Infinite Hunter

But the bullets missed. Three or four people fired, but none of them hit the target. Cheng Yijiu's roar completely destroyed their courage. When they fired, they were only 20 to 30 meters away from Cheng Yijiu's tiger, but even at this distance, none of their shots hit the tiger. These people had to believe that this was a tiger with supernatural powers.

This tiger is a devil or a god, in any case, it cannot be harmed by the mundane weapons in their hands.

The hunters fled quickly, but Cheng Yijiu directly broke open a house and dragged the people inside away. A solid stone wall could stop a tiger, but a door couldn't. Even if the people inside hid on the second floor and closed the door to the stairs, it would be useless for Cheng Yijiu.

Any other tiger would have been saved, but Cheng Yijiu climbed the stairs and broke the door latch...

The real hunters received the news, and they were actually only a few miles from the village Cheng Yijiu had attacked. When they arrived, they heard the local hunters' horrified descriptions of the tiger as a messenger of the gods, invulnerable to mortal weapons. "Sir, we fired at him so many times from this distance, but we couldn't hit him. His divine power rendered our bullets useless."

The hunters were investigating the tiger attack and they found Cheng Yijiu's footprints, and these truly skilled hunters began tracking him.

Cheng Yijiu was a massive tiger, and carrying a man in his mouth made his footprints even heavier. The tiger left tracks on the ground, scraping its fur as it moved through the woods. Hunters followed these tracks, and the first thing they found was the poor victim.

The remains of the victim were scattered in a valley. The tiger had feasted on its kill less than three hundred yards from the village. It had left about half an hour before the hunters arrived. These hunters were experienced, so they were able to rely on their senses to track Cheng Yijiu's footsteps even in places where there were almost no traces left.

The tiger moved along the valley in the mountain, leaving its footprints. After moving for a distance, Cheng Yijiu stepped on his own footprints to go back, then stepped on the footprints again and moved forward, using the stones to jump to another stone five or six meters away, and then he lay down behind the stone.

Cheng Yijiu watched the four hunters follow his footprints. When they reached the end of the tracks, they looked up and around. Cheng Yijiu didn't attack. These four people gave him a dangerous feeling, very dangerous. The hunter who was carrying out the punishment plot was already regretting why he stayed there.

However, if Cheng Yi lay still for a long time, the hunters might not be able to find him - the tiger's protective color is simply a bug. The hunters began to use special whistles to blow sounds like a tigress in heat - this is very effective in luring male tigers in some cases.

However, it was of no use to Cheng Yijiu. The tiger just quietly watched the four people dozens of meters away. When they blew the whistle, the tiger began to retreat silently - Cheng Yijiu did not want to launch an attack, he could not afford the risk.

Cheng Yijiu finally disappeared on the other side of the mountain...

The legend of the Bihar man-eating tiger continued, but Cheng Yijiu found that there was an extra door in front of him. When he walked into this door, Cheng Yijiu suddenly woke up from the high-back chair in front of the long table in the living room.

He looked at his palms and touched his mouth, "How real... was it a dream?" The feeling of being a tiger still remained, but there was not the slightest sense of incongruity, as if it was natural for him to be a tiger the last minute.

Cheng Yijiu grabbed the hunting rifle beside him and stroked the barrel. A book appeared before him, a thin pamphlet. Cheng Yijiu placed the Winchester on the table and reached for the pamphlet. The first page he opened was a blurry black and white photo of a tiger drinking water in the distance.

Beneath the photo was a line of small text: "Considered the most credible photo of a man-eating tiger in Bihar." Cheng Yijiu smiled. The blurry tiger in the photo was indeed him; he could recognize it at a glance. The title of the book was also quite exaggerated: "The World's Most Ferocious Man-Eating Tiger, the Most Ferocious Beast."

Cheng Yijiu remembered very clearly that there was no such man-eating tiger in reality. "So does it exist? I'm not sure..." Cheng Yijiu had an idea that maybe there was such a tiger in a parallel universe of the multiverse, or maybe there was such a tiger in a certain universe.

He continued flipping through the booklet. "Shh!" he said, his tongue flicking. The numbers in the book were quite exaggerated. "The number of recorded victims reached 873... It's generally believed that including unregistered victims, the number could reach 1,300 to 1,400—this is truly exaggerated."

