Infinite Hunter

If it were a tiger, it would probably take less than ten seconds to kill a mastiff, not to mention that Cheng Yijiu was facing a man-eating beast that was much more ferocious than ordinary beasts. Thinking of the series of procedures for raising a dog, Cheng Yijiu immediately gave up all thoughts. "If I don't have a dog, then don't have a dog. Anyway, I was able to hunt without a dog before. Besides, my sense of smell and hearing are much better than the average person, not to mention my vision."

It's always a bit strange to find a pet shop without pets, but Cheng Yijiu, while chatting with regular customers, mentioned that there used to be a golden eagle that was half a pet - "It flew here on its own, lived in the attic, and I didn't have to feed it... It would hunt the nearby stray dogs and cats on its own. So, the relevant authorities later sent it to the mountains." When talking about this, Cheng Yijiu also shook his head and sighed, "It should have been sent away sooner. It caused trouble for many nearby families."

As for now, Cheng Yijiu sells dog and cat food, and occasionally people come to buy armor and even hand-forged, unsharpened weapons. He often engages in backyard swordplay with nearby enthusiasts, so where does he find time for a pet? The rest of his time is spent practicing shooting in the backyard—a skilled trade that relies on bullets to maintain his grip. "Nothing special, just practice." Cheng Yijiu fires off at least twenty to fifty rounds of ammunition every day.

Sharpshooters are fed with bullets.

Cheng Yi hadn't changed his gun for a long time. He always used a bolt-action rifle instead of a semi-automatic rifle. This was because in most of the time, bolt-action rifles would not cause any problems, even those with black powder ammunition. Moreover, this gun was an American hunting rifle, with excellent power and accuracy. It would have no problem shooting down those man-eating beasts.

Daily shooting naturally requires daily maintenance. Every day after shooting, Cheng Yijiu disassembles his rifle, carefully cleans the gunpowder residue, and then applies a thin layer of gun oil, focusing on cleaning the carbon deposits and copper in the chamber and barrel. Now, his Winchester has a patina thanks to daily oiling and waxing. Cheng Yijiu's guns are now like a part of his body. He has reached a certain level of shooting prowess.

He usually carries a Winchester Model 70, a classic 1911A1 shorthand, and sometimes a Competitor single-shot pistol. His revolver is undoubtedly a Python, but he's recently added a new favorite, the Rhino 60, which also fires the .357 Magnum and feels quite good. Every day, Cheng Yijiu practices his gun and sword, and also stocks his weapons. What more does a man need? Perhaps only plasticine models.

Just one week after he returned to Shanghai from Guangzhou, Cheng Yijiu saw Liu Tao again after opening the shop. "He's haunting me." Cheng Yijiu sighed to himself, "Hello, Mr. Liu." What else could he do but say hello. Liu Tao walked in and looked at his shop. "How about becoming a civil servant?" He asked Cheng Yijiu with a smile. "Let me go. I think it would be great for me to be a pet shop owner and sell some things that sword fighters like. If I were a civil servant, I'd have to travel all over the country all day and encounter that kind of thing. Forget it."

"Don't you want to hear about the benefits?" Liu Tao said, leaning on his arms in front of his cashier. "Forget it, forget it. It's not like I don't have a house, and I've been paying for social security and medical insurance." Cheng Yijiu shook his head like a rattle. "I've really had enough. I encountered this kind of thing after returning to China, and in the United States..." Liu Tao became serious. "How is America?"

Cheng Yijiu looked into Liu Tao's eyes and said, "It's the same thing. You know the Swamp Ape. It's that thing." Liu Tao laughed and said, "I know. You have bad luck and often see ghosts."

"He's still a civil servant, how can he talk like that?" Cheng Yijiu muttered, "Anyway, I don't plan to be a civil servant."

Liu Tao sighed, "We don't even need a regular position. People these days... Of course, there's also flexible employment. How about setting up a company as a legal person and outsourcing the work to professionals? That way, you can have flexible employment. You can take on the work if you want, and not take it if you don't want." Cheng Yijiu glanced at Liu Tao, "You can't do this kind of thing with fists and sticks. Even with a legal bow and arrow, it's very dangerous. You need the right weapons. But this kind of thing shouldn't require a civilian like me to handle, right? The state is more than capable of handling it."

Cheng Yijiu continued, "For example, that zombie is a harmless corpse during the day. Even if it can move at night, its physical strength alone is useless. It can be killed with a fire. So, have you found any results from your research? Or has it turned into a real corpse?" Cheng Yijiu felt that it was unreasonable and abnormal for the world he lived in to suddenly turn into that kind of fantasy world. It was all because he felt a sense of incongruity when he saw those ghouls and zombies.

