Infinite Hunter

Sure enough, the next day, just as the bewildered colonel learned someone had been dragged away by a lion, Cheng Yijiu had already arrived at the scene. Still not far from the camp, the remains of this person were even less than those of the cremated Mahina; they had been essentially devoured, leaving only a few large bones. "The lion just quietly devoured this unfortunate fellow less than thirty meters from the camp! Damn it, it's nowhere to be seen from here," Cheng Yijiu cursed.

The workers tried to flee, but were stopped by the colonel. Cheng Yijiu had no intention of intervening in their affairs. He took an Indian guard lent to him by the colonel and followed the lion's footprints he had found. He was more confident during the day. Lions would hide in the shade for most of the day to rest. It was the dry season in Africa, and there was not much rain.

Cheng Yijiu took out a brass telescope and saw a group of lions lying in the shadows of trees in the distance. "I can see at least four lionesses, no male lions, and it seems there are no cubs." Cheng Yijiu put down the telescope. "It's too far away. I can't hit it." He found the river. There were many footprints here, including those of lions and leopards. Cheng Yijiu found regretfully that he might not be able to find his target.

The two lions were elusive and attacked almost every night. On the fourth day after the first attack, the workers could no longer bear it. The colonel had them surround the entire camp with thorns, leaving a doorway in and out, and light fires between the campsites to burn all night to scare away the lions.

But this time, the lion changed its behavior.

The colonel was directing construction on the railway bridge across the river, while Cheng Yijiu was far away from the camp, tracking a male lion that might be a man-eating lion. He followed carefully behind, always paying attention to his surroundings. At that time, most zoologists and colonists believed that lion prides were led by a single male lion - this was also a prejudice brought about by their ridiculous social common sense.

But Cheng Yijiu knew full well that lions had brotherhoods, and even unrelated lions would form private brotherhoods. Sometimes, these brotherhoods could consist of as many as five or six lions, jointly ruling a large area and the lionesses within it. Sometimes, some lions would not even occupy an entire pride, but instead acted as a small brotherhood to dominate the world.

Could the lion he was tracking be one of them? He didn't know, but he did know there was a fair chance he could shoot it—and a 50-50 chance it might be a man-eater.

Cheng Yijiu was about a hundred meters away from the lion. He could barely make out its tracks amidst the yellow thatch. He climbed a nearby tree and leaned against a branch four or five meters above the ground. He finally spotted the lion moving among the thatch. "Dark mane, looks like a young lion," Cheng Yijiu muttered quietly. He looked around but didn't see any other lions.

So he picked up his rifle...

Chapter 4: Daytime Attack

Cheng Yijiu was over a hundred meters away from the lion. If he aimed his rifle, the lion would appear no bigger than a spider in the crosshairs, and he couldn't be sure where he would actually hit the lion. However, with the accuracy of the M70, he was sure to hit the lion.

The M70 was developed decades later, and its technology wasn't significantly different from current rifles—bolt-action rifles with rotating bolts had also been invented by that time. What truly made it stand out was the cartridge.

A true full-metal jacket bullet, with propellant that has not yet been invented in this world, brings far better ballistic performance and penetrating lethality than ordinary rifles in this world, and the rifle's more sophisticated materials guarantee all of this.

"If only there was a white light scope," Cheng Yijiu muttered. Even if he hadn't hit a vital point, the lion wouldn't have fared well after taking a Winchester Magnum round. Cheng Yijiu carefully observed the lion's movements. The lion was moving, so he had to calculate lead time and wind speed—all based on experience.

Cheng Yijiu struggled to lean his back against the tree trunk, his arms holding the rifle steady. He held his breath, and after about a second, he pulled the trigger. Cheng Yijiu's body jolted back, a dull gunshot erupting from the muzzle. He quickly pulled the bolt, ejecting a golden shell before pushing it forward to load the next bullet.

Cheng Yijiu didn't rush to fire the second shot. He just put down the rifle and looked ahead, "Damn! I missed it?" The lion moved, and ran quickly through the grass and into the forest behind.

