18: Chapter 18 Basic Tracking Techniques: Finding the Target

Lin Ye was very fast, leaving the other groups far behind.

Under the veil of night, Heifeng Mountain was like a beast lying quietly in wait, exuding a silent sense of intimidation.

With the help of Basic Qinggong, Lin Ye moved through the mountain forest as if walking on flat ground.

However, he didn't dare to run too fast, his eyes scanning the ground from time to time, attempting to find some suspicious traces.

But the night was too thick; footprints or broken branches that might have been obvious during the day were now all hidden in the shadows, making them very easy to overlook.

Lin Ye searched for an hour, but found nothing.

After running for another quarter of an hour, the path ahead suddenly ended.

A mountain ravine several dozen meters wide lay across his path, its bottom filled with loose rocks and withered leaves, while the opposite side was a denser forest.

Lin Ye searched along the ravine, but the soil was hard, and there were no footprints.

Logically speaking, Wang Gang shouldn't have run to the forest on the other side to hunt.

Thinking of this, just as Lin Ye was about to turn back, a System prompt suddenly rang out in his mind:

"Ding! After a long search, you have successfully comprehended [Basic Tracking Technique]. Current Realm: Novice (0/100)"

[Basic Tracking Technique] (White)

Quality: Common

Realm: Novice (0/100)

Effect: Increases basic eyesight by 10%. Has a very small probability of discovering traces left by a target within one day, and can use this to mark the target's aura. Effective marking distance is 1000 meters.

Lin Ye was slightly stunned, then overjoyed.

Although this was a purely auxiliary skill, it was exactly the ability he needed most right now.

However, a Basic Tracking Technique at the Novice Realm was still hard to help him; he had to level it up!

Lin Ye quickened his pace, carefully examining every detail around him.

Scratches on the tree bark, the soil under the stones, the direction the grass blades were bent...

These were all pieces of information that appeared in his mind after comprehending the Basic Tracking Technique, and now he was putting them all to use.

"Proficiency + 5"

"Proficiency + 5"

"Proficiency + 5"

Sure enough, working with direction was far more efficient than fumbling around blindly.

In less than a quarter of an hour, another prompt came from his mind:

"Ding! [Basic Tracking Technique] Realm has increased. Current Realm: initial insight (5/1000)"

The next second, countless pieces of knowledge related to tracking flooded into his mind.

When Lin Ye opened his eyes again, the world before him had suddenly changed.

The forest was still the same forest, and the ground was still the same ground, but every single object now had information that ordinary people couldn't see.

Scratches on the tree bark, depressions on the surface of the soil, and even the imperceptible damage on the edges of grass blades...

These details that were previously ignored were all captured by his eyes, and then his brain automatically analyzed, categorized, and summarized them.

Lin Ye unconsciously slowed his pace, his gaze sweeping from left to right like a comb.

A moment later, he finally made a discovery.

He saw that in a bush by the roadside, a few leaves were bunched together, and one of them was missing a corner.

The cut was very fresh, and the edges were very smooth.

If it were the previous Lin Ye, he wouldn't have been able to make heads or tails of it, but now he could tell at a glance that this was a mark cut by a bowstring.

Using Qinggong to leap onto the tree canopy, Lin Ye looked in the direction where the traces extended.

There was a fork in the road there, with dense trees on both sides.

Through those withered branches that had been stepped on and the stones where moss had been scraped off, a trajectory of movement automatically emerged in Lin Ye's mind.

Following the trajectory for several miles, Lin Ye suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Ahead was a cliff, and the traces ended there.

Lin Ye leaned over to look down; it was pitch black below, and he couldn't tell how deep it was at all.

"He couldn't have fallen off the cliff, right?"

Although his reason told him that as a veteran hunter, Wang Gang wouldn't make such a low-level mistake.

But judging from the various clues earlier, Wang Gang might really be down below.

As for whether he went down voluntarily or fell by accident, that was unknown.

After all, his Tracking Technique was only at the initial insight Realm; it was impossible to be like the legendary detectives who could reconstruct the original scene just by looking at it.

