Infinite Hunter

The mission will take some time to start, so Cheng Yijiu once again studied Jim's records on hunting the leopard that killed more than 400 people. "Extraordinarily cunning, stealthy actions. A very cautious and patient old male leopard." Jim's book described such a leopard, which killed in the dark and was accustomed to attacking humans silently.

"Okay, this is another challenge!" Cheng Yijiu put on his hat, put on his backpack and rifle, and walked out.

Volume: Bonnard

Chapter 1 Enter

India, at the beginning of the last century, was still considered the jewel in Her Majesty's crown, providing the British Empire with a vast amount of overseas revenue and human resources. At that time, the British Empire was still a world power, especially with the world's number one navy, undoubtedly more powerful than the second and third largest combined. In those days, the departure of six battleships could only be described as the departure of a small squadron of the Grand Fleet, or even more accurately, the departure of a squadron of the Mediterranean Fleet.

This was the era of the dreadnought-class battleship, but unfortunately, they were not seen in India. Furthermore, Cheng Yijiu's northern Indian mountainous region had no view of the ocean. Even in such a place, British rule persisted. The British collaborated with the local princely kings to oppress the local peasants. Of course, British colonial staff also penetrated deeply into the local areas, their main role being to collect taxes and perform some administrative work.

Cheng Yijiu was tall and fair-skinned, even fairer than most colonial Brits. He looked pampered and well-nourished, a true character. He had already been highly regarded the last time he visited India, and this time was no different. "I'm a hunter. I came here because I heard there were ferocious man-eating leopards," he told the local British official. His fluent English suggested the official's attitude was excellent—though the pounds in his wallet also played a role.

Just like his previous tiger hunt, Cheng Yijiu first visited the village where the leopard had recently appeared and killed people. The villagers were still the same: poor and ignorant, they were terrified of the leopard. Unlike the tiger, the leopard almost always attacked at night. This shy and deadly beast always attacked silently and stealthily. It once took away a baby from its sleeping parents, but the parents didn't hear anything.

The victim barely has time to scream, as the first strike usually incapacitates the prey accurately, leaving the victim powerless to cry out, suffocating on their own blood. This beast is even more dangerous and cunning than the tiger; it can even open doors. Cheng Yijiu squatted on the ground, examining the confirmed footprints. Even with his current level of knowledge, he could tell they were those of an elderly male leopard. According to the tradition of man-eating beasts, this must have been injured or old, forcing it to prey on humans.

Once they have tasted human flesh and learned that humans are easy to catch, these beasts will without exception become professional man-eaters that prey on humans. Such beasts have been very common on the land of the South Asian subcontinent since ancient times.

Cheng Yijiu had known for a while that this was an elderly male leopard, and since he had arrived in 1910, Jim would have killed the leopard that year, and next year he would have killed Jim's man-eating tiger, earning him the title of the world's greatest hunter. But now, Cheng Yijiu knew nothing more than that this was an elderly male leopard. He had no idea where the leopard had gone, or if it would return.

The local dialect was difficult to understand, so Cheng Yijiu, with the help of a child—who had learned a little English and seemed eager to learn—interpreted the situation. The man who had been dragged away was a thirty-year-old man. The incident had occurred the night before. The man and his son had built a fire outside their house, and as they warmed themselves, the father told his son a story.

Later, the eight-year-old son, presumably his mother, called him from inside the house. He went inside, spoke a few words, and when he came out, his father had vanished. His mother, upon learning of the situation, banged on a pot. Everyone else emerged, helpless, as no one dared to search in the darkness. Yesterday, after daybreak, they went out to search for him and found the poor man at the bottom of a hillside outside the village.

The man had already been buried, and Cheng Yijiu certainly had no intention of checking the body. He just listened to the local elders' description, "The liver and other internal organs were gnawed off." Cheng Yijiu was not surprised at all. He had encountered man-eating tigers that did not eat humans after killing them before, and this leopard might be more picky about food. Anyway, according to the records, it only ate a portion of the more than 400 people it killed.

Cheng Yijiu tapped his hat. He decided to go to the surrounding mountains to see what was going on. He turned up the collar of his coat. He wasn't afraid of the leopard attacking him. Leopards are assassins, and they only attack secretly in the dark. Cheng Yijiu wasn't afraid of a frontal attack. He shouldered his gun and walked into the woods on the hillside. Cheng Yijiu was very careful because leopards would lurk in the treetops and jump out to attack, unlike tigers.

