When the Forest Is Big Enough, Every Kind of Bird Can Be Found

Xia Chujian felt guilty after being told off. She did not dare make a sound or even breathe, huddling in the pilot's seat as she focused intently on the Flying Vehicle's speed. At the same time, she activated the virtual surveillance feeds for above, below, left, right, front, and back, lest she end up facing the same predicament of being hit by a saturation attack.

Six virtual screens floated before her, displaying images converted by the Solid-State Optical Radar installed on the Flying Vehicle. The Mechanical Intelligence aboard the craft simultaneously assisted with surveillance.

After all, she only had two eyes and could not watch all six screens at once.

Once the Flying Vehicle stabilized, Ye Shijie brought up a new virtual screen and connected to the Star Net database of the Dark Night Hunter Association system.

The first thing to appear on the virtual screen was a planet streaked with inky black and bright blue, floating in the boundless universe.

Pointing at the planet, Ye Shijie said, "This is the planet we're on—Guiyuan Star."

As his finger moved, different images began appearing on the virtual screen.

"Guiyuan Star is the most remote planet in the Star Domain where the Beichen Empire is located. It has nothing but the most underdeveloped agricultural, forestry, fishing, and livestock resources."

"Look here. Thirty percent of the planet is covered by seawater, and thirty percent is covered by freshwater."

"Another twenty percent consists entirely of fertile plains and farmland, while ten percent is grassland."

"The remaining ten percent is the Exotic Beast Forest. That includes the Land of the Far North, with its 'Restricted Life Zone,' which is also part of the Exotic Beast Forest."

"The Association gave us the Coordinate Position where the Blood Kirin might appear. It's on the southern edge of the Land of the Far North."

"Across all of Guiyuan Star, only four major cities have permanent residents. Mulan City is just one of them. Although the planet's total population is as high as ten billion, compared to other planets in the Beichen Empire, this place has the smallest population and the least development."

Ye Shijie continued swiping across the virtual screen, locating Mulan City on Guiyuan Star and enlarging it for them to see.

"This is Mulan City, where our team is stationed."

Then he swiped again, enlarged the area representing the Exotic Beast Forest on the virtual screen, and continued, "North of Mulan City lies the Exotic Beast Forest. This is its three-dimensional map."

"The Exotic Beast Forest spans the eastern and western hemispheres of Guiyuan Star. Its southern edge connects to Mulan City, and beyond that, everything northward, all the way to the Land of the Far North, belongs to the Exotic Beast Forest."

"The core region of the Land of the Far North is also called the 'Restricted Life Zone.' It is said that no life exists there."

"It's so vast..." Everyone was immediately captivated by the scene on the Virtual Display Screen.

Beneath their feet, mountain ranges stretched and rose for hundreds of thousands of kilometers, with no end in sight.

It was nighttime, and there was little light, yet the Exotic Beast Forest was not pitch-black.

Lights of various colors occasionally shone from deep within the forest. They were not as dazzling as Mulan City's neon lights, but they had a charm of their own.

Deep crimson like blood, pale green like a Granny Smith apple, earthy yellow like a desolate desert, even specks of bright orange, and eggplant purple that nearly blended into the night.

Xia Chujian simply increased the camera resolution on the Flying Vehicle, making the situation On the Ground clearer.

Below the several-thousand-meter High Altitude, all kinds of furry little animals could still be seen running through the forest.

But she had not watched for long before she noticed the scenery below growing whiter and whiter.

Soon, the earth became a vast expanse of white, while great flurries of snow began drifting down from the sky.

Xia Chujian studied the Display Screen and said, "Is it snowing?"

"Yes. The farther north we go, the colder it gets and the heavier the snow falls. It's already mid-November. Even Mulan City in the south is nearly in winter, let alone the Land of the Far North where the Exotic Beast Forest is located."

It was clear that Ye Shijie knew the most about the Exotic Beast Forest among the team, so he took this opportunity to educate them.

With the Exotic Beast Forest covered in snow, there was nothing much left to see.

Just as Xia Chujian was about to stop paying attention to that Virtual Display Screen, a golden point of light suddenly approached from afar, rapidly growing larger on the screen.

Was something rushing up from below?

Xia Chujian hurriedly took manual control of the Flying Vehicle and sharply pulled it upward.

The Flying Vehicle suddenly accelerated, shooting five thousand meters upward in a single second. Weightlessness swept through the cabin. With a little more acceleration, it would reach First Cosmic Velocity.

Fortunately, the others inside were wearing seat belts. Otherwise, every one of them would have been sent flying.

"What's wrong, Chujian? Are you trying to strangle Fu Ye to death?!" Li Fu let out a miserable howl.

He was the tallest and burliest of them all, and the seats in the Flying Vehicle had only barely fit him to begin with.

With that sudden acceleration and climb, he was the first to suffer from the seat belt digging into him.

Xia Chujian ignored him.

She stared fixedly at the virtual screen, and only then saw clearly what that glittering golden thing below actually was.

It was a Golden Giant Bird with a wingspan of four or five meters!

Its head was especially huge, four or five times the size of an ordinary hawk's head.

Its wings were not only incredibly long, but also immensely broad and thick. The feathers covering them gleamed gold, dazzling as actual gold.

With one flap of its wings, it seemed capable of stirring the air at High Altitude and pushing out waves of swirling currents!

That was truly tremendous strength.

