Chapter Seventy-Nine [Isolation]

“Keep searching!” Chen Xiao gritted his teeth. “All the girls stay where you are and gather together! Leave two staff members here just in case! Everyone else keep looking, but remember, no one is to go off alone! At least two people per team! Keep the radios open!”

“Could it be... a prank?” one of the female attendants could not help asking.

Xu the Second glanced at her, then at Chen Xiao. “No... We know Xiao Jin’s character. Everyone’s already in a panic; he wouldn’t make a joke like that.”

This time, when they went out to search, Yaya and four of the female attendants stayed behind, along with one male security guard. The others went out and spent a full half hour searching, before everyone returned to the gathering point.

“Huh? Where are Wang and the others?” one of the female attendants cried out.

“Yes, where are Wang and the others?”

The “Wang” they were talking about was one of the island staff, a male attendant. When the search began, he had teamed up with another island worker from the plumbing and electrical crew. But now, neither of them had come back.

“Their radios are off,” one security guard said uneasily.

All of the island staff wore walkie-talkies. According to the guard’s recollection, everyone had been in contact during the search; the last time he had spoken with Wang and the other man was about ten minutes ago.

“At the time, he said they were on the hillside...”

Before the guard could finish, Chen Xiao had already spun around and bolted toward the hillside.

Xiao Qing shouted to Xu the Second, “We can’t split up anymore! Everyone gather together! Call the police!”

Then Xiao Qing also raced after Chen Xiao.

The hillside lay to the north of the island. It was only a low rise, and the bare summit had no trees at all. A signal tower had been installed there, allowing the island to receive mobile phone coverage as well as satellite television.

Chen Xiao and Xiao Qing reached the summit one after the other. The area was not large. Aside from the metal signal tower standing several meters high in front of them, there were no visual obstructions at all, only a few rocks on the crest. There were no trees, and not even a blade of grass.

“No one’s here.” Chen Xiao frowned and looked at Xiao Qing beside him. “Did you find anything?”

Xiao Qing’s face was dark. Suddenly she lifted her nose and sniffed. “Do you smell anything?”

Chen Xiao inhaled sharply, and his expression changed. He quickly walked to the metal tower. In the beam of his flashlight, he searched carefully along the frame. On one corner of the tower, he saw a dark sheen. When he reached out and touched it, it felt sticky.

“Blood!” Chen Xiao said as he straightened up.

At that moment, Xiao Qing suddenly flashed to his side. Staring up at the metal frame, her expression was grave. “Chen Xiao, look!”

Following the direction of her finger, Chen Xiao looked up.

The tower was made of steel, its framework composed of thick struts nearly as large as a man’s arm. Just above Xiao Qing’s finger, about half a meter above Chen Xiao’s head...

Several deep marks marred the thick metal strut.

The marks looked twisted... and also like claw gouges left by some tremendous force.

And most shocking of all, the signal receiver at the top of the tower had been torn apart completely. The way it had been ripped apart suggested that some enormous tool, something like giant steel tongs, had violently torn it open.

Without hesitation, Chen Xiao climbed up to examine it and touched it carefully. His face grew even uglier. “These marks... don’t look like they were made by hammering with a tool. And...”

His fingers traced the edge of the damage, where the twisted steel had formed a sharp protruding shard. He gestured with it. “Xiao Qing... how much force do you think it would take to bend steel this thick with one hand?”

Chen Xiao jumped down from above, but before he had even landed, Xiao Qing, standing in front of him, had suddenly twisted with terror. Her eyes were full of fear as she screamed, “Loo--”

A gale slammed in from Chen Xiao’s side!

A black shadow lunged horizontally toward him. Chen Xiao was still midair and had no way to dodge.

At that instant, Xiao Qing already leaped up, and Chen Xiao heard the sound of a flying kick with startling clarity.

Xiao Qing’s foot struck the black shadow, sending it flying at once. It crashed heavily against the rocks at the top of the hill, producing a dull, heavy impact.

But when Xiao Qing and Chen Xiao landed and turned to look, there was nothing there at all.

Chen Xiao rushed over in a few steps, staying alert as he bent down to check the ground.

The rocks on the ground had been knocked aside, and after feeling around twice, Chen Xiao picked up something.

Turning back, Xiao Qing saw that Chen Xiao’s face had gone terribly dark. Between two fingers in his hand was...

A feather. A black feather.

The two of them were still shaken, staring at the feather in Chen Xiao’s hand. It seemed to belong to some kind of bird, only this feather was longer than any feather they had ever seen on a bird.

“What just now...” Xiao Qing’s face had gone a little pale. “What I saw just now, it looked like the shadow of that thing...”

“Big, right?” Chen Xiao swallowed hard.

Indeed, it had been huge. The black shadow that had suddenly attacked them just now, in the darkness, had been at least the size of an adult. And most importantly...

“It seemed like it could fly!” Chen Xiao said through clenched teeth.

The two of them vigilantly scanned their surroundings. The feather in their hand only strengthened their suspicion: that thing seemed to be able to fly.

“Could there be some kind of raptor around here? Like a very large eagle or some other bird of prey...” Chen Xiao thought about it, then shook his head. As far as he knew, in the hilly regions of the south there were wild eagles, but most of them were relatively small mountain eagles. Those mountain eagles could at best hunt small animals like rabbits, field mice, or even smaller prey such as sparrows. To attack a human? Absolutely impossible.

And even more impossible was a creature of that size.

“We’re in trouble,” Chen Xiao said, quickly pulling out his phone and dialing a number.

“No signal?” Xiao Qing’s face was also very ugly.

