radicalducati Chapter 50 Monitoring Area
Chapter 50 Monitoring Area
When dawn broke, Chen Fei was no longer on the sandstone platform.
He was lying behind a low rock formation on the northwest side of the territory, east of the edge of the protected organization's monitoring area.
This location is about one kilometer from the conservation organization's camp and about eight hundred meters from the point where the survey team's pressure instrument data showed anomalies yesterday.
A straight line connects two points.
That straight line passes right through the core area of the protection organization's monitoring zone.
He needs to leave something behind on this line.
Some survey teams' equipment will be interested in, will track, and will move northwest along this line.
He took four steps on the sand beside the rocks, with the heat intensity of normal walking, and pressed in slightly deeper than a normal adult male lion, but less than half the depth of the three unusually deep claw marks.
This depth range would be classified as "known individuals with abnormally large body size" in the survey team's database, rather than "unexplained outliers".
Give them something to chase.
But don't let them catch up with you.
He left a set of paw prints every thirty meters or so along the northwest-direction line, for a total of six sets.
The last group stopped about 150 meters inward from the eastern edge of the protected organization's monitoring area.
The sixth set of claw marks ended at a patch of trampled tall grass, with the broken stems pointing northwest, simulating the traces of a large individual entering the depths of the monitored area from here.
Chen Fei did not actually go inside.
He circled around the sixth set of claw marks, retreated back to the rock formation, lay down there, and waited.
[Host: Chen Fei]
[Identity: Sub-adult male lion]
[Energy Points: 874↑]
It took the investigation team about an hour to reach the point where the pressure instrument data was abnormal.
Chen Fei, behind the rock formation, used his exceptional long-range vision to monitor their movements.
Two cars were parked on the east side of the acacia grove. Five people got out of the cars and walked with their equipment toward the upwind position where he had stood the day before.
They found the indentation he left and began taking measurements.
The measurement took longer this time than yesterday.
One of them scanned the pressure analyzer in the same spot more than three times, glancing at the screen after each scan before scanning again.
Confirm repeatedly.
This shows that the data they obtained was so stable that they couldn't believe it.
This time, the person with the notebook wasn't just recording; he started drawing, some kind of diagram. Chen Fei's superhuman vision allowed him to see the pen strokes on the paper, but he couldn't make out the content.
It's probably trying to reconstruct the position, orientation, and estimated weight of that stationary individual from yesterday.
After finishing the drawing, he showed the sketchbook to the person next to him. The person looked down at it for a while and then pointed in the northwest direction.
northwest.
They discovered a line of claw marks left by Chen Fei.
The person who discovered the connection was walking at the front, their pace faster than before, driven by an irrepressible urge to push forward when a clue has been found.
Investigative work is sometimes like hunting; once you find the scent, you accelerate.
Chen Fei, behind the rock, turned his ear slightly to the northwest.
There was no movement in the direction of the protection organization's camp; their patrol vehicles had not yet set off, and they were usually having breakfast at this time.
In another twenty minutes, the investigation team will enter the edge of the monitored area.
The conservation organization has a camera stake every two hundred meters or so along the edge of the monitored area. These are waterproof cameras fixed to tree trunks or rocks, operating around the clock and transmitting images back to the camp in real time.
The moment the investigation team entered the monitored area, two off-road vehicles equipped with antennas and armed personnel appeared on the protection organization's screen.
They will set off immediately.
This didn't require Chen Fei to do anything extra; it was the result of the agreement and the boundaries of responsibility between the two human groups being automatically triggered.
He just needs to wait.
Big Head appeared on the west side of the rock formation at this time.
This was arranged by Meimei.
Meimei, leading Datou on a short morning patrol, reached the vicinity of the rock formations and spotted Chen Fei's presence. Meimei stopped, glanced in Chen Fei's direction, and made a gesture that Chen Fei had seen several times in the past few weeks: lowering her head, tilting it to the side, and tucking the tip of her tail down.
This is a signal from the lioness to her companions to remain low and in ambush during a coordinated hunt.