This man-eating tiger wreaked havoc in Bihar and Nepal for almost a decade, and was never hunted down until the very end. Records of it began in 1913, but after 1923, there were no further reports of it attacking humans – the tiger was generally presumed dead.

The writing style of this book is a bit exaggerated, but based on his own experience, Cheng Yijiu felt that the description was basically reliable - except for the analysis of the tiger's range in different eras on the map, which was basically completely wrong. There were even some hunters bragging about being just a little bit away from killing the tiger.

They usually said that they had found the tiger through excellent tracking technology, but for some reason they did not kill it. Cheng Yijiu felt that he was not that miserable. Except for the four hunters who left last, the other hunters did not give him any sense of danger.

The second half of the booklet was essentially a collection of mythical and supernatural stuff. After analyzing the habits of Bihari man-eating tigers and several unusual attacks, the author asserted that someone was impersonating a tiger and attacking others. He even listed a lot of evidence—otherwise, he would have to admit the ridiculous notion that tiger-men might exist in this world. Cheng Yijiu didn't laugh out loud; he just shook his head.

There are many different opinions about the final fate of the man-eating tiger in Bihar. However, the book says that someone claimed to have killed the tiger in Nepal, but the person who made this claim could not provide any evidence.

Volume: Gustav

Chapter 38 New Mission

Looking at the legend he had personally created, Cheng Yijiu could only smile bitterly. "This kind of punishment..." He really couldn't say for sure. If he was beaten to death, would he die in this kind of punishment? He didn't dare to try, nor did he want to. However, this kind of punishment did help him understand the tiger's hunting habits.

If he were to take on the adventure of hunting Kumon's man-eating tiger again, Cheng Yijiu felt it would be very difficult. Only after he had become a tiger himself could he truly understand how difficult it was to track a tiger in the jungle. Cheng Yijiu could only pay the highest respect to the British hunter Jim who tracked down and finally killed the man-eating tiger that year - he was indeed worthy of being the best hunter in history.

The booklet, "The Man-Eating Tiger of Bihar," along with numerous books about and relating to this man-eating tiger, now occupied an entire shelf in Cheng Yijiu's study. Many of these were novels about whimsy, while others were more formal collections of essays. Zoologists were arguing over various theories about how a healthy, strong, adult male tiger could have fallen into the trap of becoming a man-eating tiger.

Among the man-eating tigers that have been documented so far, this is the only completely healthy and strong adult male tiger. The rest are old, weak, sick and disabled who are unable to prey on other animals and only start eating people.

Many theories have been proposed, and the most widely accepted theory is that this male tiger's mother was a man-eating tiger, so he was accustomed to preying on humans from a young age. However, this cannot explain the tiger's "cunning" that is different from other tigers - every book mentions this tiger's cunning, and Indians even regard it as a god.

The most similar case of healthy big cats preying on humans occurred in Africa... the Stanig man-eating lion pride, a healthy lion pride that also lived on humans. Cheng Yijiu let out a long sigh, put his book away, and placed his hunting rifle on the gun rack. He changed his clothes and threw them into the washing machine. He then took a shower and went to bed.

This strange hunting lodge showed its other side—its punitive side. Cheng Yijiu thought as he lay in bed after waking up, "So the reward is the 'legal' income that comes with every successful hunt, as well as the luxurious house and various foods that are free to live in?"

Now it seems there might be other rewards? Cheng Yijiu stretched his wrists and palms, and the sense of power that filled them made him suddenly enlightened. "Oh, and my body. My health is much better now than before—whether it's vision, hearing, smell, strength, or physical fitness. I feel like I'm on par with humans in the Ice Age."

After figuring this out, Cheng Yijiu still couldn't figure out what this house wanted him to do with. It seemed like some aliens were using this for fun.

He put on his jacket and jeans, hung his washed hunting clothes in the garden, and then opened the door and walked out. He looked back and saw the trailer again. He shook his head, pushed out his bicycle, and rode off to hang out. Cheng Yijiu had a driver's license, which was enough for him to travel around the United States. After all, as long as you paid the fee, the fake schools didn't really care whether you went to class or not.

Cheng Yijiu wanted to study wildlife, but the requirements for admission to a good university were quite high. So, forget it, he decided to learn through hunting. The books in his study were enough for him anyway. So, he was actually traveling across the United States in his RV. He was currently in Northern California, with his sights set on Las Vegas, Nevada.

