The Hunt

Chapter 41: The Hunt

He checked the time. It was already past two in the morning.

Xiang Kun didn't know whether the Giant Owl had the same rapid healing ability he did. Maybe it had found somewhere to rest and lick its wounds, waiting for another chance to hunt him. Or maybe, once it had recovered, it had simply flown far away.

But if he wanted to find the owl, before dawn was probably the best time.

After all, the owl's scent hadn't yet faded, and Xiang Kun's physical abilities—and his sense of smell—would be at their peak before dawn.

Besides, the owl feared people and wouldn't dare move around during the day. Xiang Kun likewise didn't want anyone stumbling upon him hunting it.

If possible, Xiang Kun even hoped he could capture the Giant Owl alive.

If it really did have a powerful ability to heal, then he could collect some of its blood every so often and turn it into a long-term "meal ticket." That would certainly be a better deal than a one-time windfall.

What's more, he wanted to observe and study the Giant Owl, to find out why it had grown so huge. Was it a new species, or had it suddenly mutated like he had? And what had caused the mutation?

But that was only wishful thinking. He had neither the equipment nor the ability to capture the owl alive, let alone a place to keep and study it. If he really found it, there would definitely be a fight to the death, with no holding back.

Though Xiang Kun had made up his mind, he didn't leave right away.

There was still a very important problem: even if he found the Giant Owl, how would he capture it?

The brief fight with the owl by the lake had lasted only a dozen seconds or so. He was fairly sure that if he could bring it down to the ground, he wouldn't be any weaker than it. Even barehanded, he could beat the owl half to death. He was certain he'd blinded one of its eyes during their fight, though he didn't know whether it could heal or how long that would take.

If he brought tools—even just a short knife, a hammer, or a screwdriver—they could greatly improve his fighting ability and lethality.

But the owl could fly...

That meant the choice of whether to fight rested with the owl.

Back at the lake, the owl had attacked him first, which was why he'd managed to pin it down and beat it.

What if the owl was determined to run?

Xiang Kun had already ruled out things like a hunting rifle or a tranquilizer gun. A crossbow? Or a compound bow? Where was he supposed to find a bow or crossbow in the middle of the night? Even if he managed to get one, he hadn't practiced or gotten used to it, so he couldn't count on hitting his target. Ordinary arrows wouldn't do much damage without modifications. Even if he really did hit the owl, he might not hurt it enough to keep such a huge bird from flying.

Besides, Xiang Kun had just looked up some information on owls and discovered that they had not only excellent night vision, but also highly developed senses of smell and hearing. If the owl had mutated and grown stronger in those ways, as he had, it would be even more frightening. He might not even be able to sneak up on it.

Then an idea occurred to Xiang Kun. Maybe...

He could call the police?

A Giant Owl big enough to kill an adult husky posed a serious threat. It could also be considered a rare species in need of protection.

Whichever department responded—the police, the parks bureau, or someone else—they would surely have more professional personnel and equipment to capture it.

Once the Giant Owl was captured, it would definitely be sent to a professional institution for research and observation. Maybe they could find out why it had grown so large and what had caused its mutation.

But Xiang Kun quickly abandoned that idea too. First, it would be hard to convince the police or another department that there really was such a huge owl and get them to take it seriously. Second, even if they sent people, they probably wouldn't follow his lead when hunting it. He couldn't tell them that his ability to track scents was better than a hunting dog's. Third, even if the owl really was captured and deemed worthy of research and protection, being the first person to discover it didn't mean he would be allowed access to the research findings and reports. And there would certainly be no chance for him to get any of the owl's blood to drink.

In general, Xiang Kun liked to plan ahead and prepare contingencies before doing anything. But when something was already upon him and there was no time to prepare, he could still make the decision to act first and think later.

So he didn't spend any more time thinking it over. If he kept deliberating, dawn would arrive. He grabbed his Swiss Army knife, a flashlight, and a screwdriver, then headed out.

There was naturally no time to prepare any weapons now. He did have a knife at home that he'd bought specifically for killing rabbits, but against the Giant Owl, it probably wouldn't be much better than a screwdriver. Besides, carrying a knife outside could lead to misunderstandings and unnecessary trouble.

At 3:21 a.m., Xiang Kun returned to the lakeside where he had encountered the Giant Owl.

He noticed that not a single one of the feathers the owl had shed during their fight was still on the ground.

Normally, anyone seeing this would assume that someone had come by and picked up the feathers, or that a strong wind had blown them somewhere else.

But when Xiang Kun had left earlier, he'd put a few feathers in his pocket. By the time he got home, they were gone.

At the time, he'd wondered if he'd lost them while going into the lake. But now, seeing that all the feathers by the lakeside had disappeared, he thought of an experiment he'd done on himself: he'd cut off a grain-of-rice-sized piece of flesh from his little finger, and not long after his wound healed, the piece of flesh had turned to powder.

Maybe the feathers, like that piece of flesh from his finger, had turned to powder and dispersed into the air after leaving the owl's body?

Xiang Kun began tracking the scent the Giant Owl had left behind. Though their fight had lasted only a dozen seconds or so, both of them had been severely injured and had lost a lot of blood, leaving strong traces of scent behind.

And because it had been injured, the owl hadn't been able to fly very fast at the time.

The wind made the direction of the scent in the air somewhat uncertain, but Xiang Kun wasn't relying on scent alone. Given the owl's behavior, he judged that even at night it was unlikely to fly toward a densely populated area. It would surely flee toward somewhere with more mountains and trees, fewer buildings, and less human activity.

An hour later, Xiang Kun held a leaf to his nose and took a deep sniff. Then he looked up at the trees on a hillside dozens of meters away. From where he stood, he could see only a mass of shadows, but he knew the owl was there.

He was now in the same place where he'd found the dead mouse before.

He didn't think this was the Giant Owl's temporary nest. He'd already searched the small hill thoroughly and found no trace of the owl's scent. Even the dead mouse had probably been dropped from the air; the owl hadn't come here before.

As for why it had come here now, it was probably because this isolated hill was the most suitable hiding place nearby where it could recover.

Xiang Kun tightened his grip on the screwdriver and slowly walked toward it.

When Xiang Kun emerged from behind a tree and looked at the Giant Owl standing on a huge boulder, the owl was staring back at him with eyes as big as bowls.

Clearly, when Xiang Kun had pinpointed the owl's location, it had also sensed his arrival.

Xiang Kun didn't rush forward. By the light of the moon, he could see that the injury to the owl's head had mostly healed, including the eye he'd blinded.

Clearly, although it couldn't heal as quickly as Xiang Kun, its recovery was still far beyond that of other animals.

The owl stared intently at Xiang Kun. Its huge body shifted slightly as he moved, keeping itself turned toward him. Its wings remained half-spread, ready to lift off at any moment. The spot where it stood had no branches above it, so it could fly away at once.