No Reason He Couldn't Learn It

If Xiang Kun hadn't seen the mutated bird from afar on the plane yesterday, he wouldn't have connected it to mutated birds when he overheard Chu Xiuwen and the others discussing it.

Just as ordinary birds rarely attack humans, the probability of mutated birds attacking humans is also extremely small, especially in scenic areas with large crowds in broad daylight.

Based on his experience, both Giant Owl and mutated spiders exhibit strong wariness and fear of human society, consciously avoiding crowds, which is one indication of their increased intelligence.

However, judging from the time and area Xiang Kun saw the mutated bird, it is indeed possible that the mutated bird appeared in the Wushu Mountain Scenic Area this morning.

If it really is a mutated giant bird, then there must be a compelling reason why it would risk appearing in front of people.

Of course, it's more likely that they were just ordinary eagles or ordinary birds.

Xiang Kun naturally followed the topic, asking a few questions without showing any particular interest, but successfully guided the conversation among the other three. They all had their own sources of information and had heard about the events at the scenic area to varying degrees.

Although Chu Xiuwen, Liu Feibao, and Liu Caifu were all well-informed people in Tongshi Town, while You Meng only knew that a tourist had fallen off the mountain, they knew some of the reasons for the fall.

However, the specifics of what happened at the scenic area today are unclear because the witnesses were all tourists, the scene was chaotic, and there were various versions of events. The information they received was also passed down several times by the scenic area staff, so there were many contradictions and obvious exaggerations in the details.

To confirm whether it is Mutated Creature, Xiang Kun needs to conduct an on-site "investigation."

While on the plane, Xiang Kun determined from afar, using his infrared vision mode, that the large bird was most likely Mutated Creature. He never considered tracking down the bird's whereabouts—it was too difficult, and there were too many possibilities.

But if you have a specific location and it's not too far away, you won't be able to put your mind at ease unless you confirm your suspicions.

So after finishing his late-night snack and leaving the restaurant, Liu Caifu drove him to the entrance of his hotel. Instead of going back to his room to rest, he hailed a motorcycle taxi and left.

Xiang Kun naturally wouldn't directly call a motorcycle taxi to the scenic area. Although it wasn't far from the scenic area, it would be too strange to go there in the middle of the night, and it would easily leave a deep impression on the motorcycle taxi driver.

He simply had the motorcycle taxi driver take him around the town, and after paying the fare, he started running towards the scenic area.

Xiang Kun's average running speed is about 30 km/h. He runs very easily, far from exerting his full strength. Many physically strong people can achieve this instantaneous speed in short and middle-distance running. But maintaining this speed for a long time without rest is very difficult.

Moreover, Xiang Kun can adapt to more terrains than ordinary cars. He can directly leave the paved road and take shortcuts, saving a lot of time. He can also avoid some traffic cameras and vehicles on the road. After arriving at the scenic spot, it is actually not much slower than driving there.

At this time, Wushu Mountain Scenic Area would naturally have been closed long ago, given the incident that occurred that morning.

Xiang Kun naturally wouldn't take the usual route used by tourists; instead, he used his climbing skills to quickly climb up the steep mountain wall to the middle of the main peak.

He had already heard Chu Xiuwen mention which mountain peak had been the site of the accident while he was at the restaurant. As for the exact location of the accident, he easily spotted it after climbing up. In night vision mode, he could immediately see an area still surrounded by cordon tape. Judging from the situation, this area probably wouldn't be open until tomorrow.

There was no one guarding this place at night. The accident happened in the morning, and someone should have already come to investigate by the afternoon. It wasn't a murder scene, so no one would be keeping watch all night.

After switching between night vision and infrared thermal imaging modes and observing the surroundings for a period of time, and collecting information on sound and smell, Xiang Kun determined that there were no "suspicious" creatures nearby.

Although this was reasonable and expected, he was still a little disappointed.

Xiang Kun approached the area where the accident occurred, carefully observing the traces on the ground and smelling the surrounding scents, but found nothing.

