Infinite Hunter

Due to his large size and head, Cheng Yijiu's bite even took half of Mr. Williams's shoulder, his long canine teeth severing his spine. This was Cheng Yijiu's inexperience, but also his luck—this bite was actually dangerous and unnecessary. He bit too deep, bringing the victim too close to the back of his mouth. A normal bite would have been to bite the trachea or sever an artery, quickly incapacitating and killing the victim.

Cheng Yijiu's bite was actually a sophisticated one, severing the spine and severing nerves directly—but if he wasn't careful, he'd bite right through the vertebrae, potentially breaking the tooth tip. Only experienced, adult, or even elderly tigers would employ this faster method of killing their prey. This bite, while also severing skin and muscle, also severed blood vessels, trapping all the blood in Cheng Yijiu's mouth. He then passively entered withdrawal mode...

The tiger's body automatically began to drink Mr. Williams' blood, but due to Cheng Yijiu's strong willpower, it did not start eating. Instead, it quickly drank up Mr. Williams' blood and bit her before she woke up...

Chapter 31: Fall

Mrs. Williams died almost instantly, her blood gushing out of the tiger's mouth, spilling onto the bed. Cheng Yijiu couldn't control the next move—he was once again pulled away, lost in a trance, as the tiger's body automatically carried Mrs. Williams out through the opening they had entered.

When Cheng Yijiu regained consciousness, he saw the torn and half-eaten remains of Mrs. Williams. He didn't feel like vomiting. The disgust of cannibalism came from civilization, not from the flesh. So, when he was trapped in the tiger's body, he didn't feel any disgust—his original sense of civilization had also been suppressed.

He licked his lips. It was the delicious taste of meat, especially the aroma of fat. Cats could not taste sweetness, but they could taste the umami brought by the amino acids in meat. Although cats' sense of taste was far less sensitive than that of humans, their better sense of smell made up for it.

Cheng Yijiu stood up, licked his fur, cleaned his paws and began to "wash his face". Then he left quickly. "Well, at least in places where humans still eat each other, my case is nothing."

After comforting himself a little, Cheng Yijiu turned around and walked in the direction the two European hunters came from, and left under the cover of night.

The next morning, the servants discovered a horrible thing - their employer was dead. Master Williams had died in his own bed, his throat completely bitten off, his head unsupported, only held in place by the tattered muscles of his neck, and his blood had been drunk.

And the wife was missing. Who had done this? The claw marks on the ground, the hole in the back of the tent, and the hair on Mr. Williams' body and on the bed had pointed to the murderer—a very large Bengal tiger. The wife was also found about forty yards from the tent—well, not quite intact, but the remains of her clothes confirmed it was her.

This was no small matter. Mr. Williams was a colonial official about to return home to take up an important position, and his wife was a member of an ancient English family. Now she had been eaten by a tiger. Who was responsible for this? I'm afraid I can only say that the tiger was responsible.

As for whether anyone in England was excited about it? Well, that was almost certain.

Regardless, the tiger that killed the Williamses had to die—perhaps eating a hundred or two hundred Indians would have been enough, but a British couple? That was far more important than Indians. Soon, professional hunters from several nearby counties were being asked to hunt the tiger.

Cheng Yijiu was almost confirmed—servants were also hunters, so they could certainly tell the difference between tiger footprints. The footprints of the Bengal tiger with beautiful fur and a huge body that they had tracked were the same tiger that appeared in the tent and killed the Williams couple. There was no doubt about that.

And this tiger had become a man-eater. It had eaten Mrs. Williams. Once a beast has tasted human flesh, it is almost inevitable that it will become a beast that feeds on humans - compared to other prey, there are too many humans and they are easier to hunt.

In the past, tigers like this would only feed on humans if they were old and weak or had injuries that prevented them from hunting other animals. But now, according to the servants' recollections, this tiger at least looks very healthy and has no diseases that prevent it from preying on other animals. Moreover, this tiger has probably just reached adulthood, which makes it even more dangerous - a tiger with full combat power has become a man-eating tiger, which is terrifying just to think about.

