Infinite Hunter

Just pay attention to the rifling.

With the relevant departments involved, applying for a gun license is as simple as reissuing an ID card, but he still has to go through a specialized company to buy a gun. Cheng Yijiu returned to his pet supplies store—to his surprise, Miss Tang was actually open. "Oh, I thought you were taking a break these days," Cheng Yijiu said casually, a little embarrassed, but Miss Tang glanced at him and smiled.

"Do you think I'm a salary thief? I'm a bit quieter here. Those guys can't keep pestering me." Miss Tang said from her chair. She was right—she put on a businesslike face, and it was hard for anyone with a thick skin to stay here for long. Because Cheng Yijiu was there before, he wouldn't mind throwing these idlers out. Those who tried to establish a relationship with Cheng Yijiu to save the country in a roundabout way were unable to establish a relationship.

Miss Tang seemed to receive a lot of calls and WeChat messages every day. Cheng Yijiu could see her constantly soliciting black people. This time, after he came back, he also noticed that there were several more people coming out of the store every day. Every one of them was looking for Miss Tang - they were all young and old, but all of them looked wealthy. Miss Tang gave them all a neutral look, and Cheng Yijiu just watched the show from the side - this drama of monkeys and licking dogs taking turns was really interesting.

There was definitely no ambiguity between Miss Tang and Cheng Yijiu—Cheng Yijiu had never considered that this beautiful girl would look down on a plain man like him. And most importantly, she didn't look like the daughter of a poor family. The cars parked outside the people who came to see her were all worth less than a million yuan. Cheng Yijiu didn't know much about cars, but at least he recognized Mercedes-Benzes. In fact, he was more familiar with various SUVs.

He prefers old cars to today's new ones.

Anyway, it was really fun to watch these guys flirting with girls. Cheng Yijiu usually went to the back to practice sword fighting while chatting. Generally speaking, after two or three minutes, Miss Tang would come to the back door to "watch", and the suitors would only come to watch for about ten or twenty seconds before giving up and slipping away. After all, Cheng Yijiu would use a real sword to chop and slash during training. He mainly used a training sword, but he still needed a real sword to practice the feel.

Cheng Yijiu knew he was being used as a shield, but because Miss Tang was pretty and not a "green tea"—as far as Cheng Yijiu could see, she hadn't accepted any gifts from these people, and he didn't know if she had any privately. Because of this, Cheng Yijiu didn't mind being used as a shield—he was a consultant to the relevant department with a gun license, and those people's money was nothing.

The rifle arrived a week later, brought by two officers, along with a box of ammunition—he could train at the police range later, and every bullet had to have the correct number of shells. Guns couldn't be left outside, of course, so Miss Tang had no idea the shopkeeper even had one. However, the shop's inventory of items that weren't specifically pet supplies was growing—from bizarre wood carvings to grotesque fake animal artifacts, from metal armor to weapons.

Moreover, these seemed to be made by the store manager himself, so Miss Tang was quite curious. She was interested in learning some skills from Cheng Yijiu, "Can you teach me wood carving? I have a basic knowledge of sketching." Cheng Yijiu looked at the girl and was a little embarrassed, "Wood carving is not something I do. It's okay for you to learn sword fighting and stuffing specimens, but I really can't learn wood carving." As a result, the girl slapped his arm.

"Well, it's not a big deal anyway, so learning swordsmanship is not bad." Cheng Yijiu picked out a practice sword, "If it's a girl, a small sword would be great. Zorro, whether it's Alain Delon or Antonio Banderas, they all played fighting masters who used small swords." Cheng Yijiu took a few stances with the small sword, "Nowadays, some people are learning to use swords in fitness exercises, which is indeed good for burning calories."

Cheng Yijiu's own fighting style was that of the armored school, a truly fierce, powerful style. It was boring for a woman—just a little sword for fun, and it would also strengthen her body. If she carried an unsharpened little sword, it might even be useful for self-defense. "You have to practice seriously, because this can easily get someone killed." So Miss Tang added some daily tasks: running and calisthenics, and only then would Cheng Yijiu teach her the steps.

The new hunt hadn't begun yet, and Cheng Yijiu still didn't know what kind of monster he would hunt. "Hopefully it'll be easy to deal with, and quick." Cheng Yijiu also prayed, "Don't let it be from the sea or the lake again." He simply had no good way to deal with prey in the water. Two business trips with the relevant departments had left him feeling neither good nor bad. "The matchmaker had lost his door..."

