What the hell? Who’s chopping down trees?! Don’t you yell a warning before it falls?! Shen Yibin spat out the blades of grass in his mouth and shot to his feet, furious. The treetop had missed his head by a mere half-meter. If not for all the time he’d spent training with Shi Gaofei and Xiaoliu, which had honed his reflexes and physique far beyond a normal person’s, he would have been flattened by the massive tree.
He glanced back at their picnic spot. The waterproof blanket was buried under the tree’s canopy, and all the food and drinks they had laid out were surely crushed.
"Bin, are you okay?" Sylvie peeked out from the other side. The Royal Guard who had just pushed her aside had already drawn his pistol, eyes fixed warily on the direction the tree had fallen from. Meanwhile, the other Royal Guard was carefully lifting Hah’Er. From his stance, it was clear he was ready to flee with Hah’Er at the slightest hint of trouble. This was a state guest of Sokovia; there was absolutely no room for error.
"CHITTER! CHITTER!" Xiaoliu was furious too. ’We were just chilling here, eating fruit and enjoying ourselves, and then a tree tries to crush us?’ It snapped off a nearby branch, looking ready to go find the culprit and settle the score.
"Are there lumberjacks here?" Shen Yibin asked, curious. ’That shouldn’t be right,’ he thought. ’Even if there were, they would definitely yell a warning before a tree falls. Besides, our location is completely out in the open. Anyone would have seen us; they’d never do something like this.’
"This is a restricted logging area. The Sokovian government doesn’t permit anyone to cut down trees here," Sylvie said. "This law was passed a long time ago to protect the Sokovia River’s environment. Besides, this place is far from any roads. Even if they managed to fell some trees, they’d have no way to transport them out. If they tried floating them down the Sokovia River, the residents along the banks would spot them for sure."
"Your Highness, I believe it was a Beaver," one of the Royal Guards suddenly spoke up. "My grandfather used to live in this area, and he told me stories about it. Many Beavers live in the bends of the Sokovia River. They fell trees along the bank to build dams and their lodges. Look, that over there must be a dam they constructed."
Following the Royal Guard’s pointed finger, Shen Yibin saw a dam made of branches—four or five meters wide and nearly a meter high—stretching across a tributary of the Sokovia River. If the guard hadn’t pointed it out, Shen Yibin would have mistaken it for a natural formation.
Then, a look of confusion crossed the Royal Guard’s face. "But my grandfather said that Beavers usually only come out to cut down trees at night. I’m not sure why a large tree would fall during the daytime. Besides, this tree seems a bit too large for a Beaver. Even if they did manage to fell it, I doubt they could drag it to the dam."
’Huh? With so many unusual things happening, could it be that the Beaver that almost killed us is the mutant animal I’m looking for?’ At this thought, Shen Yibin quickly pulled out his phone, opened the Pet Radar, and ran a search. An orange dot glowed right where the tree had fallen, less than ten meters away.
’No doubt about it, it must be this Beaver! Was that its way of saying hello? That’s a bit too intense for a greeting, isn’t it?’ Shen Yibin couldn’t help but wipe the sweat from his brow. ’It nearly killed me!’
"Let’s go take a look!" Mimicking Xiaoliu, Shen Yibin snapped off a branch to hold and tiptoed toward the base of the fallen tree. The two Royal Guards exchanged a glance and immediately divided the labor: one stayed behind to shield Sylvie, Hah’Er, and Maphario, while the other drew his pistol and followed Shen Yibin.
After a few steps, Shen Yibin heard that same sound again. He didn’t dare to be careless this time and immediately looked toward the source. The sight made him break out in a cold sweat. Not far ahead, a fat, large animal—brownish-yellow, about eighty centimeters long, and looking like a giant rat—was hugging the base of another large tree. It was using its absurdly large incisors to chew at a furious pace. As it gnawed, wood chips flew, and the tree trunk above the roots was visibly disappearing before his very eyes.
’Holy crap, that’s faster than a chainsaw! Could anyone claim this thing isn’t a mutant?’ Seeing this, Shen Yibin became even more convinced that this Beaver was the animal he was looking for.
’Wait, am I forgetting something?’ Shen Yibin was about to step forward, grab it, and give it the medicine when he suddenly felt that something was off. While he was scratching his head, puzzling it out, he saw the Royal Guard lunge toward him and Xiaoliu, yelling a frantic warning, "Move, the tree’s coming down!"
The words had barely left his mouth when, with a piercing GROAN and CREAK, the tree the Beaver was gnawing on began to slowly topple right toward Shen Yibin. He and Xiaoliu were tackled to the ground by the Royal Guard, rolling several times before finally clearing the massive tree’s path.
Further away, the other Royal Guard heard the warning and reacted instantly, grabbing Sylvie and Hah’Er and moving them a few steps aside, keeping them safe as well. As for Maphario, the little fellow had already retreated back into Hah’Er’s pocket.
’This thing really won’t be happy until it kills us, will it!’ Shen Yibin thought, completely exasperated as he stared at the fat rodent. Beavers were the largest members of the rodent order, so calling it a giant rat wasn’t exactly incorrect. ’Come to think of it, this guy and Maphario are probably distant relatives.’
Just then, the Beaver finally noticed Shen Yibin and the others. It clung to a tree trunk, staring at them for a moment, and then, before Shen Yibin could react, it vanished in a flash. It darted through the bushes along the riverbank, dove headfirst into the Sokovia River, and disappeared after swimming underwater for a few seconds.
"Er, Beavers are very timid. I suppose we must have scared it," the Royal Guard whose grandfather had lived in the area explained.
Hearing this, Shen Yibin was at a loss for words. ’It just tried to kill us twice in a row,’ he thought. ’If anyone was scared, it should have been us getting scared by *it*, right?’
"Well? Was that the animal you’re looking for?" Sylvie walked over with Hah’Er and asked with concern. Hah’Er even waddled up and extended a paw to help pat the grass and leaves off Shen Yibin’s clothes. Maphario poked its head out of the pocket, sniffing the air nonstop, as if trying to decide if it had just met a long-lost relative.
"I think that was the one," Shen Yibin said, not hiding anything from Sylvie. He spread his hands. "But after scaring us twice, it seems *we* scared *it* away!" ’Why does that sound so ridiculous when I say it out loud?’ he wondered.