By the time Ken reached the village, it was already past eight in the evening.
His original plan had been to check out the tree mentioned in the post first, to confirm whether the creature the poster had seen was the mutated giant eagle. He intended to have the car that brought him wait for a while, and then head to the nearby town to find a hotel or inn for the night. He planned to continue his search in the mountains the next day.
But after night fell, Ken changed his mind.
He had suddenly realized that his vision had undergone a significant enhancement, or rather, a mutation. In low light, he could now switch to a new mode of vision. It was as if an extra "lens" had been placed over his retina, instantly transforming the dim surroundings into a sharp and clear view. It was even clearer than the images from night-vision goggles he had seen in movies or on television.
However, what he saw in this mode was not the same as normal vision. There were no colors—everything appeared in varying shades of black and white, or more precisely, light and dark. But this mode allowed him to easily distinguish moving objects and their distance with exceptional clarity.
This wasn't just a simple enhancement to his vision; it was an entirely new mode.
Ken knew this wasn't due to his training or his controlled mutation—he was almost certain it was because he had consumed the mutated giant eagle's blood.
He had read in some research that owls and other birds of prey had exceptional night vision, and now, with this ability, Ken could move freely in the mountains at night. Many tasks that would normally require daylight were now possible to do under the cover of darkness.
When he arrived at the village, Ken decided to send the car back and continue alone. Most of the young people in the village had left for the city to work or study, and only the elderly remained. There were no streetlights in the village, and unless something special was happening, people tended to go to bed early. The roads were quiet.
Ken wasn't disturbed as he quietly made his way to the largest tree at the village entrance, the one the poster had mentioned.
Although Ken had never climbed a tree before, it wasn't an issue given his current physical condition. In no time, he was up the tree, switching to his normal vision mode and using a flashlight to carefully check the location where the "shadow" had been seen.
He wasn't struggling to see in the dark, but some traces required color differentiation and strong light to reveal finer details.
After searching for about twenty minutes, Ken found the claw marks he was looking for. He knew that if the "shadow" the poster had seen a month ago was indeed the mutated giant eagle, then the size of the eagle, combined with its enlarged, sharp claws, would leave deep claw marks, especially on thicker branches.
Though the scent of the eagle had dissipated over the past month, the claw marks were still there.
Finding the marks made Ken feel more confident. His initial analysis and gut instinct hadn't been wrong—this trip hadn't been in vain.
After coming down from the tree, Ken took out his phone and checked the map app to observe the surroundings of the village.
In fact, Ken had already done some research on the way here. While the village was situated in the mountains, it was far from being in a remote wilderness. The nearest town was just a forty-minute drive away, and the roads were in good condition, with traffic coming and going. The village was likely just a temporary stop for the giant eagle after leaving its original habitat.
There was no trace of the eagle's scent here, and Ken had no intention of starting to track it from this spot.
The map showed that the area to the east and south of the village led to increasingly flat plains and urbanized areas. The further north one went, the more mountainous it became, but even after crossing the mountains, the region was still populated. It was only to the west that the forests became denser, the terrain less developed, and the land eventually led into the neighboring province.
Ken speculated that the area where the eagle had lived was likely in that western region.
Not wanting to waste time, Ken didn't look for a place to rest for the night. Instead, he decided to head west into the mountains right away. With his backpack on, he set off into the night.
Inside the backpack, Ken carried two sets of extra clothes, a few pairs of socks and underwear, a power bank, a flashlight with extra batteries, a Swiss Army knife, and a water bottle.
For someone who enjoyed wilderness survival, this might seem insufficient. Many basic necessities were missing. But for Ken, this was enough.
Thanks to his newly discovered night-vision ability, Ken didn't even need the flashlight while traveling at night. He didn't always follow the path; instead, he would stop occasionally to climb higher trees or any other elevated spot, using the better vantage point to observe his surroundings.
He used the surrounding scenery to compare with the images from the eagle's memory, trying to trace its path and find any traces of its past presence.
The next day, August 16th at 2 PM, a bald-headed backpacker was running at full speed along a mountain road.
He wasn't just running on the road; at sharp bends, he even jumped down from above to cut across the path.
The height of the jumps was at least the equivalent of two stories, but after landing with a roll to absorb the impact, he continued to run at full speed.
If anyone saw this, they would be astonished—not only by his running speed but also by the fact that the man was running barefoot.
This man, of course, was Ken. Five days after he entered the deep mountains alone, he had decided to end his journey and return home.
Although Ken had spent only four and a half days in the mountains—about 110 hours—he was no ordinary person. He hadn't stopped to rest, sleeping or eating as most people would. His 110 hours were spent in constant motion, using every second to its fullest. He didn't need to find food, cook, or sleep, nor did he have to find a place to relieve himself. So, in terms of effective time usage, he likely accomplished more in those 110 hours than most people could in 15 days.
His shoes were completely worn out, and though he had brought a spare set of clothes, he hadn't packed extra footwear. As a result, he was walking barefoot, and his feet were covered in cuts and bruises, but his rapid healing abilities made it less of an issue. He simply saw it as a form of targeted training for healing wounds.
Over these four and a half days, Ken had found many traces of the giant eagle—mostly claw marks left behind in various places. Based on the memory images he had, he even found a carcass of a wild animal that had been killed by the eagle, with marks showing the deadly power of its claws.
Ken had also discovered the eagle's mutated nest—a cave in a cliff face.
He was able to determine the eagle's hunting and survival range, as many of the surroundings matched the scenes in the memory images.
Unfortunately, he hadn't found any clues as to why the eagle had mutated.
Additionally, Ken had hunted a few wild animals in the mountains. Though he only had a Swiss Army knife, he could manage to catch smaller animals like rabbits or wild chickens, though hunting larger animals like wild boars was harder.
Ken mostly tested the blood of these wild animals, comparing it to the blood of farm-raised animals bought at the market. He only licked a small amount, not daring to drink too much in case it triggered a sleep response.
The results were clear—there was no difference between the wild animals' blood and that of farm animals.
But despite that, Ken's time in the mountains had not been a total waste.