It certainly felt awkward, like some kind of forced, illogical item, the kind that would decay in one go. Cheng Yijiu thought it was most likely the remnants of those adventurers—their comings and goings, bringing in and out some rather illogical things, and the world rejecting them like the human body rejects germs. If left alone, these things would eventually decay, right? He just didn't know how long.

The relevant departments probably can't research anything—unless it's a product of future technology, there's no way they can research anything like that. The fundamental principles are different and conflicting, so there's no way they can research anything. Cheng Yijiu knows this. He himself is a person who has been swept up in "external forces," so what did he bring? It seems nothing. Of course, a physical examination would reveal that Cheng Yijiu has exceeded the limits of the human body, but he is still a mortal.

Liu Tao suggested, and Cheng Yijiu ultimately agreed to the entrustment company arrangement—he probably wouldn't have been able to refuse. The entrustment company represented professional qualifications, and according to Liu Tao's instructions to Cheng Yijiu, he could obtain a gun license and possess long and short firearms, as well as other controlled weapons, under the company's name. "Long guns, shotguns, and pistols are all registered with the Public Security Bureau, and ammunition is purchased at designated locations. Knives and crossbows are also permitted." Cheng Yijiu sneered as he reviewed the recorded information.

Volume: Shadow of the Sky

Chapter 1 Enter

"Didn't he apply in the end?" Liu Tao asked. Qian Yali nodded. "He didn't register any firearms." Liu Tao was silent for a moment, then signaled Qian Yali to leave. The matter was over. Cheng Yijiu, as an external studio hired by the relevant department, didn't require much financial support. Compared to a full-time staffing plan, this would be a lighter burden on the relevant departments.

There are many people who want this kind of position, even though it is quite dangerous.

Cheng Yijiu had indeed applied for a personal studio company, but he hadn't applied to purchase any weapons. In reality, he had no intention of engaging in any battles with supernatural monsters in this world. He felt he had already done his duty to the country and the relevant authorities by taking on the task of finding these monsters. "They're offering quite a generous price for this," Cheng Yijiu said. If he had some free time, he wouldn't mind checking it out.

He obtained an internal app, along with a special login account tied to his fingerprint. Login required not only fingerprints but also facial recognition, and the app was filled with anomalies compiled by the relevant authorities through various methods. Among these were "monster" sightings that Cheng Yijiu could claim, as these had been preliminarily screened by the relevant authorities and were therefore reliable. Cheng Yijiu's focus was on monsters, and he had already decided on his target.

"Once I finish this hunting mission, I'll take this one for fun," the guy thought. A new mission had already appeared. "Shadow of the Sky?" Cheng Yijiu was a little unsure. "Are there any birds in the world known for eating people? There are vultures that eat corpses, and there are plenty of them in Tibet for sky burials." Asking him to hunt vultures? That was too easy, wasn't it?

Cheng Yijiu prepared his equipment in his room. This time, he wore a plain denim jacket and an M70 rifle, but he didn't bring a pistol due to the specific situation. He pushed open the door and found a small cabin on the side of the road, surrounded by forests and hills. The cabin was a typical American-style cabin, with an elevated base to isolate the moisture. There were also wooden planks at the bottom to enclose the elevated space, which would also keep it warm in the winter—since it was essentially suspended on a cushion of air.

"This time, it looks like a mission that takes place in a fixed location," Cheng Yijiu muttered. He decided to go back first. He had already seen a pickup truck parked next to the house, and along the road, he could see other houses on both sides, probably more than ten. At the foot of the hill, he also saw the lights of a gas station - there should be a supermarket there. Cheng Yijiu turned around, walked up the stairs, and opened the door.

This wooden house has only one floor, and the gaps between the wood are stuffed with moss to prevent air from leaking. "I have to say that the craftsmanship of the people who built this house was very good. This wooden house actually has double walls." The floor is covered with wool carpet. The reason why cheaper synthetic carpet is not used is for fire prevention. However, this wool is more like an artificial flame-retardant carpet... "Cost and aesthetics." Cheng Yijiu sighed.

The house consisted of a single, partitioned room—the bathroom. The other bedrooms, living room, and kitchen were all in one space. There was no fireplace, but instead a large, clay rocket stove that efficiently heated the air throughout the room, providing hot water for the bathroom attached to the rocket stove. It also allowed for cooking on the side, above the hot air from the combustion chamber—a screened iron plate served as the cooking area.

The air intake led directly to the outdoors, so there was no need to worry about suffocation. There was a lot of firewood piled up on one side. Cheng Yijiu walked around the house, which was only about 40 square meters. "This bed is quite comfortable," he patted it. There was also a sofa and a TV—overhead power lines were connected, but there was no running water. There was a half-open attic under the roof. Cheng Yijiu climbed up to take a look and saw all kinds of miscellaneous items piled up.

