32 Life and Death

◎ Although the strength is not strong enough, the momentum must not be lost. This is a battle of life and death. How could Qiao Jinnian show mercy?◎

Qiao Jinnian closed her eyes because she was afraid, but during the fall, she suddenly opened her eyes. Even if she would die, she wanted to die clearly. Was she going to give up like this?

Fortunately, Qiao Jinnian fell on the crown of a tall tree. She held Silverback with one hand and desperately grabbed a branch with the other hand, thus stabilizing her unstable and shaky body.

This is the umbrella-shaped tree commonly seen on the grassland, with all the leaves at the top of the tree. However, because they fell from a high altitude, the impact force was too great. When they hit the treetops, every part of their limbs was telling how much pain they were in.

For a while, Qiao Jinnian closed his eyes, trying to relieve the pain that penetrated deep into his bones.

To be honest, she had surgery and a heart transplant in her previous life, but those were done with anesthesia. She had never experienced this kind of pain.

The silverback in his arms had been knocked unconscious, but Qiao Jinnian was not too worried about him. After all, this guy was very lucky and had very thick fur. He would usually wake up after being unconscious for a while.

Placing Silverback in the middle of a pile of branches to ensure he wouldn't fall, Qiao Jinnian endured the pain and began to observe the tree. She had tried to climb a tree last time, and the idea was good, but unfortunately her arm strength wasn't enough to climb up. But if she could just climb down slowly, it should be possible.

It was unknown how long they had been climbing on the tree. Qiao Jinnian felt the pain eased a little, and tried to move his hands and feet. He felt that he probably had no broken bones, and hoped that he had no internal injuries. In this primitive grassland with no trace of humans, internal injuries meant immediate death.

Looking at the fork under the tree canopy, she planned her route in advance, thinking that she could tie the remaining hemp rope to the tree and slowly climb down, which should be no problem.

However, just as she was about to implement her tree-climbing plan, the eagle appeared in the sky again. From afar, there was a red spot on its leg with snow-white feathers. That was the wound that Qiao Jinnian had cut before.

The eagle must have come for revenge, and she was very sure that she was the enemy because she not only stole his food, but also cut his legs.

Birds have extraordinary eyesight. Sure enough, the eagle soon spotted her figure in the treetops. He looked down with his wings spread, which was a standard diving posture and also an attacking posture.

His eyes were filled with murderous intent, and she believed that if she didn't take action, she would become his food in the next second.

At the critical moment, she suddenly slid down a long distance along the branch, and the eagle's diving movement was blocked by the branches and leaves at the top of the tree canopy.

But the eagle stood directly on the branch, ready to fight her in a treetop battle, and gave up its own aerial battlefield.

Qiao Jinnian yelled at him: "Roar——"

In order to let him know that she was a giant animal, she stood up deliberately, holding the flint knife in her hand, and gestured at him. There was even some blood on the knife.

After showing off her fangs and claws like this, the eagle began to re-evaluate her strength. After all, this kind of eagle usually eats small animals, but never catches a big lion.

The eagle was frightened for a while, but the pain in his leg kept reminding him that he must bite the cub in front of him to death.

Therefore, Qiao Jinnian did not dare to sit down or climb down the tree, mainly because the eagle would attack her under the tree, catch her again, and throw her down from a high altitude to kill her.

No one dared to act rashly, and they just stood there, waiting to see who would give in first.

"It's so big, so big--" The silverback suddenly woke up, saw the scene in front of him, and stood on the top of the tree to challenge the eagle to a fight.

Qiao Jinnian really wanted to hold his forehead and sigh. This eagle was obviously the natural enemy of the fearless flat-headed tiger, and the silverback had no self-awareness at all. It even dared to fight with a winged animal on the top of a tree. Its courage was commendable!

The eagle was really impatient and very hungry, so he decided to deal with the honey badger first. After all, it was an animal on his regular diet.

Yes, Qiao Jinnian is a very strange biped in the eyes of animals, and they don’t even know if they can be eaten.

Seeing that he started fighting with the silverback again, Qiao Jinnian didn't care about anything else. He took two steps forward along the branch and tied the hemp rope around his waist to the branch, so that he could free his hands and not worry about falling.

After making preparations, Qiao Jinnian began to roar wildly in front of him while waving his flint knife: "Roar--"

Although his strength is not strong enough, he must not lose in momentum. This is a battle of life and death. How could Qiao Jinnian show mercy?

This crazy behavior completely angered the eagle, and he started to bite her.

Seeing him rushing towards her, Qiao Jinnian relied on the rope tied around her waist and jumped around on the branches like an elusive monkey.

The eagle was huge and its movements were restricted by the branches, so it was not as flexible as her.

Until, in the distance, rapid and rhythmic lion roars were heard. The roars were long and lasting, coming from a very far distance.