In Cheng Yijiu's world, the man-eating tigers of Champawat ate 436 people over seven years, a recorded number. The actual number may have exceeded 500, possibly 600. This female tiger was older, with broken upper and lower canines on her right side, making her incapable of hunting other animals. She was a relatively weaker type of tiger. Now Cheng Yijiu was intact, young and strong. If he became a man-eating tiger, he might have eaten thousands of people...

That all depends on Cheng Yijiu. Does he want to be a man-eating tiger? In his heart, he probably doesn't want to. Preying on villagers' livestock is one thing, and preying on villagers is another—although eating farmers' livestock often means forcing them to die... But the reactions caused by these two things are completely different—the former is like a tiger, the latter is like a man-eating tiger.

However, after Cheng Yijiu entered the jungle and confirmed that no one was following him, the tiger rested in the grass while seriously considering the consequences of his actions. "In this era... Europeans... the importance of the British... I will definitely be listed as a top target, and I will definitely be called a man-eating tiger—after all, I ate... uncontrollably."

If he had known this would happen, he should have gone to a nearby village and eaten the cattle and sheep before killing the two British hunters who were tracking him. But there was no way to regret it, so he had to do this. It seemed he couldn't shake the reputation of a man-eating tiger, but Cheng Yijiu really had no interest in deliberately eating people.

But perhaps this was a good way to study the behavior patterns of man-eating Bengal tigers? It could even be extended to all large felines with a history of man-eating. Cheng Yijiu believed he would encounter such an animal sooner or later. For example, among those famous man-eating animals, wasn't there the famous Tsavo man-eating lion?

This was a good way to convince himself. After all, the mystery of this hunting house was uncertain - who knew if this was the real world or an imaginary world? The punishment plot could even make Cheng Yijiu a tiger. Perhaps this was also a chance for him to understand the behavior patterns of animals.

Cheng Yijiu lay in his grass nest, thinking as he slowly drifted off to sleep. Tigers sleep for a long time every day, and even a "fake tiger" like Cheng Yijiu only sleeps a little less. Cheng Yijiu's mental activity was limited at the moment; for example, he hadn't expected someone to track him for such a long distance.

Yes, professional hunters from several nearby counties would arrive soon, and within two weeks at most he would have to face the pursuit of multiple hunters. The colonial officials might even send out the army to round him up - after all, what he had done was really too big.

Having decided to indulge himself, Cheng Yijiu naturally moved between several villages along the river and road. He did smell the scent of other tigers, but these tigers rarely approached the villages, so they would not try to drive Cheng Yijiu out of their territory for the time being. Moreover, the scent left by Cheng Yijiu proved that he was an extremely strong male tiger, and ordinary Bengal tigers really did not dare to drive him away.

Chapter 32 Instinct

The beast moved, and a strange smell wafted from its side. It was human, with a distinct "stench." The magnificently furred beast raised its head and twitched its nose in the direction of the scent, trying to discern the difference. At this time, the grass was half dry and yellow, the other half green. This was the dry season in India; it would take some time before the rainy season arrived.

The river was low, and dry reeds were everywhere, among which the giant beast could not be distinguished at all.

Cheng Yijiu had already traveled dozens of kilometers. Tigers aren't well suited to long-distance travel, so he rested in the reeds, his attention fixed on the village across the river. "Typical... rural India." He was quite familiar with this type of village by now: walls made of sticks and mud, roofs of branches and thatch—unless one was a landlord, there were no stone houses.

Baked bricks? They don't have them here. Mud bricks are available, but baked bricks aren't. A house like this wouldn't offer any protection against a tiger; it could easily make a huge hole. Cheng Yijiu also found a few buffaloes, some sheep, and maybe a dozen chickens in the village. He decided to go back to the village and drag a sheep out to fill his stomach—maybe two. The livestock here, like their owners, were mostly skinny.

If possible, Cheng Yijiu still didn't want to feed on humans. He could learn the behavior patterns of a man-eating tiger by attacking the village's livestock—at least, it was close. He would attack human settlements to overcome the tiger's fear of humans. Why would he need to do this? He just needed to learn how to attack living creatures. The tiger's camouflage was so excellent that even though the river was less than thirty meters away, the villagers on the other side didn't even notice that a tiger was observing them.

It was still daytime, when the sun was at its brightest.

