Severing the Tail

Xiang Kun first noticed some movement in the distant sky in the middle of the night. Then, he found a high point to observe carefully. After switching to infrared thermal imaging vision mode, he discovered that there were two extremely faint pale blue lights fighting in the sky in the deep mountains in the northwest.

Xiang Kun has always placed the greatest emphasis on improving his sensory abilities, especially after killing Guo Tianxiang. His perception of other "Mutated Creature" has undergone a qualitative breakthrough, allowing him to make direct visual judgments from a distance.

In addition, his original visual abilities were getting stronger and stronger, and his visual range was extremely far, which directly increased the range of "Mutated Creature" he could identify by sight.

His ability to combine his sense of smell, hearing, sixth sense, and even his ability to discern information about "Mutated Creature" in a "Hyper-Sensory State" gave him great confidence—if he were to encounter other "Mutated Creature" again, he would definitely be the first to notice them.

Just like now, at this distance, even if an ordinary person could distinguish the "Mutated Creature," they wouldn't notice what was happening in the air over there, and even if they did notice it, they wouldn't be able to see it clearly.

However, even Xiang Kun could barely make out the shapes of the two blue lights at this distance, and could not determine their form.

However, the flight pattern and trajectory of one of the blue lights immediately reminded Xiang Kun of the "mutated giant bird." Comparing this with his memory of the "mutated giant bird's" flight pattern and trajectory, he arrived at the answer:

There's a greater than 90% chance that one of them is that "mutated giant bird," only its speed seems to have increased somewhat.

As for the other one, it was also a flying "Mutated Creature," but unlike the "mutated bird" and other "Mutated Creature" that Xiang Kun had seen through infrared thermal imaging, the pale blue color representing that "Mutated Creature" was surrounded by red dots, and there was a large red clump at the tail that was larger than the body, making it look very strange, as if it were a semi-mutated creature.

However, Xiang Kun knew long ago that his infrared thermal imaging visual mode did not distinguish "Mutated Creature" solely based on heat.

Regardless of how the "Mutated Creature's" body temperature changes, whether it rises or falls, or how it contrasts with the surrounding temperature, it will only appear as a pale blue color in his special visual mode.

Of course, if he wanted, he could also change his perception of the "Mutated Creature" to other colors.

However, aside from judging the temperature of "Mutated Creature," it is still relatively accurate in judging the temperature of other things.

Judging from the color distribution alone, Xiang Kun guessed that the "Mutated Creature" fighting the "mutated bird" was being aided by a man-made aircraft, with at least one jet engine.

This surprised Xiang Kun even more, because judging from the flight trajectory of the "flying Mutated Creature," its agility in the air was not much worse than that of the "mutated bird," which seemed illogical from a structural point of view.

Xiang Kun suddenly realized something and continued to observe his surroundings carefully. He then discovered some Mutated Creature objects scattered around the two aerial combatants. Judging from their heat and movement trajectories, these objects were most likely drones.

Xiang Kun immediately connected the "flying Mutated Creature" with "Shenxing Technology". After all, he knew that "Shenxing Technology" loved to use a large number of drones to search for "Mutated Creature", and "Shenxing Technology" had indeed found traces of "mutated birds" in the Wushu Mountain area before.

Is "Shenxing Technology" capturing the "mutant giant bird"?

He sensed the "Super-Linked Object" piece of paper that Mi Qiao had always carried with him and found that it was not nearby.

He squinted and observed for a while. Judging from the flight trajectories and methods of both sides in the air, he found that the "mutated bird" was obviously trying to escape but could not. It was completely suppressed by the "flying Mutated Creature" and it was probably only a matter of time before it was caught.

Xiang Kun looked up at the night sky, sensed the changes in the atmospheric electric field and the surrounding magnetic field, closed his eyes and entered a "Hyper-Sensory State," and further made cognitive judgments. Then he quickly deduced and calculated in his mind, and led Zero Zero One, Zero Zero Two and some "flying worker ants" toward the direction where the two "Mutated Creature" were fighting.

Xiang Kun didn't care about the life or death of the "mutated bird," but he was very interested in the "flying Mutated Creature" from "Shenxing Technology." He wondered if it was a human "vampire" or some other creature? And how did its flight aids achieve speed and agility comparable to the "mutated bird"?

