Chapter 8

Li Si chose a location for his ambush in a sparse thicket, where the dense vegetation of the forest would not be advantageous for their archery and would instead favor the water deer's escape.

Wang San, sitting in a pit, was dozing off. Suddenly, Li Si nudged him. The water deer were coming! He perked up and, like Li Si, peered out through the gaps.

A group of water deer approached. They moved nimbly and orderly. A male deer led the group, looking like the leader. The antlers on his head, often referred to by hunters as a "big fish tail," had three prongs on each side, making seven in total. This was the most perfect form. The antlers had ossified into hard, ridged horns, reaching three feet in length. This indicated that he was at least four years old. He stood over four feet tall, exuding a majestic presence. As he walked, he occasionally made a "piao piao" sound. Li Si knew that this call did not mean he had detected them but was warning other deer that this area was under his control, and any intruders would be driven away.

Wang San drooled at the sight of the male deer. By his experience, just this one deer could yield over a hundred pounds of meat. The antlers, though only half the price of those from a sika deer, still brought in a good income. He was a bit worried that the trap was too shallow.

Li Si, stroking a small tuft of his beard, was inwardly excited. This was a sure win. He was confident in the setup he had created. He had been running around the mountains with his father since he was ten. Back then, there were many water deer in eastern Guangdong, but they became increasingly scarce and harder to hunt.

When he was eighteen, he heard that the Dutch were recruiting people to hunt deer in Taiwan, where there were few people and many deer. So he came. During his hunting, he met Wang Er and Wang San, and they got along well, so they formed a partnership. After Wang Er's death, he took Wang San as his sworn brother.

Li Si preferred to encounter young adult male deer, who were arrogant and fearless. He hated old male deer who had lived for over a decade, as he believed they were smarter than many people.

The young male deer walked confidently along a familiar path. His sense of smell told him that the surroundings were safe, but he did not notice the danger hidden under his hooves. He fell cleanly into the trap. His first reaction was not to sound an alarm but to howl angrily, as if trying to find his opponent to fight. The snare under his hooves caught them precisely, and the more he struggled, the tighter the snare became.

The other water deer were confused. Perhaps because the male deer did not sound an alarm, they did not run away but gathered around the trap. Some even took the opportunity to eat the green leaves sprinkled with salt water.

Seeing the right moment, Li Si burst out with a loud shout and shot an arrow. A female deer, chewing on the leaves, was shot through the neck and died instantly. Wang San, not to be outdone, threw a spear, hitting a young deer in the back, causing it to cry out and fall. The other deer scattered, but none fell into the trap. Li Si was already satisfied. The male deer alone could fetch a good price, and he noticed that the female deer he shot was pregnant, which would fetch an even higher price.

The sound of another water deer's cry came from the east. Ha, another one was caught.

Li Si said to Wang San, "Don't worry about the one in the trap yet. It's still full of energy and will fight fiercely. If we're not careful, we might damage the antlers, which would be a loss. Sprinkle more salt water on it later and let it get thirsty for a while; it will weaken. You go and finish off the one that was caught. From the sound, it's a young one."

Wang San replied excitedly, "Okay!" He returned to the ambush site, picked up a short, sturdy deer club, and headed east.

The Ocean Heart temporarily stopped because the people on board were arguing. Some suggested staying in a certain place to save diesel and stay safe. Others suggested continuing forward, arguing that the rich resources at the river mouth indicated that the area was undeveloped and any civilization, if present, would be of a low level, making it safe. They believed that to find the others, they needed to go upstream, where the water was shallow and the terrain high, suitable for a low-level civilization. Still, others suggested returning to the coast, but this idea was unanimously rejected. Some even swore.

Wu Dapeng, who had been quiet, suddenly laughed and said, "Have you noticed that we all seem to be getting more irritable?" Everyone fell silent.

Li Ziqiang apologized, "Sorry, Jianren, I don't know why I've become so impulsive."

Professor Jian smiled and waved his hand, "It's okay, the truth becomes clearer through debate!"

Sun Defa said, "Continuing to argue won't help. We should form a group."