She was waiting for Chen Fei's response.
Chen Fei peeked half his head out from behind the rock, glanced northwest, and then looked at Meimei.
Meimei looked northwest, took a sniff, smelled fuel, and lowered her body.
Big Head sniffed next to Mei Mei, then lowered his body even lower than Mei Mei, almost lying on the ground, with his two front paws stretched straight forward, ready to pounce at any moment, his head buried so that only his two ears were showing above the grass.
Its target direction was not northwest, but due north, deviating by nearly ninety degrees.
To the due north is a Thomson's gazelle grazing.
The gazelle was about sixty meters away from Big Head, its head down, completely unaware of him.
Chen Fei glanced at Big Head, then at the gazelle.
He paused in the direction of the big head, then gestured with his chin toward the northwest.
Big Head's ears twitched, and he raised his head from the grass, looking northwest and then due north, pausing for a moment on the gazelle.
Then it sighed, retracted its front paws, and lowered its body to the northwest.
This time we're on the right track.
Meimei's tail tip twitched slightly, but Chen Fei noticed it and didn't say anything.
Three big cats lay near the rocks; two were looking northwest, while one kept a close eye on the gazelle out of the corner of its eye, unwilling to give up completely.
The survey team passed the fourth set of paw prints and then the fifth set, advancing at an increasingly faster pace.
The leader had already entered the transition zone between the acacia grove and the low rocky area.
The screen of the device in his hand reflected the morning light, and you could see him taking real-time readings, pausing every now and then to check his direction.
He was tracking the data connection for the depth of heat flow penetration.
This line was pulling him along without him even realizing it, but he had already entered the edge of the protected organization's surveillance zone.
It is about forty meters away from the first camera post.
Chen Fei turned his ear to the northwest. From the protection organization's camp, he could hear the low-frequency vibrations of a vehicle starting up, coming from four kilometers away across the grassland. It was subtle, but clear.
Their breakfast ended early.
The leader of the investigation team walked past the fifth set of paw prints, squatted down in front of the sixth set of paw prints, measured and recorded, looked up and saw the tall, fallen grass, the broken stems pointing towards the depths of the monitored area.
He stood up and took two steps deeper into the area.
The first camera was on a rock eighteen meters to his right, with the camera pointed directly at him.
Big Head ultimately couldn't completely give up on the gazelle.
It lay there in the northwest direction for about seven minutes, then quietly turned its head back to due north, stared at the gazelle for half a minute, and made a decision.
It got up, lowered its waist, and began to move in the due north direction. Its steps were very light, with its weight on its right side and its left shoulder lowered. Its stealthy posture was much more orderly than it had been three months ago. It was no longer wandering around randomly, but was consciously using the grass to cover its body.
Chen Fei did not stop it.
He watched as Big Head disappeared into the grass, his super vision switching to the gazelle.
The gazelle was still grazing with its head down, about fifty meters away from where Big Head was. The wind was from the southwest, and Big Head was downwind of the gazelle, so its breath wouldn't reach him.
This is a good choice of location.
Big Head slithered for about thirty meters, then stopped behind a clump of tall grass, crouched down again, and pressed his head below the height of the grass blades.
We were about 20 meters away from the gazelle.
Twenty meters is a reasonable distance for an adult lioness to launch a sprint, but Big Head is not yet an adult and his explosive power is much weaker. Moreover, the reaction speed of a gazelle is faster than that of a wildebeest, so twenty meters may still be too far for him.
He stopped there, but did not pounce.
I just lay there, staring at the gazelle, and held back.
Meimei's ears turned slightly toward her big head, but didn't move.
The gazelle took a bite of grass, raised its head, looked around, saw nothing unusual, and then lowered its head again.
Big Head lay motionless in the grass, his ears pressed against the ground.
The protection organization's vehicle has arrived.
Chen Fei's exceptional long-range vision brought the scene from the northwest closer.
The two vehicles, faster than the survey team's car, kicked up a cloud of dust on the grassland and headed straight for the edge of the monitoring area!