Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 33 - 33 33 Flying in the Sky Encounter with Thieves_1

33: Chapter 33 Flying in the Sky, Encounter with Thieves_1 33: Chapter 33 Flying in the Sky, Encounter with Thieves_1 The moonlight bathed the river, making the gently flowing water crystal clear.

With the changing weather, the outside wilderness grew eerier at night.

The wind on the river beach was somewhat strong, but it couldn’t put out the burning enthusiasm in Yan Fei’s heart.

He leaped high and flapped his wings vigorously; however, after a few swings, missing a balance, he tilted and descended.

Again, he mustered his strength, flapped his wings once, twice…

After several attempts, although he didn’t get too far from the ground, Yan Fei was exhilarated; he had flown over the river, almost plunging into it.

A gust of wind suddenly blew across, seeming instinctual, his wings took advantage of the wind, and amidst the moonlight, the dark wings flapped powerfully, lifted, and once again flew into the air.

The river below suddenly seemed to turn into a small gutter, as if everything had shrunk manifold.

However, Yan Fei had no time to ponder over it.

He dared not to overdo flapping his wings but just slowly tried to fly in the air, carried by the wind just like before over the surface of the river.

Although the wind in the high skies was not as strong as on the river beach, it began to grow stronger as he ascended.

Yan Fei had to gradually reduce his altitude, relying solely on the power of his wings to glide across the sky as slowly as possible.

Luckily, tonight’s moon was just a slim crescent.

The moonlight was dim enough to overshadow his giant pterosaur, alleviating his fear of being seen during flight.

Flying from the South River beach to the West River, he carefully turned around, flying along the river course.

This direction guaranteed that he would not fly into a village and risk being spotted.

Flying high and low, fast and slow, in no time, he arrived at the river beach where he had once scared people while picking up a gun.

This place was truly spacious, allowing his pterosaur self to attempt landing.

The landing was somewhat rough for the pterosaur, its wings appearing like the wings of a demon.

Nonetheless, the vastness of the area allowed him ample room for attempts.

Unbeknownst to Yan Fei, there were two people on the river beach in the distance, trembling on the edge of a mound of earth.

The faint-hearted one looked close to fainting.

“…

Fourth…

Brother…

I told you…

not to come hunting rabbits, you…

insisted.

We’ve only been here two days…

and we’re about…

to get eaten…” The intermittent trembling voice spoke obvious of the person’s approaching breakdown.

“…

Shut up…

don’t speak…

if we get out of this alive…

I’ll listen…

to you…

we won’t come back…” Although ‘Fourth Brother’ was trying hard to calm down, his tone of fear and despair was impossible to hide.

In their terrified daze, the monster seemed injured.

It almost tripped while landing.

However, the enormous body surrounded by the swirling sand still demonstrated an intimidating presence.

Fortunately, the beast was not in search of food.

It merely stumbled a few steps on the beach, then let out a soft screech before taking off into the sky once again.

It was indeed injured, even its flight was unsteady and shaking, but the two people remained motionless.

As the beast flew higher and higher, they still did not move.

A voice rang out in the river breeze.

“Fourth Brother…

the beast didn’t eat us…” A voice filled with immense relief.

“It probably rushed off to find a place to heal.

Xiao Liu, let’s go…”

“Okay.”

…

The two people didn’t move for a long time.

“Fourth Brother…

why aren’t you moving…

I’ve no strength…

help me up…”

“I can’t get up either…”

…

After a brief stint in the air, everything seemed easier.

Yan Fei flapped his wings effortlessly, flew a bit before landing, and then took flight again.

After a few attempts, he confirmed that he truly could fly.

Flapping his wings, he flew over the river, gently landed near the village walls, in a field, amidst a pile of dead grass.

His landing still caused a rustling sound and was far from the poetic grace of the island pterosaurs gently landing like feathers.

Transforming into a Compsognathus, I raced towards the village.

As I ran, I couldn’t help feeling smug: the power of the Seventy-two Changes is incredible.

Though I can’t transform my clothes, the dust and dirt on me doesn’t transform with me.

Once I transform everything is gone—it’s cleaner than bathing.

With incremental progress every day, I’ve been getting closer to my goal, especially during the last few nights when I’ve been feeling as though I’m about to take flight.

