Ye Hao walked up to the leopard, which was already half-skinned. He felt a bit of a pity looking at the leopard skin riddled with bullet holes. Why didn't this leopard run? Why did it insist on chasing and biting that person? This was very strange.
Ye Hao leaned down and observed carefully, discovering a clear bulge on the leopard's belly. This was actually a lactating leopard, which explained a lot. Lactating wild beasts are incredibly fierce, especially when their young are threatened. Many lactating animals will fight to the death.
This female leopard must have been protecting her cubs to relentlessly pursue a group of clearly outmatched enemies.
Just as Ye Hao was staring blankly at the female leopard, he suddenly heard footsteps from the nearby woods and a sound he couldn't understand.
Without thinking, Ye Hao immediately hid in his space. The owner of this voice was clearly with the people he had killed. Ye Hao cherished his life and couldn't be reckless.
Even hidden in his space, Ye Hao could sense what was happening outside. He saw a person cautiously approaching, holding a gun.
Ye Hao didn't hesitate. He directly pulled the bolt to chamber a round, flashed out of his space, and fired a shot.
Bang.
Hit at close range by a San-Ba Da Gai (Type 38 Rifle), the bullet directly penetrated the person's skull, entering through the face and exiting from the back of the head. The person instantly lost their life.
Ye Hao didn't relax his guard after firing that shot. Who knew if they had more accomplices? If there were still hidden accomplices and a sneak attack, even Ye Hao with his space would be in trouble.
He observed the surroundings for a while and found no living enemies. Ye Hao headed in the direction the last person had come from. After walking about twenty meters, he saw a cage woven from vines, inside which Maik & Maile were scratching at the cage with their tiny paws, making "meow~ meow~" sounds.
At first listen, Ye Hao thought they were two small kittens, but then he thought that couldn't be right. These poachers wouldn't run into Changbai Mountain just to catch two cats.
Listening closely, the sound didn't resemble a cat's. It lacked the soft, Glutinous quality of a cat's meow; from their small cries, there was already a hint of a wild beast's dominance.
These must be the female leopard's cubs. This group of people lured the female leopard away to capture her two children.
The female leopard probably never imagined, even until her death, that this group of people would be so despicable, luring the leopard away from its den.
The cubs she protected with her life also fell into the hands of these people, but thankfully Ye Hao avenged her and rescued the cubs.
Seeing how cute Maik & Maile were, Ye Hao decided to adopt these two motherless little unfortunates. With him, they wouldn't have to worry about dying prematurely. If he didn't take care of these two little unfortunates, they would surely end up in the stomach of other wild beasts.
He put the cage into his space, then released Maik & Maile from the cage. As soon as they were out of the cage, the two little ones started scratching at Ye Hao's pant legs, as if retaliating against the bipedal creature for capturing them.
They looked fiercely cute, quite adorable. Ye Hao picked up Maik & Maile by the scruff of their necks, and they immediately calmed down. They were indeed felines, just like kittens.
The two little leopards were one male and one female. The male leopard was noticeably larger, indicating that he had been hogging his sister's food since childhood, growing up strong and robust.
(Brainstorming names)
For now, the older brother will be called Jinqian, and the younger sister Baofu. I'll change your names later if I think of better ones.
Jinqian, Baofu, you two wait a moment, I'll get you something to eat.
First, he got two small bowls, filled them with a bit of space spring water, and placed them in front of Maik & Maile. The two little ones stumbled towards the bowls. This spring water had an inexplicable attraction for all animals.
Ye Hao had a bit of a headache looking at such small leopards. They were so small, they probably hadn't even been weaned yet. How should he feed them?
Never mind, he'd make do with milk for now, then mash up fish and mix it with spring water to feed them. That should work. Wild beasts' digestive systems are much better than humans'.
After settling Maik & Maile, Ye Hao exited his space and returned to the battle site. Looking at the female leopard, which had been riddled with holes, Ye Hao felt a pang of pity. He decided to bury her. The leopard's skin was in such a state that it wouldn't fetch a high price, and having taken her children, he couldn't bring himself to do something so cruel to the mother. Ye Hao couldn't bring himself to do it.
He put the leopard's body into his space, then went to the hillside where he had sniped the people earlier. He found a relatively flat piece of ground, took out a shovel from his space, dug a large pit, and buried the leopard mother. As for a tombstone, he decided against it. Instead, he planted a newly grown apple tree from his space nearby and watered it with a little space spring water, considering it a companion for the leopard mother.
After taking care of the leopard mother, Ye Hao went to the bodies, collected the guns and bullets on the ground, and then headed towards the camp.
Sun Chaoshu and Lu Bingsheng going back to call for help and returning would take who knows how long, so it was better for him to walk back himself, to save them from worrying.
Ye Hao ran wildly, covering about half the distance, when he saw Sun Chaoshu leading Captain Xu and others jogging towards him.
"Chao Shu, Captain Xu, over here," Ye Hao shouted when he saw them.
"Brother Hao, are you alright? You scared me to death! I ran back desperately to call for help. It's great that you're okay!" Sun Chaoshu heard Ye Hao's shout, looked up, and saw Ye Hao, immediately letting out a sigh of relief. Through their time together, he truly regarded Ye Hao as his own older brother. If something had happened here, he wouldn't know what to do.
"Xiao Hao, are you hurt? I heard a rough account from Sun Chaoshu. You heard submachine gun fire. In the future, when you encounter such things, you must be careful. Those with submachine guns are very brutal, and you alone are too dangerous." Captain Xu also felt relieved. If something had happened on the first day of going up the mountain alone, he would have faced some punishment.
"I'm fine, you can rest assured. It was just a few people from China who secretly came over to poach. I've already dealt with them."
"Dealt with them? How did you deal with them?"
"What's so difficult about that? I hid behind a rock, and while they weren't paying attention, I first used my gun to take out the one with the submachine gun. The remaining ones with San-Ba Da Gai (Type 38 Rifle) were directly scared into hiding and didn't dare to come out..." Ye Hao recounted the events, of course without mentioning his space, the leopard mother, Jinqian, and Baofu. He just said that this group was hunting in the mountains, then resting there, and he ambushed them.
"It's good that you're okay, but that was too dangerous. So many enemies, if you had been suppressed, you might have met your end there today. This group must have been rookies, not calm in an emergency, too panicked. Otherwise, even if you caught them off guard, they wouldn't have ended up so miserably. In the future, if you encounter such a situation again, you must be careful, careful, and even more careful."
"Don't worry, I won't act recklessly. If I'm not confident, I'll come back and call for help. See here, these are the spoils of war: two submachine guns, four San-Ba Da Gai (Type 38 Rifle), and these bullets. I've collected them all. As for the bodies, I didn't bother with them. They're still over there." Ye Hao took off the guns he was carrying and showed them to everyone.