Cheng Yijiu spent every day firing bullets at the shooting range in his room. One needs to practice shooting to maintain his gun sense—he hadn't even opened the rifle he'd been given. Initially, he'd considered pretending to practice at the police range, but ultimately, he'd gotten too lazy. New missions were gradually emerging. Judging by the time period, it looked like the 1920s, with the scorching wind howling, he'd probably have to change into tropical attire. "Oh, and I need to get vaccinated for yellow fever, cholera... and quinine for malaria." Cheng Yijiu was thankful he hadn't gotten sick on the spot.

As for why he didn't poison people in those places, it can only be said that he had many diseases that he had never suffered from, so he didn't carry any pathogens...

Volume: Teeth

Chapter 1 Beginning

Since it was the 1920s, the Winchester was still usable; just swap it out for a standard pistol-caliber model. "Tropical hunting gear, anti-bite ointment... pith hat... water bottle, blanket..." Cheng Yijiu began packing his backpack, recalling his memories of hunting. He only needed a rifle and a knife for his weapons, but British pounds would be more useful for his money.

Now that everything's packed, let's get ready to go. Cheng Yijiu really needed a hunt to soothe his two bouts of frustration—they were both pretty boring, and didn't even yield any results. What was the lake monster? Sorry, I don't know. Have we found anything about the mummies and strange figures in the palaces and buildings in the mountains? I don't know either. So, let's do something we know about. At least he'll have a good idea of ​​what to hunt.

After getting dressed, Cheng Yijiu pushed open the door.

Before him lay tall weeds, the railway tracks, and the platform—he was currently on it, and behind him lay a dirt road and a village. "Typical colonial style," Cheng Yijiu exclaimed as he exited the station. This was Black Africa—he knew it from the moment he arrived. How could he not recognize the African baobab tree, such a typical species? He found a local hotel—not far from the Great Rift Valley and Lake Victoria, so it was frequently visited.

This hotel was owned by a British owner, and the demographics were quite diverse, encompassing both black and white people. It was the 1920s, so it wasn't unusual for wealthy young Asian men to venture out and see the world. And it was perfectly normal for wealthy young men to travel the world on hunting trips. During this era, the British and French colonial systems in Europe hadn't yet declined, and they had even experienced new development after World War I, having annexed the former German and Austrian colonies.

Cheng Yijiu reserved a room. He wanted to know the target of his hunt—he had already known it when he arrived: an elephant. This male elephant, with a missing ear, had a habit of killing people. It was said that he had attacked several local tribal villages and killed at least twenty-two people. He wanted to know where this elephant was.

There were blurry photos in the local newspaper, but a closer look revealed a corpse. The headline also said it was killed by a wild elephant. "This bull elephant is effectively killing its own species." In this day and age, with no animal protection, Cheng Yijiu was almost certain that many African elephants would be killed as killers. He went down to the lobby and ordered a glass of iced lemonade.

He glanced at the people in the room. "I'll buy everyone a cold beer," he said to the bartender. "And can I ask about that killer elephant?" With the help of the cold beer, he obtained a lot of information - all of which was actually public knowledge, but Cheng Yijiu didn't collect it himself due to limited time. "Okay, the right ear has a noticeable defect, and it looks like it's been torn into three pieces. The tusk is quite long, and there are no other features after that."

As for why the killing took place? Most people said the elephant had gone mad, but Cheng Yijiu didn't care. He was only concerned about the circumstances of the attacks, wondering if something common had provoked the bull elephant. He diligently collected local newspapers throughout the day, but came up empty-handed. His only achievement was a map showing the distribution of villages attacked, including the location of the last attack, and he was on his way there.

Cheng Yijiu believed many hunters had already made it there, likely killing a number of African elephants. However, he had no choice but to go. With the speed of news transmission in Africa, even if he stayed here, he wouldn't be able to get the latest news of the attack immediately. News would spread to those villages just as quickly as it did to this colonial city. If traveling here quickly, he could just ask the hotel owner/bartender for help.

The guy arranged a truck for the next day, and the reason it was so quick was simply because Cheng Yijiu paid so readily. Cheng Yijiu filled his water bottle, climbed onto the truck, and drove off—it was still six in the morning. The truck was used by the local British garrison to transport supplies, making a little extra money. The driver was a young British man, and in the back was an escort and two soldiers from the Soviet Union unloading the truck.

