HUN Chapter 128: Trapped in a Cave by Heavy Rain

At dawn the next day, before the sky was fully bright, Lin Yu'an heard the sound of zippers from the neighboring tent.

He opened his eyes and saw a thin layer of frost condensed on the inner wall of the tent.

When he stepped out of the tent, Stan and George had already started packing their equipment.

Stan and George's movements were highly efficient. Years of wilderness experience had turned these tedious processes into instinct.

A night's rest didn't seem to have completely dispelled the fatigue on their faces, but their eyes were exceptionally determined.

"How did you sleep, kid?" Stan asked while forcefully stuffing his sleeping bag into a compression sack.

"Not bad, just a bit cold," Lin Yu'an replied.

Old George remained silent. He stood at the edge of the camp, having observed through binoculars for quite some time.

He put down his equipment, turned around, and said to the two men, "The wind direction has changed, that's a good sign. Today we'll go directly over this ridge and try our luck on the eastern slope."

"I saw big rams there when I was young, they like the rock salt there."

"Alright, guys, the real challenge is about to begin! Get ready to move out!"

For the entire morning, the three men climbed slowly and arduously upward.

This was no longer the relatively gentle tundra hiking of the first day, but climbing that tested core strength and balance.

They often needed to use both hands and feet, gripping exposed rock edges, and on steep slopes covered with loose soil, they had to drive their trekking poles deep into the ground to gain a stable support point.

At midday, they reached a predetermined observation point and began systematically scanning the opposite mountainside.

However, two hours passed, and except for the occasional bush swaying in the wind and a few circling ravens, the view was lifeless.

Just as Old George was preparing to order a move, the weather changed without warning.

The sky, which had been clear just moments before, was completely swallowed by dark clouds rolling from behind the western ridge in just over ten minutes. The sky's color quickly changed from bright azure to leaden gray.

The mountain wind also suddenly became violent, carrying a bone-chilling dampness.

"It's going to pour! Quick, find shelter!" Stan shouted in a low, experienced voice.

He looked up at the wind direction and the speed of cloud movement, immediately making a judgment, "We have at most ten more minutes! Lin, go find dry firewood, take as much as you can! George, let's find shelter!"

"Only search for five minutes! If there's no suitable place, set up a tent immediately!"

The orders were clear and swift. The three immediately split up to act.

Lin Yu'an didn't hesitate for a moment. He rushed toward a slightly gentler slope not far away.

His target was the dwarf birch grove that stubbornly survived at the edge of the tree line.

There was a patch of prostrate dwarf birch, most of these trees already dead. Their trunks had been deformed by hundreds of years of wind and snow, pressed tightly against the ground, with cracked bark showing a pale gray color.

He found a gnarled, dead trunk as thick as an arm. This was it!

He drew out the hand axe Stan had given him and began chopping. "Bang! Bang!"

After several dull impacts, sections of old wood were successfully taken down.

This wood was extremely dense, heavy in the hand, the best long-burning fuel.

He also quickly broke off some thinner branches from the bottom of the dead dwarf birch as kindling.

Meanwhile, Stan and George were moving quickly on the steep slope, scanning every possible hiding spot on the rock face.

"Over there! Quick! Go there!"

George pointed to a massive granite rock wall where several boulders had fallen and formed a natural inward-curving crevice.

Old George went ahead to the crevice with Stan's equipment, while Stan came over to help Lin Yu'an collect dry wood together.

When Lin Yu'an and Stan, carrying the heavy old wood and a bundle of kindling branches, met up with George at the stone crevice, the first large raindrop had already hit his forehead.

They successfully moved into the natural cave just moments before the torrential rain poured down.

The clever stacking of several boulders at the cave entrance formed an excellent windbreak barrier.

Almost the instant they stepped into the cave, the rain curtain fell like a waterfall!

The heavy rain isolated the entire world. Raindrops hitting the rocks made a dense "pitter-patter" sound, strong winds howled at the cave entrance, and the outside world instantly became chaotic and hostile.

But inside this small cave, the wind was weakened, forming a strange and peaceful independent space.

Looking at the white expanse outside the cave, Stan said with lingering fear, "Damn, that was close! We three almost became drowned rats."

"Well done, kid!" Old George looked approvingly at the twisted pine wood Lin Yu'an had brought back.

"This is the old root of dwarf birch, very slow-burning."

In the cave, they began skillfully preparing to make a fire.

Lin Yu'an used his hunting knife to scrape some resin-rich powdered wood shavings from that section of old pine.

Old George took out tinder from his best-protected waterproof bag.

He placed the tinder on the wood shavings and struck a match. The moment the weak flame touched the wood shavings, it "whooshed" up, emitting a rich and pleasant pine fragrance.

