Li Long walked on with his gun in hand. A few dozen meters away, a pheasant startled into flight, calling as it flew toward the woods.
The rooster could fly a hundred or two hundred meters at low altitude, which was quite impressive, and its tail feathers looked pretty too. Li Long raised his gun and took aim, then lowered it again.
He couldn't hit it.
He kept walking. There were more rocks on either side of the slope now, with thorny shrubs growing in the gaps. A large boulder stood a dozen meters ahead to his left.
Li Long stopped.
The bottom of the gully was clearly passable ahead, but the footprints headed up above the boulder, making a deliberate detour.
Something was odd here.
The footprints were faint, but Li Long's sharp eyes had picked them out.
Li Long followed the footprints uphill. They circled above the boulder, then turned into a cave on their way down-a cave behind the boulder, with an entrance facing northwest and shrubs outside.
Li Long looked around, then retraced his steps to the bottom of the gully. He followed the route below the three large rocks. Past the boulder were shrubs, and beyond those were more rocks.
He actually couldn't see the cave from the bottom of the gully!
Well, that was quite well hidden!
Li Long circled back to the cave, holding his gun ready and releasing the safety.
Bolati had said those three were a group, but none of them were here now. Who knew whether someone else might have taken over their nest and entered the cave first?
Li Long slowly entered with his gun in hand, waiting for his eyes to adjust before continuing farther inside.
What he found inside astonished him!
From outside, it looked like an