A Dead Mouse

This was a scent that Xiang Kun had never smelled before. It was not a cat, a dog, or any other animal that he knew of. However, he was not surprised. After all, his "database" of scents was limited, and he had basically "collected" them in the downtown area.

What animal was it?

Xiang Kun was suddenly curious. When he was curious, he had to find out the answer.

He turned around and switched on the light on his phone again. He took a branch and checked the rat's body.

There were many worms that Xiang Kun could not name on the bodies of the mice. Under the movement of the tree branches, the worms fled in all directions under the light of the phone. Some crawled into the grass, while others burrowed into the soil. On the bodies of the mice, there were many tiny maggots crawling.

If it was in the past, Xiang Kun would have felt nauseous after seeing such a scene. But now, he did not feel anything. He could even use his heart to distinguish the smell and sounds of the worms.

He checked and found that the rat had been dead for some time. However, he did not know how to determine the exact time of death based on the degree of decay.

Xiang Kun sniffed carefully again. The source of the strange smell should have left long ago and was not here. The smell was not obvious and was about to disappear.

It was very likely that the source of the smell was the predator that killed the rat.

However, what he found strange was that although the dead rat died a miserable death, it did not lose any limbs. It was still relatively intact. After its stomach was ripped open, it did not seem to have any internal organs eaten. Then, the animal that hunted it simply did not like it, or killed it as a toy?

But the smell was neither cat nor dog. Apart from cats and dogs, what other animal would do that?

Xiang Kun took a few more sniffs and looked for the direction where the smell had left. However, after taking a few steps, he realized that he could not find the direction the smell had left in.

Perhaps it had been too long?

Xiang Kun shone his phone carefully around the dead rat and checked the marks on the ground. He wanted to see if there were any footprints. However, the battery in his phone was running out and he could not find any useful information. Apart from his son's footprints, there was no other useful information.

Xiang Kun turned off the flashlight on his phone and sat down. He took a deep breath and relaxed his muscles. He closed his eyes and released his senses. He continued to explore his surroundings with his sense of smell and hearing.

Xiang Kun was not only practicing but also searching.

The smell that caught his attention made him very curious. Even if he couldn't find the source of the smell, he still hoped to find the scent of his kind in the forest and track it down to determine what creature had left this smell behind.

Every organism had a different scent, and every organism had their own unique scent.

The special smell just now was mixed in with other smells and it was not obvious.

However, when Xiang Kun was about to leave, he smelled the scent and was attracted by it. The scent was not in his "database". It was a scent that he had never smelled before.

It seemed to be an instinctive reaction, as if his body was telling him to pay attention to that scent.

Xiang Kun had been sitting in the mountains until the sun rose. He was five meters away from the dead rat.

If it was an ordinary person, sitting in the pitch-black forest at night, even the braver person would feel uneasy and nervous. At the very least, they would worry about bugs crawling onto their bodies.

Although Xiang Kun had closed his eyes and could not see anything, he was very clear about everything within ten meters. There was an earthworm burrowing in the soil, an insect hunting, a spider weaving a web, and a few ants moving forward… Oh, a beetle landed on his shoulder and flicked it away.

Fortunately, the mosquitoes were not interested in him. They had not been bitten since the mutation.

For the entire night, Xiang Kun did not sense the smell again.

Of course, there was no way for him to search the entire mountain with his scent and voice even though it was very small.

Thus, he stood up and began to search the mountain.

The reason why he did not do so last night was because although his hearing and sense of smell far exceeded that of ordinary people, it was not a problem for him to walk on the familiar streets with his eyes closed. However, on this mountain where there was no road, he would probably hit a tree or step on air after a few steps.

In the morning, Xiang Kun searched the small mountain.

At one o'clock in the afternoon, he finally left and ran home. After changing out of his dirty clothes and taking a shower, Xiang Kun went to the largest zoo in the city.

Xiang Kun could not let go of the smell. He had always valued the "signal" given to him by his body, even though the "signal" was not obvious. It could help him understand his body better.

Therefore, he did not come to the zoo for fun, but to enrich his "database".

He wanted to see if there were any samples of the same scent in the zoo.

After buying the tickets, Xiang Kun went in and collected the scents of every animal.

Even though some animals had been hiding in their houses and did not appear outside for tourists to see, Xiang Kun could still "capture" their scent.

It was not until six in the evening when the garden was about to close that Xiang Kun finally identified all the scents of the animals.

Unfortunately, it didn't belong to the same species as the special scent he smelled last night.

That made Xiang Kun even more curious.

When he got home, he took a flashlight and headed for the hill again. He found the dead rat accurately.

It was already past 8 pm. Xiang Kun held a flashlight in one hand and a small wooden stick in the other. He examined the dead rat carefully again.

Although the degree of decay was worse, Xiang Kun still found two wounds that looked like they had been pierced by claws.

But those claws were probably as thick as his index finger.

A large feline?

But that wasn't right. He had smelled all kinds of tigers, leopards, and lions in the zoo today. The variety of scents was wrong.

Moreover, this wasn't a remote forest or undeveloped area. It was impossible for wild animals to exist. At most, there would be wild cats and dogs.

Taking a step back, if there was a large carnivorous beast hunting here, there wouldn't be just one dead rat. There should be more traces, and it was impossible that they couldn't find it. Moreover, there were no footprints beside the dead rat either. This didn't make sense.

Xiang Kun searched around the hill and the lake for an entire night, but he still could not find any trace of the smell.

After daybreak, he went up the mountain again. With the dead rat as the center, he carefully searched the surroundings once more. It was past five in the afternoon, but there were still no clues, nor were there any signs of any ferocious beasts on the mountain.

Xiang Kun started to wonder if he was being too paranoid.

Perhaps the smell was actually just because it was about to dissipate. He had not made a correct judgment and smelled it wrongly?

When he went back home and entered the corridor, he met Miss Yang, who was raising a Husky, walking out of the elevator quickly. She was frowning and seemed a little anxious.

She ignored Xiang Kun, and he naturally did not greet her. The two of them brushed past each other as if they did not see each other.

However, after Xiang Kun pressed the button, Miss Yang suddenly turned around and blocked the elevator door.