Rebirth in the 50s: The Couple with the Hidden Space novel Chapter 617

Chapter 617: Chapter 495: Black Bear Sighted

When Zhang Guoqing reminisced about Daqing Mountain, Zhang Family Village—or rather, all the teams at the foot of Daqing Mountain—were facing an extremely perilous crisis.

The black bear (black bear) made an appearance.

"Granduncle, two lazy guys from Xialin Village were slapped to death by a black bear on the mountain."

A young guy from the village ran towards the fields, shouting loudly as he ran.

The members who heard this immediately put down their work and surrounded him.

Everybody was talking at once, asking what exactly happened?

Ever since Xialin Village merged with the nearby two villages to form the Red Sun Team, they have been living together. How could something happen so close to the foot of the mountain?

Especially since the once poverty-stricken Xialin Village, now part of the Red Sun Team, seemed to have hit a streak of good luck. First, the entire village dined at the public canteen, and then last year, all the bachelors got married without spending any money.

It was hard for everyone to believe that people from Xialin Village were suddenly slapped to death by a black bear. Could those damn fortunate guys really be in luck to go up the mountain?

The Old Captain saw this, and shouted: "What are you all doing? Hurry up and get back to work." He glanced at the panting young man, "If they’re dead, they’re dead, why are you making such a fuss?"

The young man shrank back a little, "Granduncle, those two were bitten and shredded... uh, no, they were just bones left on the field near the monastery halfway up our mountain."

Upon hearing this, a few people, including the Old Captain, were taken aback. Usually, if outsiders died, they just died, as life was cheapest these days. But it was different hearing where the incident happened.

If the black bear really came down to the village, it wouldn’t even take half an hour. And with the harvest coming, how could they go up the mountain? They’d always considered halfway up the mountain as the safety line.

The Old Captain didn’t think the kid was lying, but he asked again, "Did you see it with your own eyes?"

"I didn’t go halfway up the mountain. It was the team members searching for people who said it. Many people puked at the time."

The Old Captain nodded, "Go have a drink of water first, good boy."

After saying that, he saw some young people getting restless, and glared as he said, "Anyone who’s tired of living should go up the mountain and mind their own hides."

"We won’t. I’m going back to work."

"I’m going to work too, hey, wait for me."

If it was normal times, the Old Captain might have had more to say. But now he didn’t have the time, so he just greeted Uncle Zhang and a few others, and wandered over to the neighboring teams with his hands behind his back.

He still needed to find the elders of each village. Don’t be fooled by those titles like Team Leader or Squad Leader; if something really happens, it’s the elders of the villages you need to find.

"Old Zhang, is it really because of the black bear?"

The Old Captain nodded with a frown.

"Sigh... the harvest is just around the corner. Who knows if anything else besides the black bear might come down the mountain."

The Old Captain impatiently waved his hand, "Alright, stop with the ominous talk. We old fellas need to get together to come up with a plan. I need to find people, are you coming or not?"

The white-haired old man got up with a cheerful laugh, "You’re still as impatient as ever. Let’s go. I think we need the hunters from a few villages to go up the mountain and have a look.

I’ve heard this black bear is over 2 meters tall, weighs over 600 pounds, and even has a cub with it. If we go up with too few people, it won’t work. If something happens, we need a lot of people to handle it, or else it could kill a person with one slap."

He spoke as he walked, stealing a glance at the Old Captain, chuckling, "Old Zhang, the incident happened so close to your village. Maybe you should offer some dry food?"

The Old Captain responded grumpily, "Your village isn’t any further. Maybe the black bear likes to move left and right. Dry food, huh? If our team isn’t starving to death, it’ll be a miracle, and you still talk about dry food."

The cornfield, which was about to be harvested, was trampled down in large patches overnight, with the immature corn mostly destroyed. The ten or so strong men patrolling the area faced the two black bears with no ability to resist, suffering one serious injury. It was only after some messy shooting with hunting rifles and the use of firecrackers that they managed to drive them away.

This time, the Old Captain was almost driven to death with worry. Just a bit more, just a few miles, and the crops in their village would have been completely ruined.

Watching the neighboring team’s weeping women wailing to the heavens, he silently prayed to the ancestors for protection. At this moment, he didn’t preach to the descendants of Old Zhang’s family about having a conscience.

Unable to wait to see how things developed with their team, the Old Captain led the villagers back to the drying yard.

Under the scorching sun, his steady and powerful voice came through the loudspeaker.

"From now on, everyone must devote themselves wholeheartedly. Whether we have enough to eat next year depends on this. If anyone at this critical moment is still thinking of slackening off, I’ll personally kick your family out of the team. Go wherever you want to go, whichever team you want to stay with.

These harsh words are upfront, and there’s one more thing I need to inform you about.

After the busy farming season, the canteen will disband, and if you want to fill your stomachs, you’d better pay attention. This time, I won’t distribute food by headcount; everyone except the babies in arms will earn their food by work points.

If anyone feels unjust about this, go ahead and report to the town about my corrupt practices; it happens that I don’t want to be the captain anymore either.

As long as I’m the captain for a day, I’ll do the captain’s work for a day.

Next, all men aged sixteen to sixty in the team will patrol at night. Arrangements will be announced by the militia captain.

Finally, and most importantly, if you see the black bear coming, don’t sacrifice yourself, just fire the firecrackers to scare it away. Got it?"

The Old Captain’s authority, together with his words, made the people in the drying yard shout that they understood.

Uncle Zhang, seeing this, pondered if he’d have the same guts if he were promoted to Team Leader. Soon, he shook his head in private...except for the Old Captain, no one else could hold these villagers together.