Infinite Hunter

"You also need to change your clothes. Fortunately, the hunting jackets in the exchange list are very cheap. Pair them with a hard helmet - you can't wear shorts in the tropical jungle unless you are willing to become food for mosquitoes and leeches. Then a pair of tropical boots will do it." Based on his experience of hunting a brown bear last time, Cheng Yijiu exchanged similar things on the computer - after all, the times of these two hunts were actually very close.

A canvas backpack, filled with chewing tobacco—though he didn't smoke, it was useful for building relationships. Spare ammunition, some dry food, and a change of clothes. An aluminum water bottle, insect repellent, and anti-itching mint ointment—the latter of which was rarely used because it would alert prey. With everything ready, Cheng Yijiu began to check his weapons.

The weapon he held wasn't particularly impressive, at least not considered a "future weapon" in that era. The ammunition it fired was the seemingly unremarkable .0.30-06—just a different propellant. Cheng Yijiu was more concerned about whether to bring his revolver, as the python's appearance was somewhat different from revolvers of that era. But if he didn't bring it... Cheng Yijiu was genuinely worried about being killed by the tiger.

However, if the situation really came to that, having a revolver wouldn't seem to matter much—because with the tiger's speed, if it really started to pounce, it might not be able to aim and fire in time. After careful consideration, Cheng Yijiu gave up carrying a revolver and just brought his Winchester, which was already the most advanced weapon at the time. Cheng Yijiu brought two boxes of bullets, which should be enough.

He put on the clothes he had exchanged for in the living room. Putting on a khaki jacket and trousers, and a hard helmet, he looked like a European adventurer hunter from the early 20th century—except he was Asian. Cheng Yijiu put on his bag and pushed open the door.

What unfolded before him was a tropical jungle and a waterside village. Though the villagers were a bit dark-skinned, they were clearly descended from the Third Brother. They were very respectful of Cheng Yijiu's arrival—because he was white, and judging by his clothes, attire, and weaponry, he looked like a Western adventurer. Soon, Cheng Yijiu made contact with a British officer in the local Turkish army. His fluent London accent—the effect of the translator—and his attire and demeanor confirmed Cheng Yijiu's identity as he claimed—a high-ranking official in Southeast Asia.

Cheng Yijiu had a thick stack of British pounds in his wallet, enough for him to live a life of luxury in South Asia for several years. After all, servants and houses were very cheap in the colonies. He soon borrowed a house from a local British and even a few servants - with the help of money.

Hunting in Africa or India is a trend these days, so Cheng Yijiu's arrival did not cause any surprise among the local British officers and locals. There are also many tigers and leopards in India these days, and many people come to hunt tigers.

Chapter 25 Village

Cheng Yijiu knew that the man-eating tigress in Champawat was probably the most prolific man-eating tiger in human history, and perhaps his most dangerous opponent yet. This tiger was accustomed to hunting humans and was far superior to the "amateur" Japanese brown bear. The mere thought of tracking a feline in the tropical jungle made Cheng Yijiu feel completely unmotivated.

He recalled the biography he had read about the British hunter who had killed the man-eating tiger. The tiger had a large area of ​​activity and was quite cunning... The tigress started eating humans because her upper and lower canine teeth on the right side were damaged and she could no longer hunt prey. Once a tiger learns to eat humans, it will attack during the day - because humans also move around during the day, and a man-eating tiger will not be afraid of humans.

So he had to move during the day to see if he could catch this man-eating tiger eating people. It was really sad to say that in order to hunt this man-eating tiger, he could only find out where she was after she killed someone. As a man with relatively white skin, fluent English, and money in his pocket, his clothes and weapons proved that he was a wealthy upper-class person who could talk to the British. In India at that time, Cheng Yijiu was a master.

He wandered around the village, feeling rather unaccustomed to the backwardness of the place. Later that evening, the local tax officer came to Cheng Yijiu and said, "A tiger attacked a woman in Chabawa Village." Cheng Yijiu asked, "Can you find me a guide? I'd like to go over there and take a look." He then pulled out a five-pound note. The local tax officer helped him find a third brother.

The man's age was indistinguishable, as all the other third brothers were. Thin and dark, he stood before Cheng Yijiu, a machete in hand, and quickly knelt to salute him. "Master, I'll take you to Chabawa." His English was heavily accented, making it difficult for Cheng Yijiu to understand. The road to Chabawa was twenty-seven miles, perhaps taking two days. If they encountered a man-eating tiger on the road at night, both of them would likely be killed...

