Chapter 27: The Crossing of the Birds

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The wild boar, seemingly enraged at having been scorned, kept scraping the ground with all four hooves, apparently gathering speed for another charge.

“Quick, shoot it!” the girl cried desperately.

Zhang Tiejun ignored her and kept his eyes fixed on the boar.

Wild boars were fundamentally different from carnivores such as tigers and leopards of the Northeast. Compared with meat-eating beasts, omnivores possessed an uncanny awareness of impending danger.

A threatening stare could intensify that fear to some extent.

But in the boar’s present state, fear could no longer suppress the fury in its heart.

“Grrr! Grrr!” the boar roared as it charged toward Zhang Tiejun, accelerating with every step.

The path was concealed along the mountainside, with two pine trees standing one before the other.

The earth seemed to tremble beneath the thunderous pounding.

Fifty meters. Forty. Thirty. Twenty.

Despite the girl’s repeated warnings, Zhang Tiejun did something completely out of character: he closed his eyes.

The more nervous one became, the easier it was to make a mistake. Only when body and mind were united could a gun be used to its fullest potential.

A handgun had limited stopping power. His only chance was to make the weapon an extension of himself.

“Roar!”

When the boar was less than ten meters away, the terrified girl had already squeezed her eyes shut.

At that critical moment, Zhang Tiejun suddenly opened his eyes and fired in rapid succession.

All six bullets were discharged within three seconds.

The boar suddenly lost control, tumbling across the ground in a series of violent rolls.

Only after everything had settled did the girl open her eyes in disbelief. Zhang Tiejun, breathing heavily, seemed to her like a divine warrior descending from the heavens.

Perhaps because his tightly wound body had suddenly relaxed, the pine tree—which had already been swaying precariously—could hold on no longer.

With a tremendous crash, it came down.

As the girl screamed, Zhang Tiejun rolled backward and pulled her into his arms.

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The tremendous impact startled Zhang Tiejun. He had never imagined that the seemingly delicate girl could be so heavy.

“Thank you,” the girl said in awkwardly accented Chinese.

Zhang Tiejun was just about to stand when his leg suddenly gave way, forcing him down on one knee.

The unexpected kneeling was not the main problem. What mattered was that, after losing his balance, Zhang Tiejun toppled headfirst into the girl’s arms.

The two of them ended up embracing one another in an extraordinarily awkward position.

Zhang Tiejun quickly realized that her weight was concentrated in a way he had not expected.

“Oh!” the girl exclaimed.

Her face flushed, and she instinctively raised her hand.

Smack!

The sharp, ringing sound was scarcely less explosive than a gunshot.

Before Zhang Tiejun’s mind could even register what had happened, his cheek had already swollen red.

The girl belatedly realized what she had done and hurriedly apologized. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Zhang Tiejun was somewhat irritated, but he had no time to dwell on it. The wild boar had actually staggered back to its feet.

Had he missed? That should have been impossible.

Puzzled, Zhang Tiejun widened his eyes and examined the animal. Several bullet holes marked its head, and dark-red blood was flowing from them. Yet the bullets had not penetrated deeply; they had lodged beneath the boar’s hide. The shot that should have killed it outright had missed by half an inch, grazing past the space between its brows.

This was bad. Zhang Tiejun had no means left to defend himself.

Fortunately, the boar also understood that the human before it was not someone it could easily overcome. After giving them one last resentful look, it turned and fled.

Only after breathing a sigh of relief did Zhang Tiejun recover enough to speak.

“Enough already. Could you get off me now?”

Prompted by his words, the girl hurriedly rose.

She wore a blue-and-white uniform dress, black leather shoes, and pure-white knee-high socks. She appeared to be a student from a girls’ high school.

The girl quickly introduced herself. “My name is Akira Sakurai. I’m a student at Hunchun Girls’ High School. May I ask your name?”

“Zhang Tiejun.” After introducing himself, he looked at her in confusion. “Are you Japanese?”

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“My mother is Japanese, and my father is Chinese.” Akira Sakurai thanked him sincerely. “Thank you for saving me just now.”

Zhang Tiejun was deeply puzzled by her identity. Generally speaking, most Japanese people had returned to their homeland after the founding of the country. More importantly, what was she doing in the Guandong Mountains?

Before he could ask, the girl noticed his condition and asked with concern, “Mr. Zhang, is your leg all right?”

Until she mentioned it, Zhang Tiejun had not realized that he had twisted his right foot when jumping away from the falling tree. Adrenaline had masked the injury earlier, making it seem less serious than it was. Now that the rush had faded, swelling and pain began to set in.

When he rolled up his trouser leg, Zhang Tiejun discovered that the injury was worse than he had thought.

His ankle was already covered in extensive bruising. Even a short trek would probably be impossible, and without proper treatment, the injury might worsen considerably.

“Your leg is injured. It needs to be immobilized, or it will become more serious,” Akira Sakurai said, immediately recognizing his predicament.

After looking around, she found several pine branches of a suitable size. She placed them against Zhang Tiejun’s lower leg, then removed her shoes and used her stockings to bind the splints firmly in place.

While she worked, Zhang Tiejun finally had the chance to examine her more closely.

Akira Sakurai had suffered quite a few scrapes herself, and several places on her blouse and skirt had torn. Her clothes were disheveled, and exhaustion showed clearly in her face.

“Mr. Zhang, I’ve secured your leg. A few days of rest should be enough.” As she spoke, her gaze drifted upward, meeting Zhang Tiejun’s downward glance.

An inexplicable awkwardness spread between them.

“Thank you, Mr. Zhang. I will never forget that you saved my life. But I have something important to do, so I cannot stay and keep you company.”

Akira Sakurai turned and began to leave.

Zhang Tiejun stopped her. “This is the Guandong Mountains. I don’t know what you have to do, but once night falls, all kinds of wild beasts will come out. As an outsider, you could easily get lost.”

His warning made Akira Sakurai stop at once. She knew he was right. After hesitating for a long while, she turned back.

“Mr. Zhang, could you do me a favor? Could you take me to Bird Ferry?”

“Bird Ferry?” Zhang Tiejun asked, perplexed.

Bird Ferry had once been a bustling dock. It later fell into Japanese hands during the invasion, only to be burned to the ground by a local resistance force. By then, it had long since been abandoned.

“What are you going to Bird Ferry for?”