Cheng Yijiu jumped down from the tree, rifle under his arm, and began to walk towards the lion's original location. He approached the location cautiously, first taking a quick look around, as it would be dangerous if a lion approached. Then he carefully examined the ground and the surrounding thatch, and indeed found no traces of blood.

"Did you really miss it?" Cheng Yijiu cursed in disappointment, turned around and went back to the camp along the way he came.

Behind him, in the jungle, behind a rock, a young male lion lay on the ground, a pool of blood oozing out, its breathing extremely rapid. The bullet had actually hit the lion's shoulder blade, hitting the bone after entering, then tumbling through the lion's body and exiting from the other side. The lion's life had entered the countdown.

Unfortunately, Cheng Yijiu didn’t know, and he didn’t want to risk going deep into the jungle alone.

When he returned to the camp, no one welcomed him. Everyone was working. There was no attack that night, so Cheng Yijiu asked the colonel to rest, and he stayed in the tree all night.

Just when everyone thought the lion might have left, real trouble arose - in broad daylight, the lion bypassed the thorn wall and directly entered the work site without thorn protection. The lion pounced on one of the workers who were fleeing in panic, killed him on the spot and began to bite him.

Cheng Yijiu was a step behind the colonel because he had told the colonel after his night watch that he needed to rest for a while, so he was still asleep when the lion attacked. Cheng Yijiu was also sleeping so soundly that the workers' screams and the lion's roars at first didn't wake him up at all.

This was because his tent was quite far from the construction site, about 400 meters away. Cheng Yijiu was suddenly awakened by a start, and as soon as he woke up, he heard screams coming from outside. At first, he thought there was an accident at the construction site. It was true that the railway bridge construction site was very noisy, which was one of the reasons why Cheng Yijiu did not wake up.

But then he heard the adjective "devil," so he quickly put on his pants and boots, grabbed his rifle, and rushed out. He didn't even have time to put on his shirt, running to the scene with his upper body naked. When he ran, there were two bodies lying on the ground. The colonel's arm was cut, and the trainee priest had his neck cut open and was dead. Cheng Yijiu didn't have time to comfort the colonel—the doctor was treating the colonel's wound.

He carefully stayed beside the worker's body, which had been mauled by the lions, and began to explore the lion's footprints. "Colonel, I'm so sorry. I slept too deeply," Cheng Yijiu said. The other shook his head. "It has nothing to do with you. You were on guard all night and nothing happened. This time, these two lions are indeed very strange."

Cheng Yijiu decided to go after the two lions, but he was not in a position to ask the colonel for one or two guards, so he simply said, "Colonel Peterson, I may be away for one or two days to track these two lions." The colonel did not say anything, he looked a little discouraged.

Cheng Yijiu returned to his tent and packed a few things, mainly some medicine, canned food for the journey, some tools, and, most importantly, his gun and bullets. He began tracking the lion from the footprints near the dead worker—the traces of this lion's footprints, along with those of its brother, were deeply etched in Cheng Yijiu's mind.

Cheng Yijiu set out after lunch. Although he had only slept for less than three hours, he was still energetic and set out on the road to hunt the lions. The two lions might move around a large area, and Cheng Yijiu was prepared to not find the target for at least two or three days.

If they didn't find it today, it would take at least two or three days, so Cheng Yijiu walked quickly. He quickly passed the place where he had tried to shoot the lion last time and entered the jungle. He didn't walk in the forest, but on the separated grasslands. He had to maintain good visibility to avoid being attacked by lions in the forest.

There were hyenas here, and Cheng Yijiu saw hyena footprints, as well as lion footprints, but not the footprints of one of the two lions, but of the lioness. Cheng Yijiu stopped in his tracks. In front of him was a bone that had been bitten and scarred. Cheng Yijiu ignored the stench and squatted down to pick the bone with a branch.