“There’s no signal,” Chen Xiao said through his teeth, looking up at the damaged receiver on the tower. “There’s only this one signal tower on the island. I’m afraid...”

“In other words, all communication with the outside world has been cut off,” Xiao Qing said, taking a deep breath. “We need to leave here immediately... Chen Xiao, I have a very bad feeling. Around us...” She shrank her neck and swept her gaze around warily. Though she was skilled and fearless, Xiao Qing was still a young woman, and in such a bizarre situation, in the dead of night out in the open, she could not help leaning slightly toward Chen Xiao. “I feel like something in the darkness is watching us.”

Chen Xiao did not doubt her instincts. Xiao Qing’s martial ability was far above his, and her hearing and sight were exceptionally sharp. Her senses were far keener than those of ordinary people. More than that, a woman’s intuition was often naturally stronger than a man’s. The two of them quickly gave up on the search and went straight back down the hill. As they crossed through the woods, Xiao Qing clearly quickened her pace.

“What is it?” Chen Xiao asked, taking her hand.

“Behind us... and on both sides...” Xiao Qing lowered her voice. “I feel like something is getting closer and closer to us...”

But when Chen Xiao swept the beam of his flashlight over the trees, he saw only branches swaying in the darkness.

Fortunately, until they emerged from the woods, they encountered no further attacks. The huge raptor-like creature that had attacked them on the hilltop did not appear again.

After they returned to the villa and regrouped, Chen Xiao and Xiao Qing told everyone that they had not found the missing people, and that they had also been attacked by an unidentifiable giant bird of prey.

Such a story sounded almost like nonsense, yet no one present thought Chen Xiao was joking.

Because Chen Xiao showed them the blood on his hand and the feather he had picked up. The blood had been left on the signal tower at the summit...

“I do not believe this is the blood of any ordinary animal,” Xu the Second said.

After a moment of silence, Chen Xiao suddenly frowned. “Huh? Where is the manager? Didn’t he go back to the office to fetch the map?”

Only then did everyone suddenly remember that the manager seemed to have been gone for quite some time.

“Everyone, get back inside now! We can’t keep standing out in the open.” Without anyone realizing it, Chen Xiao had become the one in charge. He still remained calm. Xu the Second nodded as well. “Right! Let’s see if there’s any equipment in the villa that might be useful to us!”

Everyone crowded noisily into the villa. Chen Xiao and Xu the Second deliberately walked at the back.

“The communications have been cut off,” Chen Xiao said in a low voice. “I don’t think this is as simple as it looks. If this were just some large wild beast attacking in the wild, then the beast wouldn’t have any intelligence... I’m not going to believe the destruction of the signal tower was a coincidence.”

Xu the Second frowned. “I noticed it just now. After you and Xiao Qing left, the phone could no longer get through. There’s no signal coverage here anymore.”

“There’s something strange about this island,” Chen Xiao said, glancing at Xiao Qing walking beside him. “Xiao Qing, I suddenly remembered something. I hadn’t said it before because I hadn’t realized it either... but now...”

“What is it?”

“It’s almost summer now,” Chen Xiao said, pointing around them. “This is an island. A place famous for its natural scenery. And there’s a whole forest on the island. Even though this place has been developed into a villa area, since we arrived here this afternoon until now, have any of you noticed something strange?”

“What strange thing?” someone asked.

“The birdsong,” Chen Xiao said with a grim expression. “I had ignored that detail too. But just now, when I picked up this feather and thought about the possibility of a large bird of prey... I suddenly remembered that ever since we arrived on this island this afternoon, with such a large forest around us, we haven’t heard even a single bird call.”

He took a deep breath. “On such a big island, with such a large forest, could there not be a single bird living here?”

As soon as he said this, Xiao Qing and Xu the Second both changed color.

Bai Cai was leading Yaya by the hand and walking in front of Chen Xiao. By now, everyone had already gathered tightly together. Hearing Chen Xiao’s words, Bai Cai could not help looking back. “You...”

Chen Xiao looked at his companions for a moment, then said, “Just now Xiao Qing told me she’s been feeling more and more that something dangerous on this island is watching us. Now I feel it too...”

He looked at Xu the Second. “Does the resort have any weapons?”

“If you mean firearms, then definitely not,” Xu the Second said, shaking his head. “If you mean things like stun batons, there might be a few.”

Chen Xiao frowned. Stun batons?

With Yaya here, there was no need for stun batons. Among his companions, Xiao Qing was formidable, and he was not weak either. Yaya could release electricity, Bai Cai could turn invisible. They were hardly ordinary people. The only one who was a bit weaker was Xu the Second.

“Communication has been cut off. We can’t call the police, and we can’t ask for outside help. I think we should leave here as soon as possible. Leave this island.”

He immediately said, “Doesn’t the dock behind the villa have a yacht? Maybe we can take it and leave tonight. Also, there are other islands on the lake. There should be people on them.”

“Of course, where we are now, there are three other developed islands nearby. By boat, they’re not far,” Xu the Second said, frowning. “But as far as I know, the signal tower here covered all three of those islands too. In other words, if we’ve lost signal here, then those islands have effectively lost it as well...”

Should they leave by boat tonight?

Chen Xiao hesitated. Leaving by boat seemed tempting, but when he thought of this pitch-black night, of a group of people setting off from land by boat, and of what would happen if they ran into danger out on the vast expanse of the lake, then they would have nowhere to run.

By then, everyone had already entered the villa, and a staff member was leading them toward the manager’s office on the first floor.

The moment the first person stepped into the office, a shrill, piercing scream erupted from within.

“Ahhhhhhh!”