The Trap
They did not know how long the horses ran whilst the wind was scraping through their ears until they came to a stop.
Shen Hong hugged the horse’s belly as they rode the wide, open, bumpy mountain road. They did not dare stop. Until this moment, they felt like they almost wanted to vomit.
They had already reached halfway down the mountain. Looking back, there were no shadows of beasts catching up from behind them.
“I’m saved, I’m saved.” A recruit exclaimed.
Shen Hong looked at his waist blankly. When he came, he brought a bamboo stick but had given the stick to He Yan. At the mere thought of He Yan back at the mountain, his face turned white, “What about He Yan?”
There was only one bamboo stick. Shen Hong lost the only mandarin duck knife and the other was inserted in the wolf’s throat. He Yan had no weapons. If the three wolves attacked with no hesitation, how could he hide?
“Shall we go back and have a look?” He summoned his courage.
“What nonsense are you talking about,” Zheng Xuan looked at him coldly, “Those wolves were there. We’ve finally got out. Why should we go back and die?”
“But He Yan is left behind out there. He’s alone and he can’t do anything.” Shen Hong thought of He Yan, his face flustered. He thought of He Yan as a good person, and they were just eating pine nuts together.
“Didn’t he let us go down the mountain to find an instructor?” The recruit beside Zheng Xuan said, “Let’s tell the instructor and hopefully save He Yan.”
“No way.”
Shen Hong looked at Zheng Xuan incredulously. Zheng Xuan’s expression remained unchanged, “If you tell the instructors, they’ll know what we’ve crossed the mountain.”
“He just saved us. If it weren’t for He Yan, we would’ve died a long time ago!” Shen Hong said loudly.
“You also know that the three of us almost died. He dealt with the wolves alone, so he’ll definitely die!” Zheng Xuan roared back, “Do you want to send others to die for a dead He Yan? Shen Hong, do you want this?”
Shen Hong was stunned. He was timid by nature and if it weren’t for what happened to his family, he would’ve been the young owner of a pharmacy. He would’ve lived a plain life without illness or disaster befalling him. He was already flustered with the situation and now when he heard he might die, he shuddered.
There was still his mother left in his family. If he died, there was no male relative left in his family. How was his mother supposed to survive then?
“I…I…” Shen Hong stammered and could not speak.
“Let’s wait for the sun to set and tell an instructor that He Yan didn’t listen to people’s dissuasion; that he climbed over the mountain and we couldn’t find him.” Zheng Xuan said emotionlessly.
This was not only preventing He Yan’s last chance for survival but also convicting He Yan of violating military orders. Shen Hong shook his head but the other two were already worried about being punished and biting the bullet.
Zheng Xuan stared at Shen Hong and continued, “If you want to file a complaint, go ahead. It’ll depend on whether the instructors believe you or us.”
After all, he no longer cared about what Shen Hong felt and galloped forward. Shen Hong had no choice but to keep up as it was getting late.
…..
It was getting late and there was almost no light left in the jungle.
The horse lost its way on Bai Yue Mountain. He Yan held the bamboo stick and looked back. She sighed in relief and finally got rid of the wolves.
It was the first time she saw such wild wolves chasing after her. He Yan curled her lips and thought of the wolves she encountered in Mo Xian back then. There was a famine in Mo Xian at that time and all the wolves within a radius of a hundred miles were caught and eaten. Those wolves were just as arrogant as those in Bai Yue Mountain. Thinking of this, she felt that Zheng Xuan’s hanging eyes were really useless. How could he want to domestic a wolf cub? A wolf was simply an untamable animal. A domestic dog will wag its tail whilst wolves will only bite peoples’ throats.
The horse turned around in a circle and stopped going forward.
There were woods everywhere and they looked exactly the same. She had just avoided the wolves from chasing her and failed to make markings on trees. She was afraid that she had already climbed over the mountain and she didn’t know where she was. If Shen Hong and the others had not told Liang Ping in time, she would not be able to go back after dusk. Without fire, she would have to spend the night on the mountain with the constant fear of encountering other beasts.
She pondered, sighed, turned over and dismounted. She planned to look for any wind-proof caves around her. She got down from the horse and stood up straight. Suddenly, she had an inkling that something was wrong.
She could not pinpoint the exact reason, but she trusted her intuition of danger after years of fighting on the battlefield. She tilted her head subconsciously and felt a black shadow passing over her head. Something scratched her neck, letting out a trace of blood.
The horse became frightened and raised its front hooves. He Yan did not tighten the reins and the horse rushed forward without turning his head back, disappearing into the jungle in the blink of an eye. When she turned her head back around, she saw the black shadow lying in the grass, revealing two blue eyes.
He Yan looked at the wolf. It pounced. Among the few wolves in the group, there was actually a clever one. Knowing that he could not catch up with He Yan, he took a shortcut. Bai Yue Mountain was not He Yan’s terrain, but it was the territory of the mountain beasts who lived here. She thought that it had been lurking around for a long time, and waited for He Yan’s vigilance to relax before rushing over to bite her throat.
In fact, this wolf almost succeeded.
He Yan touched her neck, a hot sensation came and blood stained her hand. Seeing that the blow had failed, the wolf bared its fangs and rushed from behind He Yan.
He Yan rolled around on the ground nervously, avoiding its claws. Now that her horse was gone, she could only attack the wolf with nothing but a bamboo stick.
When Shen Hong went up the mountain, she took a bunch of darts with her. The bamboo stick moved forward and leapt towards the wolf’s head.
The bamboo stick slashed the wolf’s head and it broke from the middle. The wolf’s head tilted and only a little blood dripped out. It looked at He Yan, howled twice furiously and rushed over again.
“Stupid broken stick!” He Yan cursed and dodged, but the wolf was strategic and did not attack her head-on. Instead, it pounced from behind with the intention to bite her neck. He Yan dodged several times but failed on the last one. Her mistake cost a bite on her neck. She retaliated by punching the wolf’s abdomen with her elbows. The wolf wailed as he was beaten and threw her under him desperately.
A person and a wolf scrambled tougher and the fallen leaves in the forest rustled as a result. He Yan squeezed the wolf’s head hard to prevent its mouth from biting her. Should she use her mouth to bite the wolf? With just this thought, she suddenly felt that her feet were empty. Before she had time to react, she felt her body fall when she heard a ‘normal’ sound.
In the next moment, she fell through the ground with the wolf.
The sky became a circle and the branches seemed taller. Under her feet with puddles of mud. The wolf had just stood up.
She and the wolf had fallen into the trap together.
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