Infinite Hunter

The monster had lost quite a bit of blood, but the wound seemed to be closing. Of course, it could also be that the blood had almost drained out. Cheng Yijiu would rather waste time. At this moment, there was the crackling sound of branches snapping and footsteps. Cheng Yijiu saw several American cops rushing over—probably they were still working, having luckily stumbled upon the scene of Cheng Yijiu and Wan Chixiong's battle.

The guys howled, shouting "Oh my God!" and other random things, their weapons pounding away non-stop. Wan Chi Xi's ferocity seemed to suddenly surge, its previous weakness completely vanishing as it charged forward, roaring and howling. The gang was armed with pistols, ranging from 9mm to .38.45, from semi-automatic pistols to revolvers. Cheng Yijiu believed they hadn't hit a single target...

Instead, Cheng Yijiu had to lie prone on the ground, regardless of the danger of being killed by the Wanchixiong. If he didn't lie down, he would likely be hit by the flying bullets. After all, these cops couldn't see anything when they fired. So he watched the Wanchixiong rush forward. Amidst the loud shouts of Ou No, someone was bitten by the Wanchixiong.

It was a clean kill. A large part of the man was missing, and his fragmented internal organs splattered out of his torn chest and abdomen. The perfect-toothed boar was still chewing and swallowing, clearly devouring the unfortunate man. Now that the cops were out of defense, their attacks became even less accurate. The beast charged at a second man, who was simply crushed to death—flying five or six meters to the ground, his skull shattered and his body twisted beyond recognition. He looked dead.

Cheng Yijiu cursed bitterly. Seeing the whole-toothed boar run off with half a man in its mouth, he had to give chase once more. The good thing was that this time, it shouldn't take long, and the monster probably wouldn't be able to fully recover, so Cheng Yijiu could reload. If he caught up, he could finish the fight with his rifle.

Chapter 9 Completed

The beast fled, leaving behind the terrified American rednecks. Cheng Yijiu was practically fuming with rage, but he couldn't just grab them and shoot them. He slowly walked over, picked up his rifle, and reloaded it. Seeing the rednecks wailing like effeminate women on the ground, Cheng Yijiu decided not to comfort them.

He stood up, dusted off the dust, sniffed his hands, and frowned. "Damn, this thing stinks." Cheng Yijiu bypassed the group of distraught people and followed the direction Wan Chixiong had fled. Regardless, the beast was seriously injured and had lost too much blood. It was unlikely to run for dozens of kilometers without looking back. The problem was that it had dragged away one-third of the people. Maybe it could just chew on them to replenish its blood?

"This isn't a game. How can you instantly heal after eating something? The wounds are still there," Cheng Yijiu thought as he followed the direction of the beast with a bitter look on his face. The bloodstains were still there, making it relatively easy to follow. Four-legged creatures ran fast, and after about two kilometers, Cheng Yijiu had a feeling the perfect-toothed boar was just ahead, so he slowed down.

Cheng Yijiu heard the sound of caracara gnawing on bones. "No other animal can move and eat and rehydrate like humans do," he said cautiously. Sure enough, the perfect-toothed boar was gnawing on a half-thigh it had brought. The beast quickly turned around, and Cheng Yijiu felt sorry for himself. He was in the upper hand, and the perfect-toothed boar had sniffed out his scent.

The two sides were now over a hundred meters apart. The Wanchix turned, snorted a few times, and ran off again. So, let's keep chasing. Humans, apart from anything else, possess unparalleled endurance among animals. Our ancestors, through group hunting and endurance pursuit, became the terrifying upright apes. Cheng Yijiu followed, expressing his condolences for the shattered bones and bits of flesh as he passed by, then continued jogging, rifle in hand.

The chase couldn't be too fast. Although the Wanchixiong's brain was roughly the size of a baseball, it couldn't be ruled out for an ambush—sneak attacks were a predator's instinct. Therefore, Cheng Yijiu's pursuit required constant attention to his surroundings, as well as to the footprints left on the ground. A sudden counterattack was almost inevitable. From the tall grass, the Wanchixiong's massive form suddenly burst forth.

Cheng Yijiu dodged the fatal impact with a roll, then aimed his gun directly at the Wanchixiong that had charged past him, firing regardless—even if it didn't kill him, creating more bleeding wounds was a good option. Now less than twenty meters away, Cheng Yijiu's body trembled, and a furious roar came from the other side. It could be seen that the monster had definitely been shot, probably just in front of its hind legs. The bullet must have hit its side, and its internal organs must have been shattered.

"Bone formation under the skin, I'm not sure." Cheng Yijiu quickly pulled the bolt and fired another shot as the monster turned. This shot should have hit the side of the monster's skull, equivalent to the human cheek. The beast finally half-lay on the ground. Cheng Yijiu didn't stop, firing all five rounds in a row. However, at this moment, the monster roared, jumped up from the ground, and rushed directly in front of Cheng Yijiu.