He placed his gun on the gun rack on the wall and grabbed his car keys from the table. He drove his pickup truck to the gas station. Sure enough, there was a supermarket and a restaurant there. It was probably where the people nearby socialized. As soon as Cheng Yijiu entered, someone greeted him, "Hello, Cheng." Cheng Yijiu looked over and saw that it was an old white man with a scruffy beard wearing a leather jacket and a plaid shirt. He looked a little dirty. Cheng Yijiu nodded, "Hello."

The restaurant wasn't crowded, only about six or seven people, including the waitress, a middle-aged woman the size of a brown bear. Cheng Yijiu spotted the young woman, but her face was freckled and her arms were covered in red spots—the kind you'd expect from an Angsana. He nodded in greeting, picked up the menu, and ordered coffee, fried eggs, thick bacon, and peanut butter toast—don't expect fancy food in a place like this.

Compared to the food stamp-based Happy Bread from the supermarket next door, at least the restaurant's toast is baked in-house. The bacon is also very good, seemingly smoked in-house. After Cheng Yijiu finished eating, he said he wanted to buy some bacon. Auntie Perry tossed half a rib to him with one hand. Cheng Yijiu pulled a wad of money from his wallet and paid the bill. She also gave him a piece of toast as long as his arm.

Cheng Yijiu went to the supermarket next door and bought some wine, cola, a large jar of peanut butter, strawberry jam, and, of course, a large stick of salted butter. He casually asked about the latest news, but was told that nothing had happened recently. "I guess the plot hasn't started yet," he thought. "Well," Francis, the clerk, pointed with his chin at a building in the distance. It was a building surrounded by barbed wire and looked like a warehouse. "I wonder who bought that place? I heard it's going to be a transit warehouse."

"Oh?" Cheng Yijiu asked, "I don't think that's the case at all. This must be..." Francis made a gesture of counting money, "It must be a smuggling warehouse."

Cheng Yijiu knew that for six months, there had been no one leaving the place, and Francis was convinced that something was going on. America was like that, so anything that happened in Wyoming was understandable.

Cheng Yijiu drove back and threw the things into the refrigerator—in reality, it was just a habit; hanging them outside might be better. Although it was only autumn, there was already snow outside, and it would be very cold at night. Cheng Yijiu spent the rest of his time sealing the raised area below with pieces of wood—it was impossible to seal it completely, because any small creature would get in and live in this warm, dark place, and it was very safe.

I've heard there's even a bear hibernating under someone's house... Cheng Yijiu tossed the firewood into the slanted combustion chamber, ignited it from below, and opened the damper leading to the outside as wide as possible. Soon, the room warmed up. "The target should appear within 24 hours at most..." Cheng Yijiu thought.

Chapter 2 Accident

At night, the wind could be heard through the small double-glazed windows. The windows were small to keep out the cold, and there were also rafts outside. The temperature wasn't quite there yet, so Cheng Yijiu even opened the small door and stepped onto the covered terrace on the side of the house to admire the stars. "The shadow in the sky... that's definitely a bird of prey. Aren't North American birds of prey the sea eagle? Could there be a ptarmigan, too?"

Whatever it was, unless it was an owl, other birds of prey wouldn't come out at night. Cheng Yijiu took out his pipe, filled it with tobacco, and smoked while gazing at the starry sky. After finishing his pipe, he returned to his room and found steak, potatoes, and some cabbage in the refrigerator to make dinner. After eating, he washed up, filled the coal scuttle with firewood, enough to keep it burning all night, and went to bed - the damper was half closed to prevent the fire from burning too intensely and the temperature from rising too high at night.

Cheng Yijiu slept soundly that night. Although there were some noises under the floor, they were probably just some small animals. The dark and warm overhead space was indeed a good place for them to overwinter.

The next morning, Cheng Yijiu finished his breakfast. He had to admit, the pork ribs were really good. Cutting a thick slice and frying it on the iron plate was incredibly fragrant. He still didn't have his gun with him when he left the house, but as he walked up the hill, he could see a car approaching in the distance. Inside was the old white man in front of him. "Hey, Cheng. Have you seen my dog? Damn, it's gone! The leash is broken! Someone stole my dog!"

The old man was practically roaring. Cheng Yijiu shook his head, "No, I really haven't seen your dog. What do you mean the chain is broken? Is there anyone who would steal dogs in this place? There's no need for that. Could it be a bear or a mountain lion that dragged your dog away?"

"No, no, no, Archie isn't a fragile child who can be dragged away by a mountain lion. A grizzly bear... I haven't seen a grizzly bear in the woods these past few days. Have you seen one?"

