Chapter 63 - 61: Peculiar Eagle Egg, Smash Them
"Sir, have some water."
Wang Biao, chewing on some bread, pulled a water bottle from his jacket and handed it to Chen Chong.
"Thanks."
Chen Chong crouched in a hollow on the cliff face, washing down the last bite of bread with water.
This mountain was extremely steep, not at all like a typical barren hill that was easy to climb.
For most of the way, they had to cling to the cliff face, traversing a path less than half a meter wide. One misstep, and they could plummet to the bottom of the ravine.
Several times during the climb, Chen Chong considered just turning back. ’Is stealing an eagle egg really worth risking our lives?’
Not only did they have to bear the risk of being discovered by the Stone Claw Eagle, but they also had to be careful not to fall from the cliff.
But since they’d come all this way, he ultimately pushed on and kept climbing.
The thought of going through all this trouble only to find an egg too big to carry made Chen Chong laugh in exasperation.
After reaching a spot halfway up the mountain, his Beast Intuition triggered.
An intense sense of crisis made Chen Chong stop climbing. He led Wang Biao to hide in a hollow concealed by vines.
It was obvious without a word being said: the Stone Claw Eagle had not yet left its nest on the summit.
This intense feeling of danger was identical to the one he felt when targeted by the Blood-tooth Python.
The two could only eat and wait.
Finally, as time trickled by...
A black shadow suddenly appeared in the sky.
Its wingspan exceeded thirty meters, and its body was covered in blackish-gray feathers.
Most striking of all was its pair of gray talons. They looked as if they were carved from rock—immense, savage, and radiating power.
It seemed as though they could crush steel with ease.
This creature that defied all logic was, without a doubt, the Stone Claw Eagle!
Chen Chong and Wang Biao were stunned for a moment. This was their first time seeing the true form of this Extraordinary Creature.
The sense of pressure it exuded was even stronger than that of the Blood-tooth Python.
The Stone Claw Eagle flew out from the summit. With a beat of its giant wings, it whipped up a gale in the air.
Even Chen Chong and Wang Biao, hidden in their hollow, could feel the roaring wind rush past them.
They watched its massive figure head toward the distant jungle, shrinking to a black dot and vanishing from sight in just a dozen breaths.
At the same time, the sense of crisis in Chen Chong’s heart gradually subsided as the eagle flew further away.
The shock of seeing the Stone Claw Eagle was immense, but they still had to steal the egg. Otherwise, wouldn’t they have come for nothing?
"Let’s go!"
Chen Chong tossed aside the wrapper in his hand and quickly got up, resuming his climb toward the summit.
Wang Biao followed close behind.
Twenty minutes later...
THUD!
A hand slapped onto the hard rock.
Immediately after, Chen Chong, pushing off a protrusion in the rock face, laboriously pulled himself up.
Wang Biao climbed up right after him.
Before the two could even catch their breath, they were instantly stunned by the scene before them.
Compared to the slopes below, the summit was even more barren. Though the area was vast, it was completely bare, without a single vine in sight.
Boulders stood all around, giving it the desolate feel of a quarry.
In the very center was a massive nest.
A normal eagle’s nest is built from twigs and dry grass, but the Stone Claw Eagle’s was different. It was constructed from countless tree trunks.
The smallest of the trunks were half a meter wide, while the largest were likely four or five meters across, if not more.
The entire nest was at least a hundred meters wide!
That wasn’t even the most astounding part. What was truly shocking was the area around the base of the nest...
It was filled with skeletons!
As far as the eye could see, gleaming white bones were piled high, mound after mound.
It was like stepping into a forest of bleached bones. Who knew how many years it had taken to accumulate such a vast amount...
Chen Chong stared, dumbfounded. He had no idea how long these skeletons had been here. They were completely stripped of flesh, nothing but bony frames.
He couldn’t tell if the Stone Claw Eagle was an exceptionally clean eater or if this was just the result of years and years of decay.
Most of the skeletons belonged to large animals; he could faintly make out elephant tusks, bear bones, tiger pelts, deer antlers, and even fish bones several meters long.
The most eye-catching of all was a snake skeleton with two massive fangs.
Judging from the length of its bones, the snake must have been no less than ten meters long when it was alive.
Chen Chong’s brows furrowed slightly. ’Why does it look a bit like a Blood-tooth Python?’
But what sent a chill down Chen Chong’s spine was that among these bones were a few skeletons that were disturbingly familiar. They were... human bones!
From the scraps of clothing that remained, he could tell they were likely students from the school.