During this time, he hadn't been to the gun store much, nor had he practiced shooting—California had very strict gun control, unlike Texas, where gun stores were everywhere. Fortunately, Cheng Yijiu had bought a lot of bullets before arriving in California, and the workshop in the house could also make his own bullets.

After he happily drank a few beers and returned to the house, the new mission appeared on his computer. "Hunting Tsavo's man-eating lion... No, it's switched! Okay, it's also Africa, the crocodile Gustave from the Burundi Delta—the most famous man-eating crocodile."

This was interesting. Cheng Yijiu didn't know how to hunt a crocodile. Would he be punished by being turned into a crocodile? And he might not be punished by being turned into a crocodile. It might be something even worse. He dug out the records in his study, looking for methods to hunt crocodiles—usually the simplest method was to set a trap.

Otherwise, the only way is to use a light aircraft to determine the area where the crocodile is active, know where it will come ashore to sunbathe, and then shoot it dead.

Gustave, the Nile crocodile, is the world's most famous man-eating crocodile and the largest of its kind—estimated at six meters long based on photos, a size rarely seen even among saltwater crocodiles. This crocodile is accustomed to ambushing river dwellers, even daring to hunt on the beach.

The crocodile was found in Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi, near the shores of Africa's second-largest lake. From the 1990s to 2004, it was untraceable. It disappeared after 2004, but it seems to have been spotted again in 2007.

Cheng Yijiu changed into a more modern outfit, but Burundi was a typical war-torn African country—with multiple warlords. A person of Asian descent like him would be very conspicuous there and easily captured by the rebels. This was actually a very dangerous mission—the danger lay not in hunting crocodiles, but in surviving in this place and completing the mission.

Unfortunately, Cheng Yijiu didn't have more time to prepare. He packed his hunting knife and took various insect repellents with him. "Damn it, I should have gotten vaccinated earlier. It would have been troublesome if I had been infected with the tropical epidemic." He grabbed the gun and put it on his back, then strode out of the room.

The moment he stepped out, he was greeted by a vast expanse of ocean-like water. This was Lake Tanganyika, Africa's second-largest lake, and Gustav was operating near the delta of the Rugiji River, which flows into the lake. Cheng Yijiu first pulled out a map and GPS, hoping to determine his position through the signal. If the GPS signal was poor, he'd likely have to use a watch and a stick to roughly measure his position.

Fortunately, he was lucky and the GPS signal was good, so Cheng Yijiu quickly marked his location on the map. "I'm lucky. I'm not far from the river mouth." He marked his location on the map, then chose the right direction and left.

Chapter 39 Conflict

Crocodile hunting isn't difficult, but hunting a specific crocodile is a challenge—you have to determine its range and know where it basks in the sun. As for hunting crocodiles in the water? That's not the way to go. The problem with traps is that they don't always catch specific crocodiles, and they rely more on collaboration with local residents.

Cheng Yijiu had no interest in communicating with the local people - if he were white, it would be fine, and it would be even better if he had an American passport, but he couldn't produce a passport and he was a yellow person... Forget it, just be a poacher.

Gustav the Crocodile may have eaten 300 people. It was much larger than the average Nile crocodile, so Cheng Yijiu felt that his chances of finding it were very high. This giant crocodile had disappeared for several years, but there had been sightings recently, suggesting it might still be alive. Cheng Yijiu was certain it was still alive; otherwise, why would he be called in to hunt?

He was well aware of one thing: many sightings were completely unreliable. Even trained zoologists made mistakes, and ordinary people were even more likely to make them. They often exaggerated the size of the creatures they saw, which was perfectly normal. Firstly, the sighting was brief, there wasn't necessarily any reference material, and the nerves were high, so they naturally tended to exaggerate what they saw.

So whether or not Gustav was definitely sighted was hard to say. But Cheng Yijiu decided to go over and take a look. After all, there were many Nile crocodiles here, and it was not unusual for someone to mistake a crocodile that was clearly larger than the others. Even if it wasn't Gustav, it could have been another large crocodile.

Cheng Yijiu strolled leisurely along the road. Even though this place was close to the capital, it was still sparsely populated, in his opinion. He preferred to see wild animals rather than people as he walked, rifle slung over his shoulder. It was morning, and crocodiles were sunbathing on the beach. These crocodiles showed no fear of people, and Cheng Yijiu watched them carefully as he walked. The crocodiles were generally two to three meters in size, with a few reaching around four meters.