On the other hand, he was also a little worried that if the "flying Mutated Creature" from "Shenxing Technology" devoured the blood of the "mutated giant bird," would it also gain some of the "mutated giant bird's" sensory memories, just like him?

He wasn't sure if other "Mutated Creature," after consuming the blood of another "Mutated Creature," could obtain some of the mixed memory fragments possessed by their target, just like he had, but he couldn't rule out that possibility.

If that big bird was indeed the one he had encountered before, then it should have memories of him, and the other party might have obtained related memory fragments.

Of course, based on Xiang Kun's "rich" experience in acquiring memory fragments, the memories stored by that "mutant bird," and its sensory information, even if it didn't completely lack visual and auditory information like the "Mutated Parasite," would certainly be somewhat different from the human memory information pattern. If a human "vampire" were to acquire those memory fragments, it might not be able to find information that could identify its identity, since not everyone has such a powerful "omni-sensory information decoding ability."

Moreover, if "Shenxing Technology" only captures the "mutant bird" for research purposes, it might not consume its blood.

Previously, in his "Hyper-Sensory State," he discovered that there were several living "Mutated Creature" in the building where the Rabbit Woodcarving was located.

Therefore, if there is danger or the possibility of exposing himself, he will not necessarily stop the other party from capturing the "mutant bird".

After closing the distance, Xiang Kun spotted the drones hovering around. To avoid being discovered, he stopped, took out a box containing "flying worker ants," and released them. Using "Zero Zero Two," he made each drone carry a tungsten steel ball and continue moving forward.

A total of forty "flying worker ants" carried the ball beads, spreading out like a flight formation and charging forward.

He planned to try using his "Hyper-Sensory State" to observe the battle between the two "Mutated Creature," but unfortunately, although the "flying worker ant" reached a top speed of nearly 20 km/h, it was ultimately unable to catch up before the battle ended.

The battle over there was drawing to a close. The "mutated giant bird" fell into the forest several times and tried to escape several times, but failed each time.

The "flying Mutated Creature" restrained it with a thin chain, seemingly about to subdue it.

As the struggles of the "mutated bird" grew weaker and weaker, the capture seemed to be coming to an end soon. The distance was still far, and the "flying worker ants" and "main force" had not yet been deployed. Xiang Kun was rapidly thinking about whether to do something and how to do it when a sudden intuition surged up, causing him to subconsciously glance in another direction.

At first glance, there was nothing in that direction, but Xiang Kun knew very well that for him now, "intuition" was not something baseless or mystical, but rather the first feedback given by a deeper level of instinct when he was unable to process the large amount of extrasensory information he had acquired... or rather, when he was unable to make a subjective cognitive judgment.

This feedback cannot provide a very clear and accurate judgment, and it may not even be 100% correct, but it certainly contains some information that he has missed or ignored due to his normal or subjective cognition, and this information should be quite important to what he is currently doing or thinking.

After some hesitation, Xiang Kun did not choose to rashly stop the "flying Mutated Creature" from taking away the "mutated bird," but instead continued to lie in wait in the forest.

Once the "flying Mutated Creature" had flown far away and the drones scattered everywhere had also withdrawn, Xiang Kun began to run wildly through the forest.

After entering the depths of Wushu Mountain, he took off his shoes and coat and hid them beforehand, moving around barefoot in the mountains.

In the darkness, without the need for lighting, Xiang Kun relied on his night vision and superhuman brain processing ability to instantly plan the fastest route. He sprinted along the ground in the forest, sometimes leaping over mountain walls and even using his hands and feet when encountering obstacles.

If someone were nearby at that moment and noticed the commotion, or if someone were passing by, they might be startled, mistaking it for a wild beast running past, and wouldn't be able to see or realize it was a person.

After running for a while, Xiang Kun arrived at the area where the "flying Mutated Creature" and the "mutated bird" were fighting fiercely.

Although the main battleground for the two "Mutated Creature" was in the air, the "mutated giant bird" fell into the forest several times, leaving many areas in a mess. Many branches were broken, vegetation collapsed, bark was torn off, and some not-so-thick trees were even uprooted from the soil by the impact.

However, Xiang Kun did not find any feathers or flesh of the "mutated bird" in these areas, which was within his expectations. But there was a lingering scent, and based on this scent, he confirmed that the bird that had been captured by the "flying Mutated Creature" was the same "mutated bird" he had encountered twice before.

The place where these "mutated birds" had previously crashed was the place Xiang Kun's "intuition" pointed him to.

