Chapter 441: 441

In the middle of the night, Xiang Kun detected some movement in the distant sky. He located a higher vantage point to observe carefully. After switching to infrared thermographic vision mode, he saw two faint blue glimmers of light, locked in combat, in the deep mountains in the northwest direction.

Xiang Kun had always placed great emphasis on the enhancement of his sensory abilities. Especially after killing Guo Tianxiang, his perceptual abilities regarding other “mutants” underwent a qualitative leap; he could visually identify them from a long distance away.

Moreover, his visual ability had become increasingly stronger, allowing him to see further away, thereby directly expanding his range for detecting “mutants” visually.

Combining smell, hearing, sixth sense, and his ability to identify “mutants” in a “Super Sensory State”, he was extremely confident — if he encountered another “mutant”, he would always be the first to notice.

Just like now, at this distance, an ordinary person, even if they could distinguish “mutants”, would not notice the activity in the sky over there. Even if they did notice, they wouldn’t be able see clearly.

But even for Kun, at this distance, he still couldn’t really make out the shapes of the two clusters of blue light, which made it hard to determine their forms.

However, the flight pattern of one cluster of blue light and its trajectory in the sky reminded him of the “mutated big bird”. He compared it with the flight pattern and trajectory of the “mutated big bird” from his memories and concluded:

There was a more than 90 percent chance that one side was the “mutated big bird”, though it seemed to have become faster.

As for the other one, it was also a flying “mutant”. What was different from the “mutated big bird” and other image of “mutants” through infrared thermographic vision mode in Xiang Kun’s memory was the light blue that represented the “mutant” was surrounded by tiny spots of red, with a large lump of red, bigger than its body, following behind it. It was very strange, looking like a half-mutated organism.

Earlier, Kun had understood that when his infrared thermographic vision mode differentiated “mutants”, the judgment was not solely based on heat.

No matter how a “mutant’s” body temperature changed, whether it was rising or dropping, or what the contrast was with the surrounding temperatures, under his special vision mode, they would all appear in a single shade of light blue.

Of course, if he wished, he could also adjust the color perception for “mutants” to other colors.

However, aside from “mutants”, the temperature judgment for other objects was still fairly accurate.

Just by looking at the color distribution, Kun guessed that the “mutant” fighting the “mutated big bird” was assisted by a man-made aircraft, at least one with a jet engine.

This surprised Kun even more, because judging from the flight path of the “flying mutant”, its agility in the air was not inferior to the “mutated big bird”, which seemed unreasonable considering its construction.

Xiang Kun suddenly realized something, continued to observe the surroundings carefully, and then found some objects hovering in the air around the two combative “mutants”. Judging from their heat emission and flight trajectory, there was a high probability that they were drones.

Xiang Kun promptly linked the “flying mutant” with “Divine Technology”, because he knew they loved to use a large number of drones to search for “mutants”. Moreover, “Divine Technology” had previously discovered the trace of the “mutated bird” near Wushu Mountain.

Was “Divine Technology” trying to capture the “mutated bird”?

He sensed the “Super-connected object” paper strip that Mijoe had always kept with him and found it was not nearby.

He squinted his eyes and observed for a while, from the movements and patterns of the two “mutants” in the air, it was clear that the “mutated big bird” was desperate to escape but was completely suppressed by the “flying mutant”, and the chances of it being caught seemed to be only a matter of time.

Xiang Kun looked up at the night sky, felt the change in atmospheric electric field and surrounding magnetic field, closed his eyes to enter the “Super Sensory State”, made further cognitive judgments, and then quickly evaluated and calculated in his mind. He set off in the direction where the two “mutants” were fighting, accompanied by 001, 002, and some “Flying Worker Ants”.

Kun wasn’t really concerned about the fate of the “mutated big bird”, but he was very interested in the “flying mutant” of “Divine Technology”. He wondered if it was a human “vampire” or some other creature? And how did the flying equipment attached to it managed to match the speed and agility of the “mutated big bird”?

On the other hand, he was a little worried whether the “flying mutant” of “Divine Technology” would gain a part of the sensory memory of the “mutated big bird” if it ingest the bird’s blood, like him?