Cheng Yijiu already felt that this might be the sign of the so-called mission starting. "At least I didn't see any bears yesterday, that's right. I didn't find any traces of bears here." Cheng Yijiu returned to the house and took out his gun. "You keep looking, I'll check in the woods." The old man shouted, "Okay, thank you Cheng."

"Don't thank me yet. Did you find any footprints near the doghouse?" Cheng Yijiu asked, but seeing the old man's drunken face, he waved his hand to indicate that there was no need to answer. Cheng Yijiu, rifle in hand, strolled casually through the woods, his attention focused on the sky. There were birds circling in the sky, which was quite normal for birds of prey. "Shadow in the sky..." He put the gun in the car and drove along the road.

Soon, Cheng Yijiu approached the so-called warehouse. From the car window, there was nothing unusual about the warehouse. The doors were closed and there were not many security guards - or rather, there was no security guard at all. The outer gate was locked with an iron chain. Cheng Yijiu did not get out of the car. He quickly drove away. Cheng Yijiu had figured out the place - this was a town, yes, but the town's population was quite spread out, with only about 2,000 people in total. The town government and police station were 20 kilometers away, and the area was just a small community with two roads, one vertical and one horizontal.

There was a movie theater in town, a small shopping center, and an elementary and middle school. Cheng Yijiu didn't drive into town, so he stopped by a restaurant next to a gas station. Not long after, a local came in with new news—"You said another dog's gone missing? Old John went looking for it earlier, yelling loudly enough for everyone to hear, and just then your dog's gone too?" The seven or eight people in the restaurant were all talking at once.

"I saw Little Mike at the window earlier, but then I turned around to get a beer, and when I looked again, he was gone." This guy, like most of the people here, had a look of alcohol poisoning on his face. "I heard Mike's screams, but I couldn't see him." He actually cried when he said this, which was really ugly. After hearing the news, Cheng Yijiu got back in the car and drove slowly, looking up at the sky.

Over the hill, he saw a car. The doors of this rickety car were open, and the radio was still playing, but he couldn't see the driver. Cheng Yijiu got out of the car and grabbed his gun. He circled the car and said, "There are footprints, and in this direction... Look at these traces. This guy got out of the car to pee. And then there were no traces." Cheng Yijiu looked around, but he couldn't find any trace of footprints.

"If it's a shadow in the sky, it must be a giant bird of prey." Cheng Yijiu looked up at the sky and returned to his pickup truck. "What kind of bird of prey could take down an adult? This old thing must weigh at least 70 kilograms, right?" This was extremely difficult. If it attacked from the air, Cheng Yijiu would have no way of tracking it. "And there were two dogs and one person in such a short time? Maybe there was more than one bird of prey?"

After returning to the cabin, he picked up his telescope and began to scan the sky. He found eagles and falcons, but nowhere did he find the giant raptor with a wingspan of at least four or five meters that he had imagined. "Damn it!" Cheng Yijiu felt completely powerless. It was like trying to catch a great white shark in the ocean; it was difficult to spot his opponent. "Use bait?" Cheng Yijiu went to the next door and bought a sheep. He tied the sheep to the open space and hid in the house with the telescope in hand, scanning the sky.

Sadly, he didn't find his target until the sun went down. The sheep were put into a makeshift pen on the terrace—a small door left ajar to allow heat to flow into the semi-enclosed pen, preventing them from freezing overnight. It was filled with hay and water, as Cheng Yijiu would use it as bait the next day.

One night, Cheng Yijiu heard the wind and, vaguely, a strange cry. He rose before dawn the next day, ate and drank, then tied the sheep to the stake outside again. He cocked his rifle, loaded the bullet, and prepared it—still without a scope, as birds of prey move quickly and their field of view is limited. Cheng Yijiu had no idea if there would be any new attacks today; he just hoped the bait would be effective.

The telescope kept scanning the sky, Cheng Yijiu muttering to himself, and then he really saw it, a bird of prey that might be his target. It was a bird of prey with a red crest and a black and white body. From the density of the telescope, Cheng Yijiu determined that its wingspan was over four meters. This bird of prey was unprecedentedly large, and it must be his target.

Chapter 3: Missing

The distance was still quite far, not a good time to shoot. Cheng Yijiu was ready, waiting for the moment when the huge bird of prey would swoop down and grab the sheep, so he could kill it with a single shot. Although the raptor looked large, its defense was completely incomparable to that of a ground beast. However, to Cheng Yijiu's great disappointment, the raptor flew directly over his bait and flew away.

Cheng Yijiu quickly ran out, jumped into the car, and followed the raptor. "What kind of raptor is this? The Philippine eagle also has a crest, but a red one? The Andean condor has a fleshy crest... With a wingspan over four meters, why do I feel like it's a Haast's eagle?" This kind of raptor should only be found on New Zealand's South Island, and it became extinct five hundred years ago. How could it possibly be in North America?