"Right, let's call it the Enlightenment Society," Song Shida recalled, "to enlighten the people, build democracy and the rule of law. We had such noble ideals back then! Unfortunately, today's young people, influenced by various forces, no longer care about politics."

Li Ziqiang said loudly, "We don't need to worry about them. We are the young people now! Let's call it the Enlightenment Society, and let Da Niao be the first leader."

Professor Jian said, "Although the name sounds naive now, it represents a part of our history. I agree."

Sun Defa said, "Let's go back to twenty years ago. I agree."

After discussion, Leader Wu Dapeng issued the first order: continue forward for an hour, then find a suitable place to anchor.

The Ocean Heart continued to move forward at a speed of less than three knots. The river's banks gradually narrowed, and the vegetation along the shore changed, with bamboo groves and shrubs appearing.

"If there are humans here, they are not yet a match for the plants," Professor Jian said while scanning the shore with binoculars and chatting with Song Shida. Li Ziqiang and Wu Dapeng observed the other side.

The river became increasingly calm, and the boat no longer swayed as much as when they first entered the river mouth. Although the engine was quiet, it occasionally startled a few water birds that flew over the river.

"Look there, the right bank!" Wu Dapeng suddenly shouted.

Everyone looked in the direction Wu Dapeng pointed.

On the right bank of the river, there were two people. Upon closer inspection, one was holding a knife and slaughtering a dark animal on the ground, while the other was squatting by the river, washing something that looked like intestines.

Wang San and Li Si had finally moved four water deer to the riverbank. After a deer was killed, it needed to be gutted and skinned immediately to prevent the "warming of the gut," which would spoil the organs and affect the quality of the deer skin. So, despite their fatigue, the two immediately got to work. Li Si, using a hunting knife, efficiently gutted, skinned, and butchered three smaller deer. The largest one was left for last, a rare treat.

Wang San eagerly gathered many leaves from the wood lotus tree and spread them on the ground. He was overjoyed, though he couldn't calculate how much silver the four deer would fetch, but his brother had promised to give him a larger share. Perhaps he could save enough to marry a wife. He washed the deer organs in the river and laid them on the beach to dry in the sun. As he happily washed, he heard a faint rumbling sound. Was it going to rain? He looked up at the sky, but it was clear. Must have been a mistake. He continued his work.

After a while, Li Si, who had just finished skinning the deer, stopped and stood up, asking, "What's that sound?"

Wang San replied, "I heard it too. Is it going to rain?"

"Impossible, it's a clear day."

The two looked around. Suddenly, they saw it. Oh no, a white, sunlit strange boat was coming down the river!

Everyone observed the two people through binoculars: they were Han Chinese. They had their hair tied up with cloth, wore right-sleeved cotton clothes, and had blue cloth belts around their waists. They wore half-length pants, and their shoes were not visible. The dark animal was a deer, with long antlers.

"They've seen us!"

Through the binoculars, everyone saw the two people's surprised expressions and their movements to run away.

"Fazi, slow down, don't scare them away."

"Take a picture of them!"

"Shout something to let them know we're friendly."

"What should we say?"

"Anything!"

Li Ziqiang turned on the loudspeaker, thought for a while, and then said into the microphone, "Fellow countrymen, are you selling deer meat?"

Li Si and Wang San stared fearfully at the strange boat, their hearts pounding. Suddenly, the boat made a loud noise, and they couldn't make out what was being said. Without discussion, they turned and ran.

"Damn!" Everyone was angry.

"I should have said 'Hello, fellow countrymen.'"

"It wouldn't have mattered. They're scared. Besides, we don't know if they can understand us. Let's prepare to anchor here."

Everyone quickly put on riot gear. Song Shida and Professor Jian were still fumbling with inflating the inflatable boat.

Li Ziqiang commented, "Your skills are lacking."

Song Shida, dressed and holding a seven-shot rifle, said, "Damn, it's my first time seeing this thing. I'm just glad I found the inflation port."