There was no way to dodge at this distance. Cheng Yijiu grabbed the rifle with both hands and blocked it horizontally, then dove and was lifted up. The rifle was unsurprisingly destroyed, and Cheng Yijiu struggled to adjust his balance as he dove, falling onto the beast's back once again. Almost immediately, the beast began to arch its back and leap. Without a place to grab, Cheng Yijiu couldn't maintain his balance and was about to be thrown off.

If he fell to the ground and didn't get up in time, he'd be trampled and bitten. That was a huge danger. Uncontrollably, Cheng Yijiu rolled over after hitting the ground, simultaneously pulling out his hunting knife and shotgun. Half-kneeling, he didn't care about anything else and simply fired his double-barreled shotgun, spraying the perfect-toothed boar in the face. Then, he continued his sideways lunge—but this time, he failed, and the perfect-toothed boar slammed him hard into the leg.

If he hadn't pulled his leg back in time, his calf and ankle might have fallen into the gaping maw. Because of this, Cheng Yijiu felt like his knee ligament might have been torn. It suddenly swelled up and he seemed unable to move. Now he could only hop on one leg. Cheng Yijiu gritted his teeth and grabbed the hunting knife. With his left hand, he braced himself against the monster's jaws, leaning his shoulder against the side of the monster's mouth. With his right hand, he stabbed the monster's long nose.

Cheng Yijiu drew his sword and cut again, this time at the gums. The monster's foul-smelling blood gushed out, and its impact pushed Cheng Yijiu back. With one leg injured, Cheng Yijiu couldn't stabilize himself, and he didn't have the strength to withstand the impact of the over-a-ton Wanchixi. Wanchixi's face was already bloody, and the two lead bullets had caused severe flesh wounds.

It was indeed a flesh wound; the lead bullet failed to penetrate the bone, but it most likely blinded an eye. From where Cheng Yijiu was looking, the toothless boar's eye was bloodied and still bleeding. The new wounds inflicted by the knife drove the monster mad with pain. It kept shaking its head and opening and closing its mouth in an attempt to bite Cheng Yijiu, but Cheng Yijiu dodged each time with his nimble reflexes.

But this wouldn't work. Inertia would keep Cheng Yijiu ramming into the monster's mouth, and eventually, he'd be too late and get bitten. Cheng Yijiu cursed through gritted teeth, then drew his hunting knife with his right hand. As the perfect-toothed boar opened its mouth again, he thrust his arm sideways into its throat. As it bit, he thrust upward with all his might. Intense pain overwhelmed Cheng Yijiu, and his right arm was nearly severed.

The monster suddenly leaped upwards, landing with a clang. Cheng Yijiu's right arm was completely severed. A large amount of blood, still frothy with pink, spurted from the monster's mouth. It then collapsed to the ground, emitting a long snort. The blood from its mouth spurted out a little at a time, the intervals between breaths growing longer and longer, and the amount of blood spurted out dwindling until it finally fell silent.

Cheng Yijiu also turned over, gritted his teeth, used his left hand to support himself and stood up on one leg. His vision was also black and starry. Fortunately, there was a door in front of him. "This hunting mission was a success..." He fell directly into the door. At the same time as the door disappeared, the Wanchixiong lying on the ground also silently turned into rock-like dry bones, and then disappeared directly...

Chapter 10 Daily Life

The moment he tumbled into the hallway, Cheng Yijiu found himself automatically dumped into the nearly unused medical room. Lying on the operating table, he felt a tingling sensation all over his body, which quickly turned to stinging pain. His clothes had vanished, and a fluid was constantly washing over him. Something was moving where his arm had been severed, and the same was true for his leg. The arm's regeneration and the knee's healing were quick, completing the procedure in about twenty minutes.

Cheng Yijiu donned a bathrobe and headed for the second-floor trophy collection hall. "No complete-toothed boar?" he was surprised. It wasn't until he opened the hall dedicated to supernatural creatures that Cheng Yijiu saw a brand new collection. It was a massive bedrock, at least six meters long and three meters wide, and about a meter thick at its thickest point. The cleaned surface of the bedrock had raised bumps, and Cheng Yijiu could clearly make out a slightly squashed and deformed skull fossil.

Then there were the somewhat scattered but largely intact skeletal fossils. This one, a complete-toothed bosom, lay on its side, its head twisted 90 degrees, and the same with the back of its torso. "Fossil?" Cheng Yijiu was puzzled. "That's unlikely. The supernatural power hasn't slackened at all, otherwise why don't I feel any Apollo's blessing? The ointment didn't help at all."

