20demayo Chapter 426 The Dignity the Bull King Deserved
Chapter 426 The Dignity the Bull King Deserved
Chapter 426 The Dignity the Bull King Deserved
Nanuk extinguished the fire, grabbed a handful of dry grass from the ground, held it above his head, and then let go.
The withered grass spun in the air and drifted unhesitatingly toward the southwest.
"Perfect wind direction." Nanuk glanced back at the three men who were organizing their gear. "Sila is on our side today."
"We're downwind, those hairy guys can't smell our human scent."
At this point, the herd of cattle they had locked onto with binoculars from the high ground was about three kilometers away in a straight line.
The terrain is a complex, undulating permafrost zone, interspersed with countless trap-like meadow mounds and two semi-melted glacial streams.
"Friends, make sure your slings are tight, and don't let the guns rattle and make any noise. At this distance, the clanging of metal will convince them—death is coming."
The four set off.
The path beneath our feet is an extremely eerie "tatou meadow".
These fist-sized mounds, formed from moss and the roots of polar shrubs, are frozen solid like lumps of iron in the April winds.
The surface is also covered with an invisible thin layer of ice, which is simply a "shredder" laid out by nature.
Stepping on the top of the tower, your feet slip and you can't stand steadily; once your foot slips down, the gaps between the tower tops are not empty.
These coarse-grained snowflakes, having endured repeated freeze-thaw cycles throughout the winter, have a bottom filled with a mixture of ice and snow called "slush."
.
Less than twenty minutes later, heavy breathing began to fill the ranks.
"Holy crap—"
Wang Hu lost his footing and crushed the hard outer shell with a crack, half of his leg sinking into a snow pit in the crevice of the tower.
With a muffled "gurgle," the icy, bone-chilling slush instantly submerged his calves.
He reacted extremely quickly and pulled his leg out abruptly.
Thanks to the waterproof hiking boots and waterproof pants, the icy water didn't seep in and wet my socks.
However, only a few seconds passed.
The translucent slush clinging to the trouser legs froze instantly into a layer of grayish-white ice shell upon encountering the sub-zero air.
Wang Hu swung his legs, and the trouser legs made a "crackling" sound as if he had ice packs on his legs.
Wang Hu patted the ice crystals off his trousers, cursing, "Damn it, luckily I reacted quickly, otherwise my legs would have frozen solid!"
Hans, who was in front, turned to Wang Hu and said, "Adjust your breathing, Hu."
Hans's steps, though heavy, were extremely rhythmic, like a precise German machine.
"Try to step on the center of the haystack. Raise your thighs and use your glutes, not your calves. Otherwise, you'll get a leg cramp before you even see the cow."
"Well done, Hans brothers, you've got a whole repertoire of theories," Wang Hu teased, panting. "But you're in great shape, carrying that huge bag like it's nothing."
"We professional anglers have to do weighted cross-country training every month. But on this kind of terrain, Nanook is still better. Look at him."
Everyone looked up.
Nanuk, who was walking at the front, carried an old hunting rifle on his back. His pace didn't seem fast, and it even seemed a bit sluggish.
But his upper body remained almost still, and his feet seemed to have suction cups, always landing precisely on the most solid spot.
He was like an old wolf on the wasteland, silently melting into the scenery.
Another hour passed. We were about 800 meters away from our target.
The terrain began to change, and a low glacial ridge appeared in front, blocking the view of the valley.
Nanook suddenly stopped and raised his right fist—an internationally recognized tactical gesture: stop.
Without saying a word, he lay down on the cold, frozen ground and crawled up the slope.
Lin Yu'an, Hans, and Wang Hu immediately followed suit, keeping their heads low.
"Take off your hat and be careful when you peek out," Nanook whispered. "Musk oxen have poor eyesight and can't distinguish stationary objects."
"But they are extremely sensitive to movement; even a slight head movement is a huge alarm to them."
Four heads emerged from the ridgeline extremely slowly.
My vision suddenly opened up.
Below is a wide U-shaped valley, through which a winding glacier flows.
On the sunny slope of the valley, the group of prehistoric giants finally came into clear view.
