Chapter 63: Chapter 64: Journey Through the Wilderness
Before long, Liang En and Barry had found an open area where hunting was allowed. They donned bright orange warning vests and stepped onto the open ground.
Since this was just a simple experiment, they took a few empty bottles directly from the car and placed them at distances of 30, 50, and 100 meters as targets.
Naturally, Liang En went first in this situation. Following the skills of the East German soldier in his mind, he started by pulling back the gun's bolt, then inserting a 10-round clip into the magazine and pressing the bullets down with his thumb. He then pulled out the empty clip from the chamber.
Of course, this wasn't a battlefield, so Liang En didn't simply discard the empty clip. Instead, he tucked it into his ammunition vest and pulled back the bolt to chamber a round.
Next, he raised the rifle with a standard shooting stance, aimed at the target 30 meters away, and squeezed the trigger.
Two bullets struck the target accurately, sending the bottle flying.
"Nice shooting. Now try the target 100 meters away," Barry commented after Liang En's first shot. "We need to verify the accuracy of this new rifle's sights."
New rifle sights often aren't perfectly calibrated, so when Liang En aimed at the green bottle 100 meters away, the bullet ended up to the right of it, kicking up dust.
"The sights on the new rifle are slightly off to the right," Barry noted, observing as Liang En retrieved a tool from his toolbox to make adjustments. Once he was done, the next two bullets hit the plastic bottle at the hundred-meter mark.
Possibly due to the excitement of using this firearm for the first time, Liang En randomly picked a few more targets and shot quickly until the chamber was empty.
"Have you received military training before?" Barry asked after Liang En confirmed the chamber was empty and engaged the safety. He could see certain military traits in Liang En's weapon handling.
As Bruce's representative, Barry was a former special forces operative retired from the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command, giving him an observational edge that an ordinary person might lack.
"You should know that I haven't undergone any formal military training. My interest in military matters since childhood led me to self-learn some skills," Liang En replied. He believed Barry had learned about his background from Mr. Bruce.
Barry then showcased his own military proficiency with his firearm, and afterward, they both cleaned and stored their guns and ammunition before leaving the area in their car.
As the car headed south, the surroundings grew increasingly harsh. While there were initially forests and lakes, the vegetation became sparser the farther south they went. Eventually, only barren mountains and sparse desert terrain remained.
"Now it looks just like scenes from those old western movies," Liang En remarked subconsciously as he gazed at the reddish rock walls and the equally reddish desert landscape.
"Indeed, because this is the West," Barry responded. He played the famous whistling theme from "Red Dead Redemption" in the car and spoke loudly.
"And right now, we're walking the same path as those famous cowboys did back in the day."
"Moreover, we are currently searching for the treasure they left behind," Liang En said with a smile. "By the way, there's a small town up ahead called Lincoln Town. Once we pass through that town, we'll head into the mountains."
Lincoln Town was one of the many small towns from the Western era, even its name belonged to that period's clichés. If you were to open a map, you would find a multitude of places named after U.S. presidents and vice presidents.
After crossing through this seemingly dozen-odd-house town, the car bumped onto a rough dirt road. After driving for about ten minutes along the side of the slope, only a narrow path remained ahead.
"The car can only go this far. For the next twenty kilometers or so, we'll have to walk on foot," Liang En said, having carefully studied the map. "We might need to spend a night in the mountains."
"Actually, this mountainous area is safer than the forest park we passed earlier," Barry remarked, having packed his necessary equipment. "It's barren here, but that also means fewer fierce wild animals."
"You're right. According to the information, the most dangerous creatures in this area are just a few rattlesnakes and wolves. With some caution, there shouldn't be safety issues," Liang En responded, proceeding along the trail.
Due to the area's desolation and isolation, there were hardly any people around. The two would rest every 40 minutes or so, only stopping when it started getting dark.
Observing the terrain around them and confirming their correct route using their GPS devices, they eventually halted by a spring at the bottom of a valley.
Perhaps due to their luck, they found a cave about the size of a couple of rooms, less than 30 meters away from the spring.
Around the cave and the spring, they discovered ample evidence of human activity. Tidily arranged wood, a stone-ringed hearth, and an unusual number of glass bottles were among the findings.
Upon noticing signs of human activity, Liang En and Barry chambered rounds in their firearms and remained alert, scanning their surroundings.
In the United States, the safety level of remote wilderness areas like this was comparable to that of downtown Detroit. Anyone encountered could potentially be an outlaw with a criminal record, more dangerous than rattlesnakes and wolves.
This wasn't Liang En disparaging Americans; just consider the number of people who go missing in the American wilderness every year, and you could infer the security level of such places.
True, many missing individuals fell into ravines, suffered from bad weather, or were unlucky enough to be attacked by bears. However, a larger number vanished because they were targeted or witnessed something they shouldn't have, leading to them being silenced.
Fortunately, as a professional, Liang En carefully analyzed the human traces and realized they were at least 50 years old.
"If I'm not mistaken, people were initially searching for gold in this area. Unfortunately, there's no gold in the rocks here."
After cautiously turning around with his gun in hand, Liang En made a judgment. "Then during the Prohibition era in the U.S., these abandoned mines without gold were taken over by bootleggers and used to store their illegal moonshine."
"Though it's remote from cities, it's not that far from an interstate highway and the junction of two states, making it an excellent spot for a moonshine smuggling operation."
"Are all you treasure hunters this skilled?" Barry expressed surprise after hearing Liang En's analysis.
As a former special forces member, he could deduce that the human traces were ancient, but the specifics were beyond his knowledge.
"It's just that each of us is skilled in different areas," Liang En smiled. "Just like how your combat skills could easily overpower three of me."
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