Eventually, Yan Fei successfully managed to buy the ingredients for the braised meat he craved.
He bought some meat, a large rooster, and killed two Compsognathus. Once cleaned up, there was enough for a large pot which he stewed for an entire afternoon.
That evening, he enjoyed a savory feast.
Afterward, he arrived at a cave on top of a cliff.
The setting sun still cast its glow upon the sea. The shimmer of the sea waves was a sight to behold.
Yan Fei took a deep breath facing the sea and cried out: "Seventy-two changes, transform me..."
Initially, it was a human call, but by the end, it turned into the screech of a Compsognathus. Then slowly, a Compsognathus gradually started walking inside the cave, rapidly picking up the pace, eventually beginning to run around the cave.
In the echo of the Compsognathus' yell all over the cave, he suddenly accelerated, charging straight towards the cave wall. When he was about to hit the wall, he managed a few steps on it with a scream, a backward somersault, and then... landed with a thud on the ground.
After reverting back to his original form, Yan Fei, touching his chin, mumbled to himself, "Hmm, running is fine, jumping around isn't so good. The tail is too tricky to control. It seems I'm still not used to it and need to practice more."
He vanished and reappeared in his room, and then disappeared again, reappearing in a field where sweet potato seedlings were planted. Without any time to admire the fruits of his labor from the last couple of days, he transformed again, becoming a Compsognathus.
He hadn't noticed in the cave, but once he was in the center of the forest, he realized something was different.
The sound of the wind blowing through the trees on the island, the call of the distant Compsognathus, the sound of the waves, the rustling of the Pterosaur's wings on the cliff — it was as if all the sounds had been amplified, allowing him to hear clearly what he couldn't before, and distinguish the exact direction from where the sounds came.
It seemed like his eyes could also see better. The light in the forest at dusk wasn't good. The spot near a small pond was the brightest place in the entire forest. Even so, he couldn't see far into the surrounding forest before, but now he could see much further.
His sense of smell also seemed better than in human form - the smell of turned soil, the scent of sweet potato seedlings...
In short, many details he wouldn't have noticed before, were now significantly clearer.
Impressive, so impressive...
Yan Fei felt a little excited.
However, his head had gotten smaller and he was having a hard time adjusting to his new perspective.
After standing in place and sensing his surroundings for a while, he started to slowly move and run around in the sweet potato field.
Running on the soft soil was nothing like the hard stone floor of the cave. It looked so easy when the Compsognathus gracefully dashed around on this kind of ground, but he struggled with it.
Yan Fei felt a bit regretful, so he gradually began to practice on the plot of land he had marked out.
Luckily, both Compsognathus and humans walked on two legs, so, gradually, he ran faster and faster, darting through the sweet potato plants without caring when he accidentally brushed against them.
After running for a while, although he still wasn't capable of swift movements like a Compsognathus, on the ground, he could already put on a pretty decent show.
Not bad, not bad at all.
Yan Fei felt quite pleased as he ran over to the edge of the small pond. He bent down to try and drink some water, almost dipping his entire head into the water, but he was content with his attempt.
In the distance, a group of Compsognathus cackled as they ran past. Yan Fei lifted his head to look in that direction, then suddenly jumped up, shouted a few times, and went bounding after them.
The group of Compsognathus leaped over tree roots, bounded through low-lying shrubs. Their lithe, agile bodies easily overcame any obstacles. Their sporadic cries resonated through the air as they made a mad dash towards the sea.
A Compsognathus tripped over a tree root lying on the ground with a splash, falling face-first onto the ground. The other Compsognathus running behind it squeaked as they passed it, as if laughing at it.
Yan Fei climbed up a bit annoyed, the Compsognathus pack was once again ahead. He disappeared, returned to his hut and re-appeared in the midst of the running pack, resumed running with the group.
Amid the chorus of chatters, the pack rushed out of the forest and onto the sandy beach. Ahead was the sea, the beach, the kitchen.
Yan Fei could clearly hear the urgency and excitement in the Compsognathus' voices as they started to race each other, barreling ant-like towards the seashore.
Yan Fei, of course, wouldn't be left behind. Along with the small creatures, he advanced headlong into the sea breeze and started to race.
Standing by the sea, he shouted excitedly toward the vast waters, with all the nearby Compsognathus busy finding food, he alone stood there, laughing foolishly.
Ever since he was a child, he admired the Monkey King's "Seventy-Two Changes" from the Journey to the West. However, the day he discovered his own ability to change, he didn't feel the excited joy he had imagined.
For a boy of twelve or thirteen, life was suddenly overturned. Although he had been able to travel to islands and see oceans that others didn't, he was, after all, human. When he shouted a popular saying to the heavens - a dare to the Universe - he was actually scared. He already felt he wasn't particularly likable. More so, he feared being ostracized by society.
So he spent several days hiding his inner fears, and then he discovered that the small town was still the same, the people were the same. As long as he was seen as Yan Fei among the crowd, nobody cared or even considered what he did at night, even if he turned into a dinosaur.
