16 Cruel

◎Diandian jumped back reflexively, baring her teeth and warning her: "Woohoo, woohoo——"◎

There was one less big crocodile in this river area, but there were no more little ostriches. Qiao Jinnian was somewhat grateful to Diandian, but Diandian had not been to this river since the last time.

Qiao Jinnian has something more important to do, which is to make clothes for herself.

Last time, those rough woven fabrics were completely unwearable, so she made them into bags to carry things.

However, her hospital gown was torn beyond repair. She crawled on the ground every day and it was bitten by Ryan. The wind was blowing from behind and she felt so insecure.

In fact, what made *7.7.zl more uncomfortable than the torn clothes was that she couldn't take a bath because there were crocodiles in the river. She could only use a container to fill some water and wipe her body. No wonder Ryan smelled all over. Fortunately, she was used to this smell, and no one should dislike anyone else.

Since the fibers were too rough, but these plants were the most hemp-like materials Qiao Jinnian had found so far, she changed her strategy. She pulled some off and soaked them in river water for a few days before taking them out and drying them. She vaguely remembered seeing this processing method somewhere and thought she might give it a try.

Moreover, the plant was too rough, so she could rub it a few more times and tear the thin threads into thinner ones. Now that there was fire, she could even boil it to soften it. In short, by taking it step by step, she could always get the material she wanted.

So, in the eyes of Ryan, Dazhuang, and the ostriches, this strange cub began to pull out plants every day, soak them in water, fish them out after many days, put them on the shore, and then inserted two branches into the ground and began to busy himself with something slowly.

The animals couldn't understand. Even Da Zhuang, who initially admired her and thought that following her would make the tribe better, now didn't bother to pay attention to her. He used to help her pull weeds, but now he is busy with his own things.

Qiao Jinnian didn't care. Apart from eating and sleeping, she had plenty of time in a day, and there would always be a day when she could make the clothes.

As time went by, Qiao Jinnian felt that she could chew the barbecue, but the problem was that it was the dry season and food was very scarce for top predators. She couldn't ask Ryan to leave her a piece of meat, so she had to find a way herself.

Almost all the fish in the river have been caught by her and Dazhuang, so she has to start looking for new food.

That day, she was leaning on Ryan, rubbing the hemp rope in her hand, trying to make it softer, when she saw from afar a cheetah surrounded by a group of hyenas on the other side of the river.

The hyena pack numbered less than 10 hyenas, but there was only one cheetah.

Cheetahs are called the working leopards on the grassland because the food they catch with their speed is often snatched away by other animals.

The cheetah was so hungry that he was almost skin and bones. It was obvious that he had not eaten for a long time. Although he was surrounded by a group of hyenas, he seemed to be hesitating. Giving up the food would mean death, and fighting with the hyenas might even result in his anus being ripped out.

This is a dilemma, but as a carnivore, there is more determination in the cheetah's eyes. This is the animal's desire to survive. If it doesn't eat, it will probably die. This is the prey he found with his life.

Qiao Jinnian happened to look up and saw this scene. She couldn't bear to watch any longer. The laws of survival in nature were too cruel.

When the cheetah was a little sluggish due to hunger, the hyenas finally started to attack and surrounded him in a circle. The hyena queen had already approached the cheetah from behind and tried to bite him.

Qiao Jinnian had already closed her eyes. If Ryan had not adopted her, she would have died in the mouth of a hyena or some other animal. Or perhaps, she would have starved to death without being eaten by any animal.

Sensing that she was in a bad mood, Ryan opened his eyes, leaned over, licked her face, and made soothing sounds with his mouth.

Qiao Jinnian just remembered what happened to her, and lay down in Ryan's mane, opened her eyes, and secretly looked at the other side of the river.

Surprisingly, the hyenas disappeared, and instead, a small black animal with a white back was seen driving the cheetahs away.

The cheetah also looked a little confused. When it saw that the hyenas had really run away, it immediately picked up the prey on the ground and ran away, as if it would never have the chance to run again if it didn't run now.

The little animal ran a few steps, trying to drive the cheetah away. When it saw the cheetah running away, it ran back and disappeared somewhere unknown.

Wait, Qiao Jinnian was very sure that she had seen this kind of animal in animal videos. Isn’t that the flat-headed brother of the grassland - the honey badger?

Ha, the honey badger helped the cheetah drive away the hyena?

Although it sounds outrageous, maybe the hyenas just offended the honey badgers, and the honey badgers just came to seek revenge on the hyenas. After all, they are the most vengeful animals. Not only do they hold grudges, they are also very brave and have thick fur. They are fearless and even the king of the grassland, the lion, can't do anything to them.

The hyenas probably ran away because they really couldn't do anything to him.

