The Evolutionary Path of the Lion

Chapter 43 Poachers

"It's not a military automatic rifle, so it doesn't have automatic firing capability. Every time you pull the trigger, you have to pull the bolt back. The crisp metallic clang can be heard even through the wind."

Chen Fei lay prone on the edge of the sandstone platform, his fingertips tracing the rough sand on the rocks, his ears picking up the slightest sounds from three kilometers away. This assessment made his taut tail gently sweep across the dry grass beneath him, making a very soft rustling sound. That moment of relaxation lasted only a moment before it tightened again as if by an invisible thread, the tip of his tail slightly up, revealing his vigilance.

He refocused his gaze on the three moving figures, his pupils contracting to slits, and the scenery in his field of vision was instantly brought extremely close.

The formation, with one in front, one in the middle, and one in the back, is spaced exactly ten meters apart, no more, no less, a testament to their trained teamwork.

The shortest one was walking in the middle, his backpack bulging so much it looked like it was about to burst, with a section of dark fabric peeking out from the corner, as if deformed by something hard. To his right waist, something danced with a cold light in the morning glow—not a large reflection, but rather fine, angular glints, like the blade of a knife or the metal clasp of a folding tool. It was indistinct, yet it exuded a sense of danger.

The last one was tall and slender, with a rifle slung diagonally across his back, the butt against his lower back, his hands in his pockets. He took the slowest steps, his ankles rotating more than the other two. His gaze swept across the tall grass on both sides like a net, not even the slightest rustle of grass escaped his eyes. He was the most wary of the three.

"Guidance type, load-bearing type, alert type."

Chen Fei mentally labeled the three people, his nose twitching slightly. The wind on the grassland carried the dry scent of withered grass, and a very faint, unfamiliar human smell.

Three kilometers to the northeast, advancing in a straight line, the target is directly opposite his and Sel's landing spot.

They were unaware that they were walking towards a grassland where fangs were buried.

That's the trickiest part.

Chen Fei slowly descended from the sandstone platform. When his limbs landed, his claws were completely flat against the ground, grinding over the dry sand grains. His fingertips hooked onto the rough texture of the rock crevices without making a sound.

His exceptional long-range vision is a unique advantage, allowing him to seize opportunities more easily than any other grassland animal, with ample time difference.

Based on human walking speed and taking into account the obstacles posed by the complex grassland terrain, he has forty minutes to resolve this sudden crisis.

The first thing to deal with is the homeless A and B.

The two lions that had recently submitted to the hunters were now stationed in the northeast corner, which happened to be the only route the poachers would take.

Chen Fei took a deep breath toward the northeast, and immediately caught the scent of the Wandering Armor in his nostrils. It carried the distinctive oily smell of a lion's mane, steady and calm, about 800 meters ahead. Clearly, the creature had not yet realized that danger was approaching.

He looked up in the direction of where he had landed, and a faint whistling sound came from the wind. It was Sel's sleeping habit. Even when he was asleep, the stingy boy would make this kind of low humming sound, like a cub whining. It could be heard very far in the open grassland.

We must never let poachers get close to that area.

Without further hesitation, Chen Fei turned and walked northeast. His steps were steady and even, and his hooves only bent a few grass stalks when they stepped on the grass, without disturbing the creatures around him.

He had walked less than two hundred meters when he suddenly stopped.

At the edge of the grass, a pale white shadow stood up—it was Wanderer A. The old scar on its left shoulder gleamed white like frost in the morning light, its edges still covered with hardened scabs, a mark left from its past wanderings.

As the stray ape watched Chen Fei approach step by step, its tail twitched slightly at its side. The movement was small, but it showed obvious obedience. This was a conditioned reflex it had developed after submitting to the leader. In the face of this more powerful leader, it instinctively concealed its sharpness.

Chen Fei didn't stop. He walked until he was five meters away from it before stopping. He lowered his head and took a deep sniff in the northeast direction. The human scent in his nostrils became clearer. Then he raised his head and looked straight at the stray ape with his amber eyes.

Stray Ace raised its head, its nostrils flaring rapidly. Its sense of smell was more developed than Chen Fei's, and its nasal cavity was larger, giving it a natural advantage in scent recognition. However, even with the wind at its back, it was difficult to accurately detect the scent of a human at a distance of three kilometers.

Sure enough, it sniffed for a long time, then just wrinkled its nose and let out a low, confused growl, its voice full of bewilderment.

Chen Fei didn't expect it to be able to obtain complete information through smell.

He circled around to the east side of the wanderer, lowered his head slightly, and gently nudged the other's shoulder with his forehead. The force was light, but it carried a clear sense of direction: northwest.

The wanderer turned his head and glanced at Chen Fei, his eyes still filled with hesitation.

Chen Fei pushed again. After pushing, he paused for a moment, raised his chin, tilted his head back sharply to the northwest, and let out a very soft growl, as if to emphasize.

"Go that way."

The stray dog ​​wasn't particularly clever, but its life as a stray had taught it the ironclad rule of survival: understand the leader's instructions, or you're doomed.

It hesitated for two seconds, then finally moved, heading northwest with a steady, albeit slow, stride. The wanderer followed closely behind, its mane brushing against the nearby blades of grass, making a soft, rustling sound.

Chen Fei watched the two lions disappear into the tall grass, and only after confirming that they had not strayed from their course did he slowly turn around. In his amber eyes, the previous gentleness was gone, replaced by a cold and resolute determination.

[Host: Chen Fei]

[Identity: Sub-adult male lion]

[Energy Points: 823↑]

Two kilometers away, the poachers had already covered a third of the distance, and the sound of their footsteps and occasional whispers drifted on the wind, becoming clearer and clearer.