Cheng Yijiu didn't dwell on it. There were a number of tools beside the rock bed, including angle grinders and other tools, seemingly designed to peel the fossils apart. "Take your time. This is a job that requires patience." He returned to his bedroom to get a good night's sleep. There was no need to clean it, as it had already been rinsed clean on the operating table. This mission was a minor one. The monster was stupid enough to be easy to track, and its size made it difficult to hide.

The problem is that this thing has taken at least a dozen bullets, so why did Cheng Yijiu have to use a suicidal attack to completely deal with it in the end? Unfortunately, there was no taxidermy this time, so Cheng Yijiu couldn't tell where the more than ten bullets this thing had taken went.

Cheng Yijiu leaned against the headboard, reading for a while before falling asleep. Up until this point, he'd been a typical pursuit-style gun hunter, rarely using traps or snares, as he lacked experience in those areas. Hunters like him who approached their prey head-on were rare; those hunters were either novices or likely dead long ago. The next day, he reopened his shop, but business was tepid.

There didn't seem to be any issues requiring resolution by a certain departmental group at the moment, so Cheng Yijiu was content with this easy life—shooting in the hut before and after the shop opened to maintain his gun sense was enough. He also built another hunting rifle, and his gun-making skills were becoming increasingly sophisticated. Just when Cheng Yijiu thought he could get by relatively easily, the relevant department came calling again.

"Investigating unidentified creatures?" Cheng Yijiu looked at the information he'd been given. It was about a sighting in Shennongjia, Hubei Province. It wasn't a wild man, but a creature called a "donkey-headed wolf." "There have been sightings before, but no actual evidence of its existence. And now there's another one? So we're being asked to investigate?" Cheng Yijiu suspected the relevant departments weren't going to put in much effort, so they just let them investigate and be done with it.

There are more than one new sighting records. Many people reported seeing this animal in many places. Two of the sightings were even within twenty meters - "Since it was said to be so ferocious in the past, it didn't attack people at such a close distance..." In the past, Cheng Yijiu thought that this might be a mistaken identification of some common animal, but now he is not completely sure.

The next day, they flew to the airport and drove to the sighting point on the edge of the reserve. Cheng Yijiu was unarmed when he operated in China, and this time he only brought a hunting knife with a blade no longer than ten centimeters. At least a week had passed, so even if there were footprints, they would no longer be there. Several people marked the sighting point on the map. "There is indeed a wild animal," Cheng Yijiu said. "This is a typical beast pattern."

Connecting the target points along the contour lines formed a roughly circular pattern. The creatures' paths followed common sense—there was no such thing as a straight line across a mountaintop. They must have followed the horizontal lines and the contours of the mountain, moving naturally through the valleys. "Let's go, let's follow this path too. We might find something—I think it might be serow..."

Cheng Yijiu had long known that humans tend to exaggerate wild animal sightings, even mistaking them for monsters. This misconception was perfectly normal. This was especially true when combined with folklore, making it easy for people to misidentify an animal in a fleeting encounter. The rumor of a donkey-headed wolf with a wolf's body had been around for centuries, yet no specimens had been collected since the founding of the People's Republic. Even on the few occasions where claims of the animal being shot and killed were made, the conclusions were that it had been eaten, with no trace of fur or bones. "So most of these are just misidentifications or outright lies."

The young girl remained outside the mountain, working on logistics. Cheng Yijiu, along with Xiao Zhang and Lao Chen, donned camouflage uniforms and entered the mountain. Two police officers and a guide accompanied them, of course. The six of them leisurely strolled through the primeval forests of Shennongjia. "Actually, I'd be more convinced if a South China tiger had been spotted here," Cheng Yijiu said. "It's not impossible. There's a legend about yellow leopards, so maybe it's a South China tiger," said a local police officer named Niu.

The claim that the mountain tiger was much larger than the South China tiger is, of course, completely unfounded based on Cheng Yijiu's analysis of the data. Most people likely saw a South China tiger, simply exaggerating. How else could it be explained? Are there still saber-toothed tigers left? Some saber-toothed tigers in China were indeed quite large, but to claim they haven't been discovered since liberation is both an exaggeration and a disregard for the geological survey team.

A creature this large couldn't possibly exist in just a few, otherwise it would have long since become extinct. If its numbers had increased, it would have been discovered—which was why everyone present believed it was most likely a South China tiger. The population here began declining at least in the 1960s, and it's likely to have disappeared by the 1980s. It's entirely possible that a few remain today. Large carnivores are difficult to hide, and the six people chatted as they made their way through the primeval forest.

"Wild boar droppings, and maybe deer or goat droppings. It's definitely an animal trail." The guide and Cheng Yijiu were the first to notice the animal traces along the road...

Chapter 11 Investigation

This place, close to the valley, is the Chang'an Avenue, a common place for wild animals. Soon, they even discovered black bear feces—which the guide had identified. "Hey, I remember someone saying that a donkey-headed wolf is actually a hairless black bear, or a black bear with a serious skin disease that was mistakenly identified," Cheng Yijiu said. The local police officer and the guide shook their heads. "Some things are hard to explain, like clearly seeing a large tail."