There were several small boats on the river. These simple wooden boats were used by the professional fishermen in the village. Even though a fisherman rowed his boat less than ten meters away from Cheng Yijiu, he still didn't notice the tiger. Cheng Yijiu saw it very clearly - it was a dark and thin man. It seemed that all the Indians Cheng Yijiu had seen so far were very thin, and he hadn't seen any fat people.

Maybe it's because of their nutritional coordination...

Cheng Yijiu lay down to rest until the sun set. His body, heated by the sun, slid into the water, with only his head sticking out of the water, and he swam silently to the other side. After getting ashore, he swam his body around, and no one saw him - he was behind a house, and only people who were fetching water or washing clothes on the river bank could see him. Cheng Yijiu's target was a buffalo, tied in a pen and carefully protected - this should be the family's greatest hope.

The buffalo had already sensed the tiger's approach and was circling the pen, struggling to escape by pushing against the bars. A man rushed out of the nearby house. He had heard the noises from his own cattle, but he had also seen Cheng Yijiu. The man was terrified, as anyone would be if they suddenly found a huge tiger just a few steps away.

The man reacted quickly, shouting in Hindi as he turned and fled into the house. He only needed two steps to get into the house, and he'd probably be safe once he got inside—at least that's what the man thought during that brief moment. Cheng Yijiu lost control of his body again. This time, it wasn't that he felt nothing, but rather that a semi-forced force pushed his tiger-like body toward the man's back.

"A feline's instinctive reaction?" Cheng Yijiu's thoughts flashed like lightning, and so did his movements. The man had just turned and taken a step when the tiger pounced on him. The claw landed on the man's neck, covering half the back of his head. The claw extended and pulled back, dragging the man to the ground.

"Neck..." The man's neck was twisted at a strange angle, and the place where the tiger's claws had hooked it was bloody and fleshy. Cheng Yijiu still had some control over his body. The tiger came over and sniffed a few times, then bit the man's waist, picked him up and ran away. The villagers rushed out when the man screamed, and then they saw the tiger holding the man in its mouth. They also screamed and retreated quickly. No one rushed to try to save him.

Cheng Yijiu quickly ran out of the village, carrying the man in his mouth. Less than a hundred yards from the village, he slipped out of consciousness again in the bushes. This time, he could calmly comment, "He ate again! This confirms the rumors of a man-eating tiger." He could even hear the body growling as the villagers approached, banging pots and drums, trying to drive him away.

The villagers ultimately failed to scare the tiger away; instead, they were terrified by its roar. Only after more people gathered and someone fired a shot from a muzzle-loading musket in the tiger's direction did a large group of villagers dare approach, wielding various farm tools and banging pots. By then, Cheng Yijiu had already departed, leaving behind a mutilated corpse, mostly bones. Only after the tiger left did Cheng Yijiu regain consciousness.

This obvious attack, witnessed by many, spread quickly, and the surrounding villages now knew that a man-eating tiger had appeared in this place. Another man-eating tiger had appeared in Kumon. This was truly a place full of disasters. Cheng Yijiu continued along the road and was discovered at the entrance of another village more than ten kilometers away. That was because Cheng Yijiu was exposed on the road. He stood on the road and looked at the village, making low puffing sounds.

Many people in the village saw this beautifully colored tiger standing on the road at the entrance, so they all hid in the village, not daring to come out. Cheng Yijiu tried to follow the road into the village, roaring, and he could hear the people in the houses trembling. However, the tiger didn't do anything after all, but passed through the village and disappeared into the mountains on the other side.

So far, Cheng Yijiu has eaten two people. In the world of man-eating tigers, he's still a junior. However, this made Cheng Yijiu wonder why he didn't see any man-eating tigers during his last hunt. He only saw a few tiger hairs at most, let alone a tiger. "It's still... a lack of experience. I'll understand later."

Chapter 33 Anti-Tracking

Cheng Yijiu traveled along the valley, now understanding tigers more and more—because this body often exhibited the behavior patterns of a real tiger when he was in a trance. Cheng Yijiu also tried to hunt deer, but failed. As for hunting bison, this was a mountainous area, not where Indian bison roamed.

