The Evolutionary Path of the Lion

Chapter 13 Intercepting

That low hum did not sound a second time.

Chen Fei stood at the edge of the bushes, keeping his ears pointed towards the sound source, and re-examined all the scents in that direction.

The leopard's presence was still there, its location unchanged, but there was a subtle shift—from its languid, low-key stillness to a tightening, poised tension.

It was as if a string had been quietly plucked.

Then he smelled a third scent.

It smells of earth, grass, and a distinctive animal odor mixed in—lighter than a lion's, more pungent than a leopard's, with a comical earthy scent.

Warthog.

Chen Fei quickly matched the names to the descriptions in his mind.

African warthogs are among the most prominent "clowns" on the savanna.

It's not very big, but it has prominent fangs and runs faster than anyone else.

But it has one well-known weakness.

When encountering the scent of a top predator, it will trigger a stress-induced freeze response that is close to "playing dead," where it freezes on all fours and tries its luck by feigning death.

This strategy works occasionally against visual predators, but against olfactory predators, it's basically an admission of guilt.

Leopards are olfactory creatures.

Chen Fei mentally reconfirmed the location of the bushes.

The warthog is on the right edge of the bushes.

The leopard is inside the bushes.

There was a bush about three meters away between them.

The leopard was injured, which reduced its explosive power, but three meters is not a long distance for any feline.

He glanced at the location of the warthogs.

It wasn't very big; it was a cub, at most three or four months old. Its fur still had the light brown stripes typical of juveniles. Its four legs were frozen in place, and it didn't even dare to move its ears.

Chen Fei mentally calculated the distance.

He was about twelve meters away from the warthog.

The leopard was separated from the warthog by three meters of bushes for cover.

Under normal circumstances, the answer to this question is that the leopard wins.

But the leopard was injured.

Chen Fei reassessed the other party's condition—yesterday he was able to treat his wounds on his own, and today his breathing was more stable, indicating that he was improving, but his explosive power had not yet returned to normal levels.

When an injured feline attacks, its take-off angle will instinctively lean towards the healthy side, reducing its speed by at least 70%.

Three meters at a 30% discount, it will take about 1.2 seconds.

He was twelve meters away from the warthog, but he cut in from the side, without having to go through the bushes.

Chen Fei quietly pushed the heat from his right forepaw to the tip, not activating it fully, but just holding it in.

Then he started moving.

It's not a sprint.

It's about positioning.

He mentally reviewed the arc that Sel had drawn yesterday, changing the starting point to his current position and the ending point to the truncated angle on the right side of the warthog.

Instead of charging straight in, they cut in from the front, slicing the warthog open from the direction of the bushes.

Keep your steps low, landing where the grass is sparse, and keep your breath as low as possible.

Eight meters, six meters, four meters...

A slight rustling came from the bushes; it was the leopard adjusting its jumping posture.

Chen Fei sped up.

In the last two meters, he stopped thinking about anything; his body took over from his mind.

Before the warthog could react, its front paws had already pressed down on its back.

The heat from the right claw activated the moment of contact, suppressing the opponent's struggle in its initial stage.

Clean and neat.

It went even more smoothly than he had expected.

There was a two-second silence in the bushes.

Then came a low, suppressed breathy sound—not anger, but a sense of helplessness, like "the duck that was about to be eaten has flown away."

Chen Fei stood up, still holding the warthog in his mouth, and glanced towards the bushes.

A pair of golden eyes appeared among the branches and leaves, staring at the prey in his hand, then glancing at him, before finally settling back on the prey and remaining still.

Chen Fei put the warthog down, tore off the hind leg with his hind paws, picked it up, walked to the edge of the bushes, placed the piece of meat on the ground, and stepped back half a step.

It's not a gesture of goodwill.

A leopard that is hungry for too long will take desperate measures.

The only real food source on the isolated island is the herd of bison. If the leopard were to provoke the herd and alert the entire group, it would be the leopard's side that would suffer losses.

Feeding someone a piece of meat to suppress their hunger level is far more cost-effective than dealing with an unstable factor.

pragmatic.

It's that simple.

The leopard stirred in the bushes, not emerging immediately. It waited until Chen Fei had retreated a sufficient distance before slowly poking its head out, snatching the piece of meat, and retreating back into the bushes, letting out a very low, barely audible, growling sound.

Chen Fei ignored him and carried the remaining warthog towards the acacia tree.

We had only gone halfway when a gust of wind blew from upstream.

Big Head suddenly appeared out of nowhere, its nose half a body length ahead of its prey, its eyes shining like two copper bells.

Chen Fei moved his prey to the side.

Big Head missed his target, rolled around on the grass, got up and continued to approach, with a shameless expression that said, "I'll just take a bite."

Chen Fei ate first, finishing the thickest part before pushing the rest to him.

Big Head pounced on it immediately, sweeping away everything in its path, not even sparing the bits of meat between the bones. It licked the bone over and over again three times, and finally put the biggest bone in its mouth and gnawed on it from left to right, showing a satisfied expression that said, "It's better than nothing, but it'll do."

Sel watched from the side, his tail swaying slightly, without saying anything.

After finishing his meal, Chen Fei found a high spot to sit down and dissect the entire hunting process for a second.

The positioning was basically in place, and the entry angle was much more accurate than yesterday, but the timing of the final acceleration was a bit late.

If the leopard were in better condition, he would most likely have been beaten first.

Not fast enough!

But it's better than yesterday.

He noted down the gap in his mind and marked the points that needed adjustment next time.

The progress is visible, but it's still far from the natural fluency of a player like Sel.

Muscle memory can only be developed through repeated practice; there are no shortcuts.

[Host: Chen Fei]

[Identity: Sub-adult male lion]

[Energy Points: 448↑]

There are still 52 points away from the threshold of heat flow coverage in the limbs.

Chen Fei kept that number to himself.

At the current pace, with three or four more full meals and daily accumulation, I should be able to get close to it.

He stood up, preparing to walk towards the mound, and habitually glanced at the opposite bank.

Then he stopped.

The smell in my nasal cavity is wrong.

It wasn't the scent of the two male wandering lions; he remembered those two very clearly.

The dark brown mane was covered with a thick layer of glandular secretions.

The scent was faint but had a unique herbal aroma.

This isn't the aura I'm looking for.

More unfamiliar, more complex, the combined scents of at least three male lions drifted in from the opposite bank of the river, roughly upstream from the old territory.

Chen Fei turned his ear in that direction and listened carefully for a few seconds.

There were no shouts, no sounds of fighting, only the rustling of grass gently rubbing against each other in the wind.

But that aura was real.

He didn't recognize the lions.

The island is surrounded by water, and stray lions rarely cross the river. This group of unfamiliar creatures is most likely just passing by or probing the boundaries of their old territory—if the old territory no longer has a strong enough aura marker, it will be considered unclaimed land.

Unclaimed land is a sweet treat for all wandering lion prides.

Chen Fei stood on the mound for a while, storing the information in his mind.

Back in the old territory, things were even more chaotic than he had imagined, with more than just the two male lions from before.