From the mountain yellow to the donkey-headed wolf, Old Chen even brought up the legend of the Shennongjia water monster. This was universally acknowledged as a rumor, completely unsubstantiated. Authorities tracked the rumor down to an anonymous article in a street magazine. "Three no articles," Cheng Yijiu said with a grin. "Water monsters are the most vexing. Look at America, there are plenty of water monster tales. Every decent lake has them."

The legend of the Shennongjia water monster is a long-standing one, a notorious pseudoscientific tale. As everyone chatted, the walk was no longer painful; trekking through the mountains was strenuous. The guide, with a machete, occasionally cleaved through high branches. "Wait a minute," Cheng Yijiu suddenly called out, causing everyone to stop and look at him. He half-crouched and carefully brushed away the fallen leaves with a branch, revealing footprints below.

The footprints were also on fallen leaves, and there were spiderwebs in them. The fallen leaves behind covered two-thirds of the footprints, but it was this one-third that Cheng Yijiu discovered. Cheng Yijiu stretched out his palm and gestured, "It's a bit blurry. Quick, take out the plaster." Officer Niu took out his phone to take a photo for evidence, while Xiao Zhang took out the plaster evidence assembly. Because the terrain was hilly, a protective frame was first placed to cover the footprints.

Xiao Zhang carefully poured the plaster solution, diluted with water, from the edge. Cheng Yijiu surveyed the surroundings. "How strange! There's only one footprint? How could it be?" He was puzzled. Animals usually have four legs, right? They'd have to have at least three feet on the ground to walk on it. So, why was there only one footprint? And within a ten-meter radius of this footprint, there wasn't a second footprint that could have belonged to the same animal.

Quite a few wild boar and deer footprints were found, though it's possible that these animals' tracks obscured the creature's footprints—impossible to mistake, as the animal's footprints had distinct toes. Waiting for the plaster to set would take at least half an hour, but Cheng Yijiu felt that given the humidity in Shennongjia, an hour would be more appropriate. So, the six of them made some simple arrangements and then rested—getting some water, a bite to eat, and so on.

Cheng Yijiu, on the other hand, had brought along something that normally shouldn't be found on a hike in the wild—a high-capacity lithium battery and a massage gun. He felt a wonderful sensation from zapping his calf muscles. The others borrowed some, too, to ease the fatigue of the long mountain trek. None of them smoked, and even the two officers who had a craving for cigarettes resisted the urge to use gum.

Of course, there was also chatting to distract attention. "If we really find a donkey-headed wolf, we will probably have to install a radio beacon. If this animal really exists, it will definitely form a population... Maybe it is in the core area of ​​Shennongjia - if you ask me, the area of ​​Shennongjia is still too small. If this mountain forest area is 30,000 to 50,000 square kilometers, it should be interesting." Others also laughed. The Greater Khingan Range virgin forest area in Inner Mongolia might meet the requirements.

The recent northward shift of the rainfall line, coupled with large-scale conversion of farmland to forest, especially of terraced fields in mountainous areas, and advances in agricultural technology—the rapid growth of industrialized agriculture—has led to the rapid growth of secondary forests in many areas. The net outflow of population in many areas has also exacerbated this situation. Many villages and towns in mountainous areas have become deserted, and if the elderly pass away, they will be completely deserted.

Therefore, the current forest coverage rate is likely to increase further, and the recovery of wildlife populations is also optimistic. The reintroduction plan for the South China leopard and South China tiger has resumed, and the plan is to use ten to twenty years, consuming two or three generations of tigers and leopards, to restore their wild populations. Anyway, for an hour, everyone chatted about all sorts of things. Cheng Yijiu and Lao Liu consciously avoided mentioning certain supernatural things, and the other party also wisely kept silent.

An hour later, Xiao Zhang began carefully shoveling the plaster blocks. "We'll have to wait at least another 24 hours before we can brush off the dirt and fallen leaves." Cheng Yijiu was well aware of this. Xiao Zhang placed the plaster blocks in a brown paper box, secured it with some paper balls, and put the box in his backpack. The six of them began to turn around and prepare to return to the Forestry Bureau guesthouse; they couldn't complete the entire journey in one go.

That night, the six of them emerged from the mountains and reached the highway. About five or six kilometers down the road was the tourist area, the section of Shennongjia open to the public. A car was waiting for them, and they were quickly taken to the guesthouse—now probably called a hotel. The next day, they wouldn't be leaving, but would analyze what they had collected. The plaster footprints had finally been cleaned. Turning them over, Cheng Yijiu exclaimed, "Is this a canine footprint? But this one's almost as big as a brown bear's—I think it's deformed and damaged."

