Chapter 89 - 85: Double Crisis, 2 Extraordinary Creatures?
Seeing Xu Jun’s excited expression, Chen Chong chuckled.
’Looks like today’s haul was pretty good,’ he thought. ’Otherwise, my good buddy wouldn’t be reacting like this.’
"What did you catch?"
Xu Jun didn’t keep him in suspense. He grinned and said at once, "Pheasants! Two pheasants!"
"Pheasants?"
At his words, not just Chen Chong, but Wang Biao, Zhang Meng, and Huang Mao all turned to look.
"Brother Chong, we were right to move the bird net yesterday. The edge of that forest really is better than the area by the stream. As soon as I got there, I saw two big ones hanging on it. The net was bent from the weight."
"At first, I thought they were wild ducks. I ran over all excited, only to find they were pheasants—and two live ones at that!"
"Besides those, there were also seven or eight palm-sized birds. It’s a bit of a shame, though. Both pheasants are hens. If we had a rooster and a hen, we could hatch chicks."
Chen Chong smiled. "That’s good enough. Even if they’re both hens, we can eat the eggs they lay. Raising them is better than nothing. If it comes to it, we can breed them later when we catch a rooster."
"True." The smile never left Xu Jun’s face.
"Oh, right, the fish traps. Today’s catch was about the same as yesterday, only half a cage. I collected them, put in some of yesterday’s Fear Wolf guts, and tossed the traps back in."
"As for Wang Biao’s snares, we checked the spots, but they were empty. I put them back where they were..."
Wang Biao said, "After catching a few, the wild rabbits in that area probably realized the danger and all fled. I’ll move them to a new spot next time."
Chen Chong followed up, "Today’s haul is pretty good. At least it’s more than the last two days."
"Totally. Maybe we’ll catch a few more pheasants tomorrow. By the way, Brother Chong, how are things here? Jia Wen and I came right over after dropping the stuff off. Need a hand?"
"We’re almost done picking the Vermilion Fruit. If you want to help, you can carry a couple of bags."
As he spoke, Chen Chong directly handed two large bags of Vermilion Fruit to Xu Jun...
The group continued observing the wild boar tracks in the grove for a while. After a preliminary discussion about the traps and preparations needed for the hunt, they decided to leave.
"It’s almost noon now, and we’ve done what we needed to do. Let’s go back and eat. This afternoon, we can go check on the Fishing Club and see how their preparations are coming along."
"Alright, let’s head back. I’m not sure if the laborer can handle the meat smoking and salt making by himself. We can help out when we get back to speed things up..."
...
The group set off on the road back to the school.
After they had walked some distance from the grove, Zhang Meng stopped in his tracks, his eyes fixed on a tall, conspicuous tree in the distance.
"Huang Mao, doesn’t that tree in the distance look familiar?"
"Now that you mention it, Brother Meng, it does look pretty familiar..."
"What’s wrong?" Chen Chong asked.
Zhang Meng explained, "Brother Chen Chong, do you remember that cave we told you about yesterday?"
Chen Chong nodded. When Zhang Meng and Huang Mao had wanted to join his team, they had mentioned discovering a cave that might be hiding a Stone Claw Eagle or a Blood-tooth Python.
Ever since those two Extraordinary Creatures fought, they had both gone into hiding to heal their wounds alone.
Many people at the school suspected they were on the verge of death, or perhaps already dead.
After all, the signs of battle outside the Celestial Pit were too shocking. Many who went to investigate came back saying the ground was covered in either feathers as long as an arm or scales the size of a palm.
There was also a lot of soil and trees stained red with blood!
Even if those two Extraordinary Creatures weren’t dead, they had to be close.
On top of that, someone had spread a rumor that Extraordinary Creatures might drop Rare Cards upon death, causing countless students to search everywhere for them, hoping to get lucky.
But Chen Chong knew that neither the Stone Claw Eagle nor the Blood-tooth Python was in mortal danger. They were just severely wounded and weakened. If they were actually found, it wouldn’t matter how many ordinary students went after them...
’However, just because it would be useless for others to find them doesn’t mean it would be useless for me.’
’Just for the Snake Bone Remains in the Stone Claw Eagle’s nest alone, I have to go get them.’
’If I can confirm the Stone Claw Eagle’s location, I can find some time to bring back those two snake fangs.’
’Those are crucial materials for crafting an Extraordinary Artifact. I can’t miss this...’
"Don’t tell me the cave you mentioned is near this tree?"
Zhang Meng nodded. "That’s right. This tree is very tall. I remember it clearly. I saw it when we passed by the cave. The distance was probably... about a thousand meters or so."
"Could you be mistaken?" Xu Jun was skeptical. "This tree is so far from us, at least seven or eight hundred meters by a conservative estimate. Besides, in this Primitive Jungle, trees like this are everywhere."
"I couldn’t be mistaken." Zhang Meng shook his head.
"Its leaves are pretty sparse, and it’s half green and half yellow. I remember it very clearly. In all the days I’ve been here, I haven’t seen a second tree like it in the jungle."
"Where is the cave?" Chen Chong asked again.
Zhang Meng carefully checked his bearings, then pointed into the distance. "It should be on the other side. If we go from here and walk for another thousand meters or so, we’ll reach the vicinity of the cave."
"I wasn’t paying attention on the way here. If I hadn’t seen this tree, I never would have realized the cave was only two or three thousand meters away from the grove."
Chen Chong fell silent, as if in thought. After a moment of hesitation, he finally nodded.
"Alright, let’s go take a look."