Therefore, his prey could only be domesticated animals and humans. From the perspective of wild animals, tigers found humans to be very easy prey to catch, and the meat was quite good. Three days after he killed his second human, Cheng Yijiu captured a woman in the woods...

He didn't torture the woman; his canines cleanly severed her spinal nerves and blood vessels, and she died almost instantly. On the day Cheng Yijiu hunted the third person, hired professional hunters and military officers who had volunteered to help had already arrived at the place where he attacked and killed the Williamses.

The coordination was carried out by the local tax commissioner, a secretary from the colonial administration, and, of course, a number of local officials—they transformed this operation into a gathering of "upper-class" individuals. No one believed this hunt could fail—this time, nearly every renowned hunter from the entire northern Indian colony had come, and they didn't believe there was a single tiger in the world that could escape their grasp.

The hunters first checked the attacked camp and asked the servant who was responsible for tracking the tiger at the time, "Sir, that was a very big tiger. Perhaps it was the biggest tiger I have ever seen in my life." After checking the footprints at the attack scene, the hunters came to the same conclusion.

"A very large male tiger, in the prime of life." Footprints can tell an experienced hunter a lot, and the distance between the footprints can also tell them what kind of tiger it is. "It is indeed very large. I think this is indeed the largest tiger I have ever seen." But the question is how to find this tiger?

Several days had passed, and the tiger might still be nearby or had left, but based on the hunters' experience, it was very likely that the tiger was still nearby. They walked together in the nearby woods and then checked along the riverbank. Later that day, news came from the man's village that a man-eating tiger had eaten a man there.

When more than half of the hunters arrived there, they still found nothing. The tiger's footprints disappeared by the river. Those who stayed at the first location also found nothing. Even though they brought many young buffaloes and sheep, no tiger took the bait.

Soon news of the third victim came out, and this time almost everyone rushed there.

After devouring the third man, Cheng Yijiu continued along the stream. He didn't want to drink stagnant water; at least when it was flowing, he preferred it. So, in fact, the tiger's movements were completely predictable. As he journeyed upstream, Cheng Yijiu carefully gathered information from the surrounding area. This winding valley contained at least five or six villages, scattered along its banks, stretching for forty to fifty kilometers.

These villages are far and near from the valley, some are right on the edge of the valley and some are several kilometers away, but this did not stop Cheng Yijiu from running to the village to observe the terrain. After looking carefully, he did not attack people, but dragged away the livestock in the village.

This would confuse the situation because once a tiger develops the habit of eating people, it will usually only prey on humans. Cheng Yijiu's behavior would give the hunters who are tracking him the illusion that he is just another tiger - if they don't observe the footprints carefully.

That's right, some hunters have caught up with him, hanging behind Cheng Yijiu and tracking his footsteps. Cheng Yijiu can also feel the hunters behind him, not by hearing with his ears or smelling with his nose, but simply by his human sixth sense - he feels that someone is watching him.

This wouldn't work; a counterattack was necessary. Tiger had a significant advantage—he could easily counterattack at night, but during the day, he had to be careful and conceal his body. Cheng Yijiu didn't try to speed up his movements to create distance; instead, he began circling.

Using the tiger's leaping ability, they repeatedly leaped from one side of the stream to the other, confusing the hunters. Cheng Yijiu, crouching among the dry grass and broken logs, finally spotted the hunters chasing them. They were all Caucasian, and though tanned by the tropical sun, it was clear they weren't Indians.

They carefully distanced themselves, not advancing very fast, and Cheng Yijiu simply glanced at them before lowering his head. An experienced hunter like that would surely have a sixth sense, sensing someone was watching them. Cheng Yijiu wasn't even sure if these people sensed a certain atmosphere that might have led them to believe a tiger was nearby.

After more than an hour, the hunters had already moved forward. Cheng Yijiu only looked up and began to look in the direction they left when he heard them leave. Now it was Cheng Yijiu's turn to track them. This was also a very dangerous behavior. These old hunters, like Cheng Yijiu, had a sense of whether something was following them.

Cheng Yijiu trailed off quite far. His nose was superior to a human's, and he could distinguish different scents and track them simply by smell. Honestly, these Europeans, after entering the forest without showering for a few days, would stink like wild animals. A true attack would only occur at night, so Cheng Yijiu had to determine where these people would be staying.

