The Show Begins

"This is your 'research target.' The drone has locked onto it; it can't escape. You can begin observation and recording. Do not disturb it or approach it for now; it is very dangerous."

Xiang Kun had been eavesdropping on the sounds coming from the two vans, and naturally heard the distinctive, almost friction-like sound, recognizing it as "Mr. Liang's."

However, Mr. Liang's words puzzled Xiang Kun. They didn't seem to intend to immediately attack the "mutated giant bird," but instead were only observing and recording it?

Xiang Kun knew, of course, that "Shenxing Technology" was not a "Mutated Creature protection organization." Based on what he had learned before, they were not benevolent people and were involved in capturing "Mutated Creature."

As for why they weren't taking action against the "big bird" now, Xiang Kun could tell from the discussions among the others in the carriage, including Mi Qiao and Dr. Fang, that not only he, but also the people from "Shenxing Technology" were somewhat puzzled.

Could it be that "Mr. Liang" believes that with the people and equipment they have here, they can't catch that "mutated giant bird," or that "Mr. Liang" also realizes that the "mutated giant bird" is likely hunting another "Mutated Creature" here, and therefore wants to wait and see?

Xiang Kun was actually looking forward to seeing "Mr. Liang" come in person. He was very curious about this mysterious figure who clearly held a high position in "Shenxing Technology" and had a very unique voice. Moreover, he had a feeling that this "Mr. Liang" might be a "vampire" like him.

He would also consider the possibility of a "vampire" behind "Mr. Liang" or other "Shenxing Technology," and assuming he owned such a large corporation with technological reserves, financial strength, and manpower and resources, and had set up such a secret department, what would his attitude be towards other "Mutated Creature"?

Undoubtedly, the most important goal is to explore the causes of mutations in oneself and other Mutated Creature, find the fundamental principles behind them, and find ways to understand and control them.

Whether it's other Mutated Creature or himself, he can be used as an object of "research".

Of course, the person conducting the research must be trustworthy, or be himself/herself.

However, he will treat "Mutated Creature" differently. If it is a human-mutated "vampire", he will first conduct sufficient investigation and understanding before deciding whether to try to communicate with it or whether it can be developed into a joint research partner. However, creatures like Guo Tianxiang that hunt humans for food will be classified as dangerous targets requiring coercive action, along with some extremely ferocious "mutated beasts and birds of prey".

Moreover, it seems that Mutated Creature, at a certain stage, all have a "must-have" to devour the blood of other Mutated Creature, which makes peaceful coexistence among Mutated Creature a challenge, especially for those creatures that were already extremely ferocious before mutation.

If he had sufficient resources, he hoped to find and "monitor" as many Mutated Creature as possible, so that he could have more research data and samples to help him find the causes and detailed patterns of mutation.

At the same time, it can also take coercive measures against extremely dangerous "Mutated Creature" to prevent them from harming humans, avoid negative social impact, and prevent ordinary people from developing widespread hostility and hatred towards "Mutated Creature".

It can also help some rational human "vampires" or "Mutated Creature" that are relatively harmless to humans, providing them with shelter and food, guiding them to find suitable mutations and evolutionary paths, and in turn helping his research to explore the truth behind the mutations.

Of course, these are just ideas that Xiang Kun came up with by applying his current thoughts to the background of "Shenxing Technology". He was just using this method, and based on what he knew about the secret departments of "Shenxing Technology" and some arrangements made by "Mr. Liang", to reverse-engineer the thoughts, intentions, and personalities of "Mr. Liang" or the people behind "Shenxing Technology", as well as their perspectives and positions when dealing with these matters.

However, the information he knew was still too little, and his understanding of the various arrangements of the secret department of "Shenxing Technology" was only the tip of the iceberg. Therefore, after making various assumptions, he still could not fully grasp the thoughts of "Mr. Liang" or other people behind the scenes.

The only certainty is that they do know of the existence of "Mutated Creature" and are well aware of many of their characteristics. However, whether any of them are "Mutated Creature," whether they are humans interested in all of this, vampires searching for the cause of their own mutations, or powerful figures connected to the authorities, remains uncertain.

For now, many of Mr. Liang's actions have left him somewhat puzzled. For example, does he trust or distrust Mi Qiao and Dr. Fang?

If they trust each other, why are they unaware of the characteristics of so many "Mutated Creature"? I was even curious just now why that "mutated giant bird" had a lower body temperature than the other birds.

If you don't trust them, why let them investigate these things, investigate these "Mutated Creature"?

Could it be that "Mr. Liang" or the person behind "Shenxing Technology" wants Dr. Fang and the others to discover this on their own?

What's the point?