Could someone have resurrected this giant raptor through bioengineering? Given the Americans' reckless nature, this was entirely possible—Cheng Yijiu even believed they could pull off a technological miracle, like combining the genes of different creatures to create a living being. This was something completely impossible in the real world... This eagle was probably the creation of some frivolous biotech company.

"Why do I find that most of my missions are related to American trouble?" Cheng Yijiu muttered as he drove to follow the giant eagle. Tracking this bird of prey was not easy, very difficult - watching it climb higher and higher, it soon disappeared into the clouds. Cheng Yijiu could only park the car and wait helplessly to see if the giant eagle would reappear.

After waiting for an hour, Cheng Yijiu could only turn around and drive back. "Um, police?" He saw the police car in the rearview mirror, so he pulled over and put his hands on the steering wheel. Two police officers got out, probably the local sheriff. They smiled when they saw Cheng Yijiu and asked him to get out of the car. "You saw Old John yesterday. He disappeared. When was the last time you saw him?"

"I saw him yesterday morning, and later saw his car parked over there, but I didn't notice he was missing." Cheng Yijiu said, "He went to look for his dog, and I also found out what took his dog away." Cheng Yijiu said calmly, and the sheriff was a little excited when he heard this. "It's not just Old John's dog, but also Little Mike. I saw a very large eagle this morning, with a wingspan of about four meters. I tracked it here, and it flew into the clouds and disappeared."

The sheriff's face must have been filled with a "Are you fucking kidding me?" expression, but after hearing this, he waved Cheng Yijiu off to drive away. Cheng Yijiu drove back, and the sheep were still grazing. For a moment, Cheng Yijiu couldn't understand why the giant eagle wouldn't take the bait. He herded the sheep back into the pen, then drove to the gas station again to fill up, then sat in the restaurant, waiting for news.

A scent of perfume and body odor drifted over. Cheng Yijiu, who had been looking outside, turned and saw the freckled young woman sitting across from him. "Hey, Cheng." "Hey, Marilyn." Cheng Yijiu already knew the girl's name and that she was a widow in her twenties. However, her late husband, who was in his fifties, had left her a considerable inheritance, so she didn't have to worry about her livelihood.

She just hangs out in the restaurant when she has nothing to do. Her house is a two-story brick and wood building a little further along the road.

"Are you looking for the murderer who took away Old John's dog and himself?" Marilyn was probably considered a beauty in this place, so she was well-informed. "I heard you saw a huge eagle? Do you think it was an eagle that took away Old John's dog and himself?" She probably sat down to ask this question. Cheng Yijiu didn't mind chatting with this girl. Anyway, he had no idea at the moment. "Well, it was indeed a very big eagle."

"What kind of thing is it?" Marilyn asked. "Its wings are black and white, with green flight feathers at the tips, and a red crest on its head. Its wingspan is over four meters... Oh, and its tail feathers are also very long, probably fifty centimeters." Cheng Yijiu described it. "Why does this sound like the extinct Haast's Eagle? And isn't this eagle from New Zealand?" Marilyn's words surprised Cheng Yijiu.

The girl opposite laughed. "Looking at your expression, you must be wondering how a girl from a rural area like this could know this? Just like how you ended up living here, I also have my little secrets. Hahahaha."

"Little secret..." Cheng Yijiu also laughed, "Now that you know it's a Haast's eagle, don't you find it strange? Maybe I was seeing things?"

"That warehouse was bought by a biochemical company. I'm not surprised by anything they do," Marilyn casually explained. Cheng Yijiu was convinced. "So, it's probably another warehouse problem... It's always like that in the movies," Marilyn said. "Why don't we go find that eagle together? Eagles have fixed nests and flight paths, and they patrol their territory."

Cheng Yijiu thought for a long time before deciding to agree. At this moment, the door was pushed open. "The sheriff is gone! Damn it!" someone shouted. "The car is there, but the sheriff and the others are gone!" Cheng Yijiu immediately ran over with the others and drove to the place. Soon they arrived at the edge of the hill not far from where Old John disappeared. This time it was a police car with all four doors open and lights on, but the people were gone.

Cheng Yijiu was holding a gun. Marilyn had come in his car and was now following him, along with several young and middle-aged white men. "Hey, there's a dent here. Something hit the door," someone shouted. Cheng Yijiu looked at the ground—it was a mess, with no footprints to be seen. He walked around and saw that there was indeed a dent in the car door, so much so that it was deformed and couldn't be closed.