Gustav was at least five meters long, and generally believed to be over six meters, completely different from the crocodiles before him. Furthermore, Gustav had bullet holes on the right side of his body, and a severe scar on his right shoulder from a cold weapon, all of which made him relatively easy to identify. Cheng Yijiu touched the rifle in his hand, feeling that if he didn't use it properly, his gun would be underpowered. Crocodiles wouldn't be on this side of the riverbank. They usually found themselves on uninhabited islands in the river or lake, usually tens or hundreds of meters away from the riverbank.

At this distance, Cheng Yijiu could use a telescope, but without a scope, he might not be able to accurately hit a crocodile hundreds of meters away. The 0.3006 bullet was powerful, but could it kill a crocodile with one shot at a distance of hundreds of meters? This was still a question.

The first thing to do is to find these crocodiles. If possible, Cheng Yijiu didn't want to go into the water, but now it seems that he has to find a boat to search for crocodiles in the water.

Burundi is one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world, and its civil war had just ended. Finding a boat here, one that could guarantee one's safety, was a fantasy. If one tried to find a small boat capable of carrying two or three people, the only outcome would likely be a capsize, leaving Cheng Yijiu to feed the crocodiles. Gustav had a history of attacking fishermen on boats.

Cheng Yijiu kept searching with a telescope, searching upstream along the river mouth. He carefully avoided the villagers - if this attracted the militants, it would be troublesome.

But the more he tried to avoid such a thing, the more likely it was to happen. Through his telescope, Cheng Yijiu spotted several pickup trucks filled with armed men armed with AKs, machine guns, and RPGs. They were driving towards him, making loud noises, and Cheng Yijiu couldn't understand their dialect—it should have been French, right? They were shooting at him, apparently planning to rob him.

But could the robbery still keep him alive? In this essentially lawless place, Cheng Yijiu had no hope of that happening. The situation now was that before Cheng Yijiu could hunt Gustav, he had to fight for his life. The combat capabilities of the so-called Black Uncle militants were just that, despite years of civil war, they were still the same, not much better than chimpanzees. The bullets they fired were far away from Cheng Yijiu.

But the pickup trucks were getting closer, and Cheng Yijiu couldn't delay any longer. He immediately knelt on one knee, his elbow propped up on it to form a tripod, and aimed his Winchester M70 at the pickup truck driver. Cheng Yijiu's aim was so focused that even the bullets flying overhead couldn't affect him. Cheng Yijiu held his breath, and at a perfectly good moment, he pulled the trigger. At this point, he was about seventy meters away from the first pickup truck. Because he was behind a small mound, he hadn't been hit by the random gunfire yet.

The .3006 bullet easily passed through the pickup truck's windshield, punching a hole in the driver's head. It then exited from the back of the head, piercing the steel plate and causing a black man in the back to be pierced by bullets, causing him to spurt blood—this was the kind of damage a full-strength round should have. Almost immediately, the pickup truck turned a corner, throwing several people out of the bed. Cheng Yijiu ejected the shell and reloaded, striking the driver of the second pickup truck with a second round.

The third pickup truck swerved and fled, while Cheng Yijiu called out the armed men on the ground and in the truck bed one by one. He carried two leather boxes of bullets, more than enough to kill them all right there. "We were just hunting man-eating crocodiles, but it ended up like this." The gang didn't even get a chance to fire their RPGs before Cheng Yijiu shot seven of them dead. The upside was that Cheng Yijiu could get a supply of weapons.

He chose the best-quality AK and collected all the bullets and magazines. He also took the RPG and all the shells. He drained the fuel from the pickup truck, picked a pickup truck, loaded it with the spare tank, and drove off. Consequences? If he could kill the crocodile, there wouldn't be any consequences. So he had to move quickly. If the country's armed men surrounded him before he could kill Gustav, it would be over.

Cheng Yijiu sped along the riverbank in his pickup truck. His dynamic vision was so good he could spot a fleeting crocodile basking in the sun. After those hunts and the punishment, his physical fitness had improved considerably—not quite to the point of superhuman strength, but enough to reach a level of excellence among ordinary people. This was also the reason he had been able to shoot the militants so accurately and calmly.

Chapter 40 Americans

Killing the militants wasn't difficult, but escaping their pursuit was a bit more challenging. Burundi's status as a least developed country meant it was difficult to buy anything on the market—especially modern industrial goods. Cheng Yijiu's desire to buy a used pickup truck was practically impossible, not to mention his lack of money. Buying a boat large enough to propel it would be even more difficult—though the language was acceptable, as French was the common language, and Cheng Yijiu could even gesture.

