茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

Xiang Kun didn’t mind wasting the chance to track, he cautiously checked the place where the ‘Blue Spot’ had stopped and discovered nothing unusual.

What puzzled him was though the smell indicated that the mutant had indeed halted here, there were no visible marks on the ground.

Xiang Kun didn’t look further. He dropped a bead that had established ‘Super sensory contact’ on the ground and continued his frantic chase with his bow and arrow.

Barefooted, Xiang Kun moved swiftly through the forest. Sometimes when the bushes or obstacles in front were too high, he would leap off neighboring trees. At times, he would swing from the branches, holding the bow and arrow with one hand, like a monkey.

However, the ‘Blue Spot’ moved even faster, and the distance between them gradually increased.

But Xiang Kun wasn’t worried. He had enough patience and stamina to track it. As long as it couldn’t conceal its smell, it would be difficult for it to shake him off after already being discovered and targeted.

Compared to a city, there were far fewer sources of smell-disruption in the forest. The forest didn’t have the insulation of steel and concrete. Add to this, Xiang Kun was more sensitive to the “unique smell” of other mutants. Unless the ‘Blue Spot’ was significantly faster or used the environment to block and eliminate the smell, Xiang Kun wouldn’t lose its trail, even if he couldn’t catch up to it for the time being.

However, after chasing for more than an hour, Xiang Kun suddenly realized that it wasn’t good. By his judgment of the surrounding terrain in his mind, he wouldn’t be far from a cliff if he kept going in this direction.

After chasing for a while longer, Xiang Kun didn’t speed up. He knew that if the ‘Blue Spot’ was really rushing towards the cliff, he certainly wouldn’t be able to catch up. So, he hung the bow on his body, climbed up a very tall tree beside him, and quickly reached the top. Then, he prepared his bow and arrow and looked in the direction of the distant cliff.

A dozen seconds later, under Xiang Kun’s infrared imaging vision mode, the ‘Blue Spot’ dashed out of the forest heading towards the cliff and “flew” out.

According to its flight trajectory and speed, as well as the wind speed and distance at the time, Xiang Kun instantly predicted and fired his arrow.

Although the arrowhead was connected with Xiang Kun through ‘Super sensory contact’ and he generally knew its flight path and final landing point the moment the arrow was released, the distance was indeed too far, strictly speaking beyond his shooting range. Plus, his prediction of the ‘Blue Spot’s’ gliding path after rushing into the air wasn’t very accurate, so hitting it would rely on a bit of luck.

A moment later, Xiang Kun sighed lightly. Luck wasn’t on his side. The arrow didn’t hit the ‘Blue Spot’.

The ‘Blue Spot’ quickly vanished into the darkness.

Xiang Kun swiftly climbed down from the tree and ran to the edge of the cliff. He looked at the forest in the distance, quickly switched between night vision mode and infrared imaging mode, but the ‘Blue Spot’ had already left no trace.

“Encountered another one that can fly?”

Xiang Kun couldn’t help but want to spit.

If it were running on the ground, even if he couldn’t keep up with its speed, he was confident that he could keep on its tail. But this thing could actually fly? What could he do about this?

Moreover, judging by his earlier prediction, if the ‘Blue Spot’ glided after rushing out of the cliff, the arrow would have had a decent chance of hitting it.

But judging from the subsequent trajectory of the ‘Blue Spot’, it seemed to have control over its body and direction in the air, which completely deviated from Xiang Kun’s predicted trajectory.

This doesn’t seem likely to be the result of a plant mutation, does it?

Xiang Kun recalled the creature’s form when he switched to night vision mode. It was not the shape of a flower, grass, tree, but rather it looked like a large spider!

Or did it only look like a spider, and those legs were just roots or branches that aided movement after mutation?

Otherwise, how do we explain those “branches” scattered throughout the forest? A spider can’t possibly “graft” plants everywhere, can it?

Or is this the ability that the spider has “evolved” in this forest? Other spiders spin webs, but it “weaves” parts of plants?

Possibly, it has once devoured a mutated plant with a similar ability?

Xiang Kun made various guesses, speculating what kind of existence this mutated creature he encountered is.

What annoyed Xiang Kun the most, however, was that the damn creature could fly! It couldn’t have ingested some other mutated birds, could it? Xiang Kun had also eaten an Owl, so why couldn’t he fly?

