Ken replayed the two intense battles he had with the mutated giant eagle in his mind.
The first encounter by the lake was a skirmish. Although the eagle had the upper hand initially, it couldn't exactly be called a surprise attack, since Ken had already locked onto its scent and had time to react.
In terms of response, Ken had done nothing wrong. After dodging the first pounce, he didn't continue running and exposing his back to the eagle. Instead, he chose to fight up close, using brute strength to overpower the eagle. Although he had lost the initiative and was caught off guard, he still managed to fend off the eagle by exchanging injuries.
The second encounter, in the mountains, was Ken taking the initiative. He even bled intentionally to lure the mutated eagle into attacking. When the eagle swooped down from above, Ken seized the opportunity, leaping through the eagle's claws, grabbing it, and stabbing it in the eye with a screwdriver.
It seemed risky, but in reality, Ken's exceptional dynamic vision allowed him to accurately judge the eagle's movements. Knowing that the eagle's eye injury hadn't healed yet, Ken was confident that it would impact its vision, causing delays and misjudgments. This gave Ken a higher chance of success.
Summarizing the experience, Ken concluded:
Dynamic vision needed to be strengthened. It was vital in direct combat and when facing danger, as it played a crucial role in decision-making and reactions.
Strength needed improvement, but flexibility, speed, and jumping ability should not be neglected. Balancing strength training with flexibility, agility, and running speed was essential to avoid becoming too bulky and slow.
His earlier judgment about combat techniques was accurate. For him now, most established fighting techniques were not very useful because they were designed for normal human bodies. He didn't need to participate in competitions or fights in a ring. In a life-and-death situation like last night's, speed, power, and precision were more important than any technique. However, that didn't mean he should discard all techniques—he still needed to summarize and learn, finding methods suited to his body to maximize his physical abilities.
When facing mutated predators like the giant eagle, it was crucial to avoid brute force and not show weakness. Once their weaknesses were identified, he had to strike hard and decisively, being fiercer and more ruthless than them.
Reflecting on the two battles with the eagle, Ken realized that aside from the initial shock of seeing the eagle's appearance, he hadn't felt fear during the encounters. Whether it was fighting back at the lake or making the leap in the mountains to stab the eagle, he felt excitement, but no fear or terror.
The wounds inflicted by the eagle hurt, but that pain actually exhilarated him, even making him feel stronger. The more it hurt, the sharper his mind became. After the pain subsided and the wounds healed, it gave him a feeling similar to the satisfaction after long-distance running or intense workouts.
He realized he had begun to enjoy the high-stakes combat, the thrill of being on the edge of life and death. This was likely a result of his mutation, as he had always been cautious in the past—perhaps even a little timid.
This realization struck him like a warning bell. He needed to monitor his emotions carefully. When facing danger, he had to be ruthless, aggressive, and willing to fight. But in everyday life, he needed to restrain himself to avoid being consumed by a bloodlusting, combative mindset.
Next, Ken spent a few hours organizing the memory fragments he had obtained from the mutated giant eagle's recollections.
The memory fragments spanned at least four seasons, suggesting the eagle had been mutated for about a year.
In these fragments, the eagle had killed and drunk the blood of 213 different creatures. If Ken used himself as a reference, that meant the eagle had likely undergone at least 213 mutations—there could be more memories he hadn't accessed.
The cities the eagle had passed through included some familiar locations in his own city, but also a rural town or village it passed through when it left the deep mountains. Although there were no obvious landmarks or store names in the memories, Ken could make out some car license plates with Chinese characters and letters, which indicated that it was a neighboring city.
Ken remembered a post he had found online after the eagle attacked him by the lake. The post had come from a forum in a rural county of a neighboring city.
So, Ken tracked down the post and sent the author a private message, pretending to be a journalist from a news website and asking to interview him. He then searched the author's username, location, and other details online, eventually finding his Weibo account. Ken confirmed the author's home was in a village in the neighboring city.
After receiving a new phone from JD.com in the afternoon, Ken immediately went out, took the bus to the station, and bought a ticket to the neighboring city.
Upon arriving at the city station, Ken transferred to another bus to reach the town where the forum poster lived.
During the ride, Ken received a reply from the poster, but the person clearly didn't believe Ken was a reporter and thought he was a scammer.
Ken didn't waste time. He simply asked the person to send a phone number so he could top it up with 100 yuan as an "interview bonus," promising further rewards for the interview.
The person, still skeptical, sent a number, and immediately after, Ken topped it up.
When Ken called, he inquired about the details of the sighting and asked the person to specify which tree the "shadowy figure" was seen standing on.
The person answered all of Ken's questions in detail, then, curiously, asked, "Which news site are you from? Why are you so interested in my post? It didn't get much attention—only a few comments and views."
Ken casually replied, "I'm from UC News. We're doing a special on rural mysteries, so we're gathering stories like yours that have real-life sources and personal experiences. I found your post online and thought it could be interesting. This story is real, right?"
"Of course, it's real! By the way, what's the other reward you mentioned?" the poster asked, intrigued.
Ken reassured him, "Don't worry. After I submit the story for approval, if it's approved, I'll request a face-to-face interview with you, and there will be a decent fee for that."
After hanging up, Ken was already at the town's bus station. He quickly hailed a cab and headed to the village the poster mentioned.
After speaking with the poster and hearing his description, Ken was almost certain that the "shadowy figure" seen on the tree was the mutated giant eagle. When the car took the winding mountain road toward the village, Ken grew even more convinced—he had seen this road in the eagle's memory, though from an aerial perspective.
Ken's plan was simple: he wanted to find the eagle's original habitat and see if he could uncover clues about its mutation or find other creatures like it.