Even stranger, the bird had four legs! Not bird legs, but four incredibly powerful legs resembling those of a male lion.

Its entire body was the size of a male lion too, nothing like an ordinary hawk.

"...What the hell is that? What if it crashes into our Flying Vehicle..."

Song Mingqian happened to see the virtual screen and sucked in a sharp breath, immediately understanding why Xia Chujian had suddenly pulled the Flying Vehicle higher.

Ye Shijie leaned over with a frown. After examining it carefully for a while, he said uncertainly, "This looks like a Griffon Sea Eagle from the Exotic Beast Forest... but it usually lives near the Restricted Life Zone in the Land of the Far North on Guiyuan Star."

"We haven't even reached the southern edge of the Land of the Far North yet. We're still tens of thousands of li from the Restricted Life Zone. Why has it come this far south?"

Although they were in the airspace north of Mulan City, compared to the northernmost core of the planet, their current location indeed counted as the south.

"Why does it only live near the Restricted Life Zone?"

"Because it only likes cold places. The farther south you go, the warmer it gets, and the less suitable it is for Griffon Sea Eagles."

Everyone: "..."

Was minus eighty degrees, compared with over minus one hundred degrees, considered "warmer"?

A subtle sense of absurdity rose in everyone's hearts.

But this was the Exotic Beast Forest, and an Exotic Beast Forest near the Land of the Far North at that. Anything could happen.

"Then what was it trying to do by charging at us?" Xia Chujian extended a finger and calmly swiped across the virtual screen, shifting the angle to observe the area below. "Look. It was chasing us. It only gave up once we climbed too fast for it to catch."

"This Flying Vehicle really is powered by Controllable Nuclear Fusion. Damn, look at that speed. I think if it transformed into a starship, flying beyond Guiyuan Star's gravitational range would only take minutes." Song Mingqian was the technical type in the team. It was said that he was the only one who had attended university.

Xia Chujian looked at the data on the instrument panel and nodded. "Of course. As long as it reaches Second Cosmic Velocity, it can leave Guiyuan Star."

Everyone was drawn in, unconsciously gathering together to study the Flying Vehicle's performance data.

Only Xia Chujian frowned as she watched the direction in which the Griffon Sea Eagle had disappeared, feeling that something was off.

Their craft was a Small Combat Aircraft.

Like large planes, Combat Aircraft were equipped with long-range ultrasonic bird deterrents.

No matter how enormous the Griffon Sea Eagle was, it was still a bird.

Birds could not stand the sounds emitted by those ultrasonic devices specifically designed to target them. They would always keep far away.

So why had this Griffon Sea Eagle not avoided it, but instead charged right at them? Could there really be birds that liked the high-frequency noise emitted by ultrasonic devices? Well, when the forest is big enough, every kind of bird can be found...

Xia Chujian grumbled inwardly as she controlled the Flying Vehicle, flying north at ten thousand meters for a full hour before gradually descending.

"We're now above the southern edge of the Land of the Far North." As Xia Chujian spoke, she suddenly noticed the instrument panel controlling the Flying Vehicle's orientation go haywire.

The needle spun in full circles like it was drunk.

"Ye Dui, what's going on?" Xia Chujian looked at Ye Shijie with some concern.

Ye Shijie, seated in the co-pilot's seat, glanced at it and said calmly, "The closer we get to the Land of the Far North, the stronger the magnetic field energy becomes. Flying Vehicles all do this. Disable autopilot and control it manually."

"...But the directional instrument isn't working. How am I supposed to control it manually?"

How could she fly without a direction? "Use your eyes and your brain..." Ye Shijie shot her a disdainful glance. "Aren't you so capable? You wanted to venture alone into the Land of the Far North in the Exotic Beast Forest, didn't you!"

Xia Chujian: "..."

She gripped the control stick and said evenly, "Fine. I can't read the instrument panel anyway, so I'll just fly however I want."

Ye Shijie's face immediately darkened. "You really can't read the instrument panel?!"

"I haven't even graduated high school, and I was a terrible student. What do you think?" Xia Chujian even threw a line of Mulan City dialect at Ye Shijie.

Joking aside, Xia Chujian still watched the Virtual Display Screen in front of her and slowly guided the Flying Vehicle downward.

Only when she could see the rolling mountains and snow-white branches below with her naked eyes did she finally let out a breath.

"This place below isn't far from the Blood Kirin's approximate Coordinate Position given by the Association. Let's stop here." Xia Chujian enlarged a Virtual Display Screen showing the conditions On the Ground and showed everyone the scene below.

Beneath the Flying Vehicle, the first thing that came into view was an emerald-green lake. Its surface was vast, a great shimmering expanse like a piece of translucent green jade embedded in the snow-covered earth.

Dense woods stood along the lake shore, covered in snow.

Amid the glittering white, hints of deep green showed through.

Through the Flying Vehicle's built-in three-dimensional perspective system, they could see a wide clearing beneath the trees. In the center of the clearing seemed to stand a structure resembling a Small Wooden House.

There was actually an old-looking Small Wooden House in this place where hardly anyone ever came!

It's a new month, so please send every kind of ticket! Recommendation Tickets, Monthly Tickets, Hongxiu Tickets!

Yesterday I went to watch The Wandering Earth 2 for the second time. It was still good the second time around. There were so many details and so much information that, for the first time, I understood what "too much to take in at once" felt like—the screen was so packed that my eyes could barely keep up. (#^.^#)