Other abilities aside, this flying thing was absolutely cheeky. Of course, if they were close enough, Xiang Kun was confident that with his “archery”, there was a chance he could bring it down with a bow and arrow before it could fly away.

The previous distance, however, was too far.

But as Xiang Kun recalled the “Blue Spot” trajectory “flying” off the cliff, and the magnitude of its directional control, its flying ability should have certain limitations. Otherwise, there was no need for it to come to this cliff edge to “fly”. Simply taking off when being chased would do.

But what’s the principle behind its flight? It didn’t seem to possess wings or any other structure that could harness wind power.

Xiang Kun pondered these questions as he felt his way down the cliff, looking for the arrow he had just fired. He also checked if he could find that “special smell” again.

Thanks to their “super sensory contact”, Xiang Kun quickly found the arrow in the forest after descending the hill. Fortunately enough, the arrow hadn’t hit any rocks or anything, so it was still useable upon retrieval.

It was already dawn, and Xiang Kun did not continue searching further away. Instead, he turned back and retraced his steps in the direction he had come from, looking for traces left by the mutated creature when it fled.

He had realized that his previous judgement may have been slightly off. This mutated creature, irrespective of whether it was a plant or not, might be smarter than he had previously thought.

At least last night when it was approaching Xiang Kun, it suddenly sensed something and chose to escape immediately. Otherwise, if it had come a little closer, it might not have been able to flee at all.

On his way back, Xiang Kun still did not find any “traces” caused by the “Blue Spot”‘s fast movement, but he did find many abruptly risen root stems or vines between trees along the path he had travelled. These places, without exception, all carried a hint of that faint “special smell” — apparently they were all “branches” “grafted” by the mutated creature beforehand.

If Xiang Kun were an ordinary human or a beast, he would definitely have been delayed or possibly tripped by these vines and root stems.

Using the location of the ball bead he had dropped as a reference, Xiang Kun returned to the place where the “Blue Spot” suddenly stopped moving last night.

It was well into the day, with sunlight streaming through the gaps between the overhead leaves into the forest. Just like last night, Xiang Kun did not find any distinct traces there.

He stood there, looking at the big rock on the hillside not too far away — that was where he had stayed the previous night.

It was perfectly normal that the mutated creature had discovered him. After all, Xiang Kun had intentionally let it find him and lure it over. The question was, why did it flee after coming?

As the saying goes, since you’ve come, why not get to know each other, communicate a bit, or even have a fight? Mutated creatures in the forest should be more wild and combative, right?

Xiang Kun speculated two possibilities:

1. The mutated creature, knowing through its “branches” that some “unfriendly” creature had invaded its territory, came to check via the few “branches” Xiang Kun had purposely left around at night, only to find out that Xiang Kun was also a mutated creature. Hence, it didn’t dare to provoke him and chose to run away.

2. The mutated creature already knew from its “branches” that Xiang Kun was also a mutated creature, and had rushed over in the middle of the night, intending to treat Xiang Kun as food. But when it reached this position, it figured out that Xiang Kun might be stronger than it, and not only could it not “eat” Xiang Kun, but it was likely to end up being “eaten” instead, so it chose to run away.

What did its significant movement from left to right mean? Was it testing Xiang Kun? But Xiang Kun didn’t make any movement when it was moving. Why did it ultimately choose to run away?

At this distance, it’s unlikely that it was judging based on smell.

Direct vision also doesn’t seem to be able to discern anything.

Or did it have another way of judging through the “branches” around Xiang Kun?

For instance, Xiang Kun’s gaze followed its long-distance lateral movement, and his neck might have turned slightly, so he was discovered?

A mutant that could detect and target it in advance is probably stronger than it — this could be how it judges?

Picking up the beads on the ground, Xiang Kun returned to the giant rock where he sat yesterday. He put on his shoes, picked up his quiver, and continued his journey through the forest.

From the “special smell”, he could occasionally find one or two “grafted” “branches”. However, Xiang Kun did not move them. Clearly, this region was the territory of that mutant. It was its place to live. Although Xiang Kun could not pinpoint its location temporarily, if he kept searching this way, chances are he would eventually find its nest. After all, judging from his own and the other two mutants he had seen, they had one thing in common, that is, they needed to rest after drinking blood. There must surely be a place where the mutant could rest assuredly after drinking its fill.

After walking for a while, Xiang Kun suddenly stopped, thought for a moment, then walked backwards, returning to an area he had passed over ten minutes ago.