Finally, my dream is realized—running as a Compsognathus feels like leaping.

I arrived at the edge of the town, dashed home along the small road, causing a few stray dogs wandering about to break into frantic barking.

Each night is a hard time for the poor island-dwelling Compsognathus.

My appetite has remained enormous—obviously, transforming into a pterosaur guzzles a heck lot more energy than transforming into a Compsognathus.

The more I eat, the more the accompanying vegetables I need.

I sowed some more vegetable seeds around the area I sowed last time.

Seeds are freebies—there’s a ton of them lying around if you search.

Sow them, and you can eat whatever grows.

Nothing sprouts?

No biggie.

The seeds have now sprouted.

While stewing meat, I dashed into the forest and transformed into a pterosaur, circling around and making strange calls.

Island pterosaurs started streaming in sporadically after a while, screeching at me.

But the lush forest is my talisman—they’re all bark and no bite.

Feeling that the fire needed more fuel, I transformed back to add wood, then turned back into a pterosaur and returned to the forest to call out.

These activities often continued, on one hand, to get familiar with the pterosaur body during my free time, and on the other, to try to get these island pterosaurs used to my presence.

This way, I’d get a chance to fly out of the island and explore the nearby islands in the future.

The results are already apparent—upon hearing my calls, the island pterosaurs aren’t so eager to leave their nests and attack me anymore.

I dare not even think about the possibility of besting the island pterosaurs in flight techniques.

I regret turning into such a large pterosaur in one go.

It has caused me to eat a lot more than I used to, yet not enough to be practical—the locals on the island already despise me, and I have to guard against being seen when I am out.

The chances of a pterosaur the size of a small plane being spotted are too high.

But at this moment, I can’t find a smaller pterosaur.

The island pterosaurs are, in fact, still too big for my liking.

I hope to find one about the size of a hawk.

I continue to sleep in class during the day and slowly try to fly higher at night.

The world beneath me is gradually shrinking, and consequently, the radius of my hunting grounds has increased significantly.

The area I’m in right now is called Heap hillock.

According to a local saying in Sancha River town ‘Heap hillock, Huangtuwa, Nine Hills and Eighteen Hollows have nothing but bandits.’

There’s a reason this place is known as Nine Hills and Eighteen Hollows.

If one were to walk from one hill to the next, the round trip is several miles.

Water scarcity is another issue here.

Although people were granted large patches of land during land reforms, this place is still the poorest area around the Sancha River township.

Such a place serves as an excellent hunting ground for me.

There are very few people and vast land.

Between the high hills and low hollows, there are wild rabbits hopping around, and once, I even caught a wild chicken in a small forest.

Checking the time inside a cave, I realized it was getting late.

I needed to hurry home, hence, I flew straight to East Bridge.

As I was preparing to land, I discovered someone on the bridge.

How could this be, this late into the night?

Two people walking two oxen on the bridge, what’s the deal?

They’re interfering with me!

Just as I was about to fly off and land somewhere else with no people, I paused—is this cattle theft?

If there were individuals who left a deep impression on me, it would be cattle thieves.

When I was a child, my grandfather would scare me by saying if I were to be discovered going to the island, I’d be beaten up like a cattle thief.

That was the first time I saw a man beaten to death in real life, which gave me nightmares for days.

They say when you brave a night road often enough you’re bound to encounter a ghost.

But for someone like me, it’s a blessing in disguise to have stumbled upon a few thieves instead of ghosts—since I was not adept at flying earlier and my night vision wasn’t great, even if I saw a human, I probably wouldn’t have paid it much attention.

These thieves weren’t quite so lucky, because they happened to assemble at the place where I intended to land.

After circling once, I discovered that there were more cattle thieves.

A bit further ahead, near the gate in the wall, there was a large three-wheeled agricultural vehicle, with a man watching the east side.

Now that I’ve discovered it, should I meddle or let it pass?

Actually, the question didn’t exist—I had to intervene!

To the rural folks now, an ox is like the embodiment of a family’s hope; families have been known to contemplate suicide after losing one.

Living not far from the local veterinarian station, I’ve seen families who’ve lost their cattle due to accidents and the ensuing tears were heart-wrenching.

So, if I were to see cattle thieves without stepping in—that would be a curse!