Biologists from the Forestry Bureau were also present, and their analysis confirmed that they were the footprints of some canine species. "They might not even be from a wolf, but perhaps a larger dog - some people raise large dogs for poaching, and they might have gotten lost." Rather than saying that there is a large animal here that has not been discovered for decades, it is better to say that it is a lost large dog - this is also an application of Occam's razor.

Cheng Yijiu agreed with their view. "If there's no new, conclusive evidence, then this hypothesis is likely true. We'll once again explore the depths of Shennongjia for a day and close the case. If there are new sightings or biological evidence, we can resume the investigation." Old Liu gave the final word. This time, the investigation would be aided by an Army Aviation helicopter, which would take them directly to the deepest point reported. The route connecting this point to the next outer sighting point was mapped by Cheng Yijiu using a contour map, which would take them through valleys or relatively flat mountainsides.

Lao Liu brought a beacon that could indicate the location of the Army Aviation helicopter, which would be used when the investigation was over and it was time to evacuate. The usual advice was to go to the top of a gentle mountain and then climb a rope ladder. It was a pity that the Army Aviation didn't have a Chinook, otherwise they could have just walked in on a plank...

Chapter 12: Illusion

The helicopter also lowered these people while hovering—there were only three of them. The two officers and the guide couldn't possibly let them rappel. Untrained, they would be harming others. Yet, Cheng Yijiu claimed he had no problem rappelling a helicopter, having done it before in the United States. All Old Liu could do was trust him.

The rappelling was a breeze, and the three of them reached the summit unharmed. Their backpacks had already been lowered, and the helicopter had reeled in its ropes before taking off. "A good start, a good finish," Lao Liu muttered, leading the way down the mountain. With a high-resolution map and Beidou GPS, getting lost was unlikely.

They quickly descended the mountain. The beast's path ran along the valley, extending from the valley's center to the mountainside, about a hundred meters wide and ten meters high on either side. This essentially formed a relatively large passage. The three of them were going to try to find evidence along this wide path. "Who knows? We'll spend two days walking. If we can see it, we can see it. If not, the case is closed," Cheng Yijiu thought.

He was now inclined to believe he was mistaken. Although there had been many strange incidents over the years, and he had seen some previously unseen monsters, this was Shennongjia, a forest area of ​​over 3,000 square kilometers, not a truly uninhabited area of ​​pristine forest. He personally preferred a large, lost dog, such as a Great Dane, which, at first glance, looked like a donkey's head with a wolf's body.

There were definitely a lot of bugs here, but wild animals weren't very common. Cheng Yijiu could sense that quite a few animals were actually nearby, but their camouflage kept them well hidden. After walking along the ravine for over an hour, they were pleasantly surprised to see a group of wild boars cross in front of them and run to the other side, seemingly unafraid of people.

In addition to that, they saw several snakes and many rare plants on both sides. Three hours later, Cheng Yijiu did find something, "This is obviously a tiger's footprint." He looked at a footprint on the mud in the valley and said firmly. He had seen many Bengal tiger footprints and was considered an expert in identifying tiger footprints.

He squatted beside the footprints and said, "An adult male tiger weighs about 150 kilograms, which is standard for a South China tiger. The Shennongjia Nature Reserve must be upgraded again. A larger area should be designated and the development of tourism should be stopped. The existing scenic spots will probably be gradually withdrawn." An adult male tiger means that there are at least several tigers here, maybe a small population.

This was a significant achievement; rumors of a donkey-headed wolf crossing the mountain were barely worth mentioning. "We need to be careful from now on. The Bengal tiger and the South China tiger are two of the world's two most common man-eating tiger subspecies. We need to be vigilant and not let them drag us away," Cheng Yijiu said.

All three were in high spirits; the discovery of a South China tiger was big news. "What's that?" Xiao Zhang suddenly saw a wild beast crossing the valley and couldn't help but shout. Cheng Yijiu heard the shout and quickly turned around to see the beast. He was also surprised, "I've never seen anything like it!"

The animal that ran past them about twenty meters away might have been a zebra. Its black and white stripes were clearly the size of a horse or mule, much larger than a Mongolian horse—roughly the size of a Sanhe horse, and certainly much larger than a zebra. Its neck was also like a mule's, and its mane more like a zebra's, but the head was rather odd.

"If I'm not mistaken, that's a horse's head?" Old Chen said, and Cheng Yijiu replied, "Yes, it's a horse's head... but the gap in the mouth is too exaggerated. Can a horse's mouth open that wide?" Moreover, there are fangs protruding from the mouth of this horse's head, making it look like those of a musk deer, and this guy's limbs are obviously the same as those of a horse or a mule, but no one heard the sound of hooves.