This is where the hunters planned to live. The British didn't just sit there when they occupied India—while building railways, they also managed the forests. For example, the forest huts were built for forest rangers. Hunters could also use them.

The sturdy log house also has a small courtyard and is large enough for several people to live in. It is prepared for people who patrol and guard the forest. On weekdays, the door is closed and occasionally villagers or forest rangers come to stay overnight. The hunters have obtained permission from local officials and can use these cabins at will.

Nighttime is very dangerous. Living in the wild is basically playing with your life. This hut can give them a sense of security. At least the tiger won't come in through the window or door - even if it breaks in by force, it will wake up the hunters and they will shoot it dead. But Cheng Yijiu will open the door...

Chapter 34 Rumors

Cheng Yijiu moved silently in the darkness, carefully observing the hunters' positions. "There's... a man... at the door," Cheng Yijiu muttered. That's right, there was a hunter at the door. He was inside, and outside was a flat field, where the hunters had built a fire. It seemed the hunters were taking turns keeping watch.

The other hunters were sleeping in the room, and they took turns watching the door from inside to avoid any unusual situations. They did not lock the door.

Cheng Yijiu circled the hut. It was a shame it hadn't been built very long, and it was often renovated. So, there weren't any rotten walls to break into. A frontal attack was out of the question; Cheng Yijiu wouldn't be so reckless. But there was a way... if he could somehow get a fire, maybe he could try to set the hut on fire?

Although the house was primarily constructed of wood and rammed earth, the cracked walls and roof could easily be ignited during the dry season. The problem now was how to get a fire under the watchful eyes of the hunter inside. Cheng Yijiu thought that perhaps vines could help—even if they couldn't ignite it, they could at least create an opportunity.

There were indeed many vines in the Indian mountains, and the dry season had caused a considerable number of them to wither and die. Cheng Yijiu quickly ripped off a large pile of vines. However, a tiger's claws couldn't manipulate vines the way humans could, and as for using its mouth and claws—never mind, it was best to just do what it could. Connecting the vines with just its claws and mouth was extremely difficult. If Cheng Yijiu hadn't somehow managed to use his claws as a sort of "hand," it would have been impossible.

It's not that tiger claws are useless; while they can't hold vines, they can be used to pinch, and combined with their mouths, they can also tie large knots. After finally managing to get a vine about ten meters long, Cheng Yijiu tied one end to a tree trunk on the side of the house and carefully passed the other end in front of the house. This end was held in Cheng Yijiu's mouth, and the middle part gradually approached the fire.

He couldn't rely on the other party not noticing, so Cheng Yijiu suddenly exerted force and accelerated. The withered vines suddenly straightened up, quickly breaking up the fire, and even a lot of burning wood flew onto the wall and fell into the door.

Cheng Yijiu quickly opened his mouth and hid behind a tree on the side - whether he could find an opportunity or not depended on this time. The wood that fell in really ignited the debris inside, waking up the hunters. The first hunter who rushed out quickly raised his gun halfway and quickly scanned the front and left. Then he made way for his friends to come out, and someone was inside to put out the fire.

Cheng Yijiu knew his chance had come. Even the most experienced hunter couldn't open fire in this situation—they would kill themselves. The massive tiger, using the light and shadows of the fire, crouched on the ground and approached the crowd, leaping up when it was less than five meters away.

The tiger pounced with incredible speed, and this time it pounced close to the ground, knocking the hunter facing Cheng Yijiu to the ground before he could react. Cheng Yijiu didn't rush to bite the man to death, but instead used his claws to grab and slap him, using him as a cushion to pounce on the other man's back. This time he bit down on the neck, instinctively choosing the most suitable angle and biting off the hunter's neck in one bite.

Cheng Yijiu wasted no time. Before the others could desperately raise their guns and fire, he had already followed this pounce-and-bite motion and darted directly into the woods on the other side, using the shadows and trees to quickly escape. Cheng Yijiu not only ran, but also rolled and changed direction, all to avoid being hit by the hunters. In fact, he had overestimated those people. The flickering light and dark caused by the fire at night was far more dazzling than ordinary night.