Since they were only seven or eight meters from the riverbank, they didn't need to use the engine. They carefully lowered the inflatable boat and the gangway, and everyone struggled to get on board. In contrast, the retired police dog jumped down effortlessly and quietly sat by Professor Jian's side. Since it was brought, Professor Jian had been taking care of it, and it seemed to have developed a bond with him.

After a few strokes, the boat reached the shore.

One by one, they jumped onto the shore and secured the inflatable boat. Standing on the alien land, and seeing that the two ancient people were Han Chinese, they felt relieved, no longer worrying about aliens or zombies. Their mood was particularly cheerful.

Li Ziqiang looked around, wanting to say something heroic but couldn't think of anything, so he just held up his DV and started filming.

Wu Dapeng said, "Li Zi, observe the upstream direction. Ambassador, observe the front. I'll observe the downstream direction. Keep a distance from the forest. If there's any movement, don't try to identify it first, just shoot! Fazi and Jianren, measure the sextant, it's almost noon."

Sun Defa and Professor Jian first examined the items left by the two ancient people. A cloth bundle, two bows, two quivers, two shovels, and some wooden sticks. Three small and one large deer skin were hung on branches, and the deer meat was cut and placed on leaves on the ground. The deer organs were laid out on the beach nearby. These were two deer hunters.

Professor Jian said, "These are water deer. They have brown-black fur, very typical."

Sun Defa nodded and said, "I remember they are found in Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, and Vietnam."

Professor Jian said, "If we use the process of elimination, we can guess that we are in----"

"Not yet, let's measure first."

Sun Defa's watch showed 11:30, which was Beijing time in the original world. He had no evidence that his time was the same as the local time, so he used a high school method to determine it.

He found a relatively straight branch and stuck it in the ground, asking Professor Jian to mark the position of the shadow every ten minutes. The shortest shadow would be at noon, and he would compare it to the noon on his watch to calculate the time difference and thus the longitude. For latitude, he could use the length of the shortest shadow, or more conveniently, a sextant. Professor Jian was assigned to use the former method, while Sun Defa used the sextant. Li Ziqiang was supposed to help, but he was kicked out for giving random reports.

It might not be precise, but an estimate would suffice.

Sun Defa's watch was a Swiss Epos all-steel sports mechanical watch, expensive and extremely accurate. When his watch reached noon, the shadow of the branch had not yet reached its shortest point. After two more minutes, the shadow returned to a fine line. Sun Defa calculated that they were probably at about 120 degrees east longitude. He immediately took out the sextant, aimed it at the sun, and calculated the reflection, determining that they were at 22 degrees north latitude. He asked Professor Jian for his result, which was also close to 22 degrees north.

Sun Defa took out the map and carefully compared it, shouting, "We are on the Gaoping River in Taiwan!"

Li Si and Wang San did not run far. They cautiously peeked from the dense forest. There were five people in black, a dog, and three sentries wearing strange armor with semi-long firearms, patrolling the area. Two others were doing something on the ground. Were they stealing their deer meat? Li Si and Wang San stealthily changed their angle to get a better view. Suddenly, the dog barked, and they froze in fear.

"Taiwan? What a good place," Song Shida said, calming the dog. The dog kept barking into the forest, either sensing a wild animal or the two people who had run away and were now watching them. Song Shida lifted his helmet and whispered, "Damn, it's too hot! The thermometer read thirty degrees just now, and it's probably even hotter now."

Three people gathered around Sun Defa, looking at the map and commenting.

"So, we've come to the Gaoping River. Isn't the other side of the river Kaohsiung?"

"Unfortunately, I've only been to the Ai River in Kaohsiung; I don't know much about the Gaoping River."

"Whether you know it or not doesn't matter. I'm really hungry."

When they landed, everyone had brought food, but the additional deer meat gave them more options.

"Let's take some and cook it. In that world, it's a second-class protected animal, and you need connections to eat it. It tastes great!" Song Shida had also recognized it as a water deer. He whispered, "I bet those two didn't leave their things behind and are still in the forest. Otherwise, the dog's neck hair wouldn't keep standing up."

"Good idea. Let's cook the deer meat and see if they come out," Wu Dapeng immediately understood his meaning.

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