The flame quickly ignited the thin branches with a light "crackling" sound, and a small cluster of stable, warm flame rose in the depths of the cave.

The orange-red firelight instantly dispelled the cold and dampness inside the cave, casting three swaying human shadows on the rough rock walls.

The rain showed no signs of stopping. The remaining time today would probably be spent trapped here.

But at this moment, no one complained. They unloaded their backpacks, sat down leaning against the cold rock walls, and stretched their somewhat cold hands toward the flames for warmth.

The warm feeling came from their fingertips, and the fatigue and tension of recent days seemed to slowly melt away in this dancing flame.

"Fire really is a great thing," Stan couldn't help but sigh.

Outside the cave was wind and rain, inside was a campfire, companions, and the faint scent of pine. This strong contrast between inside and outside brought an indescribable sense of security and warmth.

To pass time and boost morale, Stan looked at Old George, who was silently staring at the flames.

"Hey, George, since we're just sitting here, tell us some stories from when you were young. Tell us why you became a hunter!"

Old George didn't answer immediately. He poked the campfire with a stick, sparks crackling and flying, illuminating his deep eyes.

He seemed to see shadows of his past in the dancing flames.

After a moment, he slowly began to speak, his voice lower than usual, carrying a quality worn smooth by years.

"It was because of a black bear."

His opening immediately grabbed everyone's attention. Stan leaned forward slightly, this was the first time he was hearing Old George tell this story too.

Old George's gaze didn't look at them but was cast toward the flickering flames, as if scenes from that year were playing there.

"I was only eighteen then, had just followed my father to Alaska. We were working at a logging camp, hard and exhausting work."

"One day after work, I went to the river to fetch water. You know, the forest was denser then than now, the air was full of the smell of damp moss and rotting wood."

"I was carrying a water bucket, walking through a spruce forest, and then... right behind a big tree, I ran into it."

He paused, took a sip of water from his water pouch, his Adam's apple moving.

The cave was so quiet that only the "hissing" sound of the burning match and the rain outside could be heard.

"A mother bear with cubs," he continued, his speech slowing down.

"The moment that thing saw me, it reared up on its hind legs and roared at me!"

"That wasn't the roar you hear in movies. That sound went straight into your bones, carrying a rank wind. I felt my entire chest cavity vibrating with it!"

Lin Yu'an also thought of when he faced that black bear, that deafening roar and the overwhelming sense of oppression. He had experienced it firsthand!

Old George laughed self-deprecatingly, "I was scared stupid at the time, my mind went completely blank. The water bucket in my hand fell to the ground with a 'clang,' water spilling everywhere."

"But I still remembered what my father, Old George, had told me: when you encounter a bear, never turn your back and run! So I just stood there, facing off with that mother bear that was a head taller than me!"

"I could see the yellow teeth around its mouth, could even smell that wild animal musk on its body."

"Time seemed frozen. I don't know if it was one minute or ten minutes. At one point I thought I was definitely going to die, didn't even dare blink."

"Finally, it was the mother bear itself... it looked at me for a long time, making 'gurgling' sounds in its throat, then slowly crouched down."

"It took that little cub that was hiding behind it, curiously poking its head out, turned around and slowly walked away. Only when it completely disappeared into the forest did I feel like I could breathe again."

"When I got back to camp, my legs were still shaking. Holding a cup in my hands, the water in the cup was sloshing around."

Old George finally moved his gaze from the flames and looked at Lin Yu'an, his eyes sharp and bright.

"From that day on, I truly understood that on this land, every day you open your eyes, you're arm-wrestling with death! Fear is real, but you can't let it control you!"

"And from that day on, I started learning to use guns, learning how to observe and track, learning how to become a hunter instead of... prey."

The story was finished. The cave fell silent.

Stan silently added a thick piece of wood to the fire. The firelight flared up, dispelling the last trace of chill brought by the story.

And Lin Yu'an, looking at this old man before him, felt deeply for the first time that those wrinkles carved on his face weren't just traces of time.

They were the marks left by countless stories like this, brushing shoulders with life and death.

This story captivated Lin Yu'an. He seemed to see that young George, bursting with courage for survival in the face of fear.

The rain continued all afternoon. Only when night fell did it gradually turn to a light drizzle.

They spent the night in this cave.

On the third day of the hunting trip, the rain finally stopped.

But thick fog still filled the valley, with very poor visibility.

They had no choice but to continue toward the next target area on the slippery tundra and rocks.

Finally at midday, the sun pierced through the clouds and the view gradually became clear.

"Hey! George, look over there!"

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Stan, who had been observing through binoculars, suddenly lowered his voice, with a hint of uncertain excitement in his tone.

He pointed to a small platform in the middle of a distant cliff, "That... is that?"

Lin Yu'an and George immediately trained their binoculars in that direction.