He had just recalled his memories, carefully analyzing the various sensory information he had received, and discovered that the "mutated bird" seemed to have deliberately crashed to the ground several times after it was unable to escape from the air.

At the time, he thought the "mutated bird" was trying to fight back from the ground or escape using the terrain of the forest. But now, upon reflection, Xiang Kun immediately realized that he might have guessed its purpose wrong.

Xiang Kun did not use his sight or smell to search the area directly because the area was quite large, and the "mutated bird" had been thrown down more than once, so there were several points that needed to be investigated.

Fortunately, the main force of "flying worker ants" had arrived nearby. After scattering the "flying worker ants" carrying "Super-Linked Object" orbs, Xiang Kun entered a "Hyper-Sensory State" and used the dozens of "Super-Linked Object" scattered around him to expand the range of his perception and cognition.

Xiang Kun's search target was also very clear: cognitive information related to "Mutated Creature".

Just like when you want to find some content in a book, sometimes it's faster and more intuitive to flip through the physical book directly, while other times it's quicker and more convenient to use Ctrl+F to search for TXT documents on a computer.

In his "Hyper-Sensory State," he quickly locked onto his target.

Opening his eyes, Xiang Kun strode quickly in one direction, squatted down among a clump of grass lying crookedly on the ground, seemingly crushed when the "mutated bird" fell to the ground, and slowly parted the grass with his hands.

Xiang Kun saw a broken eggshell, surrounded by a lot of slime that extended to a small burrow not far away. It seemed that some creature had hatched from the eggshell and then... burrowed away?

Xiang Kun picked up a piece of eggshell covered in mucus and sniffed it, becoming quite certain that the egg belonged to that "mutant giant bird".

It's normal for birds to lay eggs, but it's very strange for a bird to deliberately fall from the sky and secretly lay an egg before continuing the fight when it's being relentlessly attacked and chased by an enemy.

Moreover, the size of a bird's egg is generally directly related to its body size. Normally, even if the "mutant giant bird" really lays an egg, it should be much larger than this. Judging from the eggshell, this egg is even smaller than a regular chicken egg.

Besides, eggs need time to hatch, and even for "Mutated Creature" with shortened incubation times, it wouldn't be this short.

Could it be that as soon as the egg was hidden, some other creature emerged from the ground, broke the shell, ate the contents, and then ran away?

But Xiang Kun quickly dismissed this possibility, because judging from the way the eggshell broke, the marks on the ground next to it, and the surrounding smell, no other creature had damaged the eggshell from the outside; the eggshell had been forced open from the inside.

Based on the traces, it appears that the creature that broke through the eggshell, crawled away, and made a hole did not resemble a bird, but rather a long, multi-legged insect.

People say, "Like begets like," and "A rat's son knows how to dig a hole." This big bird's "son" can't even fly, let alone dig a hole and run away as soon as he hatches from the egg?!

That's really weird.

Furthermore, what's with the idea that a bird's egg hatches into a multi-legged insect?

Although it's described as a "Mutated Creature," this is just too much of a mutation!

Did it perhaps devour some special "Mutated Creature" and acquire this "complete metamorphosis"? Will this insect then pupate and transform into a bird again?

No... it's not reproduction.

Xiang Kun realized something, so he took out a tungsten steel ball and guided it to drill into the hole. Finding that he hadn't reached the end within his control range, he then had several of the "worker ants" he had brought drill in directly.

He had originally planned to put "Zero Zero One" in as well, but after glancing at the eggshell, he changed his mind and put both "Zero Zero One" and "Zero Zero Two" on the eggshell instead.

Soon, "Zero Zero One" and "Zero Zero Two" understood and began to quickly gnaw on the membrane and juice inside the eggshell fragments. After they finished eating the membrane, they even started to gnaw on the eggshell itself.

But after a short while, the broken eggshells began to change rapidly. In just over ten seconds, they all turned into gray powder, and most of them were scattered by a gentle breeze.

Based on his intuition, Xiang Kun concluded that the egg was not a "descendant" left by the "mutant bird," but rather the bird itself!

It is using this method to "cut off its tail to survive," and its original body as a large bird is its "tail."

This egg, and the changes that followed, are its special ability to sustain life.

It's unclear whether this ability was acquired from other "Mutated Creature" or whether it's a unique escape method developed by combining the abilities of other "Mutated Creature" and adapting to its environment.

