Back to 1984: Hunting in the Mountains

Chapter 155 Treasure Hunter

"Where are you running to?"

As Yu Qiutang chased him relentlessly, the monkey got closer and closer to him, and he could clearly see the soft orange-yellow hair on the monkey's belly.

His crossbow was also raised and aimed at the monkey.

If that guy hadn't been running back and forth between the trees, he would have been shot to death by the crossbow.

however.

It seemed that he would soon catch up with the monkey.

Suddenly, the monkey disappeared.

What appeared before his eyes was a row of old houses that looked old and dilapidated.

You can often see some temporary houses in the mountains. They are usually made of bamboo or wood, covered with some plastic sheets, cowhide felt or oilcloth, or even thatched.

These are often built temporarily by passing hunters, woodcutters, or even some mountain travelers. They are not dismantled when they leave, making it convenient for later people to continue living there.

At least you can temporarily avoid the wind and rain, or if it's too hot, you can take a rest in the cool air.

The houses in front of us are obviously not that kind.

The houses were built quite solidly, and their walls were even made of stone.

Although it has not been repaired for many years and some corners of the houses have collapsed, it can still be seen that this place was quite lively in the past and must have been home to many people.

After a brief moment of surprise, Yu Qiutang immediately thought of the history of this place and guessed that these houses were probably the residences of Hu Zi in the past.

After the Huzi were wiped out, the government did not demolish the house, so it remained like this. Few people from the mountains came here, and this place was known to be mysterious, so even fewer people were willing to come, and that is why the house was preserved.

The direction the monkey just disappeared was here. It was probably hiding in a house.

After guessing this, Yu Qiutang did not rush forward immediately, but calmed down instead.

Monkeys are very different from ordinary animals.

Many people just think that monkeys look like humans and belong to primates.

But in fact, monkeys are also a kind of wild beast.

Moreover, they are a special kind of beast that lives in groups and has a higher IQ than ordinary animals.

Monkeys in the wild are extremely dangerous.

It can be said that except for tigers, which have absolutely overwhelming combat power, all other animals can hardly be opponents of the monkeys.

As long as they are not alone, no animal can do anything to them.

They are agile, able to climb trees, are fast, and use their flexible upper limbs to use basic tools such as wood, stones, etc.

Perhaps because there are not many trees on the grassland and the trees are far apart, the monkeys are still being waited for by hyenas, leopards and other animals.

In that forest, there were no tigers, and monkeys were the absolute rulers.

Things like wolves, wild boars, and bears have stronger attack power than them, but they can't keep up with the rhythm of monkeys at all and can be played around to death by them.

Of course, humans are also impossible to resist.

A wild macaque weighs about 20 to 30 kilograms, which is about the same weight as a child, but their fighting power is far superior to that of a child.

If several of them attack together, even an adult whose weight is several times his will still be powerless to resist and may be taken down by them at any time.

Yu Qiutang is definitely better than the average person.

He believed that as long as the group of monkeys was not particularly large, he should be able to deal with it.

It is not easy to subdue the monkeys, but it is relatively simple to kill them.

What he was worried about was that if there was a large group of monkeys in the village or in the houses, once he entered they would surround him and he would be killed by stones thrown at him.

He is not like those martial arts masters in novels who can dodge all the hidden weapons of the monkeys. Even if he can't be killed, he will not be able to withstand a hit from them.

So he could only slowly approach the house.

Go and observe the "enemy situation" first.

He had been searching for his father but couldn't find him for a while. He also didn't know how big the place was and immediately started to worry about his father.

He held the crossbow tightly, his expression solemn.

There are twenty arrows in total, which should be enough.

Monkeys may look fierce, but they are actually very timid. As long as you kill their leader, the remaining monkeys will be nothing to be afraid of and will immediately scatter like birds and beasts.

He squatted quietly under the tree outside, observing the house carefully for several minutes, but heard no sound.

After the monkey went in, it was as if a stone cow suddenly fell into the sea and disappeared without a trace.

This made him undecided for a moment.

Logically speaking, if there were a group of monkeys in here, they would definitely be very noisy and it would be impossible for it to be so quiet.

Monkeys love to shout and yell.

But if it wasn't a monkey, then...

There really isn't anything unclean?!

He doesn't think so.