Leopards are weaker than tigers in weight and strength. A strong adult can repel a leopard if he puts up a desperate fight—but if the leopard is unlucky and gets strangled from behind, it might even die. A tiger can't resist even if it fights desperately... Cheng Yijiu strolled through the woods, gazing at the surrounding mountains. There weren't always trees on the mountains, but a leopard could hide among them, its camouflage making it hard to tell at first glance.

Cheng Yijiu, rifle cradle at the crook of his arm, walked through the woods, wondering how he would move if he were a leopard. Unfortunately, his instinctive memories were mostly based on tigers. While tigers and leopards might move in the same way, their targets were likely different—even though they both moved stealthily. Cheng Yijiu looked back at the village, mentally simulating the leopard's route and the spot where the body had been found.

Of course, there's also the location of the footprints. "I've almost figured it out. They entered the village from the left, then lurked in the darkness, watching their prey, silently approaching. I estimate their final stop was probably less than two meters from their victim, waiting for the prey to be alone...then they pounced, biting their necks and choking their trachea, and carried off any still-breathing prey. By the time they got there, they were usually dead."

The victim was not tall, and the people here are relatively thin. The victim weighed about 55 to 60 kilograms. A tiger could easily pick up the prey and carry it away, but an elderly leopard can only drag it away, so after daybreak, people can find the victim by following the dragging marks. Knowing the leopard's route is somewhat useful, because after all, it is a wild animal. If it attacks the village again, it is likely to enter by the same route.

Cheng Yijiu felt that he needed to set an ambush - not only setting traps, but he was also afraid that these traps would trap the villagers instead of the leopards.

Chapter 2 Waiting

If you want to set up an ambush, you have to choose a spot that can see most of the village, especially the route the leopard took before, and avoid any corners or blind spots. Cheng Yijiu stood on the hillside and observed the village. He finally found a relatively good spot - it was the top floor of a house that should have some money. The flat roof was enough for Cheng Yijiu to walk around and observe most of the place.

Cheng Yijiu requested to stay on their rooftop to hunt, a request that was impossible to refuse. After all, Cheng Yijiu looked like a master, and the kind of master willing to help them get rid of the man-eating leopard. They were thankful that they didn't have to pay. The Bonnar region had been plagued by this leopard for some time, killing many people and even eating them. Now, the villagers here almost every night use door panels to block the gate and pray that the leopard will not come.

Most villagers have now taken refuge on the second floor, boarding up the stairs—but has it helped? Past records show this leopard has breached the boards and attacked villagers on the second floor. It's even leaped onto the second-floor balcony, entering homes and killing people. Of course, most villagers live in bungalows, but this leopard can open doors, unbolt latches... "Evil Night Ghost..." Cheng Yijiu was now on someone's roof.

Since this leopard dared to hunt humans, it probably had lost its sensitivity to human scent in the village. Cheng Yijiu figured it wouldn't mind the human scent on the roof. No matter how cunning it was, it was just a leopard. It couldn't possibly imagine that a human hunter on the roof could observe the entire scene and pose a fatal threat to it. Cheng Yijiu closed the lantern's shade and waited quietly on the rooftop, rifle in hand.

It was late at night. No one was outside, and no lights were visible. Only the moonlight overhead illuminated the village. At this high altitude, the moon was large, round, and surprisingly bright. Cheng Yijiu didn't need a lamp; the moonlight alone was enough for him to see clearly. However, the shadows between the houses were still harder to see through; perhaps the leopard was lurking in the shadows.

The owl's purring carried far into the night, and Cheng Yijiu was even so intent on listening for the sound to identify its location. There was no sign of the leopard; after all, it was a large cat, and its movements could be silent. Cheng Yijiu spent the entire night without finding anything. Morning dew coated his fur coat and hat. At daybreak, Cheng Yijiu went downstairs.

By this time, the villagers had begun to wake up—they should have gotten up earlier, but it was still dark, and they didn't dare go out to work. Cheng Yijiu took this opportunity to quickly circle the village road. Unfortunately, he found no new leopard tracks, and it was very likely that the leopard hadn't come the night before. "We can only keep watching." Cheng Yijiu asked the local tax collector for the record of leopard attacks—connecting it to the map and marking the date.

