753: Chapter 744: There is a Problem 753: Chapter 744: There is a Problem Gao Yang’s voice was filled with emotion, but it wasn’t very excited.
Familiar with Gao Yang, Catherine asked with some confusion in a soft voice, “Gao, what did you find?
Is there a problem?”
Gao Yang nodded and said, “There is a problem, a big problem.”
Martin had already watched the same video many times, but he hadn’t come up with anything of value; now he looked puzzled and said, “Can you talk about it?
What’s the problem, and what have you discovered?”
Gao Yang sighed, straightened up, and said in a deep voice, “You’ve already searched a large area nearby, haven’t you?”
“Yes, we’ve been driving around, gradually expanding our search area.
Let’s say this, if a car can get there, we’ve been there.
Even in places where cars can’t go, we’ve used drones to search, but we haven’t found anything.”
“How far is the spread?”
“Within twenty-five kilometers in each direction from this central point, we should have covered everything.”
After receiving Martin’s reply, Gao Yang sighed softly and said, “That’s the problem.
From the video, I can confirm that those four men are known to me, Catherine, I can even tell who each of them is: the Chieftain, Balix, Balix, and Kusto.
I can’t be wrong about the way they walk.”
After explaining to Catherine, Gao Yang pointed to the computer screen and said in a serious tone, “The recording was from the morning, right?
Seeing the way they walked and their speed, they couldn’t have traveled very far when they were captured on video.
I can’t be certain of the exact distance, but it’s definitely not more than twenty-five kilometers.
Most likely, they set off at sunrise to start their journey.
In that case, they wouldn’t have walked for more than an hour.
So, here’s the problem: why haven’t we found the straw huts where the Akuri tribe resides?”
Martin frowned and said, “Is there a necessary connection here?”
Gao Yang nodded and said, “There is.
The Akuri tribe people usually don’t spend the night in the wilderness unless there’s no choice.
We always bring the prey back to the tribe and then set out again to hunt at sunrise the next day.
Of course, there are occasions when we do spend the night in the wild, but that’s only because we followed the prey too far and couldn’t return the same day, which would force us to stay outside.”
Martin spread his hands and said, “Perhaps they were tracking prey at the moment.”
Gao Yang shook his head and said, “Unlikely.
We used to hunt with poisoned arrows, which meant going a long way to find the prey killed by the poison.
This hunting method may require traveling very far, but now it’s different.
The Akuri tribe doesn’t need to travel so far because they now have guns.
They can hunt the prey near their tribe and quickly bring it home.
Their hunting range is now only a few kilometers.”
Martin was shockingly pale as he said, “What did you say?
They have guns?”
Gao Yang looked puzzled and said, “Yes, the Akuri tribe has guns now.
Don’t you know that?”
Martin was dumbfounded and said, “No one told me this; if they have guns, can they still be considered a Primitive Tribe?”
Gao Yang shrugged and said, “I know what you’re worried about.
Don’t worry, you need to film them using primitive methods of hunting, and I’ll make sure you can film that, but first, let’s focus on something else.”
Martin looked dejected, but Gao Yang continued, “The Chieftain and his group don’t need to travel far to get their prey, but now they’ve appeared where they shouldn’t be.
I analyze that the most likely situation is that they spent a night far away from the tribe and then set off again in the morning.
But they had no reason to do that, so why?”
Catherine also frowned and said, “Right, why would they do that?”
Gao Yang sighed, rubbed his forehead with his hand, and said, “Why they would spend the night away from the tribe when there’s no need, I really can’t understand.”
Catherine said, “So do you think they’re heading home, or are they traveling further away?”
Gao Yang shook his head and said, “I can’t tell.
If I could figure that out, I’d be God.
All I know right now is they are definitely not close to the tribe, unless…”
“Unless what?”
“Unless your search wasn’t thorough enough and you missed a thatched cottage nearby, which is actually quite possible,”
Catherine gave a wry smile, spreading her hands, “What should we do then?
Do we need to search again?”
Gao Yang didn’t know what the best approach was.
He held his forehead with his hand and after pondering for a long time, he sighed, “Maybe there’s something wrong with my line of thought.
I’ll go over the plan again.
Let’s try to think about it from a different angle.
Maybe the Akuri tribe, although now equipped with guns, still need to trek a long distance to hunt for prey.
It’s also quite possible.