Indeed, more than a kilometer away, there was a blurry white object.

It was motionless, but its shape and size looked exactly like a Dall sheep lying down to rest.

Old George adjusted his binoculars to maximum magnification and carefully observed for a while, then shook his head, "Something's not right. It's too still, and that posture... is a bit stiff. Let's keep watching."

His experience made him skeptical from the start. Dall sheep are extremely alert animals. Even when resting, they have unconscious micro-movements to sense their surroundings.

The three of them lay behind the cold rocks, staring intently at that white dot.

Time passed minute by minute, and that "target" remained like a white sculpture.

Stan's excitement had mostly passed, and even Lin Yu'an was beginning to think it might just be a rock.

Just then, a dramatic scene occurred.

A cloud happened to pass in front of the sun, and the light and shadow on the mountainside shifted accordingly.

When sunlight pierced through the clouds again and re-illuminated that cliff, the angle of light had subtly changed.

"It moved! I saw its head move!" Stan almost shouted out loud!

Lin Yu'an immediately looked over. In that instant of shifting light and shadow, the shadow above that white dot did indeed produce a momentary distortion, looking exactly like a sheep slightly shaking its head!

The sun in the west was rapidly sinking, and shadows in the valley were lengthening at a visible rate.

Stan said anxiously, "George, we're running out of time. We have to take a gamble!"

"Let's go! Let's get closer and see!" Old George accepted Stan's suggestion.

When they finally reached a closer distance, gasping for breath, dusk was already approaching.

Stan had frequently raised his binoculars along the way. This time, after raising them for just a few seconds, he put them down with an extremely disappointed and self-mocking expression on his face.

He cursed under his breath, "Fuck."

Lin Yu'an also raised his binoculars and saw clearly that the "white dot" wasn't a Dall sheep at all.

It was just a massive white quartz rock that resembled a resting sheep, looking remarkably lifelike in the dim light of dusk.

Old George silently put away his rifle. He didn't seem overly dejected, but instead let out a long sigh, his face showing a relieved bitter smile.

He said to the other two, "Well, now we can sleep peacefully. At least we tried, didn't we?"

This tough old man wasn't crushed by failure, but accepted reality in an admirable way.

The third day's search ended in failure once again.

Everyone set up tents, had a simple dinner, and planned to get up early tomorrow for one last search.

Time came to the fourth day, which was also the last day of their planned search. If they found nothing more, they would have to return.

In the morning chill, the team's atmosphere was no longer the heaviness of the previous day, but had more of a calm determination of burning one's boats.

Old George was the first to emerge from his tent. He didn't immediately raise his binoculars as usual, but instead spread out that well-worn topographic map on a flat rock.

"Come here, guys," he called Stan and Lin Yu'an.

He drew circles on the map with his finger, "These past few days we've been looking in high places, but we've overlooked one thing: sheep are living creatures too."

"They need to drink water, need to avoid the midday sun, and need to shelter from sudden storms like the day before yesterday. High places may be safe, but they're definitely not the only places they'll stay."

His finger finally pointed to a low valley on the map caught between two ridges, where a blue thin line of a stream wound through this area.

"This stream passes through this valley. The willow and alder brush on both sides are the best natural cover."

"If I were those cunning sheep, after experiencing the wind and rain the day before yesterday, I definitely wouldn't stay on bare mountaintops freezing. I'd bring my flock down here to recover."

He looked up at the two men, his eyes flashing with confident light, "We're changing strategy today. No more climbing up, we're going down. Let's try our luck one last time in this valley!"

Stan looked at Old George, his face showing genuine admiration and a smile, "I knew you old guy wouldn't give up so easily."

They packed their equipment and began heading toward that low valley.

When they actually entered that area filled with willow bushes, Lin Yu'an, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped.

He didn't speak, just crouched down and pointed to the edge of a clump of willow trees.

The two men came forward and saw Lin Yu'an pointing to a broken willow branch. The break was very fresh, even showing moist traces, and the height was about waist-high for an adult.

"Look at this mark, it's very shallow and very neat. Deer use their lower jaw incisors and upper jaw dental pad to tear leaves, so the marks would be rough."

"But sheep have molars on both upper and lower jaws. They cut cleanly. This mark looks more like what sheep would leave."

"Nice analysis, kid!" Stan excitedly patted Lin Yu'an.

Old George's face also showed a smile, "Good! This proves we came to the right place! Let's follow the trail from here! Even if we have to walk until dark today, we're going to root them out!"

This time, Old George took the lead in tracking.

His experience played a decisive role in close-range tracking. Like an experienced old wolf, he carefully distinguished any unusual traces on the ground.

They slowed their pace and advanced bit by bit following the trail.

Finally, after going around a pile of huge rocks, their tracking paid off!

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