The leopard was active in this area. Based on the mobility of wild animals, it was very likely to launch attacks in the other two villages within the next few days. However, Cheng Yijiu was not planning to go anywhere else. He felt that this was the place for the decisive battle. With the child as an interpreter, Cheng Yijiu began to talk to the villagers and talk about the situation when the leopard appeared in the past. "Big cats actually have their own personalities. They are not just wild beasts."

Cheng Yijiu was now sitting and listening to a woman talking. The child stuttered as he translated, "She, her daughter was three years old. One night a year ago, she said she should have put up the wooden planks." Even though Cheng Yijiu didn't understand the local dialect, he could tell that the woman was talking incoherently because of her sadness. From time to time, she would say how good it would have been if she had just closed the wooden door of the bedroom and locked it...

During the translation, Cheng Yijiu finally understood. The woman was cooking with her back to the bedroom. When she turned around, the little daughter in the bedroom was gone, and the blanket that had originally wrapped her fell to the ground... She never saw her little daughter again. It was the leopard. The leopard entered the bedroom silently in a very short time and took away the little girl. The mother who was so close to her was completely unaware of it.

Instead of attacking an adult woman from behind, the leopard chose a more difficult move—silently carrying away a little girl from another room. This move was inexplicable; it was definitely not because the leopard was so weak that it had to attack the defenseless cubs—because Cheng Yijiu had previously heard from the family of another victim that the leopard had attacked a middle-aged man.

"From the tree, sir. It pounced down from the tree, and that's how my brother died." The man, who spoke a little English, struggled to describe the leopard's killing of his brother. He hadn't witnessed it himself, but rather speculated based on the deceased's previous actions. "It took pleasure in killing humans..." Cheng Yijiu had this feeling. He'd slept for a few hours during the day, staying at the home of a local British tax official, where the conditions were actually quite good.

Every British official in India, especially those in more remote areas, lived like a local king, and this particular person was an example. This British colonial official, named Pierce, along with his wife and children, owned a three-story Victorian house with a garden and a glass house. This was the official residence built by previous tax collectors and served as the administrative center for the area. Although there was a two-story colonial office next door, Pierce preferred to handle government affairs and meet with his subordinates in the study of the official residence.

Cheng Yijiu, due to his education and the British pound, got along well with Pierce, so Pierce took the initiative to invite him to stay in the guest room of the official residence. Of course, in the small living room, Mrs. Pierce, little Pierce, and his sister also enjoyed listening to Cheng Yijiu's "stories." These were actually news from the outside world, as this place was a bit remote and the news was not very timely. Cheng Yijiu's knowledge was far more profound than that of most people of this era, so when they chatted, even Pierce would find excuses to skip work and come over to listen.

It's not some mysterious East. The Pierce family has lived in the British colonies in South Asia and Southeast Asia for more than ten years. Even the Qing government's affairs could not seem so strange to them. Cheng Yijiu joked with them that he had hunted man-eating bears in Japan and chased giant sharks on the coast of Chile in the South Pacific. He had seen monsters that had never been seen before - he could even describe them in detail and even clearly stated the place where he had found them.

This felt very real, especially since Cheng Yijiu occasionally talked about his story in Game of Thrones - of course, he told it from the perspective of an observer, and they thought it was a legendary story... It had been four days, and the leopard had not appeared, and there was no news of it attacking people elsewhere, and Cheng Yijiu was still waiting upstairs every night.

Chapter 3 Cunning

Time ticked by, and after several nights of waiting, they still hadn't seen their target. There had been no reports of the leopard elsewhere, and there had been no reports of a wild animal attacking anyone in four days. I'm afraid the news of a leopard attacking someone is no longer sensational.

In India, the tiger-leopard attack and eating poor San'er was never a hot news story. This leopard, which had killed hundreds of people, was even known only in parts of India—perhaps only the official authorities still kept statistics, and newspapers no longer put new attacks on their front pages. Cheng Yijiu had not received any official telegrams about other attacks.

He could only wait patiently in this place where the climate was relatively comfortable. "The scenery is beautiful." Standing on the cliff on the side of the official residence, he looked at the distant mountains and the beautiful skyline. There was no pollution from modern industry here. The villagers' main job was to cultivate the barren small plots of land and graze the sheep that were not much fatter than themselves.

Handmade plush products are the largest industry here, and leopards are one of their biggest enemies in the production process. The people here are relatively weak, and their weapons are primarily used to scare off leopards. At least six people have been dragged away from this village before, including men, women, and children, ranging from the youngest to three years old and the oldest to over forty.