Based on several descriptions given by Chu Xiuwen and others, he had previously made a preliminary guess.

If that so-called "giant eagle" really is the mutated bird he saw on the plane, then its appearance here in front of people is most likely to be in search of and to hunt down another Mutated Creature.

The Mutated Creature might be a mutated bird that already inhabits this mountainous area, which is why it was said that "some small birds were attacking tourists on the mountain path, and the giant eagle drove the flock away." Perhaps some of those "small birds" were mutated birds that were not actually attacking tourists, but rather felt threatened and were driven away in a panic, accidentally bumping into tourists.

Just like the time his old classmate Xie Jun told him, when the lead car hit a "long-horned wolf" during a test drive in the wild.

Another possibility is that the "small birds" are just ordinary birds that were startled and scattered, while the tourists were attacked by the "large birds" and fell off the cliff—because the tourists themselves are "vampires," "Mutated Creature."

However, he had just searched the area below the cliff where the tourists fell and found nothing unusual. He had also searched the local news on his phone and knew that the bodies of the two tourists who fell had been found. If it was really the second case, then the two tourists who fell were definitely not "vampires," but were probably just unlucky victims who were caught in the crossfire. The real victims might have already disappeared among the other tourists.

Of course, all of this is based on the premise that the large bird that caused the accident was a "mutant bird".

More likely, no Mutated Creature have appeared here.

Undeterred by finding nothing at the accident site, Xiang Kun continued to explore the surrounding area.

From the moment he first set foot on the mountain, he had a hunch that something was off about it, and the longer he stayed there, the stronger that feeling became.

He knew very well that this feeling was not metaphysics, but rather a "subconscious" feedback signal derived from the constant collection of information from his various senses.

After walking for a while, Xiang Kun leaned against a tree, closed his eyes, and began to focus his attention on his sense of smell and hearing, trying to observe the situation of the entire mountain. He would first investigate using these two senses to determine the cause of the strange feeling.

This mountain was naturally much larger than the small hill not far from Xiang Kun's residential area, so it was impossible to anchor at one point and directly observe the entire area. Therefore, it changed positions from time to time to scan with its sense of smell and hearing.

Nearly an hour later, Xiang Kun not only learned the reason for his strange feeling, but also smelled a very faint "special smell".

He had smelled this "special smell" many times before. The specific details were actually quite different each time, but as soon as he smelled it, he knew that it was the scent left by the Mutated Creature.

The smell was coming from underground.

He changed positions several times, finally finding it only when he was standing directly above the source of the flavor.

As for that strange, eerie feeling, it's because there are very few ants on this mountain!

Ants rarely come out in winter, but they don't hibernate either. Instead, they stay in their burrows and survive the winter on the food they stored before the season.

Even inside the cave, Xiang Kun could still detect their presence through very subtle smells and sounds if he paid enough attention.

But on this mountain, except for some areas at the foot of the mountain, there were no ants in most of the mountain!

If he relied solely on extensive information gathering and searching, he might not have realized the problem with the ants so quickly, because even with only olfactory and auditory sensory information, the amount of information to analyze and investigate becomes enormous when there are a certain number of details.

However, Xiang Kun often practiced exploring and collecting various sensory information on that small hill, and had spent time in the deep mountains and forests several times, so he had a relatively comprehensive understanding of the ecology in this environment.

We often think that the disappearance of certain inconspicuous small animals would have little impact, or even be beneficial, such as flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches, and ants.

In cities and urban environments, this impact may be minimal because humans have such a strong influence on and ability to change their living environment. However, in the wild, every species has its own ecological niche. If a species decreases significantly, other species will need to fill that niche, leading to a chain reaction of changes in the distribution and numbers of related species.

It was by comparing information with that of other mountainous areas that Xiang Kun to notice the ants. He then used his sense of hearing and smell to scan the area and confirmed the absence of ants on the mountain.

Moreover, it was obvious that the large-scale ant disappearance on this mountain had been going on for some time, which was why Xiang Kun was able to quickly notice the impact.

