Epoch of Twilight

Chapter 226: Observation & Decision

Translator: Insignia Editor: Svjohn

Luo Yuan told his team about the incident and everyone decided to leave the cave temporarily just as he expected. As he had requested for everyone to pack their things before he left, their luggage were already nicely packed and they quickly escaped after the fourth attack.

The giant lizard began to move forward after receiving Luo Yuan’s instruction. The further ahead they went, the more the safe cave that housed them became blur from their vision. Everyone felt a little anxious and depressed.

It was a common trait of survivors at the end of the world. Today you find a new place to stay and get comfortable but it is possible that you are forced to leave for a safer place tomorrow and will need to leave all your resources behind. You will need to look for the resources again when you arrive at a new place. It is a helpless situation but they have no choice.

The lush greenery blocked the Sun but also prevented them from checking the sky as they traveled back to their original base after 1.5 hours. Everyone felt secure again to return to a familiar place. However, they were just 30-40 km away from the cave and that was not considered a safe spot. Despite that, none of them wanted to flee to another foreign place with an unpredictable risk. In the end, they felt that the cave was a much safer location for them so the group decided to return.

…

Three days had passed now and everyone gave up their daily activities to avoid attracting the attention of the giant bird. The weather was getting hotter and the cave was tightly sealed. It felt like a sauna due to the bad ventilation. Not to mention the awful smell inside. Luckily, they brought enough water, hence they could still survive.

They only came out to get some fresh air and eat some food. The giant bird continued to attack in intervals but it was much less frequent compared to the first day. Sometimes, there were completely no attacks and other times it attacked vigorously.

The giant bird seemed to be suspicious of them as they have not appeared for a long time. At the beginning, the bird used to fly 10,000 meters above the ground and hardly exposed itself. However, it started flying nearer to the ground lately and it even lingered above the cave a few hours a day. However, it did not expect Luo Yuan and the rest to be collecting data and information regarding its behavior.

Luo Yuan was hiding in the branches of a big tree which were located about 10 km away to observe the giant bird. Of course, other than watching the giant bird, Luo Yuan also observed the Wisdom Tree. Due to the excessive nutrients from the surrounding carcasses, the Wisdom Tree was growing at an insane speed. It grew so much taller in just three days and even the color of the tree trunk had changed. Seems like it was going to evolve very soon! At the same time, the wisdom fruits began to ripen in a large scale and they had a very good fragrance.

It was scary for a tree to be able to eat. Luo Yuan saw a few mutated beasts trying to go close to the Wisdom Tree, but they ended up being trapped and killed.

The giant bird had finally lost its patience that day after circulating the area for a while. It did not fly to a higher altitude but threw a giant rock which was about a few tons in weight towards the cliff. It realized what it was doing over the past few days made no difference. The giant rock hit the cliff with a "boom" sound and caused the wall of the cliff to crack. A giant rock rolled down the cliff and hit the walkway of another cliff which caused a big hole.

The giant bird waited for a few minutes and then vented in frustration as it did not see anyone of them injured. It then flew away. Luo Yuan watched it go away and then jumped down from the tree when he was sure it had disappeared. Based on his experience, the bird would not come back again today.

He touched and felt the tree trunk as he has left some markings there. The sign was similar to the one he made yesterday after observing the direction the bird flew. He compared the signs and realized the giant bird was flying in the same direction when it left over the past two days. Luo Yuan predicted that its nest is in the direction where it kept flying to. It would not fly in the same direction if it was hunting for food as the possibility of finding a new prey was too low.

He said in his mind, "I believe the bird will land sometimes no matter how high it flies. That’s its weakness. Besides that, its nest couldn’t be too far away based on the area of its activity."

When the giant bird attacked on the first day, the frequency was about once every 20 minutes. That included the time it took to find a big rock and fly up to a high altitude to drop the rock. It also included the time it took to find a new rock which Luo Yuan assumed is somewhere near its nest. Thus, it was only 10 minutes each way and it probably found the huge rock somewhere nearby as it would not have any interest in getting a huge rock from somewhere further before it attacked.

The mutated bird could fly very fast but it was still slower than the speed of sound. It was about two-thirds of the speed of sound which is about seven times faster than Luo Yuan. If the giant bird needed 10 minutes to reach its nest then Luo Yuan would need about 70 minutes to get there too. However, it might end up taking two hours if he took his current physical condition into account. Also, considering that the nest might be further away than the place where the bird found its huge rocks, then he might need even longer to find the nest.

There was one more important thing which is that birds are always sensitive and flexible. It will be extremely difficult to kill it if he misses the chance. Luo Yuan has been keeping "The Horn of The Green Hidden Creature". He should be able to trick the giant bird with the help of the invisible capabilities from the Green Hidden Creature and light movements.

His head was spinning while analyzing every single possibility. A four-meter long grasshopper-like insect was hiding behind a tree trunk. It silently approached Luo Yuan. Its body looked exactly like the tree trunk.

Its sharp and furious mouth was opening and closing repeatedly while its shiny eyes were clearly reflecting Luo Yuan’s image. It was attracted to Luo Yuan’s flesh.

However, the creature was being very careful as it could sense danger which made it hesitate for a while. It continued to observe patiently but it finally lost its mind as it did not want to wait any longer. Its rear limbs stomped on the tree trunk and its entire body leaped down from the branch.

Suddenly, a beam of silver light flashed when it jumped into the air. The carcass immediately dropped to the ground and was split into two.

Luo Yuan decided to return to the base first after some deep thought. As it was still early for them to depart, they should get the necessary tools prepared and find the nest at night.

After a while, a brave mutated beast carefully approached the carcass. Its ears were moving and its eyes were observing its surroundings. It quickly bit on the insect's head and ran away. Soon, there were more mutated beasts visiting the place until every single bit of flesh from the carcass was eaten.

An hour later, the entire place was so clean that it looked like nothing had happened there.