Big Black Pig was big—very big, unbelievably big.
Qin Luming was no stranger to pigs. He had lived in his hometown of Qingshan Town as a child and often saw people feeding pigs, herding pigs, and slaughtering pigs.
In Qin Luming's impression, commercially raised domestic pigs were generally sent to market at two or three hundred kilograms, when it was most economical. Pigs raised by rural families for slaughter during the New Year were often fattened more, but even then they usually topped out at five or six hundred kilograms.
Pigs weighing over a thousand kilograms were rather rare... This Big Black Pig before him looked to weigh nearly two thousand kilograms, with a body length of over two and a half meters.
Something this sturdy could completely break the Guinness world record for a domestic pig's weight, couldn't it?
But the key question was, how could such an astonishingly large domestic pig appear on this barren loess mountain in the middle of nowhere?
This thing was not a wild boar... Even wild boars from cold regions were terrifying at three or four hundred kilograms. There was no way they could grow to two thousand kilograms.
If a wild boar grew to two thousand kilograms, even lions and tigers would have to kneel and tremble.
The enormous Big Black Pig was very quiet. It stood not far away, staring at Qin Luming as though it had encountered an acquaintance and wanted to greet him, yet hesitated for some reason.
Qin Luming stood up. Seeing him rise, Big Black Pig took two steps forward, flapped its fan-sized ears twice, then turned and fled in panic.
Qin Luming grabbed his flashlight and chased after it.
He had come here to observe any unusual incidents in the first place... A two-thousand-kilogram Big Black Pig was unusual enough. If it had been in the pigsty of some farmhouse, Qin Luming naturally would not have been interested in checking it out. But it had run alone into these remote mountains. That was simply unbelievable.
Unless it was some kind of pig spirit from this mountain.
There were not many tall trees on the loess mountain, only shrubs and rocks. Qin Luming shone his flashlight ahead, searching for Big Black Pig's silhouette.
"It's fast!" Qin Luming was already a fast runner, yet the pig was now three or four hundred meters away. If not for his flashlight's extremely long range and his eyesight, an ordinary person would have been unable to keep track of it at all.
A pig weighing two thousand kilograms could actually run this fast? Even the cheetahs Qin Luming had seen while hunting in Africa with Qin Xiaotian had not been much faster.
Qin Luming pursued Big Black Pig with his flashlight, watching it race wildly across the slope as though walking on level ground, heading straight toward the dam.
The dam in the night was as quiet as a giant beast lurking in the valley, radiating an air of mystery. Under the flashlight's beam, the dam's earthy yellow surface gleamed with a bronze-like texture. Qin Luming vaguely saw some waterworks equipment, tightly bound by heavy chains after being abandoned. When he clearly saw the warning sign reading "No Unauthorized Entry," he stopped as well.
Big Black Pig ran near the dam and leaped into a pitch-black passageway. Qin Luming shone his flashlight inside, then backed away.
With Gu Qing'an's experience as a warning, Qin Luming would absolutely not casually approach the dam.
If it had been daytime and he could see that Zhou Nan was not nearby, he might have taken a look. But in this pitch darkness, a flashlight alone could not let him conveniently gather enough information to ensure his safety.
Better retreat first... Qin Luming looked back several times, sweeping his flashlight over the dam as suspicions continued to churn in his mind.
Could this Big Black Pig have been raised by dam maintenance workers who had once lived here, before the dam was fully abandoned?
Later, the dam was completely abandoned and the relevant personnel were ordered to evacuate, forgetting that there was still a little piglet. As a result, the little piglet lived here alone... alone as a pig. It drank from the shallow river, ate the grass along the banks, avoided pursuit by wild beasts, and grew up strong.
After growing up, the little piglet became Big Black Pig. With its thick hide, powerful body, and sharp tusks, ordinary wild beasts no longer dared provoke it. It then lived carefree in the area abandoned by humans, growing bigger and bigger.
Come to think of it, that really was possible. Domestic pigs generally only lived for around a dozen years, but under extreme circumstances, living into their twenties was not entirely impossible.
If that was the case, then it really was an inspirational pig—a perfect example of motivational fluff.
Qin Luming returned to his campsite and glanced next door. It was lively there. Yang Xiaoyan's colleague, a girl named Che Yun, was dancing while Brother Paris livestreamed with his phone, and the two online friends he had invited were responsible for lighting from the side.
Qin Luming returned to his tent, took out his laptop, and began writing. His novel had only officially been signed today; stopping updates now would be far too willful.
Perhaps because he had signed a contract, or perhaps because the internet connection was not very smooth, Qin Luming was especially focused today and smoothly finished an update chapter.
Only after finishing the chapter did Qin Luming emerge from his absorbed state. Even through his tent, he could hear the commotion from the neighboring campsite. He set down his laptop, took his entrenching shovel, and began digging at a spot he had discovered while chasing Big Black Pig. This was not the best route directly to the dam, so Yang Xiaoyan's group probably would not pass this spot when they went to the dam tomorrow.
Qin Luming dug a sloping hole leading into the mountainside, packed the surrounding earth solid with his entrenching shovel, then lined the inside with several layers of waterproof cloth before installing the surveillance system and power supply within.
Even with uninterrupted twenty-four-hour monitoring, this setup could continue operating normally for a week.
After finishing, Qin Luming checked the stability of the surrounding area and his tent. He realized that securing the tent with guy lines and ground stakes had indeed been necessary. Animals of astonishing size and strength truly roamed this place.
But thinking of that two-thousand-kilogram Big Black Pig still left Qin Luming uneasy. He tore open a pack of disposable chopsticks, chopped them in half with his entrenching shovel, then took out a bundle of wire commonly used for outdoor camping.
He tied the half-length disposable chopsticks one by one to the wire, inserted the chopsticks into the ground to suspend the wire three centimeters above it, then circled the wire around Qin Luming's tent.
Qin Luming sprinkled some water on the ground and connected the wire to another power source to form a circuit. After a few simple steps, the makeshift wilderness warning device was complete.
This thing had once been quite common in rural areas. It was what people called a rodent zapper, and it was highly effective at killing rats... It certainly could not kill large wild beasts, but if a beast crept over and stepped on it, the shock could make it cry out. That would be enough to alert Qin Luming inside the tent to stay on guard.
Because the warning device he had set up carried some danger, Qin Luming dutifully went to remind the neighboring campsite. If they needed to pass in the direction of his tent, they should take a slight detour or watch for the reflective strips he had placed for the night. The wires were beside those reflective strips.
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