Cheng Yijiu had good dynamic vision, and he saw the creature's hooves—they weren't hooves, but claws like those of a carnivore, with toes and paws. Its tail was also unusual, more like a giraffe's, but flattened at the end, with the long hairs only growing on the flat end, like a palm-leaf fan.

"This isn't scientific!" Cheng Yijiu couldn't help but exclaim. From beginning to end, nothing about this animal conformed to scientific theory; everything challenged taxonomy and morphology—especially the purpose of the long claws on its front hooves. They couldn't possibly function as forelimbs for attacking and controlling prey. That big mouth was well-suited for biting, though; it was filled with fangs, making it seem like a carnivore.

The animal wasn't particularly afraid of humans. It leisurely crossed the valley, sometimes stopping, sometimes trotting, and then nimbly climbed up the mountain. "How can a creature of this size move freely in the mountains?" Cheng Yijiu cursed. "Come on! I have to find out today—damn, maybe that plaster footprint was left by this animal." Cheng Yijiu was genuinely curious.

Could it be possible that a large animal roamed the country's interior for thousands of years without being discovered? Or at least remained undiscovered for the two or three hundred years since the advent of modern biology? This thing is very similar to the "Bo" mentioned in the Classic of Mountains and Seas. Perhaps the ancients had seen it, but it's strange that it hasn't become extinct until now.

"Lazarus species do exist. Just a few days ago, there were reports of the discovery of several white sturgeons, which had been declared extinct. Even over twenty dodos have been found on the islands," Old Chen said excitedly. "A new species?" By the time they caught up, the beast was out of sight. It didn't seem to be moving very fast, especially in this complex mountainous terrain. Could a horse-like body allow for such rapid movement? That didn't make sense.

But the truth was, it was gone. Cheng Yijiu's attempts to track the footprints were useless; they vanished suddenly. And the branches and bushes that the body had knocked aside seemed to be gone. Was this animal just a puff of air? The three of them looked at each other, bewildered. Cheng Yijiu could accept it—the world was becoming increasingly abnormal, and the appearance of some abnormal things was normal...

Perhaps this beast is just a phantom. "I think it's almost time to call it a day. There's no point in continuing the search," Cheng Yijiu suggested. "Look, the existence of the South China tiger is enough to close the case. As for that creature we just saw... if there's nothing wrong, let it remain a mystery. Maybe one day we'll be able to obtain a specimen. But right now, I think that's difficult."

Chapter 13 Daily Life

There are many things in this world that start off well but end badly. This investigation into the donkey-headed wolf in Shennongjia can be considered a very good result - Cheng Yijiu discovered relatively fresh South China tiger footprints, proving that there is a high probability that there are still wild South China tigers in the Shennongjia Nature Reserve. This alone is enough to make the higher-ups happy.

This is a political achievement, environmental protection is a political achievement, and the fact that the South China tiger, once extinct in the wild, has been discovered again is a good thing, isn't it? Of course, the subsequent discovery of the strange creature can be kept secret for the time being, because a single piece of evidence is not enough. So far, the records of the donkey-headed wolf sightings in Shennongjia are completely different from what Cheng Yijiu and his team saw. This zebra-like creature was only seen by Cheng Yijiu and his three companions, and there is no other witness or physical evidence, so it will be put on hold for the time being.

"Hopefully, the South China Tiger expedition team will find further evidence of this creature's existence after entering Shennongjia." Cheng Yijiu felt the hope was slim. The world was getting increasingly bizarre these days, and there was a good chance this kind of anomaly would continue to crop up. "Think about the Classic of Mountains and Seas..." they muttered. Something was really going on—Old Liu had mentioned that the main force was currently concentrated near Kunlun due to a devastating anomaly.

"What else could it be? A huge lake appeared out of nowhere." Lao Liu said, "The lake and the remains of some ancient civilization."

"Yaochi?" Cheng Yijiu was curious, but he knew he probably wouldn't see it. He'd better just be a consultant and open a pet supply store to make a living. As for a wife... that was probably going to be difficult. It wasn't about the property, but about his own secrets. Besides, how could a wife be as fun as hunting? If he wanted a woman, there was no need to go out of his way to find one. There were women in those quest worlds, and there were women in real life too.

He wasn't a civil servant; if he got caught, his family would be ruined. The most he'd get would be a fine and fifteen days' detention. Cheng Yijiu pondered this and returned to his shop, becoming a recluse. He'd watch over the shop when Miss Tang came, and close it when she didn't. She had given up facelifts; yoga had taken over.

Anyway, there are always dogs to bootlick, and Miss Tang lives a comfortable life - she is actually fair, rich and beautiful, and she came to work in Cheng Yijiu's shop probably to kill time and find something to do. This girl doesn't look like a white-bone demon with good academic performance.

Cheng Yijiu busied himself cleaning and restoring the fossil with various tools, using angle grinders, cutters, impact drills, electric hammers, and so on to cut away large chunks of rock. He then slowly cleaned it with a needle and a penknife, along with brushes and wire brushes. While he was cutting, a bullet tip fell out with a clang. "There's no sign of entry. How did this thing end up in the rock?"

