Chapter 49: Wang Erhu: I have no money, but you can take my life!

The sound of the bolt being racked struck Wang Erhu and the other two like an iron hammer, driving heavily into their hearts.

They knew they had just leaped from one fire pit into another, far deeper and more terrifying abyss.

They had escaped Xu Feng's fists, but they could not escape the muzzle of this Japanese soldier's rifle.

From this day on, they were the slaves and spies of this evil ghost lurking in the deep mountains.

"Yes! Yes! We will definitely do as you say! We'll definitely do it!" Wang Erhu didn't dare hesitate for even a fraction of a second, hastily agreeing.

Onoda Shiro nodded in satisfaction.

He turned around and motioned for them to follow.

Wang Erhu and the Fat Man exchanged glances, both seeing despair and terror reflected in the other's eyes.

They struggled to their feet. The Fat Man and the Mute, one on each side, labored to lift the carcass of the roe deer.

Blood streamed from the deer, staining their tattered clothes in even more mottled patterns.

Wang Erhu followed closely on Onoda Shiro's heels, keeping his head down, not daring to even draw a full breath.

A tempest of emotions churned within his chest.

Fear, certainly.

Yet mixed with that fear was a trace of morbid excitement.

Xu Feng, aren't you a fighter? Aren't you arrogant?

The Imperial Army soldiers with guns are backing me up now!

Let's see how you die this time!

He was completely oblivious to the fact that he had stepped onto a path of no return.

The consequence of bargaining with a tiger was invariably being devoured by it until not even a scrap of bone remained.

The four of them marched silently through the dense forest.

Onoda Shiro led the way, taking an extremely devious route and deliberately walking through pathless terrain to conceal his tracks.

After about an hour of walking, they arrived at a heavily concealed mountain hollow.

The entrance of the hollow was blocked by dense vines and shrubs; without a guide, it would have been utterly impossible to discover this hidden retreat.

Inside the hollow stood an inconspicuous cave.

The entrance was camouflaged with withered branches and fallen leaves.

Onoda Shiro motioned for them to carry the roe deer inside.

The cave was crude and barren, containing only a pile of extinguished ashes, a few tattered animal skins, and some scattered survival tools.

The air reeked of blood and damp mildew.

"Drop the goods. The three of you, get lost." Onoda Shiro issued the dismissal. "Remember what I said. Three days from now, at the same time, wait for me here. If you dare not to show up..."

He left the sentence unfinished, merely patting the Arisaka rifle in his hands.

"Yes! Yes! We'll remember!"

As if granted a reprieve from death, the three men dropped the roe deer onto the ground and scrambled out of the cave, fleeing the suffocating mountain hollow in a blind panic.

Only after running a long distance and losing sight of the hollow altogether did the three collapse onto the ground, gasping for breath as if they had just returned from the gates of hell.

"Tiger... Brother Tiger... What are we going to do now..." the Fat Man whimpered, his injured wrist swollen like a steamed bun from carrying the roe deer for so long.

Wang Erhu said nothing. He lay on the ground, staring blankly at the interlaced shadows of the trees overhead.

What to do?

He had no idea what to do.

He only knew that he had lost, completely and utterly.

He had lost the wager with Xu Feng.

And now, he had become the dog of the Japanese devils.

His life seemed to have hit rock bottom.

"Brother Tiger, what about... what about Xu Feng's side... about building the kang and laying the bricks..." Skinny Monkey's voice drifted over from nearby.

It turned out that after fleeing, Skinny Monkey had grown more terrified the more he thought about it. Not daring to return to the village alone, he had waited for Wang Erhu and the others at the foot of the mountain.

He had hidden in the distance and witnessed a rough outline of what had just transpired.

"Build your mother's kang!" Wang Erhu leaped up from the ground, lashing out with a kick at the Fat Man to vent all his pent-up fury. "I can barely save my own skin right now! Who gives a damn about a fucking kang!"

He breathed heavily, his eyes bloodshot.

"Let's go! Back to the village!" he ground out through clenched teeth.

He was bound to lose face today.

But he had etched this grudge into his memory.

Xu Feng! Onoda! You both better wait for me!

...

It was dusk by the time Wang Erhu and his group returned to the village.

The setting sun stretched their shadows out long and thin. The four of them looked more wretched than the other.

Wang Erhu's face was bruised black and blue, his gaze as sinister as a man ready to devour flesh. The Fat Man had his arm in a sling, wincing in pain.

The Mute and Skinny Monkey followed behind, crestfallen and defeated, resembling a pair of beaten roosters.

Their appearance formed a stark contrast to the blustering bravado they had worn when setting out that morning. Villagers watching from a distance pointed and whispered among themselves.

"Look, Wang Erhu and the others are back!"

"They came back empty-handed? Not even a single hair?"

"Needless to say! Didn't you see how much stuff Xu Feng brought back this morning? That's what you call real skill! As for the few of them, they're lucky the wolves didn't drag them off in the mountains!"

Though low, these murmurs pierced Wang Erhu's heart like needles.

He clenched his fists so tightly his nails nearly dug into his flesh.

Instead of going home, he marched straight toward the eastern end of the village, heading in the direction of Xu Feng's house.

Taking in the scene, the Fat Man panicked and hurried to grab him. "Brother Tiger, what... what are you doing? We're in this state, and you still want to provoke that star of ill omen?"

"Get lost!" Wang Erhu violently shook him off, his eyes burning red. "I've been driven to a dead end today!"

Caught between Xu Feng's wager on one side and the Japanese soldiers' threats on the other, death awaited him either way.

With nothing left to lose, he decided to throw caution to the wind.

In Xu Feng's courtyard, Lin Xue was drying some medicinal herbs. The large pile of game stacked by the gate had already become a unique scenic landmark in Old River Gulch Village.

Wang Erhu kicked open the ajar courtyard gate and swaggered inside.

Inside the house, Xu Feng was leisurely whetting a small skinning knife on a grindstone.

Hearing the commotion, he didn't even raise his head.

Startled, Lin Xue saw that it was Wang Erhu and silently retreated beneath the eaves, her clear eyes watching the intruder with vigilance.

"Xu Feng!" Wang Erhu walked to the center of the courtyard, came to a halt, and spoke in a hoarse voice.

Xu Feng did not stop his hand movements. The friction between the blade and the grindstone produced a rustling sound that seemed exceptionally sharp in the quiet courtyard.

"I lost the bet," Wang Erhu stared at Xu Feng's back, forcing the words out through his teeth.

Only then did Xu Feng pause. He held the small knife up to the light, inspecting it as if well-pleased with the edge, before finally turning around to look at Wang Erhu.

He remained silent, simply gazing at him, waiting for whatever else Wang Erhu had to say. Nettled by the stare, Wang Erhu felt a prickle of unease, but the memory of his humiliation today reignited his fury.

He fished a rusted pig-slaughtering knife from his tunic and hurled it onto the stone table with a sharp clang.

"Building the kang, laying the walls—I concede. But as for me, Wang Erhu, I have no money, only this one life!"

He slapped his chest and thrust out his chin, roaring, "If you've got the guts, come stab me to death right now! But as long as I draw breath, I won't do this work! Drive me to my death, and you won't come out ahead either!"