"Hyena tooth marks, and this is a lion's leg bone. Judging from the remaining fur and claws, it may be part of the front paw." In Cheng Yijiu's eyes, the incomplete bones were just lion's leg bones and a small part of the metacarpal and phalanges. Judging from the direction of the hyena's footprints, it might have been taken out from somewhere in the jungle.

Cheng Yijiu walked a few steps and saw a vulture. When he continued to approach, Cheng Yijiu saw a spine and an incomplete skull, which was very large and belonged to a lion. Judging from the remaining mane, it was still a male lion.

"An unlucky male lion was killed by hyenas?" Judging from the freshness of the body, it was definitely not one of the two man-eating lion brothers, because the skin and flesh of this lion had already begun to rot. In Cheng Yijiu's opinion, this lion was probably dead for more than 24 hours.

Chapter 5 Tracking Failure

"It's a pity that it's not a man-eating lion." Cheng Yijiu sighed and continued walking towards the stone mountain. There was a lion here and it was in the woods. Cheng Yijiu saw a little bit of yellow and knew that the lion that attacked people was here, in the jungle not far away from him.

"Two lions, I need a place where I won't be ambushed." Cheng Yijiu was in trouble. The lion brothers were very cunning. When Cheng Yijiu focused on chasing one of them, the other one could launch a sneak attack - although Cheng Yijiu didn't see it, he was sure that the other lion must be nearby.

Cheng Yijiu's five senses were far more sensitive than the average person's, a benefit bestowed upon him by the punishment scenario. At this moment, he couldn't help but think of his first punishment scenario: what would have happened if the Bihar man-eating tiger were here? The lion that snatched the food seemed doomed. The Bihar man-eating tiger's forelimbs and physique far surpassed the lions here, and a single blow from its forelimbs would likely have caused severe damage. Add to that its canines, which were far longer and thicker than those of the lions, and a single bite would have been fatal.

But thinking about this now was pointless. Cheng Yijiu could only enter the jungle with great caution, moving cautiously towards the lion. He walked very slowly because he had to pay half his attention to his back, always maintaining a good view behind him. So when he could no longer maintain that view, he opened fire in that direction.

The loud gunshots forced the lion to move, and not just the lion, but other animals in the jungle also fled in fright. Cheng Yijiu quickly moved to an open area, but the lion had already run away. "Then let's continue tracking." Unfortunately, in most cases, the footprints were intermittent, and Cheng Yijiu's tracking of the lion's footsteps was not very smooth.

"It's very dangerous indeed," he thought to himself. It was obvious that he was tracking a lion ahead, but the second lion's footprints were approaching each other with a gap of time. Although these two lions often moved together, sometimes they would keep a distance between them. Cheng Yijiu felt that he was almost caught. "Two lions? This behavior pattern is the first time I've seen this. Maybe they are two hunters being punished?"

At night, Cheng Yijiu did not dare to rest on the flat ground. He climbed up a tall tree and built a simple support bed on the branches that could not support the lion's weight to rest - this is something that gorillas can do. He tried it and found it feasible, but he needed a safety belt to prevent himself from falling directly to the ground in case it fell apart.

Aside from being attacked by some insects that night, there was no other danger. After Cheng Yijiu finished his observation, he descended the tree and continued to stalk his prey. For two whole days, the two lions seemed to be circling. Cheng Yijiu had difficulty distinguishing the order of their footprints, and the two lions did not seem to stop much during these two days.

"Damn it! Don't cats spend most of their time sleeping?" The range and speed of the two lions' movements were quite exaggerated. Cheng Yijiu soon realized that he had lost them. In fact, he might have lost them as early as the second night. The footprints he was following might be from a few days ago. There was nothing he could do. The two lions had been wandering around without rest for the past few days, completely disrupting Cheng Yijiu's tracking direction.

He had no choice but to give up tracking and rely on the compass and map to return to the construction site. If the lion continued to attack the camp, he would always have a chance. Two days and one night later, Cheng Yijiu returned to the camp - because he got lost on the way for a while, and as soon as he entered the camp, he saw the chaos here.