Pretend to be a ghost.

He snorted coldly, picked up a bowl-sized stone, and smashed it into the nearest house through the window. He then pulled the dagger out of his trouser leg and held it in his palm.

"boom!"

The stone hit the house, but there was only the sound of breaking the window, but no sound of it hitting the ground as expected.

Instead, there were muffled cries of pain.

Yu Qiutang's whole body suddenly tensed up and he went into a state of extreme defense.

It was totally beyond his expectation that he would meet someone in such a place.

This is deep in the mountains.

He and his father came here by chance, and these people should not be here because of them.

Could it be a passerby who is resting here temporarily?
It doesn't seem right either.

The person inside is obviously avoiding something, otherwise he wouldn't have remained silent for so long.

The reason why he was hiding was definitely because he didn't want his identity to be exposed.

Yu Qiutang’s mind was racing.

This place used to be a bandit's den and many people died there, so most people wouldn't come here.

Then who will come?
Maybe he is interested in the history of this place, or he is taking advantage of the fact that this area is deserted to do something shady.

No matter what kind of person he is, he is most likely not a good person.

He decided to be more careful.

"Is there anyone in there?"

Now that he heard the sound, there was no point in hiding any longer, so he just shouted out.

Beat the grass and startle the snake.

There was a slight pause before someone responded, "Yes, yes, oh, who threw a stone at me?"

As he spoke, a thin and capable middle-aged man came out.

He wore a black cotton coat with a mink vest on the outside, a cotton hat with two doors on his head, and cotton boots on his feet.

He had a bitter face and a scruffy beard, giving people a very bitter feeling.

Yu Qiutang looked at the other person, and the other person was also looking at him.

Even though the boy kept rubbing his thigh, his eyes were not idle. He saw through Yu Qiutang in just one glance. His eyes fell on Ya's heavy crossbow, and his eyes were slightly choked.

"You hit me?" the man complained.

Yu Qiutang looked at the house, then at the man, and the pressure in his heart increased slightly.

As he expected, there was more than one person in this group.

This guy, perhaps to reassure himself, did not have any weapon in his hand.

This is very unusual.

If you walk in the mountains without a weapon, and come here empty-handed and hide in here, no one will believe that you are a good person.

The things are likely to be held by companions.

Yu Qiutang didn't want to waste time, so he asked directly: "A monkey just went in, is it yours?"

"How come? Why do we keep monkeys? Are you a hunter from the mountains? Why did you come here? There is no decent prey here."

Yu Qiutang did not answer, but asked: "What about you, what are you doing here?"

"I... I was digging some herbs in the mountains. Yes, I was a barefoot doctor."

"I see."

Yu Qiutang nodded, indicating his approval, and said with a smile, "I'm so sorry. Just now a monkey stole my kettle and ran in here. I was actually hitting the monkey, but I didn't realize I hit you. I'm so sorry."

Yu Qiutang said, slowly leaning forward with a smile on his face, "I'm a carpenter, living in Da Liu Village, more than ten kilometers away from here. I heard that the old birch here is good and of good quality, so I came here to try my luck.

Unexpectedly, before I had found the wood, the damn monkey stole the kettle. I hurried over here and found that the monkey had run into the house.

"That's right."

The man responded thoughtfully, but did not express his attitude, nor did he say anything about letting Yu Qiutang go in and catch the monkey.

Obviously, judging from the position where he was standing, he now regarded these houses as his territory and did not want a stranger like Yu Qiutang to enter his space.

But Yu Qiutang continued to walk forward with a smile, muttering: "Aren't you afraid of being laughed at? If this is an ordinary thing, it doesn't matter if it is stolen.

This kettle was left to me by my mother. I can’t just throw it away. Otherwise, my mother will definitely crawl out of her grave and pull my ears and beat my buttocks.”

While saying this, his hands did not stop moving and kept gesticulating. The crossbow was put behind his back, and he used his sleeves to cover the dagger.

"In my opinion, forget it. The monkeys in this mountain love to steal things. It has already taken everything and I don't know where it is hidden. You will definitely not be able to find it for a while. If you stay here for too long, it will be a waste of time.

Then you won't get anything today.

Didn't you come from such a far place? Don't let the kettle disappear and you return empty-handed, that would be a real loss."