However, it was said that this tiger almost always attacked women and children, rarely adult men. And after all, Cheng Yijiu's weapon was no pushover—although his current weapon was a breech-loading rifle, it was still propelled by black powder, which was completely incomparable to Cheng Yijiu's weapon. The man looked frightened, but he was even more afraid of the British tax collector, so he obediently took Cheng Yijiu on the road.

"Have you seen that tiger?" Cheng Yijiu asked as they walked. The road they were walking on was relatively wide, and with farmland on both sides, there was no need to worry about a tiger lurking and attacking them suddenly. The Indian man seemed to like the master asking him this question, so he began to talk non-stop. This was consistent with Cheng Yijiu's impression of Indians.

"Yes, sir, I've seen it..." The accent was very thick, but this was a rare Indian who could communicate with Cheng Yijiu. The villagers mostly spoke their local dialect or some Hindi, of course, mixed with English. Cheng Yijiu then heard a complete mythological story. Basically, this man-eating beast was already regarded as a god, a demon, or some other strange thing.

This tiger attacked people quite frequently and with remarkable boldness—it even dared to walk into a village in broad daylight, attack those who hid, and drag them away to eat. This man had witnessed the tiger attack his companions. The story began about six months earlier. The men had gone into the woods to gather leaves and branches, armed with weapons and constantly singing and shouting to scare away any man-eating beasts that might approach them.

It turns out that this should work for ordinary tigers and leopards, but it has basically no effect on a real man-eating tiger. It's more like it attracted the man-eating tiger's attention, letting her know that there is fresh human flesh to eat... Yes, she is not afraid of humans at all. Although she is very wary of humans, she is really not afraid of them at all.

Cheng Yijiu figured the tiger had likely been drawn to them, had followed them through the woods for a while, and, after deciding they were useless, had attacked. The man had said that everyone had run away after they spotted the tiger. "Sir, that's a huge, huge tiger. And...it's a god." Well, gods are everywhere in India, and tigers have long been considered forest spirits.

Anyway, the tiger just showed up so brazenly, and the gang fled quickly, but one man couldn't escape. The tiger grabbed him and dragged him away. They never saw their companion again, and could only comfort his widow and children. "You mean the tiger just showed up like that instead of ambushing?" Cheng Yijiu asked casually. "Well, never mind. Pay attention, we're going into the forest, so keep some distance."

"Hmm? Sir?" The man looked at Cheng Yijiu with a stupid look on his face. "At least this way I'll have time to shoot when the tiger attacks you, and you'll have time to run when the tiger drags me away." Cheng Yijiu's words made the man unsure whether it was a joke or the truth, but Cheng Yijiu was actually joking. Be careful when walking in the jungle, be very careful. Although Cheng Yijiu hunted down Sanmaobie, the man-eating brown bear, he was still just a novice in the real tropical jungle.

Tigers are excellent stealth fighters, moving silently in the tropical jungle. If they don't want you to see them, you'll only see them when they pounce. Cheng Yijiu's experience wasn't enough to tell him where to focus and where to pass without worry, so his movements fluctuated between carelessness and caution. Overall, though, they were lucky; they didn't encounter any big cats during their journey through the jungle.

Then, we descended into the river valley. The terrain here was very complex, sometimes rising and falling thousands of feet in elevation within a mile or two. However, following the river valley was always a more convenient route. Cheng Yijiu looked at the terrain in the valley and swallowed his saliva. It was full of large rocks and dense bushes and grass. A small path meandered along the river. To be honest, there were too many ambush points here...

A tiger could be lying anywhere, and none could be seen from the angle of the valley. The village that was attacked was twenty-seven miles away, and it was hard to say whether the tiger would move here - but if it ate a human being, it should not be hungry in a day.

Chapter 26 Traces

In short, the forest finally taught the two men a lesson. A leopard suddenly passed between them. Before Cheng Yijiu could raise his rifle, it disappeared diagonally above the river valley. At its closest point, the leopard was no more than two meters away from Cheng Yijiu, and only a little over a meter away from the Indian guide. Cheng Yijiu was sure he could smell the leopard's scent, and the animal seemed to be dismissing them.

Cheng Yijiu couldn't possibly shoot, because the only result would be to kill his own guide. If a leopard could pass through them without them even noticing, then a tiger could do the same. With the tiger's attack power, it would probably drag one of them into the jungle before they could react.

For the first time, Cheng Yijiu's hair on his back stood up from the soles of his feet. He felt as if he were immersed in ice water, and a cold sweat broke out. He could clearly recall the leopard's face, and even remembered the markings on its body very clearly—even though it was only a few seconds. He remembered the twisted figure-8 pattern on the leopard's legs...