The boy, having overcome his mental hurdles, joined the Compsognathus herd running along the beach. Overexcited, he snatched a small octopus washed by the waves, like the Compsognathus. Then, his laughter was abruptly cut short…
The next morning, Yan Fei sat miserably at the front door with a bowl. Xu Xiaoyan soon showed up with her shameless grin. Upon seeing the contents of his bowl, she burst into laughter, "Ha ha, Yan Xiaofei, why are you drinking cornmeal porridge today? Not eating meat anymore?"
Yan Fei responded irritably, "Sick of it. Having something light today. The meats in the pot. Help yourself!"
Xu Xiaoyan laughed even more, "What luck, nobody will fight me for the meat today!"
As she walked into his kitchen, Yan Fei muttered underneath his breath, "Eat up, eat up, until you become a fatso."
This girl was like weeds in a wheat field, growing crazily regardless of what she ate. Yan Fei was taller than most his age, yet he barely reached her chin. He had no idea how she grew so tall.
He thought about Xu Xiaoyan getting fat, smirked, and his appetite returned.
After a while, Xu Xiaoyan, who had just finished a chicken leg, rummaged in the container for more meat, while asking Yan Fei, "Yan Xiaofei, can you tell me how you feed the chickens? Do you have any secrets?"
Yan Fei barely held back his laughter, "This is my secret. If I tell you, it won't work anymore!"
Xu Xiaoyan stirred the contents in the container angrily, "Fine! Keep your secret then! I heard that chickens need to be fed hormones to lay eggs daily. Those eggs are bad for health."
She'd always thought the eggs she occasionally got were chicken eggs! She became suspicious when Yan Fei never bought any chicken eggs. She thought Yan Fei's chickens had some secret to produce eggs daily. Yan Fei was sometimes amused: how can this silly girl attend the best high school in the county, even rumored to have exceptionally good grades, and sure to go to university?
Yan Fei played mysteriously, "Don't you know what I feed the chickens every day? Where are these hormones coming from?"
Xu Xiaoyan thought for a moment, "That's true, you often forget to feed the chickens! Could it be that chickens lay more eggs when they're hungry?"
As she was lost in thought, she grabbed something from the bowl. Her eyes widened as she was about to respond when a pair of chopsticks swiftly snatched away the item from her hand.
"Hehe, I didn't expect to see half of a braised pig tail! This is my favorite." Yan Xiaofei hid the piece in his bowl, and secretly wiped off cold sweat.
Damn it, he ate a sticky octopus last night and felt sick till today. Inadvertently, while grabbing the chicken meat, he added a long piece of dinosaur tail into the pot without realizing it. Too careless, my mistake!
The carefree girl didn't suspect a thing: "Look at you. You're cherishing a piece of pig tail as if it's some treasure. You've eaten it your whole life but still not satisfied?"
Yan Fei chuckled, thinking to himself: Always walking by the river, it is hard to avoid wet shoes, indeed! Gotta be careful next time. Not everyone is as naive as Xu Xiaoyan. If I marry her, only because her figure and appetite are good enough, and she could presumably handle some work without problems…
He was quite "rustic" in evaluating women. His eyes swept over her little white legs peeking from under her skirt. Looking at her fair feet and onion-white toes, he thought, She must be a girl who's never done any physical labor. Her toes are even painted with henna...
As his mind wandered...
Suddenly, her foot moved awkwardly, wincing backward. A smack hit his head. She sounded annoyed, "Yan Xiaofei what are you staring at?"
Yan Fei diverted his gaze, noticing her face was slightly flushed, her big eyes glaring at him somewhat angrily. He reacted instinctively, "Look at…what…"
"Hmph!" She glared at him, rummaged in the pot, took out a large piece of meat, and took a bite. She was visibly annoyed!
Yan Fei heaved a sigh of relief: Good thing I reacted quickly and didn't let slip the 'wife' part of my thought. That was close! I glanced at her hands again and couldn't help but think: She has long fingers and never did any work. These hands are exactly what they say about "fingers not touching spring water." Poor Yan Fei wouldn't understand what those delicate, boneless hands of a girl could do.
As he was gnawing on a little Compsognathus tail, he recalled the discovery in the Compsognathus' nest where he snuck in. There were many Compsognathus eggs hidden, almost the same size as his chicken eggs but a different color, similar to quail eggs. Only by sneaking inside, he found out that these creatures are pretty sneaky, hiding so much secret about their kind.
Yan Fei wasn't planning to steal the Compsognathus eggs. When the eggs hatch, he would have meat for his meals. As for the Pterosaurs, other than eating their eggs, they were useless to him.
The most important point was that even if he had a large hammer, he would have no chance of winning against the island's Pterosaur. The Pterosaurs he saw weren't even the largest ones yet! He'd seen even larger ones flying overhead numerous times, large enough to cover his yard and house with their wingspan if they wanted to.