"With three people working, it'll probably take half a day at most." During their conversation on the road, Cheng Yijiu learned a fact: the escorting third brother would never move anything. The British driver would sometimes help move things, but the third brother would never do it himself. It was the two professional movers who did the work. This was not surprising at all. Cheng Yijiu was very familiar with this situation. Isn't that the case with the third brother?

The two then casually chatted about the killer elephants, but the young driver couldn't say much more. They drove for about two hours. Africa only has dirt roads, but it was enough to drive. Cheng Yijiu saw giraffes strolling in the distance, herds of wildebeest and zebra, and occasionally a few buffalo. "The lions here are quite brave." Cheng Yijiu held up the binoculars, and within his sight, lying under the albizzia tree was a pride of lions.

"Yeah, it's okay." The driver turned his head and glanced in Cheng Yijiu's direction. As he turned his head, he screamed, "Oh! God! Oh..." Before Cheng Yijiu could even turn around, he felt a heavy jolt in his body. It felt simple: their car had been hit from the side. Then, the world spun around, and the entire car began to roll.

Cheng Yijiu firmly grasped the handle inside and fixed his body with great strength. However, the driver was thrown off the seat all of a sudden, and his body was hit several times during the roll. Finally, he seemed to be thrown out from the window - the three San'er must have been thrown out at the first moment, and they were definitely the first to know what hit them.

The car had rolled several times before finally landing on its back. Cheng Yijiu was struck by the pungent smell of gasoline. He quickly spun around and kicked the door next to him. The next moment, he launched himself outward with his arms. Of course, he didn't forget to grab his bag and weapon. After he was out, he pulled away a bit before looking up to see what was happening. The first thing he saw was the driver, lying seven or eight meters away. He looked dead.

The man looked like a torn sack, sprawled on the ground in a twisted state. Of the three Indians originally in the truck, one was buried under a tree more than ten meters away, likely killed in the collision. Another was on the other side of the road, looking like a meat pie. The last was gone. Cheng Yijiu also saw the dent in the side of the truck—and then the truck burst into flames, the damaged fuel tank ignited by sparks.

Cheng Yijiu didn't see any other wild animals around, which made him frown...

Chapter 2 Traces

"With such a heavy collision, this truck must weigh over a ton, at least if you don't count the cargo. And the thing that could have hit the truck from the side and caused it to flip over like this must have weighed much more than the truck. And how could such a large thing be completely invisible now? Can elephants move that fast?"

Cheng Yijiu knew elephants were fast runners, at least faster than Usain Bolt. But how long had it taken him to climb out of the overturned truck? Ten seconds or so? And then the elephant disappeared? Although there were the usual low trees and grasslands of Africa, the terrain was vast and flat, stretching for several kilometers. How could an elephant run ten kilometers?

It was impossible to even think about it with his buttocks, and the problem now was that the car overturned and everyone died. How was he going to explain that he was the only survivor? "Although there is no other way, this is the only way." Cheng Yijiu decided to first find the four unlucky guys in the car, collect their bodies, and then investigate to see if he could catch up with the damn attacker.

Cheng Yijiu was furious because he hadn't even seen the attacker. He had a feeling it was the rag-eared beast that attacked the car, but he never got to see it for himself. Cheng Yijiu strapped his bag on and grabbed his rifle. This time, he pulled the five pre-loaded bullets from the leather magazine at his waist, pulled the bolt, and loaded them into the chamber. The clip was reloaded with five bullets, and Cheng Yijiu pushed the bolt to chamber the rifle, returning to his hunting stance.

Cheng Yijiu searched backwards, following the wheel tracks. He only had one unlucky soul missing: the British driver and the two unloading crew members. Their deaths were truly gruesome—two had been thrown from the vehicle and run over during the tumble, resulting in severe fractures and internal bleeding. The other one looked more like he had been trampled to death. The elephant must have done a tatu-da-la on him. He looked like a meat pie, so Cheng Yijiu didn't have a shovel, so he didn't shovel him.

The last one was found more than 20 meters away. Cheng Yijiu drove away the vultures that had already begun to feed on the corpse. The unlucky guy was San'er, the escort. His cause of death was not a broken limb, but a massive penetrating wound between his chest and abdomen. Cheng Yijiu casually compared it and said, "It's really amazing. Not to mention the diameter of this thing, I suspect it's an irregular shape. It just looks long."

The body of this man was also dragged back by Cheng Yijiu. The bodies of these people could not be saved. The African land was primitive and cruel. Scavenger vultures were circling in the sky, and hyenas on the ground would follow the smell. Cheng Yijiu could only sigh and casually said a few words from the Bible that he could still remember. Anyway, it was nothing more than dust to dust, and the last Amen.