It has to be said that large cats are almost the natural enemies of naked apes. Cheng Yijiu felt that, not to mention the three-year-old, at least if an adult man fought hard, an old male leopard might not be able to deal with one person. It can only be said that this leopard's hunting skills are superb. It just took a sneak attack and bit the neck and it was over.

On the sixth night, Cheng Yijiu's sixth night of reversing his day and night, he still held a lantern, with the shades covered to let in only a faint light, and waited on the rooftop with his rifle. There were dogs in the area, so he could occasionally hear a few barks at night. Interestingly, in almost all the villages attacked, there were no dog barking warnings at the time of the attack—no mention of barking in the reports.

Cheng Yijiu gazed at the silvery village beneath the moonlight. The quiet village was gradually shrouded in a soft veil—fog had risen. The hunter had a feeling that he might encounter his target tonight. "There's no room for supernatural forces to intervene here either." Cheng Yijiu's ointment was still useless; it seemed to only provide some protection against mosquito bites.

Cheng Yijiu moved carefully on the roof, staring at the leopard's previous movement route, hoping to see the long-awaited figure and then shoot it dead.

The fog was stirred by the wind flowing between the houses, as if some monster was threatening to attack from within. In the darkness, even Cheng Yijiu, with his night vision, found it difficult to discern what was within. Something seemed to be moving in the darkness. Cheng Yijiu grasped his rifle, half-crouched, and raised it to his eyes.

Something did suddenly rush out of the fog, and Cheng Yijiu almost shot it—if he hadn't recognized it as a dog in time. The hunter was relieved at first, but then Cheng Yijiu thought, "I didn't see any dogs running around the past few nights. It seems that the dogs here follow the same schedule as humans."

But he couldn't go down. He wouldn't necessarily get hurt if he jumped, but the problem was that once he did, he'd lose his overall perspective. In this shadowy darkness, going head-to-head with a man-eating leopard? Even if Cheng Yijiu had the guts to strangle a lion or fight a werewolf, he wouldn't risk it. Even if his current physical fitness and strength were at the peak of a human's, he still wouldn't want to do it.

It's not invulnerable. There are many places on the human body that can be killed with one blow. Otherwise, how did the tiger prey on the white-lipped buffalo? It would be by biting the mouth, nose or throat to suffocate it.

Cheng Yijiu simply focused more on the spot where the dog had escaped. As he watched intently, he could see something moving slowly in the darkness. He picked up the lantern. He pointed it at that spot and opened the shade. Suddenly, the reflector inside the lantern shone a bright beam of light, dispelling the darkness.

Cats have an unavoidable habit: when exposed to strong light in the dark, especially on their heads and faces, they instinctively freeze. This is why cats are often seen on roads. If a leopard were to stumble into the darkness, its first reaction would surely be to freeze, unless the light hit its hindquarters, which would prompt it to flee at high speed.

Unfortunately, there was nothing in the illuminated area, and Cheng Yijiu was a little disappointed. He stood up straight, picked up the lantern, and turned it, taking a rough look at all the shadows it could illuminate. "I hope this beast has no imagination, otherwise it would have run away. Alas, the IQ of big cats is not low..."

It looked like another night of failure. Suddenly, a scream erupted from the other side of the village, a shrill, piercing silence. No one dared to come out, except Cheng Yijiu, who leaped from the building without hesitation. He knew the route to that place; if the leopard wasn't planning to cross the village, it could only run in one direction.

I don't think Leopard is brave enough to drag a person into a head-on collision with Cheng Yijiu. Cheng Yijiu didn't bring a lantern, just ran over there with a rifle. When he arrived at the scene of the accident, he knew at a glance that only this house had its door open, and there was a man sitting inside crying. Cheng Yijiu just glanced at it and saw the open claw marks.

Following the direction of the paw prints, Cheng Yijiu began to chase. How far could it run with a person in tow? After chasing for about a hundred meters, he saw the body lying on the road. Cheng Yijiu slowed down his pace and focused his attention—it would be too embarrassing if the leopard ambushed him. Cheng Yijiu stretched his body, ready to deal with the leopard's sudden attack.

