Chapter 701 Tunnel
Chapter 701: 701 Tunnel
Ryan Rowe and Flynn Hansen heard Evelyn Ford’s voice and quickly ducked down. More and more Red Birds were appearing. They craned their long necks and shrieked, their blood-red eyes fixed on Evelyn, looking like they wanted to tear her to shreds.
"I’m their target," Evelyn Ford said. She raised her gun and fired at an approaching Red Bird. The bird slammed heavily onto the road, dozens of feathers detaching from its body and scattering with the flutter of its drooping wings. Evelyn lifted her foot and gave it a hard kick, sending it straight into the abyss.
Ryan Rowe and Flynn Hansen slowly moved toward Evelyn Ford’s position. The three men formed a semicircle, shielding Evelyn behind them. Unable to see Evelyn’s figure, the Red Birds began to let out an even stranger cry, one that sounded just like a newborn baby’s wail.
"WAAH... WAAH..."
Evelyn Ford pulled a spray bottle out of her space and sprayed herself liberally, as if the stuff was free. Her scent was masked. All four of them were wearing helmets, so the Red Birds couldn’t identify where she was and could only circle overhead, shrieking.
"Let’s go. They won’t come at us for now. We need to leave. Don’t get bogged down in a fight."
Evelyn Ford picked up the scattered feathers from the ground, and the four of them took off running, guns in hand. The Red Birds still followed at a distance. Evelyn took out three more spray bottles and handed them to Ronan Kendrick and the others.
"You guys spray this on, too. If we disrupt our scents, they won’t be able to distinguish them and should leave."
"Joy Ford, do you mean these birds use scent to tell men from women? Last time, they didn’t attack Captain Hansen and his men because they were all men?"
Evelyn Ford shook her head. "I can’t be sure. It’s just a guess. But you saw it yourselves. After the first Red Bird flew down, its target was very clear—it came straight for me. After it died, the other birds flew down one by one, and their target was also me. That’s definitely not a coincidence. Based on what Captain Hansen’s team experienced last time, I’m making a bold guess that these Red Birds only eat females. Or perhaps, they don’t want to eat me, but rather to carry me away."
The three men sprayed the mist evenly over themselves. The strong odor quickly masked their human scent. The Red Birds seemed repulsed by the smell. They circled for half a minute, then shrieked and flew away.
The four of them jogged along the path. Flynn Hansen was injured, and after running for half an hour, he began to pant heavily.
"Are you okay?" Ryan Rowe asked, a little worried about his condition.
"I’m fine. I can keep going."
Evelyn Ford took out her binoculars to observe their surroundings. "The Red Birds have flown off. We should be out of danger for now. It looks like there’s a stone platform up ahead. Let’s go there and rest for a bit."
"Joy Ford, did you put pepper spray in this stuff you gave us? It’s so pungent, I think I’m going to sneeze... ACHOO, ACHOO..." As Ryan Rowe spoke, he started sneezing uncontrollably. Evelyn Ford quickly handed him a wet wipe.
"Cover your nose with the wet wipe. It’ll get better in a moment. This spray doesn’t just have pepper water; I also added wasabi and stink gas."
Evelyn Ford put away her binoculars. She was sweating after running for so long. Just as she took off her helmet, a cold gust of wind blew past, making her shiver uncontrollably.
"It’s so cold."
"The Red Birds live on the summit, right? It’s all covered in snow up there, and it’s freezing. What do they even eat?" Ryan Rowe was genuinely confused.
"If they capture people for food, you probably couldn’t find many living people in all of Serena anymore. But from what I can see, these Red Birds are huge and their feathers are glossy. It’s obvious they’re living well, so they can’t be short on food. These birds don’t exist anywhere else, which means they only live on The Twenty-Four Peaks and don’t forage outside this area. So what in the world have they been surviving on until now?"
"Who knows? Maybe there’s more to these mountains than meets the eye."
When they reached the stone platform, Ryan Rowe and Flynn Hansen collapsed onto the ground. Worried the bloody hole in his arm might reopen, Flynn Hansen unfastened his clothes to take a look. Fortunately, the wound was already scabbing over and healing and hadn’t split open.
Evelyn Ford set her backpack down. She scanned the area around the stone platform and noticed some white, blocky, dried-out droppings on the ground.
To her surprise, the stone platform was actually the entrance to a tunnel. It was pitch-black inside, suggesting the tunnel was very long.
Ronan Kendrick took out a flashlight and shone it inside. The tunnel was somewhat narrow, about two meters wide. The ground was littered with rocks and white droppings. Evelyn Ford narrowed her eyes, walked over, and pulled a feather out from under a rock.
"This is a Red Bird feather. Do they live in here? No, that’s not right. I saw them fly down from the summit. Generally speaking, larger animals dislike narrow, dark habitats. For that matter, even small, agile animals don’t like confined spaces. I remember reading a news story many years ago about how small, intelligent, and agile animals in zoos can get depression. And that’s even more true for birds. Birds value freedom. They either build nests on branches or roost on mountain peaks."
Evelyn Ford clapped her hands. "Let’s not worry about that for now. Time to eat." With that, she picked up her backpack and took out canned food, beef patties, and water.
The beef patties gave off a fragrant aroma, and both Ryan Rowe and Flynn Hansen couldn’t help but swallow hard.
Evelyn Ford handed the canned food and beef patties to the two men. Flynn Hansen was still a bit reserved, but Ryan Rowe took his and immediately bit into it.
"This smells amazing. I finally feel alive again."
Ronan Kendrick stood beside Evelyn Ford, eagerly waiting for her to feed him. Evelyn unscrewed a bottle of water. "Wash your hands first."
After the two of them washed their hands, Ryan Rowe and Flynn Hansen had already eaten and drunk their fill.
"Captain Hansen, you didn’t tell us there was a tunnel sooner? It’s pitch-black in there, though. Kinda creepy." Ryan Rowe took Ronan Kendrick’s flashlight, got up, and walked a few meters inside.
Flynn Hansen gave a wry smile. "Sorry, my mind went blank and I forgot about it. But this tunnel is very short, probably only five hundred meters. Last time, we had to feel our way out in the dark because our flashlights broke and we didn’t bring any firewood. My teammates and I all took a few falls. This time we have flashlights, so we’ll get through it quickly."
After Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick finished their lunch, they began to study the footprints and droppings on the ground.
"The footprints and droppings must have been left by the Red Birds too. The climate on The Twenty-Four Peaks is pretty extreme; it’s unlikely any other creatures could survive here besides the Red Birds. But these footprints are huge." Evelyn Ford put on a pair of gloves, picked up a lump of dung, and examined it for a long time.
Seeing Evelyn Ford just pick up a dropping and start studying it, Flynn Hansen felt a little embarrassed. Before they set out, Rhys Chase had told him there would be four people on this mission, including one woman, and that he should take care of her along the way. Flynn Hansen had been worried she’d be a clueless burden, but it turned out she was even more hardcore than he was.
"There’s no foul smell. In fact, it has a faint, fresh scent. There must be plants on the summit, and these Red Birds probably survive by eating them. If they ate meat, or human flesh, their droppings would definitely stink. Even after drying out, there would still be a foul odor."