Cheng Yijiu gestured with his hand. "Was that a battering ram? It was something curved." Unfortunately, that was the only trace left. The windshield was completely shattered, making it impossible to tell what had broken it. He couldn't find the two officers' whereabouts. He did find a few bullet casings on the ground under the car, suggesting they had resisted with pistols. Finally, he found a scrap of torn cloth in the bushes about twenty meters away. Judging by its texture, it must have been from a police uniform.

Cheng Yijiu felt a bit of a headache. "These aren't traces left by an eagle attack. Could it be that they were attacked by a bear?"

Chapter 4 Scene

The place was a mess, with no bear tracks to be seen. Furthermore, it was unlikely that two people could be taken down by a single bear—they had fired at least seven shots, as evidenced by the seven shell casings they found. If two people fired seven shots and still couldn't take down a bear, then they must have been incredibly useless. Since the people here weren't that useless, then the attacker might not have been a bear at all.

What could that be? What animal has the strength to ram the car door like this? A mountain lion certainly can't do it, but that raptor in the sky? If it really did that, the raptor itself would probably be doomed. And these two people really disappeared, dragged into the woods. Cheng Yijiu swallowed, "Do you all have guns? Okay, I need at least one person, a guy with a stable enough mentality to go with me to find them."

"Don't go with me! I don't want to be killed by a bunch of panicked guys!" Cheng Yijiu cursed. A group of people went into the woods to look for something. Under normal circumstances, the probability of being killed by their own people is much higher than the probability of being attacked by wild animals. Under Cheng Yijiu's strong request, only one middle-aged white man followed Cheng Yijiu and prepared to go into the woods. "Marilyn, you want to go with us too? No! There are wild animals in here that can drag two people away. It's too dangerous! And you will undoubtedly be a burden. Do you want to kill the two of us?"

However, Marilyn pulled out a revolver, indicating she was looking for death. Cheng Yijiu could only sigh at this woman. "Put the gun away! I don't want to die by your hands. Remember, once you get in, leave everything to us. Don't fire your gun unless you're alone." Cheng Yijiu immediately took the lead, moving forward from where he had found the rags, diligently searching for traces on the ground.

The lack of tracks didn't really matter—animals rarely circled. They usually went straight, taking the easiest route, and then devoured their prey in a seemingly comfortable spot. Unless it was a leopard, it would drag its prey up a tree to eat it, but bears wouldn't do that. Cheng Yijiu and the white man, Faris, each holding a walkie-talkie someone had donated, walked about a hundred yards into the woods and climbed over a fallen tree.

"Fallis, you can call them over and call the police at the same time. I think we have found the sheriff and his partner...part of it." Cheng Yijiu looked at the scene in front of him and said to Faris who ran to the side. He looked at it and said, "Forget it, I'll do it myself." After seeing the scene in front of them, Faris and Marilyn both ran and vomited.

The scene before him was nothing short of a bloody hell. The sheriff and his partner, Cheng Yijiu, had seen them alive earlier today, but now they were ripped apart, their bodies shattered, their internal organs eaten, and their muscles ripped off, practically devoured. Unfortunately, there were still no footprints to be found, and Cheng Yijiu carefully crouched aside, examining the wounds.

"It looks like it was ripped open by a knife or an axe, and the flesh was torn off. Strange, why do I feel like this was caused by a bird of prey? The wound pattern doesn't look like a bear bite at all." He stretched out his hand to measure the width. "If it were torn off, the eagle's beak would be quite large. Not just small, it's ridiculously large!" Cheng Yijiu thought of several birds of prey, all known for their proportionally large beaks - like the Steller's sea eagle...

Soon, the people outside arrived first, some vomiting and some not, but it was difficult to deal with them, so it was best to wait for the local police to arrive. About an hour later, the deputy sheriff arrived with a doctor. When he saw the situation, he took off his hat and prayed for the sheriff. After examining the body for a while, the doctor indicated that the body could be collected. As for the autopsy, it would probably have to wait for the county medical examiner to arrive, which could take three days to a week.

Ultimately, they couldn't continue searching for the beast that killed the sheriff. After hearing Marilyn's account, they also believed it was most likely a giant eagle, and most likely the work of that damned company. The gang, impulsively, rushed to the warehouse to cause trouble. If nothing else, the first thing they had to do was break down the door and see what was going on inside. Cheng Yijiu followed behind, watching the gang menacingly threaten the security guard who suddenly appeared inside.

"The security guards' equipment is surprisingly good." While they might not be legally required to have automatic rifles, a semi-automatic AR would suffice. They're also wearing body armor, heavily armed like the US military. Town residents couldn't get in, and surprisingly, the police didn't show up—probably because of the money involved. Someone called them.

