Chapter 49 The Prize

We could certainly shoot, but to play along with Du Qitai, everyone was filled with excited anticipation.

"Great! I've never tried shooting before. I wonder what it feels like to hold a gun?" He Xin raised her hand and called out a few times.

That guy was truly an actor; they could give him an Oscar.

Gao Mingqiang chimed in, "Yeah! Yeah! I usually love watching police and gangster movies. When I see the police pointing guns at criminals, it's so cool. I always wanted to be a cop when I was a kid, but I never had the chance! Now I get to experience it in a tourist area, that's just thrilling!"

"It's a quiet tourist area!" Du Qitai corrected him.

"Right! I mispronounced it. Boss Du, are you going to teach us how to shoot?" Gao Mingqiang asked curiously. It was hard to tell, but this guy was also a drama queen. He, usually so mild-mannered, put on quite a show.

"Sure, each of you can take a hunting rifle and follow me!"

Du Qitai instructed, and we successively took rifles and some ammunition. Soon, we walked out of the service station and followed behind Du Qitai.

After walking down a paved road, we saw that a few Siberian tigers were indeed confined below a circular enclosure. These were national protected animals. He was actually raising them here; it was unclear if it was legal.

As we passed the enclosure, the Siberian tigers roared at us, seeming to dislike strangers.

I noticed many fragments of human bones below the enclosure, along with scattered bits of flesh and a lot of blood. Others probably couldn't see clearly, but my eyes caught it. Du Qitai had just said there was no danger here, but I saw that quite a few people had been bitten to death by the tigers in the enclosure.

Acting as if nothing had happened, we arrived at the shooting range. Du Qitai stood in front of a target, picked up a rifle, and demonstrated seriously for us. Then, he squinted one eye and pulled the trigger at the target!

He looked quite skilled, as if he practiced every day.

*Bang!*

After a gunshot, we saw that Du Qitai had hit the center. He Xin deliberately said, "Amazing, Boss Du! How are you so familiar with shooting? What did you do before?"

He Xin's question was probing, but Du Qitai didn't seem nervous. "Of course, I was in the army before. It was only when my family asked me to handle the business that I didn't stay!"

"So that's how it is. You really are not simple!" He Xin said with deliberate praise, clapping her hands to encourage him.

Du Qitai fired another shot, again hitting the center. The others also made some deliberately boisterous sounds. Then, he began to teach us shooting hand-in-hand.

We all pretended to be first-timers with firearms, cooperating stiffly. Our movements were more awkward than if we genuinely didn't know how to shoot. It's easy to reveal a flaw when you know something but pretend you don't.

Fortunately, Du Qitai seemed not to notice anything. He taught us one by one. He watched from the side. I deliberately shot wide, but he encouraged me, "Not bad, Mr. He. With your talent, it's already quite good!"

I rubbed the back of my head and put on a humble expression, "Alright, Boss Du!"

Yuan Hezhi and the other guy seemed to be having a blast. They genuinely didn't know how to shoot; their hands trembled with each shot. Still, they enjoyed themselves.

I chatted with them for a bit and then realized that the girl's name was Yuan He, and they weren't a couple at all, but siblings!

If I hadn't delved deeper, I wouldn't have known. What a misunderstanding earlier.

Both of them should be good at computer technology, but they happened to be invited to this place. It could only mean trouble.

After all, this was hardly a tourist trip.

We each practiced for a while. Once everyone could fire a gun, Du Qitai said, "That's about it. You can go hunting in the mountains now, but everyone needs to wear protective gear!"

Du Qitai distributed knee pads and wrist guards to us and then left.

After we put on our gear, He Xin whispered, "Could this be a trap?"

"Let's be careful. Dealing with a few wild beasts shouldn't be a problem, right?" I said.

Liu Yuning shook his head, "There are Siberian tigers in that enclosure!"

"As long as we don't disturb them, we can just shoot a few wild rabbits or deer and head back!" Xiahou suggested.

I thought it was a good idea and carefully left the shooting range. We immediately headed towards the forest. We found some waterways here too. It seemed this tourist area was indeed surrounded by waterways, but there was very little water here, so we could just walk across without a small boat.

We were wandering in the forest when we suddenly heard roaring sounds. I saw dark, low-lying shapes near the trees not far away!

However, it was Xiao Yuande who reacted first, "It's jackals, everyone be careful!"

Just as he finished speaking, a voice came from a loudspeaker not far away, "Dear tourists, you are now facing wild beasts that frequent the area. Grab your weapons! Hunt them carefully, and you can grill the game you kill at the nearby barbecue pit!"

It was Du Qitai's voice. He said it so casually, but these were jackals! And there seemed to be quite a lot of them.

They quickly surrounded us. We gripped our hunting rifles and cautiously stood guard, feeling a strong urge to find Du Qitai and just shoot him. That would have made things much simpler. Of course, doing so would be committing murder.

The jackals were probably very hungry. Seeing us, they couldn't help but drool, then they all leaped towards us!

*Bang bang bang!!*

Continuous gunshots rang out. Many jackals were shot dead directly, but some still pounced on us. Xiao Yuande fought one against five, directly ripping the jackals off us and pinning them to the ground before finishing them off with a few more shots.

Seeing Xiao Yuande's skilled movements, a round of applause came from the loudspeaker. Du Qitai's voice sounded again, "Impressive! As expected of a veteran soldier, Mr. Xiao, you have won first place in this hunting ground. You will receive a special souvenir and a cash prize of 2,000 yuan."

Hearing this, Yuan Hezhi became incredibly excited, "No way! Free travel is one thing, but now there's prize money?"

I secretly felt speechless. This was definitely Du Qitai's way of luring in ignorant tourists.

Xiao Yuande naturally wasn't very interested in these rewards, but he deliberately pretended to be very happy. "Boss Du, thank you very much!"

As we came out of the hunting ground, Du Qitai was standing near a counter outside. He was holding a watch and an envelope. Could the prize be that watch?