Chapter 11: Animal Protection

  According to the agreement between the two sides, the first game is a running competition.

  Due to the limited number of people, Zhu Dahu was quite pleased and didn't get hung up on the comparison of numbers at all. He simply stretched out his toes and pulled out 36 people, standing together with Fu Xiao's 36 people. However, he secretly gloated in his heart, thinking that when it came to climbing mountains and running, who dared to compare with someone who had been living in Niutou Mountain for years? Anyone who tried would be a fool or an idiot.

  What's up, carrying all the stuff from here, running to the opposite mountain and back, whoever comes back first wins. One word, go.

  Zhu Dahu's men looked at Fu Xiaoqiu's men and shook their heads secretly.

  These people look refined and elegant, but how come they're not very bright? We may have big knives and long guns, but we don't have that much extra baggage on our bodies. Look at them again, each one hiding their face under a small helmet, their whole body bulging with stuff, plus their quick-firing guns - it's probably heavier than carrying dozens of pounds of grain! Alas, we don't want to take advantage of this, but what can we do? We have to carry our own weight too. Never mind, never mind, if things get tough, we'll help them out a bit, and then come back and mock them some more.

  After running for a while, Zhu Dahu turned his head to look at his men, who were all in high spirits and occasionally turning their heads to glance back, with faces full of schadenfreude.

  Clattering all over, running without haste or worry, who looks like they're competing?

  Zhu Dahu looked at Fu Xiao Chong, opening his mouth several times, wanting to remind him from afar, hurry up, you're pulling too far. But then he thought better of it and ran off with a pleased expression. He'll go up the mountain, and after reaching the top, he can come back down and talk later.

  Finally, Fu Xiao Chong rushed up. Zhu Da Hu really wanted to smile at him, but he suddenly found himself unable to laugh. It wasn't just him, all the people around him were panting heavily, many had their tongues hanging out, yet they still felt suffocated and panicked, wanting to sit down with a thud.

  "Grandma's, don't let it slip down any further, quick, quick——"

  Zhu Dahu found that Miao Tou was not right, and he kicked the man who was driving him away. Just then, Fu Xiao Chong glanced at him with a faint smile and turned to pass by.

  Zhu Dahou only then realized that in this competition, they really wanted to lose. Not for anything else, he just took a look at the others' calm and unhurried appearance, and he knew they were done for. Because, looking up at the mountain peak they had just run to, not one of them even had the courage to lift their heads and take a glance.

  When they straggled back to the playground, Fu Xiao Chong and his team had already lined up outside. If he hadn't experienced it himself, Zhu Da Hu wouldn't have dared to believe that the people quietly standing here were the same group of people who had just competed with them. He involuntarily rubbed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and dragged his sore feet to Fu Xiao Chong's side, opening his eyes wide to stare at Fu Xiao Chong again and again.

  "You, you're really Fu Lianchang?"

  No, no, don't wait for others to speak up, hurry up and take the initiative yourself. Just look at the sweat on his forehead, if it's not him, who is it?

  "I lost—"

  Lin Dahou slowly moved in front of Meng Yao, and with a swift motion, he said, his expression seemingly still somewhat dissatisfied. Meng Yao nodded, glanced sideways at Wang Xiaodie. Wang Xiaodie's eyes flickered for a moment, then she opened her mouth to say: "Where is Lin Erdou? The second round is a shooting match, Erdou is up."

  Lin Erdou heard the sound and ran over with his gun.

  Brother frowned and said, "Exchange our own guns, all of them."

  Lin Erdou gritted his teeth, unwilling to part with the guns Meng Yao had given them. "Second Brother," he said reluctantly, "our guns are only good for shooting pheasants and wild boars, can they really hit people?"

  "What's wrong with it? I'd rather kill a wild chicken or a mountain pig." Bang Er said, his eyes wide open.

  Meng Yao listened on the side, suddenly touched his nose and burst out laughing. This mountain girl actually learned Sun Tzu's Art of War too, using her own strengths to control others' weaknesses, what a clever child! He laughed while looking at Kong Xue Meng with his eyes. Kong Xue Meng seemed to guess something, not only didn't avoid him but instead stroked his beard and smiled back. Everyone has their strengths, even fingers have different lengths, haha.

  Meng Yao shook his head, and his eyes turned to Fu Xiao Chong. Fu Xiao Chong hastily stepped forward and said loudly: "Reporting to the battalion commander, I was just elected as a standing director of our army's wildlife protection association this year. For this operation, I request to be excused."

  Big slippery head. Meng Yao nodded and cursed under his breath, then turned to look at Pan Di, smiling and saying: "Pan Di, leader, you heard that too, our Fu Lianchang is a non-killing thing."

  "What's the Wildlife Conservation Association, what's a director?" Wang Er looked at his master with a puzzled face, with a hint of discontent. Lin Erdou was very happy and handed the original bird gun back to his subordinate. Kong Xue Meng thought for a moment and whispered to Wang Er: "Abandoning rights means abandoning rights, it means admitting defeat."

  Her brother suddenly became excited, but grumbled: "Isn't it just admitting defeat? Why bother with so many words." In her eyes, she didn't recognize anyone else, and only knew the two words "win" and "lose". "Come on, come on." Her mood seemed to have suddenly improved, and she waved her hand to chase Lin Er Gou away, staring at Meng Yao and saying: "This third round will decide the outcome, Meng Yao, leader, do you see if I can now choose 36 people to come up?"

  Meng Yao glanced at the sea of people below, waved his hand and said, "No need, you just need to get everyone to put down their real knives and guns, turn their clothes inside out, and each person take a wooden stick. Of course, Fu Lianchang and his men are no exception."

  The younger brother still didn't understand, and turned his head to look at the teacher. Kong Xue Meng couldn't help but take a deep breath, staring at Meng Yao in astonishment, stuttering: "Meng, leader Meng, are you saying it's true..."

  "Right, Fu Lianchang and the others will all go up, you will all go up too. Didn't we already say that this morning?" Meng Yao said, raising his hand to glance at his watch: pointing to a mountain head about 100 meters away, he said: "It's now exactly three o'clock in the afternoon, I hope this final battle can end by six o'clock, and then we can have dinner."

  At Meng Yao's command, Fu Xiao led the thirty-six men to put down their guns in unison and pick up the wooden sticks they had prepared earlier. They looked calmly at the hundreds of faces below that were looking at each other in dismay.

  After a while, Meng Yao looked at Xiang Di strangely and asked: "What's going on, are you guys giving up too?"

  She first stared at Meng Yao with a strange expression, then suddenly burst into loud laughter. She didn't know how long she laughed before she suddenly stopped, gritting her teeth and staring at Meng Yao again: "I don't know if you're the leader or a madman, but I do know that those thirty-odd people are all your sworn brothers."

  Meng Yao smiled slightly and didn't say much more. "Either concede or let's begin."

  "Good——" Brother's face turned black, and he waved his hand fiercely at Zhu Dahu and Lin Erdou. Immediately, a group of white-clad people disappeared into the depths of the dense forest.

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