Cheng Yijiu decided to track it himself. "Since it's a wild animal, and it's been close to it at least twice, its activity area must be here." Cheng Yijiu drove back. Marilyn had been left behind by him, but after parking the car, he found that the woman had also driven over. Cheng Yijiu didn't want to persuade her anymore. There was a reason why there were so few Americans. Cheng Yijiu walked in the jungle with a rifle. He didn't have a specific location, but was just looking for anything unusual.

Then he saw it, the same thing Marilyn had seen after her scream—a massive bird of prey soaring overhead, perhaps perched on a branch before him, suddenly taking flight. Cheng Yijiu didn't fire, but instead looked up at the bird—it flickered in and out of the treetops, and if he fired, there was a high chance he'd hit a branch. Cheng Yijiu had to find an opportunity. The hunter raised his rifle, and finally, with a wingspan exceeding four meters... That's right, at a straight-line distance of less than thirty meters, the bird's size was clearly visible—one-third larger than Cheng Yijiu had previously estimated.

The bird was now free of cover, and Cheng Yijiu raised his rifle, ready to take it down. However, Cheng Yijiu sensed a profound sense of imminent danger. He heard Marilyn's screams and the unusual roar of the gunfire. He abandoned his gunfire and dove forward, rolling sideways. Even then, he felt half his body being struck, as if he had suddenly lost consciousness.

Cheng Yijiu wondered if there was a second raptor attacking him from behind. Although his left side seemed to have taken a heavy blow, the gun in his right hand was still there. As Cheng Yijiu rolled, he turned around. "Fuck!" Marilyn screamed as she ran towards him, her revolver still firing. Her target was right behind Cheng Yijiu, so the hunter twisted his body hard to turn around...

Chapter 5: Nonsense

The bird Cheng Yijiu saw was standing on the ground, much taller than an adult, with a tomahawk-like beak—except it couldn't fly. "Damn it! Those Americans are really messing around! They even recreated a Phasorus! And then they let it get away!" Cheng Yijiu couldn't move the left side of his body, so he raised his rifle with one arm, aimed at the rapidly approaching Phasorus, and fired. Unfortunately, aiming with one arm wasn't fast enough, and the carnivorous bird was running very fast.

Cheng Yijiu knew what kind of attack he was receiving. The bird rushed over and was ready to chop Cheng Yijiu in half with its beak like a battle axe, but Cheng Yijiu dodged it first and only the side of its beak hit Cheng Yijiu's body - this was enough to cause Cheng Yijiu considerable damage. Fractures were certain, and internal injuries were also 100% certain - after all, the bird's hunting power lies in its big mouth.

Cheng Yijiu regained some feeling in his left hand, and he quickly cocked the gun while Marilyn rushed over and fired one last shot. The sound of the gun frightened the raptor a little. Cheng Yijiu fired again, and the Phorusrhacoon screamed and turned away. The raptor in the sky had disappeared without a trace. "We have to leave quickly!" Cheng Yijiu heard Marilyn say this and even supported him to his feet.

Cheng Yijiu was overwhelmed with emotion. "I never thought she would save me today. As the old saying goes—don't underestimate anyone. Pride and arrogance are unacceptable." After getting in the car, Marilyn immediately drove to the town hospital. Fortunately, Cheng Yijiu wasn't dead, but the correction of his bones had stopped the internal bleeding, and there were no other problems. Marilyn soon took him back to his cabin.

"Thank you, Miss Marilyn. I would have died without you." Cheng Yijiu also wanted to apologize and thank you sincerely. The young woman also smiled, "I know that you men are all the same. You are probably the only one in this town who can apologize and thank me. The most they can do is say a few "oh"s, which is very embarrassing."

After helping Cheng Yijiu to the bed to rest, Marilyn said goodbye, "Be careful on the road. I think you also saw the phocas. It is also very dangerous to people in the car." Marilyn left, and after Cheng Yijiu rested for a while, he used his crutches to support himself and went to the rocket stove to add firewood and light it. At this time, the door was pushed open again, and Marilyn walked in, "Let me take care of it."

This foreign girl seemed quite decisive, but they didn't care about that. Marilyn made dinner, and the two of them sat on the sofa, watching TV but actually chatting about what they had seen during the day. "Didn't you tell anyone..." Not only Cheng Yijiu, but even Marilyn didn't tell anyone about this situation. "It can't be a remnant of an ancient fossil - if the Phorusrhacois therapsus can still be said to be the Titanosaur of North America that survived for 15,000 years, the same cannot be said for the Haast's Eagle."

Marilyn agreed with him, thinking that it was those bored biological companies that resurrected these ancient creatures. "I didn't know their technology had become so advanced?" Cheng Yijiu complained, "I don't know why they resurrected these creatures. Are they planning to open an extinction animal park?" Marilyn said she couldn't think of any other use for them. These birds of prey are at the top of the food chain, so their impact on the existing ecology... seems not so bad?

