Chapter 225 - 201: The Show
"That went perfectly! Bro, we found its lair!" Qin Ziwu leaped from the Beaked Eagle’s back and shouted excitedly. "It’s halfway up that stone mountain—the Tyrannosaurus’s nest is right there!"
"Give me the phone."
He took the phone from his brother and, seeing how little power was left, pulled a power bank from his backpack and plugged it in.
Earlier that afternoon, he had sent his brother on the Beaked Eagle to follow the Tyrannosaurus’s tracks and find its nest, telling him to record a video on his phone once he located it.
The video was shot from high in the air.
Halfway up the hundred-meter-high stone mountain, a natural cave was clearly visible.
The cave wasn’t deep, but it was wide and tall enough for a Tyrannosaurus to curl up inside and escape the scorching sun.
In the video, the Tyrannosaurus spotted them.
It emerged from the cave and tilted its head back in a threatening display.
The camera angle pulled higher, and the provocative cries of the Beaked Eagle could be heard in the video.
Then, from a distance, the camera panned in a full 360-degree circle around the stone mountain.
"That Tyrannosaurus was holed up tight, its ass blocking the back of the cave. I think there’s something back there. I wanted the Beaked Eagle to get a different angle, but it was like it couldn’t understand me. It just kept getting into a shouting match with the Tyrannosaurus." The moment Qin Ziwu finished speaking, he got a kick in the butt.
"Ow! Who kicked me?"
Qin Ziwu turned around. The Beaked Eagle was standing behind him, head lowered as it preened its feathers.
"Did you just kick me?" Qin Ziwu asked suspiciously.
The Beaked Eagle continued to preen its feathers, ignoring him, then slowly waddled away.
Qin Ziwen found it amusing. ’How could the Beaked Eagle not understand him? That creature looks simple and honest, but it’s actually quite cunning.’
Still, the intel they had was sufficient.
First, they had confirmed the Tyrannosaurus’s nest. A Tyrannosaurus with a fixed lair that it returned to regularly was much easier to deal with than a nomadic one. Because it had a home, it had a weakness.
"Okay, Bro, we’ve found its nest. How do we deal with it now?"
Qin Ziwen grew thoughtful. ’The gasoline we have left is running low. It might not be enough for the fight.’
During the second transmigration, the cars parked outside the Gated Community hadn’t come with them, and most of the remaining vehicles were essentially scrap.
Other residents in the Gated Community might have some gasoline stashed away, but the amount would be limited.
’There’s probably not enough to douse the entire lair in gasoline.’
’Besides, a Tyrannosaurus has legs. It can run.’
’There was another thing to consider: the Tyrannosaurus had seen the Beaked Eagle use gasoline to set the Duck-billed Dragon on fire.’
’So it would likely be sensitive to the smell of gasoline.’
’An apex predator like that usually has an excellent sense of smell.’
’An ambush with gasoline might not work.’
’Throwing Incendiary Bottles from the air, however, was a possibility.’
Qin Ziwen immediately gathered his team members to brainstorm.
"Incendiary Bottles won’t necessarily work," Yang Cunshen was the first to say.
"First, there’s a big difference in body shape between a Tyrannosaurus and a Giant Toad. The Giant Toad’s build made it easy for gasoline to stick to its back, but a Tyrannosaurus’s isn’t suited for that. Besides, we’re on a plain. If we start throwing Incendiary Bottles, that thing will be on top of us in a few strides."
"What about having the Beaked Eagle drop them from high up?"
"We’d need to prepare a ton of Incendiary Bottles for a sustained barrage." Yang Cunshen paused. "Can we even gather that many bottles and that much gasoline from the Gated Community?"
Qin Ziwu suggested, "Why not use the Car-Mounted Crossbows? When the Tyrannosaurus returns to its lair, we can set up ten or twenty of them and ambush it from a distance. No matter how tough it is, it’s still flesh and blood. I refuse to believe it can survive dozens of Heavy Crossbow bolts."
Cao Biansheng added with a straight face, "If it can take all that, I’ll gladly transfer the title of Legendary Resilience King from the Desert Giant Worm to it."
The group couldn’t help but chuckle.
"It definitely couldn’t take it," Qin Ziwen said, shaking his head. "The difficulty is setting them up beforehand. Our Car-Mounted Crossbows can’t possibly outrun a Tyrannosaurus on the plains, and if we get close, it will probably notice us."
But Wang Yun had a different take. "Are you all overestimating its intelligence? No matter how smart it is, it can’t conceive of something it’s never seen before. It might be wary of gasoline because it saw us use it to burn the Duck-billed Dragon."
"But a Car-Mounted Crossbow? With all due respect, to the Tyrannosaurus, it’s probably no different from a rock on the side of the road. The only difference might be that it carries our scent after we’ve handled it."
"Right under its nose?" Qin Ziwen repeated.
"Right under its nose," Wang Yun confirmed with a nod.
"We can set up the Car-Mounted Crossbows near its lair ahead of time, aimed right at the entrance. Once it’s back inside, we just have to find a way to get close enough to trigger them."
Yuan Dajun remarked, "You guys are basically picking on the Tyrannosaurus for being uncultured and not knowing what a Crossbow Wagon is."
Qin Ziwu looked at Wang Yun. "Dr. Wang, its sense of smell is keen. If we need to get close, should we cover ourselves in something?"
"Yes, masking our scent would be best. You can cover yourselves in mud from the lakebed beforehand."
"What about its droppings?" Cao Biansheng asked curiously.
Qin Ziwu and Yuan Ming instantly scrunched up their faces in disgust. "Holy shit, Old Cao, you’re disgusting! I didn’t realize you had a fetish like that. If you want to smear shit on yourself, you can do it alone."
"What? I don’t have a fetish like that, I was just curious! Curious!" Cao Biansheng’s face flushed red as he muttered something about just wanting to explore the idea scientifically.
"Droppings wouldn’t be suitable. It might even pique its curiosity," Wang Yun said, shaking her head. "Imagine you’re asleep in your home and suddenly smell your own scent outside your door. Wouldn’t you be curious? Besides, any fresh Tyrannosaurus droppings would be near its lair, and collecting them would be a dangerous process in itself."