I Am Also An Extraordinary Creature
Chapter 35 - 33 A Big Forest Teems with Birds_1

Chapter 35: Chapter 33 A Big Forest Teems with Birds_1

Two days later, in the southern forest, Zheng Yichen rode back here, breathing the fresh air and doing a final check of his items. The belt he was currently using had been made from the tongue of a one-horned mule, processed in such a way that it could be preserved and used for a long time, just like well-prepared cow tendon.

This material was even tougher than cow tendon and would make a hissing sound when swung, because it hadn’t gone through any special processing; the sound had an indiscriminate effect on all who heard it.

It was as if it attached a mental debuff to both sides, but Hunter Arno had mentioned that its practicality wasn’t bad.

As long as Zheng Yichen didn’t use it against people, it was fine. The willpower and mental resilience of animals were often much weaker than those of a real warrior. The ferocity of wild beasts lay in their lack of hesitation when it was time to fight: they either didn’t engage or they killed their target outright.

With this belt able to disrupt the mental state of beasts through its sound, it could make them less ferocious in a deadly fight. Reducing the ferocity of wild beasts, whether causing them to hesitate or to become anxious, was useful for a hunter.

Using it against people... well, that would depend on the mental will of both sides.

As for the processing Arno had mentioned, although he didn’t specify what kind of processing it was, Zheng Yichen could imagine that it was probably something akin to magical enhancements. He had already seen undead creatures; surely magic wouldn’t be out of the ordinary?

Zheng Yichen even wondered if there were any magic-wielding beings in Hazy City, a place full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers.

And what about those research institutes studying the retrieved Skeleton soldiers and Skeleton Mages? They had to have discovered something, right?

When those undead creatures invaded through paranormal phenomena, many of them had launched energy attacks from their skeletal frames.

The protective gear he was using now was a bulletproof set that cost just over three thousand, which he was only able to purchase with his Hunter identity. It had a recorded serial number, unattainable by the general public. Better gear would start at thirty to fifty thousand.

There were even more expensive options in the millions. Some looked almost like what Batman wore, and Zheng Yichen thought they looked pretty cool, but they were beyond his budget.

However, even the gear he currently had wasn’t too shabby. When he faced the one-horned mule, if he had been equipped with it, he might have suffered less damage.

But in the end, it wouldn’t have reduced the damage by much, as most of the injuries he sustained at the time were from impact, getting rammed and smashed into trees by the mule.

The emergency medical supplies were in order, the fishing rod too, and the bait-making materials were all ready. Good.

Having checked his personal belongings, Zheng Yichen walked into the southern forest. He didn’t attract much attention; things were the same as always. Although there were forest rangers in the southern forest, their main duties were to prevent fires, drive away common people attempting to go deep into the forest, and watch for Hunters who fired their weapons randomly.

If it was dealing with extraordinary creatures, then it was beyond the forest rangers’ jurisdiction. Poachers?

Outside of Hazy City, being a poacher was a crime punishable by death, but in the southern forest near Hazy City, who would be a poacher? Just get a Hunter’s license, enter the forest legally in search of prey, wouldn’t that be wonderful? Not only is it legal, but you could also gain reputation—that is, provided you could still come out alive after venturing deep into the southern forest.

"It’s so clean." With a mix of wishful thinking and slight reluctance, Zheng Yichen went to the location where he had previously taken down the one-horned mule, and except for the slowly fading traces of battle, there truly wasn’t anything left.

Turning on the camera hanging on his body, Zheng Yichen took out his phone to check that the camera’s angle was correct and then walked deeper into the forest. It had to be said that with the aid of technology, moving around in the southern forest had become much more convenient.

Some birds hidden in the canopy could be captured on film. The imaging traces of normal birds were quite faint, but for those extraordinary creatures, they were very clear. The body temperature of the extraordinary creatures was significantly higher than that of normal beings.

A flapping sound emerged next to his ear, and Zheng Yichen drew his shotgun and fired in the direction of the sound. It wasn’t a prediction; the camera had caught an extraordinary creature that was a mutated bird attacking him.

The signs of mutation weren’t too severe, and from its external appearance, it should belong to the Corvidae family. The bird’s open mouth contained many tiny ’worms’ writhing around, its talon-like claws were as sharp as blades, and the feathers on its wings had become similar to those tiny wriggling worms.

Anyways, Zheng Yichen did not want to get close to such a thing. A dense shower of small steel pellets covered the area where the bird was swooping, causing the creature to emit a piercing shriek after being hit. The extraordinary creature’s robust physique meant that it didn’t die on the spot from the gunshot, but after all, it was a bird, and its condition post-injury wasn’t good either.

Before it could even hit the ground, a fishing rod pierced through its body. With the presence of the camera, Zheng Yichen had to act more discreetly, and hence didn’t completely cover the fishing rod with the black spear.

He took out his phone and snapped a photo of the peculiar bird, a commonly seen type of extraordinary bird that maintained such a ’complete’ form; this kind of bird was generally found among the Corvidae family.

In the research institute circles, this thing was considered as common as roadside stall goods, the least valuable, and only occasionally could you find something surprising—but only occasionally.

Zheng Yichen was able to make relevant comparisons with his phone mainly because he had downloaded an identification app. This app could be used offline, having both a free and a paid version. He was using the more accurate paid version... after all, you have to be responsible for your own life when you’re out and about, right?

Looking at his phone’s battery life, which was down to less than one bar and the signal that was still skipping about, he had just barely entered deeper into the southern forest. If he walked less than fifty meters forward, his phone signal would be completely gone. At this point, he wouldn’t be able to maintain any contact with the outside world unless he turned back.

"Am I setting a new standard for rookie mistakes?" Zheng Yichen muttered to himself as he walked. After seeing the camera catch noticeably more abnormal red dots, he immediately shut his mouth. Is the difference between the outer and inner areas really that big?

He hadn’t penetrated that far, and yet there were so many extraordinary creatures; what would it be like if he went even deeper? This place where he previously couldn’t gain access to the depths of the forest was great.

Along the way, he also saw some weathered signs hanging from trees, whose contents could still be read clearly. These were directional markers in the southern forest.

They helped prevent Hunters from getting lost. The signs were sparsely distributed, but as long as you found one, you could figure out your bearings and not blindly continue deeper into the depths of the southern forest.

Besides these markers, there were other kinds of directional signs embedded in some trees. These had some camouflage, making them less likely to be damaged by the wild beasts of the forest. The installation of these was also restricted, with fewer the deeper you went into the southern forest. For Zheng Yichen, this was sufficient.

He wouldn’t truly enter those highly dangerous areas. Operating in the regions with these markers was enough for him.