"My surname isn’t Zhang. It’s Tao." Although he didn’t know why Zhao Jun had asked, the old man simply told him his surname was Tao.

"Right." Zhao Jun nodded, unable to stop himself from muttering, ’This old-timer sure is a handful.’

Elder Tao acted as if he hadn’t heard. He raised his gun and, as if rallying the troops, said to Zhao Jun, "Let’s move out, kid!"

With that, he leveled his gun and started to walk.

Zhao Jun quickly stopped him.

"What is it now?" Elder Tao asked, a bit impatiently.

"Sigh." Zhao Jun felt mentally exhausted, but he had no choice but to patiently explain, "Sir, you can’t approach a wild boar head-on."

"Oh!" The old man had a moment of realization. "Right, I think I’ve heard that somewhere before."

Zhao Jun let out a long sigh of relief. "Sir, give me the gun. I’ll do it."

"Absolutely not." Elder Tao immediately refused. "You told me you’ve never hunted before. How can I let you take the shot?"

Zhao Jun was speechless.

Just then, the old man started muttering to himself again. "I’ll circle around behind it, get a sideways angle on its eye, and pop! One shot to blind its left eye. Then I’ll circle back around and blind the right one too. Once it’s blind in both eyes, it won’t be able to run far. What do you think of that?"

"It’s a terrible idea," Zhao Jun said, shaking his head. "Why don’t we just go back?"

"Go back? What do you mean, ’go back’?" Old men are stubborn. Elder Tao threw his arm out and said to Zhao Jun, "Just you watch, kid."

The moment Elder Tao said that, Zhao Jun felt like he’d heard those exact words before, and his stomach dropped.

He watched as Elder Tao circled behind the wild boar and crept forward. The old man stepped over a birch tree, tiptoeing ahead while leveling his gun at the boar’s head.

As luck would have it, the boar turned its head at that exact moment.

Elder Tao, however, was decisive. He pulled the trigger.

A loud BANG echoed out. A column of iron shot burst forth, riddling the wild boar’s eye with a sharp CRACKLE.

"SCREEE... OWW..."

The wild boar let out a pained squeal. Its left eye slammed shut, blood seeping from the eyelid.

Watching from behind, Zhao Jun was stunned. ’This Elder Tao is actually incredible,’ he thought. ’That was a perfect shot.’

He had actually blinded one of the boar’s eyes.

Looking back at Elder Tao, he had already spun around and quickly pulled a large glass jar from his pocket. He poured iron shot into the gun barrel, put the jar away, and began circling to the boar’s right, intending to blind its other eye.

But with one eye blinded and iron pellets embedded in the eyeball, the boar was in agony and surged forward.

With a loud SNAP!

The snare broke!

The boar snare had been made by the trapper from an eight-strand Oil Silk Rope. There was no telling how long the boar had been struggling, but the eight strands had already been worn down to just two.

Under normal circumstances, a wild boar would struggle constantly after getting caught in a snare.

But as it struggles, the Oil Silk Rope would dig into its flesh, making every subsequent movement agonizing.

So, at that point, a boar usually wouldn’t dare to struggle with much force.

But this boar, shot and blinded in one eye, was panicked and terrified. It lunged forward with a sudden, violent burst of strength.

That single lunge, with its sharp, explosive force, snapped the remaining two strands of the Oil Silk Rope.

Elder Tao was standing to the boar’s right, his gun raised in full concentration. He had no idea the snare had broken.

But seeing the boar move through his Gun Star, Elder Tao squeezed the trigger out of reflex. A full load of iron shot peppered the boar’s rear end with a loud CRACKLE.

The boar SQUEALED and spun around.

"Run!" Zhao Jun shouted.

That shout was what snapped Elder Tao out of his stupor.

Without another word, Elder Tao turned and ran.

But with those old arms and legs of his, he had trouble just walking uphill. How could he possibly outrun a wild boar?

Just as the boar was about to overtake Elder Tao, Zhao Jun charged forward, swinging his club down on the animal’s back.

He had no choice.

Even though Zhao Jun had never met the old man before today, they were hunting partners now. He couldn’t just abandon him.