"I must go down and see what's going on."

Without hesitation, Lin Ye drew the signal arrow the captain had specially given him, nocked it on the bowstring, and shot it into the sky.

"Whoosh—pop!"

The signal arrow exploded into a burst of fire in the night sky, visible for several miles around.

Then, he used his bingtie staff to scratch a line of large characters on the ground: "The person may have fallen off the cliff, I have gone down to look—Lin Ye."

After doing this, Lin Ye slung his bingtie staff across his back, faced the cliff wall, and began to climb down.

Free solo climbing was something he wouldn't have dared to even imagine before.

But with his current physique as high as 9 points, combined with the physical agility brought by Basic Qinggong, it allowed him to cling to the cliff like a gecko and climb down rapidly.

The cliff was not high, and in less than half an incense stick's time, Lin Ye successfully reached the bottom.

The bottom of the cliff was a shallow beach, and the sound of flowing water could be faintly heard in the distance.

Lin Ye took the torch off his back, lit it with flint, and searched into the distance along the traces.

Suddenly, Lin Ye's eyes narrowed.

Not far away, a bow lay on the ground.

The bow body was broken into two pieces, and the bowstring had completely snapped.

Lin Ye picked it up to examine it and recognized it as Wang Gang's iron-core bow.

Judging from the break in the bowstring, it didn't look like it had been snapped by pulling; it looked more like it had been torn apart after intense friction.

Looking up at the cliff wall, then at the bow in his hand, Lin Ye roughly reconstructed the situation at that time.

It must have been that when Wang Gang fell, he tried to use the bowstring to hook onto the stone wall to slow down.

As a result, the bowstring couldn't bear the force and snapped.

However, from this, it could also be inferred that Wang Gang should not be dead yet.

After searching carefully nearby, Lin Ye soon discovered a series of uneven footprints.

Half an hour later, Lin Ye faintly smelled the scent of blood in the air.

Although it was extremely faint, it was captured by the Tracking Technique.

This meant that he was less than one kilometer away from the target.

Lin Ye quickened his pace, following the scent through a jungle, when a cave suddenly appeared ahead.

The cave entrance was not large, and it was pitch black inside; that scent of blood was drifting out from within.

"Brother Gang?" Lin Ye called out into the cave.

No one responded.

Without hesitation, Lin Ye raised his torch and walked in.

The passage inside the cave was very narrow, barely wide enough for one person to pass through.

After walking about a dozen meters inside, the torchlight illuminated a figure; it was exactly the target Lin Ye was looking for on this trip—Wang Gang.

At this moment, Wang Gang was sitting on the ground leaning against the cave wall, his head tilted to one side, his face as pale as paper.

A part of his chest was sunken inward, and there was a streak of dried blood at the corner of his mouth.

Lin Ye walked over quickly, crouched down, and reached out to check his breathing.

His breathing was very weak, but at least it proved that he was still alive.

It had to be said that Wang Gang was worthy of being a veteran hunter.

Lin Ye asked himself that if it were him falling from a hundred-meter-high cliff, even if he had a bowstring to cushion the fall, he definitely wouldn't have survived.

Wang Gang not only survived but was even able to endure his injuries and walk so far; his Spirit attribute had most likely already broken through 10 points.

"Brother Gang!" Lin Ye called out.

No response.

He called a few more times, but there was still no response.

This was clearly a deep coma; if he didn't receive timely treatment, it was estimated that he would hardly last until dawn.

Lin Ye was conflicted at this moment.

Should he risk secondary injury by carrying him back to the village directly, or stay where he was and wait for the other teammates to arrive?

After a little thought, Lin Ye decided not to wait.

Time was life right now; who knew when the teammates would be able to find them.

Rather than leaving fate to others, it was better to take control himself.

As for whether it would cause secondary injury.

Wang Gang wasn't one of those fragile college students; he shouldn't be that fragile.

Just as Lin Ye was preparing to carry Wang Gang on his back, a rustling sound suddenly came from outside the cave.