Chapter 210 - Chapter 210: Chapter 210: Tracking in the Woods (Part 1) (1/2)
Chapter 210: Chapter 210: Tracking in the Woods (Part 1)
Translator: 549690339
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.