Xiang Kun was uncertain whether other “mutants” could obtain a mix of memory fragments from the target, like him, after ingesting the blood of “mutants”, but he couldn’t rule out the possibility.

If that bird was the same one he had encountered before, then it should have some memory of him, and the other party might acquire related memory fragments.

Of course, as per Kun’s “rich” experience with memory fragment acquisition, even if the “mutated big bird” has stored memories, sensory information, even if it is not completely devoid of any sight or hearing information like the “mutated parasite”, it must still be somewhat different from the human memory information pattern. If the human “vampire” gains these memory fragments, they might not be necessarily able to find information that could reveal his identity. After all, not everyone has his strong “universal sensory information decoding ability”.

Moreover, if “Divine Technology” is only capturing the “mutated big bird” for research, they might not consume its blood.

Previously, in his “Super Sensory State”, he had noticed several living “mutants” in the building where the rabbit woodcarving was located.

So, if there was danger or a chance of exposing himself, he would not necessarily intervene to prevent the creature from being captured.

After closing in a certain distance, Xiang Kun spotted the drone patrolling. To avoid detection, he stopped and took out the box carrying the “Flying Worker Ants”. He released them, each carrying a tungsten steel ball pearl, thanks to “002”, and proceeded.

A total of forty “Flying Worker Ants” carried the pearls, forming a flying formation, scattered and advancing.

He prepared to observe the fight between the two “mutants” in his “Super Sensory State”. Unfortunately, although the “Flying Worker Ants” quickly reached speeds nearing 20KM/H, they still could not arrive before the fight ended.

The battle had reached its finale by then. The “mutated big bird” had fallen into the woods several times, tried to escape several times, but to no avail.

The “Flying Mutated Creature” had it chained with a slender chain and was about to subdue it.

As the struggle of the “mutated big bird” gradually weakened and the capture appeared to end soon, Xiang Kun, still far away, and his “Flying Worker Ants” troop still not in position, hastily contemplated if he should do something and how to do it, when a sudden instinct made him instinctively glance in another direction.

At first glance, there was nothing in that direction, but Xiang Kun knew very well that for him now, “instinct” wasn’t baseless or metaphysical, but rather, it was an initial deep-seated reflex response given when he could not process the vast volume of sensory information he had obtained…or when he could not cognitively judge it subjectively.

This kind of reaction could not provide a very clear and accurate judgment, and it might not be a hundred percent correct, but there would definitely be some information missed and overlooked by his normal cognitive, subjective awareness. This information should be quite important to what he is currently doing and thinking about.

Hence, after a slight hesitation, Xiang Kun didn’t choose to precipitously intervene and stop the “Flying Mutated Creature” from taking away the “mutated big bird”. Instead, he continued lurking in the woods.

It wasn’t until the “Flying Mutated Creature” flew away, and the various drones scattered around left too, that Xiang Kun started to dash madly through the woods.

Ever since he had ventured deep into Wushu Mountain, he had taken off his shoes and coat in advance, hiding them, and then began moving barefoot in the mountains.

In the black of night, he didn’t need any illumination. Xiang Kun relied on his night vision ability and super brain processing capability to immediately plan the quickest route; he started running wildly in the woods, his path hugging the ground, sometimes he would vault over the mountain wall, sometimes using both his hands and feet when encountering obstacles.

If anyone was nearby at this time and noticed the commotion, or if they had been passed by, they would probably get the shock of their life, thinking it was a rampaging beast, and would not be able to see or realize that it was a person.

After running wildly for a while, Xiang Kun arrived at the area where the “Flying Mutated Creature” had battled the “mutated big bird”.

Although the main battlefield of the two was in the air, the “mutated big bird” had fallen into the woods several times, leaving many areas in disarray with countless broken branches and collapsed vegetation. Bark was thrown everywhere, and some trees that weren’t very thick were even hit so hard that their roots were upturned from the ground.

However, Xiang Kun did not find any feathers or flesh of the “mutated big bird” in these areas, which went along with his expectation. But its scent did linger, allowing him to confirm that the big bird taken away by the “Flying Mutated Creature” was the “mutated big bird” he had encountered twice before.