The workers were fleeing in various horse-drawn and mule-drawn carts, while the black coordinator and the foreman were shouting and yelling. The colonel and the doctor didn't see anything, and even the guards dropped their weapons and ran away secretly. Cheng Yijiu walked directly to the black fat man who was shouting, "Hey, sir. What happened to the colonel and the others?" He looked at the workers who had escaped, "The lions are attacking again? Damn, these two monsters are too cunning." The foreman shouted excitedly, "That's darkness and ghosts, they are demons!"

"Colonel Peterson was injured, but what's worse is that Colonel Peterson's boss, who is also our boss... was dragged away by a lion." Hearing this, Cheng Yijiu couldn't help but widen his eyes. From the black man Samuel's account and the foreman Abdullah's supplement, he finally understood what had happened during his absence.

Just as he left, Robert, the general manager who had hired Colonel Peterson to build the bridge, arrived to inspect the project. He was concerned about the slow progress and reports of lion attacks on workers. Robert inspected the carriage traps Colonel Peterson had set up and, after threatening him, was about to leave. "I told you you'd hate me. If you don't catch up on the schedule, I guarantee you'll be completely ruined in England!" Robert and his secretary prepared to board the train back.

The attack took place in broad daylight on the platform. Just as General Manager Robert was about to step onto the platform, the lion attacked from the bushes behind him. The lion pounced from a distance of more than ten meters, throwing Robert directly to the other side of the tracks, likely killing him instantly.

In short, the guards performed very poorly. They fired several shots but missed. Instead, they were frightened by the second lion that appeared and ran around everywhere. The lions did not run away until the colonel arrived. Of course, Robert died, the secretary broke his leg, and the unlucky Robert even had his stomach ripped open and some of his internal organs taken out.

The colonel was injured in a carriage ambush on the second day. Lions attacked the carriage from both sides. One lion rushed into the carriage and was trapped, but the hunters in the carriage did not hit the lion, which was only five meters away, at the collision. Even the colonel missed two shots. Another lion hit from behind, causing serious panic. The colonel gained nothing in this ambush and also injured his waist and could not get up.

Now the workers are in a complete panic and are ready to leave. Due to the death of the general manager, the future of this railway... This is the power of the British Empire, and it is impossible to stop because of the death of a mere general manager. The colonel is expected to be replaced?

At this time, a man came, a roughly dressed American named Remington. He appeared almost suddenly, suddenly appearing between Samuel and Abdullah. Cheng Yijiu didn't even notice when this guy appeared.

This was a famous lion hunter, invited by the company to solve a problem. However, shortly after he was hired, a client was eaten by a lion. For a moment, he was speechless. He glanced at Cheng Yijiu and nodded, "Hello, colleague."

"Hello, I've never seen a lion like this before, have you?" Cheng Yijiu, sensing the same aura, chimed in. "Yes, but I'd have to see it myself to know for sure." Remington let out a strange cry, and in the bushes, accompanied by the same strange cry, a Maasai man in a red robe, holding a spear and a shield, appeared.

Chapter 6: Darkness and Ghosts

According to legend, the Maasai male coming-of-age ceremony is to kill a lion single-handedly with a spear, but in reality, this is completely different. However, these visiting Maasai are all good lion hunters. Just like our ancestors tens of thousands of years ago, relying on a dozen people armed with simple leather shields and spears, they can hunt all animals on this land.

Cheng Yijiu had seen the movie before, so he was aware of the problem. The safest and most appropriate method was to hunt in groups. Humans had always hunted in groups. Since the colonel was lying in bed and unable to move, the only person in charge was the black man, Samuel. After a few discussions with Remington, he agreed to Remington's request.

"The company pays for it anyway," he muttered. "Colonel Peterson is so unlucky." Cheng Yijiu didn't care about that. "So, shall we go and deal with the lion tomorrow or the day after tomorrow?" Remington looked him up and down, and after a while he said, "Well, but before that, I have to take a look here first. In case there is any problem, someone else will be dragged away by the lion."