Neither of them was in the mood to talk anymore. They were both wary and cautious as they trudged through the valley. They couldn't reach Chabawa Village in a day; they would have to spend the night in the wild. "Isn't there a forest ranger's hut here?" Cheng Yijiu asked. The third brother replied that there really wasn't, though he might have one, but he didn't know where it was. Spending the night on the ground would undoubtedly result in a tragic death, so they had to find shelter in the trees.

Tigers are usually too lazy to climb trees to catch their prey, preferring to wait on the ground for their prey to descend from the tree. Leopards are willing to climb trees, but in most cases they are afraid of humans and are reluctant to attack humans from trees.

Later that day, after smearing himself with a herbal juice the locals used to repel mosquitoes, Cheng Yijiu took out his rope and began climbing a tree. Using a noose, he quickly climbed to a height of more than ten meters above the ground. He then found a thick branch to sit on, tied himself to the trunk with a rope, and dozed off with his rifle in his arms. The Indian guides did the same thing; their dinner consisted of dry food—the difference being that Cheng Yijiu ate compressed biscuits and water, while the Indian guides ate bread.

Honestly, I slept with trepidation that night. There were always some noisy creatures wandering around—from bears to wild boars and even deer, and of course, those nocturnal birds made strange noises. Cheng Yijiu was drowsy the whole time, feeling like he was asleep but not quite, either. It felt like he was destined for a rough next day. But ultimately, nothing attacked him in the night.

The next day, around five in the morning, he woke up—he was clearly sleepy, but he couldn't fall back asleep. Cheng Yijiu felt his scent wasn't much better than a tiger's. After taking care of his own needs, the two of them continued on their way. The road would climb up a valley and continue along a field. Fortunately, they didn't see any more leopards or tigers until they reached Chabawa Village.

The villagers gathered around to see the master who had come to hunt the man-eating tiger. Thanks to the abundant nutrition he'd received and the diverse geographical conditions of the vast land, Cheng Yijiu looked no worse than the Englishman—his skin was probably even whiter than the average Englishman, and he was taller, with a straight nose, thanks to his northern origins. In short, he had no problem impersonating the master. The village tax collector was also there, so Cheng Yijiu asked about the man-eating tiger.

"Really? She's so unlucky." Cheng Yijiu's sigh resonated with the villagers. That woman was indeed unlucky. She was working in the fields when she was unexpectedly pounced upon by a tiger. Some villagers had seen the tiger creeping forward and shouted warnings, but the woman probably didn't hear them in time—even if she had, it would have been too late. When the villagers saw the tiger, it was only about ten meters away from her.

Then, as everyone watched the tiger pounce on the people, they scattered and fled. When people gathered with weapons to investigate, they found only traces of blood. The Indians, armed with knives, didn't dare pursue them, so the entire village remained in hiding until now. As a result, the deer ate much of the rice fields, and the entire village became quite filthy. Cheng Yijiu, carrying a rifle, arrived at the site where the woman had been attacked.

Two days had passed, and the blood had begun to turn black, with flies swarming over it. "The bleeding wasn't significant... These are the marks of a woman's final struggle, right? And these are tiger footprints." Cheng Yijiu squatted beside the tiger's footprints and gestured. The soil was relatively soft, so the footprints were clear. Cheng Yijiu remembered this one—the toes were spread wide, and there was a horizontal mark on the pad.

"This tiger is quite old." Based on the notes he'd read, Cheng Yijiu remembered that the older a tiger gets, the wider its claws open, likely due to the tendons starting to loosen. Similarly, the older the tiger, the lighter its fur. However, judging by the few furs found here was difficult—inexperience was lacking. Cheng Yijiu began tracking, following the slight drag marks and claw prints left by the tiger after it had grabbed the person.

Tigers don't drag their prey; they carry it in their mouths, so the hands and feet of the person being held will occasionally leave traces on the ground, and the most obvious ones are the tiger's footprints. Because the villagers were timid, the scene was not disturbed. Now that Cheng Yijiu was tracking the tiger's footprints, the villagers quickly followed. Cheng Yijiu was inexperienced. Although he had read many notes and materials on tracking footprints, he was very poor at the actual operation.

He slowly followed the footprints, striving to improve his technique. Luckily, with the villagers' help, he was able to do just fine. The woman's remains were found about seventy yards (over sixty meters) away. Besides her blood-stained, tattered clothes, only bones remained. The man-eating tiger had devoured her completely, even crushing her skull. Some cried loudly, but many more brought out cloths and stretchers, wrapping the woman's remains and preparing to bring them back to the village for cremation. They believed this would allow her to rest in peace and reach the next life.