Xiang Kun eavesdropped for a while longer, listening to Mi Qiao, Dr. Fang, Zhou Rui, and others observe the various imaging modes transmitted back from the drone, compare them with the mess they had taken during the day of the large bird, and the extremely unclear photos taken by tourists, while they discussed and analyzed the situation.

Judging from their discussion, apart from Mi Qiao, the others knew very little about "Mutated Creature".

Xiang Kun felt that continuing to eavesdrop was pointless. Apart from the few drones that looked obviously unusual, their investigative methods were quite disappointing.

He had originally thought he could learn some of the analysis and research results of "Shenxing Technology" on "Mutated Creature" from them, and learn some information that he did not know.

Xiang Kun returned to the vicinity where he had previously discovered the "mutated giant bird," keeping an eye on the positions of the drones while concealing himself and maintaining a safe distance.

The "big bird" was still standing in the same spot. Based on his past encounters with Mutated Creature, Xiang Kun deduced that, given its sensory abilities, it should have already noticed the drones in the sky.

But it didn't react at all, probably because it was very confident in its hiding place and thought that those flying creatures in the sky couldn't "see" it.

Xiang Kun guessed that the large bird wouldn't "stake out" here for too long. When it was about to leave, if "Shenxing Technology" couldn't be sure it could keep up with it, it would probably try to capture it anyway.

But he didn't have time to waste any longer. He had to get back to town before dawn. He was leaving Tongshi Town today, and his Blood-Drinking Period was fast approaching.

Therefore, he still hopes that "Shenxing Technology" can spark some collaboration with that "big bird" so that he can gain a better understanding of both.

However, he has now confirmed that those drones are equipped with infrared thermal imaging devices. He can no longer rely on the darkness and his agility to hide using the terrain and environment of the mountains and forests. He can only keep his distance and not get close, so the things he can do are very limited.

Xiang Kun had considered that if he could descend to Mi Qiao's side in a "Hyper-Sensory State" and use the piece of paper that established the "Super-Sensory Link" as a "stepping stone" to influence and control the equipment in the carriage, thereby achieving the goal of controlling those drones, he might be able to directly command those drones to "alarm" that "big bird".

Unfortunately, his influence on electronic devices in his "Hyper-Sensory State" was still very limited, and he couldn't achieve precise control at all. He couldn't even accurately control the touch points on his own phone screen, let alone control devices he had never touched before.

His current ability is at most to temporarily disrupt the operation of those devices, preventing the people in the carriage from issuing commands to the drones and causing them to malfunction. However, from his observation, those drones are mostly controlled by AI, not manually. Mi Qiao and his team only issue commands to the AI and set specific flight rules through the devices in the vehicle. Therefore, a short-term failure or malfunction of the equipment in the vehicle will not have any immediate impact on the drones. Moreover, doing so would not achieve his goal of observing the operational patterns of "Shenxing Technology".

Xiang Kun had also considered influencing Mi Qiao or Fang Pingfang with hallucinations, similar to how he had previously influenced Zhou Rui by making him see ants. He wanted them to believe the "big bird" was about to escape, so they would control the drone to approach and make the "big bird" feel threatened. However, like the previous plan, it was still difficult to implement. The realistic hallucinations he could make Mi Qiao, Fang Pingfang, Zhou Rui, and others see were very limited. He could only "draw" inspiration from "elements" that had appeared in their dreams, or rely on the emotional sensory projections of other "Emotional Injection" items.

Since it wasn't easy to get involved with the people at "Shenxing Technology," Xiang Kun set his sights on the "big bird."

If the "big bird" discovers his existence as a "Mutated Creature," it might abandon its "waiting" in this place and instead hunt him.

This immediately disrupted the balance between Mi Qiao and the "Shenxing Technology" team and the "mutated bird," but it also directly exposed him.

When the large bird hunts him, the drones from "Shenxing Technology" will also spot him.

We must disrupt their balance while keeping ourselves well hidden.

Why not just call the police and report that someone is poaching or damaging the environment in the scenic area?

No, I just heard the drone technicians in that car say that these drones have permits to be used in this mountainous area next to Wushu Mountain, so the police can't interfere with them.

If all else fails, then we'll have to resort to a forced "beating the grass to scare the birds."

Xiang Kun's gaze began to sweep over the surrounding mountains as he continued to make calculations.

A few minutes later, he began to sneak up a mountain in the distance. The mountain had stone steps for tourists to climb, but in order to avoid the drones high in the sky, Xiang Kun climbed in the opposite direction of the drones' surveillance. There was no way to go there for ordinary people, but it was no obstacle for Xiang Kun.

As they neared the summit, Xiang Kun carefully moved to the side facing the large bird on the distant hillside. He then took out two smooth pebbles from his pocket—tools he used to "suppress" his churning stomach and suppress nausea when eating with others.

