Chapter 689: Chapter 31: Crested Caracara Takes Flight

After discovering the carcass, the Harrier did not immediately swoop down to snatch away the animal carcass on the ground.

Unlike yesterday when it seized Chen Wen’s prey.

After finding the carcass, this Harrier exhibited immense vigilance.

It kept circling high above at an angle to the carcass, seemingly observing the situation over here.

Once it confirmed there was no danger here, the Harrier spiraled downward, pretended to be nonchalant, and slowly flew towards the carcass.

A moment later.

The Harrier landed approximately thirty meters away from the sandgrouse carcass.

Chen Wen remained silent, simultaneously squeezing the buzzard’s body to keep it quiet.

Adam also widened his eyes, watching the Harrier’s every move.

After waiting for more than a minute.

The Harrier seemed to think everything was fine.

It immediately spread its wings and darted towards the sandgrouse carcass at high speed.

Upon reaching the vicinity of the sandgrouse carcass, the Harrier suddenly extended its claws, grabbing towards the sandgrouse carcass.

A second after grabbing the sandgrouse carcass, the Harrier immediately flapped its wings and ascended towards the sky.

And just at this moment, the trap triggered, and as the wooden stick serving as the trigger device snapped open, a snare made of rope quickly looped towards the Harrier’s leg holding the sandgrouse.

Adam, seeing this scene, couldn’t help but almost cheer out loud.

After all, in his view, they were undoubtedly going to catch the Harrier!

But an unexpected scene happened to Adam.

The Harrier’s take-off speed was very fast, and it seemed to have a premonition. After the trap triggered, it directly threw away the sandgrouse.

This led to the trap triggering but failing to capture the Harrier.

Under Adam’s stunned gaze, the Harrier veered its body, dodging the trap.

"Wang Defa! What on earth is this bird!"

Adam couldn’t help but question his life choices.

He truly hadn’t expected his trap to fail.

In fact, it also had something to do with Adam’s trap design. If it had been a lasso trap that directly snared the neck, this time the Harrier wouldn’t have escaped.

But Adam’s trap was a trigger-type trap, which made a sound when activated, giving the Harrier reaction time.

Therefore, the trap missed.

Chen Wen was not too surprised, since being marked as intelligent by the system meant this Harrier’s intelligence and crisis judgment abilities should be high.

Upon seeing the trap fail, he immediately released the buzzard.

The buzzard naturally understood Chen Wen’s intention.

With a dull flapping sound, the buzzard sprang towards the Harrier from below.

At this time, the Harrier in the sky was emitting a series of strange screeches, as if mocking the trap setter’s overconfidence, just like yesterday.

But at this moment.

It suddenly noticed the buzzard flying up.

Upon noticing the buzzard, the Harrier was momentarily bewildered.

What?

What kind of animal is this?

Why has it never seen it before?

Is it dangerous, or is it safe?

It was in this dazed moment that the Harrier lost its opportunity to escape.

The buzzard, known as the airborne wolf pack, is not only adept at teamwork.

Its outstanding combat capability is also a significant factor.

In the Sonora Desert, the buzzard is the undisputed aerial overlord.

Moreover, Chen Wen’s buzzard has been tutored by the raptors Golden Eagle and Snowy Owl.

It had watched countless hunts by the Snowy Owl and Golden Eagle.

After all, the zoo had a director who pursued environmental enrichment.

Many times, to maintain the raptors’ wildness, Jiang Xue would mimic hunting conditions for feeding.

So the buzzard often watched the Snowy Owl and Golden Eagle hunt, including how to deal with airborne prey.

Now for some real action.

The buzzard made moves similar to the Snowy Owl.

After rapidly closing in on the Harrier, it immediately extended its claws, fiercely grabbing towards the Harrier’s body.

If this hit landed, the Harrier wouldn’t necessarily lose combat ability, but at the very least, it would lose its ability to fly!

Unfortunately, the Harrier still managed to react.

It suddenly folded its wings and dived to avoid the buzzard’s attack.

A strong sense of crisis kept the Harrier silent.

But the buzzard was equally swift to respond.

The Harrier dived, and so did it!

Furthermore, the buzzard’s diving speed was, like the Golden Eagle’s, extremely fast!

The diving speed of a Golden Eagle is only surpassed by that of the Peregrine Falcon!

Therefore, Chen Wen and Adam clearly saw the distance between the buzzard and the Harrier shrinking during the dive.

The Harrier finally felt a life-or-death crisis!

It let out a sharp screech, trying to frighten the buzzard.

But unfortunately, this was a buzzard that had hung out with top raptors like the Golden Eagle and Snowy Owl; it wasn’t intimidated at all by the Harrier’s scare tactics.

As the distance between the two birds grew closer.

The buzzard extended its claws, pinning the Harrier and forcing it down from the sky.

A rapid plummet!

The Harrier’s body was unbalanced, emitting a sharp cry.

And just at this moment.

Chen Wen, having long left his hiding spot, anticipated where the Harrier would fall.

As the Harrier was about to hit the ground.

With [Swift] activated, Chen Wen reached out at lightning speed to grab the Harrier securely.

"Hey, are you still flying? Screeching? Mocking?"

After capturing the Harrier, Chen Wen immediately pinned its wings down, showing a look of triumph.

He remembered very clearly how the Harrier had mocked him in the sky the previous day.

Initiating [Communication], once the Harrier’s intelligence was tapped into.

There was a flash of clear astonishment and shock in the Harrier’s eyes. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

It looked at Chen Wen, its beak slightly open, eyes filled with fear.

The Harrier seemed surprised it could actually speak to a human.

Disregarding the stunned Harrier.

Chen Wen watched as the real hero of the encounter, the buzzard, leisurely flew down. He immediately rewarded it with strips of raw camel meat.

Unlike animal friends, for a buzzard without communication abilities.

Chen Wen had to reward the buzzard after it performed the action he wanted, to cultivate its conditioned reflexes.

Adam watched this scene with envy.

"Your beast taming skills are seriously amazing!"

Adam said, his eyes brimming with admiration.

Upon hearing this, Chen Wen smiled and said, "Taming hawks is not difficult. I’ve seen online videos; quite a few people in the United States have tamed buzzards."

Adam nodded and said, "Yes, quite a few. Someone in our association even keeps a buzzard, and he’s also a challenger this time."

Hearing this, Chen Wen was momentarily stunned: "Is he also participating in the Desert Extreme Challenge?"

"No."

Adam shook his head and said, "That person seems to be attending the Beast Taming Challenge instead. He’s already passed the Desert Extreme Challenge once. If there’s a chance, you might face off against each other. His equipment will definitely include a buzzard."

"Moreover, in this Eight Extremes Challenge, many people have realized the importance of beast taming. I’ve heard quite a few countries have extraordinary people participating with trained animals, though no one brought one for this Desert Extreme Challenge."

Chen Wen laughed and said, "I’m looking forward to facing those people."

After a few words, Adam went off to set more traps.

He left the space for taming the Harrier to Chen Wen.

Although very curious about how Chen Wen was going to tame the Harrier, since Chen Wen wasn’t offering to show him, Adam naturally wasn’t going to stay and watch.

Once Adam was gone.

Chen Wen looked at the dazed Harrier and said, "Stop playing dumb. Now I give you two choices: listen to me, or don’t listen to me."

"If you listen to me, you’ll have food just like it, and I won’t restrict your freedom either."

Chen Wen pointed at the unrestrained buzzard and said.

"But if you don’t listen to me, you’ll end up like it."

Chen Wen pointed at the dead black-bellied sandgrouse, showing a dangerous expression.

The Harrier shuddered in fear.