He had a gun in his hand. Even if he didn't have time to fire, he could at least block the attack. As long as he blocked the sneak attack, Cheng Yijiu was absolutely confident that he could suppress the leopard with human strength. Although cats were so good at fighting, humans were also capable of upright fighting. Not to mention they had knives. What was even more terrifying was the unique strangulation technique of humans, which was almost a sure kill for other vertebrates.

The leopard didn't attack until he approached the corpse. It was impossible for the leopard to eat the poor person in such a short time. In the moonlight, the lady looked almost uninjured. The only wound was on her neck - the leopard's hunting skills were very advanced, and its fangs cut off the woman's medulla oblongata nerve.

This is a very difficult hunting method, as one could easily break a tooth by biting into the hard spine if not careful. It's a technique only experienced hunters would employ. This elderly male leopard fits this description perfectly. Cheng Yijiu stood beside the corpse, gazing at his surroundings—a cliff on one side, a forest on the other, and shadows dividing everything in the moonlight.

Cheng Yijiu sighed and stepped aside, hoping to be able to shoot the leopard if it turned back to eat its prey. "I didn't expect it to change its direction this time." Recalling the village's topography, Cheng Yijiu couldn't help but think he was overconfident. He hadn't expected the leopard to change its hunting route and enter the village from the upwind direction.

Cheng Yijiu waited until dawn on a cliffside. He saw villagers running out of the village, shouting as they ran. The child in front of him shouted, "Sir! Sir! Second attack!" He stretched out his hand, made a "2" sign, and pointed towards the village. "What? Second attack?!" Cheng Yijiu was also shocked.

He returned to the village and found that it was indeed the second attack. After abandoning the victim of the first attack, the leopard returned to the village and took away the second victim. It opened the bolt and took away his eleven-year-old son in front of the villagers inside. Now the grieving parents were spreading their hands, expressing their extreme pain.

"How is it possible..." Even Cheng Yijiu found it hard to imagine that a leopard could be so courageous and cunning. It was very likely that it left Cheng Yijiu quickly, or it made a big circle away from Cheng Yijiu - of course, it was still unknown where it came from for the second attack. In short, it launched the second attack very close to Cheng Yijiu's ambush point.

Cheng Yijiu began examining the footprints outside the victim's home. The village ground had long been trampled, but there was still a lot of dust, much of it the ashes of firewood and coal. Cheng Yijiu followed the footprints that appeared and disappeared on the ground, and deduced the route the leopard had taken the second time it entered the village. "It's exactly the route I predicted before, damn it."

He had fully understood the leopard's behavior. When it discovered Cheng Yijiu was chasing it, it immediately abandoned its prey and circled around. It then spent some time observing or confirming that there were no other hunters before calmly hunting its second prey. As for the poor child, his body was now difficult to find.

After leaving the village, the leopard's footprints were difficult to find, and the dragging marks were also difficult to find - the child's body was relatively light, and it was very likely that the leopard could carry him to the tree... Cheng Yijiu looked at the tree, and there was no one stuck on the branches nearby. Maybe he was farther and higher, but at least he hadn't been found yet.

It should be said that there is not much left. This leopard may not have eaten for several days. This time it has enough time to eat. The child should not have much left. Cheng Yijiu felt frustrated. His previous hunting had been smooth sailing, but now he encountered a slightly cunning prey, which gave him a setback.

Revenge? He definitely wanted it. Cheng Yijiu decided to track the leopard carefully through the woods. Continuing to watch through the night might result in several days of fruitless activity, so he decided to follow the leopard's tracks. Starting from the last missing track, with that spot as the center, Cheng Yijiu began a spiral search, focusing on the ground, bushes, and tree trunks, hoping to find any trace of the leopard.

Cheng Yijiu gradually made his way deeper into the jungle, a complex landscape of rocky slopes, thickets, and trees typical of alpine forests. Tracking leopards in this terrain was no easy task, and in many cases, he had to rely on his intuition to guide him. On gravelly slopes, for example, Cheng Yijiu relied on his intuition.

Perhaps because they were once big cats, Cheng Yijiu's intuition seemed quite accurate when it came to tracking leopards. After crossing the gravel slope, he keenly noticed a few yellow hairs on the thorny bushes. They must be the hair of a leopard. There shouldn't be any Bengal tigers here, otherwise this elderly leopard might have been killed by a tiger.

But not far away was the spot where the Champa Watt tiger had been wreaking havoc. It was at a higher altitude, so tigers didn't come often. Unfortunately, the tracking was ultimately cut short by the stream. The leopard had likely traveled along the stream, and Cheng Yijiu's intuition couldn't tell him where it had gone.