Cheng Yijiu felt like pulling out a cigarette—two days was more than enough time for the remains to rot. Crucially, he couldn't find any new footprints. He didn't know where the tiger had gone after devouring the poor woman. He repeatedly widened his search area but couldn't find any new tracks—the tiger must have stepped on hard soil and moved away. "Damn it!" he cursed.

Maybe using bait is a solution...

Chapter 27 Failure

When hunting big cats, baiting is a good strategy. In South Asia, this is often done with a young buffalo, tied to a spot that looks like a tiger might be around. A hunting platform is then set up—for safety's sake, then you wait. Using beef alone won't work, as tigers rarely eat carrion.

"The question is, could this tiger be the same one that ate people?" Cheng Yijiu scratched his hair, but he still had to give it a try. This village was relatively poor, and families with young buffaloes were reluctant to sell them to Cheng Yijiu, so he had to ask the villagers to contact another village and send a young buffalo over, for which he paid an extra two shillings.

The buffalo was tied to the hard ground not far from where the deceased was found. Cheng Yijiu climbed up a tree with his gun in hand. There was a small platform made of wooden planks there, large enough for one person to sit. He curled up on the platform and waited. From his vantage point, he could clearly see the buffalo about fifty meters away. No matter where the tiger appeared to attack the buffalo, he would be able to spot it immediately.

Yet, a night passed, and the little buffalo leisurely grazed, seemingly unremarkable. The buffalo's reaction would have given Cheng Yijiu a heads-up, but it seemed the tiger hadn't arrived. Not only the man-eating tiger, but the other tigers hadn't appeared either. This wasn't surprising; it was likely that this area belonged to the man-eating tiger's territory. Cheng Yijiu waited for another half day before the villagers cautiously called him down.

"Sir, in Dabali, that tiger has dragged off another woman." This news was not good. This man-eating tiger has a wide range of activity and uses a different hunting strategy than other tigers. Cheng Yijiu didn't continue to Dabali, wanting to see if the tiger would return. He was disappointed—because the tiger had dragged off three people in Dabali within a week.

A man and two women perished at the hands of this tiger, according to accurate information relayed by the local tax collector. One of the women wasn't eaten; the tiger simply drank nearly all of her blood before abandoning her body in the woods. The man and the other woman were devoured. "What the hell! Are there multiple man-eating tigers here?" Cheng Yijiu was a little discouraged. So far, he hadn't even seen a single tiger. And the hunting trip had already lasted the longest time ever.

The local tax commissioner was a mixed-race man, half British, having studied in England before taking up a civil service position in India. Yet, he surprisingly got along quite well with Cheng Yijiu. "Oh, my friend. There has always been only one man-eating tiger here—the man-eating tiger of Champawat. As far as I know, there's no other such ferocious beast." Cheng Yijiu sipped his tea. "Is that so... How many people has this tiger eaten?"

The two were having afternoon tea, and the tax commissioner recalled, "There's no exact number, but if you include Nepal, there might be 400 people." Cheng Yijiu took a small biscuit and said, "What a fine craftsmanship." He expressed his admiration, and the other party accepted his compliment with a smile, "This beast is probably the tiger that has eaten the most people in history, right?"

"We don't have ancient data, but if you calculate it—yes, it is indeed the beast that eats the most people now."

This kind of conversation can only be said to be nonsense. In fact, Cheng Yijiu has no way to deal with this tiger.

The buffalo was killed the next day. Cheng Yijiu swore he hadn't let his attention down the entire time—maybe just for two or three minutes, a brief nap... and then the buffalo disappeared. He grabbed his rifle and tried to climb down, but luckily he pulled back in time. "If the tiger is still there, I might alarm it if I go down like this... But I still have to go down!"

He held the rifle in his right hand, pointed it in the direction the bull had been, and then used his other hand and two legs to crawl down the tree. Until he fell to the ground, the tiger did not appear, and he quickly approached the place where the bull was tied with his rifle.

The rope had broken, leaving a little blood on the ground, and the grass had fallen. "This amount of bleeding... this is from a seasoned hunter," Cheng Yijiu muttered. Some of the grass had broken, while others had grown back. It was estimated that the tiger had dragged the bull away for five minutes. Cheng Yijiu straightened up and considered whether to follow the trail. "It's very dangerous, very dangerous. The tiger would probably kill the bull and abandon it, then rest somewhere else before returning to eat it."