After that, forget it. Whatever beast wants to eat it, let it eat it. Cheng Yijiu didn't know how far he had to go before he could report the news, but he thought it would be discovered in two or three days at most. It was hard to say about the body, but the burned car would definitely be discovered.

Cheng Yijiu walked to the crash site. The impact point was on the right side, so he began looking for footprints. He had carefully observed the surroundings before, even using binoculars, but hadn't found any signs of large animals. Then he began to observe the ground. The African land was quite fertile, and the ground beneath his feet was almost black. The tall thatch showed signs of being pushed aside, and a lot of grass had been trampled.

Cheng Yijiu imagined the attacking elephant. He wasn't familiar with elephants, but he did have some knowledge of animal footprints and strides. Firstly, this elephant was quite large. With that kind of stride, could it be six or seven meters long? That wasn't likely, but it definitely weighed five or six tons.

Cheng Yijiu could guarantee this. In this case... he recalled the biological data he had read before, "Usually, the average weight of a male African elephant is between four and four and a half tons, and its height is roughly three meters. Large elderly individuals can reach over three meters and two meters tall, and the extreme individual is three meters and six. The heaviest seems to weigh over seven tons..."

If this elephant really weighed six tons, then it was likely over three meters and two meters tall, perhaps as tall as three meters and four meters, making it a rare large individual among African savanna elephants. Cheng Yijiu half-crouched in front of the footprints. The elephant's footprints were disorganized. He could clearly make out the footprints of a long run before the collision, but if he followed the footprints in reverse, they would disappear halfway.

He also followed the footprints that had crushed the unfortunate man into a meat pie. He finally managed to distinguish the front from the back amidst the chaotic mess, but in the end, he found no new footprints to follow. "Damn it!" Cheng Yijiu cursed. What else could he do now? He could just follow the dirt road. After all, he had a map in his hand. If his calculations were correct, the distance to the indigenous village or town was about twenty kilometers.

Cheng Yijiu carried a backpack and a rifle in his hand. His high socks and tropical boots protected him from the nasty bug bites. Between his shorts and socks, Cheng Yijiu had smeared ointment to repel the insects. His long sleeves were now folded up, and his arms were also covered in ointment. He truly looked like a colonial hunter.

No wild animals attacked him, but Cheng Yijiu did see a warthog run by, and a beast that might have been a leopard followed him for a few dozen meters. Soon, he saw a herd of cattle on the dirt road ahead, their horns protruding from either side. Four or five black brothers were herding them on either side. They seemed to be tribesmen herding cattle, each of them holding a spear.

These people didn't speak much English, and Cheng Yijiu didn't speak the tribal language, so after a few gestures, he could only confirm that the road was correct and he had to keep going. He was much faster than the cattle herders and soon left them behind. "That's weird? Where did that elephant go?" Cheng Yijiu saw antelopes grazing over a hundred meters away, and a herd of wildebeests a little further away. The wind blew the tall grass, and Cheng Yijiu accurately identified the lioness lying in the grass - her protective coloring was good, but not good enough for humans.

He wasn't interested in shooting a lion, but there was a lion walking on the road in front of him, which gave him a headache. Cheng Yijiu took the initiative to roar and gestured with his hands to signal the guy to get out of here quickly. The lion turned and looked at Cheng Yijiu, but Cheng Yijiu didn't stop at all and went straight to the lion.

The lion looked at Cheng Yijiu, lowered its head, licked its nose with its tongue, then turned around and ran away into the grass.

Chapter 3 It's like this again

Cheng Yijiu wasn't afraid of the lion lurking and attacking him. He had a feeling the male lion would be eager to flee upon seeing him—perhaps because even the strongest among them had been strangled to death by Cheng Yijiu. The lioness's attack had already begun, and Cheng Yijiu admired the lions' clever coordination. The young lionesses began to disperse the target's formation, and several lionesses took turns separating the target from the group and driving it to a predetermined location.

The final decisive blow came from the experienced, strong, and mature lioness No. 1, who bit the wildebeest's throat and used her weight to drag it to the ground. "What a beautiful hunt!" Cheng Yijiu smiled as he saw the male lion trotting over, ready to eat. He continued along the road. After walking for a long time, more human signs appeared in front of him, suggesting that the village was approaching.