"It's rare to see a man-eating lion like this appearing during the day." Cheng Yijiu muttered. Remington didn't say anything, but walked into the middle of the Maasai.

The next day, Remington went to inspect the camp. Cheng Yijiu had no interest in following him. He took a good shower, burned his dirty clothes, changed into new tropical hunting clothes, and sat in the tent to start maintaining his guns. Because it was the dry season, the heat was not unbearable as long as there was ventilation and shade.

He meticulously disassembled the M70, carefully checked and oiled it, then reassembled it. He pulled the bolt a few times. He didn't want to end up like in the movies, facing a lion only to find that the firing pin was broken or bent, preventing the bullet from firing. If it weren't for his luck, he would have been killed by the lion.

Now that the colonel was injured, he didn't need to worry about it anymore - what he should worry about was whether he could catch up on the schedule. Samuel said that the company had finally decided not to replace him for the time being, because the manager being killed by the lion also scared the board of directors, and they thought that this was probably some kind of force majeure, so they were willing to give the colonel another chance.

This hunt was probably just Remington and Cheng Yijiu, who had volunteered to go with him. The Maasai formed a small team to search for the lion's tracks—they were better at tracking lions than Cheng Yijiu, and even Remington's tracking skills were better than Cheng Yijiu's. However, Cheng Yijiu had some speculation about the possible range of the lion.

Sure enough, the Maasai came back and said they had seen lions in the jungle, most likely the two man-eating lions. "Compared to hunting buffalo together, it seems hunting humans is easier." Cheng Yijiu also chatted with Remington on the way, but the other party didn't seem interested in talking to him, so he just said a few "yeahs" and ended the conversation.

"Racist? Not likely. I guess it's just a matter of compatibility." Cheng Yijiu thought. At this time, Remington also said, "Cheng, you go to the high ground over there. If a lion appears and runs towards you, shoot it." The American man looked at the gun on Cheng Yijiu's back and asked, "Can I trust your shooting skills?"

Cheng Yijiu nodded and said, "I will hit it."

Cheng Yijiu bypassed the loose Maasai formation and climbed onto a rock on the rocky hill. Remington directed the Maasai to spread out, forming a figure eight and slowly entering the jungle. "A typical hunting operation, just like in a textbook." Cheng Yijiu, gun in hand, watched the Maasai below gradually close the encirclement.

Accompanied by a whistle, the Maasai let out a strange cry, and their movements suddenly became louder, making a very loud noise. "Drive them away," Cheng Yijiu observed carefully. He saw a yellow figure flash through the jungle. "The lion was startled. After all, it is a wild animal. When frightened, it will naturally flee in the direction of silence."

Cheng Yijiu observed carefully as he jumped off the rock. He took a few steps into the jungle and climbed over a fallen tree. Almost immediately, about ten meters away, a lion leaped over the rock and appeared directly in front of him.

The man and the lion locked eyes, and the lion roared, shaking its mane rapidly. Cheng Yijiu, without hesitation, raised his rifle, took aim, and pulled the trigger. Unlike the unfortunate Colonel Peterson in the movie, Cheng Yijiu's rifle roared loudly, and a bullet pierced the lion's open mouth and exited through the back of its head.

Cheng Yijiu was using shrapnel bullets, whose soft lead cores expand upon impact, causing large wounds. These bullets were designed specifically for hunting large animals, and were considered merciful, as they could quickly kill the animal. Almost immediately, the lion fell to the ground.

Hearing Cheng Yijiu's gunshot, Remington on the other side shouted, "Cheng! Did you hit it?"

Cheng Yijiu also answered loudly, "I just shot a lion, but I can't guarantee that this is the one we are looking for." The Maasai continued to advance. Many animals ran out from Cheng Yijiu's direction, but there was no second lion among them. "Damn it!" Cheng Yijiu cursed.