These hunters couldn't even see the direction the tiger ran in, let alone aim and shoot - they just fired a few shots out of fear and anger.

This time, tragically, two hunters were killed, a blow to the professional hunters who had been hunting in India for years. To the Indians who came to help, Cheng Yijiu had become a "god." After surveying the scene and carefully studying the cause and effect, the hunters were seriously considering whether to manufacture silver bullets and needed a priest to pray and consecrate them.

They found vines wrapped around tree trunks, they found vines that hadn't burned out and had blown away the fire, they even found tooth marks on the other end of the vine. If this was the work of a tiger...it's better to say they encountered a tiger man - a monster similar to the werewolf in Europe.

"This pattern of action—I mean, its pounce and killing two of us—is simply not what a tiger should do! This is a demon, this is human!" The hunters concluded, and demanded the official deployment of the garrison. "We need a silver bullet to deal with this monster."

In European history, there are records of certain "monsters" being killed with silver bullets. The Werewolf of Givaudan is the most recent record of a man-eating beast being killed with silver bullets in European history. This man-eating tiger is probably a similar monster. Even now, among the hunters who witnessed it, some have said that when this tiger suddenly pounced out of the light and dark jungle, killed two people, and quickly left...

"That's a tiger standing upright on its two legs!" a hunter had already declared. As for the local villagers, they were terrified. This was already a divine tiger.

Cheng Yijiu was not quite aware of this rumor, but it had a very good effect on his hunting.

On the third day of his hunt, Cheng Yijiu finally went hunting—by then, starving, he'd made a long detour to the other side of the river. This time, he chose humans again—not because of his reason, but because of his instincts. The tiger instinct within him drove him to stalk the grass, then suddenly appear before a group of farmers. This body's instincts were already imprinted with the habit of cannibalism—perhaps it had learned that humans were both easy and tasty prey.

The farmers were instantly terrified—there were over twenty of them, most of them young men, armed with farm tools that could be used as weapons—but they ran, turning and running. Several even knelt and kowtowed, seemingly losing the courage to flee. Cheng Yijiu once again lost control of his body, and the tiger quickly selected a target, grabbed him, and ran away...

This chapter has not been reviewed and approved#Vv6n

This chapter has not been reviewed

Chapter 36: New Hunter

This was the first hunter to fall victim. Mike Carter was a bounty hunter, acting as a hunting assistant for wealthy individuals, earning money by hunting the "pests" for which they placed official bounties. He was a highly skilled hunting assistant, having killed dozens of tigers and leopards, and even large prey like elephants, lions, and rhinos in Africa. But today, he was caught and his life was lost.

The beast, driven purely for killing, not prey, had accurately dispatched the two most dangerous members of the group. This tiger truly wasn't a tiger at all—it was more like a human. The servants carrying the two bodies back refused to venture into the jungle again. They wanted to return home, never to hear a word more about this man-eating tiger of Bihar.

Before word of this spread, a second group of hunters also met with disaster. About thirty miles away on a mountain road, three hunters—one a frequenter of high society, the renowned adventurer and hunter Johannes, and two of his hunting companions—climbed a tree at night, tied themselves to the branches to avoid being attacked, and fell into a deep sleep.

They were very careful, always keeping one person awake. Each person would use a distinctive bird call to alert the other two, forming a three-tree V-shape. This sleep wasn't deep, so it was easy to wake. Cheng Yijiu, however, had discovered them by smell, lurking in the dark woods, observing the three. He let the first sentry go, and after the second had been on sentry duty for over an hour, Cheng Yijiu made his move.

He crept silently to the foot of the tree. Cheng Yijiu was positioned behind the man in the tree. The tiger leaped with all its might, its powerful forelimbs gripping the trunk. With a swift kick of its hind legs, it quickly reached its target's back. The sentry was still a bit dazed at this point; the tiger's movement could easily be felt as the wind blowing through the tree. And then he died, feeling something behind him.

A massive claw, the size of a basin, reached out from behind, gripping his neck. With immense force, the claws sliced ​​directly into his throat, severing his trachea and blood vessels. Cheng Yijiu also leaned over, using his weight to pin the man's arm to prevent him from pulling the trigger and waking the other two. There was no need to do that, as the unfortunate man had already died quickly.