A sow wasn’t as deadly as a male, but Elder Tao was old. If the boar knocked him over, he might not die, but he probably wouldn’t have many days left to live either.

Struck by Zhao Jun’s club, the boar spun around and charged him. Zhao Jun bolted, shouting as he ran, "Elder Tao, get up a tree!"

In his panic, he’d dropped the more respectful "sir."

Elder Tao snapped back to reality and looked around. Beside him was a linden tree about as thick as his waist.

Elder Tao slung his gun over his shoulder, put a hand on the tree, and tried to climb. But as he pushed off with his leg, his foot slipped on the bark.

He was too old. His legs weren’t what they used to be; he couldn’t get up the tree.

Meanwhile, Zhao Jun led the boar on a chase through the forest.

But you had to hand it to Elder Tao, he hadn’t been wrong about one thing. With one eye blind, the boar’s vision was definitely impaired. As it chased Zhao Jun, it kept bumping into trees, squealing in pain with each collision.

But this only made the boar angrier, and it pursued Zhao Jun relentlessly.

Zhao Jun rounded a tree, wanting to climb one himself to escape. After all, a wild boar wasn’t like a Black Bear. As long as you were up a tree, you were safe from its attack.

But when Zhao Jun glanced back, he saw the old man still kicking frantically at the trunk, his foot slipping every time. He just couldn’t climb it.

If Zhao Jun climbed a tree now, he’d be safe, but he was afraid the boar would just turn and go after Elder Tao instead.

Resigned, Zhao Jun ran over to the old man and muttered, "You’ve got a real talent for being clumsy."

’This kid... even his insults are backhanded.’ Elder Tao was about to get angry when he felt his foot find a purchase. His body was hoisted up, and then he heard Zhao Jun yell, "Climb!"

Zhao Jun had cupped the old man’s shoe in his hands and was boosting him up.

The old man grabbed a branch and managed to scramble the rest of the way up.

Just then, the boar charged. Zhao Jun quickly grabbed his larch club and started running circles around the tree.

The boar overshot its charge, but it spun around and, squealing, resumed its pursuit of Zhao Jun.

No matter how many times Zhao Jun circled the tree, the boar refused to give up.

By now, Elder Tao was sitting securely on a branch, watching Zhao Jun being chased by the boar. He grew anxious too and started shouting, "Run! Run faster!"

This just infuriated Zhao Jun.

But now that Elder Tao was in the tree, Zhao Jun’s worries were gone. All he had to do was find a tree to climb himself, and this would all be over.

Unexpectedly, however, the boar, having been blinded in one eye, was filled with a murderous rage toward them. It chased him with desperate fury.

It was getting closer and closer. Several times, Zhao Jun reached a tree, but the instant he stopped, the boar charged. If he hadn’t been so quick to dodge, he would have been sent flying long ago.

With no other option, Zhao Jun could only continue to run in circles around the tree.

But a man could never outlast a boar in a contest of stamina. A plan suddenly struck Zhao Jun. As he ran, he yelled at the top of his lungs, "Old-timer! I’m going to lead the boar under your tree! You shoot it!"

Zhao Jun’s meaning was obvious.

He wanted Elder Tao to load his gun and shoot the boar to draw its attention.

He didn’t need long. A few seconds would be all it took for him to get up a tree.

Hearing this, Elder Tao snapped out of it. He immediately stopped being a spectator, pulled the glass jar from his satchel again, unscrewed the lid, and poured iron shot into the barrel.

Once the gun was loaded, the old man shouted from his perch on the branch, "I’m ready, kid! Bring it over!"

Hearing this, Zhao Jun started running toward Elder Tao’s tree, still yelling, "Just don’t hit me!"

’This kid...’ For the first time, Elder Tao felt the sting of being distrusted.

As Zhao Jun ran under the branch where Elder Tao was sitting, the old man raised his shotgun and aimed down.

He watched the wild boar pass beneath him, and from his high vantage point, Elder Tao fired.

The gun roared. A column of iron shot flew out, striking the wild boar square in its right eye.