This meant that Cheng Yijiu was very likely to encounter a resting tiger during the pursuit, or even be attacked by one. At this moment, a footprint on the ground caught Cheng Yijiu's attention. "It's not the tiger that dragged the man away..." He carefully identified the footprint. This one was slightly larger than the tiger's footprint that dragged the man away, and the pattern on the toe print was different - at least that's what Cheng Yijiu thought.

This should be a male tiger, and this male tiger dragged away the bull. Cheng Yijiu walked away backwards, gathering the villagers before continuing into the jungle. They found the bull that had been eaten by one-third. The tiger had carried the bull for more than sixty yards before finally eating part of it. Cheng Yijiu also discovered something else. There were several footprints of the tiger, and it was obvious that one footprint and the trace of a possible lying down were not far from the roadside.

"It's about fifteen yards from where the buffalo is tied. This tiger is probably lying there watching me." Thinking of this, Cheng Yijiu swallowed his saliva. However, even so close, he didn't see the tiger. The villagers took the remaining cattle back, and Cheng Yijiu stood where the cattle were tied, staring blankly at the jungle in front of him. "Should we go to Dabali?" Cheng Yijiu was also pondering this question until he saw an animal leisurely passing in front of him.

It was a large black snake, and Cheng Yijiu recognized it the moment he saw it. "This isn't an anaconda, it's a king cobra. There's no way a king cobra could be this big!" It was at least twelve feet long, almost as big as a full-grown python. The giant snake leisurely crossed the road, and Cheng Yijiu had no intention of killing it. He simply stared at the snake and made up his mind, "Head to Dabali!"

This time, there was no guide. Even the tax commissioner said he couldn't recruit a guide brave enough to take him there. All he could do was give Cheng Yijiu a map and the detailed route and let him go on his own. But before doing so, the commissioner advised Cheng Yijiu not to do this, "No, I don't want to lose you, my friend. This is a reckless move!"

Chapter 28 Punishment

Cheng Yijiu reconsidered the matter and ultimately gave up on heading to Dabali. Without a guide and accompanying personnel, he simply couldn't make it alone. It was too dangerous. And the facts proved this point. No more man-eating incidents occurred in Dabali over the next few days. The tiger seemed to have disappeared, having moved to a new hunting area. For the next two weeks, there were no reports of the man-eating tiger attacking anyone again.

One day, after Cheng Yijiu got up from the room he was staying in, he found a door in front of him. Cheng Yijiu sighed, pushed open the door and disappeared from this world.

The door closed behind him, and the computer's voice rang out, "Time's up, hunting adventure failed. Next time, you'll enter the punishment plot." This strange house can travel through time and space, and this is Cheng Yijiu's first failed adventure. He has no idea what the consequences will be. "Since it's a punishment plot, perhaps there's still a way out," Cheng Yijiu could only console himself with this.

He put down his gun and went upstairs to clean himself up. Returning to his computer, he discovered that all redemption items had been locked. When he tried to find out what the punishment was, he saw a detailed explanation. It seemed this house had some compassion, and wasn't blindly killing everyone. They'd left him some room to escape.

"Transform into a beast to be hunted, and survive until the door opens again to complete the punishment plot?" Cheng Yijiu sighed. This was a difficult situation. The hunter coming to hunt would most likely not be a novice like him. If he wasn't careful, he would die as a beast in this adventure. And according to the instructions above, the punishment plot would begin as soon as he pushed open the door.

Cheng Yijiu was an adult, having experienced the world for several years. After studying abroad in the United States, he had also lived alone, and he was well-equipped to withstand the blows life had thrown at him. Cheng Yijiu approached the long table, ordered a set meal, and ate a hearty meal. As for the wine, he chose not to drink. Before opening the door, he returned to his room for a good night's sleep. Judging from the window, he woke up around eight or nine in the morning.

After a hearty breakfast and a large glass of milk, Cheng Yijiu lit his pipe. After arriving in the United States, he preferred pipes and cigars, having lost interest in cigarettes. After a hearty smoke, Cheng Yijiu patted his cheek and said, "Don't worry. You're a hunter, too. You should understand their behavior. Besides, they're beasts that retain human consciousness and intelligence. Perhaps I can still gain the upper hand."

He pushed open the door, and as soon as he stepped out, Cheng Yijiu lost consciousness.