But money was a real problem. Cheng Yijiu didn't believe he, as a foreigner, could afford to buy what he needed in the local market at reasonable prices. Time was paramount to him, but even if time was urgent, Cheng Yijiu absolutely didn't want to take a sampan and try to kill Gustav in the river—the boat wouldn't be as big as Gustav, which would be fatal. As for a light aircraft? Forget it. A white Western scientist with university funding and long-term residency here might be able to do it, but Cheng Yijiu couldn't even think about it.

He could only speed along the riverbank, while trying to observe the crocodiles basking in the sun on the riverbank. Based on the tradition of previous missions, Cheng Yijiu felt that this time he would definitely not be allowed to stray from the target, and it was very likely that the target would appear in front of him soon. So when he reached a place where he could see a sandbar in the river, which was covered with crocodiles, Cheng Yijiu stopped the car. He checked the ammunition in the car, then went to the riverbank with a telescope.

He was careful not to get too close to the water—Nile crocodiles were quite capable of sudden attacks, and being near the water was quite dangerous. Crucially, humans couldn't see beneath the surface. With their protective camouflage, even if a Nile crocodile got within two meters of you, and the water was only one meter deep, it would be difficult to detect. Cheng Yijiu held up his binoculars, observing the crocodiles basking in the sun on the sandbar. "It wasn't particularly large..." he muttered.

Continuing his telescope search, Cheng Yijiu spotted a group of people who looked completely out of place in this country. "Americans?" They looked like they were a few white men and women, along with some black people. The black man with the camera had a completely different demeanor from the locals. They were led by a few seemingly local black boys and young men, while further away, there were armed individuals who appeared to be local "protection" forces.

Cheng Yijiu was still quite far away from them, but these people piqued his curiosity and attention. He carefully observed them through a telescope. "Looks like they are biologists? I don't think there's anything right about them..." Cheng Yijiu looked at their equipment. These people were indeed Americans, because they drove several off-road vehicles, and the backs of these trucks were full of equipment, probably everything from tents to computers and other equipment.

Should he contact them? Cheng Yijiu decided against it. First, the biggest problem was that local forces, especially the Burundian nationalist militia, were likely keeping an eye on these people. Cheng Yijiu had just killed a group of militants—though they weren't necessarily the same group—but he didn't want to have to deal with them any further. Secondly, Americans were known for being incredibly naive, and many of them were known for their propensity to stir up trouble—perhaps tacitly accepting their superiority.

Judging from their expressions, they seemed genuinely interested in the Nile crocodiles. Cheng Yijiu felt that something would happen between them sooner or later—if they were also here to look for Gustav. Otherwise, Cheng Yijiu wondered what they were doing here? UN observers? Those would be protected by blue helmets.

Since there were armed personnel, Cheng Yijiu carefully checked his own anti-personnel weapons. He had a pistol in good condition, with a six-round magazine and a pack of bullets, an RPK machine gun with a magazine, and an RPG with four usable grenades. He didn't have any pistols, as Cheng Yijiu found the Tokarev pistol to be poorly maintained and low on ammunition, so he didn't take any.

"When I get back this time, I'm going to pay to learn some skills from a North American militia," Cheng Yijiu muttered. Perhaps the local militants were even more dangerous than Gustav on this mission. With ten rounds of ammunition left in his Winchester M70, he figured he could easily kill the discovered Gustav—as long as it wasn't in the water. Cheng Yijiu got into his pickup truck and drove it down a hill to avoid being spotted. He quietly crawled outside with his rifle to observe.

He paid special attention to the armed men, watching to see if they'd left, and also to see if anyone had spotted him and was about to outflank him. Cheng Yijiu's eyes and ears were sharp, and his physical fitness had probably reached a very high level among humans. Add to that the innate fighting ability of the children from the Eastern great country—this was a country where children under ten could even play war games and divide themselves into three groups: assaulters, fire support, and bombers, creating a three-three system.

This is completely different from Uncle Hei's random shooting method. With their formation, one grenade usually kills an entire squad.

Cheng Yijiu wasn't particularly afraid of these people; he simply didn't want to get into trouble. So, he simply killed them all, minimizing the possibility of them tracking him down. It seemed the chaotic situation in Burundi had greatly aided him. It was likely that the enemy would think it was the work of hostile armed forces, and so they hadn't pursued him yet. Cheng Yijiu had no way of covering up the wheel tracks.

