"Wait- really? Again? I just went on one yesterday that took almost 8 hours. Quick tagging job my poor butt." I crossed my arms in a pout.
"Oh hush, I have a feeling you're gonna like this one. Lets see, the last sighting was in-" I crossed my fingers and closed my eyes "Please be abroad, please be abroad, please be abroad."
"Shanghai" Close enough. A.I.P.O is located on a private island off the coast of China in the East China sea.
"I mean, I would have preferred Paris or Italy, but I guess China could be cool too. So what am I working with here?"
Hui Yin skims through her notes. "A Nian. There have been several sightings on the outskirts of Shanghai. Stored grain has been devoured at several farms and a little girl was attacked."
"Okay, cool cool cool. Just one question- What's a Nian? As far as i'm concerned, This is the first time we've dealt with anything like that. And no offense, but it kind of sounds like the gibberish from a two year old."
"Its a serpent from Chinese mythology. Its an immortal serpent that's said to terrorize villages and has a liking for the flesh of children." I flinched at her.
"Sure, cause that isn't terrifying. Can I at least punch it in the nose like a shark?"
"No you can not. There are, however, a few key weaknesses that should help you to identify it later on, because finding it wont be so easy." She turned on her overhead and displayed a blurry picture of a snake.
"Why wouldn't it be easy? Usually There are a few distinctive features on these types of creatures that practically give them away."
"The Nian in particular has adapted over the years to camouflage to avoid detection. The camouflage its chosen is that of a common cobra snake, but it's a huge coward. Loud noises scare it extremely easily, and you can consider it like a bull. It doesn't like the color red. That's why China has adapted certain celebrations and festivals in this manner to scare it off"
"If stuff like that scares it off, why doesn't China just stand in a constant state of celebration?" The idea of it sounds like a dream honestly. An endless party? Sign me up.
"Legend claims it only comes out once a year, which clearly is false. We will give you a map and the coordinates for where your first location to search will be. For now, head to your room to change and stop by the storeroom for any equipment you'll need to prepare. Meet me in the east corridor in an hour." With that, Hui Yin went back to her work. When she gets focused, there's nothing to snap her out of it, so even if I did have any further questions, I can consider them unanswered.
I trudged my way back to my room, feeling mentally unprepared for this assignment. There's 2 types of assignments in the tracking department. Either they already have its location, and all that's left is for me to go and retrieve them, or they only have a general area and I get to play the part of the bloodhound that has to sniff them out. This was the latter, and I was not looking forward to it.
God, I hope nothing goes wrong.