He could already see the red clothing of the Maasai through the gaps in front of him, but before him was the lion, blood oozing from its mouth. Cheng Yijiu was less than twenty meters away from the Maasai, and some of them could already see him. The noise gradually faded, and it seemed as if almost all the animals in the jungle had been driven out, and the lion was shot dead.

At that moment, a loud lion roar suddenly erupted, coming from behind the Maasai. "The lion isn't trapped in the bush?" Even Cheng Yijiu was startled. The Maasai turned, including Remington, who was holding his double-barreled shotgun, in the direction of the roar. A black-maned lion appeared and disappeared in the bushes.

The lion was outside the effective range of the double-barreled shotgun. In this day and age, even if the bullet had enough killing power at this distance, it would basically miss. The lion roared frequently, and Cheng Yijiu also prepared to move forward. His rifle could still accurately hit the target at this distance.

Once again, the situation erupted suddenly. In this compressed space, now only a little over ten meters wide, Cheng Yijiu's first movement was met with a sudden and violent lion roar. In this confined space, the lion had surprisingly endured this long. The roar and the lion's sudden close proximity threw the Maasai into disarray. Cheng Yijiu, displaced, was unable to stop the lion, which had first pounced on the Maasai, creating chaos, then quickly turned and fled from his original position, using rocks as cover...

Chapter 7 Ambush

Once the lurking lion ran away, the black-maned lion roaring on the other side of the grassland also turned and ran away, leaving the hunters no chance at all. When Remington walked through the jungle with a double-barreled hunting rifle, he only saw Cheng Yijiu sitting a little depressed on a fallen tree. Before him was a dead lion lying on the ground. "Sorry, I didn't expect that." Cheng Yijiu raised his eyes and glanced at Remington.

"No one would have guessed that," the lion hunter muttered. Cheng Yijiu saw the Maasai come over and say a few words to Remington, then they left with their weapons. "They say these two are demons... Dark Night and Ghost. They're not lions, they're demons. It's useless for them to stay here," Remington explained to Cheng Yijiu. After all, Cheng Yijiu had shot a lion, so it couldn't be said to be his fault.

"Dark night and ghosts, these two lions..." Cheng Yijiu gestured, "Not quite normal. Have you ever seen a male lion that can endure being driven away and threatened by humans, even if they are only a few meters away from it, and will not move?" Remington placed the hunting rifle across his knees. He sat under a fallen tree on the other side. The two of them were waiting for the workers to come and carry the dead lion back - at least it could at least comfort the people.

"Perhaps, but if you add that black-maned lion, I've never seen such a brotherhood before." Remington was silent at first, but after taking out his pipe and smoking, he finally spoke. "Historically, lions here have been accustomed to eating people. I'm not just worried about these two lions." Cheng Yijiu also puffed away to relieve the pressure. "India's man-eating tigers, those monsters give me a much scarier feeling..."

The two men remained silent until Samuel and his workers carried the dead lion back to the camp, where the crowd cheered. The colonel, leaning on a cane, emerged, followed by the doctor. "I'm sorry, Colonel Peterson, this lion isn't one of the two we're hunting," Remington explained quietly. "Now we have to prepare and wait. The old hospital is perfect as bait—after all, it reeks of blood," Remington said, nodding at Cheng Yijiu.

Although lions actually attacked the new hospital in the movie, no one can say whether the same plot will happen again. Cheng Yijiu checked the colonel and the doctor's guns for them. "Colonel, no one can guarantee that the two lions will not attack the new hospital, even though we have sprinkled cow blood in the old hospital to lure the lions. But I hope you can hold your guns - Colonel, can you sit on the bed? You at least need guns to protect yourself."

Cheng Yijiu and Remington each took a wooden chair and sat back to back in the center of the empty old hospital, waiting for the lion to appear. "Dark night and ghosts..." Cheng Yijiu muttered softly. "I think I should switch with the doctor. The lion might attack them," he said, but behind him, Remington had already fallen asleep. It was the light sleep of a hunter.