"My God..." Hans lay behind the rock, holding up his Leica binoculars, his Adam's apple bobbing violently. "It's spectacular."
It was a tribe of about twenty people.
Through the 4x scope, Lin Yu'an felt the oppressive presence of this creature for the first time.
They don't look like cows; they're more like mobile fortresses draped in straw raincoats.
Its long, dark brown fur reached vertically to the ground, almost completely obscuring its limbs. When the wind blew, the fur rippled like waves, revealing the thick, root-like muscles beneath.
Several calves were burrowing around under their mothers' bellies, while several adult bulls lay lazily on the periphery.
"They're relaxed," Nanook said in a very low voice. "This is a perfect opportunity."
He turned his head and began to deploy the final tactics: "See those two stray bulls on the right edge? The one with a broken horn, and the big bull next to it."
Lin Yu'an adjusted the scope and locked onto the target. The bull with the broken horn looked old and frail, its fur mottled with gray and white, and it was struggling to gnaw on the roots of a willow tree.
"That's Old Wang, marginalized by his tribe. That's your target, Lin."
"Hans, you're in charge of that strong, lone bull on the left. He's a bachelor, and he's got a terrible temper. If we don't take him down, he'll challenge the current bull king sooner or later."
"We have to get to that spot—" Nanuk pointed to a huge rock below the valley, "It's about 120 meters from the cattle herd, an absolute firing position."
"From now on, we have to crawl like snakes."
Wang Hu, who was lying to the side, adjusted the focus of his binoculars and looked at the old ox, which was all alone and more than a hundred meters away from the main group.
The cold wind ruffled its matted, grayish-white fur, making it look like a down-on-its-luck vagrant.
"Nanook," Wang Hu couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "I don't understand. This old guy looks quite big and imposing."
"How did they get marginalized? Just because they're old? That's incredibly disrespectful to the elderly!"
Nanuk put down his binoculars, turned to look at Wang Hu, and said, "Hu, in the wilderness, there is no respect for the old and care for the young, only survival of the strong and the weak."
""
"Look closely at its left corner; it's broken off, and the break is quite old. That's a medal left from its mating season, and also proof of its failure."
"The social structure of musk oxen is very cruel. There can only be one absolute king in a herd, who has the right to mate with all the cows."
"This old ox was once the king of this valley. It ruled the herd for several years, and its genes are passed down to the calves."
"But last fall, a younger and stronger invasive bull that had wandered over from several kilometers away challenged it."
""
"Once defeated, a new king ascends to the throne. The old king will be immediately banished from the inner circle. It cannot approach the cows, nor can it graze in the heart of the area with the most abundant food."
"It can only linger on the periphery, eating what others leave behind, and it also has the responsibility of being the 'sentinel' of the first line of defense for the cattle herd."
Nanook added, "That's the rule of the herd: bulls aged 3 to 6 are driven away by their fathers to roam and challenge other bull leaders."
"And bulls raised in other herds will come and challenge this father. Nature uses this cruel method to prevent inbreeding and keep the bloodline strong."
"But even so," Nanook sighed, "a loss is a loss—"
"If it were autumn, during the mating season, the new king would definitely drive this old guy to his death, because he's a rival. But it's April now, and we've just survived a long winter."
"In this extreme cold of tens of degrees below zero, an extra cow, even an old cow, is an extra source of warmth and an extra human shield against wolves for the herd."
"The new king allowed it to follow him not because it respected the old king, but because the old king no longer posed a sexual threat to it during this season."
"Leaving it on the outskirts as a 'meat shield' to protect it from wind, snow, and wolves is more cost-effective for the new king."
"This is the reality of the wasteland; it lives because it still has value."
"And look at how it eats grass, isn't it constantly shaking its head?" Upon closer inspection, everyone indeed found that the old cow was having a lot of trouble eating.
"Its teeth are worn down," Nanook pointed out incisively. "After more than a decade of gnawing on the permafrost and moss, its teeth have been completely worn away."
"It can no longer chew those tough shrub roots and stems, it is taking in fewer and fewer calories, and its fat layer is getting thinner and thinner."
"Without us, when the next polar night comes, or when the wolf pack passes by, it will fall behind due to exhaustion. At that time, it will be torn to pieces."