Their flesh, however, had long been pecked clean.
In all likelihood, these were the ones taken during that bloody incident...
The Stone Claw Eagle, just like the Unihorn Catfish and the Blood-tooth Python, was a man-eater!
These bones were all fragmented, with hardly a complete skeleton among them.
Perhaps their bodies were too small for the Stone Claw Eagle, and it had accidentally consumed some of their bones while pecking at the flesh.
Just like a person accidentally swallowing a few fish bones...
Some of the white bones were of an origin Chen Chong couldn’t identify.
They were immense, so large they didn’t seem like normal creatures—at least four or five meters long—but not quite on the level of the three Extraordinary Creatures.
Perhaps, like the Fear Wolf, they were just one of the large, unique creatures of this jungle...
"We need to check the eggs, quick. We can’t waste any more time."
Chen Chong forced himself to snap out of it. The intel only said the Stone Claw Eagle would leave its nest to hunt; it didn’t say how long it would be gone.
If they delayed too long and ran into it on their way down, the two of them would be doomed.
Wang Biao and Chen Chong quickly scrambled up the tree trunks that formed the nest. Soon, they could see what was inside...
Two enormous, oval eggs, each over one and a half meters in diameter with gray shells, lay quietly inside.
Chen Chong was dumbfounded.
’Eggs this big?!’
Standing in front of one, it was only a head shorter than him. He estimated they had to weigh several hundred pounds at least.
’How are we supposed to take this?’
Forget about these steep cliffs; even on flat ground, they’d probably need a cart to have any hope of taking one back.
"..."
Chen Chong fell silent.
Wang Biao fell silent too.
Both of them were speechless. Perhaps they should have realized it sooner.
With a creature as massive as the Stone Claw Eagle, how could its eggs possibly be small?
After going through so much trouble, it looked like they would have to return empty-handed...
Just as Chen Chong was about to leave, the acuity granted by his Beast Intuition made him subconsciously glance toward the bottom of the nest.
Between the two giant eggs, a black shape was faintly visible, lying underneath.
"Hm?"
Chen Chong quickly moved to the other side.
The black shape was, in fact, a third egg.
While still not small, it was several sizes smaller than the other two, only about half a meter wide and weighing no more than a hundred pounds or so.
It looked a bit like one of those stone bollards you see on the side of the road.
"What kind of egg is this? It’s not even a third of the size of the other two," Wang Biao said, voicing his surprise.
Chen Chong was also puzzled.
’Not only is the size so different, but the color is too. Could it be that this isn’t a Stone Claw Eagle egg?’
’No, that’s not right.’
’Given the temperament of an Extraordinary Creature like the Stone Claw Eagle, it would never allow another creature to lay an egg in its nest.’
’Besides, there wouldn’t have been time!’
The intel indicated it had only just begun to incubate the eggs, meaning they were only a few days old.
But why was the difference so huge?
’Could it be... a mutation?’
"Whatever. We’ve come all this way; we can’t possibly go back empty-handed."
"Can our hiking pack fit it?"
Wang Biao took off his backpack, opened the zipper, and sized it up before nodding.
"It’ll be a tight squeeze, but it should fit."
This hiking pack was the largest model available at the school. Lying on the ground, it was half the size of a person. He had specifically traded for it to better carry their hauls.
That was precisely why Chen Chong had Wang Biao carry it on this trip—it was intended for the eagle egg.
ZZZIP—
With the closing of the zipper...
The black eagle egg was stuffed into the backpack, making the whole bag bulge.
As Wang Biao heaved it onto his back, he felt his body sink under the weight.
"Can you carry it down?"
"If it’s too much and you can’t climb with it, we’ll have to abandon it. Our lives are more important, after all."
Wang Biao straightened his posture. "Sir, don’t worry. I can get it down. The weight itself is fine; it’s just a bit awkward on my back. I just need a moment to get used to it."
"Alright then." Chen Chong nodded. He knew Wang Biao wasn’t one for baseless boasting. If he said he could do it, he probably could.
But if it really proved too difficult to move with on the way down, they would have no choice but to ditch it...
Just as the two were about to leave, Chen Chong’s peripheral vision caught sight of the few human skeletons lying in the pile of bones not far away.
They lay there quietly, only the tattered scraps of their clothing fluttering slightly, as if silently trying to say something...
Chen Chong’s brow furrowed. After a moment of silence, he turned to look at the two remaining eggs.
"Wang Biao!"
"Sir!"
"Smash them..."
...