At night, Cheng Yijiu wrapped himself in a blanket in the bed of his pickup truck and fell into a state of alert sleep. These short bursts of sleep, if trained to be effective, are no worse than a long, deep sleep. Some even say they offer a higher quality. Crocodiles don't strike at night, as their lowered body temperature reduces their mobility. They can only hunt prey that is barely able to move.

So that's how the trap works, but now there's no trap.

Cheng Yijiu was awakened by the sounds of distant lights and screams in the quiet night. There were no lions nearby, so he slept in the truck bed; otherwise, he would have been dead. He listened carefully to the sounds, chewing on some waterless toothpaste. By the time he spat it out, he had figured out what was going on.

"Attacked by crocodiles at night? And a guide was dragged away?" Cheng Yijiu quickly picked up the telescope, ran to the side and began to observe. "What a pity there are no night vision goggles." This was his sigh. In the field of view of the telescope, those Americans were shouting and yelling, and a corner of the tent was broken. They were shining large flashlights everywhere. Cheng Yijiu keenly noticed the fluctuations on the water surface, which should be that a crocodile had just returned to the water. "Damn! It would be great if I could go over and check for traces!"

Chapter 41 Discovery

Cheng Yijiu couldn't go over, at least not now, with all the chaos going on over there. He saw weapons on the other side, pistols and tranquilizer guns, but who knew if he'd get shot in the heat of the moment? He couldn't sleep after all this, so he could only sit in the car and wait for daybreak.

He didn't smoke or drink, so he spent the time maintaining his gun. He was certain there was at least one man-eating crocodile nearby, and judging by the nature of the mission, it was most likely Gustav. As daylight dawned, Cheng Yijiu took a breath of the cool air and picked up his Kalashnikov—a better option in this situation.

It seemed his car hadn't been discovered yet. Cheng Yijiu wanted to try to communicate with those people. He thought carefully and thought it should be possible - but it would be best to put down the gun. That would require careful consideration, at least to make sure there were no Burundian militants monitoring nearby.

Cheng Yijiu spent most of the day trying to confirm the location, but still couldn't find any trace of Gustav. He also looked at the sandbar on the riverbank, but couldn't find any trace of Gustav. The Americans also set out along the riverbank, apparently looking for crocodiles, but two people remained in the camp.

Cheng Yijiu made up his mind and slowly circled the pickup truck toward the American camp. Three or four hundred meters from the camp, he had already caught their attention. The two Americans—a man and a woman—were already standing at the entrance of the tent, wary. The man even grabbed a gun. This country had been plagued by war, and even though it had achieved so-called peace, it was still very fragile.

It wasn't until Cheng Yijiu stopped his car fifty meters away and walked out that the other party put down his gun - a yellow man is always much safer than a group of black people. "Hello," Cheng Yijiu took the initiative to greet them. "I'm here to hunt the man-eating crocodile Gustav." He thought there was no need to lie, and it would be better to state his purpose directly.

The other party looked quite excited, but instead of blaming Cheng Yijiu, they agreed with his opinion, "Yes, that's right! We must kill that damn crocodile!" However, they still did not allow Cheng Yijiu to enter their camp. "Can I see the place where you were attacked yesterday? I'm sorry, there are no secrets here."

Cheng Yijiu got what he wanted. He saw traces of the crocodile crawling back to the river. Cheng Yijiu measured the width and the distance between the pits dug by several claws with his steps. He basically confirmed that this was a large Nile crocodile, most likely Gustav.

Besides Gustav, are there other crocodiles that specifically come ashore at night to attack humans? The tent that was attacked was over fifty meters from the water. Cheng Yijiu didn't care about the other party's slight defensiveness. He thanked them and drove away in his pickup truck.

He decided to find another place to hide, but he couldn't stray too far from here. Cheng Yijiu had a hunch that Gustav might be "at odds" with these people. There was evidence that wild animals would repeatedly attack in the same place where they had successfully attacked.

Cheng Yijiu checked his ammunition again, bracing himself for the militants to search for him—a move he didn't want to make if possible. Standing on the roof of his pickup truck, Cheng Yijiu peered through binoculars at the distant riverbank and sandbar. Of course, he also kept an eye on the Americans.