The deformed bullet was found on the forelimb of the fossil. Cheng Yijiu twirled the visibly deformed bullet and said, "It must have hit something, so it exploded." With a sense of realization, Cheng Yijiu tossed the bullet into a box nearby. Later, while cleaning beneath a rib, he used the needle to pick out another bullet...

"Almost confirmed," Cheng Yijiu muttered to himself. "It's true this thing was hit by a bullet, but its subcutaneous bone formation and its savage vitality allowed it to persist until it looked as if nothing had happened." There were many bone fragments in the fossil, which must have been the larger subcutaneous bone formations. In a week, Cheng Yijiu had already cleared out six bullet heads.

The fossil of this monster has taken shape, especially the skull, which has been removed as a whole. The next step is to carefully clean the inside. "The teeth are surprisingly complete. There seems to be a parallel mark between the tooth roots and the lower jaw... Let me take a look. These are probably knife marks."

Cheng Yijiu was certain this was the monster, only time had caught up with it since it was killed. "If my estimation is correct, there might still be a bullet inside the skull." Cheng Yijiu was also unsure about the hunt ahead, hoping he wouldn't fail and end up accepting a penalty mission.

It would be miserable if I were turned into a wild boar or something as a punishment.

The Entelodon has been extinct for 28 million years, and its fossils have long since turned into stone instead of bone. Cheng Yijiu carefully peeled off the sandstone on it, "This thing is so complete, I think even the tailbone is not missing." Cheng Yijiu almost became a stonemason. There were broken stones everywhere on the ground, and quite a few fossils had been dissociated. Cheng Yijiu wrote a number on each piece.

After all the cleaning and repairs were completed, they would need to be mounted. Cheng Yijiu was currently separating a vertebra from the sandstone. He carefully used a steel needle to pick away at the rough rock, and within the vertebra, he found the seventh bullet, half embedded in the bone.

After a month of relatively quiet activity, Cheng Yijiu had nearly cleared all the fossils from the bedrock. It was a good thing the bones were relatively intact and easily peeled from the sandstone. The monster's skeleton still exuded a ferocious aura, and as Cheng Yijiu shattered the sandstone inside the skull and removed it, he found a bullet inside.

Finally, he cleared out eleven bullets, three of which were round lead bullets. "What kind of monster is this? After consuming so many bullets that would be lethal to an elephant, it's still capable of launching such a frenzied attack," Cheng Yijiu exclaimed, even more so after seeing the knife marks on the upper jaw of the skull. The knife had penetrated from the upper jaw from the back, severing arteries and ganglia, and possibly even piercing the brain.

Only then did the frenzied beast finally collapse and die. Cheng Yijiu felt a phantom pain at the thought. It was a perfect fit this time, but what if he had to take down a giant hyena in the future? That creature was nearly the size of a rhino, capable of forcibly preying on a mastodon. What if another monster, like the lion, showed up? It wasn't impossible for a monster the size of an African elephant to appear.

Or a giant short-faced bear? If it were the size of an elephant, it would be a formidable opponent. If the mission took place in the Middle Ages without modern firearms, Cheng Yijiu would have been completely powerless against such a monster without Apollo's help. Humanity has its limits. If Cheng Yijiu wanted to take down such an opponent without Apollo's divine power, he would have to be a complete wretch.

Will the trap be useful? Cheng Yijiu felt that digging a pit alone would probably not work, but it was necessary to study traps and snares carefully.

Chapter 14: The Emergence of New Tasks

"What kind of trap or snare could possibly catch such a large prey?" Cheng Yijiu felt digging a pit was a no-go. The only option he could think of was a combination of a cage and bait. As for traps, they were fine for small, medium, and large soft-skinned animals, but armored ones would be more difficult. While Cheng Yijiu pondered the trap, he was currently assembling it.

He used the simplest quadruped upright mounting system, with three steel bars forming a four-legged frame. The cleaned and repaired bones were then placed and secured onto the frame in order. "If you look closely, this thing is truly enormous. It's probably larger than many rhinos." It also has a rather exaggerated spinous process, possibly forming a hump.

Cheng Yijiu recalled that this thing had no hump, likely just muscle attachments and long bristles. "It's indeed a 'perfect tooth,' the name 'perfect-toothed boar' truly lives up to its reputation." After the prey's skeleton was mounted, a bronze-cast, clay-modeled replica automatically appeared in front of it, at a 1:12 scale.

"Dinognathus, about 2900 million to 1900 million years ago, isn't it the Entelodon? I remembered it wrongly, but it seems that this thing is indeed the largest wild boar-like monster." Anyway, the hunter this time was quite powerful. He took more than a dozen bullets and finally had to rely on a life-and-death attack to get rid of the monster. Cheng Yijiu was still quite satisfied.