It's conceivable that if Xiang Kun's guess is true and this is indeed a method of escape, then the price to pay would be extremely high.

Xiang Kun originally planned to put "Zero Zero One" and "Zero Zero Two," who had just had a "full meal," into the small burrow so that they could lead the ant colony to hunt down the "birds and insects." However, he found that the two of them were not moving at this time, as if they had fallen into a deep sleep.

Xiang Kun had no choice but to temporarily store them in a small box he carried with him, and leave the tungsten steel beads he had previously used for cave exploration in the cave as markers.

When "Zero Zero Two" rests, his control over the ant colony produced by "Zero Zero Two" also decreases significantly. It's not that the ant colony will go out of control, but rather that its understanding of his commands will be very low, making it difficult to issue accurate instructions.

Just then, Xiang Kun's senses, which had been on high alert, detected a sound from afar. He quickly realized that a large number of drones were heading this way.

It seems that the "flying Mutated Creature" has also noticed the "mutated bird's" "tail-cutting survival" tactic.

Based on Xiang Kun's speculation about the normal physiological characteristics of "Mutated Creature," once the egg began to hatch, the captured "mutated bird" would have already become a severed body or organ, just like its fallen feathers. It would soon completely lose its vitality and turn into powder and disappear.

Xiang Kun started running in the opposite direction, but after a short while, he stopped and chose to hide in a nearby spot.

He realized that, under these circumstances, no matter how fast he ran on the ground, he couldn't outrun the aircraft in the sky. Moreover, if he moved quickly, he would easily attract the attention of infrared thermal imaging. Since the other side could hunt down the invisible "mutant bird," they must also have a way to identify him in the forest.

Xiang Kun had previously considered a method to fake surface temperature, blending himself into the ambient temperature to deceive infrared thermal imaging. After all, normal infrared thermal imaging equipment shouldn't have a special way of distinguishing "Mutated Creature" like his infrared thermal imaging visual mode.

However, he hasn't completed this method yet, and experimenting directly here would have a low success rate.

So even if he doesn't run away and finds a place to hide, he is still very likely to be discovered if the "flying Mutated Creature" launches a surprise attack and conducts a large-scale search using drones.

Or... should we just have a fight?

After closing the distance, Xiang Kun, relying on his superb eyesight and low-light night vision mode, discovered that the "flying Mutated Creature," like the "mutated bird," could also become invisible.

Based on his previous experience fighting the "mutated bird" at Purple Huan Mountain, he judged that the "flying Mutated Creature" was even stronger than the "mutated bird"!

Adding to the obvious presence of the engine and other equipment attached to its body, along with the long, extending chains, Xiang Kun's assessment of the "flying Mutated Creature's" strength was extremely high.

Not to mention that if the other party is "Shenxing Technology," they are very likely to have a large number of backups who can arrive in a short time.

Of course, if he really had to take action, based on the limited information available, he still felt that he had a better chance of winning.

Because the weather tonight is also quite nice—dark clouds loom overhead, threatening rain.

In terms of flight, Xiang Kun is not afraid of any living creature. If the opponent relies on machinery or electronic equipment, like drones, then his advantage will be even greater.

In fact, ever since he discovered the "mutated giant bird" and the "flying Mutated Creature," Xiang Kun had been constantly deducing the possible development of the conflict based on changes in actual information. Moreover, in his initial deduction, he was the one who would deal with the two "Mutated Creature" alone.

However, after stopping to hide, Xiang Kun immediately made a decision:

If you can avoid exposing yourself, then do so.

If it can be confirmed that the other party is an enemy, then without a doubt, even if unprepared, in a close encounter, one should strike first, seize the opportunity, and launch a full-scale attack to try and kill the enemy in one blow.

However, at present, he cannot be certain that the other party is an enemy.

Even if that "flying Mutated Creature" most likely belongs to "Shenxing Technology," he was unsure what attitude or stance the other party would take towards him after learning about his situation.

However, he couldn't simply jump out and probe the other party's position, directly exposing himself and handing the initiative over to them.

This choice is too risky when there is insufficient information about the other party.

Therefore, Xiang Kun quickly came up with a solution:

Scare the other party away.

I feel this chapter was a bit wordy, a bit of a "post-explanatory writing syndrome," but I've already procrastinated for a day, so I can't keep putting it off. That's it... (;д`)