When he regained consciousness, Cheng Yijiu almost immediately understood what kind of beast he had become—black stripes on nearly red fur. He clamped his hind legs and felt the presence of eggs. This was exactly the target he had faced on that failed hunt—a healthy, strong Bengal tiger in its prime. Cheng Yijiu licked the fur on his forearm. This male Bengal tiger's forearm was very well-developed, clearly a weapon used to hunt Indian bison.

After rising from the grass, Cheng Yijiu licked his teeth. This male tiger was in the best and strongest phase of his life, without any injuries that would hinder hunting. His claws and teeth were in peak health. His fur was shiny and glossy. Cheng Yijiu also had a better idea of ​​his own size. "Perhaps..." His thoughts were a little disjointed, especially when it came to language. He felt as if each word slipped through his mind.

This is an interesting point. Human intelligence comes from the human brain, but when human intelligence is combined with the tiger's brain, there might be some problems with language. The problem is not just language, but perhaps other aspects of human intelligence will also be mutated - in addition to physical coordination, vision, hearing, smell, and dynamic control, which should be better than humans.

This male Bengal tiger was truly enormous, likely no smaller than a full-grown Siberian tiger, measuring over three meters from nose to tail. Cheng Yijiu knew that with his condition, he would undoubtedly be a prime target for hunters. However, there was a question: what era was this? If it were after the 1990s, hunting a Bengal tiger like this would likely be illegal.

Cheng Yijiu raised his head and sniffed the air. "The smell of people..." It was the smell of onions, the daily food of the people in the Bengal tiger's range. Following the scent, Cheng Yijiu moved forward cautiously. The dense vegetation of South Asia made the tiger's movement almost invisible. Soon, Cheng Yijiu saw humans, but it was still difficult to tell the era - you have to know that the cities and rural areas in this country are completely different. Even in the 21st century, the Indian countryside often looks the same as in the 19th century.

The massive tiger crouched in the grass, looking up at the village before it. It was a place of mud and thatched houses, with thin, dark figures milling about, some working in the fields. Cheng Yijiu couldn't find any traces of an electrified civilization—which was perfectly normal, considering that many rural areas in 21st-century India still lacked electricity. Cheng Yijiu's final judgment of the village's age was based on the clothing of the men riding horses down the road from the village entrance.

He was a mixed-race man, and his attire was familiar to Cheng Yijiu—he had worn something similar not long ago, so the era was obvious—it was roughly the early 20th century, the most glorious period of the British Empire before World War I. "Survive?" Cheng Yijiu felt a little threatened—this was a time when hunting was very popular, and he himself had just had a failed hunt.

This was a time when Europe's upper classes, accompanied by large numbers of servants, engaged in various hunting activities in Africa and around the world. There was no animal protection in this era, but hunting dangerous and exotic creatures was the most exciting thing. Cheng Yijiu confirmed this and quietly retreated from the village.

Soon, the tiger was hungry. Cheng Yijiu had no experience hunting tigers, and his ability to hide was likely subpar against a real tiger. And the ups and downs of the wind were sometimes inadvertently misplaced, which meant his hunting success rate was a disaster. The choice was simple: "Go to the village and look for prey." In a sense, the tiger brain had altered Cheng Yijiu's human intelligence and some of his perspectives.

He didn't want to become a man-eating tiger, but the cows, sheep, and chickens in the village were definitely ten thousand times easier to hunt than the deer, bison, and wild boars in the jungle... What he had to overcome was the fear of humans - fortunately, Cheng Yijiu was different from wild tigers from the beginning and didn't have such a fear.

Chapter 29 Walking Alone

A lack of fear of humans is a fundamental characteristic of a man-eating tiger. A healthy and strong tiger wouldn't become a man-eating tiger—unless it was raised by a man-eating tigress. Cheng Yijiu, the tiger, was now gradually approaching the village under cover of darkness. His lack of fear of humans didn't mean he wasn't careful. He carefully observed the village. After nightfall, the villagers all hid in their houses, and there were no people on the roads.

The hunter moved silently through the darkness. Cheng Yijiu's target was sheep—he wasn't confident about hunting buffalo yet, so he decided to start with sheep. The villagers' corrals posed no threat to him, even though they were well fenced with thick logs. But Cheng Yijiu easily pried open the latch with his claws—something a tiger wouldn't be able to do. He then proceeded to kill two sheep and take them away...

While eating raw meat, Cheng Yijiu found that his mind was cut off, as if he was in a state of half-sleep and half-wakefulness. When he woke up, the tiger had already eaten most of the two sheep and filled its stomach. Therefore, Cheng Yijiu had no feeling at all about the taste and the series of actions when eating the sheep. This should be considered a good thing, at least it didn't make Cheng Yijiu feel nauseous.

