This is really damned

The interior of the forest was too unsuitable for riding a motorcycle. Otherwise, bringing the bike in would have saved a lot of walking. Currently, Zheng Yichen had stored the bike at the camp. If he had bought a 1.8 million motorcycle instead of a 180,000 one, he could have parked it in a more hidden spot.

Such a vehicle came with optical camouflage. As long as it wasn't in motion, its stealth effect when stationary was quite excellent.

"None of it is useful." Looking at the photos he had taken, Zheng Yichen pouted. As expected, one couldn't have high hopes for this type of commission.

Longcheng had a history of over two hundred years, and the profession of Hunter had been stabilized for no less than sixty years. Over the years, too many excellent and renowned Hunters had emerged. Anything that could be easily discovered had likely already been explored. How could it be Zheng Yichen's turn as a newcomer?

Novelty was reserved for those lucky newcomers, like stumbling upon an anomaly that might lead to the discovery of a new abnormal creature.

Zheng Yichen also had the idea of finding an anomaly here.

"..." Zheng Yichen picked up a deformed bullet from the ground. The inner areas beyond the forest's outer perimeter were not patrolled by Rangers, but other Hunters were active there. It was normal to find something like this, but the bullet Zheng Yichen found also had blood on it.

He hadn't studied tracking or reconnaissance skills; they were basically zero. He relied on the passive enhancement of his hearing, sight, and smell that came with his improved physical fitness.

He was currently in a stage of improvement that could last for at least another week. If he encountered that Unicorn Mule again, he wouldn't have his palms worn raw when grabbing its horn, nor would he be rammed into trees by it.

He had crashed into seven or eight trees before; now he could afford to crash into two fewer.

The blood was fresh and could be wiped away with a hand. Looking around, he could still see traces of a lingering battle, with significant blood loss. He walked to a tree and looked up, seeing an arm, reduced to bones, hanging from a branch.

There were many small abnormal creatures here. Any flesh and blood left behind would be quickly consumed, but bones could remain. Zheng Yichen picked the bone down. As the bone hit the ground and shattered into several pieces, centipede-like insects crawled out from within the bone and ferociously scuttled towards Zheng Yichen, who stomped them all to death.

The remnants of the battle were obvious. Zheng Yichen followed the traces. When he saw some corpses being pecked at by abnormal birds along the way, he became even more cautious. Normally, Hunters wouldn't meet their end here, right?

Surely, no one would be ambushed and killed by those abnormal birds here?

Since they had come this far, they should have at least some decent equipment. Not necessarily full armor, but a normal set of combat gear was essential. With such equipment, these birds could injure someone, but they definitely wouldn't kill them instantly.

Zheng Yichen shooed away the abnormal birds pecking at the corpses. Not only did they not retreat, but they also let out harsh, piercing screeches and lunged at Zheng Yichen.

Facing these abnormal birds, whose largest size was comparable to a vulture, he took them down one by one with his staff. On the principle of not wasting anything, he turned them all into dried birds.

The corpses being pecked at were severely damaged and unrecognizable. The fatal wound was a large hole in the chest. The severed arm from before likely didn't belong to this corpse. His body had been torn apart, yet it remained largely intact.

After a brief inspection, Zheng Yichen quickly left the area. In a short time, new abnormal creatures were attracted by the corpses; the smell of blood here was too strong.

He became even more cautious on the subsequent path, and also adjusted the camera on his body. He would only attempt a rescue if the situation allowed. He was well aware of his own limitations; he wasn't a martial arts master, and his combat experience, apart from a little street brawling, was minimal.

It was difficult for him to be like those characters who were ordinary people before but could suddenly fight well when encountering special circumstances. His advantages were his physical fitness, his gun, and a precise Flounder Stab attack.

"What in the world is it? Should I retreat first?" Zheng Yichen, who soon discovered the second corpse, felt like someone in a movie who was courting disaster.

This corpse had been torn apart by something. Its death was much more tragic than the previous one, and the pecking was even more severe... Wait.

Zheng Yichen suddenly realized something, or rather, his lack of experience had made him overlook it. These people were likely fleeing, right? They were caught by something while escaping and killed. He felt the surrounding environment becoming more dangerous.

After some thought, he took out something he had prepared a couple of days ago: bait, in small bags. After throwing it out, the granular bait scattered on the ground. The abnormal birds pecking at the corpse immediately abandoned the incomplete body and pounced on the bait in unison.

Zheng Yichen (he) was in a tree dozens of meters away, holding his phone and observing the situation dozens of meters away. The fog made it difficult for him to see clearly, but the thermal imaging function connected to his phone could still be useful.

The first wave of bait was pecked away too quickly by the birds. Zheng Yichen (he) threw out a second batch of bait, this time changing direction.

"What the heck..." Seeing only birds and more birds, Zheng Yichen (he) started to get restless. He even found these abnormal birds annoying. With them around, his bait couldn't be preserved for long or function as intended.

Within half a minute of landing, they were completely cleaned up, making it impossible to lure out the target he wanted to observe.

This forced him to abandon his original plan. He climbed down from the tree. The gathered abnormal birds also set their sights on Zheng Yichen (he). Before they could get close, the muzzle of his shotgun was aimed at the abnormal birds flying in from one direction.

The bait hadn't attracted the target he was looking for, but it had successfully gathered these abnormal birds.

He fired his birdshot-loaded shotgun at the abnormal birds flying in a cluster, unleashing tons of output. He retreated while firing, and after expending all his bullets, only a few of the abnormal birds could still fly.

The ones that could fly were also injured, and he quickly finished them off. He threw out another packet of prepared bait and returned to the tree.

This time, there were no extra factors interfering with his bait's effectiveness. Only a sparse few abnormal birds flew in from farther away, unable to form a cluster in a short time. After waiting patiently for a few minutes, Zheng Yichen (he) still didn't see any large or abnormal creatures appear.

Instead, the surrounding temperature grew colder.

"...I've seen a ghost!!" Literally, he had seen a ghost. An Evil Spirit with a humanoid silhouette visible in its upper body, a ferocious and twisted face, and a lower body like a tattered skirt emitting an ominous gray-yellow aura, was staring at him menacingly!