He spread out the map, took out his compass, and surveyed the surroundings from a high point. "From the village, the straight-line distance is about ten kilometers, but this whole journey is at least twenty kilometers. And about five kilometers down here is another village. I think there was an attack there three months ago. Could this leopard go there?"

He couldn't be sure, because the leopard could easily reverse course—the cunning of such animals was unlike anything he'd ever seen, not counting supernatural creatures. Cheng Yijiu marked his route on the map with a pencil, then stood upright, staring at the forest and wasteland below in silence. He built a stove out of stones, gathered some dead branches and pine cones, lit it, and then opened a can of food, placed it in a cashew-shaped steel container, along with dry rice and water, and heated it over the fire.

Next to him was another cashew-shaped jar filled with water. Cheng Yijiu decided to make himself some cocoa. These things could effectively replenish calories and relieve his mood. After finishing this meal, he prepared to return to the original village. He still had no reason, only intuition, that the leopard would attack the village again.

At the same time, Cheng Yijiu had another premonition: he felt that he might not be able to see the leopard at all. He had a premonition that this mission would fail. "Damn it!" Cheng Yijiu cursed while eating. He always felt that the leopard was not far away from him, but Cheng Yijiu just couldn't catch it...

It would take less time to go back, so Cheng Yijiu chose to walk along the hillside where there were few trees. Although the terrain was more dangerous, it was safer than walking in the woods and worrying about the leopard jumping out of the trees to attack.

Chapter 4 Abnormal

After returning to the village, Cheng Yijiu rested for a day. That night was quiet, with no leopard attacks. The next day, Cheng Yijiu diligently surveyed the surroundings of the village. This time, he chose a different ambush location. "It's brutal, but it's the only way." He opted for a gamble—he set an ambush along the route most likely to lead the prey away, essentially using the villagers as bait.

Cheng Yijiu felt bad about this behavior, but this might be his only chance to shoot the leopard. Cheng Yijiu's ambush was high up in a tree. He once again secured himself with a rope, about six meters above the ground, in a tree with a clear view of the path leading directly from the village to the woods. If the leopard dragged its prey out, it wouldn't have many routes to travel, given its strength. This was the most likely route.

Because it has dragged its victims away from here twice.

The trees Cheng Yijiu chose had a good view, especially after dark, the bonfire made it almost shadowless. In order to prevent the leopard's attack, the villagers had built a bonfire, but this leopard was not afraid of fire... "The straight-line distance is only about twenty meters. If this leopard appears, it can definitely be shot down with one shot." Cheng Yijiu just waited. After a day and a night, the leopard might be hungry.

This leopard hunted many times purely for fun, killing humans as if it were playing. However, as is customary for cats, it would carry off its prey. This night was also fruitless, and the following night, Cheng Yijiu, leaning against a tree trunk as usual, felt a bit like he was dozing off. After so many days of ambushes, even if he caught up on sleep during the day, he couldn't avoid the onset of sleepiness at night. He unconsciously nodded his head, yawning from time to time.

With the rifle across his stomach, Cheng Yijiu tried to wake himself up, but it was no use. He kept his eyes open, watching the firelit road, but soon his mind lost its ability to comprehend. Sleep seized him, and Cheng Yijiu dropped his head and fell into a deep sleep. He didn't know how long he slept when he suddenly woke up with a start. Perhaps only a few minutes? Of course, it could have been hours. Cheng Yijiu glanced at the moon. Fortunately, it should have been more than ten minutes...

He didn't check his watch to see when he fell asleep, and it was already past one in the morning.

After being awake for about three minutes, Cheng Yijiu still inevitably fell asleep. This happened often in the afternoon, when he would doze off and on, only to suddenly wake up after a nap. In this situation, if the leopard attacked, Cheng Yijiu might not be able to react in time. The last time a similar situation occurred was when hunting a brown bear, Cheng Yijiu also fired the gun while almost watching from a sleepwalking state.

The leopard hadn't entered the village from here. If it had attacked someone and then left through some other route, their death would have been in vain—Cheng Yijiu's pursuit might have had only a 50% chance of success. Time ticked by, and Cheng Yijiu finally regained consciousness around three o'clock. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary in the village. Perhaps the leopard hadn't come today? "Time's running out," Cheng Yijiu thought, figuring he had a grudge against big cats.