It would definitely be disgusting because the sheep's internal organs are the first to be eaten.

Cheng Yijiu left the remaining sheep and began to try hard to memorize the terrain of his "territory". "Wait... wait a minute, why... do I have to stay in one place?" He thought about this problem. He could roam around freely. With his current physique, no tiger would dare to drive him out of the territory. He could enter the territory of other tigers at will, as long as he left in a short time.

This would make it difficult to capture him, but it also limited Cheng Yijiu's movements—he couldn't stray too far from the highway, as he relied on it to connect the villages and obtain food. Capturing livestock from the villages was easier than hunting wild animals. Since this was a punishment scenario, it was certain that hunters would come after him, and Cheng Yijiu was confident of this.

Who made him have such a valuable fur, and it was so big? European hunters obsessed with hunting records would use all means to hunt him, as long as they found him. And this was almost certain. At that time, Indians almost lived with tigers and leopards. When villagers went into the woods to pick up leaves and branches, they would often see tigers.

Cheng Yijiu had been walking along the road all morning—a feline habit that went against his nature, so he was feeling hungry. He was now standing between a forest on one side and a river on the other. The river had vast, sprawling banks, covered in reeds like a green meadow. He moved among the reeds, stopping by the river to drink some water. A distant smell brought back memories—the memory of visiting the elephant enclosure at the zoo, primarily the stench.

He crouched in the reeds. A procession of elephants approached from afar. Cheng Yijiu counted six, and on the ground, about a dozen servants followed behind them. The elephants had frames and sheds, and were beautifully decorated. On the seats sat people in hunting attire. Cheng Yijiu could tell the difference: the leader was just the mahout, riding an elephant. The two elephants with sedan chairs were each carrying a European, a man and a woman. That meant they, along with the two servants on the ground, were holding rifles.

This was the standard setup for tiger and leopard hunting in India in the early 20th century. European "adventurers" hired teams like this, riding on the backs of elephants, letting the elephants and servants drive the tigers and leopards away, and then shooting them from a high vantage point—it was practically the safest hunting method. After Cheng Yijiu had a clear view of the team, he immediately and silently prepared to leave. As mentioned earlier, this man's stealth ability wasn't up to par with a real tiger, so his movements were quite noisy and he was discovered.

The experienced mahout, riding on the elephant's back and responsible for driving away tigers and leopards, was the first to spot Cheng Yijiu. He immediately shouted and pointed in his direction. Then, the hunters, holding up their small telescopes, also caught sight of the powerful and graceful tiger. "What a big one... So beautiful! Now it's mine," the husband of a British couple said.

However, hitting the tiger from this distance was impossible. A breech-loading rifle using black powder as its propellant lacked power or accuracy at this distance, so they had to close in and drive the tiger into range. The three elephants formed a line and, under the control of their mahouts, began to move in an arc, preparing to cut off Cheng Yijiu's route back to the jungle. "This... might be the first test," Cheng Yijiu thought. He quickly assessed the situation and made an immediate decision.

Go down to the river. This was Cheng Yijiu's decision. He wasn't like other tigers, who would only find their route cut off by elephants after they approached the jungle, thus wasting precious time and compressing their own space. Cheng Yijiu knew from the beginning that it was impossible for him to enter the jungle, so he immediately turned and ran towards the river. Tigers love water, which is a rare example among big cats. Bengal tigers are even more accustomed to escaping the heat and hunting in the water.

Cheng Yijiu quickly jumped into the water and discovered that as a tiger, he could swim very well. He would often dive to change direction, making it more difficult for the hunter to determine his position.

The hunt was a failure. Even without the elephants reaching the river, the Englishman knew the tiger must have swum away. "Someone follow it," the Englishman said. "Follow this tiger. I hope to see it again tomorrow." Three of the servants stepped forward and followed along the riverbank, while the others went looking for a boat. If Cheng Yijiu had crossed the river, they would also cross the river and follow him.

This was a dangerous thing to do, because during the day these Indians could still keep up with Cheng Yijiu, but at night they could only camp - tracking a tiger at night was simply seeking death.

Cheng Yijiu swam in the river for a while and then came ashore in a deserted area. He didn't know someone was following him from a distance. But Cheng Yijiu didn't move any further. He needed to rest. He wasn't very hungry yet, but he wanted to take a nap. Before taking a nap, Cheng Yijiu had made a decision: at night, he would go back to take a look and find something to eat.