When he left, the American woman had given him some information, and Cheng Yijiu learned that this Gustav had just attacked a UN medical team that was inspecting evidence of the so-called Burundi massacre. Cheng Yijiu expressed doubts about these so-called journalists. Were their identities really that?

But it doesn't matter, as long as we can lure out the crocodile.

Later, Cheng Yijiu finally saw the so-called Gustav crocodile, which made him very excited. It must be said that those Americans were really awesome. When Cheng Yijiu followed them and set off again, he saw a huge figure emerging from the reeds by the river.

This must be the Gustav crocodile, as it was almost twice as large as the Nile crocodile Cheng Yijiu had seen before, possibly even twice as large. And the strange skull crest, just as the French zoologist who named this crocodile said, was very impressive at first sight.

Unfortunately, the distance was too far, and Cheng Yijiu couldn't shoot the crocodile at all. Not long after Gustav was discovered, he went into the water. Cheng Yijiu decided, "If I continue to follow these Americans, there will definitely be hope."

The Americans seemed intent on catching the crocodile, as they had prepared a large iron cage, the kind typically used to trap crocodiles. The cage was chained between several trees, its opening facing the river, and inside was a live sheep. Cheng Yijiu carefully avoided the sight of the men and sneaked near the cage.

For safety reasons, he parked his pickup truck a few kilometers away and walked to the cage, rifle strapped to his back. One unfortunate thing about that night was that it rained heavily. Cheng Yijiu donned a raincoat and then used a tarpaulin to build a rainproof roof over a nearby tree.

He was perched on a tree by the river, about twenty meters away from the cage. The Americans had built a steel platform near the riverbank, from which they observed the cage. The rain stopped around midnight, and even the observers were already feeling drowsy.

Cheng Yijiu was like this. He seemed to be watching, as if he was not asleep, but when he nodded, he didn't know whether he was awake or not. In the tent, the black guide suddenly sat up, frightened by the nightmare. After sitting for a while, he became more and more terrified, so he picked up the flashlight and quietly slipped out.

The flashlight's light just happened to hit Cheng Yijiu's face, causing him to suddenly wake up. He took a deep puff of the menthol oil inhaler, and his mind instantly cleared. He watched the black man shining the flashlight around, but his attention wasn't on him.

Cheng Yijiu sensed something was amiss. He noticed something on the other side of the cage—his past as a man-eating tiger had given him a special intuition, and his sixth sense told him something was amiss. Cheng Yijiu's night vision was, of course, human, passable in moonlight—especially since he didn't have a flashlight to prevent bright light from interfering with his vision.

The reeds were swaying, that's right—Cheng Yijiu didn't think it was caused by the wind, and there was no reason for him to think so. As the black man walked, he walked into the cage—Cheng Yijiu suddenly noticed something unusual, "Why didn't I notice that the sheep hadn't bleated in a long time?"

Chapter 42: Killed

Cheng Yijiu strained to peer inside the cage, his pupils dilated to the maximum to absorb as much light as possible. Luckily, the black man was also shining a flashlight, and in a single glance—though only a fleeting glimpse, Cheng Yijiu, with his intense focus, was certain the goat had vanished. He raised his rifle, his eyes narrowing slightly. His mind had never been so focused—the crocodile was nearby, beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Perhaps a seven-meter-long Gustav couldn't possibly be as adept at hiding as a tiger. Being a cold-blooded creature, he wasn't quite as agile. Nighttime wasn't a particularly favorable time for crocodiles to attack; their blood and body temperature didn't support their agility. If a sudden attack were to occur under these circumstances, all it would take was a few moments of flight before Gustav could catch him—and that would be his fate.

By then, the lactic acid metabolized in the muscles will be enough to make the crocodile unable to move.

The black man, for some unknown reason, fell into the iron cage. At that moment, Cheng Yijiu saw something burst out from the reeds and slam into the cage. Suddenly, the cage made a loud noise, and flashlights and camping lanterns lit up in the tent camp on the other side. A high-intensity directional light shone from the steel platform built on the river.

Cheng Yijiu then got a clear look at the crocodile's silhouette. It was truly enormous, and this time, he was close enough to confirm its size. The crocodile's angle of view wasn't very good. Its tail was pointed in his direction, while its head was facing away. Shooting from this angle wouldn't necessarily hit the crocodile's brain. Given the crocodile's scales and size, Cheng Yijiu decided it was best to just shoot it in the head.