The village was located near a river, surrounded by thorns. Cheng Yijiu could sense a rather hostile atmosphere. Since it was a highway, many people spoke English. They saw a hunter-like figure with a gun approaching. His skin was fair, and he was undoubtedly the colonial lord. Cheng Yijiu simply took out a few shillings and bought a roast chicken and a full jug of water from a local shop. Suddenly, the villagers warmed up to him.

They told him about the elephant that attacked them, and the village wizard said it wasn't an elephant at all, but a "spirit," a spirit that had been angered for some unknown reason and had simply transformed into an elephant to kill. "It can't be stopped, it can't be contained," said the wizard, who was covered in greasepaint and adorned with all sorts of strange objects. "Just like the wind and rain, it will stop when it's time to stop."

Cheng Yijiu put down a one-pound gold coin and left with the wizard's satisfied smile. After eating and drinking, he rested for a while before heading to the town a few kilometers away - the truck was originally going there. As he walked, he recalled the news he had gathered from the village. Four people in the village had died at the feet of the elephant, but Cheng Yijiu could confirm that although they had talked a lot about the elephant's appearance, in fact, no one had ever seen the killer elephant.

Because what they were saying was essentially a bunch of fuss based on newspaper reports, spiced up with their own imaginations. "It's ridiculous that they themselves believe they've seen the elephant," Cheng Yijiu shook his head. It was already getting dark, but he figured he could reach his destination before sunset. Walking across the pristine African landscape at night? Cheng Yijiu found that a bit outrageous; most people wouldn't do that.

He wasn't actually afraid, because walking across Africa gave him a strange feeling, a sense of revival. Nighttime was just a matter of holding a torch for him. As for hunting wild animals at night? He'd probably just shoot a mere leopard or lion. Cheng Yijiu heard a strange sound, like a trumpet. "What's that sound?" He was genuinely curious at first.

But he soon spotted the source of the voice. Hunter Cheng Yijiu froze in astonishment. The legendary warrior who once hunted flying dragons was now stunned. That was truly a giant elephant that had suddenly appeared. Cheng Yijiu couldn't even swear he'd seen the elephant's shadow when he'd just glanced in that direction. He only knew he'd spotted it from the corner of his eye. The elephant, shaking its head and ears, seemed over three meters tall. "Three meters? Closer to three and a half meters, right?" Cheng Yijiu wondered.

He was an experienced veteran. Although he was stunned, he still had his abilities. He would not misjudge the size of the beast. Therefore, this elephant was definitely one of the largest African elephants. One of its ears was broken, and two scars divided it into three pieces, which was consistent with what the previous witnesses said. But its ivory... Cheng Yijiu remembered that he had seen similar ivory before, and it was not cylindrical at all.

This also explains why the third brother who was escorting the vehicle had an irregular penetrating wound between his chest and abdomen.

Because the tusks of this elephant are forked, and the forks and the front part are flattened and the edges are blade-like. This pair of tusks is like a pair of multi-bladed knives. The last time Cheng Yijiu saw such ivory, he was in a city in North America that was infected by a leaked virus... The elephant in front of him did not have the rotten skin and white eyes that he had back then. He looked like a healthy male elephant.

However, the elephant carried an ominous aura, and its eyes were filled with deep malice. Cheng Yijiu was over 20 meters away, and both confirmed seeing each other's eyes. Cheng Yijiu immediately "woke up" and raised his rifle. He didn't believe he couldn't hit such a large target. The elephant ran away, and Cheng Yijiu opened fire. "Damn it! Missed? That's impossible!" Less than 30 meters away, and it didn't hit? Cheng Yijiu felt that something must have gone wrong.

He fired a second shot, and the answer to his question came—this elephant's movement speed was incredible, its body movements were also very unique. It was faster than expected, especially when firing, it would be a little faster, and then recover. This caused Cheng Yijiu's shot to deviate slightly—if it had been closer, the elephant would not have been able to dodge, but at a distance of more than 30 meters and rapidly increasing, it actually dodged two of Cheng Yijiu's bullets.

"Damn it." Cheng Yijiu lowered his head slightly and began to cock the third bullet. But once out of sight, the massive bull elephant was gone. "Damn it! What kind of script is this?" Cheng Yijiu cursed. Although he had a premonition, he still felt a bit uncomfortable when he confirmed that this was truly a supernatural event. However, this thing seemed to be able to be harmed by guns...

In short, Cheng Yijiu decided to go into town first and figure out what was going on. What was so strange about this elephant appearing and disappearing? How could he kill this murderous elephant?

