In the morning, they set off again.
They were now deep in the heart of the forest. They could not leave the forest easily, no matter if they moved forward or backward.
The herd of red deer was still following Zhang Zian, about 20 meters behind. The head deer staggered in front, and the rest followed leisurely, focusing on finding salt grains in the soil and grass.
After a midnight rest, the head deer had recovered some strength. Although it still could not run, at least it could walk.
At first, Zhang Zian used salt to attract the deer to see the status of the prion infection. There were no signs of infection or disease, so he did not need to continue to attract them. However, he found that the deer had a talent for finding water, which was very important in the forest. Even if he stopped sprinkling salt, the deer did not seem to intend to leave.
The injured head deer stared back from time to time as it walked — not at the deer behind it, but at something further away.
Zhang Zian looked with binoculars, but he could only see the dense forest.
"What is it looking at?" Old Time Tea also noticed this problem.
"I don't know."
Zhang Zian shook his head, but there was a faint worry in his heart. Could it be that the black bear held a grudge and had been quietly following them, waiting for an opportunity to retaliate?
It was possible.
The territory of a male adult black bear was dozens of square kilometers wide. The black bear had left its nest for a day or two, probably to hunt, patrol the territory, or find a female bear to mate. For it, Zhang Zian was an abominable intruder. Not only did he cause it great pain, but he also stole its food. It was inevitable that it would hold a grudge.
It was afraid of the power of the anti-bear spray and did not dare to attack again. Instead, it followed far behind, waiting for an opportunity to move.
As an old rival in the forest, the leading deer might have some kind of intuition. It knew that the black bear was following them, so it led the herd to follow Zhang Zian because it felt that he could easily defeat the black bear and protect the herd.
What could Zhang Zian do? He was also desperate. Whether it was the deer or the black bear, they could follow him if they wanted to. Anyway, he would not stay in the forest for too long.
The mixed news was that after dawn, the fog gradually dissipated, revealing a cloudy sky. The sun still could not be seen, but at least the visibility had improved.
Last night, his attention was all on the black bear and he did not pay much attention to the movement of the elfin. At this time, through the electronic map, he found that the elfin was closer. It had been wandering somewhere and did not continue to run.
Famous found Mike's scent again and continued to track it.
Mike did not walk in a straight line, but more like an S shape. In order to maximize the search area in the forest, Zhang Zian could only follow his route to avoid losing him.
The spotted owl and Richard were standing side by side on top of his backpack, dozing off. Zhang Zian also wanted to doze off. He had slept too little last night, and he could barely keep his eyes open. However, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue walking, striving to leave this black bear's territory as soon as possible. Although this often meant entering the territory of another black bear, he had no enmity with other black bears.
After walking for the whole morning, Zhang Zian's backpack gradually lightened, and he adapted to the way of walking in the forest. He could vaguely feel where it was easy to walk and where it was difficult to walk. He could also avoid some hidden pits that were covered by dead leaves, unlike the previous two days.
Even so, because of the twists and turns of the route, he did not go very far in a straight line through the forest.
After lunch, they continued on their journey.
As they walked, the spotted owl, which had been standing quietly on top of the backpack, suddenly became agitated. It opened its wings, howled on top of the backpack, and turned around anxiously.
Richard was squeezed to the edge of the backpack like a bullied wife. If it was squeezed again, it would fall off the backpack.
"Quack! I am a tiger that has fallen from grace. Don't go too far, you owl! "It shouted fiercely, but its body kept retreating.
Zhang Zian did not know what was going on, but he felt that the two birds on the backpack were tossing and turning. He told Richard to be quiet and not to bully the newcomer.
Richard was indignant. It was obviously being bullied.
After walking for another ten minutes, Zhang Zian suddenly felt that the backpack was a little lighter. At the same time, he heard Richard shout happily, "Quack! This freeloader has finally left! You know what's good for you. Remember not to appear in front of me in the future! "
Zhang Zian turned around and looked up. He saw that the spotted owl had landed on a horizontal branch next to him.
He had checked its injury this morning. The burn had not completely healed. When he tried to pull its injured wing, it would nervously retract its wing, but the other side was fine, so he guessed that the wound was still painful.
"We have to keep going," he said to it, pointing to the front. He said it twice, and stretched out his arm to pat the top of the backpack, signaling it to come back.
It turned its head and looked around, still holding the branch with its claws. It had no intention of returning to the backpack.
Zhang Zian waited for two or three minutes. He took it as a break, but he could not wait forever. He could only wave goodbye to it. "Okay, see you. Be careful in the future."
Richard was finally able to monopolize the throne on top of the backpack, and it kept urging him to hurry up.
While he was resting, Famous did not rest. It ran in front to explore the road. At this time, it trotted back and said, "There are signs of people in front."
"Oh?" Zhang Zian was shocked. He did not know what to feel.
He had been in the forest for almost three days. Because he did not take the officially recommended hiking route, he did not see anyone along the way. Logically speaking, when he heard signs of people, he should be happy as if he had met an old friend in a foreign land. But who would appear in the depths of the forest?
"Is it Megan?" he asked.
Famous shook its head. "It's the smell of a lot of people, and a lot of animals. There's even a very strong smell of gasoline, oil, and... the smell of blood."
He was stunned for a moment, and then immediately reacted. "It's a slaughterhouse!"
The only place in the forest that could meet these conditions was probably a slaughterhouse.
Could it be...
He looked up at the spotted owl again. Could it be that this little guy was injured by the slaughterhouse's electric fence?
If a slaughterhouse built in the forest did not have an electric fence, there would definitely be a lot of carnivores and scavengers attracted by the smell of blood, which would cause a lot of trouble and threat to the equipment and employees of the slaughterhouse.
No wonder it refused to move forward. It probably recognized the nearby terrain and knew that the electric fence that hurt it was in front of it. It still remembered the pain of being electrocuted, so it was too scared to move forward. Even if its injury was not healed, it did not want to stay on his backpack.
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