Yu Qiutang seemed to be thinking about it, and nodded with a smile, but he still had no intention of stopping, and was ready to pass the man and go inside.

"stop!"

Just as his body passed by, the man suddenly reached out to pull him, and Yu Qiutang, who was originally smiling, suddenly burst out with amazing strength and speed, directly grabbed the other person's arm, and threw him to the ground like a dead fish.

A dagger then fell out of the man's sleeve.

Yu Qiutang kicked the dagger away, and without further ado, he stepped on the man's back and shouted, "Who else is in there? Come out, or I'll kill him first, and then I'll kill you one by one!"

Yu Qiutang's movements just now were swift and smooth, and he had made the man unresponsive. When he came to his senses, he was already under his feet.

He wanted to turn over, but the force of Yu Qiutang's kick was too much for an average person to hold up, so after struggling for a few times, he gave up completely and could only gasp for breath.

"I'll count to three...one...two...three!"

As soon as the three shots were fired, a head appeared from the window. It was a bald head, with the same hat as the man outside wearing it on one side, and a gun in his hand.

It turned out to be five or six and a half.

This forced Yu Qiutang to be on guard.

A gang that can have such weapons must not be ordinary people. He suddenly remembered that in this era there are often criminals roaming around the country. Perhaps these people are them.

"Let him go and get out of here!"

The bald man was obviously not walking in the same direction as the thin man. When he saw the thin man being stepped on, his face immediately turned sinister and he pointed his gun at Yu Qiutang.

Yu Qiutang now knew that it would be difficult for him to have a good ending today.

It's bad luck that I meet these people.

He also knew that now that they were at a dead end, there was no way back.

He was not naive enough to think that he could escape alive if he let go of the person under his feet.

How could a desperado who could hide in such a deep mountain be kind enough to keep his word? It was possible that the moment he let this man go, he would be shot.

He allowed himself to calm down slowly.

He took a deep breath and shouted to the bald man, "Let your boss talk to me."

"Wh…what boss?!"

The bald man retorted subconsciously, but at the same time he subconsciously turned his head to look behind him.

And this is exactly the opportunity Yu Qiutang was waiting for.

"call out!"

He shot the heavy crossbow directly through the bald man's palm, nailing his arm into the crevice of the stone next to him. At the same time, he quickly moved forward, grabbed the Five-Six-and-a-half in his hand while the bald man didn't react, and pressed the muzzle of the gun against the bald man's head.

"If they don't come out, I'll kill them!"

"Wait."

At this time, a third voice finally came from the room.

Then, there was a slight monkey cry.

Yu Qiutang saw a short old man in his fifties walking out of the shadows, followed by the monkey who had snatched his water bottle.

The monkey looked even more ferocious in the interlaced light and dark, and kept baring its teeth at Yu Qiutang.

The old man stood in the middle of the room with his hands behind his back. After exchanging glances with Yu Qiutang, he said, "Young man, this is a misunderstanding!"

"Misunderstand?"

Yu Qiutang did not relax at all.

Although this old man is old, he speaks with confidence and walks with a strong and powerful step. It is obvious at first glance that he is not an ordinary old man.

The more polite he is, the colder he may be at heart.

He can't relax at all.

"Yes, it is indeed a misunderstanding. We are not bad people, but treasure hunters."

Yu Qiutang was slightly stunned.

The term "treasure hunter" is actually a relatively elegant word. There is a more appropriate name for it among the people, "making money from the dead."

Yu Qiutang had heard of this kind of person before.

There is a big difference between them and tomb robbers. Tomb robbers usually enter other people's cemeteries, take away burial objects, and either hand them over to the state.

Treasure hunters, on the other hand, are more like an adventure.

Because this era had just experienced a great turmoil, many folk treasures were left outside and not all were collected, especially many valuable things that were not confiscated and were left among the people.

Treasure hunters are all about exploring and searching.

As for how to distribute what you get after the search, it is obvious.

That being said, it is understandable that they would appear in this place.

After all, it was the place where Hu Zi had stayed. Who knew if there were any strange and interesting things buried there at that time? If they were found, it would be a considerable fortune.

“Can you please let my junior go first?” The old man pointed at the bald man whose palm was still pierced.

(End of this chapter)