Xiang Kun lay on the ground, following the direction of the "special smell," and began digging with his bare hands, all the while pondering the reason for the missing ants.

Could it be due to the influence of that "Mutated Creature"?

That thing only eats ants?

This is so strange. While ordinary ants do have blood, the amount is too small, and their numbers are too numerous. If their sole purpose was to satisfy their thirst for blood, they could easily target larger animals, right?

Even if you like the taste of insect blood, there's no need to keep targeting ants and fleece them completely!

Or perhaps it is an ant itself?

Xiang Kun didn't dig too deep before finding the source of the smell, but after switching between night vision mode and infrared thermal imaging mode, he didn't find anything special, and the smell began to dissipate very slowly.

He knew this was where that Mutated Creature had once stayed for a long time.

Judging from its structure, this does indeed appear to be an ant nest? And it looks like the ant is quite large, at least as thick as his thumb.

So the ants on this mountain are missing because a "mutant ant" appeared?

So where is it now?

Xiang Kun had just wandered around the mountain, conducting detailed auditory and olfactory reconnaissance, along with infrared thermal imaging visual scanning. He could basically confirm that the "owner" of the nest, the Mutated Creature that could only be an ant, was not on the mountain.

Could it have been hunted down by that big bird?

So why did the large bird suddenly appear during the day, startling ordinary tourists and causing them to fall off the cliff?

Xiang Kun looked up, frowning as he gazed at the other mountains and forests in the distance, pondering whether to continue the investigation and what the best approach would be.

In Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er's room, Xia Libing was also present.

Since Xiang Kun wasn't sure when he would return after meeting Liu Caifu, they were told to go back to the hotel after having a late-night snack, since both cars were left for them.

Back at the hotel, Yang Jie, Yang Zhuo, Zhang Qian, and the other two continued playing mobile games together, while Yang Zhen'er dragged Lao Xia to their room to play.

They were having an audio call with Little Apple, talking about the interesting things that had happened in the past two days.

"Uncle Xiang's cooking is really delicious, especially the rabbit meat... Just hearing you talk about it makes my mouth water..." Little Apple said enviously as Yang Zhen'er talked about the dishes Xiang Kun cooked at "Youlong Restaurant" last night.

"Chef Xiang that he'll bring you along next time we come to visit," Yang Zhen'er said, then suddenly remembered something and asked, "By the way, Little Apple, can you flip Coin with your finger?"

"Flipping Coin?"

"It's about putting Coin on the back of your hand and letting Coin roll between your fingers. Um, it's hard to explain clearly. Go find a Coin, and then we'll video chat, and I'll tell you how to do it," Yang Zhen'er said.

So Little Apple turned off the audio call and started the video call directly. As for the Coin, she could just grab it and have it.

She naturally couldn't see what Yang Zhen'er and the others were seeing, but under Yang Zhen'er's instructions, she placed her phone on a stand to fix the camera angle so that they could see her hand and the Coin.

Under Yang Zhen'er's guidance, Little Apple learned what the so-called finger flipping of Coin was all about.

"Let's have a competition and see who learns it first! The first one to learn it can get a gift from the others, how about it?" Yang Zhen'er said excitedly.

After ending her video call with Little Apple, Yang Zhen'er started urging Xia Libing again. "Lao Xia, give it a try. I think your fingers are longer, so it should be easier for you."

Xia Libing took the one-yuan Coin she handed him, and while trying it out, casually asked, "Why are you suddenly playing with Coin?"

"Nana said Xiang Kun can flip Coin, so she wants to learn too!" Yang Zhen'er said.

"However, you are more proactive in learning than I am!" Tang Baona said.

"I'm doing this to help you with your studies," Yang Zhen'er said. "We can't fall behind the kindergarten kids."

As she spoke, she showed Xia Libing the video of the "little girl flipping Coin" that was circulating online. "Do you remember this little girl? She used to live next door to Xiang Kun's house. Xiang Kun how to flip Coin. Look how well she flips them. Even kindergarten kids can learn it, so there's no reason why we can't!"