The roar of a lion always echoed far and wide across the open grassland. Qiao Jinnian knew that it was the lion father and brother looking for her.

So, she used all her strength, put her hands in front of her mouth, and shouted in the direction of the sound: "Roar--"

Obviously, the eagle also heard the low roar of the lion. He hesitated for a moment and then flew away. After all, it was a male lion, and they generally did not confront male lions directly.

Huh, they finally left. Qiao Jinnian wiped the sweat from his forehead and told the silverback to stay where he was and not move. While waiting for Ryan, the treetop was still the safest place. There were too many dangerous animals here, especially during the dry season.

In order for Ryan to find her as soon as possible, Qiao Jinnian would shout in that direction from time to time, asking for help.

Perhaps her roar really worked, and soon, two lions appeared from the bushes in the distance.

However, what surprised Qiao Jinnian was that not far in front of them was a little bird with red tail feathers. It was the bird that was working with the silverback to find a beehive.

It seems that the little bird saw them being captured by the eagle and went to report the news!

The little bird stood on the branch and chirped at the silverbacks, as if showing off how great it was for finding them.

Ryan squinted his eyes and looked up at her at the top of the tree, wondering how to go up and pick her up.

This tree is not easy to climb, as it is quite high and has a straight trunk. It is easy for a leopard, but it is a very difficult task for a large male lion.

In order to comfort Ryan, Qiao Jinnian yelled at him: "Awoo——"

Then, Qiao Jinnian checked the rope tied to the branch and found it to be quite strong. Then he slid down the branch. Because of the protection of the rope, his movements seemed faster.

Ryan was so shocked that he straightened his upper body and looked at her nervously.

"Ouch." Qiao Jinnian continued to comfort her, and successfully came to the grass, then untied the hemp rope around her waist.

The silverback could climb trees, so when she climbed down, it climbed down nimbly by itself.

Seeing that she had successfully come down, Ryan walked up to her and licked her face, as if to check if she was injured.

Qiao Jinnian rested for a while, and then faced off against the eagle for so long that, apart from some dull pain, she was basically pain-free. So, she was sure that she was not injured, and quickly shook her head: "Roar——"

Rubbing against Ryan's mane, she rode on his back and turned back to greet the dejected Reiner: "Awooo——"

Reiner might have been taught a lesson by Ryan. After all, Ryan was not at home and Reiner was responsible for watching her. As a result, she was captured by the eagle in her own territory.

Qiao Jinnian originally thought that they were in Ryan's territory and there was no danger around, but she ignored the difference between the concepts of territory on land and territory in the air. After all, birds of prey are not under the jurisdiction of land.

Since everyone has already come out and this place is very far away from home, we might as well go directly north from here to catch up with those mobile rations.

The only pity was that every time Qiao Jinnian moved, she couldn't take the stone pot with her and had to find a new one. She packed the salt in tree leaves and kept it in her bag.

Cloak also followed Ryan and the others and kept falling behind.

This time, they took a completely different route, relying on Ryan to carefully distinguish where they could walk and where hunting was strictly prohibited.

Hunting in other lion groups' territories is too dangerous. Although the father-son alliance of Ryan and Reiner is also very powerful, Ryan is the kind of lion who doesn't want to cause trouble.

As a result, they avoided a lot of unnecessary trouble along the way, only the hunting process became a little troublesome.

One day, they passed by a wide river. The river bank was a no-man's land, and there were many zebras drinking water in the river.

Since the two sides were far apart, the zebras did not notice the danger. Of course, Ryan was not hungry now and was not in a hurry to hunt.

The surroundings were quiet except for the sounds of flowing water, birds singing, and animals drinking water.

The zebras would raise their heads and look around from time to time, always on the lookout for any carnivores entering.

Everything looks harmonious.

However, this silence was soon interrupted by the roar of the zebras. Looking carefully, it turned out that a lioness suddenly rushed towards the zebras across the river.

All the zebras were frightened and fled from the water's edge.

The lioness had already locked onto her target early on, and she chased the zebra and bit it from behind.

Zebras are notoriously bad-tempered, and their most common method of attack is to stick out their hind hooves to kick the enemy behind them. But the lioness was obviously very experienced. After taking a bite, she ducked down to avoid the fatal kick, then leaped up and gripped the zebra's back with her claws, disrupting the zebra's rhythm. The zebra's steps became disorderly, and finally it made a mistake, lost its balance, and fell to the ground with a 'bang'.

The grassland across the river was already covered with yellow earth, and the smoke and dust lingered for a long time. All the zebras were hidden in the yellow earth, and nothing could be seen.

It was not until the yellow dust cleared that Qiao Jinnian could see the situation on the opposite side clearly. The brave lioness had been biting the zebra's neck, and the zebra was already dead.

However, why did Qiao Jinnian feel that the lion opposite looked so much like Sister Sa?