Cheng Yijiu's descent from the tree was a bit clumsy, as is the case with cats—agile in climbing but a bit ungainly in descending, unable to slide down like a bear. Following the same pattern, Cheng Yijiu targeted a second person. Soon, the second person also experienced a vision of God in their dream, and the third person followed suit a few minutes later. From the first to the last, it took just over ten minutes, and all three died in the tree.

Cheng Yijiu did not drag them down to eat them, his food was in the village.

It was half a month later that these three people were found. Their rotten bodies were broken into pieces and fell under a tree.

During this time, Cheng Yijiu ambushed several groups of hunters, killing six of them—six hunters of some note. He also went to the village to terrorize the villagers and drag several people away for food. The bounty on the man-eating tiger in Bihar was raised again, and now even European zoologists were interested—this tiger was too unusual. The hunters prepared silver bullets, but they had no use for them.

Over 1,400 square miles—this was Cheng Yijiu's current range, but he could change it at any time. As long as he stayed in the foothills of the Himalayas, he wouldn't mind, even if he went into Nepal. For over a hundred hunters, it was like sand thrown into the ocean; they simply couldn't search every corner. Furthermore, after Cheng Yijiu's several successful ambushes, many hunters had already given up the chase...

After all, it's one thing to ride on an elephant, have servants drive out a tiger, and then shoot it dead. Crawling through the mountains and being attacked by a tiger is another. The first to back off were the upper-class hunters seeking fame, followed by the bounty hunters—they risked their lives without getting paid, which was simply not worth it. The only ones still tracking the tiger were the spontaneous and officially licensed hunters.

This tiger was really too arrogant. Not to mention the more than one hundred people it had eaten, more than a dozen hunters who had hunted it had died.

A year later, Cheng Yijiu returned to the foothills of the Himalayas. He lay on the rocks, his massive body languid. He had devoured over 150 lives that year, an absurd number even among man-eating tigers. If he could have continued wreaking havoc for seven or eight years like a typical man-eating tiger, that number would have undoubtedly set a record.

Cheng Yijiu could see a corner of the village diagonally below him. He was only two miles away from this village of several hundred people, but the vertical distance was almost a mile. This would be his new food collection point. In the high mountain valley here, there were scattered fields and villages, and there were always tens of thousands of people living in this valley that was dozens of miles long.

Cheng Yijiu's true rivals had arrived: several hunters with real experience, courage, and a strong sense of responsibility, who had come after the official withdrawal of the monetary reward. They had patiently collected information about his activities, carefully analyzing and tracking his tracks—and now they were at the site of Cheng Yijiu's last attack.

"We can't use bait against him... This monster rarely takes the bait," said Sir Clare Bolton, dressed in a hunting jacket and hat, a double-barreled shotgun tucked under his arm. Here, in the spurs of the Himalayas, the climate is very cool. He was accompanied by three other renowned hunters—all of whom had once been renowned for their kills of man-eating beasts.

Up to this point, these hunters had barely seen Cheng Yijiu. In fact, of all the hunters, the only ones who had actually seen him up close were those he had killed. The others had only seen Cheng Yijiu's footprints, hair scraped from branches, and, of course, the remains of his victims. Cheng Yijiu wasn't a big eater, and his eating habits were completely different from those of wild tigers.

He wouldn't eat 20 or 30 kilograms of meat in one sitting, usually just a dozen or so. If he got hungry, he'd just hunt again—only humans would be so wasteful. That's why Cheng Yijiu hunted so frequently. Another characteristic of him was that he never ate the same meal twice. He wouldn't eat the same meal again—this was one of the reasons he was considered so difficult to track.

And now, these hunters are waiting for Cheng Yijiu's latest hunt - although it is cruel, there is nothing they can do about it, as they firmly believe that they are only a short distance away from this man-eating tiger.

Chapter 37 Return

Cheng Yijiu did not disappoint the hunters and quickly launched an attack. Many of the villagers in the mountain village also relied on hunting for a living, but facing Cheng Yijiu, the village hunters were helpless. When the tiger broke into the village in broad daylight, a brave hunter opened fire.