’It’s seven or eight hundred meters to the tree Zhang Meng pointed to, and then another thousand-plus meters from there. In total, the distance is around two thousand meters, which would take less than an hour to walk.’
’Going to take a look would only be a two-hour detour, back and forth.’
’Besides visiting the Fishing Club, I don’t have anything else to deal with this afternoon anyway.’
’If I can confirm that an Extraordinary Creature is hiding in the cave, and that it’s the Stone Claw Eagle, that would be one less thing to worry about.’
’It would prove my guess was right: with its injured wing, it can’t fly back to its nest on the barren mountain and can only hide deep in the jungle to heal.’
’That way, I can find some time to go to its nest and get those snake fangs.’
’Even if it’s not the Stone Claw Eagle but the Blood-tooth Python, as long as I can confirm an injured Extraordinary Creature is hiding inside, that’s good enough.’
’Then, after hunting the Unihorn Catfish, I can formulate a new hunting plan before this creature recovers.’
’As long as there’s a chance, any Extraordinary Creature that can be hunted, must be hunted.’
No one would complain about getting too many Rare Cards and secretive Secret Cards, and Chen Chong was no exception.
’It’s far better to strike while it’s down than to wait for it to fully recover and then have to come up with a plan...’
「An hour later...」
"Zhang Meng, are you sure you remember the location correctly? You’ve already led us around in circles three times!"
Xu Jun, who was carrying two bags of Vermilion Fruit and was thoroughly exhausted, couldn’t help but ask.
Huang Mao scratched his scalp in confusion.
"This is the right place. I remember it being around here too. How could we not find such a big, dark cave entrance?"
Zhang Meng was just as puzzled and bewildered.
The tree was right, the direction was right, and once they got here, even the surrounding environment was right.
But the cave entrance, which should have been visible at a glance, had now vanished as if it had never existed, leaving only a wide expanse of dirt, weeds, shrubs, and vines.
Chen Chong gazed at the vast, hilly terrain before him.
The area was huge, stretching out as far as the eye could see.
But even after walking in circles a few times, they still hadn’t seen any sign of a cave.
There was nothing but a ground full of weeds and vines...
"Are you sure this is the place?"
Zhang Meng nodded. "I’m positive. We came here by accident back then and didn’t deliberately memorize the spot. But just as we picked up the feather, a low roar came from the cave. It scared me and Huang Mao so much that we bolted on the spot."
"But I remember the general location of the cave very clearly. It’s in this area."
"You must have remembered it wrong. Look around, where’s the cave? It’s all hills, weeds, and vines. It’s not like the hill has a door that was open for you last time and is closed this time, right?" Xu Jun squatted to one side, grumbling.
"No, that’s actually a possibility."
"Huh?"
Xu Jun looked at Chen Chong, as if he couldn’t believe his ever-so-steady Brother Chong could say such nonsense.
Seeing Xu Jun looking at him like he was an idiot, Chen Chong felt insulted.
"The hillside definitely doesn’t have a door, but Extraordinary Creatures are highly intelligent. If one is hiding in a cave to recover, it might have concealed the entrance for safety."
"With their massive size, it would be incredibly easy for them to cover the entrance with some dirt and rocks. It’d be like us casually digging a hole in the ground and then casually filling it back in..."
At these words, Zhang Meng and Huang Mao fell silent.
After some thought, Xu Jun nodded in agreement. "Now that Brother Chong puts it that way, I think it makes some sense."
Chen Chong glanced at Xu Jun, feeling a bit helpless.
’When it comes to times like this that require actual thought, my good buddy’s only role is to be the yes-man...’
"But there’s one thing that still puzzles me. If an Extraordinary Creature really did that, there should be obvious signs of disturbed rocks and soil. And there shouldn’t be any vegetation growing on top of it."
"But right now, this entire hillside is covered with vegetation like weeds and vines. There’s not a single trace of disturbed soil."
"If Zhang Meng remembers correctly and this is really the place, it shouldn’t be like this..."
Zhang Meng spoke up again, his expression extremely serious.
"This is definitely the place. I just looked around again. Although I can’t pinpoint the exact location of the cave, many things in the surroundings match my memory. I’m absolutely not mistaken!"
"Alright!"
Chen Chong nodded. He chose to trust Zhang Meng for the time being.
After all, one person might misremember, but with both him and Huang Mao saying this was the spot, the possibility of a mistake was too low.
’Since this is the right location, but the cave is missing, it’s highly likely caused by some Extraordinary Power that I can’t comprehend.’
’After all, aside from the specific details on the Unihorn Catfish, I know nothing about the abilities of the Stone Claw Eagle and the Blood-tooth Python.’
’Perhaps this strange change stems from one of their abilities, but...’
’An ability to manipulate plants to hide a cave just doesn’t seem to fit with either of them.’
Chen Chong decided to use a brute-force method.
He would walk over the entire hillside.
If the cave was truly here and an Extraordinary Creature was hiding inside, his Beastial Instinct would surely react.
If it didn’t, then Zhang Meng had remembered wrong...
For the next half hour, Chen Chong wandered aimlessly across the hill.
To better trigger his Beastial Instinct, he didn’t even spare the upper parts of the hill, personally walking over every inch.
Before he knew it, another half hour had passed.
Just as everyone else had collapsed on the ground in exhaustion, and Chen Chong himself was beginning to doubt the truth of Zhang Meng’s words...
A sense of danger, just like the one he felt when he encountered the Stone Claw Eagle leaving its nest on the barren mountain, suddenly surged in his heart!
At the same time, another sense of danger appeared.
This feeling was even stronger and more distinct than when he had faced the Stone Claw Eagle and the Blood-tooth Python...
...