The places where the “mutated big bird” had fallen were the ones his instinct had pointed him toward.

He had just reviewed his memory and carefully recollected all the sensory information he had obtained, realizing that the “mutated big bird” seemed to have deliberately fallen to the ground a few times after it could not escape in the air.

He had thought then that the “mutated big bird” was trying to counterattack from the ground or escape using the terrain of the forest. But when he thought about it now, Xiang Kun realized that he might have misjudged the creature’s intention.

Xiang Kun didn’t directly use his vision or smell to search this area as it was large with several points to explore, considering the “mutated big bird” had fallen here more than once.

Thankfully, the “Flying Worker Ant” troop was now nearby. After scattering the “Flying Worker Ants” carrying the “Superconnected Objects” pearl, Xiang Kun entered the “Super Sensory State” enabling him to extend the range of his sensory information with the multiple “Superconnected Objects” scattered around.

Xiang Kun’s search target was also very clear — sensory information related to “mutants”.

In fact, just like when you want to find some content in a book, sometimes flipping through a physical book is quicker and more direct, and other times using CTRL+F to search a txt document on a computer is faster and more convenient.

In the “Super Sensory State”, he quickly located his target.

Opening his eyes, Xiang Kun briskly walked in one direction. He stooped down amidst a pile of grass that seemed to have been crushed by the impact of the “mutated big bird”. He slowly pushed the grass aside.

Xiang Kun spotted a cracked eggshell with a large amount of mucus around it extending all the way to a small hole not far away. It appeared that something hatched from the egg and then… dug its way into the ground?

Xiang Kun picked up a piece of the eggshell covered in mucus and sniffed it, affirming that this egg belonged to the “mutated big bird”.

A bird laying an egg is normal, but it’s incredibly strange for the bird to deliberately plummet from the sky, swiftly and covertly lay an egg during an intense showdown with its enemy.

Plus, the size of the egg a bird lays generally has a direct relationship with its own body size. By rights, if the “mutated big bird” would lay an egg, it should be much larger than this. Judging from the eggshell, this egg was even smaller than a common chicken egg.

Besides, hatching an egg takes time. Even if it’s a “mutated creature”, whose hatching time might be reduced, it couldn’t be this short.

Could it be that as soon as the egg was securely hidden, other creatures tunneled up from the ground, cracked the eggshell, ate what was inside, and then escaped?

But Xiang Kun quickly ruled out this possibility. Judging from the way the eggshell was broken, traces on the ground, and surrounding smells, no other creatures had destroyed the eggshell from the outside. The eggshell had been pushed open from the inside.

Based on the traces, what had broken free of the eggshell and burrowed away didn’t seem like a bird, but rather a long, multi-legged insect.

People say “Like father, like son”. If the “son” of this bird can’t fly, so be it. But the fact it tunneled into the ground immediately after breaking from the egg… that was really odd.

This was incredibly peculiar.

Moreover, what the hell was going on with a bird hatching a multi-legged larva?

Even if it’s a “mutated creature”, this mutation seemed a bit extreme, right?

Could it have devoured some other special “mutated creature” and obtained this “complete metamorphosis development way”? Will this larva form a chrysalis in the future and transform back into a bird?

No… it’s not reproducing.

Xiang Kun realized something. He pulled out a tungsten steel ball and controlled it to burrow into the hole. When it didn’t reach the end within his control range, he sent in a few “worker ants” he’d brought with him.

He originally planned to put “zero-zero-one” in as well, but after looking at the eggshell, he changed his mind and put both “zero-zero-one” and “zero-zero-two” onto the eggshell instead.

Soon, “zero-zero-one” and “zero-zero-two” cleverly started to quickly gnaw at the inner membrane and fluid of the eggshell pieces. Even after they finished the membrane, they started to forcibly gnaw the shell.

But after a short while, the eggshell fragments began to change quickly. Within a matter of seconds, they all turned into gray powder. The lightest gust of wind swept away the majority of it.

Following his intuition, Xiang Kun judged this egg not to be the “offspring” of the “mutated big bird”, but the bird itself!

It was using this method as a “tail breaking survival strategy”, where its original bird form was the “tail”.