Before dusk, Cheng Yijiu arrived at the target town. The unwalled area was about one square kilometer, with low houses everywhere. There were a few decent colonial buildings in the central square, among which was the hostel. Cheng Yijiu walked into the hostel and said, "One room, thank you."

Chapter 4: Headless Fly

It seemed like he was a very rare Asian here. He was probably the only Asian who acted like a rich young master instead of a laborer. The manager didn't look like someone who would cause trouble. After Cheng Yijiu paid, he had the waiter take him to the room upstairs - which was generally not bad. Cheng Yijiu looked at the room with a bathroom in front of him and felt that it was okay. At least it was clean.

The windows were large, allowing Cheng Yijiu to hear the comings and goings below. After settling in, he went downstairs to get something to eat, and people in the restaurant were talking about the news of the killer elephant. Cheng Yijiu didn't specifically inquire about it; he ordered a pork knuckle, bread and potatoes, and a bowl of thick soup for dinner, and the topics discussed by the people around him automatically entered his ears. "Today, the killer elephant appeared again, and it wasn't the same one I encountered." Cheng Yijiu analyzed and summarized as he listened.

The elephant must have attacked a village around noon today. Coincidentally, British colonial troops were conducting exercises there, but they were helpless against the elephant. "They didn't hit it, probably because the colonial soldiers' marksmanship was too poor," was the analysis of the speaker.

"It's true, because the elephant then rammed my car..." As for the mocking question of how the person over there knew if he'd hit them, Cheng Yijiu could vouch for it. Anyway, the elephant's attack at noon killed three people, and then rammed his car. That was about ten minutes to half an hour apart. In any case, an elephant couldn't have covered 50 kilometers in that amount of time.

As for the description of the elephant's appearance, after the group lamented the recent deaths, they also highlighted another characteristic besides the broken ear: the misshapen tusk, which might save the lives of the elephants that hadn't been accidentally killed. More people wanted to understand the situation—many collectors offered high prices to obtain the tusks. "The news spread so quickly?" Cheng Yijiu found this point very strange.

Afterward, he went to rest. He had walked a lot today and needed to rest. He put his clothes in the laundry basket, and the servants would wash and dry them. The next day, Cheng Yijiu went to wander the wilds. He carried a map and a compass, a backpack, and a gun, and walked along the river. He was also completely clueless - this elephant was a male, and it didn't necessarily follow the herd. Many male elephants, especially the elderly ones, travel alone.

Cheng Yijiu wandered through the grasslands and scrub woods, a favorite habitat for African animals like elephants, giraffes, buffalo, and rhinos, distinct from the zebras, wildebeest, and antelope of the savannah. He gazed at the white rhinos—they were practically extinct in seventy years, but they still existed in relatively small numbers. As for the leopards, lions, and hyenas, Africa's three most powerful carnivores? He paid little attention to them.

He didn't see any elephants, but he did see two that had been shot. Their carcasses had already begun to decay, and scavengers were feasting on them. This was definitely not the killer elephant. Cheng Yijiu expected him to run into the killer elephant, just like he had yesterday. The hunter sat down on a high hill, gazing at the scrubland, and pulled out his pipe for a quick shake—he never smoked in his daily life.

Just as he was bored and puffing out white smoke, he saw a herd of buffaloes in the distance. Cheng Yijiu raised the telescope hanging around his neck to see the culprit of all this. "What kind of animal is this?" Through the telescope, he saw a strange iron-red creature with stripes on its body. It looked like a bear but was as big as a horse. It was rushing into the herd of buffalo and attacking them.

"Is there a beast in Africa bigger than a lion?" Cheng Yijiu was also very surprised. In this Holocene Africa, there shouldn't be any beasts bigger than lions. If you put it in 12,000 or 120,000 years ago, there might be. Cheng Yijiu carefully looked at the iron-red beast with stripes. "Is this a bear? Could it be that this is what a bear looks like?" As a hunter, Cheng Yijiu knew that bears existed in Africa throughout history, especially in North Africa.

However, the Atlas brown bear was primarily a herbivore and quite timid, actively avoiding humans. Africa did have a carnivorous bear in its history: the African subcontinental bear—the largest of all subcontinental bears, comparable to a large polar bear. The problem was that the fossil record of that bear showed it had a dog's head, not the stubby, flat-nosed creature in front of us, which resembled a lion.

Cheng Yijiu initially suspected it was simply a mangy lion that had grown unusually large. There are many male lions without manes, and many of the lions in Tsavo are maneless. Furthermore, this creature was significantly smaller than the one he'd strangled. "Its hind legs are straight, so it's definitely not a lion," Cheng Yijiu muttered. "I didn't expect to find an unidentified creature... I remember it's called the Nandi bear locally?"

