21: Return without success

Time flowed by, the red sun set in the west, and the evening glow dyed half the sky, vibrant and colorful.

The atmosphere among the people waiting in the heavy rain gradually grew silent.

By then, they had already cast fish and shrimp into three different locations, enough to cover an area of several thousand meters.

However, the Giant Octopus had still not appeared.

Professor Jin Weiguo frowned, muttering to himself, "This shouldn't be. This river is rich in food resources, with plenty of large fish over a meter long."

"With such abundant food resources, no creatures around that could threaten it, and no sudden environmental changes, the Giant Octopus shouldn't easily change its habitat."

"And it's not the Giant Octopus's breeding season either."

Professor Jin Weiguo was not a professional marine animal expert, and at this moment, he couldn't figure out the reason, so he could only ask a friend.

Finally, Professor Jin Weiguo heard from a friend that this Giant Octopus might be looking for a way back to the sea.

After all, it was a marine creature. Even if it had mutated and could adapt to a freshwater environment, perhaps it wasn't comfortable for it, merely tolerable.

But if that were the case, finding this Giant Octopus would be difficult.

Because a Giant Octopus wouldn't know the way back to the sea; it would likely just wander around.

And the waterways here were interconnected, making it like searching for a needle in a haystack to find this Giant Octopus.

"Let's stop here for now. This Giant Octopus might have moved. Liu Ye, the Bureau of Flora and Fauna Administration has already applied for a new batch of underwater cameras. From now on, you will be responsible for tracking the Giant Octopus and observing and recording aquatic life."

Ultimately, the operation concluded hastily.

Zhou Kubo and his teammates left, somewhat disappointed.

This time, despite making such a big show, they failed to catch the Giant Octopus. It would be even harder to catch it next time.

However, whether they caught the Giant Octopus or not, the riverbanks would have to be closed off to the public.

"Fang Chenjin, Lin Meng, for the next few days, come to my place. I refuse to believe that such a large Giant Octopus could escape right under our noses and not be seen."

Liu Ye called his teammates, preparing to go back and meticulously study the surveillance videos.

Inside a house, Lin Fei had been observing with binoculars and finally relaxed when he saw this.

"A Fei, what are you doing? Those are people from the Public Security Office and the Bureau of Flora and Fauna Administration."

Beside Lin Fei was a chubby boy, Lin Fei's best friend, with some scars still on his face from the injuries they sustained together that day.

"Chen Xu, I can tell you about this, but you absolutely cannot tell a second person!" Lin Fei said with a serious expression.

It wasn't that he didn't trust Chen Xu; in fact, their relationship was very strong, but this matter was too significant, and it had already led to fatalities!

Although it wasn't directly related to the Giant Octopus, but rather the vicious fish that attacked, there was still some connection.

Seeing Lin Fei so serious, Chen Xu's heart tightened immediately. Then he patted his chest and guaranteed, "Do I look like a bigmouth? Don't worry, not a single word will be leaked."

"Like the time we went sketching at the girls' dormitory, I've kept that a secret in my heart."

"Okay, I believe you."

Hearing this, Lin Fei began to roughly explain what he knew.

"What! You raised a Giant Octopus, and it saved you when you were attacked by wolves!" Chen Xu's eyes widened, his voice so loud it shook the house.

"I told you to be quieter!" Lin Fei looked displeased, raising his fist to give him a beating.

Half an hour later, the two stopped, panting.

"A Fei, what do you want to do? If this continues, the Giant Octopus will definitely be discovered." Chen Xu said in a deep voice.

"First, we definitely need to destroy those underwater cameras." Lin Fei said, clenching his fist.

"That won't work. The people from the Bureau of Flora and Fauna Administration will immediately find out and then come to repair or replace them." Chen Xu shook his head, then said proudly, "But don't worry, I've actually been teaching myself hacking for a while now. Intercepting this kind of signal transmission is child's play."

Lin Fei looked shocked: "What the hell, when did you learn that?!"

"Hehe!" Chen Xu said smugly, flipping his fringe.

"Then what are you waiting for, let's start quickly!" Lin Fei urged.

"Don't rush, I told you, it's a piece of cake." Chen Xu flicked off another piece of dandruff, then sat leisurely in front of the computer, saying faintly, "Waiter, tea please."

"Fatty Chen, I'll tolerate it!" Lin Fei gritted his teeth and opened a can of happy fat water, placing it on the computer desk.

Chen Xu placed his hands on the keyboard, and his aura suddenly changed. He shouted, "Keyboard, come!"

He performed a series of fierce operations, truly entering the Bureau of Flora and Fauna Administration of Dayang Mountain Nature Reserve, and found the computer receiving the signals.

Chen Xu operated it, not cutting off the signal, but putting old videos on a loop.

"Done!" Chen Xu picked up the happy fat water like champagne and chugged it down.

"Can you redirect the signal? I want to see where it is." Lin Fei said again.

"Piece of cake." Chen Xu crossed his legs, hit the enter key, and the surveillance footage appeared.

It was already night, but the cameras had top-notch night vision and underwater observation capabilities, so they could still clearly see the fish.

What they saw was astonishing.

"What kind of fish is that! It must be over a meter long!" The two saw a large fish swim past on the screen.

A few minutes later, another Reeves Shad nearly two meters long swam from a distance, biting a Grass Carp. Under the camera's display, it was visually impactful.

"I've eaten this fish before, I think it's called a Reeves Shad!" Lin Fei looked shocked. The Reeves Shad he had eaten was a meter long, but compared to the one on the screen, it was undoubtedly a small fry.

"Water tiger!" Chen Xu had also heard the name Reeves Shad.

The next moment, a black fish, also nearly two meters long, suddenly darted out from the riverbed. Its dark and stout body had such fierce explosive power that it knocked the Reeves Shad away and tore off a large chunk of its flesh.

"Holy crap!" Both exclaimed in unison.

"I'll switch to the adjacent screen!" Chen Xu immediately switched the screen and saw the Reeves Shad escaping at an extremely fast speed, a speed that left the black fish far behind.

"Such fast speed! Such a fierce fish!"

"This Reeves Shad is faster than me on a bicycle!" Chen Xu and Lin Fei exclaimed.

"What's going on, why are so many large fish appearing?" Next, the two watched until midnight, discovering too many large fish, all over a meter long.

Lin Fei was also called back to sleep by his mother's phone call.

The next day, Lin Fei and Chen Xu gathered again. It was the beginning of summer vacation, so they had a lot of freedom.

The two once again studied the surveillance, a total of thirty surveillance screens, which made them both a bit dizzy.

"We haven't seen the Giant Octopus at all. Could it have already left here, heading towards Dayang Lake or Lihe Town?" Chen Xu said, rubbing his eyes while sitting in front of the computer.

"Perhaps." Lin Fei was a bit depressed. After all, he had only kept the Giant Octopus for a few days. Even if it was special and mutated, such a short time made it difficult to develop deep feelings.

"Look at my mouth, don't worry, since the Giant Octopus saved you, it means it still has feelings for you. It must still be here, it's just that Giant Octopus can camouflage... Holy crap!" Chen Xu was comforting him when he suddenly exclaimed, his eyes wide as he stared at the screen.

"What... Holy crap!" Lin Fei curiously looked at the screen, also shocked, with a faint hint of fear in his pupils.

A black-brown giant python slowly swam across the surveillance screen, biting a two-meter-long black fish in its mouth!

"This is a giant python! Its body length should exceed ten meters!" Chen Xu said, somewhat terrified.