Chen Ying moved quickly, locking onto the little creature immediately and seizing the opportunity to strike, successfully restraining its neck.
When he was preparing to clear the bushes earlier, he had already put on thick gloves, which now served as protection. The little creature's sharp teeth bit fiercely into Chen Ying's hand, but fortunately, the gloves prevented the teeth from piercing through to the flesh.
"Don't be afraid, little one, I just want to ask you something."
No one is more familiar with the mountains than these natives.
The native before him was a fox, dark red with a hint of brown, its fur well-groomed and smooth, clearly a very clean and hygienic fox.
After biting him, the little fox seemed to sense the gentle aura emanating from him, quickly releasing its grip and making a "ying ying ying" sound.
"Did I scare you? I'm sorry, it wasn't on purpose."
The little creature's bristled fur finally softened, and it turned to lick the spot it had bitten.
"Um, two-legged beast, what are you doing here? Are you here to kill that big guy?"
"I can take you!" The little fox's eyes brightened a bit.
"I..." Chen Ying was unsure how to speak. How was he supposed to ask a fox, threatened by a tiger, to lead him to save a tiger?
"That big guy is so awful, always bullying us and even stealing things the two-legged beasts plant at the foot of the mountain. Those two-legged beasts get angry and come up the mountain to catch us."
The little fox, getting more and more animated, stood upright and fiercely waved its front paws, just like a small child who had been severely bullied was complaining to its parent, asking them to beat up the bully for it.
"Are you talking about that bear?" Chen Ying couldn't think of a tiger stealing crops.
"The one that stands and goes 'aw aw aw,' ." The little fox mimicked the posture of a brown bear with flair, but the bear's majestic roar was inexplicably turned into a comical "ying ying ying" by the fox, giving the feeling of a tattooed gangster biting a handkerchief.
"Did you see another big guy fighting with it?"
"Ying ying, I saw it, but that big guy must be dying." The little fox licked its paw.
"At the place where the bad guy fell, the other big guy fell down below, while the bad guy landed on a rock in the middle."
The little fox led Chen Ying another sixty meters, reaching a crack in the rocks.
"This is it down there, lots of beasts have fallen and died, and some old or sick ones who can't live any longer will come here and jump down themselves."
Chen Ying's expression changed slightly.
There were similar places in ancient tales from their side where mountain animals would choose a spot as their grave, and as their life drew to a close, they would traverse mountains and rivers to find this place, where they would die in peace.
But most people treat these tales as stories, for there are many wild animals that die, not all are hunted. If there were so-called graves, why didn't those old animals that die in the wild head there?
Surely it couldn't be similar to people where entering such a grave needed some sort of selection by species—perhaps only certain types of animals are allowed to go.
The crack was rather long, more than a meter wide but less than two. Below was pitch black, impossible to see clearly. In the light of the sky, they could vaguely see a protruding rocky section below their feet where a brown bear lay, letting out a wail.
Chen Ying took out the spotlight to take a closer look, clicking his tongue.
That bear clearly wouldn't live long, with many injuries all over its body, the most horrific being its belly ripped open, intestines exposed.
Chen Ying's light shone down, stimulating the brown bear. It suddenly struggled violently again, flipped over, and rolled straight down.
After a moment, a heavy echo sounded.
Chen Ying felt an indescribable complexity. Although he didn't kill the brown bear, its death accelerated because of his arrival.
But from another perspective, considering the bear's wounds and its location, rescue was almost impossible. Even if it were rescued with effort, its injuries would lead to death within two or three days. Although his unintentional stimulus caused it to fall to death, it somewhat alleviated its pain before dying.
Chen Ying was neither a physicist nor a mathematician; he couldn't calculate the depth of the crevice based on the time it took for the sound to reach him. To know what's below, he'd have to descend.
He used the spotlight to examine for a while, but the light could only reach about twenty meters at most. Further than that was a blur.
During his observation, Chen Ying noticed that the crevice wasn't completely devoid of vegetation. It seemed there were a few trees growing from the sides of the stone walls, though their leaves were sparse.
Seeing these trees, Chen Ying had a feeling that the tigress he was looking for was there.
The little fox mimicked Chen Ying, bobbing its head at the edge of the crevice and occasionally making a "ying" sound.
Chen Ying took a drone from his backpack, intending to probe below to see if there was any sign of life left.
Products made by the system—whether they automatically upgraded behind his back or not, he didn't know. But so far, the products, even from two or three years ago, remained extremely durable.
Chen Ying hadn't moved for some time, causing Kelas great concern for his safety. Kelas didn't check in the middle but directly headed over to find him.
When the person and cat arrived, Chen Ying was just deploying the drone for exploration.
Kelas was about to ask when, seeing the scene, he quietly walked over, keeping his eyes on the screen of the controller in Chen Ying's hand.