In this area, there were more “branches” with the “special smell” compared to other places; their distribution was relatively denser.

Xiang Kun sat down by a tree, put his bow and quiver aside, closed his eyes, seeming to be taking a rest.

Time went by, slowly but surely. Xiang Kun gradually opened his eyes and looked at a plant about half a person’s height three to four meters away, from which sprouted several blood-red fruits, about the size of eyeballs.

The fruits were unbelievably red, as if wrapped in blood that was about to seep out.

And he clearly remembered that there weren’t any fruits like these before.

The stem from which these red fruits sprouted was one of the “branches” that the mutant left behind.

Xiang Kun took a picture of the red fruits with his phone, then he did nothing. He wanted to see what this mutant wanted to do.

Not too long after, Xiang Kun had his answer. A leopard appeared on a tree nearby, eyeing the fruits while also watchfully staring at Xiang Kun.

Xiang Kun held his bow in one hand, quiver and shoes in the other, slowly stood up, and then began to back away, distancing himself from the red fruits.

In fact, he had already known the leopard was nearby from the smell and the sound it made.

He did not know whether these fruits that suddenly appeared were meant to lure the leopard over to attack him, or were just simply for the leopard?

Xiang Kun kept an eye on the leopard’s posture and movement. Knowing that its main focus was on the red fruits, he slowly backed away, signaling that he posed no threat.

As expected, after Xiang Kun got about ten meters away, the leopard leaped down from the tree, cautiously edging closer to the red fruits while keeping one eye on Xiang Kun.

Seeing the leopard swallow a few red fruits in one bite, Xiang Kun probably understood how that mutant “hunted”. Even the carnivorous leopard was attracted and ate the fruits, let alone the omnivorous boars, and Host Xue’s group of three, who were lost in the forest.

He guessed that these red fruits should have a strong attraction to other creatures, seducing them into eating voluntarily. He did not feel this attraction because he had lost his appetite for food other than fresh blood.

After eating the red fruits, the leopard did not leave. Instead, it shook its head, glared at Xiang Kun, and growled threateningly.

It seemed that the red fruits did not incapacitate the leopard but instead aroused its ferocity.

Being watched by a large feline weighing around 30KG and showing signs of an imminent attack did not fluster Xiang Kun at all. He had been prepared since he first sensed the presence of the leopard. When it showed up on a nearby tree, he made comparisons between it and himself, taking into account its size and movements.

He could basically conclude that even without his bow and arrow, this leopard posed no threat to him in close combat. Whether in terms of reaction time or strength, he held absolute dominance. As long as he avoided being bitten in a vital part, he had the confidence to kill it with a removed arrowhead.

But would it make sense to kill it?

It was not the mutant. After killing it and drinking its blood, entering a deep sleep afterward would be suicidal.

Killing for the sake of killing was pointless.

Of course, Xiang Kun considered other ways to handle the leopard, such as “mental deterrence,” although he was unsure if it would work considering the leopard was already influenced by the red fruits.

Yet, after a brief moment of thought, Xiang Kun chose to:

Turn and run.

As soon as Xiang Kun began to run, the leopard naturally charged after him.

If it had been an ordinary person, even a sprinter would not be able to outrun a leopard in this terrain and would likely be pounced on quickly.

But Xiang Kun seemed to have eyes on the back of his head. He always managed to dodge the leopard’s pounces with quick, sudden changes in direction and then continued to run away as if in total panic.

After a short run, the leopard couldn’t keep up. It struggled to keep its balance.

Xiang Kun, however, kept running forward without turning back, showing no intention of seizing this opportunity to take advantage.

After running some more, Xiang Kun started to slow down. He let out a scream and fell down a slope, his bow, quiver, and shoes all flying out.

Xiang Kun lay in the grass at the bottom of the slope, clutching his knee and wailing in pain. Indeed, after this fall, new wounds appeared all over his body. His forehead was broken and looked quite miserable.

While wailing, Xiang Kun collected sensory information from the surroundings, paying attention to the direction from which the mutant might come.

He had previously underestimated the intelligence of the mutant. He wanted to try again to see if him being chased by the leopard, falling down the slope, and getting injured could convince the mutant to reassess his strength:

A human-shaped mutant who dares not confront a leopard head-on;

A human-shaped mutant who has fallen down and is in severe pain;

A human-shaped mutant whose weapon is no longer at hand;

This would be a perfect opportunity for a surprise attack.