they were issued were strictly counted, and their daily training still consisted mostly of drills and formations.

"Let’s go. We should head back early and find a shorter route back to the stronghold."

After speaking, Zhao Wendong looked up at the position of the sun to determine the general direction back to their cave stronghold. Then, they gathered up all the roe deer and started walking in the direction of the stronghold, carving markers along the way.