304: Chapter 302 The Lonely Avenger 304: Chapter 302 The Lonely Avenger Seeing the thorn wall, Gao Yang immediately heightened his vigilance.
He slowed down and ran for a bit further, then changed direction and walked in circles to regulate his bodily functions.
After a significantly long walk, he completely stopped to restore his strength.
After resting in a concealed spot for about an hour and feeling unimpeded in his movements, Gao Yang picked up his shotgun and began to slowly make his way towards the thorn wall.
After walking a bit, Gao Yang had to stop to observe.
To facilitate the search for the Akuri tribe, he had brought along a portable mini telescope, which proved to be very useful at this time.
When Gao Yang circled around to face the thorn wall directly, he lay down and started observing through the telescope.
After confirming there was no one around, he began to run towards the gap in the thorn wall he could see.
There were no traps on the paths reserved for animals.
Gao Yang only saw antelope skeletons with the flesh gnawed off, a discarded lioness carcass, and the bodies of various animals, but no sign of traps.
Seeing no snares or clamps was somewhat disappointing to Gao Yang, because it suggested that the poachers had already abandoned this thorn wall.
Once they had wiped out the animals here, they would move their poaching ground elsewhere.
The truck’s tire tracks paused at each passage through the thorn wall, showing that the poachers had likely been checking or collecting their game while driving the truck.
Following the thorn wall, Gao Yang continued onward.
The length of the thorn wall was about nearly one kilometer, and as Gao Yang walked the entire length, he found a cluttered array of footprints and drag marks near the tire tracks.
The prints were fresh, and Gao Yang estimated they couldn’t be more than two days old.
He carefully distinguished all the footprints: barefoot, flip-flops, shoes made from old tires, and boots, totaling fourteen sets of footprints.
Having deduced the number of the poachers and their direction, Gao Yang didn’t linger.
Although already very tired, he immediately ran forward again.
As long as the poachers hadn’t ceased their activities, the next thorn wall wouldn’t be far.
Gao Yang believed he would soon find the poachers.
Following the tire tracks, Gao Yang continued forward.
Not far from the tire tracks, he found some shade under a tree, ate two pieces of the chocolate he brought, and after finishing all the compressed biscuits, he lay sprawled out on the ground, resting quietly to recover his strength quickly.
Following the tracks, Gao Yang could continue his pursuit even at night.
And from now on, he could run into the poachers at any moment, so it was crucial for him to maintain enough strength not just to pursue, but to fight if necessary.
Gao Yang rested until six in the evening, and after feeling rested, he resumed his tracking.
A lone avenger, tracking his enemies.
A man running across the vast grasslands.
This scene should have been quite poetic, but when the man is a solitary avenger, the poetry turns melancholy, the desolation of a person bearing it all alone.
Whenever Gao Yang felt his energy wasn’t sufficient to handle a battle, he would slow down, walking at an easy pace to rest for a while, then continue running, keeping on until the end.
After night fell, Gao Yang slowed down his pace.
He only took out his flashlight and covered it with his hand to let out just a sliver of light, which he used to check the direction of the tire tracks on the ground whenever he couldn’t be sure he was running in the correct direction.
In this way, by the time he had been running until deep into the night, Gao Yang finally saw a fire burning at a great distance ahead of him.
Seeing the firelight, Gao Yang silently smiled.
He left the tracks and went to rest under a tree.
After glancing at his watch, he lay down with a smile on his face and closed his eyes.
Utter exhaustion quickly sent Gao Yang into a dream.
After sleeping for about three and a half hours, he woke up punctually at four o’clock in the morning.
The firelight in the distance was still there but had weakened considerably and was indistinguishable unless looked at carefully.
Gao Yang opened his shotgun, replaced the shotgun slug with a shotgun shot in the upper barrel, cocked the hammer of his revolver to prepare for single-action shooting, and lastly, he adjusted the long hunting knife that hung on his left waist, placing it in the most convenient position for drawing.
After making all the preparations, Gao Yang began to move toward the light of the fire.
Now, he had rested enough, and the time for revenge had come.
Gao Yang’s movements were swift, yet silent.
When he was about one hundred meters from the campfire, he stopped.
By then, there was no flame left, just a pile of embers, too faint to see how many people were around the fire.
Crouching low, Gao Yang continued to advance.
When he was just over twenty meters away and still undetected, he slowly lay prone.
He could hear the snoring of the people by the fire but still couldn’t make out how many there were.
After hesitating for a moment, Gao Yang gently placed his shotgun on the ground and slowly drew his long hunting knife from its sheath with his right hand, then began to inch towards the fire.
Gao Yang was extremely careful, fearing that the sleeping individuals might have set up warning traps.
However, it turned out that his concerns were unwarranted, as there were no traps at all.
Gao Yang could now see clearly; three people were asleep by the fire, all deep in slumber, completely unaware that another person had approached.
The three sleepers were arranged around the fire, each about two meters from the next.
Gao Yang slowly moved toward the one closest to him.
Without making a sound, Gao Yang reached his target.
Finally, he slowly propped himself up above the head of one man, knelt next to him, his left hand flashed out to cover the man’s mouth and nose, and then his right hand thrust the knife upward from under the leftmost rib.
The hunting knife plunged straight into the heart, and with his mouth and nose tightly covered, the intense pain awoke the sleeping poacher.
He struggled in agony but had no strength to react violently.
His eyes widened, his limbs weakly flailed a couple of times, and then he lay still, dying quietly.
Gao Yang very slowly pulled out the hunting knife to prevent blood from spurting everywhere.
After confirming that his target was dead, he covered the wound with his left hand and then swiftly pulled out the knife.
The blood that sprayed from the pressure-less abdominal cavity was blocked by Gao Yang’s left hand, preventing it from splashing around and waking the other two poachers who were still deeply asleep.
Gao Yang slowly crawled to a position above the head of the adjacent poacher, just as he knelt up, intending to do the same, the poacher lying on the ground suddenly turned over, and Gao Yang immediately stopped his movement.
After muttering a few words, the turning poacher’s snoring resumed, muted and regular.
Gao Yang, still kneeling, slightly shifted his position, then his left hand shot out swiftly.
(To be continued.
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