As soon as the rain stopped, the temperature in the forest rose rapidly under the sunshine.
The rainwater between the dead branches and leaves evaporated, and the whole forest seemed to have turned into a sauna, so hot and stuffy that it drove people crazy.
In a hole several meters deep under a tree root, Tuka held his breath, enduring the pain in his body and the feeling of suffocation caused by the high temperature, and carefully watched the soldiers searching not far away.
With his swollen hands, he held the modified rifle tightly against his chest, not daring to relax at all.
The pit was not big, so Tuka could only squat inside it. His head was covered with a thick layer of rotten leaves, leaving only a gap for him to observe the outside and breathe.
What a coincidence.
When the beehive exploded above the four people's heads and everyone ran away, the other three were inevitably caught up by the swarm of bees and stung like pigs. Some of the more unlucky ones, such as the freckled man, even lost their lives.
Only Tuka didn't run far before he fell here and discovered this pit.
This was probably a nest dug out by some animal, but abandoned for some reason. Over time, it was filled with dead branches and leaves, and with the addition of rainwater, mud and water mixed together to form a large mud pit.
Tuka was in a panic at the time and had no time to think. He just shrank his body into the mud and thus escaped the pursuit of the swarm of bees.
Even in the same wrestling, some people can kill themselves while others can find a way to survive. If the freckled man is still alive, he must be so angry that he would cry.
Of course, even though it was much worse than my teammates, it doesn’t mean I wasn’t stung.
In fact, the first wave of attacks from the swarm was the most brutal, and none of these people could dodge it. After the last few people ran away, the swarm mostly chased those who were stained with the most honey. As for Tuka, because Scarface avoided him and talked to the other two at the time, he didn't get stained with much honey.
But even so, in just a dozen minutes after being stung, Tuka felt that he had gained several times more weight, filling up the small pit so much that even the cracks were filled with swollen "fat".
Without waiting for any contact from teammates, nor hearing any sound of gunfire, he saw soldiers searching in the woods.
Tuka knew that this wave was over. It was estimated that the others were also in danger.
He didn't dare to go out, let alone be discovered. You know, this time is different from the past. If you are caught poaching, the worst that can happen is that your gains will be confiscated, and in more serious cases, you may be imprisoned for a few years.
But once, they were killing people.
The attitude towards murderers is similar all over the world. No one wants to talk to you about human rights or humanitarianism. Even if you just attempted murder and didn't kill anyone.
"Fortunately, this place is hidden enough and no one can find it for a while. I have to hide for a while when I go out this time..." Tuka thought secretly.
There was a sound of falling leaves on the ground behind his head. Tuka hurriedly held his breath again, his body stiffened, and he dared not make any movement.
"Click"
The sound of dead branches being stepped on and broken rang in his ears. A small shadow blocked the light and slowly approached Tuka's head.
The sight hidden behind the dead leaves turned, and in Tuka's field of vision, there was a flat-headed brother standing upright, with its two front paws held together in a funny way, staring at him.
The honey badger is a common animal in Africa. In the eyes of some beekeepers, this animal is particularly annoying. Many beekeepers will even kill all the honey badgers they can find around the bee farm and hang them up for public display. This is to prevent them from taking away the honey that they have worked so hard to store, along with the boxes.
"Did I occupy his nest?" Seeing that this guy had been staring at him for a long time and didn't leave, Tuka became a little anxious.
I was hiding well, and those soldiers didn't bring any military dogs. As long as I didn't do anything stupid, the chance of being discovered was very low.
But if this honey badger doesn't leave, and if it is seen and arouses the curiosity of the soldiers, it will be too late for me to cry.
“Wow! Wow!”
Tuka opened his mouth slightly and let out a low growl from his throat, trying to scare the guy away.
"Haha, you're quite patient. Why aren't you coming out yet?"
Wang Ping looked at the messy pile of fallen leaves opposite him and laughed secretly.
Who would have thought that there would be an unexpected gain before leaving? It was just in time to eliminate the potential threat for Xiaohua.
"Go ahead and yell. The more anxiously you yell, the happier I will be!"