Even speaking wouldn't wake him now, but if a lion approached, even the lightest footstep would startle Remington awake. Cheng Yijiu knew this because he could do it too—it was the feeling of a true "hunter," not just "hearing." Cheng Yijiu leaned back in his chair, smiled, and then he too fell into a deep sleep.

Africa's nights are never peaceful. From afar, an eerie laugh echoed: the roar of hyenas, hunting under cover of darkness. Hyenas are not scavengers; the bulk of their food comes from their prey. There were no lion roars, which was odd. In the empty old hospital, besides the stench of rotting cow blood, there was only the sound of gentle breathing.

It was the soft snoring of a relaxed human, but it suddenly died away. Under the moonlight that filtered through the upper window lattice, one of the two darker shadows suddenly lit up with two small yellow lights, which then flickered a few times and disappeared. Cheng Yijiu knew from his suddenly tense breathing and the muscle movements transmitted through the chair that both Remington and he had become alert.

"The lion is coming," Cheng Yijiu thought. He didn't hear any sound, but he knew it was coming—it was a terrifying man-eating beast, Bihar's heart of a man-eating tiger. Both of them quietly stood up from their chairs, stretching their numb legs and bodies, and vigilantly watching the four directions. According to the previous assignment, each of them was responsible for half of the direction to avoid tragedy.

The sound finally arrived, the sound of the roof wood bending. "Up there?" Cheng Yijiu shifted his focus slightly upward. The next moment, a wooden plank struck the wall to one side. It was the direction Remington was responsible for, and he quickly turned his body in that direction, ready to move. "More like a leopard, this silent sneaking method." Cheng Yijiu muttered to himself. If it was a tiger, he would be more convinced. But could a lion have such excellent silent sneaking skills? He doubted it.

In short, the sound persisted, and Cheng Yijiu and Remington exchanged glances, unable to make up their minds to shoot directly—if they scared off the two man-eating lions, it would become extremely difficult to trap them again. They waited in silence until the sound disappeared... Less than a minute later, Cheng Yijiu and Remington shouted almost at the same time, "Damn it!"

As they shouted, screams and lion roars could be heard from the New Hospital on the other side. Even then, Cheng Yijiu stopped Remington from rushing out the door. He kicked the door open and threw a chair out. The next moment, someone rushed out crouching, and Remington was the last one to rush out. "Sorry, I'm a little superstitious," Cheng Yijiu said quickly, and at that moment, gunshots were heard from the New Hospital.

There was a continuous sound of gunfire, but Cheng Yijiu and Remington didn't rush in. They first had to confirm the lion's entrance to the hospital. Cheng Yijiu almost immediately discovered the broken wooden planks, a gap large enough for a lion to fit through. And in the moonlight, he did see a strand of mane hanging from the planks. Remington howled, "Colonel Peterson!" he shouted.

"I'm here! The lion has disappeared! The doctor is busy saving people!" A loud roar came from inside.

Chapter 8 Weird

The two lions disappeared like night fog. Perhaps Cheng Yijiu was only separated from them by a piece of wood when he was closest to them, but they still managed to escape. At first, Cheng Yijiu and Remington were not in a hurry to go in, but quickly circled the new hospital.

We even ventured onto the rooftops to take a look. The two lions had fled decisively after the attack. Of course, they might still be lurking outside, but at least they were definitely gone now. The situation at the hospital was bleak, but only one person had died, and six others were injured.

It has to be said that Cheng Yijiu asked the colonel and the doctor to hold guns so that they could save themselves - Cheng Yijiu did not agree to let the guards hold guns, because if they were allowed to hold guns in this situation, then the number of workers killed by their own people would be far greater than those killed by lions.

"How can they run so fast?" Cheng Yijiu was still cursing, and Remington looked much older...

The workers began to leave. The colonel was already unable to move, and the doctor had to care for the injured patient and his ability was limited. So only two hunters went out to solve the problem. One was paid, and the other was "interested." "We have to use the crude method. I saw new tracks. Let's go to the lion's den," said Remington.