This egg, and the changes thereafter, were its unique abilities to continue its life.

It was unclear whether this ability was acquired from other “mutated creatures”, or was a unique escape method that it adapted to after combining the abilities of other “mutated creatures”.

One could imagine, if this, as Xiang Kun guessed, was a survival strategy, the cost it paid would be extremely high.

Xiang Kun had initially planned to put “zero-zero-one” and “zero-zero-two”, who had “feasted” inside the small hole to chase after the “bird insect”, but he realized that both of them had become immobile, as if they fell into a deep sleep.

Xiang Kun had no choice but to temporarily store them in the small box he carried. He left the tungsten steel ball used for exploration in the hole as a marker.

When “zero-zero-two” was resting, his ability to control the ant squad produced by “zero-zero-two” also decreased significantly. It wasn’t that the ants would lose control, but their understanding of his command would be very low, making precise instructions challenging.

At this moment, Xiang Kun, who had been instinctively on high alert, suddenly noticed the sound from afar. He quickly realized that a swarm of drones was heading this way.

It seemed that the “Flying Mutated Creature” had also noticed the “Mutated Big Bird’s” tactic of injury feigning for survival.

According to Xiang Kun’s understanding of the normal physiological characteristics of mutants, once the egg began to hatch, the caught “Mutated Big Bird” itself would become a severed body or organ, just like its dropped feathers. It wouldn’t be long before it completely lost its vitality and disintegrated into dust.

Xiang Kun began to sprint in the opposite direction, but after running a short distance, he stopped and chose to hide nearby.

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, it could draw the attention of infrared thermographic stuff. Since the other party could pursue an invisible “Mutated Big Bird”, they must have a way to distinguish him in the forest.

Xiang Kun had previously considered a method to fake surface temperature, blending his temperature with the environment to trick infrared thermography. After all, normal infrared thermographic devices should not have a special way of distinguishing “Mutants” like his Infrared thermographic vision mode does.

But at present, he hadn’t yet perfected this method. To experiment here and now, the odds of success were not high.

So even if he didn’t run and just hid somewhere, once the backtracking “Flying Mutated Creature” used drones to conduct wide-ranging searches, it was highly likely he would be found.

Or… should he just have it out here and now?

After closing the gap previously, Xiang Kun, with his superior vision, discovered under minimal light night vision mode that the “Flying Mutated Creature”, like the “Mutated Big Bird”, could also become invisible.

Judging from his previous encounter with the “Mutated Big Bird” at Zi Huan Mountain, the strength of this “Flying Mutated Creature” exceeded that of the “Mutated Big Bird”!

Add to that the visible engine and other equipment attached to the creature, and the extended chain, Xiang Kun’s estimation of the “Flying Mutated Creature’s” strength was incredibly high.

Not to mention that if the opponent belonged to “Divine Technology”, there was a high probability that a significant number of reinforcements could arrive in a short time.

Of course, if he absolutely had to fight, based on the limited information at hand, he still felt his chances of winning were rather high.

Because the weather tonight was equally favorable for him – dark clouds overhead, rain imminent.

In terms of flight, Xiang Kun didn’t fear any creature now. If the enemy relied on machinery or electronic devices, like those drones, then his advantage would be even greater.

In fact, from the moment he discovered the “Mutated Big Bird” and “Flying Mutated Creature”, Xiang Kun had been constantly predicting the potential outcomes of a conflict based on the evolving information. Initially, his prediction involved him against both “Mutated Creatures”.

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

If he could avoid revealing himself, he would avoid revealing himself.

If he could confirm the other party as an enemy, then undoubtedly, even if he wasn’t fully prepared, in a chance encounter he would act preemptively, seize the opportunity, strike with full force, and aim to kill in one blow.

But at present, he couldn’t be sure if the other party was an enemy.

Even if the “Flying Mutated Creature” was likely affiliated with “Divine Technology”, he wasn’t sure what their attitude towards him would be once they learned of his existence, nor what their position would be.

But he couldn’t just jump out to test their position, revealing himself and surrendering the initiative to the other party.

Given his lack of information about the other party, this choice was too risky.

So Xiang Kun quickly came up with a plan:

Scare them away.