Although the honey badger did not come to help the cheetah specifically, it can be considered as indirectly helping the working cheetah.

Seeing this scene, Qiao Jinnian breathed a sigh of relief and felt happy for the skinny cheetah. Every life is amazing, and everyone struggles every day to survive.

At night, Ryan went out hunting. Qiao Jinnian was sleeping in the bushes when she suddenly heard a familiar roar.

The sound was not loud, but it sounded familiar to her, so she got up and looked towards the other side of the river following the sound.

This area was marked by Ryan, who roared to drive away the large animals every day. It was relatively safe, so the animals only dared to appear on the other side of the river and would not come over easily.

Seeing the pair of searchlight-like eyes on the other side of the river, Qiao Jinnian was sure it was Diandian, so he waved at her and said, "Roar?"

She roared in the same tone as the little lion, not knowing what she meant by her roar, she was just imitating the little lion.

Sometimes she would speak a lot of human language to Ryan, but when talking to strange animals, which no animal could understand, it would be better to communicate with simple roars.

The little lion's tone was curious, soft, cute and naughty. Diandian hesitated for a moment, stepped into the river, took two steps, and then stopped to observe her reaction. Seeing that she had no objection, he continued to step into the river to come over here.

Only when she got closer did Qiao Jinnian see clearly that Diandian's mouth, body, and claws were covered with thorns as long as 80 centimeters.

If she wasn't used to not having too much emotional fluctuation, she would have screamed by now, and her trypophobia would have come on, with thorns everywhere.

The places where the punctures were made were covered in blood. It seemed that Dian Dian was injured, and it was quite serious.

Just as she was wondering, a weak roar came from behind Diandian: "Woohoo——"

Following the voice, Qiao Jinnian looked behind Diandian. It was a sub-adult leopard, small in size, but not a cub either. It should be over one year old.

There was worry on Diandian's face. She looked back at her cub, then looked up at Qiao Jinnian, as if she was making arrangements for her funeral.

Qiao Jinnian thought that she was still a cub and did not think that the leopard was giving the cub to her. She probably saw a male lion with a cub, which was very rare in the animal kingdom. So, when she encountered danger, she thought that maybe Ryan could adopt the leopard cub?

This is Qiao Jinnian's own guess. No one knows what animals really think. After all, in the leopard world, there is no such thing as a father. The leopard mother gives birth to and raises her children by herself. She is always a lone ranger, hunting on her own and does not need a male.

That's why Qiao Jinnian made such a bold guess. Of course, it might also be that she had inadvertently shown some kindness to her last time. This is also very rare in the animal kingdom. After all, there is rarely such mutual help between different species. Not to mention that different kinds of animals will snatch food and territory from each other, even animals of the same kind will kill each other, unless they are related by blood.

So it is so rare that lions are the only cat species that live in groups.

Qiao Jinnian was silent. She couldn't make a decision for Ryan. The only thing she could do was to pull out the thorn from Diandian's body.

Diandian should have pulled out a lot of the thorns, but there are still some on her head. She is a cat and her claws cannot pull them out by herself.

She raised her hand, indicating that she was going to pull it out. Diandian jumped back reflexively, baring her teeth and warning her: "Woohoo, woohoo——"

The cub also started roaring along with its mother.

Qiao Jinnian also knew that they were just stressed, so she put her hands down and made a friendly "wooo" sound with a bit of coquettishness.

Diandian and her cub roared a few more times, but when they saw that she was just sitting there quietly, they remembered that she was just a little cub, and they felt relieved.

"I'll pull it out for you." Qiao Jinnian said calmly, pointing at the thorn on her head and imitating the action of pulling it out.

She pulled it out several times before Diandian finally understood what she meant.

In fact, the wound should not be serious, it just looks a little scary. Seeing that she did not object, Qiao Jinnian slowly crawled to her side and tentatively pulled out one of the weeds for her.

Diandian felt pain when the hair was pulled out, but she did not continue to roar. She only made a vibrating "whoosh whoosh" sound from her throat.

So, Qiao Jinnian was not in a hurry. She waited for a while after pulling out each thorn, letting it adapt a little, and then continued to pull out until all the thorns were pulled out.

Diandian looked a little weak, lying on the ground, gasping for breath. Her cub hurried forward and began to lick her wounds.

No matter what, Diandian will not think that she is going to die now.

Until the sun rose from the horizon, a huge silhouette of a lion appeared in the sky, and the little cubs began to tremble uncontrollably.

Ryan took a few big strides forward, scratching the ground with his front paws, declaring that this was his territory, while growling and driving away the mother and child.

The reason why he didn't attack the mother and child was because Ryan knew Diandian. However, they were top predators of different species. How could they live in peace forever?