"Lions have dens? I thought that was for cave lions. African lions have dens, too?" Cheng Yijiu was a little confused. He'd never hunted lions in Africa before; he'd hunted crocodiles. He thought the only lions who lived in caves with dens were the American lions and cave lions. Modern African lions roamed their territory hunting, resting in the shade of a tree or a forest. Why would they need a den?

However, it seems that these two lions really do have a lion's den. Behind the forest where they escaped last time, there are old mountains. These mountains rose from the geological movement of the Jurassic period and were etched by wind and water over 65 million years. Now they are just those exposed rocks that look relatively smooth. The rest is covered by gray matter and dense shrubs.

Remington took a ball of mane from the thorns on the ridge, "It's a lion's." Cheng Yijiu muttered after seeing it, "There are claw marks here, and they are very fresh." Cheng Yijiu squatted on the ground and reached out to touch the claw marks. There was no spider web in it.

Not far from them, on the mountainside, was a distinct cave, which must be the lion's den. The claw marks proved it all. Remington put down his bag, took out the gas lamp and hung it around his waist. He led the way toward the cave entrance, while Cheng Yijiu regretted not bringing the Thompson Company's competitor pistol.

"This gun isn't out of place in this era. Pistols with rifle-style rounds are available these days." In a confined space like this, a Competitor pistol would definitely be more suitable. At this distance, there's no power dropoff or accuracy error. However, the only option now is the M70.

The cave was quite winding, but not very deep. Cheng Yijiu used a match to light the gas lamp at Remington's waist. All he could see were brown marks on the cave wall. "Is that blood?" Remington said casually. Cheng Yijiu glanced at it. "No, if it was from a corpse, the blood wouldn't be that high, unless the lion had stood up and carried the corpse in. And... this is actually hematite powder. I think there might be traces of ancient humans here."

Remington had neither knowledge nor interest in ancient human remains. Knowing it wasn't blood, he naturally ignored it. On the ground, a layer of fine soil covered Cheng Yijiu's sight of fractured vertebrae. The two men cautiously entered, guns in hand. The lion wasn't there, but there was a stench of decay—they quickly spotted its source.

The cave floor and the low stone platform in front of them were littered with human bones and skulls. "God," Remington muttered to himself. Cheng Yijiu had seen what happened in the movies, so he wasn't that shocked. "This isn't a lion's habit," Remington said. "That's right, this doesn't seem like the habit of any man-eating beast—bringing food into their own den to eat it? Making it dirty and smelly and attracting a large number of scavengers? No beast would do that—unless it's not their den, in which case they would normally clean it."

Cheng Yijiu walked over and said, "The density is too high." Remington put down his gun and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Look at these skeletons. Imagine they still had flesh. There are so many corpses that this is more like... a restaurant?" Cheng Yijiu said. "Think about what happened after the two lions killed the workers before - they didn't bring the bodies here to eat. Okay, this behavior pattern is hard to explain, but I don't think we can kill them here."

The two men left the lion's den and returned to camp for the night. Cheng Yijiu heard the roar of lions, very close. The two lions were nearby, and the roar in the night was thrilling, making people feel as if they were close at hand and ready to pounce at any moment - yet none of the people present were nervous. "We still need to set a trap." The colonel spoke. He had recovered well and could even walk with a limp. "I'll set up a hunting platform and wait for them there."

"Is it something you learned in India for hunting tigers?" Cheng Yi had seen this thing before, but he had never been tempted by it when he was punished. As for Remington, he simply said that the colonel was basically looking for death, so he handed the colonel his double-barreled pistol. "I'll be here, Cheng will be there. I hope you're lucky enough," Remington said.

A massive wooden frame was erected, and the baboons were brought in. Cheng Yijiu leaned against a tree trunk in the darkness, forming a perfect triangle with Remington and the Colonel. As the night deepened, the chained baboon suddenly screamed. Cheng Yijiu didn't raise his rifle; he closed his eyes and listened intently.