As long as there were traces of soldiers searching in the forest, it meant that Gu Langsan had not been taken away. Since there was plenty of time, Wang Ping decided to have some fun.
With his two little arms together, Wang Ping simply sat there, looking stupid, staring at Tuka hidden in the pit.
"Fuck!" Tuka was furious and wanted to pull out his gun immediately to shoot this stupid flathead brother.
"Could it be that someone smelled the remaining honey on my body?" Tuka guessed secretly.
Perhaps this is the only explanation that can explain why this guy in front of me refuses to leave.
After slightly sensing the sounds around him, it seemed that the searching soldiers had gone far away. Tuka moved slightly, and one hand reached for the dagger tied to his calf in the mud.
People who hunt all year round usually carry two sets of knives. One set is a spare set, which is always hidden. Some people carry it on their legs, some on their waists, and some on their arms.
As the saying goes, if you walk by the river, you will get your feet wet. Not every hunting trip will lead to successful capture of prey, and animals usually hold grudges. If you are targeted by an escaped animal, a second set of knives may save your life.
A similar example occurred in Northeast China in the 1980s.
A father and son who were selling bear bile went up the mountain to hunt bears. After chasing the prey for several days, they suddenly lost their tracks and had no choice but to go down the mountain. On the way down the mountain, the old hunter gave his hunting rifle and waist knife to his son to carry first, and ran to the toilet behind a tree.
As a result, when they were halfway up, the black bear that had circled behind them rushed out from the woods. When the son with the hunting rifle heard the shouts and rushed back, the old hunter had been ripped out of his stomach by the black bear and died under the tree. The black bear was also pierced through the neck by the dagger hidden in his arm, and was nailed to the tree.
It is conceivable that if the old hunter had not hidden the dagger on his body, even his son would not have been spared in the end.
Although Tuka is no longer considered a hunter nowadays, the habit is still retained.
Tuka groped his hand in the packed mud pit, pulling out the dagger on his leg bit by bit. He slowly adjusted his breathing and estimated the distance between himself and Wang Ping.
"Is that about it?"
Wang Ping on the opposite side seemed to have guessed someone's plan a long time ago. Just when Tuka was about to attack quickly and kill him with one knife, Wang Ping suddenly stood up, patted his butt, turned around and ran into the bushes nearby.
Tuka: "…"
His body tensed up for a moment, then suddenly retracted, and Tuka felt like his thigh was cramping.
He fumbled to put the dagger aside and rubbed his thigh fiercely. Before he could breathe a sigh of relief, he heard the grass rustle, and the flat-headed brother that had just run away came back with a bunch of wild fruits that he had picked from somewhere.
Tilting his head and staring at the pile of rotten leaves above Tuka's head for a while, Wang Ping sat down where Tuka could just reach with his arms. He threw down the wild fruits, picked one that looked good, and stuffed it into his mouth in one gulp.
"puff…"
After chewing it for a few times, Wang Ping couldn't help but spit it out.
It’s really... too disgusting!
It's sour, astringent and a little bitter.
Someone's face was covered with chewed fruit pulp and saliva, and before he could catch his breath, he saw someone opposite him getting angry, as if because the fruit was too unpalatable.
Wang Ping stood up and kicked the fruit on the ground.
One foot, two feet...
The walnut-sized fruits kept hitting Tuka's face, constantly challenging his bottom line.
"I can bear..."
"Bang!", a fruit hit his eye socket.
"I will bear it..."
"Pah!" Another fruit hit his nose, right where the bee had stung him. The pain at that moment almost made him scream.
"Damn you little bastard!"
“Bang!”
"ah!"
Tuka finally couldn't bear it anymore and decided to cut the creature in front of him into pieces. It seemed that it could not hide here in peace.
Tuka suddenly lifted the cover above his head, roared, and drew his knife to rush over. But at the moment he stood up, the whole space seemed to be paused by someone, and someone paused there. The shout in his throat was also held back like a crow, and a "gurgling" sound was emitted in his chest.
…The body was so swollen that it got stuck.