The monster's shoulders were prominent, a feature reminiscent of a brown bear. "Hyena? It looks a bit like an oversized hyena, doesn't it?" Cheng Yijiu wasn't prepared to shoot the beast—the distance was one reason. He simply planned to observe it carefully, sketch the animal in his notebook, and then investigate what it was. It was highly unlikely that such a large carnivore could be found in Africa...

Thinking carefully, Cheng Yijiu realized that legends of these supposedly undiscovered large carnivores existed almost everywhere in the world. Even in the UK, there were so-called British big cats. In China, he had heard of the donkey-headed wolf and the yellow tiger in Shennongjia—of course, the former looked like a hyaenodon, and the latter looked like a saber-toothed tiger, but these were just rumors without any evidence. And in Africa, there were the Nandi bear and the Bili ape, both of which he had previously believed did not exist.

But now, at least the Nandi Bear was in front of him. Cheng Yijiu immediately forgot about the killer elephant and focused on observing this unidentified creature, possibly a Nandi Bear, as it captured a water buffalo. He tried to memorize everything about it. "Its tail is longer than a typical bear's. Its hind legs are bear-like, but I can't tell if it's digitigrade or palmigrade. It dragged down a water buffalo—this creature's single-kill ability is quite impressive, even better than a lion."

As he observed, a chill ran through Cheng Yijiu's body. Without a second thought, he let go of his rifle and rolled down the hill. As he rolled, he saw dust rising from where he had been sitting. Amidst the sunlight and dust, a long nose...

Chapter 5 Battle

Cheng Yijiu tumbled downhill, and then he saw the elephant with the misshapen tusks towering over him. Before he could raise his rifle, the elephant disappeared behind the hillock. It wasn't that it vanished instantly, but that the elephant had simply run behind it. Cheng Yijiu stood up, dropping his bag on the ground. He quickly circled the hillock, rifle in hand, ready to intercept the elephant. As he did, he collided head-on with the elephant.

The distance between the two sides does not exceed ten meters.

Upon closer inspection, it was indeed a majestic elderly bull elephant. Cheng Yijiu could see that the expression in its eyes was more than just that of an animal—elephants, gorillas, and whales were highly intelligent creatures with emotions, and this could be seen in their eyes. Incidentally, the same was true of dogs, which had long coexisted with humans, with pupils much larger than those of wolves. This elephant's brain might be smarter than ninety-nine percent of the humans on this continent, right?

Regardless of whether it was clever or not, Cheng Yijiu's target this time was the elephant. He quickly raised his gun and immediately opened fire—never mind where he hit it. The elephant was only about ten meters away, and the projection area was large enough that Cheng Yijiu believed he had no chance of missing it. After the first shot, the elephant wailed, but its speed didn't slow down at all.

"OOOOPS!" Cheng Yijiu didn't have time to fire a second shot. He dove sideways, desperately trying to avoid the elephant's charge and trampling—the elephant was incredibly fast, and with its tusks and trunk, it was far more terrifying than a wild boar. Cheng Yijiu was the only one who could react. Anyone else would have been completely chilled to the bone by now. Even so, Cheng Yijiu's escape was only a hair's breadth.

His heels could even feel the fur on the elephant's skin as he brushed against it—even though those hard-soled boots shouldn't have been so sensitive. Cheng Yijiu rolled on the ground while simultaneously unloading and reloading his rifle—he nearly fired it accidentally. However, he had just regained his balance, half-knelt, and fired directly into the elephant's side. The next second, he was hit by a swung-in trunk.

Cheng Yijiu leaped back decisively, the only price he paid was a broken rifle, but luckily he was fine. He threw away the now-junked gun and whipped out his hunting knife—at that moment, the warrior anointed with holy oil returned. Cheng Yijiu could see bullet holes in the base of the elephant's front legs and along its side, but even though the elephant was bleeding, it didn't look seriously injured or dying.

"Is there something wrong with my bullet?" Cheng Yijiu couldn't help but doubt his own ammunition, worried that he had made a mistake and directly used a steel core bullet, which had pierced two holes. But he clearly remembered that he was using a hunting hollow point bullet, the kind that could kill an elephant or rhino with a single shot - a hunting-specific merciful bullet that kills quickly. He didn't have time to think about it, because the next second, the elephant rushed towards him with great momentum.