Especially with the big cats in India, they had a grudge against the African cats, but they gave their lives very kindly, although it was a bit dangerous... Solitary tigers and leopards are indeed more difficult to deal with than lions.

Cheng Yijiu recalled every detail of his time here. Hunting truly requires patience and luck. "This leopard is indeed a bit difficult to deal with. Compared to last time, the tiger simply misjudged its location. If it had been ambushed, it would have been a one-shot kill." He doubted a tiger would try to turn around and attack again. Cheng Yijiu heard a dog barking nearby. No lights were on, no one came out, but the barking continued.

It was likely a leopard had swaggered in. Cheng Yijiu needed only seconds to untie the rope and slid down from the tree. "It's all numb," he cursed, limping towards the direction of the barking dog. If the leopard had taken its prey from here, it would have been impossible to escape him. As expected, the poor man was left in the center of the village. In the flickering firelight and the shining moonlight, Cheng Yijiu could only see a person lying on the ground with his limbs twisted.

But where is the leopard?

Where had the leopard gone, abandoning its victim? Every shadow here could be its hiding place. Cheng Yijiu's senses were certainly very strong, arguably among the best of humans. As he approached the deceased, he was also paying attention to where the leopard might be lurking. The villagers' doors should all be closed by now, so the leopard would have plenty of time to open them, giving Cheng Yijiu plenty of time to discover it. Cheng Yijiu waited for about three minutes and then began to actively patrol the entire village.

He wasn't particularly afraid of a leopard's sneak attack—after all, he was still the pinnacle of humanity, and his gun would surely be able to parry a leopard's throat-grabbing blow in the shortest possible time. As long as he wasn't immediately choked, a strong adult man like him could at least fight the leopard to a draw, or even kill it. However, Cheng Yijiu patrolled the village until dawn, and apart from the poor deceased, he found no trace of the leopard.

After he began patrolling, some brave villagers, seeing the old man with a gun and no fear of the murderous leopard, bravely went out with axes and other tools to help patrol, but they certainly didn't dare to be alone. The deceased was also buried at this time. The deceased's husband was also in great pain. The leopard had directly entered the house and dragged his wife away. Just as the sun rose and the villagers were about to start work, the commotion broke out again.

The villagers who stepped out of the village were ambushed. At dawn, a leopard suddenly swooped down from a tree outside and killed a child in a very short time. When Cheng Yijiu rushed over, the leopard had already escaped. Cheng Yijiu was so angry that he kicked the tree. "What's wrong with this guy? How can he hide in the tree and wait until people come out to work?" He followed the leopard again, completely ignoring his own situation.

This time, the time was short. Cheng Yijiu followed the leopard's footprints, striding through the woods with the agility and nimbleness of a large cat. The leopard soon strayed from its usual path—Cheng Yijiu could tell from its claw marks that it had climbed a tree, but there was nothing on the tree. "Damn it! That's not how a leopard moves!" The creature climbed up a tree and tried to throw off its pursuit by jumping from it.

Cheng Yijiu could only observe the branches in the direction they pointed, using a telescope to see if there were any claw marks or hair on the branches where the leopard had jumped or clung. It was difficult to tell, and there were many trees. This was only the first jump; the second and third jumps would have more trees. "I've never seen a leopard like this!" Cheng Yijiu almost threw the telescope.

Chapter 5 Punishment

Tracking it was impossible. By the time it had time to identify its tracks, the leopard would have already fled. Cheng Yijiu returned to the village. This time, the leopard's attack route and ambush location were completely different from the possible routes. Cheng Yijiu was unlucky and didn't win the 1/3 chance. Thinking back carefully, this beast attacks frequently. So, maybe Cheng Yijiu still has a chance?

"This time it was pure bad luck," Cheng Yijiu consoled himself. "This leopard is incredibly lucky, escaping time and time again." It wasn't a complete failure, just sheer luck. Cheng Yijiu let out a long sigh and returned to his lodgings. His first priority was to take a good bath and relax before starting over. He slept, then had dinner with his hosts and chatted for a while, particularly recounting the story of the Ice and Fire Continent.

He sensed that the hostess was intently memorizing the story, while the host had likely already written it down, perhaps editing it into an article and submitting it for publication. Cheng Yijiu didn't care. He wasn't from this world, and after he returned, wouldn't the book be abandoned? Perhaps the host could continue the story? Perhaps he himself was a rare master of popular literature.

