HLM – Chapter 801 Three Rookies

With the guns slung over their shoulders, Wang Bo said, “Alright then, let’s take a walk around here. There are plenty of wild animals in the mountains during spring.”

Seeing the two of them about to leave, Lu Yang hurriedly came over and said, “Forget digging for gold, we can’t find a damn thing anyway. Let’s go hunting together! I’ve never even played with a real gun before.”

Uncle Bing, standing nearby, cautioned them solemnly, “Chief, be careful. Weapons are designed to destroy life and cause harm. I hope you’ll be extremely cautious when you pull the trigger.”

Wang Bo gestured for him not to worry. These were all civilian firearms, and they were only planning to hunt rabbits or deer—not go to war. There was no real danger involved.

There were five guns in total. Uncle Bing held one for demonstration, and another was a shotgun—not really suitable for hunting. One shot from that thing and the animal would be riddled with holes, completely ruining the meat.

The shotgun ended up in Zhou Haojie’s hands. Wang Bo asked, “Mouse, you coming?”

Zhou Haojie was very interested. He also thought scouring the mountain for gold ore was unreliable. But before he could answer, his girlfriend, Li Jiayi, glared at him and snapped, “I’m finding gold!”

Helplessly spreading his hands, he said, “I want to go, but I can’t. You guys go ahead.”

That worked out perfectly. Wang Bo chuckled, then led his two classmates up the mountain.

Although he lived near the mountains, he rarely went hunting. People in New Zealand had strong wildlife conservation awareness—few hunted, though many loved fishing.

On the way, Wang Bo explained shooting techniques: how to release the safety, load bullets, and what to do in emergencies…

While he was talking, Zhang Rui suddenly stopped walking and tugged on him, whispering, “Ten o’clock!”

Wang Bo was confused. He lifted his arm to look at his watch and said, “It’s ten-thirty…”

Zhang Rui was exasperated. “I mean ten o’clock direction, something’s there!”

Zhou Haojie looked blank. “What happened at ten o’clock?”

Wang Bo turned his gaze to the left front and spotted a blue-backed pheasant pecking for seeds in the bushes.

This kind of pheasant was beautiful—named for its striking blue feathers. Its meat was tender and rich in oils, making it perfect for grilling—very flavorful.

Because they were both attractive and delicious, they had been overhunted in earlier years, like the blue ducks, and their numbers had dropped sharply, though they weren’t officially protected yet.

Zhou Haojie saw it too and instinctively raised his gun, but Wang Bo pressed the muzzle down and shook his head. “Leave it. They’re rare. There’s an unwritten rule among New Zealand hunters—not to hunt certain species like this.”

The two were more curious than bloodthirsty anyway, so they lowered their guns.

Even the dog, Zhuang Ding, had noticed the pheasant. Its tail stood up, eyes wide, ready to pounce.

Wang Bo called out, and the dog reluctantly trotted back. The pheasant, probably never having been hunted before, merely raised its head, glanced at the three men and a dog, and calmly went back to pecking.

They circled past the blue-backed pheasant. Soon after, Zhuang Ding’s ears perked up. It glanced at Wang Bo, then bounded lightly up the slope and hid behind a kōwhai tree, peeking out.

Wang Bo motioned for the two to move quietly. They crept up behind the tree and looked ahead—two turkeys were fighting.

Zhang Rui gasped, “Holy crap, what kind of birds are those? They’re huge!”

They were two male turkeys—nearly a meter tall and weighing at least thirty jin. Their feathers shimmered with a greenish-bronze hue and dark violet tones, with full, white-edged tail feathers fanned out impressively.

“Bronze turkeys,” Wang Bo whispered. “An American species introduced here. You can hunt them freely—they breed too fast. They’re practically overrunning the North Island.”

At that, Zhang Rui and Zhou Haojie got excited and quickly raised their guns.

Wang Bo signaled for them to aim at the one on the left while he took the right.

Zhang Rui whispered, “Mouse, how’s your aim? Confident?”

Zhou Haojie swallowed hard. “It’s my first time shooting—what confidence? Should we… spray and pray?”

Wang Bo said quietly, “Just fire. It’s fine. You’re just playing around. I’ve got this—don’t worry!”

“On three! One, two, three!”

“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Wang Bo aligned the sights, pulled the trigger—the bullets flew, shells ejected, the muzzle shook…

“Gaaak! Gaaak!” The two turkeys panicked, forgot their fight, and bolted with flapping wings.

The three men looked at each other, speechless.

“Didn’t hit them?”

“Old Wang, didn’t you say you had it covered? Thought you were some sharpshooter!”

“When we were practicing earlier you were pretty accurate. Guess you’re an armchair marksman, huh?”

Wang Bo turned to the dog. “What are you looking at? Go after them!”

Zhuang Ding’s mouth hung open in what looked like a grin, tongue lolling. Then, at Wang Bo’s order, it leapt up and darted off—astonishingly fast.

In less than a minute, it came back, dragging one turkey by the wing, tugging it all the way back.

Lifting the bird, Wang Bo grinned. “Nice! No need to go down for lunch—we’re eating roast turkey today.”

In spring, the mountains teemed with wildlife, and with Zhuang Ding leading the way, it quickly detected every rustle or movement. Within half an hour, Zhang Rui and Zhou Haojie had seen red deer, reindeer, elk, gray rabbits, pheasants, mallards—an entire buffet of wild game.

But their luck wasn’t great. They only got five rabbits and two turkeys. The deer they saw were all young, and after a few gunshots, they got nothing.

The rabbits and turkeys, of course, were all thanks to Zhuang Ding.

Zhang Rui teased, “Old Wang, you sure can brag. I really thought you were a sharpshooter this morning.”

Wang Bo sniffed disdainfully. “I just don’t like killing. Didn’t you see? Those were all fawns—no need to harm them. If it were a herd of adults, I’d have acted.”

Zhou Haojie said, “Quit yapping. Let’s go further ahead—if there’s another herd, you can’t hold back.”

Wang Bo shook his head. “No, we can’t go farther. We’ve already gone too far…”

Before he could finish, a sharp gunshot echoed from the direction of the small mining site behind them.

Hearing it, Zhang Rui took off running. “Come on! Let’s go see what happened!”

But Wang Bo quickly overtook him—he was used to running mountain trails, his footing steady and sure.

They followed the same path back. After two minutes, a large reindeer suddenly burst out between two trees.

On instinct, Wang Bo raised his gun, aligned the sights, and fired twice—“Bang! Bang!”—dropping the big deer to the ground.

Behind it came startled calls, and a few more deer appeared before the frightened herd scattered into the forest. By then, the other two had no chance to fire.

With the big deer lying there, Wang Bo finally had something to brag about.

“See that? Told you—I just don’t like killing small animals!”