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Chapter 41 – The Hunt

The time was already past two o’clock in the morning.

Xiang Kun didn’t know if the giant owl had the same rapid recovery ability, whether it was resting and licking its wounds somewhere waiting for another chance to hunt him down, or if it had flown far away after resting.

However, finding the owl should be the easiest before dawn.

After all, at this time, the owl’s scent was still present, and Xiang Kun’s physical functions and sense of smell were at their best before dawn.

Moreover, the owl was afraid of humans and dared not move during the day. Xiang Kun also didn’t want the process of his owl hunting exposed to others.

If possible, Xiang Kun even hoped to capture the giant owl alive.

If it did indeed possess strong regeneration abilities, he could regularly take some blood from it, turning it into a long-term “meal ticket”. It was certainly more cost-effective than a one- time deal.

Besides, he also wanted to observe and study the giant owl to see why exactly it had grown so large. Was it a new species, or did it mutate suddenly like himself, and if so, what was the cause of the mutation?

Nevertheless, this was just a fleeting thought. He neither had the equipment nor the ability to capture the owl alive, nor did he have any place to keep or study it. Once he found the owl, an inevitable full-blown fight was imminent.

Having made the decision, Xiang Kun did not immediately go out.

Because there was a very important problem to consider: even if he found the giant owl, how should he capture it?

His short encounter with the owl by the lake only lasted for several seconds; he could almost confirm that, if it were to come down to a ground battle, his strength wouldn’t be inferior to the owl’s. Even barehanded, he could severely injure that owl—he was confident that he had blinded one of the owl’s eyes then. Nevertheless, whether or not it could recover from the injury, and how long the recovery would take, remained unknown.

If he had a tool, even a short knife, a hammer, or a screwdriver, it could greatly enhance his ability and lethality in combat.

But the owl could fly…

That meant that the right to initiate an attack was in the owl’s hands.

During their previous encounter at the lake, the owl had deliberately attacked him, so he was able to pin it on the ground and beat it.

But what if the owl just wanted to flee?

Xiang Kun had considered using a hunting rifle, or an anesthetic gun. But where could he get a crossbow or a compound bow in the middle of the night? Furthermore, without practice and familiarity, he couldn’t guarantee the accuracy. Even traditional arrows, without modification, would not be lethal enough. Even if he could shoot the owl accurately, it might not be enough to incapacitate it and prevent it from flying.

In addition, Xiang Kun had just researched the characteristics of owls and found that they not only possess excellent night vision but also have highly developed senses of smell and hearing. If its senses had strengthened after mutation like his, then it would be even more formidable. Stealth attacks might not be possible at all.

So, Xiang Kun had an idea… maybe…

Should he call the police?

A giant owl this size, capable of hunting down adult huskies, unquestionably represented a considerable threat. Moreover, as a rare species, it needed protection.

Whether it was the police station, the forestry bureau or any other department, they would certainly dispatch more professional staff and equipment to capture it.

Once the Giant Owl was captured, it would certainly be sent to a professional institution for corresponding research and observation. Perhaps the reason for its abnormal size and the factors causing its mutation could be discovered.

However, Xiang Kun quickly abandoned this idea. Firstly, he could hardly convince the police station or any other department about the existence of such a massive owl, getting them to take it seriously. Secondly, even if someone was dispatched, they would unlikely follow his hunting commands. After all, he couldn’t reveal to others that his tracking ability was stronger than a hunting dog. Thirdly, even if the owl was truly captured and indeed had research and conservation value, being the first to discover it didn’t necessarily grant him privilege to the research progress and reports. Furthermore, by that time, he certainly wouldn’t have a chance to get blood from the owl to drink.

Generally speaking, Xiang Kun preferred to plan carefully before taking action, preparing thoroughly and making contingencies. However, when there was no time for preparation, he could be decisive and act immediately.

So, without further deliberation, he grabbed his Swiss Army Knife, flashlight, and a screwdriver before heading out. It was almost dawn.

There wasn’t time to prepare any weapons now. He had a knife at home he had bought specifically to kill rabbits, but against the Giant Owl, the knife might not be more useful than the screwdriver. Moreover, carrying a knife outside could lead to misunderstandings and unnecessary trouble.

At 3:21 in the early morning, Xiang Kun returned to the lakeside where he had previously encountered the Giant Owl.

Xiang Kun found that the feathers the Giant Owl had dropped during their fight were no longer visible.

Generally, seeing this, one would think that someone must have been here and picked up those feathers, or the wind had blown them away.

But before Xiang Kun left, he had put a few feathers in his pocket. When he got home, he couldn’t find them.

At that time, he thought maybe he had lost them when he dived into the lake. But now, seeing all the feathers by the lake disappeared, he thought of the experiment he had done on himself – he had cut a piece of flesh the size of a grain of rice from his little finger. Not long after his wound healed, that piece of flesh had turned into powder.

Perhaps these feathers, like the piece of flesh from his little finger, turned into powder and dissipated in the air after they left their body?

Xiang Kun began to track the Giant Owl by the scent it left. Although their fight only lasted for a few seconds, both parties were severely wounded and had lost a lot of blood, leaving a significant amount of scent residue.

Due to its injuries, the owl couldn’t fly at a high speed at that time.

The wind could cause some fluctuations in the direction of the scent in the air, but Xiang Kun wasn’t just relying on scent tracking. He figured that given the owl’s behavior, even in the night, it wouldn’t likely fly towards densely populated areas. It would certainly head towards areas with more mountains, more trees, fewer buildings, and more desolation.

An hour later, Xiang Kun sniffed a leaf deeply, then looked up at a bush on the hillside tens of meters away. Even though from this angle he could only see a shadow of the trees, he knew, the owl was there.

The place where he was standing was where he had found the dead mouse before.

He didn’t think that this place had the Giant Owl’s temporary nest, because he had previously carefully searched this small hill and found no scent residue of the owl. Even the dead mouse should have been dropped from the sky. The owl had never come in.

As for why it ran here now, it was probably because this solitary hill was the most suitable place for it to hide and recover in the vicinity.

Xiang Kun clutched the screwdriver in his hand and slowly walked towards it.

When Xiang Kun emerged from behind a tree and looked at the Giant Owl standing on a huge rock, the owl was also staring at him with its large eyes.

Clearly, when Xiang Kun located the owl, it had also perceived his approach.

Xiang Kun did not rush forward, because he observed under the moonlight that the injured area of the owl’s head and the blinded eye had mostly healed.

Obviously, although its recovery speed wasn’t as fast as Xiang Kun’s, it was also far beyond other animals.

The owl kept staring at Xiang Kun. Its huge body shifted slightly with his movement, maintaining a front-facing posture. Its wings were in a half-open state, ready to take off at any time – Its position was not covered by branches overhead, so it could fly away directly..