For example, it could be due to a scarcity of game near the thatch cottages, or perhaps they want to hunt sufficiently large animals.
Hmm, do you have information on the wildlife nearby?
I want to know what kind of animals are available for hunting around here.”
Catherine immediately said, “This is the edge of a tropical rainforest, so the type of animals here is really quite complex.
It’s possible to find animals from the grasslands coming here, as well as animals from the rainforest.
Gorillas and chimpanzees can be found here, grassland lions are also seen, along with elephants, giraffes, various antelopes.
How should I put it, anything is possible here, but the quantity is less than where these animals would typically be.”
Gao Yang exhaled and asked, “So, how much less?
Can you give me a more intuitive idea of their numbers?
Also, if you were given a rifle, how big of an area would you need to consistently hunt sufficient game?”
Martin and Catherine looked at each other, then shook their heads in unison, “Don’t know, I don’t hunt.”
After saying that, Martin suggested, “Maybe you should look at some other footage.
We’ve filmed a lot of the animals here, and you’ll get a more intuitive understanding of the animal density around here if you watch them.”
Martin and the others had filmed many different clips, all stored on the same computer.
It was easy to view them.
After picking a representative video, Gao Yang started to watch.
The video happened to be hosted by Catherine and Adele.
Both of them appeared in the video, talking eloquently about the animals they caught on film.
Of course, it wasn’t the sickeningly amateur journalist interview style of documentary where somebody holds a microphone; instead, they introduced every animal that appeared on camera in an expert manner, very naturally and very professionally, explaining the behaviours of the animals.
Gao Yang had to admit that Martin had a great eye for talent.
With Catherine and Adele, what would have been just another bland piece of footage came alive instantly.
The audience had something for everyone, whether they wanted to see beauties or beasts, and the two coexisted in the same frame without any conflict.
Although he was watching the clips with urgent intent, Gao Yang got distracted.
Catherine was cheerful and open, always carrying a gentle smile, while Adele, who usually had a stern face around strangers, had a cold beauty on screen.
When she was serious and professional, she provided a stark contrast to Catherine.
What was most important, they were both great beauties.
After a few glances, Gao Yang had to close the video.
He turned to Catherine with a smile, “I need to find a video without you in it, otherwise it’s hard for me to concentrate.
Also, just to say, both you and Adele did a great job.
The footage was also great.”
Martin laughed heartily, “Right?
I also think they’re going to be famous.”
Gao Yang didn’t have time for other thoughts.
After making some small talk, he returned his focus to the animals.
He found several clips without Catherine, particularly paying more attention to the ones shot from the air by Jansen Jones.
While watching, he carefully asked about the filming locations and gradually got to know the density of the nearby animals.
After watching a few clips, Gao Yang thought it over for a moment and said, “The animal density indeed seems lower than in the grasslands, but it’s definitely enough to sustain a tribe, especially since the animals here don’t have fixed territories.
The Akuri tribe doesn’t need to travel far to get plenty of game.”
After saying that, Gao Yang let out a sigh, “The more I look, the more I feel something’s not right.
The chieftain and his people wouldn’t leave the tribe for no reason.
They don’t have the habit of traveling.
There must be a problem somewhere.
I should watch it again; there might be new discoveries.”
Gao Yang started to watch the footage featuring the chieftain and his people again, this time playing it bit by bit.
A short clip of only a few seconds was slowed down to the lowest speed, often pausing to allow him to see every action of every person in the frame.
The video was not clear enough to discern the fine details of human bodies.
As Gao Yang watched the video slowly, focusing on one person at a time, he finally paused the video after the fourth viewing, this time observing every slight movement of Kusto.
After pausing, he stared at the screen for a long time.
Catherine asked cautiously, “Did you find something?”
In the video, Kusto had a slight turning of his head, a movement that could easily be missed if not watched individually.
After hearing Catherine’s question, Gao Yang pointed at the space where Kusto’s face appeared on the screen, “Look here, is that red?”
Kusto’s head was much smaller than Gao Yang’s pointing finger on the screen.
It was actually impossible to distinguish any color on his face, at least not precisely.
After Martin and Catherine looked closely for a long time, Martin finally said with an uncertain tone, “It should be red, I guess.
It looks like red to me.”
Gao Yang shook his head, his voice grave, “If that’s red, then there’s indeed a problem, a big problem.” (To be continued.
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