He needed a reason, a reason to separate the three of them.

Chen Fei knew all too well the behavior patterns of humans in unfamiliar wilderness: when they are together, the danger factor is lowest for individuals, but once they are scattered, a single person becomes the most vulnerable prey on the grassland, powerless to resist.

Therefore, he cannot wait for them to scatter on their own; he must proactively create opportunities.

Chen Fei changed direction and began to circle around in a wide arc, aiming for the poachers' east side. He walked extremely slowly, his abdomen almost touching the ground, the heat in his limbs suppressed to the lowest possible level. With each step, his hooves gently sank into the depths of the grass roots, the bent grass stems only slowly springing back up after he left, without making any extra sound.

This was the skill he had mastered most in the past few months: making himself disappear completely into the grassland.

The sub-adult male lion is slightly smaller than the adult female lion, and its concealment advantage in waist-high grass is surprisingly good. Its mane is still very light in color, almost blending into the color of the dry grass. As long as it doesn't move, even if someone walks up to it, they may not be able to spot it.

About twenty minutes later, Chen Fei circled around to a position 400 meters east of the poachers. There was a protruding rock not far ahead. He walked over quickly, lay down behind the rock, pressed his body against the cold stone surface, and made his outline perfectly overlap with the rock, leaving only his eyes exposed, watching the scene ahead warily.

With its super vision switching perspectives again, the figures of the three people became clear once more.

The guide in the front row stopped, squatted down, put down his rifle, and fiddled with something on the ground with his fingertips. He was probably checking animal tracks, the marks of broken grass, and some blurry hoof prints, which he examined very carefully.

Chen Fei's gaze passed over the guide and landed thirty meters ahead of him: a low grass transition zone, the grass blades only reaching his knees. Beyond that was a shallow ditch, about three meters wide, with grass on both sides growing taller than a person, densely intertwined, like a natural barrier.

gully.

It is here.

The terrain of the gully can block the view on both sides. When three people pass through in a line, the person in front and the person behind will be out of each other's sight for a short time. That window is only for about ten seconds, but for Chen Fei, ten seconds is enough.

He quietly withdrew from behind the rocks, moving along the edge of the low grass strip towards the upstream of the gully, his movements as light as a breeze, the grass blades brushing against his fur with a very soft rustling sound.

Just then, a familiar figure emerged from the direction of their landing spot.

It's the big head.

It didn't know what had happened, only that its brother had disappeared early in the morning. After waking up, it followed the scent for a long time before finally catching up here. The old scab on its left shoulder had almost healed, but it still hindered its movement. When it walked fast, it would unconsciously shift its weight to the right, making its limp about a quarter wider than its normal gait. With each step, its left foreleg would tremble slightly when it landed, and the grass blades would be crushed into fine creases by its hooves.

Big Head poked half its head out of the grass, its round eyes wide open, watching Chen Fei do something it couldn't understand at all. It crouched low, close to the grass roots, like a cheetah preparing to hunt, and slowly crawled forward.

It stuck its head out, then quickly pulled it back in. Two seconds later, it couldn't resist sticking its head out again and sniffing the air with its little nose.

The scent of humans.

It hadn't seen humans many times, but the smell was so peculiar, so complex, a mixture of rusty metal, musty fabric, and some indescribable chemical odors. It didn't smell like any grassland animal; it was so unfamiliar that it made people uneasy.

Big Head let out a low growl, tinged with wariness and confusion.

Chen Fei turned his ear back ninety degrees, his earlobe pressed tightly against his head, without stopping or turning around.

That angle, that posture, translates to only one thing: "You stay there and don't move."

Big Head immediately pulled his head back in, obediently lay down in the grass, pricked up his two ears, and carefully used his front paws to part the grass leaves in front of him, revealing a narrow gap, and continued to look out.

Its brother was always like this; every time it hadn't even understood the first step, Chen Fei was already planning the third.

Chen Fei stopped at the western entrance of the gully.

The sound of three human footsteps came from afar, growing closer and closer. The crisp sound of dry grass being crushed, the clatter of pebbles rolling, and the soft rustling of shoes scraping the ground were all subtle yet rhythmic, carrying an undeniable sense of progress.

They were moving faster than estimated and had already entered the low grass transition zone, less than 100 meters from the gully.

Chen Fei took a deep breath, slowly gathering the heat in his body from his abdomen to his forepaw. A burning sensation crept along the muscle lines to his fingertips, and the skin on the tip of his right toe gradually became hot, as if it were covered with a layer of red-hot sand. It was the familiar feeling of power he knew.

He did not enter the gully.

Instead, he chose a spot on the western edge of the gully where a rock protruded and lay down, pressing his body tightly against the rock so that his silhouette would completely blend into the shadows.

The sun was hanging in the northeastern sky, its rays shining obliquely from behind him, casting long shadows on the ground. His field of vision was precisely facing the direction of the light, allowing him to see everything clearly ahead without worrying about being exposed by glare.

The three people have completely entered the low grass zone.

The guide in the front row suddenly stopped, slowly raised the rifle in his hand, held it horizontally, and swayed the muzzle slightly. He turned his head left and right, his eyes scanning the gully in front of him and the tall grass on both sides like a hawk, carefully distinguishing even the swaying of the grass blades.

Very professional!

Chen Fei suppressed his breathing to the slowest possible speed, the rise and fall of his chest almost imperceptible, with only the occasional slight twitch of his nostrils as he watched for his opponent's movements. His claws dug deep into the soil, waiting for the perfect moment.