Cheng Yijiu went out again with a rifle in hand. This time he stubbornly stayed on the original tree - the leopard did not eat a single bite of the person it killed in the morning. Cheng Yijiu felt that it would definitely continue to attack. Originally, the best way was to leave the corpse as bait, but seeing the pain of the deceased's family, Cheng Yijiu really couldn't do such a thing, so he had to let them die one more person.

It would be wrong for him to speak about this kind of thing, so it would be better for him not to say anything.

Besides, the leopard might enter through his route and he might see it and shoot it dead.

Sadly, after a night without any raids or spoils, Cheng Yijiu packed up and, as he opened the door to his cabin to rest, found himself in the living room. His back suddenly buckled. "What the hell is this?! Another penalty mission! I guess I have a grudge against the big cats of South Asia, right?" Cheng Yijiu wasn't frustrated; he was just a little angry—he'd actually been tricked by a leopard.

Now that the punishment was about to be carried out, he figured it would just be a transformation into a leopard. "At worst, I'll just trap those hunters to death." He hadn't seen that old leopard before, but was he also the unlucky one being punished? Judging by the nature of the punishment mission, he might just be a loser hunting man-eating leopards... "What a series of traps," Cheng Yijiu muttered.

He took a good bath, went back to the bedroom and had a good sleep, then had a good meal in the living room, and then walked out in a towel bathrobe - he was about to turn into a beast, and wearing a bathrobe was already a very shameful act.

As expected, just as Cheng Yijiu had predicted, he transformed into a large cat again. The golden stripes on his body were incredibly clear, and even with his legs tucked in, he was still a male leopard—presumably a young and robust one. Yes, Cheng Yijiu had indeed become a male leopard. After his body transformed into a leopard, his human mind became fragmented and slowed down considerably, with a mix of animalistic thoughts, just like the first time he transformed into a tiger.

Cheng Yijiu first had to figure out his location. He followed the ridgeline down into the valley and, not surprisingly, found a stream. The leopard then followed the stream and killed a muntjac along the way. When he was a tiger, Cheng Yijiu wasn't very good at catching wild animals, but now he could catch muntjacs just as well as a leopard, albeit a little clumsily.

Just like before, his senses were distracted while he ate. By the time Cheng Yijiu regained consciousness, he had already devoured the poor prey. After finishing his meal, he continued along the stream. Halfway along, the stream flowed into a pool and disappeared, becoming groundwater. Cheng Yijiu smelled the scent of human flesh near the pool. As he continued down the valley, he smelled the odor of severe decay. Following the scent, he saw, as expected, a human corpse.

The body was severely decomposed, covered in a denim jacket and jeans, lying face up on the ground. "Has the abdominal cavity collapsed? Has the internal organs rotted away?" The body had already become a skeleton, and not far away, Cheng Yijiu saw a motorcycle with a twisted front wheel. Even with his current IQ of no more than 80, he could tell it was a motorcyclist who had probably gotten off the road and gotten off...

As he thought of this, the leopard looked up. Although blocked by the treetops, he could hear the faint sound of an engine, suggesting a road. Cheng Yijiu, a leopard, certainly wouldn't chew on a rotten bone. He simply began to climb the steep mountainside, using his nimble body to peer up and peer at the road above. It was indeed a two-lane mountain road, with a sign at the turn, indicating traffic.

Cheng Yijiu immediately knew his location from the license plate; he was now in Hebei Province. That made things simple. The body he'd been given as punishment was definitely a North China leopard. Comparing its size with that of the dead man had given Cheng Yijiu a rough idea—this leopard, like the tiger from back then, was large and in excellent health, likely measuring two and a half meters from nose to tail.

It was about the same size as a South China tiger, but probably not as sturdy. Cheng Yijiu figured the requirements for all punishment missions were the same: don't get caught. So he quickly retreated and dove back into the jungle. The leopard turned around and headed back, but unfortunately, its brain wasn't working very well, so it had no idea where it was in Hebei. Its initial guess was the Taihang Mountains.

In the Taihang Mountains, scientists had established a research site equipped with infrared cameras, something Cheng Yijiu wouldn't have noticed. He quickly moved across the mountainside, sniffing out wild boars—the mountain's various ungulates were prey for leopards, tigers, and other carnivores at the top of the food chain. Hunting humans? Cheng Yijiu wouldn't have done such a thing immediately.