CHAPTER 439: CHAPTER 408: THE CURSED BEAST_2

"We can’t take the meat with us, but we can deliver the moose meat to the Indian village, they need it a lot!"

Mountain Eagle withdrew his attention from the massive moose and shook his head, "It must not have been easy for such a big fellow to grow this large. I’m not hungry, so let’s just forget it..."

Old Qiao listened and nodded slightly, saying, "That’s fine, but as your hunting guide, it seems wrong not to hunt something in the marshland... We need a good amount of meat in the evening to maintain body heat..."

Speaking of which, Old Qiao pointed at the gun cases in the cabin, saying, "I see you have a shotgun, you can hunt a few wild ducks later, they taste the best at this time."

It can’t be refused when it concerns dinner...

Mountain Eagle took out a Benelli M2 from the gun case, pushed 4 shotgun shells into the chamber, then smiled at Old Qiao and said, "Just let me know when it’s okay to shoot..."

Old Qiao was pleased with Mountain Eagle’s reaction, having ideas, not being stubborn, and most importantly, being humble and willing to listen...

The old man gestured to Quida to speed up, and soon the speedboat picked up pace again.

Butcher and Daria, also on the speedboat, tried their best to observe, but soon became dizzy.

The mountains in the distance looked sometimes far and sometimes near; clearly, Quida wasn’t taking a straight line, but seemed to be constantly circling.

Only Mountain Eagle could see through Crow’s perspective that Quida was not taking what he thought was the optimal route, but the one with the widest water channels.

Passing several narrow waterways, Mountain Eagle saw the accumulated deadwood and garbage seaweed inside, and he instantly understood why Old Qiao said that even if you aim for the mountain direction, it would be difficult to reach smoothly.

Where there is water does not mean it’s navigable; the waterway that seems nearest is actually full of various natural traps.

Once you run out of fuel or the boat is damaged in such places, it’s almost impossible to walk out on foot, and there might not even be a chance to call for help.

At that moment, Mountain Eagle was really glad he had agreed to let Old Qiao and Quida come along, rather than stubbornly trying to do it alone with Crow’s help.

Even if he, Butcher, and Daria were trapped here, they probably wouldn’t die, but if they wasted time and missed the chance to intercept Black Fox, it could have serious consequences.

As they were driving to the central part of the marsh region, Old Qiao suddenly slapped Mountain Eagle’s arm, saying, "Get ready..."

Suddenly, a large flock of wild ducks took flight from the wetlands on the left side of the speedboat, flying over their heads to the wetland on the right...

Mountain Eagle decisively lifted his gun and pulled the trigger...

"Bang bang bang bang"

Four shots of shotgun pellets were fired, 6 wild ducks fell, four into the water, two onto the right wetland.

Quida slowed the boat, signaling Butcher and Daria to reach out and retrieve the wild ducks from the water, then yelled at Mountain Eagle, "What are you waiting for? Release the dogs..."

Mountain Eagle, watching Old Qiao’s Alaskan dog growling and leaping into the right wetland, patted Balang, and said, "Go..."

The already eager Balang forcefully jumped onto the wetland, quickly burrowing into the overgrown vegetation.

As they waited for the two dogs to return, a terrifying roar suddenly emanated from the wetland...

Following that, rustling noises came from the plants, and the two big dogs scrambled out of the vegetation, holding wild ducks in their mouths, and almost at the same time, they leaped onto the speedboat upon seeing it, heavily landing on it.

The two dogs together weighed around 150 to 160 pounds, their impact causing the speedboat to shake violently, simultaneously pushing the speedboat several meters into the middle of the waterway.

Mountain Eagle saw a big commotion in the nearby vegetation and quickly loaded a solitary bullet into the chamber...

Just as he aimed his gun, Old Qiao reached out to stop him...

"Don’t shoot, it’s a mother bear with cubs..."

Only then did Mountain Eagle clearly see a plump brown bear bursting out of the vegetation to stand by the wetlands at the riverbank, vigorously slapping at the river surface with its front paws...

As it roared at them, several large fish, a foot long, flipped belly-up and floated on the water.

Two round little bear cubs emerged from a riverside cave upwind, about a dozen meters away, and joyfully ran toward their mother.

The wet cubs, still ignorant of the world’s dangers, reached their mother’s side where, mimicking her, they let out a tender roar at the passing boats, then with a leap they plunged into the water and bit into a big fish, dragging it towards the shore.

Compared to the two cubs, the mother bear was much more ferocious...

Seeing that the boat was not moving away, it fiercely charged towards Mountain Eagle and his companions, its massive weight causing a splash that immediately heightened the brown bear’s imposing aura.

Quida exclaimed in surprise and instantly accelerated, breaking away from the brown bear’s threat range, but it seemed that this old fisherman was somewhat reluctant to be driven off by the brown bear; he maneuvered the joystick to circle the speedboat around and approached the brown bear’s vicinity once more...

Just as Mountain Eagle was thinking that this guy was looking for trouble, Quida loudly said, "Old Qiao, there’s something wrong with this bear..."

Old Qiao took a careful look while Quida was passing by on the boat, then nodded and said, "Something’s off, Sol didn’t even smell it...

Mark this place, we’ll come check it out after our business is finished.

Such a big creature is dangerous to the natives!"

Mountain Eagle looked bemusedly at the robust brown bear, and after Quida drove the boat away, he curiously said, "You just said we shouldn’t shoot a female animal with cubs..."

Old Qiao said coldly, "Hunters do not hunt female game, especially those with cubs. However, aggressive beasts that might hurt people are an exception..."

As he spoke, Old Qiao looked at Mountain Eagle and said, "Didn’t you notice something off about that bear?"

Mountain Eagle spread his hands and said, "I think it’s odd that a brown bear lives in the marsh, but other than being especially vicious, I didn’t see anything unusual about it."

Old Qiao shook his head and said, "That bear is very strong and particularly furious..."

Mountain Eagle said with some curiosity, "Isn’t it normal for brown bears to be strong? And isn’t it common knowledge that a mother bear with cubs is very aggressive?"

Old Qiao shook his head and did not speak, but Butcher suddenly spoke up, "Brown bears only come out of hibernation in April or May, but the body size of the bear we just saw doesn’t seem like it has been asleep for long.

Also, when it ran, it didn’t appear to have that much fat, the muscle feel is a bit different from the brown bears I’ve seen."

After listening, Mountain Eagle looked towards Old Qiao...

Old Qiao nodded slightly and said, "A few years ago, some mutated brown bears started to appear in the southern parts of Alaska...

The newspapers call it a mutation, but hunters who have seen these creatures know, they’re the sort of thing you’d find in Hell...

They’re incredibly ferocious and furious, killing all large animals that enter their territory.

And they have one characteristic: they are huge, and the proportion of muscle to fat is obviously off.

They look very strong, with terrifying muscles, but because they lack the protection of fat, they often cannot survive the cold Alaskan winter through hibernation, so they hunt for food during winter.

Such a big creature causing havoc in any populated place during winter is a disaster!"

Hearing this, Mountain Eagle stroked his chin and said, "A brown bear living in the swamp is strange enough, let alone a mutation?"

As he spoke, Mountain Eagle gazed towards the distant mountains, lost in thought...

Seeing Mountain Eagle puzzled, Quida shook his head and said, "It’s a curse, someone has put a vile curse on them, turning them into man-eating monsters..."

Mountain Eagle shook his head and said, "I don’t think it’s a curse. This so-called mutation that makes them grow muscle and become furious, I have seen it in some places..."