"So," the old hunter looked at Lin Yu'an, "giving it a bullet at this moment is to give an old bull king his final dignity."
Wang Hu nodded repeatedly, but then noticed a blind spot: "What about the cow? Cows don't roam, right? If Old Wang is healthy, those heifers will have grown up—"
Nanuk was amused by Wang Hu's extremely tricky angle, and a smile appeared on his weathered face.
"Tiger, you overestimate these bulls." Nanuk pointed to the old bull with broken horns that was munching on dry grass, his tone tinged with a hint of melancholy.
"Being a 'King of Bulls' is an extremely life-consuming thing."
"To keep these cows, they have to drive away bachelors day and night, fight with challengers, and even graze for shorter periods than the other cows."
"This high level of exertion makes them age very quickly. Typically, a bull can only hold the throne for two to three years at most. After that, it will be driven out by a newcomer."
"And a newborn female calf takes two to three years to grow to maturity and become fertile."
"This is a time difference calculated by nature." Nanook looked at the old bull. "By the time its daughters grow up, it, as the father, will have long been forced to step down due to exhaustion."
"The ones who take over their daughters are always new, young bulls with no blood relation."
"Just like now," Nanook concluded. "It has completed its task of reproduction, protected the tribe for several years, and now its era is over."
"If we don't take it with us, it will face the long winter and the wolves alone."
After listening, Wang Hu gave a heartfelt thumbs up: "Wow, nature is truly amazing; rules are everywhere."
After listening, Lin Yu'an looked again at the lonely giant beast in the scope, feeling a sense of mission based on the last dignity of the Bull King.
For the next 600 meters or so, he no longer walked, but crawled.
The cold muddy water seeped in through the collar, and with each move, the wind direction had to be checked first to make sure the cattle hadn't raised their heads.
This extreme repression and tension caused adrenaline to burn wildly in the blood vessels.
Finally, the four of them managed to squeeze behind the giant rock.
Lin Yu'an felt as if he had inhaled a handful of ice shards into his lungs, a burning pain shooting through him. He took off his gloves; his palms were drenched in sweat.
"Check the weapons," Nanuk said in a whisper.
Lin Yu'an rolled over and leaned against the rock, pulled back the bolt of the Type 56 semi-automatic rifle, revealing the golden magazine.
"Lin, I know you Chinese people have a sentimental attachment to this Type 56 rifle, but I must warn you."
Greenlandic law stipulates that cattle hunting must use ammunition with sufficient stopping power. Although 7.6239mm...
The stance is within the bounds of what the law allows.
"But if you're loading that damn cheap military full jacket bullet into your chamber, it'll go straight through the musk ox's body like a needle piercing tofu, leaving only a tiny bullet hole."
"This behemoth will not die immediately. It will run for several kilometers in extreme pain with a penetrating wound, and finally die in a long and agonizing ordeal in a corner we cannot find."
"That is a disgrace to the hunter, a desecration of life, and a crime."
Lin Yu'an subconsciously touched the tip of the top bullet with his thumb.
It wasn't a sharp copper sheet, but rather an exposed, dull lead core.
"This is a Winchester 'Rapid Expansion' soft-tipped shot. He bought it at a high price."
Upon impact, the bullet's warhead expands and tumbles violently like a mushroom, creating a massive cavity effect inside the prey and completely destroying its internal organs.
This is the greatest mercy to the prey—giving it a death as if the lights were turned off.
"Very good." Nanuk glanced at the soft-pointed bullet and nodded slightly. "Prepare for battle."
Lin Yu'an took a deep breath, rolled over and lay face down on the rock, resting the butt of the gun against his shoulder, his cheek pressed tightly against the warm, smooth wooden butt.
One hundred and twenty meters.
At this distance, the world seen through the 4x scope is terrifyingly clear.
The old ox was grazing with its head down when it seemed to sense the murderous intent permeating the air. Its cloudy eyes slowly rose and looked in this direction.
It didn't run away. It was a king's intuition, and also a detached indifference that came from seeing through life and death.
The crisscross line was firmly positioned three inches behind its left foreleg—the overlapping area of the heart and pulmonary artery.