But it's ultimately a rather frivolous act. If you can say it's just something rich people like, that's fine, but the question is, what's the point of just letting it go? Not to mention the casualties—a few dogs dead doesn't matter, but it looks like Old John might have been killed by a Titan, and judging by the sheriff's situation, there might even be a pair of Titans that escaped. Otherwise, if there's only one, the other would be able to cover if it attacks someone.

And these birds want to block the bullets? Don't be ridiculous, 9mm pistol bullets can also cause damage to them. The two talked for a long time, but in the end there was no solution. Cheng Yijiu was injured and could not track the Titan bird, but he estimated that the bird's nest might be not far from that place. As for the Haast's eagle's nest? That would be difficult to find. By the way, the sheep is gone, and no one knows whether it was dragged away by a wolf or a bear.

Later that night, it was time to go to bed—the two of them shared a bed, but nothing would happen. With Cheng Yijiu's fractured body, it was impossible for him to do anything, and besides, Cheng Yijiu wasn't a shameless person who would casually attack women. Cheng Yijiu had no idea what Marilyn was thinking; she probably just felt she could talk things over and sympathize with his current injury.

The wooden bed was quite spacious, so unless two people slept in extremely awkward positions, their bodies wouldn't touch. The room was warm, with the occasional crackling of wood. Cheng Yijiu wasn't worried about the birds of prey attacking at night. Neither the Haast's eagle nor the Titanodon seemed nocturnal—the Haast's eagle certainly wasn't, and the Titanodon...it was hard to say, but it probably didn't hunt at night.

It was indeed a peaceful night, with no wild animals bothering us. In the morning, Marilyn said she had to go back and sort things out, and of course, she invited Cheng Yijiu to stay at her house temporarily so that she could take care of him. Cheng Yijiu was not pretentious and accepted the invitation. By this time, Cheng Yijiu already had a feeling that he had lost this time, and the mission was likely to fail. "I was careless! I was careless." He sighed to himself, "I just don't know what the punishment plot will be this time."

Marilyn's home was a two-story brick and wood structure, a luxury compared to Cheng Yijiu's wooden house. Her house had a basement with a diesel-powered boiler for heating. Cheng Yijiu was assigned a bedroom on the second floor, next to hers. He had seen a photo of the widow's deceased husband—a little old man with white hair. It's not easy to judge a person by their appearance, but this old man had left Marilyn a considerable inheritance. The exact amount wasn't known, but the townspeople guessed it was probably several million dollars.

Anyway, the decoration in the house was ordinary, but Cheng Yijiu discovered a study full of biology books. "I'm also a college student, graduated from the University of Chicago." Marilyn smiled and said a bombshell news - she might be the most educated person in this town.

Chapter 6 Failure

Knowing this didn't help Cheng Yijiu's hunting at all; all he needed now was Marilyn's care. It seemed like the widow had some feelings for him, too? True, the men here were mostly country bumpkins, and as a college student, Marilyn probably had little in common with them.

Cheng Yijiu, by comparison, was a refined and refined person, far more civilized than those others. Cheng Yijiu had no feelings for Marilyn, but she was impressed by the widow's ability to gather information. She had indeed heard that the company was trying to send a recovery crew to retrieve the escaped birds—it was essential to do so, as it cost money.

They also probably don't want to cause a big news story, which would lead to a large fine for various reasons and protests - of course, they might also become famous and get a lot of orders. In short, everything must be under control first, otherwise if the birds are free to kill people, nothing will be done.

However, I heard they still haven't been successful. At least there are still sporadic reports of missing animals—primarily livestock. It seems the eagle is still hunting. There are no further reports of missing personnel, but it's unclear if the company's recovery crew has met with any mishaps. Cheng Yijiu's recovery was actually quite rapid; his superficial injuries were mostly healed in two days, but his fractures remained unrecoverable.

In the process of caring for Cheng Yijiu, Marilyn actually became more and more relaxed. Cheng Yijiu, who was unable to move half of her body, had to rely on Marilyn's help when washing her body, so Cheng Yijiu had been seen naked by this widow. Of course, there were some things that were not easy to describe, but at least the relationship between the two was still pure...

A week later, Cheng Yijiu pushed open the door with the help of a crutch... The next moment he was standing in the small room, facing the weapons in the hall. The bandages and splints on his body fell to the ground by themselves. The moment he entered the room, all his injuries were healed.

"I failed." Cheng Yijiu hadn't tasted the taste of failure in a while. This was another punishment plot - according to the nature of this punishment, this time he was probably going to be a bird. "Flying in the sky is fine. It's highly maneuverable and you don't have to worry about being hit by others."