Cheng Yijiu had never used a 30cm hunting knife to kill such a large prey, especially one with a seemingly thick coat of blood. A 30cm knife wouldn't be long enough to penetrate the brain, even if it were stabbed in the temple. Or would a stab in the brain kill this unusually large elephant? The elephant, filled with a deep-seated hatred for humans, charged at Cheng Yijiu, its trunk twitching first.

This trunk was stronger than the strongest man. It was a natural crane capable of lifting several tons of wood. Cheng Yijiu suspected that being caught in it would be like being caught in a giant python, squeezing out your shit. So Cheng Yijiu twisted his body hard, dodging the blow from this trunk, which was more flexible than a human arm. But then he had to face the tusks that were about to stab and kill him.

If it were ordinary ivory, it would be fine, just a cone, with the point being the only thing to watch out for. But this ivory was unusually shaped, more like some kind of flat, multi-edged knife—and its hardness was incredibly high, as evidenced by the blade Cheng Yijiu blocked. "That's simply the sound of metal clashing, and the force is truly immense!" Cheng Yijiu was flung back so cleanly that even his wrist was shaking.

Fortunately, the knife didn't break or bend...

The situation was now troublesome. Cheng Yijiu knew he had no chance of defeating the elephant head-on—if he had a two-handed sword or a short spear, he might be able to do it, but a hunting knife wouldn't do it. So he had to try to get around to the side, climb onto the elephant, and then see if he could solve the problem with a 30-centimeter hunting knife. After all, Cheng Yijiu was a medium-sized creature that moved on two legs, so he was more agile than an elephant in terms of maneuvering.

He did manage to get around to the side of the elephant and saw that the previous wound had almost healed, but there was an obvious swelling on the original skin. The elephant was also turning, but it was never as fast as Cheng Yijiu, and Cheng Yijiu didn't find an opportunity for the time being - the elephant's trunk was too flexible, so he had to get close to the elephant's buttocks, otherwise it would be the end of him - he was almost caught several times.

Cheng Yijiu still found it difficult to get close. The elephant's footsteps were incredibly fast. Although they couldn't kick like humans, their stomping still caused the ground to shake and send up clouds of dust. Cheng Yijiu wanted to climb up from the rear end, but the elephant's hind legs proved an insurmountable obstacle. The hide was so thick that his hunting knife couldn't sever the tendons—even if he could, he would have to pay the price of being trampled by the elephant.

Cheng Yijiu's knife had left five or six bloody marks on the elephant's buttocks, and Cheng Yijiu couldn't move any further. With a long cry, the elephant turned and ran away—faster than Cheng Yijiu could catch up. The hunter also breathed heavily. He couldn't afford to make any mistakes. If he got caught in the trunk or didn't run in time and was faced with the elephant again, the body would probably be cold by then...

Cheng Yijiu walked back a few steps and picked up the bent gun. "What bad luck," he muttered. Fortunately, the bag was fine. Now he had to find a way to get back. He would probably have to spend money to buy a gun in the town - if there was one. "It seems that the gun is not very useful against this monster?" Cheng Yijiu thought so too. The wound he had cut on the elephant later did not heal as quickly, but it did not bleed too much. Cheng Yijiu looked at the pattern on the blade for a long time without saying a word.

Perhaps in addition to buying a gun, he could also try to find a suitable cold weapon in town...

Chapter 6 Crisis

Carrying the damaged weapon, Cheng Yijiu turned around and walked back. Unless the elephant came back to find him, Cheng Yijiu was not afraid of any animal with a 30-centimeter hunting knife - no matter whether it was a lion, leopard or hyena, the fierce hunter had a way to deal with it.

There really were wild beasts following him. The buffalo Cheng Yijiu had seen earlier had been dragged away, and it seemed the so-called Nandi bear didn't want to be exposed and eat. But Cheng Yijiu could feel the gazes on him—coming from the bushes on either side. He couldn't tell whether they were lions or hyenas, but they were in packs.

Cheng Yijiu didn't care about the beasts following him, whether it was a lion or a hyena, he would kill them if they came. At this time, Cheng Yijiu was still in the state of an anointed warrior - this place was in East Africa, close to North Africa, and it was also within the reach of Mount Olympus, and there were even such strange creatures as killer elephants.

So is it any wonder that the power of Apollo's blessing should be in effect again?

Cheng Yijiu is a warrior watched by Apollo. In ancient Greece, he would be a candidate for hero. Maybe he could even rise to the sky and become a constellation - but forget about becoming Orion.