Chapter 30 The First Attack

The Indian servants who were following Cheng Yijiu didn't dare get too close to the tiger. One of them hurried back to report to his employer, while the other two began climbing a tree, preparing to spend the night there. Cheng Yijiu was discovered by a British couple named Williams. They were quite prestigious—the husband held a mid-level position in the Indian colonial government and would soon return to his country to serve as a deputy secretary in a ministry. His future was bright.

That was why he had decided to take his wife on a leisurely hunt before leaving India—he hoped to return to England with glory and a perfect kill. Mr. Williams was now in his tent talking to his wife about the tiger—the servants had set up the tent and brewed tea, their cook was preparing dinner, and the couple had plenty to talk about.

"I think it would be a good idea to put it in the living room," said Mr. Williams, but Mrs. Williams had a different opinion. "My dear, should it be a specimen or a carpet? Or a tapestry?" The two of them fell into discussion. Such a gorgeous and huge tiger skin would surely attract great attention from the upper class. "Perhaps we should donate it to the British Museum?"

While they were discussing Cheng Yijiu's fur, Cheng Yijiu, the Bengal tiger, also began to move. Under the cover of darkness, he had already left his original location. It had to be said that the human scent was quite distinct, and while a real tiger might be confused, Cheng Yijiu wasn't. He almost immediately spotted the two men in the tree. They hadn't noticed the tiger was right under them, and were still struggling to fight off sleep.

Cheng Yijiu's eyes were practically like night vision goggles at night, accurately capturing the two men in his black and white vision. He estimated the height and his own weight and realized he could probably climb to that height. "But there's no need." Cheng Yijiu moved silently, following the scent. Like a police dog, he could track by scent. It was certain that there were tiger hunters trying to hunt him during the day.

Cheng Yijiu was starving, and the scent of humans had whetted his appetite. This Bengal tiger moved quickly, unlike other tigers, moving with the carefree abandon of a normal person. With his attitude, he wouldn't be able to catch a deer, but he could certainly catch a human. Around 11 p.m., or even past midnight, Bai Lang arrived at a flat area not far from the village.

Cheng Yijiu saw the campfires and, of course, the tents, one of which was particularly large. Outside the tents, six elephants stood. The firelight illuminated half of the tents, but it also made the outer edges appear particularly dark—if you were used to the brightness of the flames, you wouldn't be able to see anything in the darkness. Cheng Yijiu slowly approached the tents; the firelight was just firelight to him.

He could even see various insects flying towards the fire, then falling and burning with a crackling sound. The elephants had noticed the tiger's approach before the humans did, and they all took to their feet, waving their trunks and making low, deep calls. Asian elephants were not particularly afraid of Bengal tigers—that was because they were only attacked by them under very special circumstances.

The elephants' agitation prompted the men in the tent to emerge with their weapons. Elephants wouldn't stir on their own, so they must have discovered something—what other animal in India, besides tigers, could cause such a commotion? The men tried to calm the elephants in the firelight, but they couldn't see Cheng Yijiu—the firelight flickered, and even if Cheng Yijiu stood in the darkness, they couldn't see him.

Of course, no one wanted to go outside with a torch, which was too dangerous, so after a few people stayed by the fire, everyone else went back into the tent. Mr. Williams had also come out, but he couldn't come up with any better suggestions, so after arranging a few people to keep watch for the night, he also went back in to rest.

Cheng Yijiu had already seen the distribution of people in the tents clearly, so he began to circle around, preparing to use the shadows between the tents to approach the large tent in the middle - that was the tent of the Williams couple, "or... maybe kill them, and this time... the hunt will be over." Tigers are born with the ability to use shadows. Even a novice like Cheng Yijiu can make it so that people near the campfire cannot see it at all.

The elephants were isolated in another direction, and once Cheng Yijiu circled to the other side, they calmed down a bit. Cheng Yijiu silently came to the back of the tent, crouching so that the people inside could not see him through the light shining through the tent. The Bengal tiger stretched out a claw and began to try to cut the canvas, while its ears listened to the breathing of the people in the tent.

The breathing was very slow, and there was even a small snoring sound. Cheng Yijiu's claws finally cut a vertical hole under the tent. This took the Bengal tiger more than half an hour. He was very patient and silently opened the hole and crawled into the tent.

Mr. and Mrs. Williams didn't sleep together—they each had a foldable camp bed, one on each side of the tent. Cheng Yijiu observed the two men carefully for three minutes. "Typical... members of the British wealthy and leisure class." Even on that scorching Indian night, their sleeping arrangements were quite neat. Without further delay, Cheng Yijiu quickly bit Mr. Williams' throat.