Xiang Kun put one pebble back into his pocket, held the other in his hand, then closed his eyes and entered a "Hyper-Sensory State."

He used his "Hyper-Sensory State" to influence items with which he had established an "Super-Sensory Link," imbuing the pebble with a layer of electrical charge.

After emerging from the "Hyper-Sensory State," Xiang Kun didn't pause. He took two steps to run, his muscles tensed up, and he unleashed his maximum power. He pushed off with his legs and rotated his hips, transferring all his strength to the pebble in his hand, and threw it diagonally upwards into the air.

The stone flew straight into the air at an extremely fast speed. When it flew under a drone of "Shenxing Technology", it was suddenly pulled by some force. Under the action of gravity, it slanted towards the "big bird" that was "hidden" on the distant hillside.

The straight-line distance between Xiang Kun and the "big bird" was more than a kilometer. Not to mention that the pebble first went up and then down, drawing a strange "zigzag line." So, from the Xiang Kun threw it until the pebble reached the "big bird," several seconds had passed.

The tiny pebble, no bigger than a finger, didn't hit the "big bird," but it still startled it, preventing it from remaining petrified. In a panic, it flapped its wings and flew away.

As Xiang Kun had predicted, the "big bird" flapped its wings, took off, and flew towards a drone in the air.

From its perspective, the only direction the pebble came from was from the drone; in its eyes, it was that "clunky iron thing" hovering in the air attacking it.

After throwing the pebble with which he had established a "Super-Sensory Link," Xiang Kun did not move his location. He was certain that he was not captured by the drone when he threw the pebble, so once the pebble reached its highest point, its subsequent trajectory could no longer be deduced from where it was actually thrown.

The charge that Xiang Kun applied to the pebble under his "Hyper-Sensory State" was combined with Liu Shiling's "developed" ability to control "Super-Sensory Link" objects, thus "programming" the pebble's trajectory and speed in advance.

Xiang Kun now has a certain ability to influence objects he has established a "Super-Sensory Link" with remotely, but this is limited to things like slightly changing the flight direction of a paper airplane within a certain distance. He cannot yet perform actions like shooting an arrow and then drastically changing the direction of the arrowhead to make it track a target, nor can he throw pebbles.

However, by leveraging the direct influence of his "Hyper-Sensory State" on objects connected to his "Super-Sensory Link," Xiang Kun successfully combined the control power that the Little Chubby Girl had "developed" for him, adding a layer of driving force to the pebble. As the pebble climbed upwards, the electrical charge attached to its body accumulated continuously, which in turn accelerated it to a certain extent by using the channel established through friction with the air. After reaching the preset peak, these forces concentrated and exploded, changing the pebble's direction and causing it to "shoot" towards the direction of the "big bird."

Even if the drones or cameras from nearby "Shenxing Technology" captured the trajectory of the latter half of the pebble, they certainly couldn't deduce the location from Xiang Kun threw it.

As for the "pebble" that established Super-Sensory Link, it doesn't matter if it falls into the hands of the "Shenxing Technology" people; they can't trace him back to that stone.

Instead, it would allow him to attach another "Super-Sensory Link" item into "Shenxing Technology".

The "mutated bird" was clearly quite frightened, or rather, enraged, as it flapped its wings very dramatically.

As it rapidly and violently flapped its wings and took off, many of the less robust trees around it were swept aside by the strong wind, "unable to lift their heads," with leaves, sand, and broken branches swirling up, as if a Harrier jet were taking off.

The commotion caused by this "mutated giant bird" was not like that of a bird with a wingspan of more than three meters, but rather like that of a giant bird with a wingspan of seven or eight meters and a weight of over a hundred kilograms.

This also demonstrates the formidable strength of this "mutated giant bird".

Xiang Kun looked up at the distant sky, at the "big bird" taking flight and soaring into the air, and a line of Li Bai's poem inexplicably popped into his mind:

"The roc rises with the wind, soaring ninety thousand miles high..."

Judging from its sudden burst of power, Xiang Kun was certain that this giant bird had mutated and evolved a long time ago. Putting aside its other characteristics, its power alone could overwhelm the Giant Owl Xiang Kun had encountered before.

If the first Mutated Creature he encountered had been this "big bird" instead of Giant Owl, the final outcome would have been very uncertain.

The drone in the air skillfully evaded the "mutated bird's" attack, rapidly gaining altitude and maneuvering with incredible agility, clearly an automatic evasion maneuver—a human operator would likely not have had time to react in such a way.

And the performance of this drone is clearly far superior to that of ordinary civilian drones; it is quite powerful.

The real show has finally begun.

At this moment, Xiang Kun suddenly felt a prank similar to the mischievous pleasure he had when he was in elementary school, flicking a crumpled piece of paper from his deskmate's seat onto the class monitor to "frame" him.