After he finished the installation and went out, Miss Tang came to ask for leave. "Oh, so someone invited you out to play? Go ahead." Cheng Yijiu signaled Miss Tang to do as she pleased, and he opened the backyard door and let his black dog out. The black dog was also having fun in the backyard. This place was full of wild fun, and it really allowed this medium-sized dog to have a lot of fun.

Cheng Yijiu pulled a stool over to the back door and sat there, enjoying the breeze. He was quite content, looking at his phone. "Hey? That seems to be on this tree?" He looked up and saw that the hole in the tree by the river seemed a bit unusual. If he looked closely, he could see a mushroom-shaped thing squatting on it a little higher up. He looked again and saw that it was an owl.

"All the raptors are level 2 or higher," Cheng Yijiu muttered, not taking it seriously. It's good for these creatures to hunt mice, and besides, who would catch them? Not to mention that this place is sealed on three sides and difficult to get in, the mere thought of being jailed after catching them should have put those guys off.

While the dog was playing, Cheng Yijiu returned to the front of the shop, bored and staring at his computer. There were many things he couldn't sell, whether it was replica or homemade knives. After all, few people bought armor and swords, and lately, no one had come to him for advice. As for the club Cheng Yijiu belonged to, it seemed to be in a financial crisis recently and hadn't organized any activities in a while.

Just when he thought of this, his cell phone rang, "Activity? No problem, I'll be there right away." What he thought of came true. He was just thinking about the club, and the club called and said, "Come and fight!" Cheng Yijiu immediately took all the equipment and drove the Wuling magic car there - just close the store, and let the dog go, anyway, when he is tired, he will come back and turn into a wooden sculpture.

We drove to the location. It had both indoor and outdoor facilities, similar to a local farmhouse, and the club had rented it out for fun. The place had a rather ancient feel, and the buildings were styled after ancient architecture, which was quite fitting. Upon arrival, Cheng Yijiu greeted his fellow Taoists. Almost all of the people here were strong men, some standing 1.9 meters tall and weighing over 120 kilograms.

In ancient times, this would have been the Tiger Guards. Their average physique was far stronger than that of the elite infantry, and their weight and strength far surpassed them—truly due to their excellent nutrition and scientific training. The amount of protein consumed by an average person in a single day would have taken an elite soldier in ancient times ten days to half a month.

These were all strong men who ate a lot of chicken and beef. Cheng Yijiu was not very good-looking among them, and he was not very big, but his strength was now extraordinary, and his skills were also very smooth and perfect. These people had never chopped people, but Cheng Yijiu had plenty of experience in chopping people. Not only did he chop people, he had also chopped down many huge and ferocious monsters.

Everyone started to wear armor. In history, I'm afraid that only the ceremonial guards of the Han Dynasty generals had such a high armor-wearing rate - the key is that they are all heavy armor, fish scale armor, mountain pattern armor, and barbed armor... The steel mouth is much better than the ancient ones, and the armor plates are not made of leather - they have all been copied in modern times. There is no need to use leather belts that are difficult to maintain and easy to wear out. Wear-resistant organic materials can be used directly.

Cheng Yijiu was wearing infantry armor, but the weapon he held didn't resemble any ancient Chinese weapon at all, for it was a half-hand sword. It was a bit out of place, considering he also had a set of European-style chainmail and a light helmet—of course, Cheng Yijiu couldn't have brought out the lion's hide. The half-hand sword was uncut, a sword used for competition training.

Cheng Yijiu happily engaged in a fight with the burly men. Some of them were so passionate about fighting that they even wore their hair long and styled it in a bun, complete with a futou (a traditional Chinese style). After happily working up a sweat and beating up some of the guys in the club, Cheng Yijiu returned to the shop.

There were no European-style swordsmen in the club who could compete with him lately, whether with a half-hand sword or a rapier. Cheng Yijiu was decent with Chinese two-handed long swords and other long weapons, though. His specialty was the transition from short sword to long sword, also a European-style style. After returning home and showering, he looked into the hall and saw a new mission had been posted.

"Bonar's leopard? Has this mission finally arrived? Humph, the world's most famous man-eating leopard, I hope I can hunt it successfully like Jim." Cheng Yijiu thought confidently. This was the early 20th century, so Cheng Yijiu had to carefully choose his clothes - just like he did when he hunted Jim Pawat's tiger last time.

He also chose the M70, his favorite weapon. A bolt action rifle wouldn't have been conspicuous in the early 20th century. As a secondary weapon, he chose the M21 double-barreled short-barreled rifle. A cork sun hat was also a must, to embody the style of an early 20th-century hunter. Naturally, Cheng Yijiu also brought his pipe and tobacco, just like when he hunted tigers.